F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 263 Combat Power Only
On their first day at Silverstone, the drivers weren't greeted with any promotional activities, but rather with a massive public relations campaign that required the teams to rack their brains. The first thing they did was to publicly issue a statement against racial discrimination on social media.

The impact of VIPs' racist remarks was greater than imagined.

Especially now that there is a seven-time world champion of African descent in the paddock, it has quickly become a hot topic in the current climate of political correctness.

Since entering the paddock, Shulong has not been completely free of racial discrimination, but the racial discrimination he has encountered is actually far less than imagined.

On the one hand, he himself rarely pays attention to those comments on social media platforms, and on the other hand, he really has to thank Hamilton for promoting the anti-racism movement in the paddock over the years.

In addition, since Shu Long himself is strong and there is nothing to talk about, he quickly gained a group of loyal fans, which is equivalent to putting on adaptive armor. Overall, things are relatively peaceful.

Shu Long wasn't very clear about how things were going with Zhou Guanyu.

Judging from their usual exchanges, the racist remarks seem to have been somewhat restrained because of Shu Long's presence and the fact that most of the comments were still about questioning his abilities.

However, that guy is the type who keeps everything bottled up inside, so he probably endures even more behind the scenes, but nobody knows it.

The whole incident was downplayed in Shulong's case. Asians are a particularly vulnerable group to discrimination in Europe, and the media generally don't focus on Shulong when choosing headlines to grab attention.

But for his teammate Verstappen, the first day in the paddock was far less pleasant than in Shulong.

So Horner's warnings to both Shu Long and Gan Mengning that day were not without reason.

Kelly Piquet's father, three-time F1 world champion Nelson Piquet, who is now Verstappen's future father-in-law, used a similar N-word in his comments about Hamilton in an interview last November.
In Brazilian Portuguese, terms similar to "little black" or "old black" in Chinese are generally neutral with a slightly flippant connotation. They don't carry much malice, but they're not exactly respectful either. If you were to ask whether they have a discriminatory connotation, you could say they do.

However, based on the context of the conversation and the attitude of the elder Piquet, the N-word he used could easily be interpreted as discriminatory. After the incident with Wips, it was brought up again by online "archaeologists" who bombarded Verstappen with questions about this issue.

What can Verstappen do? The e-sports drivers who were specifically warned by Horner haven't gotten into trouble yet, but his future father-in-law has already caused trouble.

However, he did not change his attitude just because of his special relationship with her or because Kelly whispered in his ear. He remained very clear-headed and stood from the perspective of mutual respect between a driver and Hamilton, opposing any discriminatory words or actions.

I wonder if I'll be forced to kneel on a washboard when I get home.
Even though Verstappen's statement was very clear, there were still people with ulterior motives who were not willing to let the matter pass so easily. Earlier, his controversial name for Mongolia was dug up again by enthusiastic netizens – mangol.
To be honest, if this hadn't happened, Shu Long wouldn't have known that this word was actually a discriminatory term.

The term "Down syndrome" is inherently a neutral term used to define Mongolians, Mongolia, and the Mongolian language. The reason it has become associated with discrimination is because a 19th-century doctor named John Langdon Down used the term to name what later became known as Down syndrome.

If you're not a native English speaker, or if you don't happen to have some knowledge of this period of history, you might accidentally fall into a trap.

So now you know how powerful it is, right?
There are some things you really can't say when you're out and about; the wisdom of our ancestors, "silence is golden," has long been understood.

The intention to oppose discrimination is good, but if it goes too far, it can easily distort the nature of the action and make people resentful.

Hamilton himself understood this principle and did not intend to dwell on it indefinitely. However, in the end, the FIA ​​still issued a strict ban on Piquet Sr. from entering the paddock.

The controversy surrounding Verstappen is quite intense, with many seemingly hoping for a ban on him from entering the paddock. What's even more intriguing is that many of these IP addresses originate from China.

Horner was so worried that he even came to Shu Long to find out what was going on.

Not to mention the losses suffered by the team and sponsors, if Verstappen is actually disqualified, the biggest beneficiary on the surface will be Shu Long. At that time, his position in public opinion will become very unfavorable, and he will be accused of doing anything to win the championship in no time.

But this matter really has nothing to do with Shulong.

Generally, the more something is lacking, the more it is emphasized. China's cultural environment is relatively more tolerant. While it may not completely eliminate discrimination, it doesn't create the kind of increasingly intense confrontational atmosphere that exists in Western countries.

So he wasn't that sensitive to this matter to begin with, and he never expected it to escalate to this point before he came.

But speaking up for teammates now would seem like protesting too much, and might even drag you into the mess.

Unable to come up with a good solution in the short term, Horner could only let Shu Long and Max interact more naturally in front of the camera, indirectly conveying to the outside world the attitude of unity on this side.

So that's the only way?
Just after the schedule returned to Thursday's driver media meet-and-greet, the official F1 22 game team arranged an interactive promotional session for the drivers – a perfect opportunity to boost morale just when everyone was feeling sleepy.
"So what are we supposed to do?"

The host led him to two standees with their respective photos on them. Taking the opportunity to ask about the game rules, Shu Long also took a brief look at Verstappen's current state.

There was a clear sign of fatigue in his eyes and brows.

However, he seemed quite relaxed while holding a can of Red Bull, indicating that the torment of the past few days had not had a significant impact on his mindset.

That makes sense.
Since his debut, Verstappen has been disliked by many for his unconventional style. He may have gotten used to this kind of situation. Apart from being annoyed, the pressure from public opinion is probably not as great as the psychological trauma that Joss caused him when he was a child.

This step was added this year, so Verstappen didn't know exactly what the process was like. He turned around and started looking at the board next to him with Shu Long's photo on it.

"Oh—so we're going to rate each other's abilities?"

"bingo!"

The female host clapped her hands as if to comfort a child, to show encouragement.

"Here are four specializations, corresponding to the ratings we assign to you in the game. There is also a comprehensive rating to give you a sense of what level your teammates are at."

Wow~ that's a bit...
The production team seems to be stirring things up. Giving teammates scores is just asking for trouble, so they're probably trying to force the drivers to engage in mutual flattery.

However, Shu Long rubbed his hands together with considerable anticipation. To be honest, the process of revealing the answer step by step was quite appealing.

Fortunately, he was rating his teammates; otherwise, not everyone could do something like self-praise, and he would likely have given himself the lowest possible score in every category.

After all, guessing too high is just embarrassing, while guessing too low might bring a pleasant surprise. Even a fool knows which option to choose.

"Okay, the first item is EXP? I feel like it might mean match experience?"

"Yes! This score mainly depends on the number of matches you participated in according to the official records, so who do you two plan to go first?"

The two Red Bulls looked at each other. Verstappen waved the can of Red Bull in his hand to indicate that he still had one more, and Shulong naturally took the lead in removing the cap of the water-based marker.

“We’re less than three years apart, but I remember you started racing in F1 in 15, right?”

"Yes, I wasn't even an adult back then, and I didn't even have a driver's license."

"So this is your 8th year, which makes you quite a veteran in the paddock, so I should be able to give you 86 points in this category? By the way, what was your score in this category last year, Max?"

Verstappen shrugged. With so much pressure competing for the championship last year, he barely played F1 21, so of course he wouldn't have the time to specifically check what kind of rating he could get in a game.

I played with the dragon more often.

However, he felt uncomfortable whenever he saw the sulfuric acid models of himself and his acquaintances in the game. Every time he went online, he and several other streamers used self-created characters, and he didn't pay special attention to useless data that didn't actually affect the operation values.

So coincidentally, he didn't know either.

But it doesn't really matter. Last year's Verstappen didn't have a world championship yet, so the scoring criteria would likely differ slightly from this year's, making it mostly irrelevant.

It's just a small game, there's no need to take it so seriously. In the end, the dragon still dragged the score of 86 onto the board.

Now it's Verstappen's turn.

He thought that with his teammates' answers as a reference, he only needed to subtract a few points from the baseline to get the answer for Shulong's experience value rating. Who would have thought that Verstappen would actually have trouble with this question.

In what year did Shulong first drive an F1 car?

In 2018, he stood on the podium in his first appearance, and his seasoned performance in both offense and defense made it impossible to tell that he was still a complete rookie who was just touching F1 for the first time.

If we were to give Shulong an objective experience rating at the time, 10 points might be too high. But even if we were to be generous and give him 60 points, most riders who had direct experience racing against Shulong would likely feel a sense of incongruity, as if the answer contradicted their understanding.

So far, Shulong has only participated in one full 19-season season.

In 2020, the race schedule was already disrupted due to the pandemic, and Shu Long was also injured in an accident, causing him to miss the last few races of the season. In 2021, he didn't officially return to the F1 car until halfway through the season.

So, if I remember correctly, this year marks Shu Long's fifth year competing in F1. In reality, however, the number of Grand Prix races he has participated in is pitifully small; including this year, he has only completed 57 races, which is roughly equivalent to three years' worth of races for most other drivers. Wait a minute, so 57 races already equals 12 wins?
And this was after wasting a year at Haas in the second year!
Before we knew it, they were almost catching up with Verstappen's 18 titles, which took him eight years to accumulate. Of course, this is related to Red Bull's rise in the last two years and Mercedes' decline, but sometimes you don't feel the urgency until you take a closer look.
So how many points should be given to this guy's experience rating?
"To be honest, this score is really hard to give! Do you want it higher or lower?"

"It doesn't matter." Shu Long grinned and chuckled. "Higher data makes me look impressive; lower data shows I'm still young, which makes me seem more capable and promising."

Tsk!
That's what they say, but why does it feel so unpleasant?

Verstappen stood with his hands on his hips and pondered for a moment before finally leaving the number 70 in the first small box.

Well, it's not bad, it's a relatively reasonable evaluation within expectations.

After writing it down, it's time to reveal the answer. Although there's no extra reward for who can guess more accurately, at times like this, a man's childish competitive spirit always inexplicably reignites with a surge of passion.

When Verstappen tore off the black sticker in the "Dragon Experience" section...
"Only 60 points?!"

Then the two revealed Verstappen's answer—72 points, which seemed reasonable in comparison.

However, in the first round of comparing scores for his teammates, Shu Long narrowly lost to Verstappen by 14 points and by 10 points, and then added a few tufts of nose hairs under Verstappen's nostrils.

Verstappen immediately added a mustache to Shulong as a sign of respect, then waved his hand in an attempt to end this endless childish game, and turned to look at the host who was in charge of controlling the pace of the event.

"Now I'm starting to get curious about this rating system. Does Fernando even have a score above 90? How many games would he need to play to get a perfect score?"

"You are the third group, and it's not Alpine's turn yet, but I can give you a little spoiler: Alonso's experience rating is 98."

Clearly, neither of them accepted the host's answer.

They're practically living fossils of the paddock, and they only got 98 points?! It seems like Shu Long and his generation won't reach the perfect score until they're 60!

Just like the movie male lead for whom a character design book was specially made to match Brad Pitt's starring role, the production company recently sent a version to Shu Long, the nominal consultant, to take a look at. What was his name again, Sonny?

In terms of the storyline, this character is still a returning old-timer. If we really follow the game's rating system, even Sunny might not be qualified for a perfect score.

They stopped worrying about that. It was a project that only required filling in qualifications and didn't really show much of a person's ability. Soon, Shu Long and his team shifted their focus to the next skill.

Competition skills.

This involves many dimensions, including starting, offense and defense, and tire maintenance, all of which can be considered as criteria. However, according to the host, when estimating scores for teammates, they can consider focusing more on the number of overtaking maneuvers.

This was actually meant for the other teams, because Red Bull was the only team among those participating in the game's promotional activities that had the ability to compete for the championship.

The other teams are Toro Rosso, Haas, Arroyo, and Alpine, mostly midfielders who are known for their close battles. The number of overtaking maneuvers is an important indicator of their competitiveness.

As for Shu Long and Verstappen, as long as they can secure a front-row starting position, they can basically lead steadily to the end. At most, they can only rack up some lap records. Where can they get overtaking records?
However, this driver rating is a comprehensive assessment of performance in all races from last year and so far this year. For many reasons, it seems that Shu Long started from a relatively back position and overtook others more often.

So in the end, Shu Long gave his teammate a score of 90, while Verstappen gave Shu Long a score of 95.

"Is it that high? I feel this scoring system is quite harsh on us."

"Yeah—but I feel you deserve this score. I must say, the few fights we had were quite memorable!"

That left such a deep impression on me, so deep that it still annoys me to this day!
That feeling of being completely controlled, like a puppet on strings, even if it only exists in memory, is suffocatingly stifling.

However, the game's judgment in this event seemed a bit too lenient. After the answer was revealed, Verstappen's match skills were rated 98 points, while Shu Long was the only one in the entire game to get 99 points.

The production team may have considered both players to be top-tier, as the difference between skilled opponents often hinges on a mere hair's breadth, which is somewhat realistic in a way.

In another match against Verstappen, Shulong lost a game by a margin of 8 points to 3 points.

The next item is AWA race perception, which is mainly evaluated based on whether the driver can make fewer mistakes in the race. Of course, it also includes the number of crashes caused by mistakes, as well as penalties for violations such as time and position penalties.

Considering his performance last season, Verstappen made several seemingly irrational and overly aggressive offensive and defensive moves against Hamilton in the second half of the game, so his score in that regard might not have been very high.

Shulong is the type of vehicle that rarely gets into accidents and suffers very little damage, but when it does get into an accident, it's a major one.

Last year's final race saw them create the red flag that changed the course of the championship, and this year they've caused quite a bit of trouble in Imola and Spain. In particular, they smashed a groundhog in Canada at the last race. From a humanitarian perspective, their score in this category might not be particularly ideal.

Verstappen ultimately gave Shulong 85 points, while Shulong also gave his teammate 85 points.

It would be too tactless to consistently give others lower scores than yourself, but giving too high a score in this category would be unworthy of the name "Tower Cannon". So Shu Long came up with this compromise.

The final results revealed that Shulong scored exactly 85 points, which his teammate correctly guessed, while Verstappen's game perception score was directly reduced to 78 points.

What is this?!

Are there Verstappen haters on the production team?! This off-field manipulation is affecting the fair competition of the match!

There were only five questions in total. Shulong lost three in a row and couldn't win back the next three no matter how hard he tried.

He decided to just give up and decisively wrote 99 under his teammate's PAC (speed) column. Verstappen followed suit and also put up 99.

Considering his overall performance over the two years, Verstappen actually had better lap times, so it's only natural that he received an official rating of 97.

There are many reasons why Shulong's ranking results were not ideal, but this year's ranking performance was very strong, and it also achieved a high score of 95 points.

After the final scores were calculated using an unknown formula, both Red Bull drivers achieved an overall rating of 94 points this year.

It feels like there's a deliberate attempt to be lenient.

However, it is undoubtedly suitable as a small interaction. Unlike the other typical classic combinations of veterans leading rookies, when two young drivers in their prime meet, whoever is judged to be weaker than the other will definitely have some emotional issues.

However, Shulong and Vestager didn't seem to care about the final assessment. In the end, they were both busy adding new decorative patterns to each other's faces, and with the help of white ink, they vividly painted two Tibetan snowmen, making it almost impossible to tell who they originally were.

Where did these two childish brats come from? By the way, what were they originally here for?

The official video compilation was very fast. Basically, the five teams finished filming on the afternoon of the first day, and the official final product was released early the next morning.

It's too early to say how effective the promotion will be for the game, but with the simultaneous public relations efforts in China, the proportion of Simplified Chinese users who continue to dwell on Verstappen's previous remarks about Mongolia has indeed decreased significantly.

These things are irrelevant to the drivers for now, as both Shu Long and Verstappen have already returned to their normal work routines during race week.

It's impossible for them to completely disregard the game's ratings. In Dragon Ball, when opponents meet, they have to compare their fighting power first. The two even secretly competed over who would get into the race car first.

Unfortunately, the rain was so heavy during the practice session that even if everyone managed to get on the track, they couldn't get any decent data, and almost everyone just sat in the pit lane doing nothing.

In the second practice session, due to the need to compare and test the new upgraded engine cover brought by Red Bull at this station, Shu Long and Verstappen could only carry a set of parts each, sprayed with fluorescent paint, and run the test project. They basically didn't get any chance to push the lap mark, and Mercedes-Benz took the lead.

Mercedes and Ferrari also brought upgrades to this race.

Mercedes continues to work on solutions for dolphin jumps, while Ferrari has made some minor tweaks to their bathtub muscle sidebox.

It's too early to tell exactly how much this will improve lap times, but the Mercedes seems less bumpy, while the Ferrari seems to be even bumpier.
There was no rain during the third practice session, which was supposed to be a chance to finally push the upgraded car to its limits, but the weather forecast predicted heavy rain for the afternoon qualifying session.

This means that no matter how fast you run on dry tires, it won't matter in qualifying, and the focus of testing can only be on Sunday's race.

However, upgrades to the car are interconnected under budget cap constraints. Delaying the race could result in Red Bull being half a step behind its competitors in every upgrade cycle, which is a situation that Red Bull absolutely cannot accept.

Left with no other choice, Shu Long and Verstappen had to divide the work again: Verstappen would test the upgrade's maximum lap improvement, while Shu Long would test the best tire strategy for long races.

In the final session, he never used red tires and finished only P5 on the lap.

Max's max push propelled him straight to P1, giving him a full 0.447 seconds lead over Leclerc in P2.

(End of this chapter)