"Can I try it?"

Zhang Yifei couldn't hold back the throbbing in his heart, and asked Charlie, the chief technician beside him.

After all, to become a formula driver, the biggest dream is, of course, to drive a Formula 1 car and compete for the title of world championship with dozens of the most powerful drivers in the world.

Now that this car is in front of his eyes, Zhang Yifei is naturally a little itchy and can't help it.

"Of course, you are the official driver of the Prost team, and the car and the team will be there for you."

Charlie replied with a smile, he could understand Zhang Yifei's "greenness".

When the Ligier team was still at its peak, it had its own youth team and driver development plan, and many young people who were about the same age as Zhang Yifei and had potential came to the team, and when they saw the F1 car for the first time, it was almost this performance.

It's just that Zhang Yifei is different from them, and only the best of those people who have obtained the status of a development driver are qualified to drive an F1 car.

Most of the others, probably for the rest of their lives, will only be able to compete in the lower divisions of Formula 1 and will not get the opportunity to drive an F1 car.

After all, F1 is not the kind of go-kart that only costs a few dozen dollars to drive for half an hour on the street. Even if these novices operate on the track without any accident damage, the cost of component life is still amazing.

The cost of parts is not easy to calculate, and the most intuitive is the cost of oil. Like the general fuel consumption standard of family cars, it is how many liters of gasoline are used for 100 kilometers, even if the American "oil tiger" that Zhang Yifei drove before is at most 20 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers.

But this is a drizzle for F1 cars, in the most exaggerated case, F1 cars can achieve 80 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers, and the average number on the general track will reach more than 60 liters per 100 kilometers.

Moreover, the F1 cars are all super unleaded gasoline, which has various high-density additives, and the price is far from being comparable to ordinary gasoline.

So it's not for nothing that F1 is called the most expensive sport on the planet, and you can't even afford to refuel without money!

But Zhang Yifei, as the official driver of the Prost team, is not in his consideration of what he spends, and this is all a matter of the team's budget.

And you must know that the official driver is the absolute core of the team, everyone will be there for him, and if he is reluctant to drive an F1 car, that is the funny thing.

Henry, who was standing next to him, heard Zhang Yifei's idea of wanting to drive, and immediately leaned over and said, "Behind the garage is the lounge, which has a driver's fitting room, and we have prepared three sets of racing suits for you." ”

Different from the ordinary racing suit that Zhang Yifei participated in the junior formula before, the F1 standard racing suit fire protection standard will be more stringent, to the highest degree, to face the high temperature of 800 degrees, to ensure that the driver will not be injured by the flame within 12 seconds, and the internal temperature of the racing suit is maintained within 70 degrees.

With such a high-strength fire and high temperature resistance, the price is naturally expensive, and the price of a set of racing suits is almost 10,000 US dollars. If you add in the ultra-lightweight helmet, gloves, racing shoes and other equipment, the price will exceed $15,000.

Of course, the cost of these equipment is naturally impossible for Zhang Yifei to pay by himself. When he signed the contract with the Prost team, the team had already customized these racing suits according to Zhang Yifei's driver data registered with the FIA, waiting for Zhang Yifei to come to the base to use.

"Okay, thanks."

After Zhang Yifei thanked him, he went directly to the driver's lounge at the back of the garage.

This type of lounge, similar to the one seen in basketball, has a variety of wardrobes for the drivers' suits and other personal belongings.

Entering the lounge, the first thing that catches your eye is a row of wardrobes, but the wardrobes used by some people have nameplates marked with the names of the drivers, and Zhang Yifei's name is also on them, so he easily found the location of his racing suit.

At the same time, Zhang Yifei also glanced at other wardrobes, in addition to himself, there were three nameplates where the wardrobes were placed. They are the current No. 1 driver of the Prost team, Jean Alessi, and the No. 2 driver, Nick Heidfeld.

Zhang Yifei knew these two people, but Zhang Yifei didn't know who it was at all when it was Bono Emile on the third wardrobe. However, if the name can appear in the drivers' lounge, it must also be the driver of the Prost team, which should be the third driver or test driver.

Zhang Yifei didn't pay too much attention to Emir, after all, the third driver in the F1 team is very mobile, and he may not even be a nodding friend in the future, a pure stranger, so there is nothing to know.

Inside the wardrobe are three sets of racing suits, as well as a full set of equipment such as helmets, gloves, and racing boots.

The suit only has the Prost team logo and the bright red flag on the belt, and there is no logo of the current Prost sponsors, Acer Europe and the Pan American Sports Network (PSN).

This is also related to the driver contract signed by Zhang Yifei, that is, Zhang Yifei signed a basic salary contract, and the Prost team only needs to pay Zhang Yifei an annual salary of 130,000 US dollars every year, which is basically the minimum standard for F1 drivers.

The lowest is the sponsorship of paid drivers, and the kind is not paid by the F1 team, but by the F1 team.

The maximum salary has the benefit of the maximum salary, and the driver of the base salary also has the advantage of the base salary. That is, Zhang Yifei does not have to bear the publicity obligation of the team sponsor, because he did not get a penny of the team's sponsorship share.

Similarly, the private sponsorship and endorsement fees he accepts do not have to be distributed to the Prost team, just like the $800,000 sponsored by Huaxia Petrochemical Group, all of which belong to Zhang Yifei's personal property.

In addition, at the end of each season, the FIA shares the broadcast rights and advertising fees sold according to the team's performance and influence, and Zhang Yifei also has no share, because these are directly divided into the team, not the individual driver.

To put it simply, with the basic salary of 130,000 US dollars, all the money earned by the team belongs to the team, and the money earned by Zhang Yifei with his own ability belongs to him.

"It seems that we have to find a time to let Junko Takeda sew the LOGO of Huaxia Petrochemical, otherwise the other party will sue me for breach of contract."

Zhang Yifei muttered as he put on all his gear and took the first F1 test drive in his life.

When Zhang Yifei came to the garage again, the JS51 car had already been filled with oil and was ready to start.

Seeing Zhang Yifei coming, Henry walked up to him and said, "You haven't touched F1 cars before, now I'll tell you about the performance data of JS51 cars." ”

"JS51 is the current racing car of the Prost team, using a V10 3.0L naturally aspirated engine with a maximum speed of more than 20,000 rpm and a maximum horsepower of 930P."

"Most of the parts of the whole car are made of carbon fiber materials, and the weight of the whole vehicle is 492KG when there is no oil, and then according to your weight, adjust the ballast weight of 20 to 30KG to ensure that the car meets the standard of not less than 600KG stipulated by the FIA."

Although Zhang Yifei already had a general understanding of these data, when he heard Henry repeat it, the shock brought by technology was still overwhelming.

The simplest point is that it has thousands of horsepower of the furious beast, the weight of the car is less than 500KG, think about transforming it into a GTR with almost horsepower, and the weight of the car will be tripled!

And light does not mean that the structure is not strong enough, and it does not mean that it is unsafe. FOR EXAMPLE, THE CABIN IN WHICH THE DRIVER RIDES IS WEIGHED AT THE LIGHTEST WEIGHT OF 35KG, BUT AT ITS LIMIT, IT CAN WITHSTAND THE IMPACT FORCE OF UP TO TEN TONS, FAR EXCEEDING THE AVERAGE RACING CAR TUMBLING FRAME.

"Are you ready?"

Seeing that Zhang Yifei didn't reply, Henry asked.

"Ready."

Zhang Yifei nodded, he can say that from the moment he touched the go-kart, he was ready to drive a formula car one day!

Hearing that Zhang Yifei was ready, the team of technicians began to carefully push the car to the track.

You must know that this carbon fiber shell is much more expensive than Zhang Yifei's Renault racing car before, and it is also much more delicate. A slight damage is the cost of replacing parts starting at tens of thousands of dollars.

Not to mention a personal team like Prost, even if it is at the level of Red Bull and Mercedes-Benz, when the car transitions, it is all kinds of caution, for fear of causing damage to any parts.

After everything was ready, Zhang Yifei sat in the JS car, but did not start driving.

Because this is just the beginning, Henry also has to explain to Zhang Yifei the function of the dense function buttons on the steering wheel of the racing car, as well as what the various numbers and symbols on the display screen represent.

However, these Zhang Yifei are not pure rookie newcomers, he basically knows a rough idea, but some of the keys are arranged differently, and it takes a little bit of adaptation.

The reason why Zhang Yifei is so familiar is also due to Kossel, who has been asking Zhang Yifei according to the standards of F1 drivers since the day he joined the team.

Not only the driving skills on the track, but also the theoretical courses such as the working principle of the racing car, the aerodynamic layout, etc., Kossel also often gave Zhang Yifei lessons.

It can be said that in the more than two months of Formula Renault, Zhang Yifei's study time is not much less. What's more important is that Zhang Yifei wants to learn, far more than this, he also has to add track data memory, test run training, etc., in terms of intensity, to surpass Ah Hu twice!

It is precisely because of Zhang Yifei's example that Ah Hu and they can achieve basic oral communication in less than three months. Even Zhang Yifei didn't shout that he was tired, and they were even more embarrassed to say anything.

Henry was a little surprised that Zhang Yifei was so familiar with the function buttons of F1 cars.

However, he also knows Cosell's identity and the grievances between him and Prost, so I believe Zhang Yifei really understands.

After saying a few important things, Charlie came over with the team mechanic and took off the rear hood of the car and plugged it in the starter motor. Then Zhang Yifei pressed the button in the cab, only to hear a dull roar, and the engine was successfully ignited.

The F1 engine was ignited, and the blood on Zhang Yifei's body was ignited simultaneously, and he would soon feel the strong power shown by this performance beast!