F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 244 Miami, a Land of Outstanding People and Abundant Resources

In the end, they still couldn't catch up.

This bike is really not fast. The gear ratio limit has already capped its top speed. After a few bursts of speed, Shulong spends most of the time pedaling in the air.

As a top athlete, Gu Ailing's physical abilities are definitely not weak. Although her instantaneous power output is not as good as Shu Long's, maintaining an average speed of 45+ for a short cruise on a flat track is not a big problem.

Moreover, none of those who have achieved such success in competitive events are not highly competitive. They basically gave it their all throughout the race. Even when Shu Long almost lost control of the car, he could only catch up by maneuvering the car along the lines in the corners.

Then, they took the shortcuts typical of mountain bikers at turns 14 and 15, and after flying over several road shoulders, they caught up to the back of the line by about seven or eight seconds.

"You're amazing! Everyone says driving doesn't require any physical exertion, but I don't think you get tired at all!"

Faced with Xiao Gu's somewhat admiring praise, Shu Long simply smiled politely at her.

Contrary to the classic stereotype, F1 drivers not only have very strict diet plans, but also maintain high-intensity physical training almost every day.

Of course, everyone's situation is different. Smaller drivers tend to have an easier time, especially short drivers like Kakuta.

People like Shu Long need to be more demanding of themselves, and often need to keep their body fat percentage around 12%.

However, this situation is special; he's using cheat codes.

But even with all his cheat codes, he couldn't become a superman overnight. If he weren't so concerned about his image in front of the camera, Shu Long would have been kneeling on his knees, pumping the bellows.

I did a full-speed, anaerobic sprint for over 5 kilometers at an average speed of over 50 km/h, and I was using a wide-tire, full-suspension mountain bike! No matter how good your physical fitness is, you can't push yourself like that!

It seems only Gan Mengning could see through Shu Long's forced composure. Her own disheveled state improved her mood considerably, and she gleefully held up her small camera, muttering something unintelligible as she added her own commentary.

That concludes the interactive session for the morning.

Everyone was sweating profusely, so we ate something, went back to change clothes and take a shower. In the afternoon, we attended a meet-and-greet to interact with the fans. The rest of the time was free time.

The reduction in media activities is fantastic; after the initial adjustment period, Shulong hopes it can continue indefinitely.

In the afternoon, at Shu Long's suggestion, Gan Mengning changed into a loose-fitting casual outfit that covered a larger area, saying it was to protect her joints and muscles after exercise.

Gu Ailing also underwent a 180-degree transformation, going from a youthful and sporty girl in the morning to a mature and sophisticated woman with a slightly darker vibe, especially with her edgy combination of a leather mini-skirt, black stockings, and basketball shoes.

Upon detecting the high-risk signal of Shulong XP, Gan Mengning merely glanced at it lazily and then ignored it.

She refused to receive muscle therapy from Shu Long, saying she wasn't used to physical contact from strangers. Back at the hotel, she insisted on having Shu Long massage her legs, and she also waited for her boyfriend to help her change her wet cycling clothes.

It is said that long illness makes one a great doctor.

Shulong's photographic memory has allowed him to accumulate a wealth of theoretical knowledge, while his friction control provides a comfort experience far superior to that of a professional therapist.

As she massaged him, she unconsciously developed some other paid services. In the afternoon, Gan Mengning was in a state of lazy contentment. Her saintly state of mind even made her jealous little girl mentality from the morning seem childish and somewhat laughable.

A sense of security is something that is given to each other.

As a top-tier F1 driver, he is under the watchful eyes of countless people wherever he goes. Shu Long has been making his way in the European community for so many years without any scandals. Why should he be so anxious about the slightest thing now?

The afternoon activities were basically centered around hot laps.

Verstappen's team was mainly responsible for securing appointments from several media outlets, rugby stars, and VIP fans of the motorsports team.

Shu Long then took Gu Ailing and his girlfriend for two laps each. After asking the team if there were any other arrangements, he also took Gan Mengning and the other voice actors who had come with him for a lap.

Riding in a Porsche GT2 RS isn't something you can do all the time. A Porsche GT2 RS driven by one of the world's most skilled drivers is something you can only dream of.

Logically, everyone should cherish this opportunity and enjoy it, right?
Then I vomited three times.
Normally, VIPs would hold back a bit to protect their reputation, but these guys here are practically friends, so they're just letting loose and going all out!
The large-scale joint filming has basically come to an end here, and the team needs to quickly get into a fast-paced work mode.

During breaks, they would occasionally film some inter-group interactions, but those weren't the main point. The crew members were always worried about Shulong's iron-willed emotional intelligence.

I won't say anything if you say that neck stretching and reaction time are your specialties, but when that young girl is just showing off her flexibility and agility as a skier, why are you still grimacing and trying to win?

Is it low emotional intelligence?

No, no, no, Shu Long thinks his emotional intelligence is far too high!
He wasn't unaware of Gan Mengning's initial hesitation. At times like this, one should maintain respect and fight to the end. He couldn't bring himself to pretend to be a gentleman.

Moreover, the problems Red Bull encountered at this stop were truly disheartening.

Too much tinkering comes at a price. Verstappen only managed 14 laps in practice before reporting a problem with the car. As a precaution, it was pushed back to the pit garage for a new gearbox and radiator.

In his second practice session, he encountered a hydraulic failure after only completing one lap. The steering wheel instantly jammed and could not be turned back, which also caused some damage to his rear brakes.

This hydraulic failure is an old problem, dating back to the winter testing this year. However, because it requires adaptation to the front tie rod structure used for the first time, even the most basic upgrade has not yet been completed.

A team suddenly lost a car for no apparent reason, which made the testing tasks that Shulong had to undertake in the first and second training sessions quite heavy. They had to sacrifice an extra white car and a yellow car to do long-distance testing.

There's nothing we can do; the deal with Verstappen fell through.
With only three practice sessions left, he definitely needs to focus on finding the limits of single-lap racing. Shu Long can't rely on his teammates at all, so he has to do everything himself.

Then, after the second practice session, Red Bull discovered that there were similar hidden dangers in the Shulong race car, and had to break the curfew rules a second time to replace parts and make adjustments for the Shulong.

Red Bull only has six opportunities a season to legally break the curfew. The last time was used on Verstappen, and this time the issue of resource allocation between the two has been completely balanced.

Hard work pays off, and the two Red Bull members finally managed to take the top two spots on the leaderboard again in the third practice session.

It's not really a useful reference, because Ferrari's journey wasn't entirely smooth sailing either.

Perhaps due to concerns about the accident rate on the new track, and fearing that the upgraded chassis might be exposed to the public by a crane, Ferrari has not yet unveiled the new chassis upgrade, which was originally planned to be shown at the last race. Multiple sources suggest that it may have been postponed to the next race.

It must be said that their considerations are very reasonable, because Leclerc, who is nicknamed "Extreme Guy," can indeed be a bit scary at times.

When it's at its limit, it's truly at its limit; when it's stupid, it's truly stupid.

However, it was Sainz who made the wall this time. He lost control at Turn 13 in the second practice session, triggering a red flag. Not only was his car severely damaged, but he also missed many testing opportunities.

During the second and third practice sessions, red flags kept interfering with the game. O'Conn almost perfectly replicated Sainz's wall-climbing incident from the previous practice session. It seems that the terrain undulations and dolphin-like jumping phenomena in this area created some kind of magical reaction.

Just like with Shu Long, on Ferrari's side, Leclerc almost single-handedly completed the vast majority of the testing tasks that should have been shared by the two of them.

It's hard to say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing for the other driver on the team.

On the one hand, they have more opportunities to familiarize themselves with the track, improve their driving style and adjust the car settings, but on the other hand, they are also forced to consume more race resources.

Leclerc's extreme driving style seems to really need such an opportunity, but Shu Long values ​​his tire resources more.

For him, the sweet spot for car tuning has always been very wide. Whenever he gets a car, his first reaction is not how to modify it to make it faster, but how to drive it to squeeze the existing conditions to the extreme.

Moreover, Red Bull has a very crucial sponsorship this year, which has played a significant role in their rapid expansion into the market.

This refers to Oracle, Red Bull's title sponsor this year. The company that provided Red Bull with one of the highest-paid sponsorship deals in F1 history, while seemingly relatively unknown, might be mistaken for a Chinese company based on its name alone. However, in English, the word "oracle" actually leans more towards meaning "divine pronouncement" or "oracle."

Most people don't have much access to Oracle's business scope, so they are curious about why they have such financial resources.

However, Oracle is actually a leading global supplier of enterprise software, database technology, cloud computing systems and hardware systems. Its flagship product, Oracle Database, is one of the most popular relational databases in the world.

Since partnering with Red Bull for sponsorship, Oracle’s extremely powerful cloud computing and data analytics capabilities have enabled it to quickly analyze its database to identify the most advantageous tuning options for each track.

This was originally supposed to be the work of Shulong and Vestager, but now it's much easier for them.

Of course, this feature is not a panacea. Ground effect racing is still in a stage where data is relatively scarce, and driver feedback is equally crucial.

But Shu Long wasn't picky about train setups. In his opinion, at least three sets of yellow and two sets of white trains had been wasted on meaningless test projects.

As for getting familiar with the track, that's a basic operation that you don't need to do a second time after running it once. In short, it seems that the two Red Bull executives now feel that the other party is the one who benefits more.

Mercedes brought upgrades to their front wing, rear wing, and diffuser-top spars this week, and their speed now looks surprisingly good, taking the top two spots in practice while Red Bull and Ferrari were in disarray.

However, this did not actually raise enough alarm for Red Bull. Anyone with eyes could see that Mercedes' dolphin jump problem was still quite serious. After three practice sessions, everyone just rummaged through their crotches and they were basically done for, ultimately only ranking P15 and P17 respectively.

As for Red Bull, there is a major problem that urgently needs to be addressed, concerning another major sponsor currently cooperating with Red Bull – TAG Heuer.

This is a fairly established luxury watch brand. Shu Long, who originally disliked wearing watches, now has to make sure his wrist is not obscured and that the watch is displayed wherever he goes due to his contractual commercial endorsement.

Of course, I may not like it, but if wearing a watch can bring in a lot of sponsorship money, I don't think anyone would turn down money like that.

So it's not that the teams or drivers have any conflicts or disputes with their sponsors, but rather that the FIA ​​has recently started to emphasize the issue of clothing safety during races.

A complete set of fire-resistant linings must be provided, and drivers are not allowed to wear any accessories during the race, which naturally includes TAG Heuer watches.

This has made it difficult to fulfill some clauses of the contract between Red Bull and TAG Heuer. In the past few days, Red Bull has had to negotiate between the FIA ​​and its sponsors to see if a compromise can be reached.

But no way.

These issues concern whether the driver will suffer secondary injuries if the race car catches fire, and there is absolutely no room for negotiation. It all depends on whether TAG Heuer is willing to negotiate.

Red Bull's side is actually quite good; both Shu Long and Verstappen are dressed very simply, with no tattoos and little jewelry.

The old man, on the other hand, was in a terrible situation. He had a ton of endorsements for various jewelry, and when he heard the news in Miami this week, it was like a bolt from the blue. When he appeared in front of the media, he immediately put on a full set of "five-pound" jewelry.

Rings and necklaces hung everywhere, and four watches were even tied to them! A silent protest against the FIA.

Even if you're a seven-time champion, they won't give you a second thought. In the end, Hamilton could only helplessly agree to remove the jewelry that was easy to take off, but some of the less convenient pieces might have to be removed after the game by contacting the doctor.

So, besides the earrings and nose studs we can see, could there be other, indescribable parts as well?
That's not clear.

Shu Long was a little curious, but didn't want to get to the bottom of it. He just thought about going with the old man to use the Mercedes-Benz toilet sometime.

cough!
What's most unexpected is that Uncle Tilted Head seems to have a stronger opinion on this clause.

I don't know if he's been driven crazy by the continuous driving of Ferrari and Aston Martin race cars, but recently Vettel has been doing some unusual things and is very obsessed with a certain kind of correctness.

For example, regarding the FIA's decision this time, Wirth seems to think that the FIA ​​always focuses too much on these necessary details and should instead put its energy into more meaningful things.

So when Uncle Tilted Head reappeared in the paddock on Saturday, he flashed a rather outrageous Superman look.

It’s really too abstract!
So much so that when Uncle Waitou, a veteran of Red Bull, grabbed someone to share his championship tips, Shu Long was so embarrassed that he just wanted to escape the scene as soon as possible. He barely heard what the other person was saying and just responded with "uh-huh" and "yeah".

Even during the afternoon qualifying rounds, that nightmarish scene stubbornly lingered in his mind!
"Demons and monsters, leave quickly! Demons and monsters, leave quickly!"

What are you reciting?

"Uh, it's nothing. Miami is a place with many talented people."

Gan Mengning and Gu Ailing, who were in the VIP viewing area behind the P room, were almost laughing their heads off. It was rare for two girls who grew up in completely different cultural environments to get the same joke.

Shu Long is usually not very active in the drivers' group, but he is quite talkative in TR. Gan Mengning originally wanted to watch the race with her senior colleagues, but she also missed the feeling of Shu Long constantly whispering in her ear.

We've been separated for too long and haven't seen each other often enough, let's wait until tomorrow to rejoin the group.
The entire Q1 window was very chaotic, and it was also the quarter where Shulong was the most talkative in TR. Having secured the P2 position early on, Shulong had no intention of going out again and instead chatted with his game engineer about tomorrow's weather.

It is said that there will be rain, but it is more likely to be a shower, and the rain may not be heavy.

The impact on the competition was negligible, so Shu Long's idle boasting wasn't about whether tomorrow's race would turn into a rainy one, but rather a complaint about the Miami event organizers' artificial marina viewing area, which they had specially set up to rival Monaco's yacht fleet, and that it could finally actually have some water.

The chaotic Q1 didn't affect Shulong much, but it took away Zhou Guanyu, who had rushed to P5 in the first round of flight.

It's a real shame. Arro was quite competitive at this tournament, and Xiao Zhou was frequently seen at the top of the roster during the practice matches in the first two days.

Practice race rankings are not reliable, but Bottas's lap record, which is even higher than Mercedes', shows that they are definitely not to be underestimated.

Q2 started with the old red track that had been used in Q1, which he used for three consecutive laps, constantly updating his understanding of the changes in track surface grip. Finally, he switched to a new red track and finished in P1 in one lap.

This weekend, due to taking on too many testing tasks that should have belonged to the Red Bull No. 1 car team, Shulong's remaining tire quota was not very abundant, and he only kept four sets of new red tires for himself before entering qualifying.

The key is definitely to save two new red sets for the battle for pole position in Q3. Ferrari, which showed its fangs in qualifying, is not to be underestimated.

Not only is its performance in medium and high-speed corners similar to or even slightly better than Red Bull's, but it also boasts significantly superior mechanical grip and dynamic smoothness in the 14th and 15th chicane corners.

Thanks to the two extremely long full-throttle sprint stages in Miami, and the Red Bull cars' unparalleled aerodynamic efficiency, Red Bull was able to make up for a significant portion of their time disadvantage by fully utilizing the characteristics of muscle cars.

Full throttle is fine for going all out, but if you're aiming for pole position, you really have to compete with Ferrari on cornering quality.

Verstappen, who only had one practice session and three training sessions in the first round to fine-tune his car, temporarily took the lead. Shu Long, on the other hand, was blocked by Stroll, who entered Q3 for the first time this season, with his signature "not looking in the rearview mirror" technique, and temporarily fell behind Hamilton in P6.

Sure enough, removing three pounds of the five pounds of iron can significantly improve lap time. Shu Long never expected that the old man with back pain, who had been suffering from dolphin jumps, could produce such competitiveness this week.

But now is not the time to focus on other places.

The two Ferraris' second-round surges simultaneously displaced Verstappen, with Leclerc improving the current fastest lap time by 0.2 seconds.

As a result, Verstappen made a mistake on his final flight lap. While entering turn 6 from turn 5, his front axle suddenly lost traction, causing him to slice through the air like a giant watermelon, thus invalidating his lap time.

Gu Ailing covered her mouth in surprise. Wasn't this the very place that Shu Long had specifically explained to her the day before yesterday?!

As a world champion, Max didn't quite understand how she made such a mistake, but it looked like she went too fast at Turn 5 and couldn't properly turn into Turn 6. Everything was exactly the same as the scene that Shu Long described the day before yesterday!
Verstappen, who made the mistake, looked extremely frustrated; he probably punched himself in the head twenty or thirty times on the way back.

"Damn it, I messed up! Still on P3?"

"Long is currently in P3 and is making his final sprint."

(End of this chapter)