The Sports Illustrated report was published at an astonishing speed, and was already distributed in the Americas the day after the interview.

The cover photo they chose was not a promotional photo of Zhang Yifei in the F1 organization, but a scene of Zhang Yifei rushing to the post-race interview area in the rain after the Malaysian Grand Prix.

And this scene has become a classic moment of the Malaysian Grand Prix, and if nothing else, it will become a historic picture of F1.

At the same time, the cover sentence of "Sports Illustrated" is marked with a sentence in large bold font.

"Chinese newcomer challenging Schumacher"

The interview team of "Sports Illustrated" gave up the original idea of creating a conflict between Zhang Yifei and Barrichello, and instead seized Zhang Yifei's sentence in the interview that he would not be afraid of any opponent to make a fuss, and directly pointed the finger at Schumacher, the strongest man on the current F1 track.

There is no doubt that the popularity and topic discussion brought by such a directional report is amazing, and with the Brazilian Grand Prix about to start, the sales of Sports Illustrated in the entire Americas in a single day exceeded 5 million, which once led to a sell-out.

You must know that this is already Time Warner, predicting the number of pre-game hot publications, under normal circumstances, "Sports Illustrated" has only about three million subscribers, and more than five million copies are printed in a single day.

I have to say that the popularity of Chinese boys is beyond the imagination of many European and American people. Even if there is an element of "touching porcelain" Schumacher, if Zhang Yifei is really so unbearable, touching porcelain will have no effect, after all, elephants will not stop for the provocation of ants.

At the same time, this also illustrates another phenomenon, that is, fans in European and American countries, although many do not support Zhang Yifei, and even look at Chinese drivers with a traditional sense of superiority.

But Zhang Yifei used his record to increase the attention rapidly, whether it was support or ridicule, most people couldn't help but wonder where the ceiling of this Chinese newcomer is, and what kind of storm he can set off in the F1 paddock.

Maybe the current Zhang Yifei, in the European and American world, is described in the words of later generations, that is, "black and red".

Since it is black and red, after the cover words and content of "Sports Illustrated" came out, it triggered a one-sided contempt and ridicule of Zhang Yifei. Countless viewers and fans in the Americas voiced their voices through various platforms, and for a while, they were outraged.

"The Chinese also deserve to challenge Schumacher? Is Sports Illustrated in the brain, interviewing this kind of rookie, and making him a cover character? ”

"Sure enough, an Asian driver who has never seen the world has won a third place in a sub-station, and he really sees himself as the overall champion, do they know how cheap the third place in the sub-station is?"

"Challenging Schumacher is the biggest joke I've heard this year, and Chinese newcomers deserve it?"

"The last stop of this Chinese guy seems to have provoked Barrichello, this stop is the Interlagos circuit in Brazil, think about those people in the slums of Brazil, the Chinese Yankees don't want to get out of the track alive."

When these public opinions were overwhelming, all the members of Prost, including Zhang Yifei, were a little stunned!

To be honest, this kind of pre-game explosion of public opinion is something that no one has imagined. After all, Zhang Yifei is a Chinese driver, and then started in Formula Europe, and his career has little to do with the Americas.

In addition, the Americas also have their own formula system, that is, the Indy series of cars. Theoretically, except for absolute peak F1 drivers such as Senna and Schumacher, who can make a name for themselves in the Americas, everyone else is more than a step less well-known, let alone Asian newcomers on the F1 track.

As a result, I never expected that the interview with "Sports Illustrated" triggered this explosion of public opinion, making Zhang Yifei the hottest racing athlete in the Americas.

It's just that this kind of heat has little positive impact, but the negative effect is particularly prominent, and even some local Brazilian gangsters have vowed to help Barrichello teach this arrogant Chinese boy a lesson.

This kind of news also made the Prost team, which was excited about Zhang Yifei's heat, turn into a worry, and the heat seemed to be overheated, and there was a feeling of being burned.

In the rest room of the Pit Stop of the Prost team, where the main members of the team gathered, there were more than a dozen newspapers on the table, almost all of which were about Zhang Yifei.

Under normal circumstances, Prost is expected to laugh, this kind of popular driver can only be created by the Big Three teams, and the influence of the sponsorship revenue, Prost may not have to think about the budget for a year or two.

But this time, Prost's face had a serious expression, mainly because Brazil was too messy. The most ridiculed by fans in other places is to fight with mouths, but the gangsters in South America are really good at doing it!

"The results of the Sports Illustrated report are a bit unexpected, and now the outside world is very loud about Fei's attacks, and some Brazilian gangsters have even issued death threats."

"Whether this threat is real or not, we can't take it lightly and we must guarantee absolute safety at the Interlagos circuit."

Team leader Henry first said the tone of this discussion, that is, you don't have to care about ridicule or anything, Zhang Yifei's safety is the most important thing. For Prost Racing Team, Zhang Yifei is the future and hope of the team.

Hearing Henry's warning, the team members all fell into thought, and Ah Hu first couldn't hold his breath and said: "During this time, I have followed Fei Ge 24 hours a day, and whoever wants to be unfavorable to him must pass through me first!" ”

"Brazilian gangsters are not fighting, you have no bodyguard experience, and it doesn't work much to rely on 24-hour followers."

Henry explained to Ah Hu that you must know that sports assassinations in this part of South America were "all the rage" in the nineties.

The most famous of these is the Colombian football assassination, which has assassinated more than 30 football players for more than 20 years, including the captain of the Colombian national team, who was shot by a dissatisfied Colombian gambling group after the World Cup.

Hearing this, Ah Hu was also silent, and as he saw more abroad, he gradually lost his original recklessness. It's not the kind of stable social environment in China, Brazil has many slums, but it has the nickname "City of God", which means a place where even God has forsaken.

The smuggling and proliferation of drugs and arms can be protected in many cases by relying on bare hands.

Seeing that the situation was developing in a tense direction, Prost said at this time: "The safety of flying is very important, but there is no need to be so nervous now, I received a lot of death threats from Brazil at the beginning, don't you stand here now?" ”

Prost even had a smile on his face when he said this, and as the boss he had to stand up and calm everyone's emotions.

Prost is right, when he teamed up with the president of F1 France to hack the Senna championship, the death threat is not known how serious it is now.

However, threats are threats, after all, F1 cars are too high-tech, and various gambling groups want to control them, but they are not as simple as other sports.

Without a direct conflict of interest, there is not enough motivation for so-called grievances and threats. And with Senna reconciling with Prost, those death threats of that year were gone.

Zhang Yifei just said two cruel words to Barrichello after the race, which is a common thing in the F1 paddock. If it weren't for the fact that I'm in São Paulo, Brazil, no one would have taken this kind of thing to heart.

Prost is right, there are fanatical fans everywhere, but only interests are the source of conflict. It's good to pay attention to this time, there is no need to engage in all the grass and trees, which will affect the situation of tomorrow's game. ”

Korcel stood up and said that he was also a first-hand witness to the conflict between Senna and Prost, so he naturally knew these past events.

There is a threat, but for a professional driver, you should never be in a competitive state because of this threat.

In the course of any driver's career, there will be all kinds of external pressures, and whether or not they can withstand this pressure is the difference in professional performance.

Prost also nodded in agreement: "Tomorrow is the practice match time, and we can't affect Fei's state of competition because of this incident." ”

After finishing speaking, Prost looked at Zhang Yifei and said: "Fei, you don't have to worry too much, I will contact Diniz, during the Brazilian Grand Prix, hire a group of professional bodyguards to ensure your safety, just race with peace of mind." ”

"Am I so timid?"

Zhang Yifei couldn't help but say with a smile, looking at the serious atmosphere of the team members, he felt as if a gunman was about to kill him, but now it was just a rumored threat, and the team members were even more nervous than themselves.

To be honest, in fact, when answering the interview question of "Sports Illustrated", Zhang Yifei had already predicted that it would cause a heated discussion, just like when he was interviewed by the media in Europe before.

It's just that this time the popularity is indeed a bit beyond Zhang Yifei's imagination, and he didn't realize that so many people paid attention to him in the Americas. As for the warnings and threats that the Brazilians felt he had provoked Barrichello, they were even more unexpected.

In fact, what Zhang Yifei didn't know was that before he spoke ruthlessly to Barrichello, he had already "offended" the supporters of Colombian superstar Montoya in the Americas.

You must know that Montoya is in Colombia, which is equivalent to Senna's status in Brazil, and Zhang Yifei's various fancy "humiliation" of the Indian champion on the track has long made Colombian fans dissatisfied, and it has also laid the foundation for his popularity in the Americas.

The rise of a newcomer in the car industry will inevitably challenge the old order, not to mention that Zhang Yifei is still a driver from Asia, and there are more people who disagree with him.

All kinds of factors add up, and there is this outbreak in the Americas, and Zhang Yifei also used an unusual way to make himself a "world-renowned" driver and open the road to global black and red.