Losing both may be the best adjective for Zhang Yifei and Montoya's crash.

But that's the beauty of F1, the willingness to stay in the safe zone forever and look at the taillights of your opponent's car? Or would you rather walk on the edge of losing control and experience the thrill of overtaking your opponent in a few seconds?

There is no doubt that the vast majority of riders will choose the latter. Without these options, there would have been no Frenzen crashing off the track and no Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher retiring.

And now Zhang Yifei just made the same choice, and he does not regret his overtaking, even if it will cause a temporary lag!

Watching Zhang Yifei's No. 13 car enter the pit lane, all members of the team were waiting solemnly. At the moment, their hearts are full of excitement and excitement, the Prost team, it has been a long time since they have overtaken so bloody and tough.

Although the maintenance technicians are not the drivers who face off on the track, they can also empathize with the speed and passion on the track!

One foot brake is accurately parked in the maintenance parking space, and the front and rear jack technicians will jack up the car in milliseconds, and then other technicians will change the tires.

Charlie, the chief technician, did not act as a "lollipop" person at the moment, but replaced the technician of the right rear wheel, adjusting and testing the suspension while changing the tire.

This impact caused a slight deformation of the right rear suspension, and the dynamic balance of the whole car was broken, so Zhang Yifei felt that the car shook badly. Especially at high speeds, this feeling becomes more and more obvious, so you have to slow down.

Charlie quickly made suspension adjustments, and several other technicians quickly replaced Zhang Yifei's air kit damaged by the impact. At the same time, two technicians were refueling.

Three-stop tactics, you can choose light oil, you can also choose a light and heavy strategy, because refueling even if it is to use high-pressure oil pipes, the time will be far more than a simple tire change, so in some tracks and specific situations, saving a refueling time is also a team strategy.

Zhang Yifei's previous team strategy was to combine light fuel with ultra-soft tires to recover the time spent in the pit stop through extreme lap times. However, due to the accident on the track, the team's strategy has been changed by Kossel, who decided to reload the fuel this time with enough fuel to ensure that it can be used until the end of the race.

This is because it takes at least about 10 seconds to adjust the suspension and air package, even if Charlie and the maintenance technicians move fast. If this point in time is simply used to change tires, there will be about 7 seconds of wasted time, it is better to directly reload the oil and save the next pit stop refueling time.

Ten seconds or so is a long time for the pits, but Korcel's attention was not on the pit car, but on the sky outside.

The summer day in Melbourne, which was still sunny when the riders were cruising, was no longer visible and the sky was becoming gloomy.

There is about an hour left in the race, and according to the forecast of the Melbourne Meteorological Observatory, it will theoretically not rain on the course today. But even if the weather is calculated by a powerful supercomputer twenty years later, it is not possible to guarantee 100% accuracy, let alone the weather forecast of this era.

Even if it wasn't raining, Kosell was already feeling the wind pick up. One of the features of the Melbourne circuit that no other track has is that it is built around the lake, and even the driver can see the sparkling lake on the right hand side at all times as the driver drives on certain sections.

Anyone who lives in a wide area such as a sea, lake, or even river knows that once the wind picks up, the wind in these areas will multiply. For general vehicles, in the state of high-speed driving, the vehicle route will be deviated due to strong winds, and in severe cases, it may occur to lose control and skid or even roll over.

For a F1 car, with a very low centre of gravity and a high-tech aerodynamic shape, it is naturally impossible to roll over. But that doesn't mean that the high winds on the track won't have any effect on the cars.

The oncoming wind will cause excessive downforce and air resistance, which will reduce the speed of the car, and the side wind will affect the path of the car on the track.

The worst part is the wind coming from behind, which can cause the rear fixed wing of the car to fail, which is similar to the feeling of being riding a bicycle or a motorcycle and someone suddenly pushes you from behind.

And it is not only the natural wind that will affect it, but also the turbulence of the broken air flow of the front car after being combined with the natural wind, which will affect the "ecological balance" of the rear car, which will make it more difficult for the driver to control the car.

It is even an exaggeration to say that the life of an F1 car is a life of fighting against the "wind". All aerodynamic design is designed to restrain the invisible and intangible "wind"!

"Strengthened air flow diversion to increase car downforce."

Cosell suddenly issued instructions to the team of technicians, which was not part of the pre-match strategy.

Suddenly hearing Kossel's command, Charlie felt a little surprised, but in this race time, any instructions issued by the chief race engineer must be carried out unconditionally, not questioned and discussed!

Because now, there is no time for questioning and discussion!

Even Zhang Yifei was surprised and puzzled when he heard it, if he could, he wanted to ask Korsell why.

You must know that although he used heavy oil to make up for the loss of time caused by this pit stop, he still wasted a lot of time and was surpassed by Kimi, Heindfeld, and Alessi.

How many people surpassed the past after the pit stop, and that Zhang Yifei is even less clear now.

So the top priority is to find a way to catch up, not to say anything about "sitting on four and looking at three", at least to maintain your sixth ranking before the game, right?

You must know that in this era, you will take the top six, and if you can't do the operation of getting on the podium on the show, you can get the points on your debut, which is also a good result.

Zhang Yifei's mind is now full of thinking about how to make the car faster. The previous duel with Montoya was the moment of exiting the corner, and he used the performance of the car to eat hard.

The adjustment of high downforce means that the acceleration out of the corner is slower, which is unacceptable for Zhang Yifei, and he doesn't want to be eaten hard again.

It's just that at this moment, he didn't have time to question Cosell's decision, the lollipop man's sign had been flipped, Zhang Yifei stepped on the accelerator, and quickly drove away from the pit to catch up with his own ranking.

Looking at the distance of the tail lights of the racing car, Ah Hu wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead, panted and said to Chen Zhi: "Brother Zhi, there was a lot of cooperation to do just now, but fortunately we didn't have any trouble." ”

Zhang Yifei's pit stop just now can be regarded as a test for the team's maintenance team, not only to change tires and refuel. Damaged parts also need to be replaced, and even car tuning is finally required.

All the steps have only about ten seconds, and each technician must be perfectly connected in order to shorten the time it takes to make a pit stop.

"It's something we should do, otherwise I'm sorry for the driver's life on the track."

Chen Zhi replied lightly, he didn't have the nervousness of the newcomer stage, but more of a sense of responsibility.

Every minute and every second in the race is won by the drivers at the risk of their lives, and if it is wasted in the pits, it is the greatest insult to the driver's adventure!

"Brother Zhi, I understand."

Ah Hu nodded solemnly, the successive racing accidents just now made him realize the dangerous side of F1 cars. Many riders take a lead of tens of milliseconds, just like dancing on the tip of a knife, and they win it back with their lives.

All the team technicians can do is not to waste a millisecond and never allow for any mistakes!

When Chen Zhi was talking to Ah Hu, in the team pit stop, Yamamoto Youkyo asked Koser: "Mentor, why do you want to increase the downforce, this will affect the speed of Yifeijun, right?" ”

Yamamoto Ukyo is not a member of the strategy group now, and theoretically these decisions don't matter what he does, but he cares about Zhang Yifei very much, and he can't bear the doubts in his heart, and finally asks.

"Yes, but now that the track is windy, the high downforce is good for the stability of the car."

"But for a car, it's mostly a headwind, so isn't that even more drag?"

Before Cosell could reply, owner Prost explained: "The Albert Park track is dominated by crosswinds, and even if the drag increases, it is worth the stability and reduced risk of slipping out of control." ”

Prost had experienced a windy day in Albert Park, so he had just heard Cosell's command, and there was a kind of admiration in his heart.

Germany has been away from the track for ten years, and can actually know so well the Albert Park circuit, which was only opened in 1996, it seems that after all these years, Kossel is still so keen and accurate!

"Understood, thank you."

Compared with the two "old fritters" of Korsell and Prost, Yamamoto Ukyo is much more tender, and there is still a lot of track experience to learn slowly.

Not long after coming out of the maintenance channel, the track ranking just refreshed, and Zhang Yifei fell from the fourth place at the highest moment to 13th.

This also includes a lot of drivers who have not made a pit stop, so Zhang Yifei's actual ranking should be around the name. It can be seen that the crash accident has had a great impact on him.

At this point, Montoya was even worse, falling to 17th place and coming to the penultimate position. The damage to his car is severe, and the more time is wasted, which makes it a bit difficult to recover.

In the face of such a ranking, Zhang Yifei was not discouraged, and he started to catch up from the 13th ranking.

Alonso, Jos Verstappen, Oliver Pannis, Alessi......

Drivers in the standings, pit or overtake, slip back to the back. Zhang Yifei is like a blue lightning, cutting through the order of the track, he wants to use his strength to prove that I can catch up step by step behind the ranking!

Just when the spectators in the stands were all incredulous about Zhang Yifei's performance, a gust of wind blew, bringing a refreshing feeling to the hot summer.

The track, the wind is blowing!