F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 268 Through goes
The yellow flag remained in place for three laps.

The safety car's roof lights were turned off at the end of lap 42.

Leclerc, who did not choose to pit to maintain his lead, or rather, who requested a pit stop in the race but had it rejected by the team, began to briefly suppress the pace of the cars behind him.

Knowing he had no advantage in tire grip, and that even if he tried to bait the cars behind him into stopping and then accelerate, it wouldn't do him any good. So Leclerc didn't hold back for very long and opted for a wiser tactic instead.

After exiting Turn 17, I slowly increased the throttle to increase speed. Once I felt that the tires, which had already run 18 laps, could grip the ground stably, I aimed at the apex of Turn 18 and started accelerating at full throttle.

It's unrealistic to compare acceleration with a bunch of race cars with brand new red tires; only in this way can its disadvantage in tire performance be made up for to the greatest extent.

But how long can a half-old white suit and a broken front wing hold out?
Shu Long glanced briefly at the battle ahead, one eye applauding Locke's ingenuity while the other mourned his desperate situation, before turning his attention to Hamilton in front of him.

It's nice to see you again, Seven-time champion. How have you been lately?
I can hardly remember the last time we faced off directly on the track. Imola and I briefly met once on the track due to a bug in the program, but because the performance difference between the cars was too great, overtaking was as easy as kicking a bug on the side of the road, and it didn't even leave a lasting impression.

Now, suddenly, we're following behind Mercedes again, and Hamilton, who's been in top form all weekend, is driving the car. It's like a long-lost feeling.

With seven home wins, Hamilton is undoubtedly the King of Silverstone throughout the history of F1.

As Mercedes begins to show signs of gradual recovery, one wonders how much of its former glory the former king can still display.

Leclerc's acceleration signified the official restart of the race on lap 43, and the lead car crossing the finish line meant that the right to overtake was fully granted.

At that moment, Shu Long also revealed his gleaming fangs.

Verstappen delivered a good performance when the game restarted, which is indeed very valuable for reference. However, the position you can gain with a dynamic start and a static start are not the same, and you can't just copy it completely.

Therefore, Shu Long made some modifications to the "Verstappen," incorporating a few genuine "Verstappen" lines into the previously formed continuous crosses.

Inside bomb!

Instead of deliberately trying to take over space on the outside, he sucked in the slipstream and then braked very late, scraping Hamilton's tires as he plunged into the inside of Turn 3, leaving plenty of track space for Hamilton on the outside.

After all, the angle of entry into the corner from the inside here would be quite uncomfortable, and Shulong didn't intend to overtake here either; the decisive moment was yet to come.

His goal was to seize the outside line at the subsequent left turn 4, skip the initial steps of the Verstappen double crossover, and then attempt the crossover at turn 4.

Hamilton must have been aware of Shulong's intentions.

With a total of 7 Silverstone Grand Prix wins, even among current drivers, Alonso probably doesn't have as deep an understanding of this track as Hamilton. He has experienced similar battles countless times throughout his career, and just by looking at Su Long's movements, you can tell what he's going to do.

After exiting Turn 3, I consciously squeezed the young Red Bull's line outwards to create a better entry angle for myself while blocking any possible intersections with Shulong.

Unfortunately it was too late.

Silverstone's track is just too wide, and Hamilton's rhythm was disrupted by Shu Long at Turn 3. What Hamilton didn't expect was that Shu Long would be so reckless at Turn 3.

The brief connection between the two bends was not enough for him to make a more complete defensive move; Shu Long still held the initiative in choosing the intersection.

Release the accelerator earlier to cut into the inside line, and use the earlier accelerator release to force a parallel run with Hamilton.

Turns 4 and 5 are two consecutive left turns, the difference being that turn 5 is a high-speed, large-radius turn that can be passed at full throttle.

Hamilton does have more room to accelerate and more aggressive throttle inputs on the outside. If he can maintain this advantageous line, then Shulong will definitely not be able to compete with Mercedes on the long straight after Turn 5.

However, the inside line has a shorter route and can get ahead earlier. The slack line can always have priority on the curved section of the track from turn 4 to turn 5.

You liked to squeeze me earlier, didn't you?

Then I'll squeeze in with you!
Shulong stayed close to Hamilton on the inside, pushing the old man's car outwards along the line that gradually opened up at turns 4 and 5.

Only after driving the other car's tires onto the grass did he straighten the front of the car and start sprinting at full speed, just in time to see Sainz do the exact same thing to Leclerc.

However, unlike Shulong's half-day of offensive and defensive buildup, Sainz relied purely on the new red's superior grip over the old white, ruthlessly forcing his teammates onto the grass.

Unexpectedly, the reward for improving the ranking is to witness such a good show; the corners of his mouth under the dragon helmet almost stretched to his ears in a grin.

That’s right!
This is the kind of offensive and defensive attitude you should have when facing your first chance to win a championship!

Shu Long didn't know if Ferrari's team TR had asked Sainz to maintain his current position. During the laps led by the safety car, Shu Long suddenly thought of a possible reason why Ferrari made such an incomprehensible strategic decision.

It wasn't simply a matter of wanting to ruin Leclerc's race; they probably wanted Sainz, who had come in for a red card, to help defend against attacks from behind.

On the racetrack, what is the most humane thing to do to a driver who desperately needs a race win to prove himself?

"It seems that Santander Bank is still offering too little."

"Pfft~ cough! Cough cough, focus on the game, we still have a chance."

"Don't worry, they're gone."

Coincidentally, neither Shu Long's race engineer, Reni, nor any of the decision-making team from Red Bull sitting in front of the Pit Wall seemed confused by Shu Long's somewhat outrageous remarks.

The other teams' radio stations are completely public to them, so they naturally know what kind of ridiculous performance is taking place in the Ferrari team next door. Now they are all lowering their heads and biting their lips, afraid that they might accidentally burst out laughing in front of the camera.

However, they did not expect that after just experiencing a round of high-intensity wheel-to-wheel combat, Shu Long would still have the mind to observe the battle situation of the opposing team, and it seemed that he had guessed the situation quite accurately.

What does this feel like?

My hero is level 18 with six items, every hit a critical strike, but you spilled instant noodles on your keyboard.
Nothing is more hilarious than an opponent choking at a crucial moment, but it's too early to celebrate at the halfway point. As long as the checkered flag hasn't fallen, anything can still happen in the remaining nine laps.

Hamilton thought so too.

He didn't pay attention to the red circus ahead, but just stared at the rear of Shulong's swaying car. He didn't even need to review the previous offensive and defensive battle to know roughly where he had lost.

Shu Long's inside run before Turn 3 caught him off guard!

As the current leader in the championship standings, Shu Long is probably the one who is least likely to crash and retire from the race.

If this reckless attempt leads to both cars retiring from the race, the worst-case scenario is that Leclerc holds onto the title and closes the gap to 25 points, and he should be able to recover 15 points in the next round.

Hamilton is also confident and proud. If he were in Sainz's position, he wouldn't believe Leclerc could stop him. This is an intuition that comes from his seven world championship experience.

Ke Shulong. This kid is acting a bit counterintuitively.

Hamilton only has 79 points now, and he could have announced his withdrawal from the race for the world championship long ago. Withdrawing from a few games would not be a big deal, and he could also avoid the torment of the dolphin jump on his old back.

With 10 laps to go, Red Bull's car has a significant performance advantage over Mercedes and will have plenty of opportunities to launch another attack.

Judging from the risk-reward ratio, Hamilton simply couldn't see any reason why Shulong would need to take such a risk here.

unless
Tsk!
Is it that the overwhelming honors have numbed people, or has the sudden fall from the peak to the bottom today extinguished their previous thirst for victory and fighting spirit, causing them to only think about playing it safe and securing points while ignoring what is most important for a driver on the track?
Seeking stability and looking for other opportunities might allow Shu Long to gain higher returns with minimal risk, but every lap he expends in the later stages is a relentless erosion of his final hopes of winning the championship.

The two Ferraris in front of him weren't going to let either of them go, and Hamilton even missed the image of his old rival and friend Vettel sitting in that car.

There are still 8 laps left in the race; anything can happen!
In order to overtake Hamilton, Shu Long actually sacrificed a little cornering rhythm and spent another lap to catch up with Leclerc ahead.

Ferrari's fallen prince is struggling too much with the new red tires in terms of lap times on the old tires. By lap 45, Shulong had completely lost the patience to continue waiting for an opportunity, and before turn 15, he used DRS to force a pull-out from the inside and run alongside the car.

But Leclerc showed a strength far exceeding Shulong's expectations. It went off the track to gain some space in order to secure enough cornering speed to keep up with Shulong for its ridiculously poor grip on the white tires, and it was determined to squeeze into the inside of the combination chicane corners 16 and 17.

Shu Long has now changed his mind; he feels that Santander Bank gave him too much.

Why would you risk your life for such a small amount of money?!

Just to help Sainz retain his first career title?

The inside line at the starting point of the Chicane corner is a very crucial point. This type of corner is called a deceleration corner in Chinese, as the name suggests, because it is designed to slow down the race cars.

Because the corners are too narrow, it's difficult for the outside line to have a significant advantage in cornering speed. Instead, the choice of line is constrained by the position of the inside car.

Of course, Silverstone's chicane is quite special.

It's wide, and cars on the outside have more options for their lines. When facing defensive maneuvers, the wisest thing to do is to go around the intersection.

In some ways, it is similar to the connection between Turn 3 and Turn 4, and even the connection between the high-speed curve in the same direction and the long straight that follows is very similar.

However, the current battle situation, the performance differences between the attacking and defending sides, and the completely different connection rhythms between the two combination bends have all become decisive factors that similar problem-solving methods cannot be applied blindly.

However, the straight from the exit of Turn 15 to the entrance of Turn 16 is a long downhill section, which puts a heavy load on the tires, especially the front tires, when braking. Even if Leclerc wanted to fight hard, he simply didn't have the ability to gamble on braking against Shu Long with his old white tires.

Leclerc chose what appears to be a very clever approach here.

He anticipated the braking rhythm of the possible intersections in Shulong, and adopted a method of lightly applying the brakes in advance, combined with reducing the frequency of downshifting to make full use of engine braking, thus completing the deceleration work before the corner with the least load on the tires.

The strategy is neither to brake too late and risk a lose-lose situation, nor to brake too early and defend the inside line of Turn 16 to try and outspeed the intersection of Turn 17.

The plan is to steadily ride along the center line of the track, relying on the priority of body position to withstand this round of attacks by squeezing out the opponent's movements.

The advantage of doing this is that it can greatly reduce the high load on the tires on downhill terrain, ensuring that the front wheels have enough grip to keep the front of the car responsive in subsequent combination corners, rather than completely losing steering ability and becoming a helpless prey.

A little troublesome.

It must be admitted that this was a very good defensive anticipation. It presented Shu Long with a very difficult choice, because his opponent at this time was not only Leclerc, but also Hamilton, who was waiting for an opportunity to strike.

but.
This is a risk that is well worth taking!
The longer Leclerc holds him back, the further Sainz, who is in clean air, will slip away. He has already made some tough statements when the game restarts. If he can't deliver, wouldn't he be incredibly embarrassed?

So, under the rather puzzled gazes of the commentators, Shu Long unusually chose a rather early braking point, not only completely giving way to the direct competition with Leclerc, but also letting Hamilton, who was closely following behind, pass.

Hamilton also had an absolute advantage in tire grip over Leclerc, and with a slight adjustment to his cornering rhythm, he could deliver an overwhelming level of car traction.

Could it be that? !

right here!

Right there in the clubhouse, under the eager gaze of countless home fans, the undisputed King of Silverstone was about to deliver a spectacular 1-2 victory to repay the fans who had always supported him.

"Through goes HamWait a minute!"

"What kind of cornering efficiency does Red Bull have?!"

The Sky Sports commentators' voices were pleading, but Shu Long remained deaf to their pleas.

The previously deafening cheers from the stands gradually turned into desperate wails. The Red Bull car, fully revived, gripped the overtaking button with all its might in the corner and took advantage of the gap between Hamilton and the fourth car to cut straight in from the inside and push Hamilton all the way out of the track.

Just now, I wonder how many people had unrealistic expectations in their hearts, perhaps even hoping to see Hamilton create another Silverstone victory miracle after his two-goal run.

But this expectation was quickly and ruthlessly shattered by Shu Long, who carelessly tossed it to the back of his mind and used a perfect inside-outside line to cut into Turn 18 after squeezing Hamilton's space, opening up a gap of nearly five car lengths behind him in the turn.

Even Horner almost lost control at this point, and upon connecting to TR, he shouted:
"Valiant! Come on!"

That's a bit presumptuous.

On the track, communicating with the drivers is mostly the job of the race engineer, but Horner was just too emotional at this moment.

Silverstone may not be anything particularly special for the team, since although Red Bull's headquarters are located in Milton Keynes, England, which is not too far away by car, most people would say that Red Bull's Austrian heritage is purer.

But for a native-born Briton, this is also Horner's home track as team principal, and no one would not yearn to win the crown at the top of the podium on home ground!
After Shulong suffered a disastrous start, and Verstappen also fell into a state of struggle for unknown reasons.

Who would have thought that this match would actually give us another chance to win the championship?

Since you know that, then don't come and cause trouble!

Reni quickly summarized the potentially useful information on the field, then activated TR and forcibly took over the work that should have been his from Horner.
“Carlos is 2.73 seconds ahead of you.”

"Did they drift far ahead? What about their lap time?"

"The previous lap time was 1:30.933."

Shu Long scrolled through his lap time on the steering wheel screen, showing that he had just crossed the finish line the previous lap, achieving a time of 1:31.218 even in such a chaotic battle.

It doesn't seem like Sainz's pace in the main race was particularly fast.
"There are still 6 laps left in the race. We have plenty of battery power, and we can set the engine to STRAT 4. Let's try to take him down!"

"Copy! Just leave me alone."

All that's needed is to know the most crucial information. There's no need for engineers to provide any annoying or unnecessary guidance during the rest of the race. Shulong's only task is to fully exploit the performance of these red tires in the final six laps.

On lap 47, with a time of 1:30.425, he made up for nearly half a second of the deficit in just one lap.

On lap 48, feeling the pressure, Sainz pushed hard and finished the lap in 1:30.813, while Shulong slowed down a bit and finished the lap in 1:30.679 to control the temperature of the red tires and prevent them from overheating too early.

On lap 49, Sainz also encountered difficulties managing tire temperature, and his lap time dropped back to 1:31.109.

On the contrary, Shu Long continued to go all out, once again breaking his own record for the fastest lap of the race, narrowing the time difference by 0.799 to 1:30.310.

The speed dropped slightly on the next lap due to a decline in tire performance.

Unfortunately, Sainz's tire performance deteriorated even more severely, and it was directly bitten into the DRS attack range by the dragon.

Silverstone has so many high-speed corners that the track constantly puts a lot of stress on the tires, making tire maintenance a very complex skill. The two players who do it best right now are Shu Long and Hamilton.

However, one of them relied on talent and perception, while the other relied on experience and interpretation.

Sainz, who was bitten from behind by Shulong, seemed to want to put up a last-ditch effort, but Shulong was fundamentally different from his teammate Leclerc.

First, Shu Long was almost brought to tears by the team's strategy. Second, Shu Long was not wearing Ferrari's red team uniform, and the car he was driving had a considerable advantage over Ferrari.

The most crucial point is that Shu Long had absolutely no psychological burden when he attacked Sainz.

Santander Bank? Spanish conglomerate?

What does this have to do with labor and management!
If Sainz hadn't had his first start interrupted by Zhou Guanyu's accidental red flag, and his second start hadn't been broken by Leclerc's crash into the front wing endplate, this game wouldn't have featured him so much.

If you're so capable, Ferrari, why don't you just give the "Hold position" instruction to the rest of the team?
He didn't even make it to the last lap of the race, adding a brilliant finishing touch to Shu Long's professional resume. After turn 5 on lap 51, Shu Long decisively won the race on the straight with the help of DRS.

Once those harsh words are spoken, you'll have to find a way to cover them up, even if it means death!
(End of this chapter)