F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 57 Red Bulls (4K3)

Brandon Hartley

This New Zealand driver, born in 1989, has a youthful face and a gentle personality that belies his age. Under the high pressure of the Red Bull system, he exudes a pitiful aura throughout the year.

Having a mild temperament is not a bad thing. In fact, the current generation of Red Bull drivers, including Ricciardo, are all relatively peaceful and easy to get along with off the track.

However, if someone has a mild personality but can't demonstrate any real ability to prove themselves, they'll definitely become an object of bullying within the Red Bull system.

Despite being the same age as Ricciardo, Hartley, who is almost thirty years old this year, is in his rookie season in F1.

Hartley's impression this season is that he's mediocre, with a limited ceiling, decent grappling skills, and just generally unlucky.

Judging from just this one season, everyone would think that at his age, this level of performance is beyond saving, and it's only a matter of time before Red Bull abandons him.

On the other hand, his teammate from the same rookie season, the young Gasly, has had an exceptionally impressive season, and the gap between the two in points has widened to more than seven times.

If both of them are "newcomers" and neither of them can score points, then it could be said that there is a real problem with the car.

If the scores of the two drivers are not much different, it can be explained that one of them is luckier, and they are actually drivers of the same level.

But with such a large difference in points, it's possible that the problem lies with the person in question.

Moreover, Brandon Hartley, despite his seemingly rookie status, can no longer be considered a complete newcomer in the strictest sense.
Prior to this, Hartley was already a two-time Le Mans 24 Hours champion and a 15-year WEC World Drivers' Championship winner, a resume that would be considered illustrious anywhere.

But ever since he entered F1, the halo of being a prodigy has been ruthlessly erased, and many people's impression of him has long since changed from a crossover genius driver to "someone who came from nowhere".

To put it bluntly, if it weren't for Hartley's huge popularity in other races, Toro Rosso might have already been driven by Shu Long, who has obtained a super license, under Marco's impatient intervention in the second half of this year.

November 9th, in São Paulo, Brazil, the hometown of racing legend Ayrton Senna, at the Interlagos circuit.

Hartley, who had been informed internally long beforehand, did not appear at the paddock at all, but instead obediently stayed at the hotel to "recover from his illness" as instructed by Red Bull.

This abrupt decision was almost insulting, and to appease Hartley, Red Bull even arranged a confidential contract with an attractive check amount for him.

There's no way, they gave too much.

After all, Hartley was a driver who was trained in the Red Bull system, so he was already used to this kind of thing. He was unhappy but there was nothing he could do about it.

Participating in F1 this year was actually an unexpected surprise due to a combination of coincidences. His performance in the lower-level formulas was generally mediocre, and he was abandoned by Red Bull's fringe youth training program before switching to other races.

For him, F1 was just an attempt to fulfill a dream. He could make a living without relying on F1 in the future, but it's impossible for him to completely leave the racing industry.

Red Bull's assurance to him was that he could at least be guaranteed to join a competitive WEC team again after the season.

Naturally, the person who appeared in the Toro Rosso pit room in place of Hartley, dressed in a racing suit, was Shu Long.

In order to control public opinion about this matter, Red Bull did not make any official announcements before Shu Long officially took the stage. Even Shu Long himself only learned about the news less than a week in advance and was strictly prohibited from leaking it to outsiders.

Even when the team was walking the track a couple of days ago, Shu Long was dressed in black and red leather, following along with the Red Bull team.

The first Chinese driver to participate in an F1 race! Such a big deal! Such a meaningful thing!
Not only Gan Mengning, but also Shu Xiong and Zhang Xin were completely unaware.

News from within China was even slower; by the time the commentators on various platforms reacted, the practice session had already ended.

As for whether anyone has any doubts?
In Brazil, anything can happen, and countless drivers have gotten food poisonings here.

When the word Brazil is mentioned, most people's first impression is of a football kingdom, a place of passionate and outgoing women dressed in hot clothes dancing the samba in the streets, and a very open-minded culture.

It's not just about being open in terms of clothing; it includes any kind of openness you can imagine.

It sounds like the paradise on earth that we've always dreamed of, right?

But when you're actually here, the only word you can really feel is—chaos!

São Paulo, in particular, is the most chaotic and dangerous place in all of Brazil, second only to Rio de Janeiro.

Various gray industries that would be considered black industries in China are rampant here. Gangs, slums, robberies, and murders are not uncommon occurrences. The convoy's instructions to Shu Long were that if there was nothing going on, it was best to stay in the hotel and not go out. If he did go out, it was best to stay with the convoy.

In an environment like this, let alone getting an upset stomach, it wouldn't be surprising if someone ripped out your kidneys while you were walking down the street.

The only thing you need to remember when traveling is never to flaunt your wealth.

Keep your valuables like cell phones, watches, and wallets safe, otherwise you might get them stolen on the street and never find them again.

Nobody cares, and nobody can care. They just disappear into the slums, so you can go find them.

So when Gan Mengning saw the news and immediately asked if she needed on-site support, Shu Long repeatedly emphasized only two words.

"Don't come!"

What are you here for?

Whether or not the visa is secured is another matter. It will take about two days to fly over, and by the time you actually arrive, it will be too late.

There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the entire training session.

To adapt to the Honda engines that will soon be installed in the Red Bull, the Toro Rosso's air suspension layout this season is actually quite similar to the Red Bull's in terms of design philosophy.

In addition, Honda equipped the Toro Rosso with the newly upgraded C-version engine at this race, so at least in terms of power it was not criticized as "GP2 Enjing" as it was in the previous races, and it did not have a big disadvantage compared to the engines of Mercedes and Ferrari.

Um... it probably isn't as big as it looks on paper.

In Newey's words, this gap can at least be salvaged through aerodynamic design, and there is still a chance to compete, so that they are not completely divided into two competing groups.

This made it exceptionally easy for Shu Long to adapt to the base model Red Bull race car. Before the clock stopped in the first practice session, he set the fastest lap to seventh overall, with Leclerc and Ericsson behind him.

Arroth really benefited from Ferrari's engine upgrade at this race, maintaining highly competitive lap times throughout the practice session, making it hard to believe this was a team that was third from the bottom in the standings.

Of course, the lap times Shulong just displayed made it hard for me to believe this was a team second to last in the points standings. Don't laugh at me, bro. Gasly's lap time in the first practice session was only 13th, clearly still adjusting to the car upgrades for this race.

The upgrade to Red Bull has been personally approved by Ricardo, and its potential is indeed much higher than before, but it's also incredibly difficult to drive.

The Red Bull, which followed its father's lead, naturally inherited this flaw. To drive fast, it either needs a large adaptive tuning window like the Shulong, or it needs to use hard power to pinpoint the unpredictable sweet spot of the car's tuning, like Verstappen and Ricciardo do now.

How did you do that?

Shu Long had just gotten out of the car and taken off his helmet and hood when Gasly grabbed him.

The increasingly chaotic young Frenchman pointed at the lap time of the car that was ranked 7th on the screen, feeling like his entire worldview was collapsing. He was more than qualified to talk about how difficult this car was to drive, having just jumped off a race car himself.

Do you want to see my data?

Gasly clicked his tongue and hesitated for a second, but finally nodded decisively: "Look!"

Of all the drivers still in the Red Bull system, Hartley, who belongs to another racing system, is not very familiar to Shu Long. Although Ricciardo is approachable, there is an age difference, and Shu Long does not usually communicate with him much.

Max was the person I knew the earliest, but if we're talking about who I'm most familiar with and who I've spent the most time with, then it's probably Gasley.

Gasly was also sidelined for a year in 17 after winning the GP2 championship. During that time, apart from participating in some other races, he spent most of his time holed up in the factory, like a dragon without any races, playing simulators.

It wasn't until this year, when they officially secured a spot with the Mavericks, that they formally handed over the baton of the simulator to Shu Long.

They are all champions in Formula Two, but there are differences between the champions.

The two of them are well aware of each other's characteristics and habits, so there's no need for any pretense. Just give it to me!
Shu Long has never had the habit of hiding his data. His driving style is characterized by high adaptability, and he can gain a lot of inspiration by sharing and exchanging data with others.

For Shu Long, driving a race car is not just about building a template based on a set of correct theories; it's more about a feeling.

Just like he never had the habit of deliberately memorizing braking reference points since the go-karting era.

With the ability to remember everything he sees, Shu Long could memorize the braking points applicable to every type of car under every tire wear condition on every track, if he wanted to.

But it's not necessary.

The tire adhesion on the track, weather conditions, vehicle weight, and even the quality differences between the same type of tires—these complex and ever-changing preconditions cause the so-called optimal solution to change every moment.

Memorizing a relatively correct answer can only ensure that you won't make a mistake, but if you want to truly unleash the full potential of the race car, the only thing you can trust is your own actual feeling of every instantaneous change in the car.

This is why Shu Long doesn't need to adjust the car settings much when pushing for the maximum single lap time. He doesn't need the car to help him define and narrow down the range of the correct answer, because he is the correct answer.

The problem is that his so-called correct answer does not apply to everyone.

Just like some people with strong spatial reasoning skills can solve geometry problems without much calculation, they can get the answer in their minds just by looking at the problem, but for people with weaker spatial reasoning skills, they must strictly follow the formula and method to deduce it step by step.

For most people, Gasly's talent is like the former, but compared to Shu Longyi, he feels that he may not even be as good as the latter, because he can't even understand the correct formula.

"Why were you able to accelerate so early at Senna Bend?"

"I braked a little late. There was a sharp bump and it was downhill. The traction of the front and rear wheels decreased in turn, which could easily cause the car to push first and then swerve. So I sacrificed a little cornering speed to avoid that spot."

I understood, but my head is starting to hurt.

Late braking at Turn 1 is not uncommon, but it usually happens during the race; not many people brake late there when trying to improve their qualifying lap time.

The most important reason is that the Senna S-curve is not particularly wide, and it is a left-downhill curve with a large elevation difference, so there is not much room for late braking.

Don't underestimate the sensitivity of these twenty drivers to speed and time.

In F1 racing, the difference between braking early and braking late is only a fraction of a second. However, not everyone is as precise and consistent as Shu Long. Being able to receive information in a short time does not mean that one can respond correctly. If one does not grasp the timing even slightly late, the car may go out of bounds.

The difficulty of this corner lies in the fact that while the car is very sensitive to grip, the corner itself is not very long. Under the physical rules of this world, you are not allowed to make adjustments to the line in such a short distance and in such a short time.

This affects the entry and exit routes of Turn 2, and no one can afford to lose acceleration time on Turn 3 and the long straight ahead.

The reason for doing this in the main race is that even if you brake late and waste time compared to others, it won't affect your ranking because it blocks other people's normal entry and exit lines, and everyone slows down together.

It's called late braking, but Shulong's late braking point is probably less than 0.05 seconds later than the normal braking point. Even if Gasly knew this now, he might not be able to step on it in time.

What's the front and rear brake ratio here again?

"That's normal. Like you, it's 55 in the front and 45 in the back. Stability is quite important here. As for brake shift, I think you should just do it according to your own comfort level."

Gasly scratched his forehead in frustration. Fortunately, there were still two practice sessions ahead, giving him plenty of laps to slowly get a feel for the game.

So let's assume he has solved the problem here, but that doesn't mean he can rest easy.

根据束龙跑出来的标准来看可以在这里抠出0.2秒左右，从圈速榜上看应该可以爬到第9第10的位置，可这里还离着束龙的第7有0.2的差距呢
Where should we start cutting this?
All teams will hold back during practice, and Gasly himself is no exception. However, as the team currently second to last in the standings, he is well aware that there isn't much room left for this car.

Therefore, simply increasing it by 0.2 is far from enough to safely escape the danger zone.

However, for a driver in the paddock, the most direct way to demonstrate their ability is to compare themselves with their teammates. Shu Long had already been very generous in helping him once, and he was too embarrassed to ask for more.

Even if you're going to take advantage of someone's family fortune, you can't do it like this. He's not like O'Connor; he wouldn't do something like that.

Before Gasley could even speak, Shu Long instead extended his hand to him.

"Let me see your track setup?"

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(End of this chapter)