"Is this title of the strongest Chinese important?"

Zhang Yifei asked casually.

To be honest, he has never considered the title of the strongest Chinese people, because the Chinese have only two F1 drivers so far, and it is necessary to compete for the strongest?

If you really have this mentality, it is better to take a long-term view, and if you don't have the confidence to compete for the world's strongest name, it's okay to challenge Japan's historical record and compete for the strongest in Asia, right? The horizon is still too low.

However, Zhang Yifei has also heard of Xiong Long's character in later generations, because after he withdrew from F1, he began to run track races. Later, he came to China to participate in many competitions, mainly driving Audi R8.

I heard that this guy has a more anxious personality and belongs to the hot kind. Joining the F1 team this year should have been the highlight of his life, and it is true in history, both in Malaysia and some domestic media, where Yang Long was reported heavily.

But now the highlight of his life is completely overshadowed by Zhang Yifei's light, and the son of a team owner like Madu keeps pouting, and it is not surprising that Yang Long, who is still relatively young and vigorous at the moment, comes to the door to challenge.

Zhang Yifei's rhetorical question made Xiong Long a little stunned, he had read a lot of Zhang Yifei's news reports before, and knew that this Chinese driver was very arrogant.

As long as you come to challenge, according to Zhang Yifei's character, you will definitely follow, how can you look at it now, the Chinese driver is very peaceful, and there is no anger after being provoked, but he asks himself questions?

"It's very important to me, if I don't defeat you, I'll always be just your foil!"

Xiong Long directly explained what he thought in his heart, just like if the European media paid attention to Zhang Yifei, they would definitely compare him with Kimi Raikkonen.

As the only F1 driver in China, as long as the media pays attention to Xiong Long, then Zhang Yifei will definitely be compared with him. No one wants to be someone else's foil forever, especially at the F1 level.

In any case, only by winning Zhang Yifei can Yang Long prove himself.

Hearing this, Zhang Yifei smiled instead, he could understand this mentality. However, Zhang Yifei really has no interest in running with Yang Long, after all, although Yang Long is known as an official driver, he actually sponsors and pays to enter the Minardi team, and can only be regarded as the third driver on the bench.

The two sides are not on the same level, and it doesn't make much sense to win, Zhang Yifei's goal now is to put on world champions such as Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher.

Even if you take a step back, it will be on future F1 champions such as Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button. Xiong Long doesn't even have the strength to gain a foothold in F1, so he really doesn't deserve Zhang Yifei to treat him as an opponent.

"To be honest, I'm not interested in running with you. If you must run, wait for the race. ”

Zhang Yifei replied, and then led Ah Hu and his party to prepare to go back to the hotel.

But it was at this time that Xiong Long stood in front of Zhang Yifei, looked at him and said, "Don't you dare to run?" ”

When he heard this, Zhang Yifei's face was a little unsightly. Because he had heard about it in his previous life, and because he was both Chinese, Zhang Yifei didn't plan to care about Xiong Long's challenge, and he could understand the other party's mentality.

But there are some things that are entangled again and again, which is a bit excessive.

Zhang Yifei felt uncomfortable, but this sentence was waiting for the main game, listening to it in Xiong Long's ears, isn't it a kind of ridicule?

Because he is the third driver of the team, he has only run the last three races of his rookie season in his history. If the team's No. 1 and No. 2 drivers don't have problems, or if Minardi doesn't get a chance to play in garbage time this year, then he won't be able to run the race at all.

Knowing that it is very difficult to run a race, Zhang Yifei still said this, isn't this clearly playing himself?

"There are events in this world that I don't dare to run, but you're definitely not one of them. There are some things I don't want to say that are too ugly, and it's better not to humiliate myself. ”

Zhang Yifei replied indifferently, if it weren't for the identity of the Chinese, he would have treated Madu the same way, sending the words "are you worthy".

After saying this, Zhang Yifei directly used his shoulder to push away the Yang Long who was blocking in front of him, and the group walked towards the hotel. At the same time, the mechanics of the maintenance station next to them, who were going to watch the excitement, also showed a regret that they didn't eat the melon.

Looking at Zhang Yifei's back, Xiong Long was unwilling to mix with shame in his heart, and he naturally heard the meaning behind Zhang Yifei's words. Indeed, sponsored drivers, without the strength, are at the bottom of the F1 contempt chain.

After all, other drivers enter the F1 paddock by strength, and you come in by throwing money at it, and competitive sports events are still about being higher, faster, and stronger, rather than who has more money!

"Hmph, this rookie really regards himself as an F1 champion."

Ma Du also looked at Zhang Yifei's back and said in a cruel tone.

After finishing speaking, he turned his head to look at Xiong Long and asked, "He looks down on you, is he determined to prove himself?" ”

"Absolutely!"

Xiong Long replied firmly, Zhang Yifei's disregard has undoubtedly touched his self-esteem.

"Good, the opportunity will come soon."

Ma Du said with a sinister smile on his face, he didn't expect in advance that he could provoke Xiong Long's war intent against Zhang Yifei so easily.

It seems that the young Malaysian rider really can't wait to get rid of his status as a sponsored rider and use his strength to gain respect.

On the other hand, after Zhang Yifei returned to the hotel, all the members of the Prost team went to the conference room to summarize today's test.

The content includes the tuning of the car, the adaptation of the track, and some personal experience of Alessi.

These things are very valuable for Zhang Yifei, after all, Alesi can only test the basic performance of the new car, and all the tuning is also according to his habits, and in the future, Zhang Yifei will compete in the F1 track, and all the tuning needs to be changed according to his driving style.

Therefore, Zhang Yifei must understand and be familiar with the tuning process of the car, so that in this year's F1 season, he can quickly complete the best tuning of the track by relying on the pre-race practice race.

On the second day, the test on the track was still carried out by Alessi, after all, the eight days of winter testing were very short, and the new car also had a cylinder failure.

In order to ensure that the new F1 race is foolproof, it is only up to experienced drivers to speed up the pace of car testing. If there are no major problems with the car today, Zhang Yifei will conduct his first test tomorrow.

Unfortunately, during the test on the Alessi circuit, the car's sensors warned of a hydraulic leak. Halfway through the test, the car was driven back to the pits for overhaul.

The appearance of this scene directly cast a shadow on the Prost team, which thought that after nearly 100 laps yesterday, the JS53 car had been able to withstand the test, and the previous burst would be an example.

But today's hydraulic leak shows that things are not so simple, and the team leader Henry can no longer remain calm, he urgently urges Charlie and says: "Find the cause of the hydraulic leak as quickly as possible, and solve the problem before the end of the winter test!" ”

After finishing speaking, Henry said silently in his heart: "God forbid, don't be a fault with the engine." ”

The JS53 test car began to be disassembled again, and there are three main places where the hydraulic leakage is general, namely the steering mechanism, the gearbox and the engine. The team technicians checked one by one, and there was no obvious oil oozing with the naked eye.

In the end, there was no choice but to risk potentially corroding the engine and use a fluorescent agent to detect the location of the leak. In the end, it was found that the cylinder connection of the engine was poorly sealed, which caused the cylinder pressure of the engine to drop, so there was an oil leak alarm.

The engine had another problem, and like a cloud, it hovered over the heads of the convoy.

"Charlie, can this problem be solved?"

Henry opened his mouth and asked, the severity of the hydraulic leak is much lower than the previous direct cylinder explosion, at least you can think of a solution.

"There are solutions, but they are not practical."

"What's the solution?"

"Reduce the power."

The root cause of oil leakage is that the joints are sealed, which cannot withstand the high load conditions of the engine.

In the absence of a way to improve the assembly process, the easiest solution is to reduce the pressure of the engine, which naturally greatly reduces the possibility of oil leakage.

"Still falling?"

Hearing this, the French veteran Alessi on the side finally couldn't help but speak.

You must know that the current engine has been reduced by Peugeot to improve stability.

In terms of his testing experience, the engine power is not obviously insufficient, but compared to other teams' cars, there is no advantage. If the engine parameters are also lowered, it will be at a comprehensive disadvantage.

In this year's F1 season, Prost will not have any competitiveness.

"It can't go down any more! Charlie, is there a way to make the event engine survive two races? ”

Henry also understands that the engine parameters can not be lowered, and the current Peugeot engine is leaking oil after 110 laps. The problem is that the new FIA rules now require the event engine to run two races or face penalties.

Even if the engine is replaced due to a faulty engine, unless it is withdrawn during the final race, it will start 10 places back from the grid.

Ten years back to start in the order of qualifying, unless it is played against the sky, it is not much better than retiring, and it is basically difficult to get points. So the Prost team had to find a way to get the Peugeot engine through the two races.

Charlie had a look of embarrassment on his face, but now he had no choice, he could only grit his teeth and nod and replied: "I will find a way, and at the same time notify the boss, let Peugeot Group send R&D engineers over, and strive to solve the problem before the F1 race!" ”