F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 49 A Chance for Practice
Ever since that unspoken understanding between the two was broken, the atmosphere at the driving school seemed to have become awkward.

Yu Chengyu became increasingly inconsistent in his practice, basically just showing up at the driving school every day to show his face, driving a couple of times as a formality, and then disappearing somewhere else.

As for Ge Miaomiao and Li Yurun, they were quite well-behaved. Apart from occasionally slacking off, they still practiced all the required exercises without fail.

However, after seeing Shu Long and Gan Mengning playing around that day, the two seemed to instantly become the leaders of the couple. Every day, besides dragging Gan Mengning to a corner to listen to their stories that resembled a youth idol drama, their favorite thing to do was to openly create a private world for them.

Gan Mengning, who was as easy to manipulate as dough, quickly emptied her belly of all her knowledge in just a few days. Apart from not explaining her identity as a content creator and Shu Long's race car driver, she didn't even leave out the fact that Shu Long was always bullied by her when he was a child.

If Shu Long wanted to talk about racing, everyone would have known by now when he was pressed about his college entrance exam scores in the car that day.

And it's not just about considering Shu Long's thoughts; who can't have their own little selfish desires? Foolishly sharing the treasure you've found with everyone—what else is that but foolishness?
Gan Mengning isn't stupid, and neither are Li Yurun and Ge Miaomiao, whose college entrance exam scores were similar to hers.

Whenever asked about Shu Long's mysterious profession, these two guys, who were practically glued together by pink bubblegum, always gave the same answer: "Nothing," or "I'm embarrassed to say."

What does this mean? They haven't even officially started dating yet, and they're already having little secrets they share?
Never underestimate a girl's curiosity when she's gossiping, and never underestimate the exponential expansion of curiosity when two gossipy girls get together.

Generally speaking, such statements are either not true or the person is doing extremely poorly, or they are exaggerated and resemble the kind of story of a powerful but shady gangster.

Li Yurun believed she understood girls' minds quite well, after all, she had only given up her budding thoughts because of Shu Long's so-called "achievements".

For women like them, who come from well-off families and are also very outstanding, even if they occasionally manage to find a gem in the mud, the filth on it is enough to make them frown and discard it.

Gan Mengning's outfit looks simple, but every item is a high-end brand. She may not be a household name, but people who recognize her know that she belongs to the same social class.

Judging from their attitude towards each other, it doesn't seem like there's some insurmountable generation gap between them. The fact that they're still trying to hide their relationship suggests that they probably have the same mentality as celebrities who wear masks when they go out.

To be frank, the story about Shu Long is completely unverifiable. People who don't usually follow racing news might never come across any information about him in their entire lives. But if you just type those two words into the search box, all the results that pop up are quite clear in their direction.

People who are not very familiar with the categories of motorsports often find it difficult to immediately grasp just how remarkable Shu Long's achievements are. However, for someone who scores over 600 points on the college entrance exam, summarizing a few key words is perfectly sufficient.

Race car driver – a relatively unrealistic but cool-sounding profession.

Formula 1 – one of the world's three most prestigious motorsport events, and also a top-tier sporting event on par with the World Cup and the Olympics.

Wow~ Really?!
How could someone so incredibly talented be learning to drive so honestly alongside ordinary people like them? Why had I never heard of such a person before?

It's not surprising that people have such questions.

In most people's minds, a driver or athlete of this level, especially one with a title like "unprecedented," should indeed be comparable to names like Yao Ming and Liu Xiang.

According to their understanding, the name "Shulong" should have been widely known through various news media a long time ago, so why bother with this now?

However, there is a misconception here. Yao Ming entered the NBA, the highest level of basketball, by successfully breaking racial barriers, while Liu Xiang became well-known because he made a stunning debut in 04, breaking the long-standing monopoly of blacks on the straight track.

In other words, their so-called fame is entirely supported by their own strength and achievements. Before that, any news about them was just passing by for many people.

Moreover, this is largely due to the benefits they receive from their sport.

What are these two big shots involved in? Basketball and running!
A normal person, as long as they have legs, must have run a few steps by now, right? And they must have bounced a ball or something a few times, right?

Even though many people may never have competed with others to see who runs the fastest, or have ever participated in basketball, this kind of sport, which is very close to life, is naturally very easy to gain the recognition of passersby.

But if you're talking about racing...
Racing? What kind of racing?
Those who play with that stuff are either wealthy upper-class people or idle hooligans who do nothing all day long. Who in an ordinary family would have access to it?

To be honest, Shu Long's F2 championship was even featured in state media, but this kind of news, which was only briefly mentioned and irrelevant to most people, would likely not be remembered by many even if you went out on the street the next day to ask.

This is a very awkward reality: most people who follow the news don't care about racing, and not all people who care about racing follow the news.

What Shulong is currently lacking is a key achievement that makes it a household name – such as actually obtaining a seat as an F1 race car driver.

But for these two girls who are currently surfing the internet intensively, Shu Long doesn't need to be a household name. His resume and his appearance are enough to make them blindly become his fans.

"Hey big shot, it's fate that we met, can you sign your name for us?"

When he was abroad, Shulong was already quite skilled at this kind of thing. He would take the sun hat handed to him, draw a few meaningless lines on it, and then put on a business-like smile and lean in for a photo.

It has almost become a muscle memory.

He used to sign his name very carefully, writing the two characters "Shulong" neatly and precisely. But as he gained more and more fans overseas, he realized that doing so was just asking for trouble.

Now, I can barely make out the structure of the character "龙" (dragon), and I can't even recognize the "束" (bundle) part as a Chinese character.

Well, overall it's pretty much a standard procedure.

But something just feels off.

"Huh?! You guys still recognize me? I don't think I've had any dealings with the media lately, have I?"

Girls help girls.
Although Li Yurun and Ge Miaomiao didn't reveal anything, the direction of their eyes had already betrayed Gan Mengning completely, and what followed was bound to be another chaotic scene.

It's quite a subtle feeling when complete strangers suddenly become your fans, especially when your first impression of them wasn't particularly good.

It's unrealistic to say that Ge Miaomiao and Li Yurun had absolutely no other thoughts, but they didn't dare to have too many either.

It's said that childhood sweethearts are not as good as those who fall from the sky, but this kind of childhood sweetheart falling from the sky is just too unsolvable. As outsiders, they have absolutely no room to interfere.

Neither of them has clearly defined their relationship with the other, but their daily interactions, which seem like a clash of opposites but are actually incredibly sweet, are something that anyone who sees them would only yearn for, envy, yet be reluctant to break.

Some relationships are much more interesting to watch than to experience them yourself. So their only request was to volunteer to help Shu Long manage his fan base and sometimes organize support activities.

Shu Long himself didn't really care about this matter; he just gave them his mother's contact information, and whether it was appropriate or not was up to others to decide.

To be honest, this kind of thing has a strong fan culture vibe, which Shu Long finds quite distasteful. His goal from beginning to end has only been to pursue his beloved career, not to be fawned over and coaxed by a group of strangers.

But for a participant in a commercial event, this thing itself represents a portion of their market appeal, so to say it's unimportant is utter nonsense.

Of course, if not properly controlled, it is also very easy to suffer a backlash from the traffic. A ruined public image will only turn you into a meme and hang you on the pillar of shame on the internet for life.

So this matter may sound trivial, but it is actually a matter of great responsibility. It's not something that can be easily resolved by flattering and currying favor with Shulong.

I originally thought that after being exposed, my ordinary driving school life would never be peaceful again, but the double filter between idol and fan made both sides maintain a great deal of restraint.

The only one kept in the dark was Yu Chengyu. He never understood what the strange atmosphere in the small group meant. As the only one in the car who failed the driving test, he naturally changed instructors and became strangers to them.

Ge Miaomiao and Li Yurun were shocked by Shulong's low-key demeanor. Usually, when a professional like a race car driver comes to a driving school to undermine others, can they really resist showing off their skills a little?
Putting themselves in Shulong's shoes, both girls felt that even as girls, they would find it difficult to resist such impulses.

Throughout the entire process of practicing for the third stage of the driving test, it was only during road driving practice that Shu Long would subconsciously add a heel-toe thud based on the engine speed sound every time he downshifted, which made Lao Tian realize that something was a little off.

Even so, he managed to refrain from admitting that he was a race car driver, instead using the old excuse, "See how my dad drives," to get away with it.

It's not common, so it's not really that strange.

In fact, it's not just racing cars; many experienced drivers have similar habits.

Especially in the early stages of the development of related industries in China, many domestically produced cars that were just starting out and were still in the stage of being miscellaneous brands had very unstable performance, especially when the heel-and-toe motion was used quite frequently during the climbing process.

There weren't many incidents after that. I waited long enough to take the test, and on the same day, I went to the test center next door and passed the fourth part of the test. My driver's license just fell into my hands so easily.

In a month that felt far too short, Gan Mengning received her admission letter from Xiamen University as she wished, and Shu Long also received an "admission letter" from Marco regarding the recall of the factory.

Besides needing to immediately begin the super license application process for Shulong, the factory also has a huge backlog of work that requires a super-hardworking "black slave" to help them calculate the latest data related to their achievements.

Starting next year, Red Bull will abandon its long-standing partnership with Renault engines and switch to engines developed by Honda.

Before being officially fitted to the Red Bull Racing team's cars, Toro Rosso is undoubtedly a very suitable testing ground for creating custom rooms. After returning, there will be a lot of testing work to be done until the start of the next season, and we will be waiting for feedback from Shulong.

The R&D department had long recognized Shu Long's extraordinary talent; his presence or absence made all the difference in development efficiency.

In fact, Shu Long really dislikes doing these kinds of assigned tasks, especially since Newey's requirements for him are usually not to run as fast as possible, but to run as exactly as he says.

In racing car design, aerodynamics is similar to the driver's theory of tire maintenance. Both have a relatively clear theoretical scope, but how to handle the specific details is still largely an experience-based discipline.

Even the designers themselves couldn't explain how the kits they designed would actually look when combined. Each development process was almost like trying to guess the correct answer one by one while blowing through a wind tunnel. The theory and simulator effects were mostly just to help them eliminate options that were too obviously wrong as quickly as possible.

Simulators can provide drivers with good feedback on friction and G-force changes, but the physical sensation of aerodynamic forces acting on the race car is diluted to almost nothing. Shulong can only provide a slightly quantitative standard based on the degree of friction change.

Well, it's not a very direct feeling, it's like picking your nose while wearing wool gloves, you're not happy picking it and you're not comfortable being picked at either.

Since testing real F1 cars, Shu Long's interest in simulators has plummeted.

When it's just for fun, it's fine, since the enjoyment comes from the driving experience. But now that it's clearly to achieve a certain target, being forced to work every day is really pointless, isn't it?

Perhaps having heard Shu Long's thoughts, around the time of National Day, Marco made a phone call directly to Shu Long's mobile phone.

"Japan station, get ready for the next training session."

"Really?! Which one are you driving?"

“Daniel, show us your speed.”

It was a surprise, but not entirely unexpected. Shu Long had already prepared himself mentally the moment he officially received his super license.

Red Bull, especially under Marco's intervention, loves to give young drivers unexpected opportunities, and if you don't seize those opportunities, you could be sentenced to death for your career.

However, in Shu Long's original plan, his most likely chance was to replace Brandon Hartley in driving the Toro Rosso in the first training session. He didn't expect Marco to give him the opportunity to drive the Red Bull directly.

But after thinking about it carefully, it wasn't actually that surprising.

Shortly after the summer break ended, a shocking piece of news broke the entire racing world: Red Bull's current number one driver, Daniel Ricciardo, decided not to renew his contract with Red Bull at the end of the season, but instead switched to Red Bull's factory team, Renault.

It's worth noting that Red Bull's relationship with Renault this year is quite delicate, and this behavior is tantamount to slapping Red Bull in the face.

Because Renault engines frequently produced large emissions during races, Red Bull finally announced the termination of its partnership with Renault engines, which left Renault team principal Cyril in a very awkward position in front of the media.

Now that you've just divorced your ex-wife, you find out she's run off with your eldest son. Who could stand that?

Horner, who had spent a long time lobbying inside and outside the team to secure a very favorable deal for Ricciardo, looked quite unhappy for a long time, and anyone could see that his smile in front of the camera was rather forced.

　I really don't dare to add any more chapters before it goes on sale. Adding an extra chapter yesterday knocked me off the new book chart. I estimate that it will go on sale the week after next, as it will be in the fourth round of the new book rankings. I've been busy lately, so I need to save up some chapters.

　　感谢书友20171116190358844、读者1440554696250396672、鬼神诏令、近一个月、百想影帝地光、薛定谔的未来、书友20190122181144057、书友20190228192200236、书友20220605173927986、小猪沛其、糖可可酱、书友20221009181848347、pmy和清荣峻茂P大佬投喂的月票。

　　Thank you to the commenter "Great Wisdom" for the donation.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)