Eighth, put it on a newcomer, it is a very good result. But it's a pity that Kimi is not Zhang Yifei, and his rookie season was not at McLaren this year, but at Sauber last year.

Speaking of Sauber Racing, it is a team that breaks the convention in F1, it used a controversial way to select junior newcomer Kimi Raikkkonen, and later again selected Massa, who has only been in the F3000 for a while.

It can be said that these two operations can be regarded as the most successful selections in the F1 team, and they are continuous successes, which really has to make people admire the vision of the Sauber team.

Of course, in addition to the vision, there is also the helplessness of the Sauber team. It has been a perennial bottom role in the past few years, and there are really no strong drivers to join, so it will look for drivers from junior newcomers, which is more like a mistake.

This result can only be regarded as decent for Kimi, and it is not very good. Even his own pre-race prediction that it should be no problem to enter the top six, but he never expected that the lap time would be eighth!

"It's very good, surpassing the Chinese rider Fei."

Coulthard approached Kimi Raikkonen and patted him on the shoulder and gave him a word of encouragement.

Compared to Coulthard, Kimi can only be regarded as a newcomer to the McLaren team at present. Even counting the previous year of Sauber Racing, Kimi is still not qualified enough, so Coulthard is more of a senior attitude.

Kimi really got rid of the "super newcomer" status in the eyes of the world, and it was not until 03 years. That year, Schumacher had already won the Drivers' Championship for three consecutive years, and his sweep of F1 was unbeatable.

In a moment of despair for the rest of the riders, the Finnish Iceman stepped up and battled Schumacher evenly throughout the season to finish runner-up by two points.

It was also from that moment that Kimi finally ceased to be a "super newcomer" in the eyes of the world, not even a new star. He's starting to become a star driver, and everyone is looking forward to his time when he wins the Drivers' Championship.

"It's still not enough."

Kimi shook his head and overtook Zhang Yifei, this can only be regarded as a basic operation, it is impossible for him to treat Zhang Yifei as his important opponent.

The real opponents are always the drivers on the track who have made a name for themselves and have achieved success, such as Schumacher, Barrichello, Frenzen, and even Coulthard, who stands by his side.

The current Kimi is far from driving a health car more than ten years later, or even becoming a wingman by default. He is full of desire for championships, the pursuit and passion for speed!

The current lap time is far from enough!

Looking at Kimi's stubborn face, Coulthard didn't say anything more, the identity of the predecessor is correct, but he is also a teammate.

For an F1 driver, the heart is proud and strong, and the so-called seniors are only used to beat and surpass their teammates. It's okay to comfort and encourage a word or two, but if you really want to teach the posture of your predecessors, it's just a joke.

Among the F1 drivers of this era, discord between newcomers and old people abounds, and there are even many dry fights. The previous pattern of getting along between Alesi and Heidenfield of the Prost team is definitely not unique.

So Coulthard has gradually passed the energetic stage of the previous years, and is beginning to become mature and stable.

If Coulthard knew what was going on inside Kimi Raikkonen, he could have answered why all the drivers had a dramatic lap time boost in P3 practice.

The reason is very simple, even Kimi, who can still be called a newcomer, is not willing to lose to a newcomer from China, and now those old drivers who have become famous in the past few years on the track, who is embarrassed to give such a Chinese newcomer?

Based on this psychology, the drivers in today's qualifying session were more serious, resulting in an overall lap time that improved by leaps and bounds, and Kimi and Zhang Yifei did not rise but fell.

On the other side, at the Pit Stop of the Prost team, Zhang Yifei looked at the lap time ranking on the monitor, and the expression on his face was very dignified.

This is not because of falling behind Kimi, because the lap time above shows that Zhang Yifei is only less than 0.1 seconds slower than Kimi, this gap is not exaggerated in the practice match, and it can be described by the word between the two and the middle.

What really made Zhang Yifei feel very dignified was that he was almost 1.5 seconds behind Schumacher!

When he saw Schumacher's lap time in the first place, Zhang Yifei almost wanted to burst into a foul sentence in his heart, is this special still human? Forget it, can you be so fast with me?

What shocked Zhang even more was that Schumacher was nearly 0.5 seconds ahead of second-place finisher, Barrichello, who was also a Ferrari team. If it's from another team, you can also use the car problem as an excuse.

After all, Ferrari is in full swing now, and they are an engine supplier themselves, so they can do their best in tuning their engines and cars. Combined with the strong strength of the drivers, it is understandable that other teams could not catch up in the practice sessions.

But the problem is that Barrichello is also driving a Ferrari car, and the fastest lap of a car with the same performance can be thrown off by nearly 0.5 seconds, which can be said to be a notch of achievement.

The current lap record is equivalent to Schumacher sitting high at the top, laughing at the rookies pecking each other in the next circle, and no one can threaten him.

And so it is, in the '01 season, Schumacher's drivers had a whopping 123 points. In second place is McLaren's David Coulthard, with a total of 65 points.

The gap is about twice as much, and even if Schumacher drives a recreational car a few stops later, the other drivers don't see any chance of catching up.

Zhang Yifei knows history, and he understands that in the five years that Schumacher and Ferrari were at their peak, all they brought to other drivers was despair.

Now he is beginning to experience this kind of desperation, with a lap gap of 1.5 seconds, Zhang Yifei doesn't know how to use his life to catch up on the track?

Oh yes! It's really not for nothing that he can be canonized as a god in history, and others don't have to play Lao Tie at this speed!

Seeing Zhang Yifei standing in front of the monitor in a daze, Alessi also came over at this time.

Compared with Zhang Yifei's shock and pressure, Alessi is obviously much more relaxed, after all, he has already recognized the reality, and he has no desire for the championship, only hoping to retire with dignity in his final career.

And in his career of more than ten years, he has witnessed too many legends, Senna, Prost, Hakkinen, and Schumacher. There are talents from all generations, and these can be called historical cycles, and there is nothing too shocking and surprising.

"As a newcomer, you're doing well."

Alessi opened his mouth and said, he really thinks that Zhang Yifei is very good now.

Formula 1 is also a big wave venue, and there have been countless newcomers in history who have entered the paddock only to leave in an inconspicuous way. And that's not even counting the test drivers and some third drivers, many of whom have a lot of desire and enthusiasm but never get on the Formula 1 track in their lifetime.

Zhang Yifei can now run ninth, which has surpassed 50% of the official drivers, and as a newcomer, he should learn to be satisfied.

"That's right, I had a good run today!"

Prost said with a smile, he was really happy.

Last year's Prost team, which was a hilarious record, was simply hopeless. Even in the end, as the founder and manager of the team, he chose to give up, and everyone waited for the end of the season together.

Although the new season has not started today, Zhang Yifei finally ranked ninth in the practice match, and Alessi also ranked eleventh from the bottom of the previous state.

This is good news, whether it is Zhang Yifei's potential or Alessi's form rebound, it represents the beginning of the revival of the Prost team, which is much better than last year, and Prost is naturally happy.

Listening to Alessi's persuasion and seeing Prost's smiling face, Zhang Yifei couldn't spoil the two of them. So he barely managed to squeeze out a smile, and then nodded in agreement.

But Zhang Yifei is still dissatisfied with his current achievements in his heart, and he wants to make a breakthrough.

After the practice session, there is a few hours of rest to eat lunch and make pre-race adjustments to the drivers.

Drivers with good mental quality, such as Kimi, will also choose to sleep before the race, and he feels that he can have a better track when he gets enough sleep.

The most psychologically powerful wonder will even choose to take a break before the race to do something unspeakable with the hot racing girls or other women in the paddock. For example, Nicky Lauda's opponent was James Hunt, who was also the prototype of "The Amazing Ones".

Zhang Yifei naturally couldn't do this kind of thing, and he didn't have the habit of sleeping if he wanted to, so taking advantage of the pre-game rest, Zhang Yifei lay on the sofa in the lounge and watched Schumacher's running lap and line in practice.

For a new driver, imitation and learning are inevitable stages. What's more, Zhang Yifei is very curious, he feels that there is nothing wrong with his line, how did Schumacher do it so fast?

Alessi, on the other hand, was much more comfortable, lying on a cot in the lounge, receiving the muscle relaxation of the masseur in the team. After all, after two days and three practice matches, each of them alone is not as good as the official game, but the three games add up, and the intensity will not be lower than the official game.

Just as basketball and soccer players need a masseur to relax their muscles after a high-intensity workout, an F1 driver also needs to relieve stiffness and fatigue.

Alessi, who was lying on the bed enjoying a massage, looked at Zhang Yifei, who was still carefully checking the video, and shook his head.

This Chinese newcomer has the arrogance and arrogance that ordinary Chinese do not have, but he still has that kind of diligence and hard work. It's just that now in the pre-game stage, it is not a good thing to put yourself in an overly intense state of study.

If Zhang Yifei can't relax and change this mentality, it may be counterproductive.