F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 54 The End of Big Tooth (4K6)

After completing the first sprint lap, Shulong recharged and then tried to push for another lap.

The red tires deteriorated quickly, and Shulong's handling of them was exceptionally rough, so the tires' grip was actually far worse than in the first lap.

However, judging from the final lap time, it was even 0.18 seconds faster than the previous lap.

The main reason is that the race car has a wide variety of driving styles and lines. The defects in the tires can be partially compensated for by adjusting the timing and line of entering the corner. In addition, the race car had two fewer laps of fuel, which led to this result.

The driving style depends on the characteristics of the race car. A preference for certain driving characteristics does not mean that a person can only drive in one way.

In fact, even if you gave Shulong a car with a slightly understeer, he could still drive it very fast. It's just that driving such a car always feels like there's a generation gap between the driver and the car, which makes him feel uncomfortable.

After that, it just won't work anymore. Normally, a red tire only lasts about ten laps in a race if you run it long distances. If you squeeze it out like this by running qualifying, its lifespan will be even shorter.

After spending a few more laps on the track, I collected some data on tire degradation for the team, and that basically completed Shulong's work for today's training session.

After conducting a starting practice run on the starting straight, which essentially gave Shulong a run-through of the entire process, Red Bull simply called Shulong back a few minutes early.

Towards the end of the first practice session, most teams, including Mercedes, pitted their drivers to change to red tires and go out for a few laps to push forward.

This is a standard procedure. Each practice session involves multi-dimensional testing, so it's not unusual to test the car's limits when the fuel is almost depleted.

But because of Shu Long, this sudden newcomer, these car teams are now acting as if they lack confidence and want to prove themselves quickly.

Then the most bizarre thing happened. I don't know if it was because the amount of oil was not controlled well, but the fastest lap of a certain newcomer who was making his debut on the stage remained firmly at the top of the leaderboard until the end of the first training session.

Verstappen didn't change tires to set the fastest lap, it's unclear whether it was a team strategy decision or simply that Marko sensed something was wrong and didn't want the two young players to face off right now.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to invest in the future, but the first thing to ensure is that the potential stock you've already invested in doesn't depreciate as a result.

The second place goes to Hamilton's fastest lap, which is only 1 minute 28.844 seconds.

It's a bit embarrassing, and they underestimated this young man's potential. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and continuing to argue about it would only make them seem petty.

Ferrari, on the other hand, is somewhat sluggish.

Kimi performed relatively consistently, but his lap times lacked the dominance of the team currently second in the standings.

Vettel seems to have a higher ceiling, but he always makes basic mistakes as if he can't adapt to racing, with the rear of the car either sliding or sliding on the road.

Overall, Ferrari's performance in practice was not even as consistent as the pink-clad Force India.

Seeing that the lap time leaderboard was unlikely to change much, Shu Long couldn't wait to ask Elena for his phone back before he even stopped practicing. He swiped open the top of Penguin's chat list and typed a string of messages.

Am I awesome?

As a remnant of the old era, I still prefer using QQ for chatting in China. After all, it holds all my memories from elementary school to junior high school, so there's a certain nostalgia involved.

As for WeChat, isn't it mainly used for paying money?
However, after waiting for a long time without receiving a reply from the little guy, Shu Long hesitated for a while about whether to ask again before realizing that he had forgotten to hang the ladder.

"?"

On the other side of the screen, Gan Mengning bit her lower lip tightly to keep herself from laughing out loud. At that moment, the live stream showed a silly goose in the Red Bull P room holding a phone and grinning foolishly, completely unaware that someone's camera was shoved right in his face.

He deliberately turned the screen away from He Xuanyi's gaze, and the input method sent another line with a series of beeps.

"What's so awesome?"

"You forgot?! It's that one, my... you know!"

Shu Long was too embarrassed to mention that Gan Mengning had watched him practice; it was as if he was actively seeking praise. As a grown man, he couldn't bear the loss of face!
He went back to their previous chat history, took a screenshot of the part where Gan Mengning asked him about participating in the first training session, and sent it to her.

"Oh, this one is so-so."

Still asking yourself if you're awesome? Now the whole world knows what those two words mean.

But Shulong was not happy about it.

This is "so-so"?! Log in and speak up!
However, the video call ultimately failed because Shu's parents came to visit him in the P room.

They couldn't hide it from their parents, and the Japanese station wasn't far away. It was such a historic moment, so Shu Xiong and Zhang Xin naturally wouldn't choose to be absent.

Horner had originally invited the couple to watch the race from the pit lane, but knowing his son's personality, he figured that having them in Shulong might make him feel nervous and unable to perform at his best. So he decided to wait until after the first practice session to surprise his son.

It was quite a surprise. Shu Long was in an awkward state of being excited but having no one to share it with. He took the opportunity to gloat to someone in his superiors, but was immediately doused with cold water.

On his first appearance, he dominated the lap time leaderboard in practice. Although the lap times in practice are just for show, being number one is still a very impressive achievement.

Since we probably won't be able to save it anyway, we might as well enjoy ourselves while we can.

Sure enough, in the second practice session in the afternoon, Hamilton scored a 1 minute 28.211 second-half goal with yellow tires, instantly turning the tide.

Bottas followed closely behind, and then the two Ferraris also stepped up, with lap times that were more and more outrageous than the last.

It seems that the three convoys hid quite well this morning.

Just as many fans were eagerly anticipating seeing Ricciardo use his skills to erase all the controversies surrounding him, Red Bull seemed to be encountering quite a few problems.

First up is Verstappen. After switching to red tires, he did achieve a much faster time than in the morning with light throttle, but he was still 0.1 seconds slower than Shu Long's lap time in the morning.

Considering the influence of external conditions, such as a large dark cloud drifting in the afternoon, although it did not rain, the temperature of the track surface actually dropped by about 7 degrees Celsius, which would have a predictable impact on grip performance.

I don't know if it's related to Shulong, because the two of them had slightly different test missions this morning. After Shulong's entire section was upgraded to purple, Max's team actually referenced some of Shulong's suspension and camber tuning schemes, and now the car seems to have some problems.

With his sweat-soaked blond hair disheveled, Verstappen repeatedly emphasized to his race engineer GP in the pit that the car's dynamics were very uncomfortable at Turns 13 and 14, and that he was also experiencing occasional loss of rear-wheel traction at other corners. Overheating and high wear remained a persistent problem.

It seems that Max was spurred on by Shu Long's performance this morning, and he is now going head-to-head with his race car, looking like he won't give up until he gets that 0.1 back from the car.

On the other hand, Ricciardo's situation was even worse. While Verstappen's car was at least drivable, albeit with unsatisfactory lap times, Ricciardo suddenly felt like he had forgotten how to drive.

With the simulation data provided by Shulong as a benchmark, Red Bull's cars, under the guidance of Newey and Rob Marshall, are completely different from those of last year, and even compared to the cars from the beginning of the year.

The changes in car design have a huge impact on tuning. Otherwise, why would we need three practice sessions before each race to continuously refine the car's setup? We could just use last year's setup from qualifying onwards.

Throughout the first half of FP2, Ricciardo seemed to be possessed by the spirit of former Red Bull heir Vettel. His golden left foot seemed to have completely failed him, and he frequently locked his car and drifted on the track. He almost smashed the "mark" button on the steering wheel!
"Watlsh! What the hell happened to this damn race car? Too much oversteer!"

"Is it when entering the turn or exiting the turn?"

"All!"

"OK, Copy! BoxBox!"

"Come back and adjust the tire camber. We'll also stiffen the front suspension for you."

"Copy! I just need to pee right now."

Despite his ever-present grin, Da Ya harbors just as much resentment and anxiety as anyone else, and he's always holding back a fierce determination.

Not only did he want to prove his worth to Red Bull, but he also wanted to prove to his new owner, Renault, that he wasn't a discarded product.

Right now, the Red Bull car is just a little awkward for him to handle, but it's not to the point where he can't drive it at all. Everyone else has already gone through a whole round of tuning and refinement, so it's unrealistic for him to immediately compete with the lap times of the cars in front of him as soon as he gets in the car.

However, the sense of disappointment was too great, especially considering the excellent performance of a newcomer in the previous session. He couldn't accept it for a while, so he took the opportunity of entering the station to calm down.

What race car drivers need most on the track is courage and fighting spirit, but what they must avoid most is losing their composure. You can't drive faster by holding your temper in.

In the restroom, Kado ran into Shulong, the kid who had been putting so much pressure on him. He seemed to be struggling with his phone, and being caught red-handed slacking off made him so embarrassed that even the air around him seemed to be busy.

Hey~ you.

"I know, I know, Dr. Marco is looking for me again, isn't he? I'll go right away!"

"No, that's not it. I wanted to ask, I heard you were the one helping with data simulations at the factory before?"

"Yeah, let me tell you, these people are really ruthless! I did several times more work than others, but I only got the same salary as those simulator racers!"

“Who says it’s not?”

Ricciardo suddenly seemed to understand what was going on with the team's strange car design style. He had initially thought that Red Bull was deliberately messing with him, but now it seemed that the mastermind was someone else.

But who can blame it?
They were just doing their job. It's impossible that Shu Long was scheming for Da Niu's seat before he even decided to go to Renault, right?

I've never heard of anyone being able to go straight to Red Bull without going through the Toro Rosso experience. Even Max, who was favored by Marco, had to honestly undergo a year of testing in Toro Rosso before he had the opportunity to be promoted to Red Bull.

As for after the official announcement, it's even less worth it. I'm about to leave, why would you still bother me?

Since there is no conflict of interest regarding seating arrangements, Shulong naturally wouldn't bother to deliberately influence the development direction by targeting anyone, since the final decision rests with the designer.

Besides, the most important task for a driver is to adapt to the car. Not everyone is lucky enough to encounter the car that best suits them during their prime. Otherwise, how could Max have adapted so well?
Ricardo's feelings were quite complicated at the time. He felt a sense of loss as new players replaced the old, but he also had to be glad that he made the wise decision to switch teams.

If he continues to drive for Red Bull like this, given Red Bull's style, he might not even have a decent ending as he gets older and becomes less competitive compared to his teammates.

"Oh, by the way, what were you hiding on your phone just now? Were you chatting with your girlfriend?"

"Not my girlfriend, it's her! Me! Ugh, I'm totally speechless!"

Ricardo's face revealed a knowing look, as if the gloom from before had vanished, and he prepared to offer advice to the younger generation based on his rich life experience.

"How long have you known each other?"

"It's been quite a while, hasn't it? We've known each other since I can remember."

This is true. Even before Shulong was born, the two families' grandfathers often brought their families to maintain their relationship.

Gan Mengning's mother is one of the few close friends of the same age that Shu Long's mother can talk to now. When Shu Long and Gan Mengning were only a few months old, their mothers took a funny photo of them kissing, and she lost her first kiss at a young age.

"If you have feelings for someone, don't hesitate any longer and take the initiative. Don't say that you should focus on your career when you're young. People like us may never encounter true love again once we've achieved success."

One thing Ricardo is certain of is that, given Shulong's potential, his future achievements will at least be no less than his own. While bearing the honor, he will also pay some unseen price.

Da Ya composed himself, patted Shu Long on the shoulder, and hurried to release the water. Adjusting a few settings would only take ten minutes at most, and he couldn't linger here for too long.

Perhaps having thought things through here, Ricciardo quickly regained his form in FP2 and FP3, and the Red Bull One car's dynamics on the track stabilized at a visible speed.

However, just when you think everything is getting better, misfortune always seems to arrive unexpectedly.

At the start of qualifying on Saturday afternoon, Leclerc's Sauber teammate Marcus Ericsson went off the track and caused a red flag, seemingly foreshadowing a chaotic qualifying session.

All four Red Bull cars successfully advanced to Q2, which should have been a cause for celebration. However, a huge dark cloud that had been looming over the sky for several days finally started to cause trouble, drizzling raindrops onto the track.

Most teams wanted to push their drivers to set effective lap times before the rain made the track conditions worse, making the track unusually crowded.

In stark contrast to the busy and energetic drivers, Ricciardo didn't even finish the warm-up lap in Q2 before his engine completely lost power. He sat in his car with a look of despair on his face and was pushed all the way back to the pits by the Matthews on the side of the track.

Until the clock stopped in Q2, the engineers did not seem to find a reasonable solution. Although Ricciardo successfully restarted the engine and returned to the track, it still felt like dozens of horsepower had been lost for no reason.

This is Renault's power unit. Almost all of Ricardo's bad luck this season was directly or indirectly caused by this wretched Renault engine. What everyone can't understand is why Ricardo chose to switch to Renault.

So far, including this single-season withdrawal, there have been 5 games! Except for one due to a collision with Max, all the others are due to this intermittently malfunctioning pig-nose engine.

So what's the point of going to Renault? Surely they don't actually want to assemble an Avengers team to rebel against Red Bull?
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(End of this chapter)