The sound of the engine also drove the emotions of the audience, who all looked at the track with expectant eyes.

"The practice match is about to start, I don't know how Zhang Yifei is running."

"He's an F1 driver, can't he win an F3 event?"

"Don't underestimate F3 racing, many F1 drivers jump directly from F3 to F1, wasn't that the case with Senna before?"

"That's right, the Grand Prix F3 has always been a master, and Zhang Yifei has not yet experienced the test of F1 races, don't be too optimistic."

The audience in the main stands was full of discussions, and most of those who were able to watch the game on site knew a little bit about formula racing and were not blindly optimistic.

After all, Zhang Yifei's previous performance in Formula Renault, almost all the audience has not seen it, they just learned about Zhang Yifei's achievements and strength through text from the news report.

Seeing is not believing, and the confidence in my heart is a bit empty after all, so the audience's mentality is not the kind of absolute confidence that Zhang Yifei can win the championship, but more of a curiosity and expectation.

In the last 30 seconds of the practice session, Kossel and his team left the pit lane, leaving the drivers ready for the final start.

With all the evacuation of the personnel, the field of vision also widened, and Zhang Yifei habitually glanced at the opponents parked side by side. It was found that the opponent's car was full of a Japanese flag and the car number was 12.

If I remember correctly, the driver behind this car was Takuma Sato, an F3 champion from Japan.

To be honest, Zhang Yifei didn't expect such a coincidence, Takuma Sato would be side by side with him. When I first went to Japan to train in formula racing, the first track record I challenged was the talented Japanese driver next to me.

In less than a year, I have changed from the original challenger to the opponent of the same competition, which is really emotional.

may have felt Zhang Yifei's gaze next to him, and Takuma Sato also subconsciously turned his head to look at Zhang Yifei.

Regarding the fact that Zhang Yifei once challenged his Toyota youth training track record, Takuma Sato naturally didn't know. But for Zhang Yifei, Sato Takuma understands it very clearly.

After all, he replicated Kimi Raikkonen's miracle and completed the feat from Formula Junior to "Triple Jump" to F1, becoming the youngest F1 driver in history.

This time in the Ojima Grand Prix, Takuma Sato also put Zhang Yifei in the position of his main opponent. Even if there is no F1 driver, Zhang Yifei's record of sweeping the Renault event is worthy of the respect of all Asian drivers!

The two men just glanced at each other, unable to see the hidden expression under the helmet, and then set their eyes on the indicator light. With all the lights turned off, the practice session officially began!

Formula practice races, in fact, are used to replace the pre-race test runs, a complete set of F1 Grand Prix process, in fact, up to five races, three of which are free practice sessions.

The main purpose of these three practice sessions is for the team engineers to evaluate the track attributes and the drivers to feedback the car's powertrain, drivetrain, aerodynamic package, and suspension system during driving, and make corresponding adjustments and changes.

Once the car's tuning data has been determined, the second practice session is a long-distance test of heavy fuel to verify that the previous car tuning is perfect, as well as the life of the tyres of various firmnesses, so that the strategy team can consider when to pit for tyre changes.

The third practice session was basically a pure test of tires, after all, the biggest tactical strategy in F1 is the adjustment of the pit stop to change the tires.

In an Formula 1 race, three practice sessions are required to determine the final stats of the car at the time of the race. However, in the Ao Island F3 race, only half an hour of practice sessions was given to the team to adjust the basic racing skills.

The reason for such a big gap is that, on the one hand, there is no need for a pit stop to change tires in F3 races, and naturally those practice tests about tires can be omitted.

Another point is the cost of road closures, this kind of international tourist metropolis, long-term large-scale road closures, is really a matter that affects traffic, and it is necessary to find the best revenue point.

Therefore, after the plan of the Australian Island authorities, the event process was compressed into two days, which can not only attract enough tourists to watch the game, but also minimize the impact of road closures.

The consequence of this calculation of earnings is naturally the squeeze of the game time. After all, just one F1 race takes three days, and it only takes two days for Aodao to engage in three different types of cars, which is simply squeezed dry!

However, because of the tight schedule of the practice session, all the drivers tried to control this time as much as possible to find some problems with the car tuning data, and when they returned to the pits to change the tires, there was still a chance to fine-tune.

So there's basically nothing to do, and the practice race is as fierce as a tiger, and it doesn't make sense to run first.

Even Zhang Yifei, who has always liked to be aggressive on the track, did not do anything in this practice session, and some drivers overtook him, but he did not choose to overtake back, but at his own pace, feeling the characteristics of this new F3 car.

After all, compared with other drivers with team support, Zhang Yifei's car tuning is completely based on Kossel's experience, not based on track data.

This is also why, the higher the level of formula cars, they all exist in the form of teams, not like karting and junior formula cars, and there are a large number of individual paying drivers.

It's because the requirements for technical support are so high that a single track history can stump a large number of individual paying drivers. Therefore, Zhang Yifei did not have the capital to act recklessly in the practice race, he had to put the track data through oral description and the sensors on the car, so that Korsell in the pit station could get the most accurate data.

However, compared to Zhang Yifei, Kossel is the busiest person, and his eyes are locked on various car data on the ring screen to ensure that his pre-race tuning is matched with the attributes of the Guia Circuit.

If there is a problem with Zhang Yifei's speed or handling in any corner, then Korcel and Yamamoto Ukyo will have to find the problem in a short period of time, record it and make changes, and wait for the pit stop to change the tire. Hurry up and fine-tune it.

"Kossel, the air downforce jumps a notch, the grip of the supersoft tyres is okay, and the downforce is too high to accelerate out of the corner."

"I feel a little bit soft on the suspension, and there are very low-speed corners like hairpin corners on the Guia Circuit, and the cornering roll is a bit big."

"The wear of the ultra-soft tires is a bit serious, especially the sharp deceleration has a lot of wear and tear on the tires, so I try to increase the cornering speed to avoid the tire wear caused by heavy braking."

Zhang Yifei transmitted his feelings on the Guia Circuit to the pit station through the team's voice system, so as to prepare for the progress adjustment at the end of the practice session.

However, Zhang Yifei's "Buddhist" driving method aroused questions from some spectators in the stands.

Because of the reports in the news, Zhang Yifei was blown into the sky, such as the Formula Renault Triple Crown, the championship locked in three races in advance, and was sought after by several F1 teams, and this year's European rookie king.

There is also a description of his aggressive style on the track, always pushing the limits of speed, crazy breaking track records, and so on.

Although these news reports are true, the large number of reports in a short period of time can easily make some domestic viewers and supporters who do not understand the equation have high expectations for Zhang Yifei.

even thought that as long as the race started, Zhang Yifei would be far ahead and crush other drivers.

As a result, judging from the situation on the track, Zhang Yifei was not as aggressive and outstanding as reported, and even several formula drivers surpassed him, and I didn't see Zhang Yifei make any moves to overtake.

"What's going on, didn't the news say that Zhang Yifei was very powerful in Europe, why doesn't it seem that there is no crushing ability in the report today?"

"That's right, it doesn't feel like it's going to be fast, is it because of upgrading to F3?"

"But Zhang Yifei is an F1 driver, shouldn't F3 events be a dimensionality reduction blow for him?"

"He hasn't run an F1 race, so if you really want to dig deeper, he's still a Renault driver."

Listening to the discussion of the group of racing "whites" next to him, an old Hong Kong Island fan couldn't help but reply.

"It's just a practice session, it's used to evaluate the track and test the car, it doesn't matter how many times you run. The real quality of a driver will have to wait until the next qualifying session and tomorrow's race. ”

Hearing this explanation, some of the audience members who discussed it earlier suddenly realized.

In fact, more than half of the supporters from the mainland today are "novices" of this kind of racing, and they have even heard of the name formula car because of Zhang Yifei.

But this does not prevent them from rushing all the way to the island to support Zhang Yifei, because this is China's first F1 driver, if even their own compatriots do not support, who can be counted on to be his backing?

However, such a discussion also triggered some people's ridicule of Zhang Yifei.

"Hehe, there is still a competition for the first place in the practice race, how much water is in his F1 driver title, don't you count it in your heart?"

"I heard that Zhang Yifei came back this time and reached some kind of agreement with Huaxia Petrochemical, ready to be released after the game. It is estimated that his status as an F1 driver was bought with money by the sponsorship of Huaxia Petrochemical. ”

"The news doesn't always boast about Renault's strongest driver, but the practice session began to show its stuffing, and the Chinese driver just can't!"

There are not many such sarcastic voices, after all, for the special historical reasons of Hong Kong and Macao, there are also many whites and Southeast Asians, and they have no sense of compatriot identity with Zhang Yifei.

In addition, there are some "banana people" who have completely changed their thinking under long-term colonial rule, and they have simply taken root on their knees and acquiesced to being the strongest foreigner, and they also don't want Zhang Yifei to run any good results on Ao Island.

There was a lot of discussion in the audience, but it didn't affect Zhang Yifei at all, anyway, he couldn't hear anything in the helmet.

"Kossel, the practice session is almost over, do you have a tuning plan for the feedback problem?"

"Do you need to ask?"

Cosell replied in an unhappy tone, Zhang Yifei was simply questioning his ability.

"Alright, I'm getting ready to make a pit stop!"

After Zhang Yifei finished speaking, he drove the car into the pit lane and reduced the speed to 80km/h, and he will complete the first pit stop of his formula racing career.