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Shane Wray[edit | edit source]

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Background[edit | edit source]

Shane Wray has been one of the most exciting drivers to this day in this championship tournament, he was the first ever Drivers Champion in the ShaneEyoho Universe History, ands since that day he has had his good moments as well as his bad moments, you can never count out Shane when battling with the legend of a driver, Shane was brought up in Lincolnshire, England where he first started his career as a Motorsport Driver Enthusiast, he has earned and worked his way well up the ladder in his whole entire career. Shane joined a go-karting association in Lincolshire, and since that day has not stopped one minute to hold his horses and not push himself forward. The legend “British Brut” as many associate him to be with his “Shane Special” moves which are his legendary dive bombs with late breaking techniques which have changed races completely from time to time. He has used his “Shane Specials” throughout his whole F1 Career and junior promotions. After go-karting he then went to the next level of his career and moved on down to the London Grand Champiomships, where he was scouted by the Red Bull Academy, and since 2016 Shane has been contracted with Red Bull on a permanent basis.

2021-2022: Debut with Red Bull[edit | edit source]

In 2021 Shane Wray signed on a permanent basis to Red Bull Racing, where he has been stationed throughout his whole career with the factory team. In his first season he was alongside Max Verstappen. Both drivers are young and talented prospects throughout the whole garage. And Helmut Marko is very much interested in both drivers and has pushed them to their limits thorugh the academy as well as on track and even on simulators. Shane has had a rocky start to his career in Formula One as he only just managed to reach 5th position in his first season. He ended his first season with tied points with his teammate Verstappen. They have both been civil and exciting prospects with in Formula One. In his first season Shane had a terrible start in his first ever race, due to his retiring car for the fact of an Engine issue. As a first race in your F1 Career it's the last thing you would ever want. Especially if you are wanting to show the world what you are made of. Although through Bahrain & China he managed to pull of 2 podiums, 2nd in Bahrain & 3rd in China. Spirits of Shane Wray started lifting and his chances for the F1 Title were in his sight, but then came along Spain. Shane was involved in a collision caused by Lewis Hamilton, which sent shane's car crashing into the walls just after Turns 7 & 8. At this point Shane's car had very extreme wing damage and had to send himself into the pits. He only managed to come out in 17th place in the end. This had a huge knock of confidence in Shane's season Mentally & you could see it physically with his driving style. Couple of races later came the teams home Grand Prix Austria. Shane knew he had to get a victory here if he was to show the team he is the right man for the job. And to come of with a win at this grand prix, would be Shane's first Victory and 3rd Podium. After a smackdown of a race, it was a battle of the ages. Shane was up against leading rivals Kyle & Josh in the season, Shane lead majority of the laps at the second stage of the race. The Battle was on, It was constant "Shane Specials" after Josh or even Kyle took over him. He was what fans seem to call it "Shaney Time." (despite Shane preferring the term "Battle Mode" as he thought it sounded less cringey") He wouldn't back off from this fight no matter what. He was fighting like his life depending on it. Kyle & Josh were struggling to get past him in the race, then came the final lap. Kyle & Josh were still struggling to get past Shane. And on the final lap in turns 5 & 6 at Wurth Kurve Corner, Kyle & Josh collided, which ultimatley gave Shane his first ever victory in Formula One. After all the hard work and dedication he put towards the race and the skill in his car, He managed to top everyone and grab his first victory in Formula One. Unfortunatley the race after at his first British Grand Prix, Shane had to retire his car because of a Turn 1 collision with Sebastian Vettel causing Shane to hit the wall and be beached in the gravel trap, he tried to get the car out himself however this only got the car more stuck. In Hungary he came straight back to claim his second ever win in Formula One. From this point onwards their wasn't much action from Shane for the rest of the championship as he only managed to get 1 podium in the final 8 races of the season. Although as Helmut Marko has stated in an interview "This kid is going places, I see a future World Champion". For a rookie season for Shane it had not been an amazing start, but very impressive for his first season to be on level terms with Verstappen.

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2022 was a better season for Shane from his first. As he managed to catch himself over half of the calendar podiums, 9 to be exact. It showed improvement and integrity with in the driver. In his first race of the season Shane managed to pick up a 3rd place podium in Australia. Was a great result for the young man, after Red Bulls rocky end to last season. He was very consistent in the points, and then it came to Spain. After last seasons actions Shane had to retire due to a collission in turns 7 & 8 TV3 Corner. Shane has feared coming back to this race track all season. If Shane was to get this race right he has to accept the corner and get it right. Shane managed to get pole position in this race. All he had to do was get the victory. The lights went out and at the first corner it was hectic, cars flying everywhere, people trying to get as far up the grid they can as possible, it was like bumber cars out their or a scene from Cars the Movie, where there was a massive crash, which sent half if not all the cars crashing into one another, but not for Shane, he had his head down and once again brought out "Battle Mode/Shaney Time" without even thinking twice or exhaling a second breathe he was gone, he wasn't looking back for anyone and just went for it, TV3 Corner came about and this corner that has haunted Shane all year round, Shane managed to pull through it and show he can make up for his actions and win this race, and that's exactly what he did. From France to Hungary weren't exactly Shane's best results as he had 3 retirments over 4 races despite winning the Austrian Grand Prix during this rough patch. The Team were worried about the driver, and their car. There were talks of dropping Shane and bringing up young Pierre Gasly to take his place, but Wray was not best pleased with the teams decision, and chose to get on. move on and ignore the team. Throughout the rest of the season he continued to show up Verstappen, by beating him on track it got to the stage where Verstappen felt like he couldn't be apart of the team no longer due to the cars peformance, so at this point near to the end of the season, Verstappen decided to pack it in and leave the Red Bull Programme at the end of the season to join Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. Shane could finally breathe, and Verstappen's replacement was debated, but due to Sebastian Vettel's contract expiry he decided to join Red Bull Racing once more to see if he can finally win his 5th Driver's Championship before his retirement. Shane was excited to see his new team mate join the Bulls, but I can tell you for god dam sure, he won't get it easy. Not with Shane as his teammate, he will continue to show that he deserves to be number 1 driver.

2023-2024: Red Bull's struggles and Formula E[edit | edit source]

New Regulations in Formula One came around, and Red Bull Racing decided to sign Wray on for an open contract (Leave Anytime), it was a shaky start for both him and teammate Sebastian Vettel, Shane only got 2 podiums (at the United States and British Grand Prix respectively) in the opening 6 races, he then decided to openly criticize Red Bull for not giving him a competitive car despite the new regulations and said that their 2023 car is a step backwards compared to the great development they had in 2022. Vettel also criticized Red Bull during this time.

At the time both Shane and Vettel passed these early season issues off as nothing more than "teething problems" and remained optimistic, however it soon became apparent that the new regulations were not to kind for the Austrian team as they continued to struggle throughout the rest of the season and with Shane getting even more frustrated as every poor race went by it was only a matter of time before something had to give but it didn't as Red Bull continuously were in denial about the issues with the car this also annoyed not just Shane but Vettel as well, the two started to realise the team did know the car was bad they just weren't admitting it to their drivers as that would lose reputation and would cause all kinds of PR nightmares.

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By the time the Mexico City Grand Prix came around, Shane was obviously not in a good place mentally seeing the likes of Josh Beardmore, Kyle Macleod and the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and former teammate Max Verstappen pass him without issue or sometimes just leaving him in the dust, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko tried talking Shane into a new contract which Shane reluctantly accepted due to the fact that Red Bull had promised "significant changes" to their current car building system, Shane remained sceptical and continued racing however several media outlets at the tracks and even Sky Sports themselves noted the fact that Shane looked like he was done with Red Bull and even the entire season as a whole.

The last straw was a crash from the lead into a barrier during a wet Singapore Grand Prix, Shane got out the car and went back to the pits as normal but then strangely disappeared from the track with no one knowing where he went, what was odd was that his PR management team had gone with him as well, Horner and Marko organised a search party to search the track area and grand stands to no avail, in one room all they found was his racing suit on the floor of the changing room in a crumpled mess, Shane was then seen by a Sky Sports interviewer at Singapore Changi International Airport they reported it back to everyone else at the track to the relief of the team, fans and fellow drivers even Vettel said "Its a relief to know he's ok, he's a good guy but obviously he isn't going through a good mental phase at the moment." back at the airport, Shane had accepted to have an interview with the reporter there during this he had some harsh words for the team and finally told them how he felt about this situation and how he thinks the team has failed him and secretly wants him gone, when this interview was released everyone was shocked and some were even upset to learn Shane had kept his frustrations and concerns hidden for so long even Christian Horner had his head in his hands following the release though no one knew whether he was ashamed or upset or not.

Shane kept quiet as he returned to his home in Lincoln following these dramatic events and kept a low profile not even responding to team calls as the events of 2023 had put him in a rather fragile state "I just want to enjoy my racing again and as of right now I cant...its very hard, racing is my life and now my own team cant even give me a competitive car...its very sad" he said to local newspaper The Lincolnshire Echo, he also stated rather cryptically when asked about next season "If they don't give me a better car like I know there capable of producing...well...Someone's gotta go"

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During the winter, Shane decided following a disappointing 2023 season to join up with Formula E racing alongside Sam Bird for Envision Virgin Racing, he would win 4 races those being the first two in the Abu Dhabi double header and the last two in a Britain double header at Silverstone and would end up winning the championship in March 2024 (a few weeks before the 2024 F1 season.) In a post season interview on the Formula E YouTube channel Shane confirmed he will be staying in Formula E to defend his title as he likes the challenge and feels like Formula E suits his driving style more.

Before pre-season testing for the 2024 F1 season, fan forums decided to give Shane the nickname "The Renegade" due to his Kimi Raikkonen style attitude and his ability to hide how he truly feels about certain things.

The actual 2024 season was a lot better for Shane, he won 3 races and scored points at 10 out of the 14 races and was more or less consistent despite having two different teammates, he found himself in the title fight up until a racing incident in Mexico City causing a 5th place however a bad strategy call in Brazil really put the metaphorical nail in the Shane's championship challenge coffin, he redeemed himself though with a win in Singapore with Sebastian Vettel coming second making it a Red Bull 1-2.

2024-2025: Formula E: Quest to Retain[edit | edit source]

Following the season, Shane travelled to Abu Dhabi and returned to the Envision Virgin Racing team to take part in the Formula E season for that year, now in a new winter break slot compared to other seasons. The season itself was one of inconsistency from the front runners of Formula E causing some debate on who would win the title, Stoffel Vandoorne was the favourite following him building a big lead in points however the inconsistency bug soon hit him as his performances in Texas and Silverstone were all outside the top 5 and this wasn't enough for Vandoorne to win, in the end it came down to Wray and his rival Beardmore for the title in the second Silverstone race (Oliver Rowland and Vandoorne were also contenders.) Wray got a time penalty due to cutting off part of the run off area whilst avoiding a Turn 1 incident.

With Beardmore recovering from a spin and making up ground it came down to the last lap, all Wray had to do was win by at least 2.1 seconds to retain the championship and that he did with the gap between Wray and Beardmore at the line being 2.7 seconds (reduced to 0.7 due to Wray's time penalty.) Shane was once again champion and he celebrated with his team and even some of the Red Bull guys who had made the trip. Now the question is: Can Wray once again continue his momentum into this Formula 1 season like he did last season?

This season of Formula E was remembered by Shane due to his double overtake on the two Mercedes Benz cars during the Americas ePrix.

2025 Pre season: The Transition Period[edit | edit source]

The answer was left hanging as a shock regulation change took place during the winter with the FIA ordering a re-design of the cars due to the amount of "avoidable" accidents during testing at Barcelona, with this a new spec car was built for this season to give more emphasis on the driver skill and not the car like previous years. During an impromptu winter testing session at Silverstone, Shane said "Its very Formula E and I like it." he keeps his Red Bull contract despite the shakeup.