F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 265 Shenzhou Spaceship
"Good afternoon, Zhou! How about saying hello to the fans and car enthusiasts here?"

"good afternoon."

Xiao Zhou is a well-behaved kid. He doesn't usually get many interviews during the drivers' parade. It was a rare occasion for him to hold the microphone by himself, and he very obediently waved to the audience outside the track.

The enthusiastic cheers were quite rare for a complete rookie.

It's no wonder it's practically a home-field advantage, isn't it?

"I'm so glad to see how popular you are here, and you did so well in yesterday's qualifying rounds. How are you feeling now?"

"I love Silverstone—I've always felt this is my second home. The racing culture here, the passionate fans, and... In fact, ever since F4, I've consistently achieved very good results at Silverstone. The name 'Silverstone' has almost become a lucky charm in my racing career!"

"What are your expectations for the results of the main competition later?"

"Of course, my first priority is to maintain my current position and bring back a point for the team, but if possible, I also hope to improve my ranking by a few places."

Um.
That being said, aside from Mercedes, France, and Bull, the current top ten drivers are all formidable contenders like Alonso, Norris, and Perez, making it a true battle of titans.

The performance of the cars may vary, but the fact that they were able to take advantage of the rain to get the cars to where they are now undoubtedly proves that each of them has a solid technical foundation and a high starting point of talent that can carry the team.

So why is an Aro in this position? It's a bit out of place!
But that's a testament to ability. Shu Long could see Guan Yu's unease from the side and felt that perhaps all he needed was a little more confidence.

"Okay, we also noticed that your good friend Shu had bad luck yesterday and could only get a P3 starting position today. How confident are you that he can win the championship in this race?"

How did we end up talking about this again?
While eavesdropping on the interview and waving absentmindedly at the audience, Shu Long quietly shrank his neck, feeling goosebumps rising on his skin, ready to erupt at the slightest hint of a good word.

"I don't know? Please, every driver ahead of you is excellent, anything can happen."

Uh-huh?

However, it makes sense when you think about it. When you don't have enough results to convince the audience, it's easy for a rookie to criticize other drivers and provoke their fans.

I have to say, just how many malicious attacks did Zhou Guanyu endure in the past? His awareness of preventing ganks is just too good.

As a result, Shu Long had just lowered his guard a little when, little did he know that Zhou Guanyu's previous words were just weakening the opponent's armor, and the next sentence would be a precise armor-piercing critical strike.

"But if it's Shu Long, I always subconsciously feel that he has the ability to create miracles. I knew that from the year we got into go-karting together!"

Um? ! ! !

What's with this fateful, melodramatic statement?

The broadcast camera then focused on Shulong, who was about to bury his head in the sand behind Alonso, looking like he wished he could disappear into the ground.

Verstappen seemed to have found a new way to deal with his teammates, never missing an opportunity to tease them about last-hitting. He leaned close to Shulong and whispered something, causing Shulong's ears to turn bright red instantly.

Dude, isn't this atmosphere a little too ambiguous?!

Gan Mengning, watching this scene from the P room, had mixed feelings. If it weren't for Shu Long, who was her boyfriend, she would have almost thought that "shipping" them might not be so bad!
Your current thinking is dangerous, sister!

But this is not an illusion. Since Liberty Media took over the operation of F1, the number of female fans who became fans of the drivers' looks and thus chose to become fans has been increasing in recent years.

In order to cater to the preferences of these female car enthusiasts, from unofficial edits to occasional official promotional jokes, there is indeed a certain amount of content that tends to either openly or subtly guide people in this direction.

The drivers did protest against the content, but the free media doesn't care about this or that. As long as it brings them traffic and revenue, the drivers' own opinions are actually not important at all.

Eating everything will only harm car enthusiasts?
Eating everything will only make car enthusiasts nutritionally balanced, baby!

Especially for people with striking looks like Shu Long and Leclerc, not creating something out of them would be an absolutely unforgivable waste of resources.

I don’t know when it started, but Shu Long has targeted anyone who has had direct contact with Shu Long, including Leclerc, Gasly, Magnussen, and so on. They haven’t even spared Alonso and Hamilton.

The most popular pairings this year, Shu Long x Zhou Guanyu and Shu Long x Verstappen, are not only serialized in fanfiction on some websites, but there are even doujinshi of them! Who would believe that?

Gan Mengning not only knew these things, but she had even secretly read a few articles out of curiosity, and at one point she almost couldn't look her boyfriend in the eye anymore.
Be serious!

Shu Long could raise his hand and swear an oath; he was truly serious at that moment.

He first expressed his hope that Zhou Guanyu could achieve good results on one of his best tracks, but avoided talking about whether he was confident of winning the main race. Instead, he began to seriously analyze the situation of today's competition.

It's a cloudy day with no rain expected.

The weather forecast says there's a 40% chance of rain during the main competition, but it doesn't really matter whether it rains or not. As long as someone makes it in, everyone else will follow.

It's not that the timing of the pit stop to change to semi-wet tires isn't important, but rather that adaptability depends mainly on the accuracy of the team's information and the driver's keen understanding of the track conditions, so there's no point in discussing it now.

But he wasn't being silly by revealing information to the other drivers; on the contrary, he wanted to use this opportunity to create some smokescreens for others.

So when Verstappen heard that Shu Long had adopted a high-pressure approach to the rain and would likely decide to use a yellow-white stop in the main race, his signature knowing smile and sausage-lipped expression reappeared on his face.

Since the high downforce setting is tire-friendly in high-speed corners, I plan to use a stop-and-go approach.
At first glance, it seems to make a lot of sense. In general, for a race that can be completed with one pit stop, no team would consider adding an extra 20 seconds of pit stop variables. If Verstappen hadn't been there during the team's tactical meeting, he would have almost believed it!

If conditions are right, stopping the yellow and white car is indeed theoretically the fastest strategy in the main race.

The problem is that the current conditions are hardly suitable. The chaotic rainy weather throughout the race weekend has turned many teams' pre-race plans into a mess, and very few arrangements can be properly placed in the team's strategic plan.

For example, there's this overcast sky right now, and the continuous rain that started yesterday afternoon and lasted until this morning.

It was only thanks to the two support races in F3 and F2 that the track was drained several times in advance; otherwise, it would have been uncertain whether the cars would have been able to start on dry tires.

Undoubtedly, the current surface temperature of the track is very low, with an overall average of less than 20°C.

Because of the rain during yesterday's qualifying session, most cars were set up with relatively high downforce. What should have been a good condition for tire maintenance actually became a major factor that made it difficult for the tires to heat up.

Temperature is a particularly demanding test, especially for C1 compound white tires.

Tires that have difficulty reaching their operating temperature not only perform poorly in terms of grip, but prolonged temperature imbalances can also cause unexpected wear on white tires, making this compound less durable than the softer C2 yellow tire.

If it weren't for the fact that red tires really can't handle very long distances, Red Bull wouldn't even be willing to include white tires in their strategy options, which is enough to show how bad Shu Long's experience was with white tires for long distances during yesterday's third practice session.

This can be considered the lingering effect that Red Bull Racing could only achieve by having both Shulong and Verstappen.

Otherwise, with such a tight schedule for practice sessions, it would be good enough if ordinary teams could just get their cars comfortable for their drivers, let alone think about testing long-distance data?

Right, Ferrari?

In short, Red Bull definitely has the intelligence advantage, but the other teams can't be completely fooled. How much Shulong can fool depends on whether the opponents are willing to cooperate. After the parade, the flag was raised and the national anthem was played. After watching a short performance arranged by the British race organizers, it was about time to get into the cockpit and prepare to start.

However, before Sainz led the car formation to start the warm-up lap, Rennie took advantage of the fact that he had not yet been muted to urgently transmit a piece of information that had just been observed.

"Russell started on a blank slate."

Shu Long's first reaction upon hearing this was, "No way, are there really fools who would fall for it?"

Then—"It's not a Ferrari?!"

Sainz and Leclerc both started on yellow tires, the same choice as Shulong. As for Russell Shulong, it seems they don't want to race anymore.

Russell started at P8, so what tires he used wouldn't affect Shulong at all!
Why weren't Mercedes so easily fooled a few years ago?
Stopping all that nonsense, and after the tires had warmed up, Shu Long felt that Sainz in front of him seemed a little nervous.

This might be related to Sainz's lack of experience leading the front row for the first time, and the pressure from the two Red Bulls behind him was immense. In short, based on the subtle details of the other car's dynamics, Shu Long had already categorized him as completely harmless.

Taking pole position was useless, Carlos. Your example of a desperate driver is all too vivid!
The red light has turned on for the fourth time.

Shu Long switched the car to start mode on the steering wheel, squeezed the clutch to rev the engine, and glanced at his Red Bull teammate diagonally in front of him.

Verstappen chose red tires for his starting run, and despite starting on the dirty side of the track in an even-numbered position, the advantage of the tires' grip at the start was still undeniable.

That's right.

The best tire strategy for the race was devised by Shu Long when he and his teammates were dividing up the testing tasks, but Verstappen obviously did not adopt it. His red tires were clearly aimed directly at Shu Long and to seize the lead at the start of the race.

Silverstone is a very traditional paved track, and the surface is not particularly narrow.

However, since everyone is traveling at high speeds here, and the layout with many high-speed corners makes the impact of polluted air more noticeable, Silverstone is generally not a very good track for overtaking. Therefore, it is crucial to gain enough advantage at the start.

Even when Verstappen was behind Leclerc in points, Shu Long knew that his biggest rival for the title this season had always been his teammate.

The red light has turned on for the fourth time.

Once his previously somewhat frivolous attitude vanished, Shu Long began to concentrate, secretly activating his body's competitive state. He let adrenaline surge through his body with his rapid heartbeat, and even his perception of time seemed to slow down.

"Den!"

The fifth red light came on, and then paused again, as if in a mischievous way, making Shu Long, who was still under the "bullet time" buff, feel like every second was an eternity.

click!
The sound of the circuit breaking was like a triangle suddenly striking in the ear in a quiet room. Even though I didn't feel the slightest chill, it still made the hairs on my neck stand on end.

Before the body's conditioned reflexes trigger this uncontrolled physiological phenomenon, the dragon's own reaction ability is even half a step ahead.

The instant the traffic light brightness began to decrease, the middle and ring fingers of the left hand, which were holding the clutch, were precisely released to a semi-engaged state. The first action to start was to turn right towards the center line of the track.

Sainz's start was indeed terrible. Even though the whole car was already moving, he was still standing still like a wooden stake!
Of course, this is the state as perceived by Shulong. In reality, the commentators and fans outside the field could not see much difference. In the shot directly facing the front of the car, Sainz's starting rhythm even seemed pretty good.

But when the broadcast angle shifts to an aerial view overhead, it becomes clear just how much of a vulnerability Sainz created for the two Red Bulls with that initial start.

Verstappen had a beautiful start, basically closing in on Sainz as soon as the car formation started moving, while also cutting off Shulong's attempt to continue forward.

Even though the two Red Bulls were battling it out so fiercely here, Sainz still seemed completely unable to keep up with the pace, and was even overtaken by Shulong, who was originally in P3, before even entering Turn 1.

Having successfully gained a higher position, Shulong did not rush into a fight with Verstappen.

The tires the two start will determine their strategies in the race. As long as Verstappen switches to white tires after pitting, he will have many more reliable strategies to choose from, and there is no need to rush at this moment.

Of course, the most important reason is that both turns 1 and 2 are typical high-speed curves.

The yellow tires on the current Shulong car do not have the same grip as Verstappen's red tires, and it cannot accelerate as boldly in corners as Verstappen. Even if it wanted to continue to struggle, the physical conditions of reality did not allow it to do so.

Just as Shulong was closely following Verstappen as they entered Turn 2, preparing to check if Sainz or Leclerc were making any trouble behind them...
My peripheral vision was instantly drawn to a race car that had overturned on the ground and crashed into the sand and gravel buffer zone!

"Wait wait wait! That's an Alfa Romeo?!"

"Watch out for the red flag, stay calm! There was a chain collision just now when we started moving, and your friend Zhou was involved. We are checking on his condition."

Can you really stay calm?
Any driver who noticed this scene could not remain indifferent in the face of an accident of this magnitude; everyone felt as if a huge rock was lodged in their chest.

Everyone knows that as long as they continue to gamble with speed, the same fate will eventually befall each of them.

Moreover, not everyone can be sure they'll emerge from the race car unscathed.

Before Bianchi, everyone thought that F1 racing was safe enough, until an accident caused him to go off the track and take away the life of a young and talented man.

After the emergence of HALO, everyone felt that modern racing cars were already safe enough. However, Huber's untimely death and the Bahrain fire that almost ended Shulong's racing career proved that the cruel Grim Reaper has always been lurking above the track and has never gone far away.

"Hurry up with the rescue team! If the car gets caught in that spot, it'll be finished!"

"They are working hard, and there are no signs of the race car catching fire yet, but we cannot observe whether Zhou is still conscious."

Tsk!
When Shu Long saw the accident scene on the large screen broadcasting from the roadside, some stunningly beautiful but not so pleasant memories came to mind.

Although the Haas race car burst into flames instantly, the HALO's protective structure created a space between the guardrails that was enough for Shulong to escape.

With Zhou Guanyu positioned diagonally between the netting and the buffer wall, all escape routes in all directions were completely blocked. Any spark that appeared would instantly turn the race car into a crematorium, leaving the rescue team helpless even if they were right next to it.

Led by Verstappen, they drove back to the pit lane and parked in order. Shu Long got out of the car and ran straight to the pit lane.

Fortunately, Silverstone's layout meant that last year's champion team was closest to the pit lane exit, basically right next to their parking spot.

As soon as Shu Long entered the P room, a small person rushed out and threw themselves into his arms. The person's thin lips were covered with deep teeth marks, and they looked pitiful and terrified. They clung tightly to Shu Long's clothes and refused to let go.

She was also present at the accident that happened to Shulong in Bahrain years ago, and the psychological trauma she suffered from it may not have completely faded even today. As the culprit, Shulong could only hold the trembling, delicate body in his arms tightly, and without even taking off his helmet, he went around asking people about the situation there.

However, the information the drivers receive is actually synchronized with the team's information, so everyone can only try to find answers from the broadcast footage.

Turning my head, I saw several Matthews kneeling on the tire wall. After confirming some information, they started turning around and looking for cameras that might be filming in this direction, giving a thumbs up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have gathered some information from the scene on the ground."

"Zhou Guanyu is OK!"

(End of this chapter)