F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 60: When the Lazy Dragon Goes Out, It Rains (4K3)

By the afternoon of qualifying, the air temperature was 23 degrees Celsius, the track temperature was 39 degrees Celsius, and the wind speed was only 6.8 km/h.

The track conditions were much better than during the third practice session this morning, so it's conceivable that the lap times set earlier in qualifying will be of little reference value.

However, the probability of rain has jumped from over 30% in the morning to 72% now. The sky above the track presents a strange phenomenon: half of it is covered with dark clouds while the other half is sunny. If precipitation occurs, the condition of the track surface will be very complicated.

Delay could lead to problems. Fifteen minutes before the start of qualifying, the team was already urging Shulong to get in the car and get ready.

Rain suddenly falling in the middle of qualifying is probably the most troublesome situation for all teams. In this case, don't think about waiting for the track conditions to improve. The important thing is to get out there and make an effective lap time.

Clearly, Little Red Bull wasn't the only team with the same idea. By the time Shulong drove out of the pit lane and was ready to wait for the exit of the maintenance area to open, there were already seven cars waiting there.

This is actually a bit worrying. In order to ensure that there is enough clean propulsive air on the track, each car will definitely have to slow down its pace a bit when it goes out.

However, the heating blankets on the Shulong tires have now been removed. Every second wasted on this means the work of warming up the tires will become more arduous, not to mention that the act of warming up the tires themselves will shorten the tires' lifespan to some extent.

After Q1 started, Shulong wasted a full minute at the exit, and the tire temperature displayed on the steering wheel was almost down to 70 degrees Celsius before he finally officially stepped onto the track.

If you time your exit well, you only need to make a few quick strokes on the straightaway during the warm-up period to achieve a very comfortable tire temperature.

But given the current situation, besides using the dragon-drawing technique, the dragon-drawing technique has exhausted all other methods, such as revving the engine hard, braking suddenly, and turning the steering wheel to rub the tires, and only managed to raise the tires to near their operating temperature before starting on the straight road.

Sigh, what a makeshift operation.
The urge to swear was stuck in his throat, but Shu Long ultimately chose to swallow it back. The situation was already like this, and complaining would be of no use. He might as well focus his energy on the upcoming flight circle.

The first segment has a few small timing points that are purple, but the total time slot turns green.

Domestic fans who witnessed this scene were somewhat relieved, because it was the first push lap, and most of the laps were green, which is the norm. If you could also see purple, it meant that the lap wouldn't be too bad no matter what.

But if you see yellow on the stats on the first lap, you're really heartbroken. If you're not even as fast as the warm-up lap, what's the point of playing? You've definitely slipped somewhere or gone off the track.

The second and third segments were similar to the first, with a few scattered small purple squares in the middle, but the overall timer segments remained green.

Well, at least it didn't keep failing like it did during the third training session.

In the blink of an eye, Shu Long crossed the finish line. The five-star team members couldn't find Shu Long's name for a moment and were asking where he ranked.

The answer is third.

The top teams have now set effective lap times for both Mercedes cars, with Ferrari's Ralf Rhodes currently in first place, while Shulung is only behind Kimi and Hamilton, and even faster than Bottas.

There must have been some mistake on Bottas's end, because even Leclerc, driving a Sauber, is 0.02 seconds faster than Bottas among those who have set lap times.

However, his good fortune didn't last long. As each team completed their first round of progress, by the time Shulong charged up and entered the pits, the small screen on his HALO rack showed that he had dropped to fifth place.

Hmm, there's a fifth one!

One of the culprits was Ferrari's "Tilted Head Uncle," who set the exact same lap time as Kimi on his first push lap. However, because his time was achieved later, he is currently ranked third.

First is Max. The Brazilian Grand Prix lived up to its reputation as the track where he made his name. His lap times here were incredibly fast, leading the Ferrari behind him by a full 0.247.

Shu Long's first lap time wasn't much slower than Hamilton's; Hamilton's lap time was 1:08.474, only 0.01 slower.

This is already a very small gap, and Mercedes' overall competitiveness on this track does not seem as unstoppable as elsewhere.

Moreover, compared to the other driver on the Red Bull team, Shu Long was even about 0.07 seconds faster than Ricciardo.

It seems like Big Tooth has been having a run of bad luck all year. Just two races ago in Japan, he had only retired five times in a single season, but after two races in Brazil, that number has already increased to eight!

Starting from pole position and retiring at the Mexican Grand Prix; starting from the second row and retiring at the U.S. Grand Prix.

Not long ago, he had his power unit destroyed by Matthew with a fire extinguisher because of smoke coming from the rear of his race car.

According to incomplete statistics, Ricardo withdrew from matches more times in this year for various reasons than Hamilton withdrew from matches in the past five years.

Even an Ironman couldn't withstand this kind of torture; Ricardo's ability to maintain his composure is simply superhuman.
Gasly did not return to the pit pit. He had just reported to the team in the TR that there had been raindrops on the track, mainly around Turn 12. As a result, his lap time after his first push lap was only 16th.

The raindrops were small, and many cars were currently pushing forward on the track. The hot tires would quickly evaporate the water stains on the racing line. The team's advice to Gasly was to stay on the track and pay attention to the track conditions, and try to push for a lap if he felt there was an opportunity.

This opportunity was finally seized when there were only about five minutes left in Q1. Gasly made two more pushes on the track before informing the team that it was almost time to go. Toro Rosso's pit crew immediately called Gasly back to change the tires.

Actually, even if Shulong doesn't go out now, it won't affect his entry into Q2. Especially now, his lap time is completely worry-free, and he can plan his lap time for Q3 in advance.

For each Grand Prix, Pirelli provides each team with thirteen dry tire compounds, four semi-wet tire compounds, and three full-wet tire compounds.

After each of the first three practice sessions, teams are required to return two sets of Pirelli tires. The team decides which two sets to return, which will affect their practice schedule for each session.

For example, Shulong has already handed in one set of white tires, two sets of yellow tires and three sets of red tires, and now there are seven sets of dry ground tires left.

In addition, we just used up a set of super soft red tires in Q1, so we have to be careful with the remaining six sets of brand new tires. Who knows how many laps we'll need to do in Q3.

None of the six drivers in the front row—Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull—changed tires to improve their lap times. Only Bottas, due to a mistake on his first flying lap, stayed on the track and pushed for an extra lap, squeezing back in front of the two Arroyos. However, he was still separated from his teammate Hamilton by two other drivers: Shullon and Magnussen.

Haas, also equipped with a Ferrari engine, is on a strong run. Magnussen took advantage of the improved track conditions and the relatively mild impact of rain to achieve the same lap time for the second time in Q1, 1:08.474, the same as Shulong, and is now in sixth place.

Magnussen and Grosjean are both individualistic riders with a very high speed ceiling but a slight lack of stability. As things stand, they are likely to be Shulong's most direct competitors in this race.

Finally, before the clock stopped in Q1, Gasly set his fastest lap time to 10th, successfully escaping the elimination lap in Q1.

However, considering Gasly's current tire wear and overall lap time performance, his main strategy in qualifying for this race will likely focus on securing Q2, or even prioritizing the race itself. Even if he makes it to Q3, he might just use the old tires he's already used for a token appearance.

The drivers eliminated in the first round were McLaren's Alan Roy and Vandoorne, Williams's Steve Sainz, Renault's Carlos Ocon, and Force India's Carlos Ocon.

Alonso truly deserves his reputation as one of the most senior and popular drivers on the track. Even though he was humiliatingly eliminated from the race for points in Q1, the spectators still gave him the warmest cheers and applause.

Unfortunately, this year's McLaren race car, like its color, is a pure yellow pile of excrement, and even Alonso, who is said to have a 0.5 advantage, could not turn the rotten into the magical.

Among the teams that are roughly at the same competitive level as Toro Rosso, it seems that the main focus for this race is to guard against Ferrari-affiliated teams. On the other hand, the teams using Mercedes engines seem to be somewhat weak this race.

After a short wait, Q2 will soon officially begin.

The dark clouds in the sky were even darker than before, but it seemed that since it had only leaked a few drops earlier and the pressure in its stomach was not so great, it stubbornly held back to keep the track dry.

For the same reason as in Q1, long queues have formed again at the exit of the repair shop, except this time it's Gasly who's queuing up.

This is a two-way bet. The lap time in Q1 determines that the team will focus its strategy on Shulong in this race. Sending Gasly out first is to let him go to the track as a scout to gather intelligence.

Of course, if it rains later, Gasly, who set a lap time on dry tires, will likely benefit greatly from it.

However, Shulong is willing to take a gamble. Even if he is eliminated in Q2, based on his overall competitiveness in this game, squeezing into the points zone is not a problem at all.

Since that's the case, why not take a big gamble and see if we can score a lot of points in the main event?

The current qualifying rules stipulate that the top ten drivers must use the same tires they set for their fastest lap in Q2 when starting tomorrow's race. It's fair to say that Q2 will have a crucial impact on the strategy for tomorrow's race.

as predicted.

Among the first few cars released, Ferrari's two cars only made a brief appearance on the out lap with red supersoft tires. After the Mercedes two cars ahead of them had already completed their flying laps, they turned around and went into the pit area to change to yellow tires.

Mercedes has been completely fooled. Even if they switch to yellow tires later, their lap times will definitely not match those achieved with their red tires. It's almost certain that they will start using the red supersoft tires tomorrow.

Although Interlagos circuit doesn't have a high tire wear rate overall, after various following and battles during the race, starting on red tires could very well result in teams needing to implement a two-stop pit stop strategy.

Everyone is a hidden Iron Buddha Temple; even if they aren't, they might just be too embarrassed to say it.

Shu Long himself doesn't really have a strong attachment to Ferrari, but at this moment he is genuinely grateful to the red Prancing Horse for making tomorrow's race much easier for him.

Because his Q2 was also intended to be completed using yellow tires.

Shu Long is unsure of the expectations his fans have for him, but he knows that his ambition for finishing the race goes far beyond simply scoring points. It would be rather pathetic for a driver if his goal in a race wasn't to win.

That's right!

This time, he didn't focus on the mid-table teams around him; he was ready to give the top three teams, including his own Red Bull, a good beating.

Not everyone can make their debut on stage just in time for the team's effective upgrades, and it is an undeniable fact that Toro Rosso was generally very uncompetitive throughout the year.

In fact, this is true for all mid-to-lower-tier teams. Every upgrade is like playing the lottery. They might suddenly have a strong showing a few times in a year, but most of the time they are fighting tooth and nail at the back of the pack just to avoid being the unlucky last one.

If we don't seize this rare moment of Red Bull's resurgence, who knows if we'll ever have another opportunity with such perfect timing, location, and support?

Trying to break through in Q2 with yellow tires might be more difficult than trying to compete for starting position in Q3 with red tires, as different types of tires inherently create a lap time difference of at least 0.5 seconds.

Ferrari dares to use yellow tires for lap times because their cars are already fast, and even with yellow tires, they can reliably secure a spot in Q3. The reason Mercedes was caught off guard by Ferrari's strategy at this race is because they felt their competitiveness at this race was not secure.

Think about it, Red Bull and Haas are now within 0.01 of his range. What if he gets eliminated in Q2 if he uses Yellow Tire?
There's Sauber lurking behind them, and the gap between them and Mercedes is only about 0.3. They could very well suffer a major upset.

The overall competitiveness of Toro Rosso's car is unknown, but Gasly's Q2 red supersoft tires resulted in the 9th fastest lap time on the track, 1:08.533.
This is already considered fast. Although the track is basically dry now, the surface temperature has been significantly cooled down by the rain just now.

然而束龙一个黄胎的1：08.516又把队友加斯利的圈速给挤了下去，位列P9和P10，刚刚好挤入Q3的晋级区之内。

He's not stupid. He's willing to help his teammates improve their lap times because he himself has a lot of leeway. Otherwise, what's the point of going to all that trouble to help others improve their lap times?
Ahead of Toro Rosso are the six drivers from the three major teams, as well as Leclerc and Grosjean, who also performed brilliantly in this session.

After the first set of flight laps, the rest of Q2 was garbage time, because the rain that had been brewing on the track for so long finally fell, making Mercedes, who wanted to use yellow tires to regain the fastest lap, curse in frustration.

For Shu Long, this heavy rain was undoubtedly the greatest reward for this lazy dragon. Even before the competition started, he had already gained a great deal of strategic initiative in tomorrow's main event.

(End of this chapter)