F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 98: The burden is one you bring upon yourself.
Before leaving the P room, Shu Long first encountered Alben backstage, who looked dejected and desperate. Alben was gesturing and explaining something to a man in a suit.

Shu Long didn't recognize this person, but he vaguely remembered seeing him at the Faenza factory of Little Red Bull, though he didn't know exactly what kind of work the person was in charge of.

Generally speaking, unless absolutely necessary, Shu Long is very resistant to starting a completely new interpersonal relationship, so naturally he has no intention of digging into the details.

In fact, to this day, apart from the engineers in his own crew, very few members of the Little Red Bull team have spoken to Shu Long.

As for why Alben looks even more dejected than Shulong now, we have to mention the tragedy that happened during the third training session.

After a series of upgrades, Albon's recent performance can be described as steady and improving, and the gap between him and Shulong has been visibly narrowed. Tainiu is very satisfied with him.

It's fair to say that if Albon can deliver a more outstanding performance than his teammates at this stop, in Shulong's home stadium, then with Tai Niu backing him up, he will no longer have to worry about Marco causing trouble.

But there are unforeseen circumstances.

Perhaps Albon set his goals too high and became a little impatient. Towards the end of Practice 3, he was too aggressive in his push laps and lost control at the end of the last corner of the track, Turn 16.

As he tried to counter-steer to save the car, the rear wheels of the race car scraped against the gravel run-off area on the side of the road. The sudden change caused the car to lose control completely and crash heavily into the guardrail on the right side of the track.

The car was severely damaged this time, and with the next stage of the race just two hours away, it's almost certain that Albon will miss qualifying for his first Chinese Grand Prix.

This also shows that Shulong's current worries have nothing to do with being afraid that his teammates will surpass him. What is there to be anxious about when they can't even make it in ranked matches?
He genuinely felt that the Toro Rosso at this stop lacked a clear speed ceiling.
Moreover, he can't really say that Toro Rosso hasn't improved, because the current STR14 would have been an absolutely perfect championship contender a year or two ago.

However, there is one thing that Shulong has to face: STR14 is now fighting in the 2019 season, not 2017 or 2018. Even if it were a Mars rover in the past, it would probably be just a tractor with no competitiveness today.

To be honest, Toro Rosso impressed Shu Long in the first two practice sessions, a fantastic start compared to the struggling Red Bull and Ferrari.

When Shu Long returned to the Red Bull factory in Milton Keynes last time, he found that the problems with the Red Bull cars still existed. In fact, due to the many low-speed hairpin turns in the layout of the Shanghai International Circuit, the same problems have become even more severe.

The entire car's chassis and suspension had major design flaws, resulting in very poor traction in low-speed corners. Verstappen even said on TR that the car felt like it was ice skating.

Ferrari's overall design and tuning seem to be geared towards maximizing qualifying lap times. Its maximum lap time prediction is less than 0.1 seconds behind Mercedes, but its long-distance lap prediction is about 0.5 seconds behind Toro Rosso.

This is why Shu Long originally hoped to rely on the new upgrades to his race car to compete for a podium finish.

But after everyone started pulling out all the stops during the third practice session and gradually pushing the limits of their race cars on a single lap, Shu Long realized that waking up too early from a dream was really cruel.
Red Bull's current poor overall balance doesn't mean their potential is low; even Gasly's lap times in all three practice sessions were very aggressive.

Unlike Toro Rosso, who finished third from the bottom in the single lap and second in the long run, Red Bull maintained a stable third position among all teams in this race, both in single laps and long runs.

Regardless of the era or the rules, qualifying often has a greater impact on results than the race itself, regardless of whether the track is easy or difficult to overtake.

Especially for Earth-based cars like the STR14, not getting a good qualifying position might not affect its points, but the podium is simply out of the question.

Their Mars rover has a higher performance ceiling than yours, and the air on the track is cleaner. All these factors combined are much more reliable than a mere pre-race prediction.
Theory is just theory; anything that can't be put into practice is just empty talk.

The tests that could be done, the tuning that could be tried, and all sorts of car presets and combinations—everything that needed to be tested and improved had already been pretty much done in practice.

In reality, from now until the start of the qualifying race this afternoon, neither the car crew nor Shulong could possibly find any way to break the deadlock. Apart from normal meals and rest, they had no work to do, and no matter how hard they pretended to work, it would only increase their anxiety.

Moreover, most of the team's resources had to be focused on helping Albon repair his car, so it was even less likely that they would spare the energy to do something pointless with Shu Long that was unlikely to yield any results.

But at this critical moment, when the atmosphere was heavy and oppressive, the last thing Shu Long wanted to face was the media, especially his own media.

The FIA's usual post-match interviews are fine, of course; they can just use official language to gloss over the issue. But what about the domestic media?
First of all, everyone has high hopes for you. Regardless of the actual situation, fans and car enthusiasts definitely want to hear a positive answer from Shu Long.

What can Shulong do when he's in the center of the spotlight?

If I make grandiose statements, I might end up embarrassing myself if I can't deliver on my promises, while being too conservative might disappoint car enthusiasts.

As athletes in an extreme sport, F1 drivers should be pure and down-to-earth. How can they focus on improving themselves if they get too involved in all sorts of messy things?

But that's reality, and Shulong, caught in the vortex, can only force himself to adapt.

Upon arriving at the open-air event venue, another heavyweight figure was already hosting the event. The moment Shu Long saw that face, he had essentially adjusted his mindset.

When it comes to racing, especially Formula 1, what are the first concepts that come to most people's minds?
Regardless of the variety of answers, the word "speed" will always have a place among them.

The person currently in charge of driving the process and interacting with the audience is probably the legendary Liu Xiang, who first deeply imprinted the concept of "speed" on the yellow skin before the dragon was even tied!
Upon receiving a notification from the event director through his earpiece, Liu Xiang immediately scanned the surroundings of the square and called Shu Long, who had just been brought over by staff on a small electric scooter, onto the field.

As an athlete himself, Liu Xiang could empathize with the suffocating pressure that Shu Long was under at that moment, a pressure that seemed to want to crush and destroy him.

Therefore, during the first half of the short event, Liu Xiang, as someone who had been through it all, guided Shu Long step by step to adapt to and accept such expectations, and to learn to transform this pressure into his own motivation.

However, Liu Xiang also caught a glimpse of a familiar emotion beneath Shu Long's rather forced smile.

This feeling had become somewhat unfamiliar after ten years, but now it feels as if it has been deeply engraved in my mind, and just a slight jolt makes it feel like yesterday.

This is a kind of strength that is forced upon him, and beneath the sunny exterior lies a persistent despair. Ten years ago at the 08 Olympics, in the home arena in front of his own country, the young Liu Xiang also stood on the track under the pressure of being watched by hundreds of millions of eyes.

He knew what everyone wanted to see: to see the legendary Chinese sprinter snatch the gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles with an undisputed advantage.

But who knew that the gold medal that was once within Liu Xiang's grasp was now something he could only dream of?

The Achilles tendon injury caused him excruciating pain even when walking, let alone competing with top athletes from around the world on the track.

He greeted the world with a strong smile before the competition, but when he was forced to withdraw due to a torn Achilles tendon, the world only responded with disdain.

When people place their hopes on you, they take success for granted. All the difficulties and efforts will turn into a few self-important "sharp comments" or even insulting and vicious curses in the face of failure.

They didn't have many choices. In front of the camera and the public, no matter how slim their hopes were, they could only shoulder this responsibility and bear the consequences of any failure.

The media has been praising Shulong too much lately, so you can imagine how badly it will fall if it fails to meet the expectations that fans have made in their hearts.

So no matter how many times the director repeatedly reminded everyone in the earpiece to follow the pre-determined questions in order to completely ignite the audience's frenzied atmosphere.
Liu Xiang's final choice was to clutch the last little piece of paper with the question written on it tightly and stuff it into his pocket, politely thanking Shu Long for taking time out of his busy schedule, implying that the event was over and he should leave now!
"Shulong! Will you be able to go on the podium tomorrow?"

A piercing and abrupt scream from the crowd finally ignited the long-suppressed emotions of countless fans, ruthlessly ruining Liu Xiang's well-intentioned but carefully considered gesture. A large group of fans were excitedly chanting the same question.

Shu Long, who had already waved goodbye and was about to turn away, suddenly froze on the spot, his thoughts churning, unsure of how to respond.

Liu Xiang tried to make eye contact with the young man, attempting to subtly suggest that he shouldn't put himself in the spotlight.

But little did anyone know that this former Asian sprinter had also become Shu Long's spiritual pillar. This eye contact did not make Shu Long understand the warning in it; on the contrary, the other party's past experiences made him let go of many burdens for a moment.

"I'll take them all down tomorrow!"

Unbeknownst to him, Shu Long seemed to have mixed too many impurities into his driving, to the point that he almost forgot what the key to his resolute decision to enter the world of motorsports was.

It's about pursuing the limits of speed, enjoying the interplay between tires and friction, and experiencing the unique driving pleasure that belongs to racing.

Although the movie version of Bunta Fujiwara wasn't very likable, there was one thing he said that I always found very insightful.

That means that no matter when or where, a race car driver's only opponent is himself, and he just needs to keep pushing his limits and surpassing his current self.

As for the result
It's not that it's completely unimportant, but compared to what he lost because of it, Shu Long felt that he should actually care more about what he could gain from it!
Back in the rest area, I quickly replenished my energy with some high-energy food, then lay on the bed for a short nap. Soon it was time for the ranked match to start.

The team's mechanics had done their best, but Albon's car couldn't be repaired in just two hours. For the next hour, the entire crew would be focused on serving Shu Long alone.

It's just a bit of a pity.

The opportunity to race at home is rare, and the team originally planned to let Albon play a role as the second driver at this race, to see if he could help Shulong drag the slipstream during qualifying.

But now...
It doesn't really matter. This slipstream is just icing on the cake. Based on the overall situation of the three practice matches, Albon's chances of making it into Q3 were not very high to begin with. Basically, he would have to fight alone.

If even the dragon itself can't get into Q3, then the difference between P10 and P11/P12 isn't that significant.

Rather than forcing their way into Q3 to compete for a position that is unlikely to be higher, it would be better to stay in Q2 as the top dog, giving them more freedom in choosing their starting position.

In any case, the Red Bull Racing car's advantage in this race ultimately lies in its long-distance performance.

Q1 was a chaotic mess, with scores fluctuating wildly. Shulong had to use two new red sets and complete four flight laps to stabilize himself at P8 and successfully advance.

Overall, apart from Renault showing some home advantage at this race, the other teams didn't seem to have as much of a hidden weakness as Shu Long had anticipated.

Haas's competitiveness seemed no different from the previous races, but Arro, with Kimi Räikkönen on his roster, seemed to be really weak this race. At the same time, it's unclear whether Renault pressed some mysterious button again, but McLaren, as a Renault customer team, was also performing poorly overall.

However, things seemed to get even stranger after Q2.

"Why do so many people choose to use yellow tires to set faster lap times? Isn't the best strategy for the race to stop at red and white? Do they want to start on yellow tires?"

Among the people Shu Long mentioned were four drivers from Mercedes and Ferrari, as well as Verstappen from Red Bull.

The key point is that the lap times they achieved with yellow tires were ridiculously fast. Just when Shu Long was using red tires to achieve a lap time of 1:33.017, both Mercedes cars had already achieved lap times of 1:31 with yellow tires!
Ferrari's two cars were slightly slower, around 1:32.2 and 1:32.3 respectively, similar to Verstappen's yellow tires.

Just how deep are your crotches, you bastards!

Hamelin pondered for a long time in the P room before giving a somewhat vague answer.

"It might be related to tomorrow's weather. There's a possibility that the best tire strategy for tomorrow's race will change. Your current time should be enough to secure your place in Q3. Do you need to use yellow tires to set lap times?"

"No need! I'll start on red tires!"

(End of this chapter)