525 Forced Blocking (Chapter 1)
"The deadlock on the track was finally broken when Williams' Ralph Schumacher teamed up with team-mate Montoya at the halfpipe to overtake third-placed McLaren Coulthard!"
"It's a really beautiful combination and you can see the chemistry between the two Williams drivers. And Montoya, who is a newcomer to the season, once again showed his excellent ability and tough attitude, it seems that this Austrian Grand Prix, Williams Racing is determined to win! ”
Montoya and Ralf Schumacher were the first to break the deadlock, which also sparked a wave of excitement from the crowd on the track, after all, this is BMW's home stadium, and the fans and spectators supporting the Williams team dominate the mainstream.
"Beautiful! Montoya is worthy of the wildness of the American drivers, blocking Coulthard strongly, let him take a good look at the taillights of the Sabertooth Tiger! ”
"This is Williams' territory, McLaren is still a little bit close, hurry up and face Ferrari!"
"I have a hunch that today will be Montoya's battle to the top, and no one will question his strength after that!"
"Ralph, it's your brother Michael in front, it's time to prove yourself, you don't want to be that uncompetitive brother for the rest of your life!"
The shouts of the spectators in the stands represent their mood at the moment, and the Williams team performed very well this time, showing the strength of a team.
Even many fans believe that overtaking McLaren is just the beginning, and the next step is to overtake Schumacher in front. As for the flying of the Prost team in front, many viewers did not pay attention to it, he is not worth mentioning compared to Ferrari Schumacher!
When Coulthard saw Ralph Schumacher take the opportunity to run ahead of him, he felt a sense of aggrieved anger rising from within.
The two Williams drivers were despicable, one risked a crash to force a line and the other took the opportunity to overtake. Especially this Montoya, after entering the F1 paddock this year, has been reckless many times, do you really think that others dare not hit him?
At the same time, it is his teammate Kimi Raikkonen who is dissatisfied!
Look at Zhang Yifei and Montoya, who are also newcomers to the track, today's performance is extremely strong, and they directly have the strength to compete with older drivers. And Zhang Yifei is still from China, where he is still driving a tractor, you Kimi was trained in the Finnish racing system since childhood, at this level?
Entering the F1 paddock with the title of creating the miracle of "triple jump", and now entering a top team like McLaren, it is really unbearable to be out of the picture!
What makes Kuthard even more angry and even jealous is that the chairman of the McLaren Group and the head of Mercedes-Benz Motor Sport are extremely optimistic about this ordinary Finnish newcomer, and even plan to replace his position as the number one driver.
With his current results, is he also worthy?
If you had a strong team-mate, you would not have been overtaken by the two Williams drivers now, but the McLaren driver combination to take out Ferrari's Schumacher.
Maybe the name of the number one in the overall standings today is not Schumacher, but I Coulthard!
You must know that Coulthard has always been unconvinced by Schumacher, after all, he was humiliated by the opponent's lap on the track, and Schumacher's most famous preparation to rush into the pits to beat people, and the other protagonist is Cothard.
Now that he is second only to Schumacher in total points, this may be his last chance for revenge, so Coulthard is not reconciled!
"Coulthard, block Montoya and let Kimi rush forward!"
The voice of McLaren Group Chairman Dennis came from inside the headset, who instructed Coulthard to block the car and get Kimi Raikkonen to rush forward.
Hearing this team's command, the dissatisfaction and anger in Coulthard's heart reached its peak in an instant. After being overtaken by Ralph Schumacher, he was already in fourth place, and now he has to block Montoya and create an opportunity for Kimi Raikkonen to surpass him, and the ranking will drop to fifth!
Coulthard is now second overall in points, and the gap between him and Schumacher is so wide that it's almost a theoretical possibility. So he has to get the championship in the race, and Schumacher's points can't be high, preferably no points.
If Kimi Raikkonen is given the car, he will not have any chance of winning the title again, which is unacceptable for Coulthard.
So he didn't respond to Dennis's command, and at the same time, he didn't have any action to stop the car, and still ran on his own.
"What's going on with Coulthard, didn't he hear it?"
Dennis was also dissatisfied, although McLaren's strategy team was not as strong as Ferrari and Williams.
But at the end of the day, it is also one of the top teams in the current F1 paddock, one of the Big Three, not to the point where drivers can take instructions as if they were the wind in their ears.
So Dennis reached for the call button of the headset again, but Hauge, the director of motor sports standing on the side, blocked his movement.
"I'll tell you."
Hauge has also been partnered with Dennis for a few years, and I know that his personality is relatively kind. Coulthard's reaction has obviously touched Dennis's bottom line, and he may say something tougher.
But it's still in the race, and any confrontation between the team and the driver is a negative impact on the outcome of the race. If there is any problem, we will solve it after the game, even if it is to cancel the renewal of next year's contract.
And now, this is not the time to lose your temper.
Hearing Haug say this, Dennis exhaled, suppressed his rising anger, and then lowered his hand and nodded at Haug.
"Kuthard, let Kimi go first, and then the two of you attack Ralph Schumacher. What the Williams team can do, can't the McLaren team? ”
Hauge tried to use a soft approach, rather than a tough command to Kuthard to block the car for Kimi Raikkonen. In fact, the McLaren team didn't want Coulthard to be a wingman, after all, no matter in terms of experience or strength, Coulthard is much better than Kimi now, how can he ignore the team's interests because of personal preferences?
What the strategy team wants to do is to let Kurthard cooperate with the car first, and then jointly attack Schumacher Jr. in front, or even Schumacher and Zhang Yifei in front.
If McLaren doesn't attack first, it may be that Williams will be up to the team again, with Ralf Schumacher in front blocking Coulthard and creating a chance for Montoya further behind, so that McLaren will be completely out of the front row.
When Coulthard heard Hauge's explanation, his unconvincing stubbornness also went down a lot.
After all, in the current F1 paddock, the drivers are still in a weak position compared to the team, unless it is at the level of Schumacher, which team they want to go to, it is estimated that they will rush to get it.
If it really turns against the boss, Cothard doesn't have much choice, Ferrari definitely won't want it, they have the strongest twin stars now. The Williams team Montoya and Ralph are both young, and their performances are also fully qualified, and the cooperation is quite tacit, and it is impossible to come out in an empty position.
If you go to a team outside the Big Three, it is better to stay at McLaren and at least have a much better chance of attacking the championship. Now that Hauge has given the steps down, if Coulthard doesn't give in again, he will be a little ignorant.
"Roger."
Coulthard responded indifferently, and then with a "road rage" mentality, he just stepped on the brakes.
Montoya, who was closely behind him, faced Kuthard's sudden braking, and when he saw that he was about to rear-end collision, he couldn't take care of other factors, and was forced to step on the brakes to death, so that he could slow down the car and avoid a rear-end accident.
At the same time, Kimi Raikkonen, who was further behind, seized the opportunity to change lanes from the right side to bypass Montoya and Coulthard in front of him, and jumped from sixth position to fourth on the current track!
"SHIT (shit), is there such a way to block the car? This is a malicious driving crash! ”
Montoya instantly became angry, and Coulthard's action just now was not a tactical cooperation to block the car at all, but was close to directly stepping on the brakes to death. If Montoya had been a little slower, he would have crashed into it and rear-ended.
And even if Montoya reacted fast enough, he escaped by pressing the brakes to death.
Coulthard is not blocking the car at all, but malice is all gone!
This situation was not only Montoya's anger, but even the Williams pit stop, which broke out all at once.
"Complain! Simmonds immediately complained to the FIA track officials that this is malicious driving and should be punished with a Cothard ban! ”
Faced with Sir Williams' anger, Simmonds nodded and signaled that he would complain to the FIA.
"BOSS, but to be honest, it's unlikely that this kind of complaint will be punished. You also know that Schumacher rear-ended Coulthard in '98, such a serious track accident, and in the end he was not punished. ”
What Symonds said is the truth, in 98 Kuthard was lapped, in order to retaliate against Schumacher, and to cover his teammate Hakkinen to win the championship, he was maliciously braked by the lap, causing Schumacher to hit the right front wheel and drive a lap on the track with a tricycle, and in the end it was difficult to determine whether this rear-end collision was malicious.
Now that the accident has not happened, and it is also very common to block the car, it is really difficult to "convict" Coulthard.
"I don't care what the outcome is, I'll complain about Coulthard first!"
After saying this, Sir Williams suddenly thought of something, and added to Simmonds.
"By the way, wait and greet a few crew members, keep an eye on Montoya after the race, and don't let him rush to McLaren's pits to fight!"