F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 99 The Possibilities of Differentiation Strategies
The changes in track conditions are not a bad thing for Shulong; on the contrary, they are a good thing.

Strategic differentiation—isn't this the opportunity he's been waiting for?
Some might think that large fleets have so many resources and deep expertise, so their judgments are bound to be more accurate. You're just being clever and courting disaster!

But for the mid-table Earth group, your car's performance is inferior to theirs, and your starting position is also inferior. Why do you think that adopting the exact same strategy as them will give you a chance to make a comeback?
Sometimes it's not that Shulong wants to gamble, but if he doesn't gamble, he has 100% no chance. If he gambles, there's a 90% chance he'll be wrong, but there's also a 10% chance he'll win the grand prize. In these situations, he knows what to choose without even thinking.

Of course, this is on the premise that the team, like Shulong, considers the podium as their ultimate goal.

Hamelin initially tried to persuade Shu Long, because according to the data analysis of the three practice sessions, Toro Rosso's main competitors in this race were not the Big Three teams, but Haas and Renault.

But
"We don't have an advantage in qualifying, I need the absolute advantage of red tires at the start!"

"But the track temperature may be very low tomorrow, and you may need to deal with serious tire granulation issues if you start on red tires. The first stint may also end in a shorter time than previously expected."

"Then we'll pit early to catch the clean air at the back of the pack! With the track temperature low, we can't just stay in the middle of the pack eating dirty air forever; we have to take advantage of the car's long-distance performance!"

"But this will put a lot of pressure on your offense in the first stint, and could even ruin the whole game! This is your first home game, are you sure you've thought this through?"

Just moments ago, Shu Long had only lifted his goggles, but now he not only took off his helmet but also ripped off his fireproof hood, staring into the track engineer's eyes with what he thought was a very sincere look.

“I know, I know! Sometimes getting it done is more important than perfecting it. Everyone wants to make sure there are no unexpected situations during these special times. I had the same thought two hours ago.”

"But I just realized something: I didn't step onto the track specifically for my home race or this 1000th Grand Prix!"

"I'm a driver, and besides my competitors, I should strive to be faster than 'myself'! If I had that choice in front of me, I wouldn't let it slip away just to play it safe!"

Hamelin silently rubbed his furrowed brows, glanced at the dwindling time left in Q2, exchanged a look with team leader Tost, and finally sighed, unsure of the best course of action.

Some of the signals that the dragon might not understand, but recently the people representing the power behind Al have been appearing in the paddock more and more frequently.

The most important thing for Shulong right now is not to strive for amazing shots, but to maintain stability and ensure that it can outshine Alben. This is also the best way to prevent the other side from finding fault.

Judging from the public opinion surrounding Toro Rosso's bike tackling at the previous stop, it's clear that no matter how well Shu Long performs, he will only be described as unpredictable by those with ulterior motives. If he makes a mistake even once, he will immediately be labeled as "unstable".

The support behind this young Eastern boy was so weak it seemed like a gust of wind could blow him away. Even Dr. Marco was struggling to survive. Before the China station, Shu Long was practically invisible on mainstream Western information websites.

This is because Shulong's impeccable performance so far has left those people with no opening. The current outcome of the power struggle between the two sides is that since they can't demote you, they might as well drag you down to the sidelines and watch from the sidelines, so that no one can occupy the high ground of public opinion.

But if either side shows even the slightest flaw, the entire trend could immediately shift to one side.

If you don't believe me, your phone is always connected to the internet, right?
Now you can open your phone and take a look to see how many new entries about Alben's inability have popped up since he crashed in practice.

And how many of them disappeared completely from the internet shortly afterward?

This power struggle, fought without bloodshed, had already begun unnoticed.

Shu Long is a comfortable young man to be around. At least Hamelin and Tost both feel that cooperating with Shu Long is quite pleasant, and they are currently among those who hope that this young man will be successful in the future.

That's why Hamelin was quite critical of Shulong Adventure's overtaking of Magnussen in the previous race, because there really wasn't any need to push so hard.
Alben at least had someone willing to invest in plagiarizing his work, but O'Neill couldn't even get his own internal voices in sync. When Shu Longzhen fell into the water, could Marco, who already held the trump card Max, really make up his mind to help him?
Based on Hamelin's assessment of the fates of the young drivers who came and went in the team over the years, the possibility can't be said to be low, but it can be said to be almost nonexistent.

As a true Red Bull prospect, Hamelin is already used to similar things. However, Shu Long is different; he truly has the talent and hope to compete for a Red Bull seat.

Logically speaking, Hamelin should have been more than happy to see Shulong stay with Toro Rosso, since the engineers in the crew would receive a substantial bonus for every outstanding performance Shulong achieved.

But the Toro Rosso team can't retain its players; they either get promoted or leave. Every partnership between a driver and an engineer is destined to be short-lived.

Hamelin was neither Italian nor British, and he wasn't particularly concerned about promotion or staying on.

Engineers also have their own positions and circles. Even if he could get promoted and have a broader development space because of Shu Long's connections, it doesn't necessarily mean he would get more resources than he does now.

Just like Hayden and his teammates who tried to latch onto Shulong's coattails back then, most of them could only stay at the youth training headquarters in Austria to help with vehicle adjustments.

A small number of people were selected to train in the logistics department of Red Bull or Red Bull, and when they could be promoted to the formal engineering team depended on luck and fate.

Therefore, Hamelin's care for Shulong was more of a sentiment of appreciating talent without much personal gain attached.

If a future world champion were to emerge from their hands, it would be a tremendous achievement and source of pride for engineers who have entered the world of motorsports.

Hamelin spent a long time patiently analyzing the pros and cons of choosing the right tires for tomorrow with Shulong, but seeing that the other party remained stubborn, he wanted to make one last attempt.

"You'd better think it through. With dirty air and low track temperatures, white tires may not be as durable as expected."

Is it possible for it to rain tomorrow?

"The latest forecasts indicate that there may be showers tomorrow, and there is a 45% chance of rain during the main competition. It cannot be guaranteed that it will rain, but it is certainly possible."

"But no matter what, we need to gain a sufficient advantage at the beginning of the race. If it rains, won't we gain a speed advantage on the red tires?"

Hamelin had basically given in, because even if he released the dragon now, it wouldn't catch up with the clean air of the last flight circle, so he simply crossed his arms and discussed the possibilities for tomorrow with the dragon.

"What if the rain comes particularly late tomorrow? Wouldn't you have wasted your time getting into the station?"

"Come on~ Aren't we all gambling? The people in front of us are doing it because their cars are fast and they have more chips. Do you think we have that many options?"

"Just keep this in mind. We'll discuss the specific strategies at the meeting after qualifying. For now, focus on how to push your position as high as possible in Q3 and minimize the impact of polluted air and unnecessary skirmishes on the tires."

The weather was overcast for most of the race weekend. The temperature was around 19 or 20 degrees Celsius for the first two days, but the track temperature remained above 36 degrees Celsius.

This is one of the reasons why most teams initially thought white tires had great potential, because the temperature conditions on this track were so similar to those of Bahrain, where the race transitions from dusk to night, making it practically a home ground for C2 compound tires.

The temperature for tomorrow's race will be similar, but apart from the possibility of rain, the biggest factor affecting the track temperature will be the upcoming high wind speeds.

High wind speeds mean that heat cannot be retained on the track, and the overall track temperature tomorrow may be 10 to 20 degrees Celsius lower than today. Frequent contact between hot tires and cold track is often the biggest cause of excessive wear and tear on tires.

As for matters of luck, let fate decide. All Shulong can do now is to make the most of the part where he has the initiative.

As the absolute protagonist of the home field, at least 40% of the broadcast shots for this stop revolved around Shulong.

So during the remaining time in Q2, the audience watching on the big screen and the fans watching online all witnessed this scene—Shu Long had a rather heated argument with his race engineer in the pit lane.

Especially when they saw Shulong seemingly very "dissatisfied" as he took off his helmet and ripped off his mask, looking like he was about to start a fight at the slightest provocation, they jumped up from their chairs in a panic.

"Huh? That's strange, we see that Shu Long seems a bit agitated right now!"

"Calm down! The more you play at home, the more you need to learn to face it with a calm mindset!"

"Hopefully there's nothing wrong with the car, but Toro Rosso seems to have had a pretty good long-run performance in this race. They've already made it into Q3, and if they can resolve the issue in time, they should still have a great chance tomorrow."

Seemingly realizing how much trouble their unintentional remarks would cause at this crucial moment, the commentators regretted their words as soon as they left their mouths and spent the next period of time trying to help the Toro Rosso team make amends.

However, the commentators were indeed overthinking things. Not only was Shulong nervous at the beginning of this race, but every commentator's heart was in their throat as they watched Shulong navigate every bend.

This mindset is like an average student with mediocre grades entering the exam room. No matter how much they memorized before the exam, they are afraid that their mind will go blank as soon as they get the test paper, or that they will encounter some obscure or irrelevant content.

The Shanghai International Circuit does not host F2 races. Shulong has never actually raced on this track before. Although it is the home track in terms of status, its familiarity with it is definitely that of an away track.

The key issue is that since Shu Long returned to China, all the information about him seems to be about him cooperating with this event or on his way to that event. There seems to be very little information about Shu Long seriously completing his pre-competition preparations.

No matter how amazing Shu Long's performance was in the previous three games, to be honest, none of the commentators on their own team had as much confidence in Shu Long as David Croft of Sky Sports.

The car was fine, of course. The reason Shu Long jumped off was simply because he didn't want other teams to receive the TR between him and the engineer.

Soon the Q3 started running, and the Shulong, with its brand-new red tires, took the lead and went for a spin, following the two Mercedes-Benzes.

I managed to steal a little slipstream in the middle, which finally pushed my time into a new world, improving my fastest lap time to 1:32.951.

In fact, he had already given it his all on that Q2 lap. The ceiling for Toro Rosso is really low right now. Even with the support of Mercedes, he only managed to get his lap time just ahead of Renault's Hulkenberg.

They're leading by just 0.01!

Fortunately, the dragon's characteristic is extreme stability. It rarely fluctuates in its state due to its own reasons. As long as the conditions are similar and there are no unexpected events, it can ensure that its state is at its limit every time it laps.

Good fortune always favors the hardworking lucky ones. When Shu Long finished his return lap and was about to return to the pit pit, he found that neither of Haas's two cars seemed to have made any valid results, which meant that his current position was P7.

"What happened on Haas's side? I remember seeing them coming out to warm up the tires when we were pushing forward earlier, didn't I?"

"Yes, in fact, both of their drivers reported that the car had a balance problem and basically gave up the first lap before the first timeout."

So this is actually a good thing?

"Yep."

Shulong from Q2 ultimately advanced with a stable ranking of P8, actually behind Hulkenberg, who is currently behind him.

Ricciardo had a mediocre performance in Q2, initially in P9, but was eliminated in the final stages by Haas's two cars.

Haas is really strong in qualifying. The car's ceiling is really high in the Earth group. What Shulong is most worried about is being overturned by these two dark horses.

Currently ahead of Shu Long in the queue is Gasly, who has gradually adapted to the characteristics of the Red Bull race car, but doesn't seem to have fully adapted yet.
Q3的第一个飞行圈1：32.930，仅仅只比束龙快了0.021，却比维斯塔潘慢了足足0.85。

The commentators naturally took notice of the situation, and an unknown ambition gradually overshadowed their initial anxiety and trepidation.

"Okay, we see that Shulong is also queuing up in the maintenance area to prepare for the second round of flight laps."

"Yes, although Gasly's form has clearly improved in this tournament, based on past records, Shu Long has a high chance of defeating his former teammate."

"What I'm most worried about now is the timing of the Little Red Bull car release. Will there be traffic congestion later?"

"Probably not? The track here at Shanghai International Circuit is quite spacious overall, and there are relatively few cars entering Q3 to begin with, so it seems unlikely that it will get congested."

If any other commentator had said that, the audience might not have reacted much, but if it came from the Five Star Studio, the audience's hearts would have been half-broken.

In the second round of the race, Mercedes again led the way with two cars, followed closely by Ferrari. In contrast, the Shulong, which was closest to the pit lane exit, could only line up behind the two Red Bulls.

The fast pace of the three teams caught Red Bull off guard, and due to the principle of safe release, they could only obediently stay behind Red Bull.

Why did this happen?

"Sorry, buddy, but we really didn't expect Red Bull to come out at this time. This means they'll be exposed to Ferrari's dirty air."

"I noticed that too. Max seems to be slowing down his pace. How long until the clock stops? Can I overtake him?"

Similar questions arose simultaneously in the TRs of several teams. Before the engineers could respond, when they discovered that Gasly and Hulkenberg behind him were both accelerating and pulling away at the same time, Shu Long also made a decision.

Damn, these engineers are so slow to react!

I should have spent more time writing down the rules before the next competition. This time, I had to take a risk, whether it was against the rules or not, or I would have been dragged down!

In any case, the main competitors have all made almost simultaneous moves, and Haas has not yet achieved a valid lap time, so being penalized is almost equivalent to losing nothing.

(End of this chapter)