F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 267 A Horse's Rump Needs a Whip
Was it a Ferrari Verstappen?

Each word is understandable on its own, so why does it sound so abstract when they're put together?

But as abstract as it may seem, it's actually quite understandable when you actually try to explain it. It's more like a vivid image than an abstract one, and you can instantly picture it in your mind.

For a moment, René was both amused and exasperated, but he couldn't afford to complain. He quickly seized the time to check the parameters of the various sensors on the Shulong vehicle with the data team behind him.

Shu Long did his best to absorb the impact at the moment of the collision, but the car's center of gravity was shifting towards the apex of the corner, and there was no way to avoid it at the moment of impact. It was already difficult enough to hold his position, and he could not guarantee the extent of the damage to the car.

Fortunately, after Rennie and the headquarters strategy team analyzed the data from the car's sensors and compared it with the data from various vehicles, they determined that apart from the damaged and detached left front wing endplate, no other obvious abnormalities were found in the car.

It's a blessing in misfortune.

However, the absence of the front wing endplate has now brought a hidden danger: the car's ability to handle dirty air from the car in front has been greatly weakened, and the long-lost dolphin jump has made a limited-time return.

It's manageable to keep up with other cars for a short time, but this isn't a sustainable solution.

Dirty air and bumps, especially those generated in high-speed corners, will put extra strain on the tires. While the problems may not be immediately apparent, they can be devastating to the overall rhythm over long distances.

Not to mention that the lap times will quickly collapse later on due to the damage to the car.

Even if he manages to hold off Leclerc, his pit stop and subsequent change of front wing will likely result in another ten seconds or more of a loss of position, making it almost inevitable that he will drop out, let alone participate in the championship race.

Wait, that's not right.
If this race is destined to end with two pit stops, then pitting early simply means that the tire pressure will be slightly higher later on.

On the other hand, the slack line can take advantage of this window to find a very clean air, which can ensure the overall pace of catching up and also allow for good tire management.

Once everyone else has completed their first round of pit stops, he might not only avoid losing his position, but if Verstappen can continue to battle Sainz, he might even have a chance to complete a super undercut.

"Is it possible for me to enter the station early?"

"Would you like to consider arriving at the station earlier?"

The tacit understanding developed over a long period of working together, coupled with the driver's and team's highly unified analysis and judgment of the situation, led Shulong and René to consult each other's opinions almost simultaneously in the TR.

There was no reason to hesitate. The driver believed that the team's decision to pit was not unfounded, and the team also believed that the driver must have a valid reason for wanting to pit.

There's no need for any more nonsense.

The most efficient way to communicate in the hunting grounds is simply for the other side to give a signal to enter the station, and Shulong just pressed the button to confirm entering the station.

As for the choice of tire compound?

"Medium (neutral fetus)!"

The tire change and front wing replacement took a full 10.6 seconds just to get to the pit lane, bringing the total pit stop time to 33 seconds. After exiting the pit, the car was 16 seconds behind Stroll, almost at the very back of the pack.

And this was only the sixth lap.
It's somewhat puzzling, yet somehow expected.

Shulong's entry into the station will inevitably involve replacing the fore wing. Entering early or late will inevitably result in more time loss. Entering early can at least make up for it by catching up, but entering late and getting stuck in the car formation is really like trapping yourself.

However, this pit stop was indeed a bit too early. The only other person who chose to pit on the same lap as Shu Long was Vettel, who decided to continue using red tires when the race restarted.

Based on the tire wear calculations of various teams during long practice sessions, even if they are preparing for a two-stop strategy, the pit stop window for the first set of yellow tires should not open until after 20 laps.

Six laps to get into the yellow tire range is a bit too much of a waste of mileage, like Dubai.

Shulong's chosen tire strategy is still yellow tires for yellow tires, which is an open secret that no matter what strategy the opponents are preparing to use, he will do his best to catch up with the pace of the second stop.

However, in the middle of the race, Shulong may face considerable pressure to maintain the pregnancy. He may have to either carry the old yellow tire or endure the torment of the white tire. Neither of these options seems to be in his favor.

Therefore, other teams, including Verstappen, are only slightly curious about Shulong's choice, and it has not yet reached the point where it must be taken seriously.

Vettel, whose ranking was P13 before entering the pit, was still stuck in front of Uncle Tilhead after exiting the pit, even though Shulong spent extra time changing the forewing.

Without any worries, one can only move forward without hesitation.

In almost every subsequent lap, Shulong became the fastest player on the field. With Shulong no longer threatening him from behind, Verstappen gradually loosened up his pace and quickly closed in on Sainz to put pressure on him.

Finally, on lap 10 at turn 14, Sainz, facing a chance that could be his first career Grand Prix victory, couldn't withstand the pressure and went wide, crashing onto the gravel and handing the position to his rival.

In any case, this is definitely very, very bad news for Shulong.

Shu Long was very clear about his teammates' abilities. Once the obstacles ahead were removed and Verstappen entered cruising mode, then the rest of the game would basically be out of reach for everyone else.

Unless one or more directors intervene in the subsequent matches and are capable of changing the course of the game.

The idea had barely crossed Shu Long's mind when the first team of directors appeared on the field.

The yellow flag signal lights flashed during the first timing segment of the race, leaving Shu Long with no choice but to temporarily reduce his throttle.

"what happened again?"

"It's Pierre and Yuki. It looks like Yuki oversteered at Turn 3 and the rear of his car collided with his teammate, after which the two of them lost control on the track. There should be some debris. Be careful to avoid it when you pass through."

"Copy!"

Shu Long, who arrived shortly after, also witnessed the end of this scene. The clean window that was originally 9 seconds ahead was instantly compressed to 1.7 seconds by this wave of yellow flags, and the driver in front changed from Stroll to Kakuta.

The worst part isn't that this short stretch of clean air is gone; if only Kakuta or Gasly were ahead, they could just waste a few tires and overtake.

Instead, it was because the Little Red Bulls were initially positioned at P7 and P8 respectively, and they created a yellow flag that affected a long line of cars behind them. At this point, a super long train of dirty air appeared in front of Shulong, filled with a full nine cars.

This is absolutely the last thing Shu Long wants to see, as it completely negates his strategy of pitting early to avoid the car's weak period.

The best option now is to stay behind and play it safe, protecting the tires. Trying to overtake and improve position will not only bring no benefits, but will also greatly increase the pressure on him to manage the tires later.

I thought the game was over, and I was left to fate to see where I ended up.

Shortly after Verstappen overtook Sainz on lap 12, the team suddenly sent a rather puzzling message to Shulong through René, which, however, injected new hope into the race.

"Max reported that he had just run over a large pile of debris, which seemed to have caused a tire blowout, and he chose to pull into the pit early."

"Is that the spot where the Red Bull left it? I can see some reflective things on the track, I don't know if it's debris or something. Should the race organizers send out a virtual safety car to clean it up?"

"Based on observations, the residue there was insufficient to trigger a yellow flag. In fact, we did not find any signs of a blowout on the tires Max replaced; their condition was actually quite good."

That's strange.
Verstappen's lap time dropped drastically before his pit stop. He had just overtaken Sainz when Sainz overtook him again on the straight after Turn 15. If he had pitted any later, Leclerc would have been the one to give him a taste of his own medicine.

The problem is that even if, like Shu Long, they choose to switch to a second set of new yellow jerseys, Verstappen's speed still can't pick up.

Feedback from TR indicated that the race car felt unstable, lacked sufficient grip, and felt like it had a flat tire – in short, nothing felt right.

The two Ferraris ahead seemed to be embroiled in an internal battle, but for the time being, it had nothing to do with Shulong.

Forced into a slow-moving queue due to the yellow flag, his pace was greatly slowed down. Not to mention catching up with the two Ferraris at the front, it was uncertain whether he would even have a chance to get on the podium in this race.

However, judging from the results, he had very good luck from the moment he started following the enemy, which minimized his losses.

Kakuta's pace was too slow after the crash. He only followed for a couple of laps before his car was easily overtaken by Shulong. Even if he wanted to save his tire, there was no need for him to wait behind and waste his own pace.

Stroll then finished his first stint early on lap 14 under pressure from Shulong's close pursuit. Gasly followed suit after avoiding Kakuta's pit stop, indirectly giving Shulong a clean four seconds.

After that, Shulong only maintained a slow pace of advancement, making slight advances to test the time difference while preserving its yellow fetus state as much as possible.

So he endured until both Haas pitted, until Ricciardo pitted, until Ocon pitted and Bottas retired due to mechanical failure.

Even on lap 23, he endured until his teammate Verstappen, unable to bear the torment of the car's strange handling, had to make his second pit stop.

In fact, even if the team hadn't called Verstappen in, Shu Long had already been right behind his teammate for less than two seconds without him noticing. Given his completely disastrous long-distance lap speed, it wouldn't have taken two laps before Shu Long mercilessly overtook him.

It's about choosing this tire.
Switching to white tires? It was a last resort. There were still 28 laps left in the race, and it was absolutely impossible to finish on red tires alone. Even if they were no good, we had no choice but to put on white tires and try to tough it out.

This means that the biggest competitor that used to threaten Shulong has basically withdrawn from the environment.

At this moment, ahead of Shulong were Alonso, who was also stubbornly refusing to pit, while Norris, whose thinking was basically the same as Alonso's, and then the old man and Ferrari's three-person team on the podium.

Alonso and Norris's strategy is very easy to understand.

Their cars this year are indeed not fast enough, so if they want to get a good finish, they can only try to take unconventional routes. They have even directly targeted Shulong with their strategy.

The slow trains were not effective enough in blocking the yellow-T Red Bull. At this point, the gap between Shulong and Norris, which was further ahead, was no more than 17 seconds. Once Shulong entered the pits, he would inevitably fall behind Shulong again.

The combination of the Red Bull and the Shulong has ample margin to fall behind and then slowly catch up, whereas Alpine and McLaren, which are getting worse year by year, don't have that capability.

Their only cost-effective tire option for pit stops was white tires, but as for lap times on white tires...
Ricardo, Ocon, Stroll, and the two Toro Rosso all opted for white tires after their first pit stop.

The white tires of other teams are probably not very useful for reference, but Ricciardo and Ocon are teammates of Norris and Alonso respectively. The long-distance data they achieved using white tires is quite convincing. To put it simply, those things are just four round turds on the rims.

Now that we've entered a section of clean air, Shulong is already going all out. Even though the driving technique is relatively gentle and restrained while trying to protect the tire, it's still rapidly closing in at a speed of nearly one and a half seconds per lap. At this point, pitting and changing to white is tantamount to giving up the fight.

The yellow tires that Shulong is switching to yellow tires will inevitably have one more pit stop. Alonso and Norris's task is to try to get this set of yellow tires into the same second pit stop window as Shulong. At that time, no matter what tire compound they choose, as long as they can hold their position, they are not completely without a fighting chance.

It's just Red Bull. Given that the opponent has already encountered such a disastrous start, it's not impossible to pull them off their pedestal with a little effort.

It has nothing to do with any private relationship, nor is there any so-called personal grudge.

Off the field, they may be very close friends, or agents with similar interests and feelings, but on the field, they only have one identity to each other—opponents!
Everyone is making things difficult for Shulong.

Logically speaking, this should be Ferrari's best chance to quickly close the gap with Leclerc in the championship standings. All Ferrari needs to do is find a way to help Leclerc win the championship, right?

Isn't that simple?

But they can't do it. Honestly, even if he were in the same situation, Shu Long felt that Red Bull couldn't do it because he himself couldn't.

How to do it?

Let Sainz and Leclerc switch positions!

The gap between Sainz and Leclerc is now 47 points, so it's obvious who has a better chance of winning the world championship. In fact, most fans would argue that the most objective approach is to strategically sacrifice Sainz.

If the same request came from Shulong's TR, he would definitely explode!
Even when Shu Long joined the season halfway through last year, he was willing to accept not receiving preferential treatment in terms of resources, to be used as a test subject for upgrading parts of the race car, and even to sacrifice himself at the last moment of the final race to create an opportunity for his teammates to win the championship.

But when it's time for fair competition, you want him to give up his position?
This is my first chance in my life to win a championship!

After much deliberation, Ferrari ultimately decided on a "free competition" approach, and in a way that would least disrupt Sainz's race, called Sainz to pit on lap 20, ending the dispute between the two early.

Leclerc's overall lap time is faster than Benz's, but this advantage is not enough to overtake on a track like Silverstone.

Ferrari wanted to see if putting Leclerc in a clean window would give them a chance to extend their lead, while also wanting to see if Sainz could actually set a good enough or a bad enough lap time, so that their strategy team wouldn't be caught in a dilemma.

However, the order to pull into the pit and let the car pass was given far too late, so late that Hamilton had already gotten close enough to be in Leclerc's attacking range.

Due to numerous close battles with his teammates and Verstappen, Leclerc's tires were actually quite worn.

Ferrari wants to emulate Red Bull's free-market approach, but it lacks Red Bull's decisiveness and courage, resulting in an overall indecisive and hesitant strategic tendency.

By the time Sainz pitted and cleared the track space, Leclerc had long since passed the tire's advantage zone.

Still pushing?

What should we use to push it?

Hamilton lived up to his current title as the King of Silverstone, not only securing a high starting position in qualifying thanks to the rain, but also getting past two Ferraris to reach P3 at the start of the first race.

Of course, because of Zhou Guanyu's red flag, Hamilton's amazing performance in the first round of the race was in vain, but it cannot be denied that Hamilton's overall racing level in the main race was not only no weaker than Ferrari, but even slightly ahead.

Seeing that Mercedes was about to openly humiliate them on the track, Ferrari had no choice but to call for a pit stop on lap 25 and also switch to a set of hard tires.

The positions are still Sainz in front and Leclerc behind.

The relationship between the two was slightly faster for Leclerc than for Sainz, but not by much. Both cars were slowed down by Sainz, and they could only watch helplessly as Hamilton, who had not yet entered the pits, was about to create an overcut free window.

What should we do?

It's no longer a question of who will win the championship; it's a question of whether Ferrari will be overturned by Mercedes if they continue to be so indecisive!

Left with no other choice, Ferrari had to issue the order to give way.

Are the instructions useful?
That might be somewhat true. At least Leclerc's overall lap pace was indeed faster after he moved forward, and he managed to keep the old man in an awkward range that was neither a roll nor a roll.

The problem is that Leclerc's ceiling in this match is limited; he certainly couldn't have emerged unscathed from his previous clash with Shu Long.

The dragon was injured on the left front wing endplate, while the Leclerc was injured on the right front wing short plate. However, Ferrari's materials seemed to be more solid, and the cracked endplate held up for almost ten more laps before being torn apart by the turbulence during the close-quarters combat.

Ferrari already had a significant dolphin jump problem after the upgrade, so Leclerc didn't take the broken endplate seriously. In fact, he didn't even choose to replace the front wing when he pitted on lap 25 because replacing the front wing might lead to more positional losses.

But a damaged race car is still a damaged car, and even after changing the tires, he couldn't go any faster than the old man.

Lap 33.

Hamilton, whose tires had reached their limit, pitted for a white tire as usual. However, Mercedes' coordination went wrong, resulting in a disastrous tire change that lasted more than 4 seconds. Not only did he fail to achieve an overcut, but he also fell 2 seconds behind Sainz after exiting the pits.

We're saying Ferrari's strategy seems to have been very successful.

Although it doesn't actually have much to do with the strategy team, it makes the team's decision-making seem like a clown. Now that there is no risk of being undercut, can Sainz be moved back to his position?

Leclerc didn't seem too keen, and Ferrari maintained its disappointing silence.

Alonso, who had already been chased into the DRS range by Shulong, couldn't hold on any longer. Thinking that he might as well let this brat go, he turned around and entered the station, no longer intending to torture himself.

Norris pushed through a lap, but seeing that Shulong, whose tire mileage was six laps less than theirs, showed no intention of pitting, he had no choice but to accept the team's arrangement at his home track.

Anyway, Shulong's tires have already run 27 laps. How many more laps can they withstand?
Once they enter the pit, as long as they can keep up with Shulong's pace for the next few laps, they will inevitably fall back to P6 after another pit stop. In a sense, their mission has already been accomplished.

Because Shulong's tires were six laps newer than the rest of the batch of yellow tires, he was able to endure those extra six laps.

Because of the rain during practice and qualifying, Shu Long still had a reserve of new red tires. He even planned to carry them for another one or two laps and then skip the white tires and run the remaining ten laps on red tires.

But because they endured those extra six laps, a yellow flag appeared on the track.
Safety car!
The second director of this race made his grand entrance, but Ocon's engine seemed to have malfunctioned, stopping a little before Turn 9 and refusing to budge.

Finding a free entry window was a pleasant surprise.

Shu Long was just about to pit for a tire change. If it were too early, the red tires wouldn't last him the entire race, and if it were too late, there wouldn't be enough time to catch up and compete for a podium position. Now, it was just the perfect opportunity to strike it rich.

Of course, if he can get in, so can everyone else. One safety car made all the cars around Shu Long put on red tires, which means that Shu Long didn't actually have any advantage in tire performance in the last part of the race.

Whether or not he had a tire advantage was not important. The key point was that this safety car not only put Shulong in P4 for free, but also instantly closed the gap of more than ten seconds between him and the podium team. This was more than enough for him.

The compression of the key vehicle formation also revealed another problem to Shulong:
"Why is the Ciel still wearing a set of white tires? Did he not pull into the station? Did he miss the entrance?"

"No! In fact, when Leclerc was at Turn 15, Ferrari had a full 11 seconds to decide whether he should pit or not, but it seems that they directly informed Leclerc that he needed to stay on the track."

"Oh~"

This is a bit puzzling. Does the lap time advantage of red tires over white tires really need explanation? Even Shu Long seemed unsure which of those two Ferrari they hoped would win the final championship.
Since you're all being so polite, then I won't hold back!

(End of this chapter)