467 Leading the audience (Chapter 3)
Looking at Gonzalez's dark and incredible face, Brendel's mouth couldn't help but rise.
He remembered that when he first watched Zhang Yifei's game, just like Gonzalez today, facing Zhang Yifei's speed of improvement as if he was cheating, he could not imagine how this Chinese boy did it!
It is precisely because of knowing Zhang Yifei that Brendel realized that Zhang Yifei's tolerance before was definitely not giving in, but brewing for the next outbreak.
However, even Brendel was surprised by Zhang Yifei's outbreak. He had previously imagined that Zhang Yifei's lap speed would eventually be frozen at about 1 minute and 12 seconds. After all, this track is quite difficult for newcomers.
Moreover, he was crushed by Barrichello in the first practice game, which would inevitably have some negative impact on the psychology of newcomers in the track. And he was directly absent after the first practice game, and Zhang Yifei also lost more than half an hour to get familiar with the track.
Combining various factors, Zhang Yifei can run to about 1 minute and 12 seconds, even if he can be considered excellent. Then he can adapt and perform in the third practice match and qualifying match, and finally attack the integral division in the main competition, which is the best result.
But Zhang Yifei's progress was faster than Blundell imagined. Is this Chinese boy going to perform a miracle of the Malaysian West Station again?
No one knows the answer now, but Zhang Yifei on the track is still running. On the fifth lap, he even caught up with Montoya who had surpassed him before!
At this moment, Montoya is also conducting a tire wear test for the car, communicating with the team about the details of the test, so the speed is not very fast.
But at this moment, a blue car passed by a "swish" and surpassed the past. The speed of Montoya stopped communicating with the team, but instead focused on the blue car that surpassed the past.
"The team, the racing car that just passed by, is the driver Alessi or Fei?"
Montoya did not see the numbers on the front of the car clearly, so he asked the team, but he had a vague answer in his heart. Alessi had such speed and passion. There was only one person who would sprint like this in the practice race, that is Zhang Yifei from China.
"Racing No. 13, the driver from Prost flew."
Sir Williams' tone was a little cold, because he not only looked at who the Prost racer was in the past, but also saw Zhang Yifei's fastest lap speed at the moment.
The fastest lap speed of 1 minute 11 seconds 944 has already reached the top five lap speeds in the current track, second only to Schumacher, Coulterhard, Barrichello and Pannis of the British and American teams.
Even with a slight lead, he surpassed Montoya of his team!
This result was something Sir Williams didn't expect. The driver who had already seemed to be "defeating" before, why did it suddenly explode? Could it be that his previous performance was really pretending?
"Boss, I'm ready to catch up."
When Montoya heard that it was Zhang Yifei, he was surprised and excited. The Interlagers Circuit was one of his strongest tracks. Zhang Yifei was finally willing to fight. For the wild and proud Montoya, he was not afraid of struggle, but instead wanted to have a showdown with Zhang Yifei.
"Yes, Montoya, show your strength!"
Sir Williams agreed with Montoya’s idea at the first time. Since Brazilian driver Barrichello can do it, then his American world champion Montoya can do it, and Williams will never lose to Ferrari!
The two cars began to accelerate wildly, not only Montoya, but also many other drivers on the track who were in practice. After being surpassed by these two people, some people couldn't help but join the battle.
Especially Barrichello and Alonso, one of them regards the Interlagers track as their territory, how could Zhang Yifei be unrestrained? The other is purely dissatisfied. After all, the boss is the boss, and if he doesn't have a bad temper, he won't be called Alonso.
As more and more drivers join the "battle situation", the overall lap speed of the second practice race has also begun to continue to rise.
"1 minute 11 seconds 602! Schumacher broke the track record he maintained, and Coothard was only 0.013 seconds away from breaking the track record."
"And on the other side, the lap speed broke through again, reaching 1 minute 11 seconds 856, and the fastest lap speed from Barrichello in front was also shortened to 0.016 seconds."
"This huge increase in speed is a situation we had never expected before. It can be expected that when this practice game ends, there will be at least two more drivers, breaking the main race record, and I have a premonition that flying will become one of them!"
The speed increase on the track also drove Brendel's passion. He even thought that this situation was drawn by the new driver Zhang Yifei, and even Schumacher joined the battle without being outdone.
To put it bluntly, Zhang Yifei is called creating too many enemies, and many drivers are not convinced that he runs ahead of him.
But to put it another way, Zhang Yifei has already had a certain influence in the f1 yard. If it were another new driver, even if it was Montoya, there would probably not be many drivers who would respond, let alone the current situation of crazy speed improvement.
Montoya's expression on his face was a little impatient at this time. He really didn't expect that Zhang Yifei still had room for improvement, and he did not catch up with and surpass the past.
Since Zhang Yifei is so strong, why was he crushed so much in the face of Barrichello's challenge before? Are you pretending?
The problem is, no driver will pretend to lose on the F1 track, right? This will not only enhance the confidence of the opponent, but will also cause a great blow to his team and supporters.
If you don’t pretend, how can you achieve extreme changes like “a wasteful dog” in the morning and “a fierce tiger” in the afternoon?
Montoya couldn't understand why this was happening, but he knew very well that what he wanted to do now was to surpass Zhang Yifei ahead. He had no way out on the Interrags track!
The other one who has no way out is Barrichello.
Although the home audience has already yelled him to the sky, and he can just rub Zhang Yifei at will. But Barrichello himself knew very well that winning the practice game is nothing, who would admit such a record?
Only by pursuing victory and shattering Zhang Yifei's belief in revenge and making him afraid when he sees himself, this is the real victory.
So when he learned that Zhang Yifei's speed began to increase rapidly, Barrichello had an unexpected feeling, and he knew that Chinese boys would not admit defeat so easily.
But the situation was a bit beyond his expectations. In the current lap of practice, Zhang Yifei was actually on par with him! Barrichello didn't know what the specific weight of Zhang Yifei's oil carrier is, but even if it was super light oil carrier, it was already a very terrifying speed to be able to drive 55 against him on the Interlagers track.
There is no choice, Barrichello must defeat Zhang Yifei again, making this victory indisputable!
1 minute 11 seconds 803, 1 minute 11 seconds 788, 1 minute 11 seconds 709...
When Zhang Yifei's lap speed reached 1 minute 11 seconds 631, the entire Prost pit station was in full swing. No one expected that Zhang Yifei could turn the situation around after facing the morale blow of the first practice game and run an amazing result of 0.001 seconds exceeding the track record.
Although three drivers on the track have broken the main race record at this moment, no newcomer has done this. Montoya can only rank fifth, following Zhang Yifei!
"Fly, prepare to enter the station."
Kossel issued a team order at this time. Zhang Yifei had run more than ten laps, and there were not many physical energy consumption or tire wear that exceeded the peak.
And as other drivers guessed, Zhang Yifei did use ultra-light fuel. Currently, there is not much fuel left in the fuel tank, so he should stop when it is time to get better.
When Zhang Yifei slowed down and entered the maintenance channel, the inexplicable battle situation on the track was instantly shut down because of his loss of his opponent.
Especially when other drivers knew Zhang Yifei's lap speed, everyone was very complicated. They thought this stop would defeat Zhang Yifei, but they didn't expect that this Chinese boy was a tumbler and he actually got stronger when he had a fight!
This kind of performance makes people wonder whether Zhang Yifei performed according to the script if he retired from the competition and avoided the battle. Otherwise, this would be a little too fake!
In the team repair station, when Zhang Yifei drove in, everyone was cheering. Because of this lap score, there were too many changes in the main race. Not to mention the qualifying race, it was enough to start the front row.
In the narrow Intelags track, the front row start is a very important indicator, which is related to whether you can enter the points zone!
“Good performance!”
Kossel took the initiative to take Zhang Yifei's helmet and encouraged him.
Cosell knew that Zhang Yifei was about to explode in this practice game, but he didn't expect that he would explode so fiercely that he became the fourth fast lap.
Zhang Yifei was sweating profusely at this moment, and his hood was soaked in sweat, but a smile appeared on his face. The lap speed just now was not easy for him, he ran out under tremendous pressure.
However, Zhang Yifei still proved that he could withstand pressure, and he was not easily defeated!
"Okay, take a break for a while, save your strength in the third practice match tomorrow, and wait until the qualifying match before playing."
"Um."
Zhang Yifei nodded and tried his best to launch a counterattack. If the practice competition is consumed too much, it will have an impact on the main competition.
For the remaining practice game time, Zhang Yifei did not choose to continue leaving the station, but sat in the lounge and watched his own video of the line, and continued to improve himself from the details.
In the practice competition the next day, many drivers planned to play another game with Zhang Yifei seriously, but the kid became "cowardly" again in the third practice competition and refused to accept the move at all.
The other teams were not stupid either. They understood that this was to preserve their physical strength to deal with the qualifying race, so they did not provoke them too much. Everyone maintained a relatively peaceful situation until the qualifying race in the afternoon.
For qualifying, neither the team nor Zhang Yifei himself was under much pressure.
After experiencing the training of three practice matches, Zhang Yifei has not learned the Interlagers track thoroughly, at least he is no longer unfamiliar with it, and has become stronger. As long as he can run to the level of the practice match, starting in the front row is not a problem.
In addition, the situation on the track has also changed. Other teams began to doubt whether the ultimate contrast between Zhang Yifei in the three practice games was whether the strategy formulated by Prost team was to confuse themselves.
Therefore, many teams have also begun to change their layout and no longer focus on Zhang Yifei. Don’t be led by this Chinese newcomer, but focus all their energy on the qualifying race.
According to track statistics, the ranking of the qualifying competition will most likely determine the final ranking of the main competition. Continuing to get involved with Chinese kids will not be worth the loss!
So a rare scent of peace appeared in the qualifying competition. All drivers tried their best to run the fastest lap instead of choosing to make trouble. However, Zhang Yifei used his lap to show that the results of the practice competition were not accidental, and he could indeed run so fast!
The fastest lap speed of 1 minute 11 seconds 627 was broken, while Zhang Yifei maintained his fourth place ranking.
However, in this qualifying match, Montoya also performed well, ranking behind Zhang Yifei by a thousand minutes and seconds, and the two were almost equal. It can be expected that the main game will be a big battle.
At the same time, there was a very surprising newcomer from Jordan. Hydefield came to fifth and beat Williams' Schumacher, Jr., which made people exclaim that this game will become a newcomer battle.
Chapter completed!