F1: I was born to be useful, and you are all destined for greatness.

"Sergio Perez spin!"

Before F1 TV commentator Alex Jacques could finish speaking, Pelletz's RB16B car went out of control, veered off the track, and crashed hard into the barrier.

After the gasps, the Red Bull booth was so quiet you could hear a pin drop; everyone stared intently at the live stream on the screen.

"Checo? Checo?" The live stream played Pelletz's TR, and the engineer asked in the TR, "Are you alright?"

"Hiss~" Perez gasped several times, his voice trembling, "My hand seems to be injured... I'm not sure..."

Most Red Bull Racing fans felt a sinking feeling. The final race of the 2021 season, a crucial moment in Verstappen and Hamilton's title race, could very well be marred by Perez's injury and retirement...

The ambulance took Perez away, who appeared to be unharmed. Soon after, Perez's medical report returned to the paddock—a fracture of the right radius and soft tissue contusion of the left knee.

It wasn't a serious injury, but he definitely won't be able to continue driving in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The atmosphere at the Red Bull booth was tense.

In the Mercedes pit stop... a close-up shot provided by F1 officials shows Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff with a stern face.

Even a blind man could see through that hypocritical face! Red Bull team manager Christian Horner felt a surge of anger; that guy was probably secretly overjoyed!

"Christian, stop worrying about Toto," Red Bull team advisor Helmut Marko told Horner. "You need to submit a replacement request to the FIA."

Horner gave Marco a deep look: "Get Tang ready."

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#2021 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Practice Session Commentary (Five-Star Sports)#

"Because Red Bull's first reserve driver, Albon, tested positive for COVID-19 before the race, Red Bull's second reserve driver, Toncher, will replace Perez," Bingge said, frowning. "This isn't a great debut opportunity for Toncher."

"Indeed, this race is under immense pressure," Fei said. "Let's not ask for too much. Hopefully, Xiao Tang can withstand the pressure and finish the race smoothly."

"Some new viewers may not know much about Tom Cruise, so let me reintroduce his resume," Ran Ge said. "Tom Cruise won the 2019 F4 World Championship and the 2020 F3 World Championship. He was second in the standings in both F4 and F3, so his talent is truly remarkable."

The soldier chimed in: "After Tom Cruise secured the F3 World Championship four races early last season, he was courted by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and Red Bull consultant Marko. Cruise ultimately chose to sign with Marko."

"Marco originally intended for Tom to take over Daniel Kvyat's spot, but Horner signed Hiroki Tsunoda at the end of last season, taking away the spot that should have belonged to Tom."

"Thompson, who lost his seat, was not discouraged. Instead, he stayed in the reserve driver position and actively sought the opportunity to drive an F1 car in the main race."

"Now, because Perez retired due to injury in the second practice session, Tommy will become the first Chinese driver to compete in an F1 race."

As soon as he finished speaking, the live stream switched to the Red Bull P-room.

A young Chinese man dressed in a Red Bull racing suit and wearing a black mask stood next to the Red Bull race car, occasionally exchanging a few words with the engineer who was adjusting the car.

Ran: "We can see that Red Bull's No. 2 car has been basically repaired and should not miss today's third practice session."

The live stream camera zoomed in, giving Tang Che a close-up of his face—even the mask couldn't hide his handsomeness, which was only slightly less than that of the readers in front of the screen.

"Little Tom's image is very popular with our female viewers," Fei Ge laughed. "Some viewers may not know, but a supermodel who failed to win Little Tom's heart commented that Little Tom is like a sharp Damascus steel knife, gorgeous yet dangerous."

The soldier chimed in: "Given Xiao Tang's looks, the fact that he only had a few scandalous stories about rejecting suitors after entering the paddock shows that he is very self-disciplined."

"Ahem," Ran coughed tactically to bring the conversation back to the point, "We can see that Xiao Tang has already gotten into the race car, he should be getting ready to go on the track."

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What kind of setup is suitable for the Yas Marina Circuit?

Tang Che tested dozens of different scenarios in the simulator, locked in two or three contingency plans, and also used Perez's tuning references... to create this race car that returned to the pit after only two and a half laps.

"The tail wing has been adjusted too aggressively," Tang Che said. "The downforce redundancy is too low."

The Yas Marina Circuit, which will host the final race in Abu Dhabi in 2021, has just undergone a major layout change, eliminating several low-speed consecutive corners, adding a high-speed long straight, and featuring two long DRS zones.

In response to the new track layout, Red Bull adopted a low-drag setup, sacrificing a small amount of downforce in the corners in exchange for faster top speed on the straights, in order to counter the straight-line advantage of the Mercedes W12 car.

"This will obviously make the car go faster on this track, won't it?" the engineer laughed. "You're the first newcomer I've met who doesn't want the car to go faster."

Tang Che: "What the second driver needs is less fatigue over long distances and greater defensive consistency, doesn't it?"

Within the same framework, due to the different race tasks, there will always be some subtle differences in the setup between the number one driver and the number two driver.

Tanger, who temporarily took over as the number two driver, was well aware that the main task of this race was not to showcase his speed, but to assist the number one driver, Verstappen, and to do his best to reduce Hamilton's chances of winning.

While demonstrating faster speeds can certainly garner a lot of recognition, if Tontatta can play a key role in Verstappen's final battle to win the WDC, he will definitely be praised by many and may even be remembered in F1 history.

In that case, will a stable seat be far away?

Racing car tuning is all about serving this purpose!

Less long-distance attenuation and later tire changes could potentially block Hamilton, who might change tires first; greater defensive stability would make it easier to defend against Hamilton.

"Looks like you're a very clear-headed driver," the engineer joked, "just not like a 19-year-old."

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#2021 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying Commentary (F1 TV)#

"Tanter, this young prodigy is about to make his first flying lap... The rookie's line is quite mature, he should have a good lap time... 1:23.857, reaching P5, for a rookie driving an RB16B for the first time, this is a very good time!"

"There's not much time left in Q1, just enough for Tang Che to do one more flight loop... First timeout gets purple!... 1:23.513, still P5, successfully advances to Q2!"

……

"Tanter switched to medium tires, let's see his first flying lap on medium tires... 1:23.613... Red Bull team probably doesn't need to worry about the rookie's consistency."

"Max Verstappen is locked out! You can clearly see flat spots on his tires. Race rules stipulate that the tires used for the fastest lap in Q2 must be used at the start of the race. These yellow tires are definitely not suitable for the race, and Max Verstappen must switch tires to set an even faster lap!"

"Verstappen pitted for soft tires, and Taunter also pitted for soft tires."

"1:22.800! Verstappen makes a strong run to P1!"

"1:22.995! Towneschi has reached P2! Genius! Absolute genius!"

……

"The moment to decide the starting grid for the race has arrived. Given that Max Verstappen must start on soft tires—which isn't a good thing at Yas Marina Circuit—starting on the grid is crucial for Verstappen; he'll be fighting for pole position!"

"Based on the current data, the lap top speed of Verstappen's RB16B car is slightly slower than that of Hamilton's W12 car. If Verstappen wants pole position, there is probably only one way - to have Tontaff create a slipstream for him."

"That's a move that really tests teamwork. Can the rookie coordinate well with Verstappen?"