F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 246 "I Am the Chapter Title"

He is really handsome for only three seconds.

Shulong, who had just climbed out of the car, was almost dripping wet. Just as he was about to stand on the HALO pillar to try the Jojo Stand, he stepped on the sweat that had been shaken off when he clenched his fist at the audience and landed hard on his bottom.

Then he lay there motionless.
That almost scared Red Bull half to death!

If this guy had missed one or two games due to injury, how could his lead in the championship standings have grown to what it is now?
Verstappen and Leclerc, who were discussing the match, exchanged a glance, then walked around to Shu Long's side, one on each side. Just as they were about to help him up, Shu Long, who was covering his face on the ground, quietly waved to them, indicating that they didn't need help.

The fall didn't hurt much; Shu Long felt that his pride was far more damaged than his buttocks.

Opening champagne doesn't seem very interesting. How about we have Max or someone else go up and accept the award for him in a bit?
Miami is a truly cursed place!

I really want to escape.
Seeing that Shu Long seemed to genuinely not need help, Verstappen and Leclerc turned back every few steps with inexplicable smiles on their faces and went to their respective teams to celebrate.

Shulong, lying on the ground, peered around through his helmet visor and discovered a rather oblivious camera staring intently at him from a short distance away.

Take pictures of them!
Actually, the embarrassment wasn't as bad as it had been when he first fell. Lying there didn't seem right either, so Shu Long gave the dutiful bearded man the middle finger and then sprang up from the ground with a somersault.

He's handsome again!

It didn't seem so. Everyone on the team, including Marco, had a mocking smile on their face, and they didn't look like they were genuinely happy for his victory.

A bunch of stinky men!

What about my one?
Horner quickly realized who Shu Long was looking for with his searching eyes, and pointed to the far right of the crowd, near the fence where Shu Long had just fallen.

The podium for the Miami Grand Prix wasn't near the pit lane, but rather on the other side of the main stage at Hard Rock Stadium. The parking area was rather shabby and couldn't accommodate many people.

Gan Mengning and the other girls who were with her didn't try to squeeze in with the group of rough men. Instead, they found a small corner that had been specially reserved for their group of friends and family.

He hugged Marco and Horner, and then shook hands with several hands that poked under his nose from behind.

Shu Long, still wearing his helmet, quickly stood on the scale, took off his gear in a few moments, and ran eagerly toward his girlfriend who was leaning on the railing looking in their direction.

Verstappen was also there, already making out with his girlfriend Kelly.

Shu Long ignored the guy's provocative gaze, simply leaned down and gave Gan Mengning a light hug, as if afraid that his sweaty body would dampen her skin, and then gently kissed her tender pink cheek.

After all, they grew up in a very traditional Chinese cultural background. Unless they were really unable to control themselves or the occasion was special, Shu Long really couldn't eat with such composure in front of everyone like his teammates.

Isn't this supposed to be a rather private matter?

While Shu Long had his reservations, Gan Mengning showed no sign of disdain for him.

First, she asked him with a little anxiety if he had hurt himself anywhere. After reaching out and touching Shu Long's racing suit, which was completely soaked, she tenderly cupped her boyfriend's slightly sunken cheeks due to dehydration and gently rubbed them.

They stayed in the P room to watch the game and felt a little bored, feeling that Shulong hadn't really put in much effort to win the championship.

Who would have thought that beneath the seemingly calm surface on camera, these drivers were enduring both psychological and physical pressure?
It's so hot!

The main race today was under direct sunlight, but shortly before the race, a sun shower fell for a while. The high temperature and the heat from the evaporation of water made the track feel like a sauna.

The track itself is a permanent track built on the basis of the parking lot around Hard Rock Stadium. The track layout is more like a traditional paved track, but the model and form are closer to a street race.

The buffer zone is practically non-existent, and the entire track is surrounded by walls that are very close to the track. This also brings the drawbacks of traditional street racing, such as poor air circulation and easy heat accumulation.

Red Bull faced its most severe overweight problem in the paddock. In order to remain competitive for the championship, it was impossible to provide the drivers with too much water. For almost half the time, both Red Bull drivers were in a state of extreme thirst.

Shulong is in a slightly better position. After all, given his physical condition, he's basically fine except for getting a little hot and irritable.

Verstappen's heart rate has not calmed down yet, and he is still panting heavily.

And then, in front of everyone, he had to share a deep kiss. Shu Long, watching from the side, felt a little terrified, afraid that he might not be able to breathe properly and faint.

He shook hands and greeted several friends from Gan Mengning's studio, and then gave a brief nod to Xiao Gu, who was being sidelined at the back.

After that came the usual post-race interviews. Once that was over, Shu Long sat in the convertible jeep that would take them to the other side, holding the water bottles the team had given them, and competed with Verstappen to see who could drink faster.

Men's competitive spirit is the same everywhere.
There is another two-week break between the Miami Grand Prix and the Spanish Grand Prix.

Shu Long neither went home nor returned to Red Bull's headquarters in Milton Keynes. Instead, he spent a few days in Miami with his girlfriend and her friends before flying to Monaco together.

The couple's birthdays are actually very close together. When they were just over one year old, their mothers took a funny photo of them with their mouths touching.

It could be said that the two of them gave each other their first kiss when they were just one year old. Perhaps some fates just brought them together in a daze.

Having been busy with competitions for years, Shu Long felt he had neglected his girlfriend and planned to take this rare opportunity to celebrate her birthday properly.

Besides this reason, there is another very interesting event in Monaco around Gan Mengning's birthday: the Monaco Classic Car Grand Prix, which is held only once every two years.

It's said to be held every two years, but it was actually suspended once in 2020 due to special circumstances.

Even though this is Shu Long's fourth year in F1, this is actually his first time participating in this classic event. As a fun part of his girlfriend's birthday celebration, it was quite good.

Incidentally, Leclerc also participated.

结果当他以为自己已经在家乡的主场遭遇过了全世界所有的厄运，然后开着尼基.劳达在1974年的座驾312B3-74这样一台最具历史标志性的法拉利F1赛车进行周末展示圈的时候，却在驶入Rascasse弯角因为刹车失灵发生了撞车.
This is an antique!

Who would have thought that a cameo appearance and last-minute overtime work could cause such a huge mess?

If Shu Long and Gan Mengning's child ever asks what the phrase "not knowing whether to laugh or cry" means, perhaps Shu Long will show him/her the expression on Leclerc's face that day.

Haha~

Before heading to Spain, Shu Long and Verstappen invited Lock & Lock and Norris out for a meal. Everyone brought their female companions, and Shu Long once again managed to hold his own in this kind of setting.

However, as the conversation turned to the competition and gossip, the topic suddenly shifted to Shu Long, asking him if he had any plans to find a place to live and settle down in Monaco.

Shu Long is one of the very few riders in the paddock who does not yet have a permanent residence in Europe. He is currently living in a temporary apartment near the Milton Keynes headquarters.

For a driver who earns tens of millions a year, this is a bit too meager. If he always goes back to China to live in a big house, it will be inconvenient to commute to and from the races. Moreover, if they live too far apart, it will be difficult for them to keep in touch.

The problem is that these few bastards who talk big without understanding the situation can enjoy the benefit of being exempt from personal income tax after becoming residents of Monaco.

Shu Long's family and many businesses are based in China, making it quite complicated to change his tax residency status. This includes the fact that dual citizenship is not recognized, which could potentially fall under the requirement of "returning to China to reside after other factors are eliminated" in the certification regulations.

So even if you spend a lot of money to acquire a property in Monaco, you may actually only have acquired a property.

Whether this matter is still worthwhile remains to be seen.

But what are the advantages of buying a house here? Besides making it easier to integrate into the team and commuting to races, at least the income generated by Shu Long in the team won't be intercepted by the UK first. Even if taxes are required, they can be directly transferred to China, which means keeping the profits within the family.

As they talked, Shu Long started to get excited. Once things settled down, he could finally add to his car collection like his father. He was also thinking about bringing a few pets home recently, and having a cozy little place where he wouldn't have to travel back and forth would be quite nice.

If I ever want to splurge on a luxury yacht in the future, it would be easy to park and maintain it here in Monaco.

If I really want to get one, it doesn't need to be too luxurious. My daily life will definitely be centered in China. A place in Monaco worth less than a million euros will be fine. The points and prize money from the five Grand Prix events I've played in Shulong so far this year should be enough.

As long as there are no major changes in the international situation, the housing prices in Monaco are unlikely to fall much. If you resell them later, you won't lose much money. In fact, you might even be able to raise the price because of the "Shulong lived here" title and make a small profit in the end.

Where did this planner come from?
After returning to the hotel, Shu Long asked his girlfriend for her opinion again. However, since Shu Long was managing his own income, it was already very good that he could give her such trust before they were even married. In this respect, Shu Long was exactly the same as his father, Shu Xiong.

Gan Mengning, however, felt it was inconvenient to say too much, and only suggested that Shu Long have his family team evaluate the situation after returning home.

The interpretation of tax-free policies is often in the hands of others. If you don't meet even one of the conditions, you may fail the certification. It also depends on whether the team behind you is incompetent.

Let's talk about it together when we have time during summer break.

The next day, Shu Long saw Gan Mengning and the CV team off on a flight back to China. After traveling for almost half a month, it was time for everyone to go back to work or school.

Because Gan Mengning needs to prepare for her undergraduate thesis defense, she definitely won't be able to be there in person to provide Shu Long with both physical and mental support at the Spanish Grand Prix. However, she will definitely be able to finish her work before the Monaco Grand Prix at the end of May, and will have plenty of time to spend with her boyfriend until the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break.

Gan Mengning's colleagues seemed a bit distracted. Shu Long had originally planned to help cover their expenses in Monaco these past few days, since the trip to Monaco was actually unplanned.

However, such an action inevitably had a hint of charity. Out of consideration for others' self-esteem, Gan Mengning did not agree to Shu Long's idea. She thought that others might not accept it either, and she did not want the relationship between them to be tainted by other materialistic motives in the future.

Upon closer reflection, it does seem inappropriate. Perhaps we can make it up to everyone in other ways in the future, but we absolutely cannot just blatantly take out money from our pockets like that.

But in fact, this trip was definitely worth it. Not only did they get free tickets to the Miami P-room viewing area, which others might not be able to buy for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, but they also got a lot of traffic from Shulong, including Gu Ailing.

My wallet did suffer a bit, though. Monaco and Miami are practically money pits. After such a trip, my whole body feels like it's aching all over.

Since the group started uploading photos of themselves with Shu Long and other riders in the paddock to their social media during the Grand Prix, the comment section has been flooded with posts urging people to post more.

The crossover video released by Red Bull's official account after returning to China has once again whetted the appetites of Chinese car enthusiasts.

However, because they did not obtain media authorization from the team, a large part of the footage they shot could not be released. There was no point in editing a bunch of bits and pieces, so they all directed the footage to Gan Mengning's Dou Ke account.

A joint submission was published there.

The video begins with celebrations for Shu Long's birthday in China and ends with celebrations for Gan Mengning's birthday in Monaco.

Not only did it make up for the lack of footage in the official account due to the need for program effects, but it was also filled with sweet and saccharine interactions. In particular, Gan Mengning's first-person perspective of almost crashing her bike but falling into Shu Long's reassuring embrace made many viewers in the comments section feel like they were shedding tears of envy.

Which bastards spread rumors that their relationship had broken down?

If you hadn't brought this up, why would everyone have seen this video? Why don't you come out and apologize? The guys who got sour will line up and slash you a couple of times first.

Shu Long didn't have much time to pay attention to these things online for the time being. After seeing his girlfriend off, he hitched a ride on his teammate's private plane and headed ahead to the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

The team is preparing for another round of significant weight reduction for the car in preparation for this week's race, and has also brought a series of major upgrades, including the diffuser, front endplate, rear wing endplate, and power unit cooling system.

The upgrade is quite large, and whether it's a positive upgrade is still unknown. We need to make some necessary preparations beforehand.

Based on past trends, if a team were to introduce an upgrade of this magnitude, the drivers would definitely not be as relaxed as they have been these past two weeks; it would be a good thing if they weren't spending all their time on the simulator at the base.

However, the team's budget cap has been further reduced this year, and each team is trying to cut operating costs. This hard and troublesome task is usually first screened by Oracle's data processing and cloud computing, and then most of the complicated tasks are handed over to the simulator drivers.

Only very occasionally do drivers need to go to the base to confirm data and details, which saves a lot of overtime pay that can be used to upgrade the race car.

Meanwhile, the simulator data for the first year of the Earth Effect Rules is not very accurate. Even if Shu Long and the others wanted to roll it up, they would not gain much benefit except by wasting time. So they might as well just enjoy their leisure.

As soon as he reported to his boss, Horner threw Shu Long a task he really didn't want to participate in, but had no room to refuse.

On May 24, after the Spanish Grand Prix concludes, there will be a charity football match in Monaco.

This event actually takes place every year, but because Shu Long isn't really interested in football and doesn't really know how to play it, he's always declined to participate.

But not this year.

Red Bull was definitely going to join in the fun. As one of the top drivers whose popularity is no less than Verstappen's, not only did the organizers want him to participate, but Horner also filled in his name without hesitation.

Aside from the issue of individual ability, the reason is quite simple: Alonso already answered related questions at last week's media conference.

Why do you think the audience for Formula 1 has been growing in recent years?

Some people think it's because of DTS's expansion, others think it's because of last year's dramatic championship battle, but Alonso calmly said:
"And there are good-looking drivers."

Indeed, the average appearance of young drivers in the paddock has improved significantly in recent years, and Shu Long, as the top of the top, is regarded as an irreplaceable resource by many investors, who are all eager to have him appear on their radar.

But isn't this forcing a duck onto a shelf?

But I really can't.

"It's okay if you don't know how. There are plenty of options, and everyone will take turns playing. You might not even touch the ball once when you're on the field. Just relax and enjoy yourself."

Hey~ what you're saying!
Shu Long can admit he's bad at the game, but you can't just point your finger at me and say I'm bad. Horner's words just ignited the man's competitive spirit.

You can't reach the ball, right?

"Then I'll be the goalkeeper!"

"You can discuss this with other people."

Row!
On the day of the match, if the opposing team managed to score even one goal, Shu Long would tear the football apart and eat it on the spot!
Putting aside the talk about the future, after a round of evaluation, the team decided that, apart from the weight reduction parts, the only aerodynamic upgrades submitted to the FIA ​​were the tail wing and floor plate.

It's pretty much the same for Ferrari.

After the race, many media outlets spread rumors that Ferrari would bring a series of upgrades to the Circuit de Catalunya, including a rear wing, floor, sidepods, brake ventilation ducts, and weight reduction.

But in reality, judging from the list they submitted to the FIA, only the tail wing, rear brake winglet, and the new base plate that has been in development since Imola have been implemented.

Apart from Haas, other teams also brought out some upgrades to varying degrees. Only Aston Martin directly presented a B-version car that was almost completely rebuilt, which immediately caused an uproar.

The reason is simple: this B-version Aston Martin looks way too damn similar to the current Red Bull!

Especially those two side cases, which are almost a one-to-one replica!
(End of this chapter)