F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 83 Shaking the Brain
On Wednesday morning, we quickly worked with the car crew to complete the track walk, and made a preliminary judgment on the choice of racing line and tire wear based on the condition of the asphalt this year.

Compared to the previous year, this year's project did not involve major engineering changes such as track repaving, except for hardening the gravel buffer zone.

Besides preventing drivers from getting stuck and forced to retire after making a mistake and going off the track, it also reduces the chances of sand being blown onto the track and weakening the track's grip.

Since the difference from last year is not so obvious, it means that the workload of the team on the dragon-binding side will be much less. However, the main event is the messy things that happened in the afternoon.

The information revealed by Tost was correct; there were indeed members of the royal family present. On the way to the event, not only were there not a single reporter with a camera in sight, but the atmosphere in the corridor was also completely unlike the cheerful atmosphere that should have been present at the annual racetrack carnival.

The body search was very thorough. Once inside, they didn't even introduce the identity of the middle-aged man in his forties to Shu Long. The two maintained a safe distance of about five meters at all times, and all communication was done through the translator they wore on their ears.

This level of security is really strict.

Fortunately, they didn't make things too difficult for Shulong, who was sweating profusely as soon as he entered. They just asked him some routine questions, such as his general experience as an F1 driver and his feelings about Bahrain and the circuit.

Finally, surrounded by a dozen burly men, they shook hands as a farewell, thus hastily ending this meeting, whose nature was unclear.

Of course, there is another important task.

According to the middle-aged man with his head wrapped up, there might be a few special guests mixed in with the VIP passengers at the Hotlaps event tomorrow. He hoped that no matter who they were, Shu Long would take them to experience the charm of the track and speed.

Shulong's back was soaked with sweat after he came out.
How could I not be nervous?
Even though they didn't explicitly introduce themselves, their identities were so well protected that even though these bearded Middle Eastern men all looked pretty much the same once they wrapped their heads in turbans, Shu Long still had some recollection of their faces.

Crown Prince Salman.

Although he is not the king, he is still a very influential figure who can affect the political direction of Bahrain.

This is no longer just a business issue. If Shu Long did something inappropriate just now, it could potentially affect things at a deeper and higher level.

Some things would certainly not be done so hastily in China, but the constitutional monarchy system gives individuals a lot of say.

Early Thursday morning, Shu Long rushed to Weichang to prepare for the Hotlaps event.

This event, as its name suggests, involves active or retired F1 drivers, along with reserve drivers from various teams, driving high-performance sports cars approved by the race organizers, taking turns to experience the charm of motorsport culture with their VIP clients in the passenger seat.

Red Bull has six drivers rotating between its two teams, Red Bull and Red Bull Cars. In addition to the four official drivers, Sebastian Buemi and Daniil Kvyat are also among them.

Because official F1 drivers are quite busy during race week, this event is usually handled by reserve drivers and other teams' car performance testers. Occasionally, some former team veterans will be invited back to add to the spectacle. Which car the VIPs drive before getting in is like opening a blind box.

Of course, there are also super VIPs with high VIP status who directly order a specific driver to serve them, just like ordering food.

Among them, Verstappen and Shulong's business was particularly busy, and Gasly was also very popular with female VIPs because of his outstanding appearance among white people. Only Alben was like a nobody.

Red Bull has gone all out, bringing out the Aston Martin Valkyrie, a supercar co-developed by Red Bull and Aston Martin, with Newey as the lead designer!

Valkyrie, or Valkyrie by another name that might be more familiar in China, is the Valkyrie.

6.5L V12自然吸气引擎外加混动系统，综合输出1160马力，赛道模式下极速362KM/h，0-300KM/h加速仅需9.8秒！
In terms of aerodynamics, it features an active tail wing and a ground effect diffuser. Its design concept is directly derived from F1 racing cars, and it has been called a "street-legal F1 racing car" since its inception.

This thing is a monster built with money. In addition, the passenger in the front seat is also like opening a blind box for Shu Long. If he crashes it, he might not be able to afford to pay for it even if he sells his whole family. So at the beginning, Shu Long drove very cautiously.

Then a young man with a thick beard got into the race car. After experiencing one lap, he seemed unsatisfied and bluntly asked Shulong to do another lap.

"Come on, bro, this event is called Hotlaps! You at least have to make me feel the heat, right?"

The attitude was so matter-of-fact, an aura rarely seen even among wealthy and powerful VIP clients, which made Shu Long recall the unusual signs the other party had displayed.

Just before this person got into the race car, a staff member came and manually turned off the cameras next to the passenger seat that were recording the passengers' reactions.

"So... are you sure you want me to do this?"

"Of course, of course! Try to surprise me more!"

You said it yourself, so I have no say in what happens next!

Shu Long adjusted his helmet and turned off the traction control system of the race car in front of the bearded man. Before they even started moving, the man cheered excitedly in the car.

"Hold on tight!"

The heavy braking just before Turn One, even with the six-point harness firmly securing him, made Beard Guy's high-spirited cheers instantly swallowed back down as if he'd been punched in the gut.

This is a typical hairpin bend, so Shulong's driving style was relatively restrained.

But starting from Turn 2, one person's driving became increasingly inhuman.

He wasn't actually driving slow during that lap, but by using 32% of his "Tai Chi" technique, Shu Long's control over the center of gravity shift was so gentle that passengers could barely feel any impact from the changes in G-force.

You want some excitement? Well, I'll give you a real thrill!
For many ordinary people outside the racing world, the extreme sense of speed may bring a certain sensory stimulation, but within the driver's control, this impact is not actually very intuitive.

Therefore, if you want to truly experience so-called passion, letting passengers feel a loss of control is definitely the simplest and most direct way.

It's not drifting. While drifting is stylish and impressive, it significantly impacts speed, diminishing some of the fun. It's still neutral steering, but Shulong inputs an extremely large amount of slip into the car. From the outside, the car's dynamics clearly indicate drifting, but closer inspection reveals that Shulong's front wheels don't counter-steer at all.

Whether it's gripping or drifting, the dynamics of both are relatively clear to passengers, and their muscles know how to counteract inertia to maintain balance in their seats.

However, the sliding run with neutral turning is different.

The car's balance felt like walking a tightrope the whole time. Passengers felt as if they were sitting on a cloud, floating precariously while being held firmly in place in an unconventional way. Their minds were not only blank, but also filled with a frantic feedback of fear of the unknown from all their senses.

Unlike the bearded guy who was calm and talkative in the first lap, this time, apart from a muffled groan at turn one, he acted like a goose with its neck being choked, only able to squeeze out a few hissing sounds from his throat.

After Shulong returned to the P-room and parked the car, the staff opened the door and asked this super VIP with a very high Paddock ticket level to get out of the car. Only then did Beard Bro let out a hysterical scream at the unlucky lady whose smile had frozen on her face.

I thought this reaction would deter many potential customers, but to my surprise, the VIPs around me were not afraid at all when they saw Brother Beard's reaction. Instead, they became even more eager to try it.

If they just want a brief experience of the track, they can opt for a less thrilling track tour, which usually involves members riding in an open-air bus slowly around the track.

Which wealthy person who chooses to pay extra to experience Hotlaps doesn't want to truly experience the speed feast brought by the world's top drivers?
Shu Long, who was supposed to be changing shifts, was kept occupied by these enthusiastic car enthusiasts for another half hour, receiving no fewer than ten of them in total.

Many of them were reporters from various media outlets, as well as many hot models who wanted to gain some exposure, so the proportion of women was quite high.

At first, he just wanted to finish his work quickly, but later, as he listened to the pleasant cheers (or screams?) approving of his driving skills, his smile became increasingly unrestrained and perverse.

In the end, the commotion inside the car turned into one person shouting extremely loudly and another person laughing wildly.

Shu Long had almost forgotten about buying a car. He was traveling all over the world all year round, and he didn't even know how many times he would actually have the chance to drive a car home.

But after making this trip today, Shu Long felt it was necessary to put buying a car on the agenda as soon as possible.

The last time I let Gan Mengning ride in my car was on the main road. If I have the chance to take her to the racetrack sometime, I wonder how funny her reaction will be, haha~
The event ended at 11:30, giving the drivers some time to eat, rest, and freshen up. In the afternoon, the race organizers would close the track again to check the road conditions, and the drivers would take turns attending meet-and-greets with their fans.

Having dealt with the bigwigs in Bahrain, Shulong was quite relaxed for the rest of Thursday, leaving all the questions from reporters and hosts to Alben to figure out.

Friday arrived, and the first practice match began at noon.

As one of the most suitable tracks for winter testing of racing car performance, the Bahrain Grand Prix has a total length of 5.412 km and deploys three sections of DRS in a total of 15 corners.

The main race requires 57 laps, covering a total distance of 308 kilometers. It is a track that puts a lot of stress on the tires of the cars, and the one-stop strategy is basically non-existent here.

Although it is a comprehensive circuit with a wide variety of corners, like the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain, and its overall difficulty is not high due to its wider width and smaller elevation changes, Toro Rosso's overall competitiveness in practice was far less than its momentum during winter testing in Spain.

The relatively easy track means that the skill gap between drivers will be narrowed, and conversely, the performance of the car will play a decisive role here.

Because the entire track requires multiple heavy braking and long-distance accelerations, the rear wheels of the race cars will be under great pressure, making tire temperature management a top priority.

In other words, here, it is almost impossible to rise above others through ranking.

Shu Long could not, as he had done at the previous race at Albert Park, try to squeeze out lap times that were not meant for cars by using unconventional methods.

He also had to rack his brains trying to overcome the problem of high load and overheating of the rear wheels caused by the characteristics of the track itself, given that the car's balance was biased towards the rear axle.

Fortunately, this track not only has many DRS zones, but its width also allows drivers more options for line selection during the race. In short, this is a track where overtaking is very easy in the main race.

The answer is clear: instead of focusing on lap times like at Albert Park, the Bahrain team will definitely prioritize the race itself in terms of setup.

The good news is that Albon's upgrades have been very effective. According to his feedback from his actual experience on the track, the overall balance of the car is much more even than before, and it is easier and more precise to handle.

Compared to Shulong's cautious approach to prevent tire overheating, Albon, who received an upgrade kit at this race, was able to unleash his full potential and better explore the limits of his race car.

The most direct evidence of this is his lap times in the three practice sessions.

In the first race, he was 1.2 seconds slower than Shulong in a regular lap, but in this race, he has been able to stabilize at around 0.4 or 0.5 seconds.

Albon failed to score any points in the previous race, finishing only in P14, making him the worst performer among the four Red Bull drivers.

Whether it was Marco stirring up trouble internally or not, there were rumors circulating in the paddock that Alben might be replaced by Kvyat for a while.

However, the public opinion was quickly extinguished by an invisible hand. Based on the results of the three days of practice races, another opinion has emerged in the paddock regarding the previously criticized design of the Toro Rosso race car.

Besides, those voices seem to have been intentionally or unintentionally criticizing Shulong's car tuning skills, while deliberately emphasizing that the optimization of the Toro Rosso car was only the result after Albon took over the simulation testing task.

These arguments reached Shu Long's ears through the mouths of the reporters who interviewed him. In the early stages, everyone in the convoy seemed to be consciously keeping quiet, and it was unclear what they were avoiding.

But to be honest, Shulong is currently preoccupied with worries and doesn't have much energy to take things too seriously.

Outsiders could only see that the gap between Alben and him was rapidly narrowing, but they didn't notice that Shulong's ranking in the three practice matches had fallen from being on par with Mars Rover to now hovering on the edge of the points zone.

(End of this chapter)