F1: Starting with a Simulator Master

Chapter 97 Xu Zihao is very busy

Inside the first-class cabin of a Dubai-bound flight to China, all the window shades were pulled down, and the unique tranquility of the cabin at 10,000 meters altitude enveloped the surroundings.

Unlike the desolate stratosphere outside the window, Xu Zihang's heart was still far from at peace.

"They've reached the top! These domestic automotive media outlets are even faster than the official ones."

He held the tablet in his hands, deliberately lowering his voice, afraid of waking up the other passengers resting nearby.

This level of restraint would have been unimaginable for the young master who, just a few months ago, loved to shout and yell in the P-room.

As the only official operator currently holding the "Shura" traffic secrets on the entire internet, he has begun to transform after participating in several real commercial activities, showing the temperament of a professional.

He had just connected to the in-flight Wi-Fi of this international flight, and before the webpage images had even fully loaded, he couldn't wait to hand the screen to Luo Xiu next to him.

On the screen is the official website of the Asian F3 Championship, and the points standings have just been updated.

Although domestic media had been reporting Luo Xiu's ascent everywhere, Xu Zihang still preferred the feeling of the official announcement; only an official announcement made him feel real and reassured.

At the very top of the list, a name is highlighted: LUOXIU.

Despite missing the first race and being at a significant disadvantage, Rosicky has made a remarkable comeback to take the top spot in the standings by a narrow margin, thanks to his grand slam of 39 points from qualifying pole position, sprint victory and fastest lap, and race victory and fastest lap in Dubai.

Using the points from one stop to beat others in two stops, and even surpassing everyone on the overall points leaderboard, such an overwhelming performance leaves others with no room for argument.

"Skip the trip, Xiu-ge! Do you know how crazy online forums and racing forums are in China right now?!"

'

Xu Zihang's eyes gleamed with fervor, but he had an excellent sense of proportion. He handed over the tablet at the perfect angle, allowing Luo Xiu to see the rankings at a glance without obscuring the data on the next stop that Luo Xiu was studying on his own screen.

First place in the standings—a position that rookie drivers dream of and are even willing to sell their entire fortunes for—only briefly shifted Luo Xiu's gaze from his own screen to linger on the standings for a moment.

"39 points, the efficiency is acceptable."

Luo Xiu's voice was flat, more like he was checking the results of a math problem than talking about glory.

He then turned his attention back to the tablet in his hand.

"If you're bored, could you help me look at the data for the shoulder section at the Buriram T4 bend?"

Luo Xiu didn't hold back at all in front of Xu Zihang; after making a couple of teasing remarks, he put away his tablet.

With my eyes closed, I simulated the flight path of the Buriram International Circuit in Thailand within the confines of my mind.

For Luo Xiu right now, even the next match isn't worth getting his heart racing.

Xu Zihang made a face at Luo Xiu and then put the tablet away.

He didn't feel frustrated at all; on the contrary, he felt that this was the kind of reaction his best friend should have.

He couldn't help with things on the track, so he tucked the blanket around Luo Xiu.

His gaze passed over Luo Xiu and landed on the seat next to him.

The middle-aged man wearing an eye mask and sleeping soundly with light snoring was Chen Pengfei, the leader of the team that went abroad for the competition.

Looking at Chen Bapi's sleeping posture, Xu Zihang couldn't help but roll his eyes.

During this trip to the Middle East, Chen Pengfei, as the legal guardian representative of the underage driver, accompanied him throughout the entire journey.

But when I got there, I found that I was both a live streamer and a live-in caregiver, so busy that I barely had time to breathe.

As for Chen Pengfei, he seemed to do nothing but drink water and space out in the P room, so bored he was practically growing mushrooms.

Because Luo Xiu on the track doesn't need any tactical guidance at all.

Xu Zihang gets furious whenever he thinks about how relaxed Chen Bapi is in the Dubai porn room.

What angered him even more was his older brother, Xu Zihao, who had confidently claimed to have big plans in China but used the excuse of being too busy to accompany them on their trip abroad.

Right now, my brother is probably sitting in a spacious, luxurious office back home, eating hot pot, singing karaoke, enjoying the air conditioning, and drinking coffee, right?

Thinking of this, Xu Zihang picked up a can of chilled sparkling water, took a swig, and turned around to find that Luo Xiu had kicked the blanket off. So he covered Luo Xiu with the blanket again.

"Oh crap—"

Xu Zihao sneezed for no apparent reason, rubbed his nose, and wondered if he had caught a cold.

After all, Xu Zihao had been working non-stop these past few days, treating the office like a trench, and was clearly overworked.

My company email inbox was overwhelmed with messages; unread emails kept popping up.

The landline on the table kept ringing, and the two personal cell phones vibrated incessantly as if they were going crazy.

Even the iced Americano on the table had all melted, but he hadn't had a chance to take a sip.

"Okay, okay. Thanks for your attention. Luo Xiu's schedule is very full right now—yes, we will arrange the winter testing—"

"Feed? — Telemetry data? — Hmm — We are aware of your question —"

Xu Zihao's tie was slightly loose. He held a coffee in one hand and used the other to switch between the mute buttons on two phones. His eyes revealed the gleam of an ordinary person who had won the lottery and a super lottery, as well as a hint of fatigue.

Tired and happy.

The phones were ringing off the hook not only with an increasing number of youth scouts from top European and North American racing teams, but also with a large number of domestic sponsors waving their checkbooks and going into a frenzy.

Of course, there were also a few less harmonious "protest calls" mixed in.

For example, the call that Xu Zihao just abruptly hung up on came from the manager of a long-established European F3 team.

The opposing side angrily accused Luo Xiu of publicly releasing low-level telemetry data in a group of hundreds of Chinese drivers, which they claimed was a malicious act that "seriously undermined the fairness of the competition." They even threatened to submit a protest letter to the race organizers, demanding an investigation into whether Luo Xiu's data involved leaks.

Faced with trouble that would likely lead to legal trouble for ordinary drivers, Xu Zihao didn't even blink.

"Leaking secrets? Undermining fairness?"

Xu Zihao put down his phone, a mocking expression on his face.

There's no fairness involved; it's just that it exposes their unspoken rules for making money.

Xu Zihao knew perfectly well that in the past, for a rookie driver to obtain the chassis data from these leading teams in a race of Asian F3 level, it would have been impossible without spending enough money.

In the eyes of those racing teams, racing is primarily a money-spending game. Car manufacturers spend money on them, drivers spend money on them, and then they sell the data – that's the normal process.

As it turned out, Luo Xiu acted like a "cyber bodhisattva" and open-sourced the data he had painstakingly compiled.

This is tantamount to kicking down the entire information barrier of the paddock.

The organizers were worried that things would escalate, so they tried to smooth things over, but Xu Zihao didn't buy it at all and was too lazy to waste any more words on public relations or mediation.

He didn't even flinch when faced with situations that could land an ordinary driver in legal trouble or lead to a suspension.

"If you feel you've underpaid the sponsorship fee, just send me the ticket."

These are Xu Zihao's original words.

This seemingly formidable off-field crisis was completely neutralized by the overwhelming power of money, failing to even cause a ripple.

Xu Zihao leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples.

He knows Luo Xiu too well.

Xu Zihao understood that Luo Xiu wasn't deliberately provoking him; he simply didn't know, or even if he did, he didn't care about the so-called unspoken rules.

Luo Xiu is a person who does what he thinks of and completely follows his heart.

Xu Zihao also felt that it was a good thing. We are all Chinese, so it's open source. It can help domestic drivers speed up, so what's the big deal?

For him, any problem that can be solved with money is not a problem; at most, it's just a slightly expensive emotional expense.

but----

Xu Zihao thought about it again. Running F3 now was fine, since it was a standard race. Even if it was deemed a violation, he would only be fined. But his eyes had already moved beyond the F3 race and were now on the highest-level race calendar in the future.

When I actually get into F1 —

Back then, the data for every piece of carbon fiber and every set of wind tunnel data were top secrets that major racing teams would spend hundreds of millions of dollars on.

If they were to act so casually at that time, and inadvertently damage the core interests of the racing team or their sponsors, then the problem would be far more than just whether they would have a car to drive.

"We still need to find some time to get this kid some wind instruments ready."

Xu Zihao sighed and silently noted this matter down in his top priority memo.

Then, he took a deep breath, suppressed his fatigue, and instantly put on a smiling face to welcome the God of Wealth.

He skillfully pressed the speakerphone button, smoothly answered the next call in the queue, and seamlessly connected with various clients.

"Feed? — Pulse? Yes, about the sponsorship of Luo Xiu's helmet — but Dongpeng's offer is just too high, and I —"

This is certainly his rhetoric, but it's also true that several major energy drink manufacturers are practically fighting online for helmet sponsorship slots.

Moreover, all domestic emulator peripheral brands have sent top-tier endorsement contracts.

These shrewd manufacturers know better than anyone that in China, no one is more suitable to be their flagship product than "Shura," which has just transitioned from simulator to real-world racing and has been making great strides.

There were also wheel manufacturers and tire manufacturers who gave astonishingly high prices.

But none of these are the craziest.

The giants of new media and the car review industry, along with four or five business teams, are like hyenas that have smelled blood, all determined to devour the phenomenal traffic of this car god.

All the hot money is using this phenomenal racing legend as an outlet for its profits.

Faced with this insane noise that could completely overwhelm any agent, Xu Zihao did not lose his way.

On the contrary, the more frenzied the outside world was, the clearer his mind became.

He picked up the Americano, the ice of which had completely melted, and downed it in one gulp. His gaze swept over the enviable sponsorship offers on the computer screen, finally settling on the bottom shelf of his desk.

There was a hidden folder marked with a thick red pen.

Only he himself knew that the reason he resisted going to Dubai this week to witness Luo Xiu's ascent in person, and instead stayed in China to frantically absorb this hot money like a switchboard operator, was not to satisfy his vanity of receiving sponsorship fees.

He has more important things to do.

It just so happened that Luo Xiu's terrifying popularity in Asian F3 once again ignited the domestic market, and then he open-sourced telemetry data in Chinese driver groups, one wave after another, which was simply unbearable.

And this folder contains a surprise he has for everyone.

Xu Zihao recalled that before Chen Pengfei, that stubborn guy, led the team abroad, he was still planning to just cobble together two of the cheapest personal race cars to get by when he came back.

In Lao Chen's eyes, the already chaotic CTCC was not even worthy of letting Luo Xiu touch the steering wheel.

The reason he reluctantly agreed was simply to go through the motions, like a parent indulging their stubborn, high-achieving student's momentary whim.

He was even prepared to die together with the other party before Luo Xiu was attacked by them.

Because his only bottom line is that the sewage splashed up in this quagmire must not dirty even a single hair of Luo Xiu's head.

Thinking of Chen Pengfei's tragic appearance when the two were planning their departure, Xu Zihao sneered at his desk.

perish together?

Since Luo Xiu has already crushed those talented rookies on the Dubai field.

When they return to China and face those scoundrels in the CTCC who use dirty tricks, it will be even less likely that Chen Pengfei will have to fight them hand-to-hand.

Xu Zihao believed that as Luo Xiu's elder brother, his task was to use the power of capital to equip this soon-to-be-returned little devil with a fully armed army before the grand opening of the Golden Harbor show.

In Xu Zihao's dictionary, wars are only fought to enrich the people!

So Xu Zihao has been really busy for the past two weeks.