F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 254 Burning Transaminase (For the Alliance Leader!)

To find a winning opportunity strategically, the primary condition is to have room to implement the strategy.

One is a window for observing the line of cars behind.

Another point is to determine when the semi-wet tires are in their advantageous period. If necessary, you can even consider skipping the semi-wet tire option and waiting for the track to dry before considering running on yellow or white tires.

The point at which the temperature changes between dry and wet conditions is crucial. In Monaco, because the speed couldn't be increased in the main race, the stress on the tires wasn't actually that great.

Moreover, Senna and Ricciardo were able to defend their P1 position even when they were stuck in gear, which shows that even if the tire wear is not good, as long as there is no tire blowout, the impact on the race will not be too great.

This is true even for the cars in the top-ranking championship contenders.

After all, the constant laps of slower cars are an unavoidable part of the Monaco Grand Prix.

A normal entry time this week is around 19.5 seconds, which is a relatively ideal situation. However, considering that rainy weather will increase the difficulty of changing tires, it is safer to calculate the total entry time as 21-22 seconds.

Of course, the extreme situation of changing tires for Bottas in 1.8 days, which Monaco put him in last year, is not considered.

In situations like this, the strategy team's focus really has to be on Shu Long alone. Verstappen can only get a small share at most; if he can be promoted, great, but if not, at least he won't lose anything.

And windows are something like that.
Don't be fooled by how much effort the qualifying stage puts into finding open spaces on the track for drivers to push freely; it's enough to make the massive strategy team at Red Bull headquarters rack their brains. But in the actual race, these open spaces aren't so difficult to calculate.

There is no doubt that the Mars Group is fast enough to quickly widen the gap with the Earth Group behind them.

When a race car that doesn't have a particularly strong performance advantage is constantly exposed to massive amounts of polluted air, it's not an easy task to maintain close proximity to the car in front while also creating space for attack, just like Shulong did.

Especially since the track surface is still very slippery, almost everyone can only cruise in a boring way and can't do much else. It is very common for idle drivers to complain to the team about the lack of grip of the car. It is actually the norm to be unable to keep up with the car.

By lap 10, there were already three traffic gaps caused by non-pitching for tire changes.

One was the gap of more than 14 seconds between Ocon and Hamilton, another was the massive gap of nearly 13 seconds between Norris and Verstappen, and the third was the 6-second gap that gradually widened after Albon was affected by Sainz's intrusion.

The window between Ocon and Hamilton is too far from Red Bull's considerations, so it's naturally not within the scope of Red Bull's strategy team. Therefore, the gap between Norris and Verstappen will inevitably become the focus of the game between Red Bull and Ferrari in this match.

Norris had a stellar performance in yesterday's qualifying session, securing McLaren's top starting position at P5 with a lucky clean lap, which also unwittingly played a crucial role in disrupting the flow of traffic behind him.

The current situation on the field is roughly that Leclerc is in the lead, Shulong is always close behind by 0.4-0.7 seconds looking for opportunities, while Verstappen is far behind Shulong by about 3.5 seconds to protect his tires.

The results of Monaco's qualifying session were that important. Even with Verstappen's volatile temper in the car, he knew perfectly well that the team would not be inclined to favor him strategically.

Shu Long can afford to relentlessly pursue Verstappen regardless of tire wear, but Verstappen will have to rely on himself to improve his position in this race, and see if he can try an overcut by staying on the track longer.

By slightly adding up the time difference between the group members, they knew that the decisive moment was not far away.

But now there's a problem: if a gap can become a window for Shulong to enter the station, then it can also become a gap for Leclerc.

Because Leclerc had a positional advantage in this race, the initiative to end the first round of the race early still leaned more towards Ferrari. If Red Bull wanted to launch a surprise attack, they would have to take a bigger risk.

Otherwise, if Norris turns the tables and blocks them, the entire game might be for naught.

The reason Shu Long was so persistent was not only because he had absolute confidence in his car control in the polluted air, but also mainly to prevent Leclerc from gaining further strategic initiative, and to see if he could force the car in front of him to make more forced mistakes.

Let's see how the semi-weather tire group performs next.

After all, this is the decisive factor that helps the strategy team determine whether to use semi-weather tires as a transitional measure. Otherwise, strategically abandoning semi-weather tires and waiting for the right time to use dry tires might be the best option.

After Gasly, Stroll and Perez pitted for semi-wet tires in the first round, many other mid-to-lower-tier teams followed suit with the same strategy.

Among them were Vettel, Mick, and Zhou Guanyu, who was also tricked into falling into Shu Long's trap.

Zhou Guanyu entered the station the earliest.

Trusting in the judgment of a certain enthusiastic fellow villager, and considering that several key decisions by Pierce this season that led to points were related to Shu Long, he, who started as a P20, naturally had the courage to take a gamble. Like Sainz, he was influenced by Shu Long and chose to pit on the third lap.

Meanwhile, the German uncle and nephew pair, Mick and Vettel, only caught up with the trend of using semi-weather tires on laps 6 and 7 respectively.

Interesting, right?

Although Alfa Romeo's development strategy is starting to diverge from Ferrari's, the two teams have maintained a high degree of consistency in their reactions to the developments of the Shulong team, but the final results seem to present two completely opposite extremes.

Sainz is finished. During one stop, he fell right behind Ricardo, while in front of him was a long line of little trains including Magnussen, Bottas, Kakuta, and Ocon.

Not only could they not get past it, but Ocon was also almost killing their pace in each lap.

In order to gain points, the mid-to-lower-tier teams, with limited resources and speed margins, naturally do not have the confidence to put all their eggs in one basket. Among them, Magnussen, Bottas, and Kakuta have already developed strategic differences with their teammates, and will obviously become the most steadfast supporters of this train formation.

Only Ricardo and Ocon have the theoretical possibility of escaping the train formation.

However, Ricardo's position is too far behind his teammates. His main competitors now are the goalkeepers around him in the points zone. If he pits now, he will fall to the end of the half-wet tire lineup. It is better to stay here and wait for the race when he can directly switch to dry tires.

As for O'Connor, there's no point in even thinking about it. The huge time difference between him and Hamilton isn't simply because he can't keep up with the pace of a long distance in the polluted air; he's clearly carrying out other tasks as well.

Monaco has no shortage of strategies to deliberately hold back the car to help their teammates get a pit stop window. The moment Sainz fell into the trap, he had already stepped into Alpine's hunting ground.

Any team with a sound mind would know the importance of resource allocation at a track like Monaco; trying to treat everyone equally is undoubtedly the most foolish choice.

Although Alonso hit a wall in Q3 yesterday, his final qualifying result placed him in P7, three positions ahead of Ocon in P10.

In fact, O'Connor is a rather interesting person. When he and his teammates get together on the track, he becomes completely out of control, as if he's on drugs.

However, when he is not in direct competition with his teammates on the track, he can be considered a very responsible team driver, and that ruthlessness is naturally transferred to his opponents.

Perhaps it's related to his background as an ordinary driver. When his parents sold their property to support their child's dream, O'Connor realized that all resources in this world can only be earned through one's own hard work.

Influenced by this similar way of thinking, O'Connor seems to be constantly striving to demonstrate his value to the team.

Without a doubt, on the Monaco track, where the chance of overtaking is almost zero, Ocon, knowing he had no chance of competing with Alonso, has very consciously and proactively taken on the role of a wingman.

Of course, the most crucial reason is that Ocon had already accumulated 28 driver points by the Spanish Grand Prix, a full 24 points behind his teammate Alonso, who had been the unluckiest two-time world champion. This mental advantage undoubtedly made him much more agreeable.

Ocon's main task now is to completely wear down Sainz at the back of the pack. If he can create a free pit stop window for Alonso, his teammates can easily improve their position.

In this situation, even if Ferrari wanted to help Sainz out of trouble, they were powerless and had no choice but to focus their attention on Leclerc, who was leading the pack.

He's pole position, and the only Monaco home driver in the paddock. Shouldn't he be entitled to Ferrari's strategic favoritism in this race?

I don't know what Ferrari's strategy team was thinking. It's such an obvious conclusion, yet they had to spend five laps discussing it before they could reach a decision.
Because the Ocon train slowed them down, Sainz's performance on the semi-wet tires was no longer relevant. Therefore, Ferrari's key reference for deciding whether Leclerc needed to pit became Perez and Gasly, who were pushing hard in the clean air behind them.

Especially after the second and third batches of drivers who decided to pit for semi-wet tires, Perez and Gasly, who originally started from P16 and P17 respectively, finally overtook Albon, who was gradually falling behind, and now moved up to P14 and P15 respectively.

Albon barely defended his teammate Perez, while Gasly took advantage of Williams's opening when he was off the road, getting a free ride and improving his position without having to waste time in unnecessary battles.

We all come from the Red Bull system, so let's not be so different from each other, right?

Shulong's earlier assessment of the track conditions was clearly correct; the semi-rain tires were now unstoppable.

Even Zhou Guanyu, who started at the back of the grid, caught up with Albon, whose lap times had completely collapsed, after two laps thanks to timely follow-up strategies. After exiting the tunnel, he decisively made an inside turn, raising his position to P16 before the new deceleration corners 10 and 11.

After more than ten laps of tireless drainage work by 20 race cars, a light gray racing line has now appeared on the track. However, due to the generally slow speed of the race cars, the drainage capacity is limited. This relatively dry racing line is actually very narrow, and the distinct wet sections are still very slippery.

This puts all-weather tires in a rather awkward situation.

Switching to semi-wet tires now isn't cost-effective, and switching to dry tires isn't feasible yet, but the increasingly dry track surface makes it particularly easy for the fragile full-wet tires to overheat.

Especially this section of the tunnel.

The area wasn't significantly affected by the rainfall to begin with. After more than ten laps of the race, the track conditions were practically the same as a completely dry track. It was also a relatively high-speed corner, and after just one corner, the tire temperature readings on the steering wheel were almost alarming!
The subsequent downhill deceleration curves placed even more stringent demands on braking. The full-weather tires, already on the verge of deteriorating grip, naturally required even more careful selection of braking points. This is the most important reason why Zhou Guanyu was able to find an overtaking opportunity here.

As for why Stroll, who entered the station at the same time as Gasly and his group, wasn't mentioned...
Okay, I admit I was exaggerating a bit too early.

Our young master does indeed often deliver impressive performances in rainy matches, but Stroll's "weak wall" label of not being good at street races is even more firmly attached to him than Zhou Guanyu's.

Last year at the Monaco Grand Prix, Stroll made a series of confusing mistakes during the main race, drawing the director's attention at crucial moments in the battle, which led to the famous meme "Stroll interrupts everything".

If the track is this dry and it's still like this, you can only imagine how slippery the conditions are for this year's race.

On his first lap after switching to semi-wet tires, the young master locked up at the hotel corner and crashed into the barrier, sending himself to the back of the pack. Fortunately, the speed of the cars there was extremely slow, and apart from a slight damage to the front nose cone, he was able to back up the car and continue driving.

There's no point in going to the station now; we can only try to wait until the tires are dry before going to the station for repairs.

This so-called dry tire opportunity is also a problem that Red Bull's strategy team continues to weigh, as Shulong, which has been relentlessly chasing Leclerc, is now experiencing a very serious decline in tire quality.

Following closely behind and inhaling dirty air is already detrimental to the heat dissipation of the tire surface. In order to keep up with the pace of the leading race car and not fall behind, a relatively aggressive braking method has to be adopted. Even though Shulong has deliberately gone to an unconventional racing line to find water to catch up, the current full-weather tires are actually already on the verge of being scrapped.

But he didn't say it.

If we don't tell them, Ferrari won't know.

Unable to gauge the strength of the tailgating dragon behind him, and feeling that his tires weren't in ideal condition, the Leclerc also adopted a tire-preserving strategy. The relatively less intense driving force greatly reduced the burden on the tailgating dragon following behind.

Overheating isn't the exclusive domain of just one or two teams. In fact, the overall speed of the car convoy is gradually slowing down, and many teams that are still sticking with full wet tires are seriously considering the possibility of skipping semi-wet tires.

This is especially true for the little trains led by O'Connor.

The lap time rhythm on full wet tires dropped drastically. Even without instructions from the team to slow down the car, Ocon is now in a state where he can't go fast even if he wants to.

Meanwhile, because of the collapse in lap times on full wet tires, the small group of semi-wet tires led by Perez caught up very quickly. If they pitted now, they would only lose positions. So why not wait until the time for dry tires and pit together?
This directly eliminates the possibility of the championship contenders being collectively undercut by Sainz, which greatly reduces the computational burden on Red Bull and Ferrari's strategy teams.

But things aren't entirely without variables on the track right now.

As Ocon gradually opened up the window between himself and Hamilton, not only Alonso, but also Norris all the way to Hamilton almost freed up a free entry window.

Once their strategy teams realize this, if Red Bull and Ferrari continue to wait for the right time to drive on dry tires, they could very well be undercut by the midfielders.

Saying that lap times dropped due to full-weather tires doesn't mean that everyone's speed was dropping drastically.

In fact, due to the improved track conditions, both semi-wet and full-wet tires have the opportunity to take turns breaking the current fastest lap record, and at this time, the title of fastest lap in the entire track still belongs to Leclerc.

The main reason is that Perez has already connected with Ocon on the track, and with the overall pace being slowed down, the semi-wet tires don't show much of a lap time advantage. If the team's on-the-spot decision-making is not sharp enough, they may really overlook this point.

According to Red Bull's strategy team's previous research and analysis on the evolution of Perez's lap times, the current lap times of the semi-wet tires at full speed may be 3 seconds faster than those of the full-wet tires, and may even approach 4 seconds as the track progresses and the wear and tear on the full-wet tires increases.

This is already a rather exaggerated number.

If the track window after a pit stop is ideal, the time loss caused by a pit stop might be completely made up in four or five laps. Faced with the pursuit of semi-wet tires with an absolute grip advantage, full-wet tires might be as helpless as Albon was against Zhou Guanyu before.

Will anyone realize this?

Shu Long felt that his team should have realized it. All the signs during the communication in the TR and the details of the signal feedback on the steering wheel suggested that they should have realized it.

In the first ten laps of the race, besides keeping pace with Ferrari, the only task assigned to Shu Long by the team was to provide real-time feedback on the track's grip, so as to help them decide whether to pit for tires.

When René told Sainz about Sainz's current predicament to the driver, Shu Long couldn't help but feel fortunate that he hadn't acted unilaterally.

Given Sainz's current predicament, it's uncertain whether he can re-enter the points zone before the end of the race. Even Shu Long himself isn't confident he can successfully break through on the current Monaco circuit.

If the victory is handed to Leclerc, Shulong's current 29-point lead in the championship standings will be quickly compressed to 4 points. If Leclerc also takes the fastest lap, the lead will be reduced to only 3 points.

For Ferrari, which is currently leading the pack, this possibility is not nonexistent; it's practically a certainty.

Even though he had calmed down from the intense emotions at the start of the race, starting from lap six, Shu Long tirelessly relayed feedback to the team that the track conditions were indeed good enough, repeatedly confirming whether there was a window for pit stops and re-entry.

The team's response to this has consistently been negative.

By laps 13 and 14, the team began to tell Shulong that there was a possibility of tire maintenance or other issues. However, instead of emphasizing that Shulong should slow down, they intentionally or unintentionally stressed how impressive the lap times of the semi-wet tire group behind them were.

By this point, Shu Long had already begun to understand what was going on. So even though he kept saying he wanted to pit, he didn't press the confirmation button on the steering wheel like he did on lap 3, trying to convey to the team that he understood.

We reached lap 18.

Hannah bypassed Reni and spoke into the microphone to tell Shulong that they needed to extend the stint of this tire set as much as possible, making it clear that the team would skip the intermediate option of the semi-wet tires and go straight to the white tires later.

But then, a symbol confirming the convoy's arrival at the station lit up on Shulong's steering wheel.

"Copy!"

This was Shu Long's response, but under the cover of pressing the steering wheel sharply down before the hotel bend, a cunning little rascal also quietly pressed the button to confirm entering the station.

At this point, the communication channels between the team and the driver were completely aligned.

Whitley began to urgently dispatch the tire-changing technicians in the pit garage, but did not tell them to go out and prepare now. Instead, he told them in the team channel to first identify the tires they would be using and then quickly go to the tire-changing parking space to be ready when instructed.

There's no problem with choosing the semi-wet tires you'll use in advance. Right now, every team's pit stop is in a state of high alert, with everyone on guard against opponents suddenly making pit stops. There are always people guarding the tire racks.

So even though the broadcast showed the Red Bull pit crew moving around, Ferrari's strategy and data team simply assumed the mechanics were tired and were tugging at the tire warmer blanket, and did not issue any warnings to the control room.

Why didn't you go out in advance to prepare for changing the tire?

Aren't you afraid of messing things up?

It can only be said that Red Bull's move was indeed quite deceptive.

Because of their status as the team champions last year, Red Bull's pit garage in Monaco this year was set up in the closest place to the pit lane entrance. The car is right there as soon as it turns in. How extreme do you want to push the limits if you don't prepare in advance?
It is indeed extreme, but the word "extreme" is inherently associated with the Red Bull trademark; if it weren't extreme, it wouldn't be Red Bull.

It wasn't until Shu Long plunged headfirst into the pool bend that Whitley gave the order in the command channel. Red Bull's seemingly loose but actually well-prepared tire-changing team grabbed their gear and sprinted out of the pit lane.

There wasn't a single extra exchange in TR throughout the entire process.

The crew believed that Shulong understood, and Shulong was also willing to believe that the crew was ready.

Ferrari was initially stunned upon seeing this, but after two seconds it suddenly dawned on him, and he frantically reconnected to the communication channel with Leclerc:

"Boxbox! We box in this lap!"

For almost a lap, you guys didn't give any advance warning, and Leclerc himself even checked with the team to see if a pit stop was necessary. Now everyone's relaxed and focused on getting through turns 18 and 19, and suddenly hearing the team call for a pit stop, you can only imagine how Leclerc must have felt.

However, this is not the peak of Cao Dan's career. Ferrari's lower limit can always exceed the imagination of any Ferrari driver.

One team is an elite crew that has made advance preparations, while the other team, although equally excellent when the team is functioning well, can be expected to produce some hilarious results in the face of such a sudden emergency.

Ferrari's strategy team seemed to realize that this pit stop might not be properly prepared, and in the rush, Xavi's tongue and upper palate engaged in a passionate struggle, slurring his words as he shouted "Stay out!" several times.

The car's already in here and you're just standing there, waiting to leave! Why didn't you wait until everyone had parked before you started yelling?

Leclerc could see the Red Bull crew still hurriedly setting up their tire-changing formation, and he could also see that there was only one parking space in front of his house that the former jack mechanic had prepared. He felt like a million alpacas were stampeding through his mind.

"Fxck!F***!****!Why?!What-What are you doing?"

He started with a long string of censored "beep-beep-beep!" and then, combined with the Leclerc's first-person perspective of angrily pounding the steering wheel, the commentators were amused.

"Pfft-hahaha!"

"I... I still... Although this might not be very friendly to Ferrari fans, it's the first time I've ever heard of horns being installed on F1 cars, hehe~"

The studio suddenly fell silent again after everyone had been laughing.

Because the director seemed to enjoy the drama, he switched the camera to the helmet's first-person perspective on the side of Shulong.

Shu Long, who was clearly supposed to pit behind Leclerc, had already changed tires ahead of time. He leisurely passed by the Ferrari pit lane, where there was still chaos and commotion. He reached out and gave a thumbs up with a hint of schadenfreude.

Not
That bastard is so mean!
Even though from all perspectives, Shulong is the one that mainstream media in China should support, at this moment, the commentators and audience members outside the field all felt a sense of guilt for a certain heartless bastard on the field.

The child has already suffered enough; don't you have any conscience at all teasing a fool like this?

"To be honest, I don't really understand why Ferrari was in such a hurry to follow suit and enter the pits. Was it simply because they noticed that Red Bull was planning to enter the pits?"

"But the semi-wet tires don't seem to be showing a significant advantage in lap times right now. I think since they're not ready yet, Ferrari could take a lap and see how things go before deciding whether to pit!"

"Hiss—yes! You see, after Shulong left the station, it actually fell behind Norris. Even if it wanted to catch up, it would take some time, and it would also take some time to warm up the tires and get them into the working window."

Fei Ge suddenly fell silent at this point in the analysis.

Because Shulong had only entered within 1.5 seconds of Norris, McLaren called the unfortunate kid, who had been running around in the middle of nowhere, back.

At the same time, Shulong's arrival at the station has also triggered a series of butterfly effects.

From Norris to Russell to Hamilton, after seeing Shulong choose to switch to semi-rain tires, everyone seemed to subconsciously feel that this was the right answer. Fortunately, Aokang had provided everyone with a free pit stop window, so they decided to follow suit and take a gamble.

However, when it came to Hamilton, the pit window was a bit too narrow. Mercedes responded with a two-car pitting strategy, and Hamilton, after exiting the pit, was right in front of Ocon.

But the old man, whose tires hadn't even reached the window temperature yet, had no grip at all. After leaving the pits, his car's traction at Turn 1 was a complete mess, and he could only watch helplessly as an Alpine car forcibly devoured him.
The fall of the seven-time champion is undoubtedly a cause for lament, but the sharp-eyed Ran Ge suddenly noticed that there was still a maverick stubborn cyclist on the track who was still insisting on racing on blue all-weather tires.

"Verstappen? Why does Verstappen seem to have no intention of stopping at all?!"

"I don't know, maybe they want to take a gamble?"

Actually, Alonso hadn't even pitted yet, but his position in the pit lane was too far back, and the situation on the field was chaotic. Almost none of the commentators noticed that there was an old man charging forward alone.

It's true that his teammate O'Conn worked hard to create a free entry window for him, but the opportunity they got came too late, so late that everyone saw the chance to intervene.

Even if we went to the pit to change to semi-weather tires as originally planned, the result would be nothing more than being sandwiched between two Mercedes cars again. Since that's the case, we might as well take a gamble!
The commentators couldn't figure out what Verstappen was planning, but once they were completely immersed in a moment of clarity, he quickly demonstrated why Ferrari had reacted so strongly.

Before pitting, Leclerc's fastest lap time was 1:31.490, while Shulong, after exiting the pits, even set purple times in the second and third timeouts on his first lap. On the second lap, he improved his lap time to 1:26.983, which was a full 4.507 seconds faster!
With this level of improvement in lap time, Leclerc would absolutely lose his P1 position, let alone pitting a lap later or even reacting a half lap later.

That's right.

It wasn't just Red Bull that noticed the potential of the semi-wet tires currently on the track; Ferrari naturally did as well.

The reason they hadn't followed up earlier was mainly because they felt Red Bull wasn't making any moves, and the ticket window after entering the station wasn't exactly great.

As the tires of the cars ahead overheated, Norris, who was also in clean air, gradually caught up with the Mars Group's long-distance pace, and his pace became roughly the same as that of Shulong and Leclerc.

This resulted in Norris being about 16 seconds behind Shullon on lap 10, and still only about 17 seconds behind on lap 19. If he were to pit rashly, the chances of being blocked and having his rhythm disrupted would be extremely high. This is the fundamental reason why Ferrari hesitated several times.

Therefore, Red Bull's arrangement for Shulong to enter the station was, to some extent, a gamble.

But you can't not gamble. Just like the attitude that Shu Long expressed to the team at the beginning of the race, if you don't even have the courage to take the initiative on the Monaco track, how can you say that you really want to win the race?

The reality is that they really made the right bet.

The first to react to the pit stop were actually the two Mercedes cars, while Norris was simply afraid of being undercut by the cars behind him, so he had no choice but to pit as well on the next lap.

Now everyone has seen the consequences of being a step behind. Norris was indeed moved up in position by Russell. Seeing this, even the angry Iron Buddhas seemed unsure whether they should continue to condemn Wolverine.

It seems I still need to spit a couple more times!

Knowing full well how complicated the situation on the field is, what are you bunch of people in red doing, just loitering around aimlessly? Aren't you just asking for trouble?
Stop watching this circus troupe trying to annoy themselves. The commentators and viewers' attention returned to Shu Long, wondering if he could catch up with or even surpass his teammates before the dry tire season arrived.

Very tight schedule.

Just as Shu Long led a large group into the pit to change to semi-wet tires, Ricardo, who had been blocking Sainz from behind, finally chose to pit and complete his first stop.

However, just like the group that first chose the semi-wet tire strategy, this time they are prepared to take the initiative and directly switch to dry tires for a second breakthrough attempt.

Gasly, Sainz, and Mick Schumacher are among them.

The pit stop, which was somewhat rushed in order to conceal the tactics, was not as smooth as it seemed. Shulong also went through a tire change that took nearly four seconds. The total pit stop time was 21.74 seconds, and he came out of the pit about 23.5 seconds behind Verstappen, who was actually in P1.

Reni also relayed to Shulong Vestapan that he had refused to enter the station, only instructing him to seize the time to quickly close the gap with the front.

The team's strategic bias can only be implemented through the team's own execution procedures. The team has no control over the drivers' self-determination on the track. Shu Long himself has secretly ambushed his teammates several times without the team's knowledge.

Don't laugh at me, elder brother. Shu Long didn't have any objections to this; he just kept his head down and focused on what he was supposed to do.

He closed the gap to 2 seconds on the 20th lap after leaving the pits.

On lap 21, he officially entered the sprint phase and recovered 4.507.

On lap 22, Verstappen also started pushing hard, but Shulong's pace improved even faster, pushing his lap time on the half-rain tires to 1:24.612, making up 6.67 seconds in one lap.

By lap 23, Shu Long had already seen Verstappen's taillights, and just half a lap later, he was within one second of his teammate's attack range.

The tension during this chase was so intense that even professional commentators, whose mental fortitude had been honed to perfection by Ferrari, couldn't help but feel a bit parched. The outcome of the entire race hinged on this one tremor!
FIA had not yet restored the DRS on the track, so Shu Long did not intend to waste his time on the starting straight on lap 24. Instead, he followed the track steadily until the Portier corner at point 8 before suddenly accelerating.

This short section of tunnel with its high-speed curves that allow for full throttle acceleration is definitely the section of road that best highlights the differences in tire performance.

Having been relentlessly pursued all the way, it was easy to guess that Verstappen's four blue wheels were probably overheating by now, and based on Shu Long's years of understanding of his teammate, the opponent would definitely be here.
The broadcast camera was showing the backs of two Red Bulls disappearing into the tunnel bend one after the other, and then it switched to a shooting point outside the tunnel exit in the next shot.

It's like deliberately creating suspense, letting the audience guess which one will be the first to rush out from there.

The answer is that they appear side by side.

Due to overheated tires, Verstappen did not choose to go to the outside line with faster cornering speeds to fight hard inside the tunnel. Instead, he used the shorter driving distance on the right side of the track to hold his position. On the other hand, Shulong made a series of attempts on the outside line using better tire conditions and cornering speeds.

But at the very moment they were about to reach the "Genshin Impact Activation" exit, it was as if they were telepathically connected.

The two players changed lanes almost simultaneously, but Verstappen chose to move to the inside of the left-hand deceleration corner to defend, while Shu Long made a U-turn to the right side of the track.

There was still water on the left side of the track, which Verstappen could use to cool down his blue tires, which were almost worn down to a semi-wet tire.

If he manages to gain the right-of-way in the paint, he can then use his forward position to enter the pits first and directly choose a dry tire to complete a reversal of the situation.

As someone known for his shrewdness on the track, Shu Long was actually somewhat aware of Verstappen's plans.

But at this moment, "Mad Max" is clearly on the verge of a mental breakdown. Never underestimate the determination that someone with the nickname "Tower Cannon" can show in the paint. Being forced to withdraw from the game at this point is definitely the worst deal.

But Shulong naturally has his own way of dealing with it.

Using better cornering traction efficiency, he completed the climb in one fell swoop, thrusting towards his teammate and forcing him to brake late, while slightly locking up his brakes to control his instinct to track into the corner.

As expected, when he saw his teammate make a late stop, Verstappen, in a fit of temper, immediately went for an even later and more extreme late stop.

However, the excessive wear from more than twenty laps, the overheating of the tires from being forced to push at full speed, and the slippery conditions of the unconventional racing track all contributed to the problem.
Already lacking sufficient entry angle on the inside, Verstappen was further weakened by the aforementioned debuffs, leaving him with absolutely no chance of entering the corner normally and causing him to cut through the entire Turn 11.

"Profiting off the track, you should give me back my position, right?"

"We are discussing it!"

Then tell me the result in a few minutes, right?

Without a doubt, given Mad Max's personality, there's absolutely no way he'd give the position back, even if it meant taking a penalty time.

Shu Long muttered a curse to himself, then watched helplessly as his teammate turned straight into the pit after passing Turn 18.

He can't possibly follow.

The hasty entry of two trains into the station will inevitably cause traffic congestion. Verstappen can still maintain his position in P1 as long as he refuses to enter the station after exiting. On the contrary, Shulong himself may be overtaken by Leclerc.

At that time, the leading race car will have an undeniable advantage in tire maintenance, and it is not entirely impossible for the penalty time window to be reopened!

As Shu Long had predicted, Verstappen insisted that he was in the lead at the apex of the corner and firmly refused the team's request for him to relinquish his position.

Just when Shulong was debating whether to take the semi-wet tires and run a few more laps on the semi-dry track to see if he could try to overcut his position back, and was even prepared to stick with his teammate for the whole race and rely on penalty time to turn the tide even if he couldn't regain his position, he was still determined to win.

A yellow flag and two Haas cars suddenly appeared on the track.
Safety car!
The cycle of karma is real; no one escapes the wrath of Heaven.

Magnussen retired from the race on lap 19 due to mechanical failure. Now, it's obvious to Shu Long who owns the Haas that's lying on the track. This is the first time he's found that big oaf Mick so pleasing to the eye.

Finally!
After being ruined by Mick's crash for who knows how many times, this was the first time that Shulong truly benefited from Mick's yellow flag.

Verstappen exited the pits 25 seconds behind Shu Long and 17 seconds behind Leclerc. However, the time lost during a pit stop under a safety car can be considered equivalent to 9 seconds.

After a dramatic reshuffling, Leclerc unexpectedly returned to P2, while Shulong officially secured the rightful lead in this race.

Now there's no need to worry about whether he should return to his position. Verstappen, who has automatically dropped to P3, is no longer concerned about luck or whether the team rules are fair. Instead, he needs to worry about whether he can hold onto his podium position after the race restarts.

The damage to the Mick race car was so severe that not only were pieces scattered everywhere, but the complete destruction of the car body also caused oil to leak everywhere, making this the most difficult part to clean up.

So after the safety car led the way for 5 laps, the race organizers decided to change the yellow flag to a red flag.

With 47 laps remaining, it's obvious that most teams will only consider a straight-run strategy, meaning Verstappen won't have the opportunity to pit for penalties even if he wanted to.

Alonso is definitely the second beneficiary of this accident, instantly rising to P4 in the standings.

Then came Russell (P5), Norris (P6), Hamilton (P7), Perez (P8), Bottas (P9), Kakuta (P10), and Zhou Guanyu (P11).

Bottas and Ocon were both victims of the early switch to dry tires; one was knocked out of position by Perez, and the other dropped out of the points zone.

If they had used those tires for just two more laps, the overall rankings might have been very different.

Twenty minutes later, the team received notification that the race had restarted.

Even though everyone decided to switch to dry tires, the race organizers still decided to start with a dynamic grid start.

This Grand Prix has already been marred by rain and several delays in setting the red flag. With only three hours remaining before the maximum time limit for the race, if any more incidents occur during the static start, the rest of the race might as well be canceled.

Of course, in the eyes of the commentators and the audience, the FIA's decision was no different from simply stopping the match.

Monaco's main tournament is notoriously boring, so this year's event was unusually exciting with so many dramatic moments. The official document effectively killed off most of the fun in the subsequent matches.

Dynamic start, dynamic end.

The rule limiting the maximum time ultimately made this year's Monaco race less than perfect. The total distance was originally planned to be 78 laps, but Shu Long had only completed 63 laps before the clock was forced to stop.

Aside from Zhou Guanyu's spectacular drift save when he attempted to overtake Kazuoda using the same trick, which earned the combination of corners 10 and 11 the nickname "New Pants Corner," the rankings of all the cars were basically as they started and ended.

However, for Shu Long, this race had already been thrilling enough. His most desired scenario in the second half of the race was to cruise smoothly and return safely. As a result, his voice in the TR was tinged with a barely perceptible sob when he crossed the finish line.

This is Monaco!

"I don't know what to say, guys. Brilliant strategy! Perfect execution! And a little bit of good luck!"

"Yes, luck plays a big part, and you ran exceptionally well."

"No, no, no, thank you for stopping my impulse at the beginning! Thank you to my parents, my grandfather, my girlfriend, and all my other friends and fans, thank you for the strength you gave me! I'm sorry I didn't prepare a better speech for this moment."

Actually, he had said enough. As the pressure slowly receded like the tide, Shu Long's talkative nature, which he had been holding back for so long, finally erupted in a small burst.

The return lap seemed to be surveying its new territory, and it dragged on for almost 5 minutes. He just kept rambling on in the TR for 5 minutes without even taking a sip of water.

The most interesting thing is the post-race reactions. Of the three people on the podium today, it seems that only Shu Long can smile.

On the contrary, the area below the podium erupted in cheers, as everyone had achieved the results they wanted.

Verstappen stared blankly, seemingly lost in thought, while Leclerc kept pulling at his hair, clearly playing the role of someone who was unhappy.

So much so that the atmosphere was a little awkward when Shulong got out of the car to shake hands with them.
Victims

But none of that matters anymore; there's no room for excessive mercy on the path to becoming a king.

Le Mans √

Monaco√
What's next?

(End of this chapter)