To be honest, when Henry and Charlie received Prost's order to return to the headquarters, they didn't agree with Zhang Yifei's strength in their hearts.

This is not a subjective contempt or discrimination, but simply an objective view of the general strength of Chinese drivers, coupled with the low level of Renault, I do not believe that a newcomer has the ability to control F1 cars.

However, there has been a precedent for Kimi Raikkonen to show the world what a talented driver really looks like. So even if the two of them didn't agree in their hearts, they didn't show it, they still adhered to the professional spirit and served Zhang Yifei.

As a result, Zhang Yifei's performance is much better than he expected!

You must know the worst plan in Henry's heart, as long as Zhang Yifei test drives the F1 car without crashing, he will meet the standard of the passing line.

"Flying this corner is 230km/h, and Emir can do 245km/h, there is still a gap."

Henry opened his mouth to reply, but was immediately retorted by Charlie.

But the problem is that Emile is the third runner-up in the F3000 and the overall winner of the F3 European Cup, and has been testing the JS51 car at the Montliery circuit for half a year. And Fei was in contact with JS51 racing for the first time today, and the Montleary circuit was completely new to him. ”

"Do you remember how fast you used to develop the drivers in corners? It's only 180km/h, how big is the gap with the flying ratio? ”

To qualify as an F1 development driver, you need at least a foundation in the Renault Junior Championship class, and the bigger teams even need to claim the title of Formula 3 champion.

The Ao Island Grand Prix is very famous, but in fact, it is not as good as the European F3 Championship in the FIA event rating. Therefore, Zhang Yifei's current resume may not be as good as the development driver of a large team.

In the past, when the Ligier team was a rookie development driver, when he first tested the F1 car, his performance was much worse than Zhang Yifei's current performance.

Not to mention that the corners were passed at such a fast speed, and even the long straights did not dare to be oiled, after all, the junior car they drove before was almost like a toy car in front of the F1 car.

Unless it is an F3000 class car, which can barely be regarded as a shrunken version of a F1 car, no other formula car can be compared. Even the Indy 500 car is not as good as F1 in terms of absolute performance.

The speed of the test driver Emile is faster than Zhang Yifei, but considering all the objective conditions, he is obviously not as amazing as Zhang Yifei's current performance!

"It's great, no wonder Mr. Prost chose him to join the team."

Henry finally admitted that Zhang Yifei's performance was indeed not comparable to ordinary development drivers.

The roaring sound on the track resounded in the sky, and Zhang Yifei was completely excited after a lap.

It's really like the famous saying of later generations, that is, "power flying bricks", as long as the horsepower is enough, even a brick can fly into the sky.

Now that the 930P horsepower is already like this, Zhang Yifei can't imagine that in the era when F1 did not ban turbocharging, the Senna in 1988 drove a 1350P horsepower McLaren chariot and won the drivers' championship.

Two, three, four......

As he became more familiar with the car and the track, Zhang Yifei's speed became faster and more stable.

His performance on the track at the moment, there is no shadow of a newcomer, this scene even the Prost team of technicians, can't hold back the curiosity in their hearts, standing behind the display screen, want to see what kind of results Zhang Yifei can run for the first time test drive.

It's like Senna in 1983, when he took part in the test drives of Williams, McLaren, Lotus and other teams.

As a result, at the Donington Park circuit in England, Senna drove a Williams car and completed forty timed laps. When the lap time came out, it simply shocked the team bigwigs present.

Because Senna's lap time not only surpassed the rookie drivers who tested with him, but even surpassed the world champion Kirk that year? Rosberg!

This result is quite terrifying, a rookie driver who came to the team for a trial, can surpass the world champion of the year, how strong should this be, or how great is the potential?

Even if Rosberg didn't seriously test the car with a racing mentality at that time, you must know that he is the strength of the F1 champion, and Senna is just a newcomer who came to try out. All kinds of objective reasons still can't hide the potential of the car god that Senna has shown at that time.

This kind of trial results naturally made the team bosses present focus on Senna.

Among them are Sir Frank Williams of Williams Racing, Ron Dennis, CEO of McLaren Racing, and Pete Wall, Lotus Team Manager.

Several of them took a fancy to Senna and threw an olive branch to him.

You must know that these are all giant teams of that era, which is equivalent to Mercedes-Benz, Red Bull, and Ferrari in the later generations at the same time taking a fancy to a rookie driver and wanting to invite him to join their own team, what an honor is this?

But unfortunately, at that time, the Williams team and the McLaren team, the driver lineup had been finalized. The main sponsor of the Lotus team, Imperial Tobacco, did not agree to Fortress Senna because they demanded that there must be a British driver in the team, and Senna was Brazilian.

So in the end, these teams can only offer Senna a test driver contract, not an official driver.

In the face of such a request, Senna's choice at that time was the same as Zhang Yifei's, that is, he would rather be the head of the chicken than the tail of the phoenix, and he could not accept to be a test driver.

In this way, Senna tossed and turned to a last-tier team called Toleman, and just like the current Prost team, he began his F1 career.

The case of Senna has been widely circulated in F1 circles, and seeing such a strong test driver will naturally be reminiscent of Senna back then.

It's just that Zhang Yifei's final lap time, although it is very good, is still a lot worse than Senna's amazing results at that time, and even the test driver Emil did not reach the results.

"It seems that it is not easy to have another Senna."

Henry said with a little regret that every time such a newcomer appears in the F1 circle, he will always compare it with Senna. But unfortunately, there is only one Senna, and these newcomers are a little worse.

"I think Fei has run well enough."

Charlie did not agree with Henry's opinion, Senna was very strong in test driving at the time, but before he accepted the F1 test drive, he had already run the British F3 Championship, the Australian Island Grand Prix, etc., and the formula experience was far greater than the current Zhang Yifei.

And more importantly, Senna joined the West Surrey Racing team in British F3, which is very strong in strength and scale, and has not only F3, but also F3000 team.

If he hadn't been favored by the F1 team, Senna would have been running the F3000 race. Therefore, with the help of the team, Senna has already been exposed to higher-level cars, which is fundamentally different from the current Zhang Yifei.

The starting point of the two people is different, so naturally Zhang Yifei cannot be viewed by Senna's standards.

When Zhang Yifei ran to the ninth lap, Henry's command came from the headset to let Zhang Yifei pit stop.

Because the length of the Montrily track is almost twice that of a standard F1 track, Zhang Yifei ran nine laps into kilometers, which is equivalent to running hundreds of kilometers. So the wear of the tires has reached a critical value, the grip has begun to decline, in order to ensure the safety of the driver, Henry asked Zhang Yifei to pit for the end of the test drive.

When Zhang Yifei returned to the pit, Cosell, who had not spoken, opened his mouth and asked Henry: "What is the standard of flying a lap time of 3:06.73 on the Montriery track?" ”

Kossel has the rigor of the Germans, and although he is a race engineer for Zhang Yifei, it is a track that is completely unfamiliar to him.

So during Zhang Yifei's test drive, all the instructions were issued by Henry, and Korsell did not choose to act as a substitute.

Now that the test drive has ended, he also doesn't know what level Zhang Yifei's lap time of 3:06.73 is equivalent to on the Montliary track.

Any achievement must be compared in order to see the high and low, so he will ask.

"At the driver level, it's a very good result, but in the F1 drivers, it's at the bottom level. At present, the lap time of the team's test driver Emile is 3 seconds faster than Zhang Yifei, and the lap time of No. 1 driver Jean Alessy is more than 4 seconds. ”

Hearing this speed, Kossel was expressionless, not overtaking the euphoria of the development drivers, nor the dissatisfaction of falling behind the F1 drivers.

The length of the Montrily track is twice that of a normal track, and if calculated according to the standard track, Zhang Yifei is 1.5 seconds slower than the test driver Emile, and more than 2 seconds slower than the French veteran.

Do you know that when Senna was a rookie, he also tested the Brabham team, and Paul was also in France? Ricard Circuit.

He was outstanding at the time, but had a better lap than Brabham's lead driver, who is also Brazil's three-time world champion Nelson? Piquet was 2 seconds slower.

As the saying goes, when a fellow sees a fellow, a shot comes from behind!

Nelson? Piquet didn't want fellow Brazilian driver Senna to join the Brabham team, and after being two seconds slower, he nicknamed Senna "Sao Paulo Taxi Driver".

The meaning of this nickname is to make fun of Senna's driving speed, which is no different from that of a taxi driver in São Paulo, Brazil.

It can be seen that the difference of 2 seconds in the F1 lap time is really amazing.

What's more, Senna is 2 seconds slower than the three-time world champion, Zhang Yifei is slower than the French veteran, and Alessi, who has only won the championship title once in his career, is estimated to be even more exaggerated from the lap time gap of the top drivers.

At this time, Zhang Yifei also drove the JS51 car back to the pit, took off the helmet and got off the car, Zhang Yifei obviously still had a sense of excitement brought by speed, and the expression on his face was relatively happy.

Looking at the team members in the pit, it stands to reason that Zhang Yifei should ask Henry about the test drive just now. After all, Korcel has not officially joined the company, and they are as unfamiliar with racing cars and tracks as Zhang Yifei.

However, it may have become a habit, Zhang Yifei still asked Kossel directly: "Koser, how did I run just now?" ”

The conversation between Henry and Korcel was basically heard by everyone in the pits, and they didn't know whether to say good or bad about this kind of performance.

According to Cosell's past personality, it is estimated that Zhang Yifei's test drive performance is very different from that of F1 drivers. Even when he is not satisfied, he will use a critical tone.

But this time Cosell's performance surprised Zhang Yifei's team members.

In the face of Zhang Yifei's inquiry, Korsell nodded and said in an affirmative tone: "The run is very good." ”

Hearing Kossel's praise, Zhang Yifei was surprised, when did this old German man lower his standards so low, and he was able to get a very good evaluation when he first came into contact with F1 cars?

"Really good?"

Zhang Yifei asked suspiciously, could the old German man be talking to him.

However, Korsell has always been direct and rude, and there has never been a precedent for yin and yang to speak back, nor is it in line with his character.

"Really."

Again, Kossel replied in the affirmative.