At 8 o'clock in the evening, it was the time of the Renault Gala, which was held to celebrate Renault's acquisition of the Benetton team and its return to the F1 paddock after 15 years.

Just like congratulations, almost all the F1 team management will be present tonight and it will be a formula racing extravaganza.

Apart from the management of these teams, only two Formula drivers were invited, and not the superstars that many people think, such as Schumacher. Instead, Zhang Yifei and Kubica became the representatives of Renault drivers and were qualified to participate in the party.

Renault's meaning is very clear, that is, to let the two drivers with the best results and the most potential in the current Renault formula participate in the party, and give them a chance to show themselves in front of the F1 bosses.

If someone can negotiate with the F1 team and replicate Kimmy's success in F1, it will push Renault's Formula 1 cars to a higher and hotter position.

After all, except for Renault's Formula Junior Series, none of the other manufacturers' formula series has created the feat of allowing junior formula drivers to directly enter the F1 team.

It's just a pity that Zhang Yifei was the only driver left at the party. Kubica was disqualified from the invitation by Renault because of his radical behavior at the press conference.

Zhang Yifei and Kossell came to the banquet hall in advance, probably because it was still early, and there were not many guests in the banquet hall.

Korcel glanced at the field, and didn't find any acquaintances he knew, it's still early, and the F1 bigwigs generally pay attention to the lineup, and no one will arrive so early.

Of course, it could also be that Korsell has been away from the F1 paddock for almost a decade, and many of the team's new management, he doesn't know much.

After all, with the fiery personality of this old German man, he is not a courtesan type, not to mention that after ten years, even if he was in the McLaren team back then, it is estimated that there are not many people who can talk to him.

The two of them sat down in a random corner, then asked the waiter (waiter) for two glasses of juice, and quietly waited for the others to enter.

However, to Zhang Yifei's surprise, Cosell's communication level was not as "withdrawn" as he imagined, and basically most of the F1 management who came in later, he could name most of them, and even introduced Zhang Yifei.

"Now it's Eddie Jordan, the founder of the F1 Jordan team, who was a formula driver in his early years, started as an F3 team and entered F1 in '91, which is very similar to Adenauer's experience."

"The capital of the Jordan team is relatively thin, and it has always been at the middle and lower levels, but this year, with the addition of Frenzen and the veteran Damon Hill, it is very famous for cooperating with the veteran, and this year's team has a strong momentum and has achieved the best results in history."

"If there are no major changes, this pair has already achieved initial results, and they will not be easily replaced."

Korcel not only introduced the team management to Zhang Yifei, but also explained to him the current situation of these teams and whether there are "vacancies". Let Zhang Yifei have a clear understanding of the goals of the F1 team that can be contacted.

After talking about the Jordan team, Korsell continued to point to another person.

"Claudio Lombardi, the Scuderia Ferrari principal, has a lot of business skills, and the signing of Schumacher and Barrichello is a very competitive driver combination, and I expect Scuderia Ferrari to explode."

Kossell did not say whether the Ferrari team would make a substitution, because the answer is already obvious, this pair is the driver pairing of the championship team, and does Ferrari not want Schumacher to fly?

Historically, since 2000, Scuderia Ferrari has swept across the F1 circuit, and the five-in-a-row title has left other F1 teams feeling a deep sense of despair.

"Behind is the new administrative director of the Arrow team, Roger Sylman, the current financial situation of the Arrow team is very bad, it has gone through several resales and acquisitions in recent years, the financial situation is very bad, the driver is also unstable, there may be opportunities."

Hearing the name of the Flying Arrow Team, Zhang Yifei couldn't help but think of Hank who was in the Toyota Youth Training Team before, and his father seemed to be one of the investors of the Flying Arrow Team.

Before Zhang Yifei came to Germany, Toyota was in contact with the Flying Arrow team and wanted to buy it. This is not the first time that Arrows has been acquired by a Japanese company, as it was acquired by the Japanese company Footwork back in 1989.

In history, Zhang Yifei remembered that it was like a flying arrow team, and in the end he did not find a successor, and after a few years, he officially went bankrupt in 2003 and owed a debt of a PI share.

However, before the official declaration of bankruptcy, the Arrow team actually did not participate in the 02 season, so to be precise, the Arrow team will collapse in 01, and it is only less than two years away.

It's just that I don't know if this world history will change, and whether Toyota is willing to take this plate.

If Toyota does not take over, even if the Arrow team is willing to sign Zhang Yifei as an official driver, Zhang Yifei will not join.

Because historically, the drivers of the Arrow team, Frenzen and Verstappen, have also been courted against Bo for unpaid wages.

Zhang Yifei didn't want to run out of business for a year in vain, not get a penny of salary, and stage a farce of asking for wages, so the Flying Arrow team was directly excluded by him.

After the introduction of these people, several team managers came in one after another, including Martin Whitmarsh, CEO of Korcel's former club McLaren. and a former colleague, Alain Prost, the founder of the current Prost team.

Seeing these people appear, there was a kind of embarrassment written on Cossel's face, maybe he didn't expect that after nearly ten years, he would return to the F1 paddock again and see these old acquaintances.

Because of the relationship between Zhang Yifei and Kosell sitting in the corner, these old acquaintances did not find Kossel, and Kosell did not choose to go over to say hello or anything.

At this time, a man wearing a baseball cap walked in and attracted Zhang Yifei's attention.

Because of this nature of dinner, they are basically attended in formal clothes, even Zhang Yifei himself, he has a suit to support the scene. And the person in front of him was also wearing a baseball cap, which was obviously very abrupt outside of this occasion.

However, to Zhang Yifei's surprise, the team executives present did not have any dissatisfied looks because the person in front of him was wearing a baseball cap. There were even many people who took the initiative to greet him, and it was obvious that this person's status, or prestige, was relatively high.

It was at this time that Zhang Yifei saw a face full of scars under the man's baseball cap.

When he saw this scene, Zhang Yifei instantly understood, because in the entire F1 circle, there is only one person who can be so respected by his peers and has a large scar on his face, and he is Niki Lauda.

It's just that Zhang Yifei doesn't understand very much, it's 1999, and he has the impression that Lauda retired in 85 years and ran his own airline, how could it appear at tonight's Renault party?

"Kossel, that's supposed to be Nicky Lauda, how did he end up here, didn't he quit F1?"

"During this time, not only Renault acquired Benetton, but also a team was acquired, that is, the Stuart team, which was acquired by the American Ford Group and renamed the Jaguar team."

"Lauda, with the support of the Ford Group, took on the role of CEO of the Jaguar team and re-entered the F1 paddock."

Hearing Koser's answer, Zhang Yifei looked at him with a little surprise and said, "Koser, it seems that you have withdrawn from F1 for more than ten years, and the news is still well-informed." In the information given to me by Junko Takeda, there is no mention of Stewart's acquisition. ”

"Because that's not the most up-to-date information."

Cosell replied lightly, with a taste of pretending to be invisible.

Just when Zhang Yifei was about to continue to tout two sentences about Korcel's well-informed, he felt Lauda's gaze and was looking at his position.

Could it be that Lauda and Cosell know each other?

Zhang Yifei recalled the materials he had read during this time, as if the last time Lauda retired, it was in the McLaren team, and he also became teammates with "Professor" Prost.

It seems that Korsell was already at McLaren at the time, so it's no surprise that the two of them knew each other.

However, Zhang Yifei soon felt that something was wrong, that is, Lauda just nodded to Cosell, but locked his eyes on himself.

This point made Zhang Yifei puzzled, it stands to reason that he and Korsell are acquaintances, and they should not have seen each other for many years, so it is normal to make eye contact, and even come over to say a few words.

But he and Lauda don't know each other at all, and even for Zhang Yifei, Lauda is more like a legendary figure in his impression, and he feels unreal when he appears in front of him.

Why does he set his sights on himself, is it really because he is handsome?

Of course, this was just a joke, and after Zhang Yifei and Lauda looked at each other for a few seconds, he turned his gaze to Kossel, wanting to seek answers from him.

Cosell naturally saw this scene, he thought that Lauda was greeting him, but he didn't expect to set his eyes on Zhang Yifei, which made him very puzzled.

However, Lauda only watched for a few seconds before being interrupted by the person next to him, and then he didn't look at Zhang Yifei again.

"Cosell, how do I feel like Lauda knows me?"

"Just ask."

“……”。

Zhang Yifei was suddenly a little speechless, this old German man, you said that he had a poisonous tongue, why did you feel that he couldn't chat like this?

As the F1 team management gradually arrived, the vice president of Renault also appeared in the banquet hall, soft music began to play, everyone smiled and changed glasses, began to talk to each other to network, or take advantage of this opportunity to reach some business cooperation.

But there is one person who does not fit into this environment, he is sitting alone in front of the bar, drinking a glass of high-strength whiskey, and this person is "Professor" Prost.

"When the professor finally made a mistake, today is not a good day for him."

After Cosell said this, he stood up and walked in the direction of Prost.