F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 280 Fighting Against Talented Players
Actually, the chaos at the beginning had a hidden benefit: it wasn't initially part of Shulong's calculations.

Because it helped Verstappen gain a significant position early in the race, it saved him a lot of unnecessary tire wear. In addition, Alonso's car also suffered some damage, which indirectly made it easier for Verstappen to continue to gain position.

It may seem like a silent, indirect effort, but it actually extended Verstappen's first stint with red tires.

By lap 9, Verstappen had successfully overtaken Alonso, whose front axle grip had weakened, and moved up to 5th place almost effortlessly.

One is number 1, and the other is number 5.

Inside Red Bull's pit room, everyone was cheering for the incredible start to the game. It seemed that no one had noticed the deeper meaning behind Shu Long's earlier actions. Only Marco stood silently with his arms crossed in the back, pondered for a while, then smiled faintly, and finally let out a complex sigh.

Perhaps in many other ways, Marko, this annoying old guy, is quite controversial in the paddock, but when it comes to his eye for discovering drivers' potential, even Niki Lauda had to admire this old partner who had almost been his lifelong rival.

From the moment he recruited Shu Long into Red Bull's youth academy, Marko had a very clear understanding of Shu Long: this kid usually looks lazy, listless, and harmless, but once he's on the track, he's an absolute cunning opportunist.

No chance?

If there are no opportunities, then create them!
The KZ2 Karting World Finals that finally convinced Marco to recruit Shu Long was a match where the old man repeatedly studied the video recordings. He discovered that this kid not only had an indomitable spirit, but he was so ruthless that he could even turn his own injury into an opportunity to turn the tide and win.

That flexibility, that decisiveness, that ruthlessness!

Either soar high in the clouds like a dragon, or lurk in the shadows like a snake waiting for its chance.

In some ways, he is actually quite similar to Verstappen.

It was a male lion, a lion that seemed brave to the point of being reckless, yet was also exceptionally shrewd and intelligent.

Marko didn't know how to describe it, but he had this feeling at the time: if Mercedes' dominance could continue, Red Bull could only rely on drivers like these to wrest the crown that once belonged to them from the reigning dynasty.

Verstappen did it, albeit with difficulty, and Shulong...
Marco sometimes wondered if he had raised Shulong too well. The year he sent him to Haas for training did not dampen the boy's fighting spirit; on the contrary, it brought out the qualities that the old man had always had high hopes for.

Whether on the track or off the track.

There are absolutely no weaknesses!
On the surface, Shu Long seems to be targeting Mercedes, but who knows who this guy is really aiming at? What if it's Max?
Haha~ That's too—too likely!

Last year's Verstappen championship was quite convoluted, but Marco felt something was off as he looked back. Based on his understanding of the Dragon Binding ability, the red flag triggered in the final stage of the match seemed deliberate. When asked about it after the match, he just pretended not to understand and laughed it off.

Let's take a look back at all of Shulong's performances after returning to the track following the summer break last season.
From initially being extremely assertive and uncompromising, to later agreeing to proactively seek solutions for his teammate's competitive advantage in racing, and finally to the violent attack on Hamilton by Abu Dhabi.

From Marko's perspective, the whole process was like first proving that he had the absolute strength to compete for the championship, throwing out enough betting chips, and then doing the team a favor by doing his teammate his first world championship.

If Marco hadn't known so much about Shulong and Verstappen, perhaps no one would have been able to understand the most contradictory points involved.

Besides the fact that Shu Long and Verstappen had known each other since childhood and had a good relationship, the most crucial factor was Shu Long's profound understanding of Verstappen's personality.

Max really does resemble a big cat, like a lion.

He always displays a hunger for prey, yet is also quite content with what he has. His bloodthirsty fangs are always aimed at what he believes he can achieve. But for those distant and unrealistic goals, he would rather continue to lie in the shade of the bushes doing what he likes, while also conserving his strength for the next all-out attack.

However, this phase of accumulating strength not only means that Verstappen will become increasingly dangerous, but also that the dragon can have a very safe development window. The so-called most dangerous place is the safest place.

The old man had wielded power his entire life, yet occasionally he would feel a chilling dread about the drivers he had personally trained.

Red Bull's resource allocation towards Shulong is becoming increasingly apparent. The shares that Horner struggled with his entire life but could not acquire were quickly handed over to Shulong by the three giants pooling their resources together.

Who knows what kind of schemes this kid had in mind during this process? And what role did he play in pushing things forward?
Maybe not.

Based on Marco's understanding of Shulong, that kind of person, who can be extremely lazy unless absolutely necessary, may not have intervened yet, but once necessary, he might use all available resources to steer things in the direction most favorable to himself.

It's like encountering a Moriarty on the street who might commit a crime of passion at any moment—that's the most terrifying thing.

Previously, they had no resources and could only be manipulated by others. Now that the former pawns have gained the right to make moves, who can outmaneuver them?
Just like this match.
Verstappen's red tires lost their initial momentum after overtaking Alonso, and he chased Hamilton until lap 18 before reluctantly ending his first stint under team instructions.

The old man chose yellow tires for the start, and quietly, no one noticed that he was actually the one who benefited the most from the chaos at the start.

Although his position improvement of only 4 points is slightly inferior to Verstappen's, we cannot ignore the fact that he survived the disadvantage period of yellow tires without injury and can continue to accumulate advantages in subsequent races by taking advantage of the tires' more durable characteristics.

Of course, Verstappen's ability to improve by 5 positions with the first set of red tires was already an overachievement, but seeing Hamilton so close yet so far, and forced to give up due to the decline in tire performance, he was naturally unwilling to accept it.

The window itself was actually quite good, and the tire compound used was naturally the second set of new red. Everything was going according to the pre-race plan, and they were striving to catch up.

Hamilton showed no pressure to close the gap, maintaining a distance of about 4 seconds from Sainz ahead. The seven-time champion had his own understanding of the game and showed no intention of following up with a defensive strategy against Verstappen.

He needs to wait for the right opportunity. Although Mercedes set an amazing lap time in qualifying, they don't actually have a significant advantage over other teams in the long race distance. To improve their position, they can only try to find a way through strategic flexibility.

But we can't rush things; the old man needs to wait for the brave one who dares to be the first to try something new to emerge.

So Leclerc made his move.

Sometimes Ferrari's strategy is quite similar to Red Bull's. Because Leclerc failed to beat his teammate in qualifying and did not successfully move up the position at the start of the race, Ferrari's two players are currently positioned with Sainz ahead of Leclerc on the track.

Leclerc's bizarre and blunder in the last match has reduced his chances of winning the world championship to a mere theoretical possibility, and he will have to rely on Shu Long's crazy withdrawals in the second half of the season to make it possible.

Even though Ferrari itself prefers Leclerc, a member of its own team, the previously clear positions of the number 1 and number 2 drivers have become blurred again due to the push from Santander Bank and its Spanish contingent.

So at least in this race, Leclerc became the wingman who had to make some sacrifices for his teammate's victory.

But when René relayed the type of tires that Leclerc had been fitted with via TR, Shu Long couldn't help but frown.

Why is the tire completely white?!

I've put in so much effort, can't you see the advantages of red tires? Who can you protect if you send out a white tire?
In fact, Shu Long is not unable to understand Ferrari's thought process.

Ferrari is rife with factions, with some supporting Sainz and others supporting Leclerc. Even if one side is forced to make tactical sacrifices, there will inevitably be other compromises and compensations.

Leclerc pitted on lap 20, with 50 laps remaining. Considering the relatively good tire wear so far, Ferrari naturally shifted their strategy to the yellow-white one-stop tactic predicted to be optimal in the first two practice sessions. While the white tires might struggle later in the race, given the Hungaroring's inherently defensive nature, it's unlikely they'll struggle significantly.

What were the temperature and track conditions on Friday? What are the temperature and track conditions today?

More than half of the drivers on the track have already pitted once, and none of them dare to recklessly choose white tires without supporting data. Ferrari, as a team fighting for the championship and maintaining their position, is really daring to take risks!
Professional racing teams dare to draw conclusions directly, right?

Or perhaps this isn't a risk, but rather a manifestation of Ferrari's extremely inefficient decision-making under multiple checks and balances. When faced with a situation requiring flexibility, they simply blindly follow existing strategies.

As expected, the hardest white tires simply couldn't be brought to their optimal operating temperature range quickly on the cold track. By lap 25, Verstappen had overtaken them on the outside of Turn 1 thanks to his superior tire grip.

The broadcast director even humorously showed a replay of this scene, in which Leclerc, who had been overtaken, looked particularly helpless, struggling to twist his car to try and raise the tire temperature a little more. Even as a background figure, he looked rather desolate.

"Fxck!"

This scene wasn't just about the fans cursing; the commentators subtly expressed their incomprehension of Ferrari's strategy, and Shu Long's curses, delivered through his helmet with his microphone muted, were particularly offensive.

Despite his usually concise and efficient communication with the team and race engineers, he's actually just a bit of a chatterbox who doesn't quite feel comfortable showing that to the audience via TR.

Just like his daily activity on social media and chat software, his profile picture is usually cold and lifeless, like a dead person, but as long as someone can get him talking, he can write several long paragraphs in no time that can drive people crazy.

When he was alone in the cockpit, there was no one to break the ice in their social interactions, but the process of blending the feel of the car with the dynamics of racing was enough for him to fully unleash his true nature.

"I'll give you a good whack, you little bastard!"

"What kind of steering wheel is this?! It's incredibly heavy, made of titanium and hemp!"

"You stupid road shoulder, are you trying to kill me?! Don't you see I'm shifting gears? You're going to tear my fingers off!"

His inner thoughts were excessively rich, but he only told them to his racing team. To the outside world and even his own team, he maintained a calm and decisive image. Only Gan Mengning knew what her boyfriend was like when he was off-screen.

It's not just when he's using an emulator; he just can't stop talking once he starts playing a game. As long as he can still drink water from the tube, he can chatter on and on for the entire game.

Let's not talk about how English teachers use words. Shu Long's grandfather and father, as genuine Sichuan and Chongqing men, besides the inherited trait of being henpecked, still use swear words as commas when they get excited. Their variety and types are far richer than foreigners who only know "fxck".

Having grown up in such a linguistic environment, it wouldn't be easy for Shulong not to inherit the same fine traditions.

However, he now directed all his inner gentleness and affability toward the Ferrari team, greeting them from top to bottom, and even secretly giving the middle finger to the large screen playing the replay on the roadside.

Thanks to his lead in clean air and speed advantage from dry track setup, Shu Long hasn't pitted yet, and he's been using his brand-new starting red tires for a full 26 laps.

However, while maintaining a steady lead over Sainz, he also managed his tires quite well. Now he's almost at the performance limit of these red tires, which was originally the team's planned normal pit stop window for him.

The reason he was so angry was because Leclerc's magical white tire defensive strategy failed, which completely disrupted his original tire strategy.

Like Verstappen, he only has one new set of red tires.

Due to the rain, the yellow tires, despite having delivered an extra set of white tires, still had two brand-new quotas remaining. The same applies to Verstappen.

However, the difference is that Shulong decided to adopt a relatively stable strategy of one red and two yellow tires. They started with the brand new red tires and used the old red tires that they had pushed hard in qualifying.

The team's strategy for Verstappen was a two-red-one-yellow chase tactic. The old red was used at the start to improve his position under heavy fuel conditions, while the new red was used to make a full-speed chase in clean air.

If Shulong continues to stick to the original red-yellow-yellow tactic, it is highly likely that he will be caught up by Verstappen in the second stint and then undercut by the second stint even earlier.

This tactic was originally designed by Shu Long himself, so of course it has its value!
Who would have thought that the team would just grab it and give it to a teammate? The boomerang hit him right on the head, and Verstappen just happened to have the ability to execute it perfectly!
Under pressure from his teammates, Shu Long also asked the team for a red tire, trying to maintain his original leading advantage in this stint, but also conveying to all the teams aiming for the championship his strategy of running two stops.

It shouldn't have been like this. To be able to keep a set of red tires to this extent, Shu Long must still have a series of strong cards in his hand, such as red-yellow-yellow two-stop, red-yellow one-stop, and red-yellow-red two-stop.

Now look what's happened! Right at the start, they tricked us out of our pair of royal flushes with a 3!
What's the point of that guy going to all that trouble to set up two Ferrari statues as goalkeepers?

Now, one of the two red cars has surrendered by raising four white flags, while the other yellow-tire car can stay on the track and turn the tables on the overcut. All the planning and preparations that Shulong had laid out for so long were completely ruined by Ferrari's bad move!
I always knew that when you have certain expectations of Ferrari, nothing good ever comes of it!
Complaining now is useless. Ferrari can hear Shulong's TR, but the problem is that even if they hear it, they won't pay any attention to you. In fact, they might even detect the loopholes in Shulong's strategy and retaliate.

Oh, now we're starting to worry that Ferrari will become more compliant?

Why are those red cars so annoying!

Shu Long suddenly understood why so many enemies in Naruto found Naruto troublesome. No matter how many schemes and tricks Orochimaru had up his sleeve, it was really hard not to feel a headache when facing such an unpredictable number one opponent.

Even if you think they're ridiculous from every angle, you still can't resist their unpredictable and unexpected moves.

There's not much to say, I can only keep running like this and see if I can use the speed advantage of the red tires to quickly pull myself out of the danger zone, what else can I do?

Ferrari didn't cooperate with such a good and cost-effective tactical setup. Now they're directly engaging in a head-on tactical battle. Do they expect Ferrari to suddenly realize their mistake?

On lap 31, Ferrari finally called Sainz to the pits.

Soon after, Reni brought Shulong the option of the other party's tire compound, a set of yellow tires.

The switch from yellow tires to yellow tires means that Ferrari is also preparing to use a two-stop strategy. It's the most frustrating thing when a seemingly clueless opponent suddenly becomes smart, as if all of Shu Long's hard work has turned into someone else's wedding dress.

This is probably one of the wisest choices Ferrari has made so far, and even Red Bull can't find much fault with it.

As the team that pits later, switching to red tires at best would only put them back behind Shulong and have to compete for tire wear. They might be able to stop Verstappen, but they certainly wouldn't pose an effective threat to Shulong.

While yellow tires don't offer the same lap time advantage as red tires, they can maintain relatively high lap times for a longer period, effectively keeping the suspense of the overcut until the third stint.

In the later stages of the race, Shulong will inevitably encounter slow cars that get lapped frequently on this relatively short track.

If anything unexpected happens along the way, even if it's just that the car is blocked because the track is narrow, Ferrari's unconventional approach will be considered a gamble that paid off!

(End of this chapter)