F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 78 The Strategy Was Played
Perhaps due to the abrupt and hasty departure procedure, the intensity and chaos were not only present in the competition in the front row, but even more so in the back row of cars.

The first to suffer was Ricardo, who had just transferred to Renault.

It seems that his attempt to change his luck through a transfer has not worked. Renault's overall competitiveness this year does not look as strong as Red Bull's second team, and they even seem to be inferior to their own customer team, McLaren!
Of course, whether a team selection is correct or not cannot be determined in one or two games. However, at least in this current game, it is probably impossible to find a second player more unlucky than Ricardo.

The two Renault drivers were fiercely competing against each other in the first race.

One is Nico Hulkenberg, who has set a record of 176 consecutive matches without playing during his nearly ten-year career.

The other is Red Bull's former star driver, who was originally highly anticipated to become the next world champion.

These two people now have a lot in common.

First of all, they are not young anymore. These two guys are 31 and 32 this year, which is definitely the age to start considering retirement in many other sports.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Alonso and Raikkonen seem to be quite old but still maintain their peak performance. The reason these two have such long careers is not only due to their extreme self-discipline that keeps them in good physical condition.
Well, at least Alonso is relatively disciplined.

As for how determined Old Laitou will be to lose his belly after that party where he drinks until he's drunk, even people inside Ferrari probably don't know.

Alonso's speed is predictable, but Kimi, the maverick and stoic old man in the paddock, seems to have a speed that is simply unreasonable.

There's probably no other person like him in the paddock who can get himself drunk and pass out in the pit garage the day before the main race, yet still manage to repeatedly go on stage and bankrupt his team because they can't afford to pay the prize money.

Having said all that, while the careers of drivers in the paddock may seem to have been significantly extended with the advancements in racing technology and training systems, in reality, they are not much different from the era of god-like competition.

The paddock has limited patience for drivers, and there are very few exceptions like Alonso and Raikkonen, provided that they both have world championships and are far superior to most young drivers in terms of both commercial value and ability.

However, this premise becomes somewhat awkward when applied to Ricardo and Hulkenberg.

The outcome of a race depends not only on the driver, but also on the condition of the team and the car – a consensus within the paddock. While opinions may vary on who currently has the best driving skills in the paddock, it's actually quite easy to discern someone's true ability once you've watched a race.

Both of them are undoubtedly talented, but they both lack the overwhelming evidence to prove their abilities—a championship.

This makes them seem less irreplaceable in the paddock. If there is a highly promising young player to choose from, the team's decision to give up on them might not be a particularly difficult thing to consider.

Ricciardo needs to prove that he is not useless without the Red Bull system. Hulkenberg has held his seat for many years and defeated several teammates. This year is the first time that he has a top-level driver competing with him on the same team.

It can be said that no matter who is outshone, the other person's position will be extremely awkward, both in terms of external public opinion and the allocation of resources within the team.

Because they were putting in so much effort, the two older Renault men, who were facing a mid-life job crisis, got off to a very fast start in the back row, and right at the beginning of the race, they were on the left and right of Perez, who had started from P11.

Hulkenberg drove aggressively, forcing Perez to the right.

He is the type who usually has a good temper, but is extremely fierce when racing, especially when he is directly competing with his teammates.

Regarding this point, one of Hulkenberg's most recent teammates, Sainz, felt he had a lot to say, but this pair was relatively restrained, and their emotions on the court did not directly carry over off the court.

Among the current active players, Grosjean, who was teammates with Grosjean in the lower-level formula teams, and the two of them, with their stubborn tempers, caused quite a bit of an unpleasantness back then.

Poor Perez, innocently caught in the crossfire of this silent competition, was sandwiched between two Renaults and had little choice but to give way to Hulkenberg, who was under the most pressure.

But his actions have put Ricardo in a difficult position.

Ricciardo, positioned on the far right, appears to have gained the most advantageous position before entering Turn 1, but this also means that the grass around him is now one of the few spaces he can use to avoid the two mad dogs next to him.

Actually, there are other options. At this point, simply easing off the accelerator slightly can open up a whole new world. However, for race car drivers who are racing against time, backing down at this crucial moment would undoubtedly be the greatest insult to their self-esteem.

Ricciardo went straight for the grass, giving himself no chance to weigh his options. He floored the accelerator to maintain his position!

Then he paid a heavy price for his passion.

To limit drivers from frequently using unconventional racing lines to gain an advantage, the grass is not completely flat. Ricciardo drove straight into a treacherous ditch at the junction of the grass, and his front wing was knocked off the spot.

Whether it's the curse of Australian home drivers or not, Ricciardo has been having a run of bad luck since last year when he was still with Red Bull. This year, he switched to a new team and still had such a disastrous opening race. Superstitious people probably don't even want to play anymore.

If it were a different track, Ricardo probably would have chosen to withdraw from the race.

Losing his front wing at the start meant that even if he wanted to pit for repairs, he would have to go around the track first. Without the downforce provided by the front wing, Ricciardo didn't dare to press the accelerator too hard. Even though a brief yellow flag helped slow him down a bit, he still ended up in front of Kubica before entering the pit lane.

But there was nothing he could do; it was his home turf. Even if he had to cry and curse, he had to finish the race, just for the sake of the fans who came.

As for why it was in front of Kubica...
All I can say is that Kubica had another tough day today; this guy's front wing fell off right at the start!

Gasly may have been under a lot of psychological pressure from Marko and the team, which led to his poor performance. His start today was a complete disaster. He dropped all the way from P16 to P19, and almost got overtaken by Williams, who were at the bottom of the grid, while driving his Red Bull.

He must be very anxious after all this!
So, before Turn 1, in an attempt to regain the position from Russell, Gasly executed a dragon tail sweep that took Kubica's front wing.

Two noses fell off on the starting line alone, even Voldemort was impressed. These two unfortunate brothers were a minute behind Bottas at the start of the race, and by lap 12, P5's captain had started lapping them.
Keep in mind that the Albert Park circuit is 5.303km long. Generally speaking, even if the slowest car at the back gets lapped, it would be a matter of thirty or forty laps. Now, getting lapped in just over ten laps is pointless!
Seeing the blue flag and the dragon pendant, he even felt a pang of pity. In a moment of confusion, he blurted out to the team, "What lap am I on now?"

"On lap 12, be careful to protect your tires, as you may have to stop once during this race."

He didn't ask why, because Shulong felt that his tires were in pretty good condition. If the red tires could last for more than 20 laps, it was very likely that he could finish the race as soon as he stopped using the yellow tires.

However, focusing on tire protection means that from now on, Shulong can no longer make too many aggressive maneuvers towards Max in front of it.

For the first ten laps, Shulong kept trying to attack Verstappen, the big bull in front of him.

However, overtaking on this track was far more difficult than he had imagined. The three DRS sections were all very short, and with Verstappen also having Vettel's DRS and slipstream to rely on, it was difficult to gain a significant speed advantage.

Mercedes' two cars were incredibly fast. Bottas, who led in P1 in clean air, pulled ahead of Hamilton by 3.8 seconds, while Hamilton, who was pushing himself in relatively clean air, also pulled ahead of Vettel in P3 by 4 seconds.

In other words, from Vettel to Leclerc, these four players are now pulling a separate DRS train, and the situation has temporarily reached a stalemate.

Verstappen was also unable to get past the Ferrari in front of him. The two Martian rovers were attacking and defending respectively, and the already narrow track was completely blocked by the two racing lines. Shulong did not even have the opportunity to brake late.

In fact, let alone braking late, if Shulong didn't want to crash directly into the back of the car in front, he also had to brake earlier while preventing the Leclerc behind him from sneaking in.

Overtaking is indeed difficult at Albert Park Circuit, but only if you play defensively.

Leclerc, whose position was stolen by Shulong at the start, had an extremely strong desire to attack. In Shulong's peripheral vision, a red matte car nose would tentatively move forward next to him at every corner.

Ferrari's engine this year is indeed top-notch. While both cars are drawing in the exhaust of the car in front, Shulong can hardly find any headspeed margin to provoke the car in front like this.

The turning point came on lap 15 when Vettel made a pit stop, and the locomotive shifted to Verstappen.

Raikkonen, who was behind him, needed to remove the protective film from his helmet visor that was stuck in the brake air intake, so he pitted on lap 12. However, this action tricked a large number of midfield teams behind him into pitting for tire changes.

On lap 16, Hamilton, who was ahead of him, also chose to pit and switch to yellow tires as part of his strategy to defend against Vettel.

The team's strategy group was completely baffled, and then notified Shulong in the TR that they could take advantage of the moment to increase their attack intensity, because this would likely force most teams to choose a two-stop tactic.

Regardless of all that, it's rare that Red Bull hasn't given any veiled instructions to restrict competition among the teams, so Shu Long is naturally happy to go head-to-head with Max for a bit.

However, after feeling the blatant pressure from behind, Verstappen showed no mercy, only giving Shulong a chance to make a quick run from the outside each time, and then squeezing the lane line outwards as he exited the corner, with the aim of forcing Shulong's unrealistic offensive fantasies out of the game.

If it were just the two of them vying for position on the track, Shu Long could choose to go around the crossroads, but the problem is that choosing the crossroads itself makes way for the regular racing line, and Leclerc, who is watching closely behind, would definitely not give up such an opportunity so easily.

Bottas, who was in the lead, is now completely out of the picture, and all the cameras are focused on these three new generation drivers who represent the future of the paddock.

However, the expected overtaking scene did not occur. Even with a different locomotive, the DRS train remained stuck in a rut.

The continuous attack and defense continued until the 20th lap. At this point, the two-stop tactic could basically be completely removed from the plan. However, a one-stop tactic seemed a bit premature for the yellow tires, since it was not an easy task to withstand 38 laps in a lot of dirty air.

However, Toro Rosso's team has the strategic initiative because Vettel and Hamilton pitted too early, so Shulong, who saved time by not having to pit once, is likely to finish better than these two in the final standings.

After careful consideration, the team sent a message to Shulong: "Consider Plan C."

The specifics won't be detailed on the TR public channel. It's usually a plan decided by the team in the pre-race tactical meeting. Plan C is a tactic to deal with the current stalemate by pitting earlier and trying an undercut based on a single pit stop.

Of course, other teams' strategy groups aren't stupid either. Changing their tactical plans at this point in time usually means they want to try an undercut, which gave Ferrari a bold idea.

“Charles, let’s try pitting on this lap, plan E.”

"Copy!"

Ferrari's words were naturally heard by Toro Rosso as well. The two Italian teams developed a mutual respect and decided to have Shulong follow Leclerc's pit stop strategy.

"OK, Shu! Box! Box now!"

"Copy!"

To everyone's surprise, just as Shulong turned into the pit lane, Ferrari, usually the clown, suddenly became cunning and told Leclerc "Don't go in," keeping him on the track.

The pit stop went very smoothly this time, with a tire change time of 2.3 seconds, which was among the best in this station. However, no one at Toro Rosso could be happy after being outmaneuvered.

The track at this station was literally crowded. No matter what strategy you used, it was difficult to find a relatively clean exit window. After exiting the pits, the runner landed at P7, which was sandwiched between Stroll and Gasly.

It's another little train!

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(End of this chapter)