"Competing for the team's No. 1 driver?"

Naturally, Kossel understood what Prost meant.

"That's right, haven't you always thought I'm conservative? Now I'm going to give a radical solution. If you want to be the team's number one driver, you have to compete with your own strengths. ”

At McLaren, although Prost and Cosell had different philosophies, that didn't stop him from appreciating each other's abilities.

It can be said that Prost has in mind that in the current situation of the team, Korcel is the most suitable person to become the chief race engineer. Because he is decisive and aggressive enough to motivate the drivers.

However, the problem is also in front of Prost, Korsell is Zhang Yifei's race engineer, this kind of rookie, and he is also a pure newcomer who "triple jumps" into F1, and he is absolutely unconvincing to directly assign the No. 1 driver.

Prost really didn't consider the issue of making Zhang Yifei the No. 1 driver before, the French veteran was personally recruited by him, and he far surpassed Zhang Yifei in terms of experience and status, and was the best candidate for the No. 1 driver.

But this year's F1 season, Alessi's performance disappointed Prost. In a later sentence, it is that Alessi is really too special to paddle!

There have only been five races in the entire F1 season, and even first-time F1 newcomer Heidfeld has completed six.

It is precisely because of the performance on the track that Prost is determined to change, no longer ranking positions according to seniority and status, but relying on strength to compete.

Whoever shows the strength and faster lap times during this winter training period will become the No. 1 driver of the Prost team next season.

This kind of competition may offend Alessi, but Prost doesn't care about it anymore. If next year's F1 season is still like this year, whether the Prost team will exist is a question, and it still needs to be considered whether to offend?

"You're competing with Alesi for the number one driver?"

"That's right."

Prost confirmed a sentence, then looked at Zhang Yifei and said, "Fei, do you have the courage to challenge Alessi?" ”

"Heh, if you change the subject to this year's champion Schumacher, I won't lack that courage."

Zhang Yifei said disdainfully, asking if he had the courage to say this kind of thing, he was simply underestimating himself.

"Very good, this is the vitality that young people should have."

"At the end of the one-month winter training period, there will be an internal team assessment, and if you beat Alesi, you will be the number one driver next year."

"But there is a price to pay if you lose, that is, you will become a wingman, do you want to think about it again?"

In the previous Prost team, in fact, there was not much difference between the status of the No. 1 and No. 2 drivers, so Heidfeld and Alessy had more than one brawl.

But now the results of the Prost team, we have to find a way to achieve a breakthrough of zero.

In the case of lack of competitiveness, one driver must be sacrificed at the critical time to ensure that the other driver can run into the points area. This is where the wingman comes in, and that's the price to pay for the loser.

"Don't think about it, I'll accept the challenge."

Zhang Yifei agreed without the slightest hesitation, because without this competition, he directly became the No. 2 driver.

Although the Prost team does not have a wingman, the identity of the No. 2 driver is destined to the team's resources will be leisurely inclined to the No. 1 driver.

When the time comes, there will be a battle between the No. 1 and No. 2 drivers on the track, and there is no doubt that the team's choice will be the No. 1 driver. So whether it's a wingman or not, the No. 2 driver is the life of the green leaf.

If you don't challenge, you are destined to be a green leaf, and you can become the No. 1 driver than a handful, and a fool will refuse to challenge.

"Then it's decided."

Prost didn't continue to talk about this topic, but changed the conversation and said: "Now that the team members have returned to the headquarters, the next step will be team practice, you and those two rookie technicians, you have to be ready." ”

"Hmm."

Zhang Yifei nodded, and then got up with Corer and walked out of the office.

After closing the door, Korsell turned his head to Zhang Yifei and said, "You kid this month, I don't care if you play with your life or in other ways, you must win the winter training test for me." ”

"I don't want my co-driver to be just a wingman, and I don't want to be embarrassed to give orders such as blocking and giving way!"

After saying this, Korsell didn't wait for Zhang Yifei's answer or assurance, and left without looking back.

You must know that he was a member of Senna's strategy team back then, and if it weren't for his status as a university professor, he would have almost become a race engineer for Senna.

With Jewel in front of him, Korsell couldn't accept it anyway, and the driver he was working with was a wingman.

More importantly, Kossel doesn't like the so-called "giving way to the car". Even from a team point of view, making the car more in the interests of the team can indirectly improve the driver's profit.

But in Cosell's opinion, even if you don't want to let it out!

Looking at Coser's back, Zhang Yifei didn't speak, and he didn't want to be a wingman from the bottom of his heart.

Even more bluntly, he doesn't need others to become wingmen to help him, whether he can win the championship on the track depends on his ability!

In the next two days, the main members of the team who returned from Japan were basically in a state of vacation.

After all, I have just finished the F1 season, and when I am physically and mentally exhausted, I also need two days to rest and buffer.

In the past two days, the only one who is still insisting on training may be Zhang Yifei. He didn't receive any influence from the team members and continued to train according to his plan.

In particular, in the racing simulator, his fastest lap was 3:03.22, surpassing test driver Emile's fastest lap of 3:03.61.

It's just that the results of the racing simulator have not experienced the test of the track field test after all. If you really run on the Montleur track, whether you can run the ideal result on the simulator is still a question mark.

In fact, in addition to Zhang Yifei, Ah Hu and Brother Zhi were also not affected by the team's vacation. The two of them are now in the garage all day, learning the construction and maintenance of F1 cars, and constantly simulating pit stops to improve their proficiency.

In the future, if the F1 pit stop is simply to change the tire, the fastest time has reached about 2 seconds, and it can be said that in the blink of an eye, the car can complete the process of pit stop and change the tire.

In this era, the F1 team's cooperation and speed are still a little worse than those of later generations, but the top maintenance team can still compress the time to less than 3 seconds, and the slowest is just over 3 seconds.

After all, the little advantage that F1 drivers have in the race track, if they waste it on the pit stop and change the tyres, it is too wrong.

Ah Hu and Chen Zhi don't want to affect Zhang Yifei's results in the future because of their speed, so they must start from now on and be proficient in the process of pit stop tire change to the same extent as their instincts!

On the third day, the Prost team officially entered the winter training period, and the team members went to the Montrieri circuit for training.

However, Zhang Yifei keenly found that the No. 2 driver Heidfeld was no longer in the ranks of the team.

For this, Zhang Yifei is not surprised, F1 driver transfer is a very common thing. Even if he didn't grab his position, Heidfeld was destined to leave.

After all, he has reached the point where he is incompatible with Alesi, and if the two of them are still in the same team, I am afraid that in the future, the track will not be a racing car, but a performance of boxing!

The content of today's winter training is not that all drivers go to the track to practice, but there is a clear division of labor.

The temporary number one driver, Alessi, will take to the track in the JS51 for practice. Alessi's results this season can be described as miserable, and he needs intense practice to regain his grip on the car.

Test driver Emile, who was also on the track, but instead of the JS51 in service, he was driving the next generation of the Prost team, the JS53 prototype.

As a test driver, he will use this period of winter training to provide feedback on the racing issues and data to help the JS53 prototype be finalized. It can be said that his test results will have a direct impact on the performance of the Prost team next season.

Finally, there is the tentative No. 2 driver, Zhang Yifei, who will undergo pit stop practice, which is also a process that cannot be simulated by the racing simulator.

The so-called pit stop practice is actually to be familiar with the pit stop tire change, refueling, or the departure process of the maintenance channel after being punished.

Entering the pit lane is arguably the most important tactical and time-chasing weapon for F1 cars in this era. It requires the driver to work perfectly with the entire pit team, and if it can be done without a single pit stop, it may be possible to beat off the difference of a few tenths of a second by the other drivers in just one pit stop.

And don't think that in formula racing, pit stops are as simple as driving the car into the pits, it also requires the driver to control the speed and braking distance with great precision.

In short, the FIA pit stop speed of 80 to 120 km/h for the safety of the pit crew, with different speed limits depending on the design of the track and pit lane.

Drivers must ensure that the speed of the car is accurately controlled to the limit, slow will naturally waste time, and fast detection will be penalized.

At the slowest speed of 80 km/h, F1 drivers must ensure that the car is precisely parked on the white line in the pit area at this speed.

If you exceed the white line area, you will directly knock the front jack mechanic in front of the front of the car into the air. If you park if you don't enter the area, all the technicians' standing positions will be disrupted, and the process of moving the booth will waste a lot of time.

Therefore, the seemingly simple pit stop and tire change require a lot of cooperation between the driver and the maintenance team in order not to waste any milliseconds in the race!