Coming to the lounge to change into a full set of equipment, Zhang Yifei sat in this brand-new Formula Renault car, and in the next seven races, he will be accompanied by this car.

The Monza circuit is now closed and the race will not start until the day after tomorrow, so there are no spectators or spectators.

Moreover, the other participating drivers are basically European drivers, and they occupy the geographical advantage, so it is very convenient to come to Monza for a test run, and the track is relatively familiar.

So they are not in a hurry to come over for a test run today, anyway, the race will not be held until the day after tomorrow, and there will be enough time to debug tomorrow, so there is only one car left on the track, Zhang Yifei can run alone!

Of course, because it was a closed day, the various monitoring equipment on the track was also not turned on. Zhang Yifei's test run data purely relies on Yamamoto Ukyo's experience and stopwatch timing, and the error is relatively large, so it can only be used as a reference.

"Phineas, come on, stay safe."

Ah Hu saw that Zhang Yifei was about to run for a test run, and cheered him up.

Zhang Yifei stretched out a finger at this time, waved at Ah Hu and said, "Small scene, Seven Star Mountain Cart, understand it." ”

Now that Ah Hu is over, Zhang Yifei finally has someone to joke with, otherwise it would not be appropriate to say hello to Junko Takeda and Yamamoto Ukyo before, after all, one is a woman and the other is wood.

Driving to the track, Junko Takeda acted as a temporary starter, and as her arm swung down, Zhang Yifei kicked the accelerator down, and the car rushed out like an arrow from the string.

Driving this Renault 2000 car, Zhang Yifei did not feel unfamiliar, because this car is the same as the formula car at Toyota's youth training base, and the specifications are the same.

This is one of the advantages of formula racing, which is that everything is regulated by the FIA, and there is not much difference between the different manufacturers, so there is no problem in getting started.

It's only at the Formula 1 level that you can feel the difference in performance in a top-of-the-line Formula 1 car, with a minimal difference in horsepower and a gearbox power response that is incredibly close.

Even many manufacturers are too lazy to build their own junior race cars in order to save trouble, and directly purchase the original parts to assemble.

For example, the Renault 2000 racing car is not all developed by the French company Renault, the frame is from the Italian company Tatuus, the ECU is from Fiat's Magi Marelli, and the engine and gearbox are Renault's own.

In the first lap of the test run, Zhang Yifei did not play any extreme operations, because he was not familiar with the track and the performance of the car, this is not Toyota's youth training base, and it is not a big problem to hit the car.

You must know that the car is rented now, and just now Zhang Yifei also took a careful look at the price of the car on the lease contract, which was written at 250,000 US dollars.

The exchange rate in this era is more than 1 to 8, and if this car is really scrapped, Zhang Yifei will have to compensate more than 2 million yuan. This money does not belong to the project sponsored by Toyota, so it is really a bit unaffordable for Zhang Yifei to compensate him personally.

In the future, some Asian formula drivers, when competing on European circuits, lap performance, race speed and defensive ability are not bad, but they all have a "common problem".

That is, they are too conservative in the "white-knuckle battle" with bayonets, and there is almost no active attack in the "strong dialogue", which has become the bottleneck for Asian drivers to move from excellent to top.

In addition to the relatively "mild" cultural background, that is, the conservative field strategy, which has a lot to do with reducing car damage compensation. To put it more thoroughly, it's also a reduction in entry fees.

After all, if the car crashes and is scrapped, you may not be able to afford the meal, so you have to take it easy.

Zhang Yifei is also facing the risk of not being able to eat, so he should be cautious in the first lap of the test run, mainly to feel the changes in the suspension and the grip of the tires.

I don't know if it's because of the production car and Formula Renault's decades of experience, the power of this car matches the gearbox, which is better than Toyota's racing car.

However, this is normal, because Toyota's prototype car is an F1 prototype, and after changing the power and air kit, it was thrown to the academy drivers, not specially developed for junior formula, and naturally it feels like it is a little worse.

I initially felt the performance of the car and the track, and the tire temperature gradually rose, and Zhang Yifei accelerated at the beginning of the second lap.

After the start of the Monza track, there was a long straight, Zhang Yifei went directly to sixth gear, and the engine speed began to climb wildly, and the speed was soon close to the limit of 260km/h.

"Brother Zhi, the speed of the formula car is really sharp, I feel that it will break 100 in less than five seconds."

Although Ah Hu has not been in contact with formula cars, he has also worked in a car repair shop for several years, and he is very sensitive to the speed of the vehicle, and Zhang Yifei's full-throttle acceleration action can be seen at a glance.

"The car is light, the transmission efficiency is high, and the horsepower book data is not exaggerated, but the horsepower on the wheels is not low, so the acceleration is very fast. Ah Hu, the two of us will have to study hard in the future, so that we can accompany Yifei to the professional track. ”

"I will, Brother Zhi."

Ah Hu nodded vigorously, today he has felt the impact of his career and speed, which is very tempting for a teenager.

Whether it is the support for Zhang Yifei or the fire ignited in his heart, Ah Hu wants to stay on the track and feel this kind of speed and passion.

Soon Zhang Yifei arrived at Turn 1 of the Monza circuit, a combination bend known as the Rettifilio Tribune, which translates to the name of the Roman tribune.

Anyway, when Zhang Yifei saw the track information, he didn't know why the Italians used the Roman tribune to name the track corner, maybe the brain circuit was not normal due to cultural differences.

The angle of entry into the combined corner is very small, so it is necessary to apply the brakes heavily before entering the corner, and reduce the speed to about 80km/h in 1st gear to pass the corner safely.

From the peak of 260km/h, the sharp speed is reduced to about 80km/h, which is a test of the driver's judgment of the braking point.

Zhang Yifei didn't play any limit in the test run, braked to a speed of 70km/h early, and passed the corner safely.

This corner is not only very demanding for entering the corner, but also a long straight after the exit, so it is necessary to increase the speed from the previous 7080km/h to the 6th speed limit again in a very short time.

That's why, to reduce the downforce of the airflow and the grip of the tires, that is, so that the car can have an advantage in the acceleration out of the corner, otherwise the corner is not overtaken, and the result is that the acceleration out of the straight is overtaken, which is really called aggrieved.

In the cornering feeling, Zhang Yifei felt that the suspension support was fine, but the downforce of the airflow was a little stronger, and the acceleration after the corner Zhang Yifei felt that it was not powerful, which was similar to the extreme acceleration in the Toyota Youth Training Center.

But you must know that this car is slightly stronger than Toyota's racing car, and the quality of the track is also better, if it is just the speed of Toyota's youth training base, Zhang Yifei will not say anything to win the championship, and he will not be able to run into the race.

After all, there are more than 30 competitors, and there are only 20 places in the main race, which means that in the qualifying stage, more than a dozen drivers will be eliminated directly, and there will be no chance of an official competition.

Zhang Yifei's goal this time is very low, he is not arrogant and thinks that he will win the championship, the highest goal is to stand on the podium, and the lower goal is to run into the race.

Because he has been a professional driver for two lifetimes, he knows how strong the professional atmosphere in Europe is, and this gap is the same as the gap between the Chinese Super League and the five major leagues, especially formula car, many European drivers compete on the track at a young age.

It is equivalent to when you are ready to run on your legs on the starting line, the opponents have already driven into the car, how can non-chiefs fight with krypton players!

(The 2000 Renault 2000 Euro Championship format and the number of drivers are not available, but according to the Renault 2.0 Euro 17 and 18, the number of participating drivers was 34 and 28 respectively.) The round-robin follows the F1 model of the year, with a slight change to the competition format, adding qualifying elimination, and retaining 20 drivers of the same scale as F1. ）

"Yifei-kun, how does it feel to test run?"

The voice of Yamamoto Ukyo came from the headset, and in the official formula race, the driver's helmet has a communication system to facilitate the team to convey instructions.

"The suspension feels good, I'd like to be stiffer if I can, can the downforce be lowered, I don't feel like the acceleration is strong enough out of the lap."

Zhang Yifei said his feelings, in fact, the tuning was already very good, but Zhang Yifei hoped to be more extreme, after all, the opponent was too strong.

"The suspension can't be stiffer anymore, because the shoulder of the Monza circuit is high, and many times the extreme overtaking and cornering need to borrow the shoulder, and the suspension that is too hard can be easily damaged and the risk is too high."

"The downforce can be adjusted, I chose to use a more conservative solution, but if the grip of the problem tires is further reduced, the stability of the vehicle will also be reduced, and it is easy to lose control in high-speed corners, do you think you can control it?"

Yamamoto Ukyo pointed out the shortcomings of tuning, and he did adopt a conservative strategy, which is the same as the "common problem" in Asia mentioned earlier.

However, this is also for Zhang Yifei's consideration, not only for the reason of money, Zhang Yifei, as a driver who participated in Renault's professional events for the first time, lacked experience and control of track speed.

If the grip of the tires is reduced too much, the tires may not be able to grasp the ground when cornering or changing lanes at high speeds. If you don't have a lot of experience and don't handle it well, even if there are no major accidents, wasting too much time will not outweigh the losses.

"I don't think I'm okay, but in qualifying and race, I have to improve my speed even more."

Zhang Yifei smiled on the surface, but in fact, there was still a sense of crisis in his heart, the opponent was too strong and led too much, so he had to play harder in order to have a chance to catch up and surpass.

"Okay, let's get back to the pits and we'll adjust the air kit and tires."

Race engineers are at the driver's service, and they constantly adjust the data to the driver's requirements.

This kind of basic tuning of the racing car is not something that can be done casually, and Zhang Yifei needs to constantly test run on the track, through driver feedback and various remote sensing monitoring, in order to complete the most suitable racing tuning.

The same long test run and practice will lead to a lot of physical exertion on the driver, which is why the test driver exists. Therefore, Yamamoto Youkyo must find a balance point to avoid Zhang Yifei's excessive physical exertion, which will affect the official competition the day after tomorrow.

After lap of test running, Zhang Yifei kept driving the car back to the pit for adjustment, which put a lot of pressure on Yamamoto Ukyo. Because in a sense, Yamamoto Ukyo himself is actually a newcomer to formula racing.

After all, Toyota has not been involved in formula racing before, but only has a European team competing in endurance racing. Although the European endurance racing body is very similar to the formula race, there is still a big difference on the inside, and for Yamamoto Ukyo, the formula is also starting from scratch.

After running for more than 40 laps like this, the car changed to four sets of tires with different degrees of softness and hardness, and finally allowed Zhang Yifei and Yamamoto Ukyo to find a perfect tuning in all aspects.

At the end of the test run, Junko Takeda took the data calculated by the stopwatch, walked up to Zhang Yifei and said: "Yifeijun, your fastest lap time is 1:58.63, which is 1:55.86 from the fastest record of Renault on the track, and the difference is about 3 seconds." ”

When he heard this number in 3 seconds, Zhang Yifei frowned, you must know that in the official professional competition, there will be no youth training base, and the time gap of more than ten seconds is often between professional drivers, and many times the winners and losers of professional drivers are between milliseconds.

Of course, this is compared to the track record, which is limited by the driver and the venue, and by the time of the race, basically all the drivers will be behind the track record.

It's just a 3-second gap, which makes Zhang Yifei still a little difficult to accept, this result is no accident to enter the main race from the qualifying round, but it is very difficult to compete for pole position or start in the front order.

Zhang Yifei speculated that if the driver who won the pole position did not encounter extreme weather conditions, the fastest lap would only be less than a second slower than the track record!

Seeing Zhang Yifei's frowning expression, Yamamoto Youkyo came over and patted him on the shoulder and encouraged: "Yifei-kun, the first time I tried to run in Formula Pro, it's very good to have such a lap time, don't put too much pressure on yourself." ”

Yamamoto Ukyo said this, not purely comforting words, you must know that as an Asian driver, Zhang Yifei came to the Monza circuit for the first time to test run, and the fastest lap was only three seconds away from the track record, basically ensuring that he could run into the race, which was already above the passing line standard.

At this time, Zhang Yifei replied with a smile on his face: "Don't worry, this is not much pressure for me,"

Zhang Yifei is just not very satisfied with his results, which does not mean that he has a lot of pressure.

Just kidding, I've seen a lot of big scenes in my last life, and I don't have the psychological quality of this little storm, and I still want to open Formula 1

"The racing tuning data is basically confirmed, let's try to run here today, everyone is ready to go back, let Yifeijun have a good rest."

Junko Takeda came over to announce the end of the test run, because at this time, more than three hours had passed since Zhang Yifei got on the car for the first time to test run.

The July of the Monza circuit can be described as a heat wave, even if Zhang Yifei can intermittently return to the pit to rest, but the full set of equipment under the hot sun for a long time test run, the physical consumption is also amazing, from Zhang Yifei's state has been slightly dehydrated.

Everything is too much, the day after tomorrow the race officially began, tomorrow Zhang Yifei will come to the Monza track to practice, so today is the end of the day, give Zhang Yifei enough time to rest.

In this way, Zhang Yifei and his entourage got on the Toyota Granvia and returned to the hotel in Milan.

Yamamoto Ukyo was still not idle, and he worked out the game tactics for Zhang Yifei on the race track data. The main content is that Zhang Yifei is in each corner, how much is the most suitable gear and speed, where is the braking point, etc.

Because Formula Renault is different from F1 races, the race time is short and the number of laps is smaller, under normal circumstances, the number of laps in the race is less than 20 laps, while F1 needs to run about 60 laps.

Therefore, Formula Renault does not need to consider what pit stop refueling, tire change and so on, in a sense, it is also to reduce the technical cost of the race, if everything is in accordance with F1 rules, then few people in the primary formula can afford to run.

But at this time, Zhang Yifei looked at Chen Zhi and Ah Hu with blank faces, and thought about another problem in his head, that is, the language barrier, which made the two of them completely unable to insert it.

The tactical tables were all written in English according to the standards, and the two of them couldn't even read them, let alone participate in the formulation of them.

Therefore, the language problem must be solved in a way, at least in the professional vocabulary of racing, which cannot be an obstacle.

But the problem is that it is obviously impossible to get Junko Takeda to be the translator or teach English, although she claims to be an assistant, she is actually the position of team manager, and the event needs to be coordinated by her.

can only think of a way from other aspects, but in Europe he doesn't know any Chinese who are fluent in Chinese and English, thinking about it, Zhang Yifei has a person in his mind, he is He Ziling's brother - He Lang!