F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 275, Lesson 1

"Perhaps I should thank a long list of people first, but I think it's more important to explain the reasons behind my decision."

Shu Long fell silent, clearly no longer in the mood to joke and laugh with the host. He frowned, biting his lower lip tightly, preparing to watch the approximately four-minute statement video.

It's not very long, but every sentence comes from the heart. It's a driver's heartfelt reflection on his identity and a sincere inner monologue about his future plans.

As the playback progress bar reached its end, the host sitting opposite could even clearly notice that the skin around Shu Long's eyes had become slightly rosier.

"how are you feeling?"

"I—cough!"

Noticing that his voice was a little hoarse, Shu Long quickly cleared his throat and then put on a slightly embarrassed, seemingly relaxed expression.

"Shocking! Of course I'm shocked, uh, I mean it's so unexpected!"

Before clicking on it, Shu Long would never have imagined that this video would be like this. Not long ago, there were rumors in the paddock that Vettel was very likely to continue to renew his contract with Aston Martin. When they chatted, there was absolutely no indication of this.

On the media day of last week's French Grand Prix, Vettel even shaved off his scruffy beard, put on retro clothes, and drove a vintage car, completing a lap in the classic Aston Martin that first participated in the Grand Prix in 1922, a century ago.

Anyone would feel that their cooperation would deepen further, and they had absolutely no psychological defense against such completely contradictory news.

Judging from the length of the beard in this retirement statement, it's clear that the video was filmed after the French Grand Prix, which was quite sudden.

In Shu Long's view, even though Uncle Wai Tou is no longer at his peak, his strength still allows him to stay in the paddock and continue to provide spiritual support for many racing fans.

As for why it wasn't mentioned that it could continue to give fans hope for a fifth championship...
Let's wake up. The current paddock is full of young monsters. Even if Vettel is still with Ferrari, let alone competing for the championship with Shu Long and Verstappen, he might not even be able to outrun Sainz, given that he couldn't keep up with Leclerc in 2020.

But—just like Kimi used to be.

Often, for drivers who are like symbols of an era, fans don't expect them to achieve anything extraordinary; they simply hope to see familiar faces in the paddock again, and that's enough.

The reason why Vettel made this choice was actually explained very clearly in the video.

Besides being a race car driver, he is also a father of three and a husband to an excellent woman.

He admits to being stubborn, impatient, and sometimes very annoying, yet he also has a unique sense of humor that enjoys making others laugh.

He possesses an intense curiosity and competitiveness; perfection is his obsession, especially as one aspect of his life gradually becomes less perfect.
Vettel's racing career occupied most of his life, making him a less-than-perfect father and husband.

Perhaps it's time to rediscover the passion I had as a rookie when I first entered the paddock and channel that passion into the next game called "life".

It wasn't that Alonso was exhausted from 18 years of despair, but rather that he was fully prepared to face the next challenge.

Just like the blank space left by Vettel after getting up at the end of the video, he is no longer prepared to look back at the past glory and let it hinder his progress in life. He believes that he will always leave some mark on the track, but he also gladly accepts being covered by the tire tracks left by the new generation.

He still loves every moment on the track, but the future no longer belongs to him.

Shu Long sighed with a touch of melancholy. Although he never lacked the fighting spirit and courage to challenge these former kings, he still felt somewhat at a loss when the older generation was really preparing to hand over the banner they carried to the younger generation.

Around this time last week, F1's official media channel released a short documentary-style film, about 17 minutes long, which was translated into Chinese as "When We Were Young".

Filming was actually completed at the beginning of the season, and all the drivers participated in it.

The filming crew gave everyone a photo album containing photos from their childhood, reminiscing about how they entered the world of F1 and the memorable experiences that almost made them give up.

When Shu Long got his photo album, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. The first photo was of him and his father squatting by a go-kart, scratching their heads.

That was during his second year racing in the CKC. At that time, the car was heavily modified by Shu Xiong and his coach, which made it impossible for him to reach the required speed in the race. This almost made the young Shu Long doubt his life.

I don't know where the production team found these photos, as many of them are ones that even Shu Long himself doesn't have.

As for the predicament that almost made them consider giving up—

My experience in my second year of karting competitions in China might count as one aspect, or perhaps not. Looking back, my experience after entering F1 is remarkably similar to my childhood. It turns out the seeds of life can be sown so early.
However, when memories are filtered and beautified by time, they can now be considered a precious life asset that brings a smile to one's face.

Everyone has gone through this. The 20 people still in the paddock, including Stroll, have silently endured countless hardships in order to become F1 drivers.

What impressed Shulong the most about this short film was not the difficulties they went through to become F1 drivers, but the pure longing and love that shone in almost everyone's eyes when they talked about their childhood dreams of the sport.

Even Vettel's feelings remained unchanged when he announced his retirement.

Despite still having a passion for it, they still chose to let go, and that's what touched Shu Long the most.

Even after personally experiencing the horrific accident in Bahrain, Shu Long still couldn't imagine what kind of mental shift it would take to make the same decision.

Perhaps they will persist until they can no longer turn the steering wheel, or perhaps they will decide to end their professional career one day, like Vettel.

I understand, yet I don't understand.
Seeing that Shu Long's emotions seemed to have calmed down, the female host resumed the previous topic, but her tone was still gentle, as if she were coaxing a child.

"Is there anything else you'd like to say to Vettel?"

Oh no, it's not like talking to a child, it's like talking to the family of the deceased!

Although Uncle Wai Tou himself used the word "farewell" in his retirement announcement video, he only decided to leave the track, not to leave this world. Why are you making it so tragic?
Shu Long initially felt a little sad, but now, after being overwhelmed by the host's excessive emotions, he has been stirred up with a rebellious spirit.

"It's great to see that Seb's hair has grown back quite a bit. I believe he has always known what he needs, so I wish him all the best for the future!"

Cough!

The female host quickly cleared her throat to suppress her laughter, feeling that Shu Long had seemingly made a casual remark about Ferrari.

Once the youngest four-time world champion in Red Bull's history, he was in high spirits. After a few years at Ferrari, he was almost bald. But after two years at Martin, his hairline even recovered quite a bit.

Ferrari will equally torment every driver who comes to this team, including the equally brilliant Alonso back then!
Alonso
Friday is Alonso's 41st birthday, so let's not bring up such an unlucky topic on his birthday.

Due to the team's dietary restrictions during the race week, they were unable to hold a grand banquet on his birthday.

However, Alpine still prepared a birthday cake surprise for Alonso. Shu Long happened to run into them when he was carrying a bottle of 05 Margaux to the moto home as a gift, and they even grabbed him and sang a birthday song together.

Aside from a touch of warmth, Shu Long felt mostly awkward.

It wasn't exactly a completely sincere birthday greeting. Of the three parties present, only Shu Long, a complete outsider, had the purest intentions. The others, whether Alpine or Alonso, each had their own ulterior motives.

Vettel's official retirement announcement is like a key; once inserted into the lock and turned with a "click," it unlocks countless possibilities for the chaotic situation in the paddock.

Alonso, on the other hand, appeared calm and collected. He had previously indicated that he would discuss future contracts with Alpine during the summer break.

However, for Shu Long, who was somewhat in the know, after hearing Uncle Wai Tou admit that he would be leaving the paddock completely after the season ended, he already knew in his heart where his agent had been hiding his whereabouts.

This was because he was an outsider and had a clearer view of the situation. Although Alonso did not reveal in advance which team he was in talks with, he still confided to Shu Long some of the reasons why he did not want to stay with Alpine.

The string of bad luck at the start of the season, and the team's inconsistent resource allocation at times, are minor issues. As the drivers and team gradually regain their form, the resentment accumulated in most races will dissipate on its own. It's like the difference in mentality between a brawler and someone aiming for the top spot in ranked matches. After all, it's not about competing for the yearly championship. At Alonso's level, he no longer needs to repeatedly prove himself; having a good time in a race now and then is enough.

What truly made Alonso not want to stay was the contract Alpine presented to him.

Simply put, Alonso still wants to continue driving in the F1 paddock, partly because Aston Martin, eager to find a successor to Vettel, offered him too much.

Alpine seems to be showing great sincerity, increasing annual salaries and retaining players to ensure their status within the team. However, capital always pursues only profit. Even if it occasionally shows a bit of human touch, it is merely going with the flow in the pursuit of profit.

The entire Renault system is not just looking for Alonso to drive for their F1 team; they want to create a strong connection between the Alonso name and the Alpine brand, in order to squeeze every last drop of value out of Alonso.

Brother Tou is already 41 years old. How many more years can he maintain his good condition?

The contract offered by Alpine implies a series of future plans. When they "believe" that Alonso is no longer as competitive as before, they will make a follow-up career plan for Alonso with "human touch", so that Alonso can seamlessly transition to Alpine's WEC events.

This way, they can fully capitalize on the commercial benefits of Alonso's name, ensure that when they want to bring in other drivers, there won't be an old man refusing to leave his seat, and at the same time, they won't leave behind any "cold and heartless" comments in the paddock.

It can be said that this plan has been secretly being prepared ever since Alpine officially launched the Hypercar endurance racing project last year.

It sounds like a great deal, but writing his name on that stack of papers means Alonso will completely lose control of his future career.

Annual salary?

These are all minor issues!

The definition of "uncompetitive" can be given unilaterally by a team. At that time, they can easily tamper with the car, create a few retirements like at the beginning of the season, and in no time they can use this as an excuse for your lack of ability, and then demote you and your car to endurance racing.

Although both are top-level motorsport events in the world, the level of attention WEC receives is worlds apart from that of F1. Alonso's rebuilt A14 team desperately needs the exposure he generates in the paddock.

This was the most important and the most correct and rational move he made at the end of his career.

Even with exceptional talent and peak physical condition, the 41-year-old Alonso doesn't believe he can drive indefinitely, even if his passion for racing serves the long-established business structure.

Therefore, no matter how high the annual salary offered by Aston Martin was, Alonso saw it as just an additional condition. No matter how much salary he received, he was still just a wage earner. What Alonso wanted was to become an asset himself.

These are things Alpine can't offer, but Aston Martin can. Even without Lawrence Stroll's additional promises, a stable, multi-year contract alone would be enough to tempt Alonso.

In contrast, Alpine not only failed to offer any guarantees for the future, but their annual salaries were also significantly lower than Alonso's, and they were constantly trying to leech off Alonso.

Since you're so heartless, don't blame me for being ruthless too!
The Boss's reputation was much worse in his early years than it is now. He didn't mind playing the villain who tore down the emotional card again. He used the Piastrie incident to turn the tables on Alpine and tricked them for almost half a season.

Of course, there aren't many fools who can get to this position in the paddock, and Alpine's current team leader, Ottmar, must have sensed something unusual.

Although they intended to use Piastelli to replace Gasly with Red Bull, their original plan was to replace Ocon, not the star driver Alonso.

Aside from a bit of bad luck, Alonso's abilities are no weaker than Ocon's, and in fact, his overall driving skills are still superior. Not to mention, Alonso's commercial appeal is far greater than Ocon's. It's obvious who offers better value for money.

Even if O'Connor's nationality is Alpine's own, isn't Gasly, who is about to be signed, French?
Therefore, O'Connor did not appear at the birthday celebration. Toto, who is the most business-savvy person in the paddock, is his agent. It is impossible that he would not notice the intentions behind the team's subtle attitudes. It is even more impossible that he would knowingly come to such a deliberately ulterior birthday celebration to make himself uncomfortable, knowing that he is about to be abandoned.

Everyone is pretending to be ignorant, and playing along is the main theme today.

As the team leader, Aotema had no choice but to step forward and personally preside over the birthday celebration with a stiff, awkward smile. His chubby face, usually so friendly, turned bright red as he tried to make small talk to ease the awkward atmosphere.

"Birthday, that's great! Isn't it? I remember you're forty this year."

"Forty-one years old."

"Oh right! Forty-one years old, that's a good number, it matches your driver's number 14 perfectly. You're number 14, right?"

"Haha~ yeah."

What on earth is this all about?!

Although it had nothing to do with him, just being forced to stand by and watch made Shu Long feel so embarrassed that his toes ached. It felt like watching the filming of some kind of family drama (the Weichang version).

There's "the one" who's made up their mind, "the one" who's trying their best to keep them, and "the one" who suddenly interferes and disrupts someone else's family harmony.

Will there be some car accident and amnesia plot to follow?
The most ridiculous thing was that there were DTS photographers taking pictures on site. Shu Long didn't want to know the aftermath of this melodramatic story at all. He just wanted to find an opportunity to give out a small gift that represented his feelings and then make a quick escape from here.

I should have given it to him privately later!
Ultimately, it was just a small interlude. After conveying his sentiments, Shu Long quickly returned to his team and started working.

I ate cake after running a training session this morning, and Red Bull has also stocked up on a lot of work that needs to be completed by Shulong.

After Ferrari put on several spectacular performances, the mysterious "disappointment leads to resurgence" law came into effect once again, with their opponents moving unexpectedly fast in this race.

Red Bull said they would only make an upgrade at the Belgian Grand Prix after the summer break, but in this race they actually tried to make some upgrades and adjustments to the back wing.

Because the preparations were rather sudden, only Shulong had the upgrade kit for this stop, which allowed for a data comparison with the old version of the rear wing on Verstappen's side.

In terms of actual results, Shulong is indeed slightly faster, but since the start of this season, Shulong has been faster than his teammates more than once or twice, so it's hard to say whether this is due to the upgrade.

What's worth noting is Ferrari's lap time performance.

Ferrari was the only team besides Williams that didn't bring any upgrades at this race, giving the impression that they had given up completely because the gap with Shulong was too big and they saw no hope.

However, in the first practice session, Shulong couldn't outrun Sainz in P2, and in the second practice session, he couldn't outrun Leclerc in P2.

It's often said that practice session rankings are just for reference. Each team conducts different tests, releases different engine power, and has different tuning. Whether a team is fast or not depends on who has the best performance in qualifying.

But that's relative.

Even if you take out all your underwear, a slow car will still be slow; a fast car will still be fast no matter how much you hide it.

The Hungaroring has very few straights, and while the transitions between corners are not as extreme as those at Monaco, they are still quite close in terms of tightness. In terms of aerodynamic configuration, it is the closest to Monaco.

Its characteristics are not well suited to the performance of Red Bull's car this year, and it is more advantageous for Ferrari in comparison.

Moreover, since the Hungaroring circuit is a very conventional paved track, lacking the extremely high difficulty of Monaco that tests and selects drivers' abilities, it further amplifies the advantages of Ferrari cars on this track.

After two practice races, Shulong has basically determined that this is the limit of the car's performance.

In the second practice session, he even took the initiative to swap the upgraded rear wing with Verstappen to see if the suspected negative upgrade kit was dragging down Shulong's lap time performance.

As for the result...
Last season, the team confirmed that Shulong had an excellent ability to adapt to the changes in the new car upgrades. This was also evident from the final standings of the second practice session, where Shulong was still a bit faster.

However, Verstappen's lap times have also improved significantly, so it's clearly not a problem caused by the upgraded kit.

If they want to beat Ferrari, they might need a rainy race to have a better chance.
Exactly!

The weather forecast indicates that precipitation is possible on both Saturday and Sunday!

(End of this chapter)