On Friday, the Interlagos circuit in Brazil was already bustling with activity. Even if it was just a practice match, more than half of the spectators were present, and there were as many as 40,000 people.

Unlike the previous Malaysian audience, who had never seen the world and only came into contact with F1 in the last two years, Brazil can be said to have developed with F1, and the local audience has long been familiar with formula cars, without that sense of mystery and strangeness.

Therefore, in previous years, except for Senna's return to Brazil's home stadium in the 90s, only about 20,000 spectators would watch Friday's practice match.

However, this year's popularity is far greater than in previous years, and now it is still in the entrance stage, and the stands are already full of spectators, and it is expected that when the practice match officially begins, the audience may exceed 50,000 people, which is close to the grand occasion when Senna came to play at home in Brazil.

The main reason why the number of spectators has skyrocketed is naturally the popularity brought by "Sports Illustrated".

With Zhang Yifei's "bold words" being published, not only the local audience in Brazil has skyrocketed, but also people from other countries in South America, such as Colombia, Argentina and so on. Even the base camp of IndyCar, many people from North America have come to Brazil to see where this Chinese newcomer who has challenged Schumacher has come from.

Of course, these people can't all come to Zhang Yifei, and another reason for the skyrocketing number is that there are really a lot of Brazilian drivers in the F1 paddock.

In addition to the most famous Ferrari driver, Barrichello, there are also Bernaldi of Toyota, Bourti of Jaguars, Marquis of Minardi and others.

In other words, 4 of the 22 official drivers in the F1 paddock are from Brazil, which is quite a high proportion and even on a par with Germany, a traditional European racing powerhouse.

However, among these Brazilian drivers, except for Barrichello, the others are basically at the bottom level, and there is no competition for any championships.

At this time, Barrichello accompanied the Ferrari team and began to enter his peak. Although he is currently only the No. 2 driver, many Brazilians believe that he will be Senna's successor.

After all, Barrichello has been very strong in the past two years, and he can be regarded as a stable driver in the front row in almost every race, and if there is no supernatural Schumacher suppression, maybe the future world championship of Scuderia Ferrari will return to the hands of the Brazilians again.

So now Barrichello's popularity in Brazil is very high, and most of the Brazilian fans who are here today are his fans.

In addition to the large number of people, the atmosphere in Brazil was very good, and the audience was full of passion. One of the most obvious points is that there are a lot of samba drums in the audience, and before the practice match starts, you can already hear the sound of "dong, dong, dong" drums.

And with the sound of samba drums, there were many Brazilian samba girls dressed in "cool" clothes at the scene, and they began to dance on the track, driving the atmosphere of the audience, and the whole stand was like a carnival party.

If you put aside the various taunts before the game and the death threats of the Brazilian gangsters, maybe Zhang Yifei will feel that the atmosphere of the Brazilian Grand Prix will be a passionate enjoyment.

But these things happened to make the atmosphere in the Pits of the Prost team completely different. After Prost's contact, the team's shareholder, Brazilian billionaire Diniz, sent several professional bodyguards to take charge of Zhang Yifei's safety during the Brazilian Grand Prix.

So in the team pit stop, there were suddenly a few more people in black in straight suits. Their appearance is like a reminder to the team members at all times, and there are hidden unsafe factors, so everyone naturally has no heart to enjoy the various lively scenes on the track.

At this moment, in the VIP viewing room of the team's maintenance area, Diniz, the Brazilian shareholder of Prost Racing, is standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor, watching the busy scene in the pit.

Diniz is in a good mood today, after all, the F1 Grand Prix has come to his hometown, and the local complex is more or less a little bit.

Although Zhang Yifei's case has caused some waves, Diniz has already greeted several major gangsters in Brazil, and it is basically certain that the so-called death threats are just lip service, and the possibility of doing it is not very likely.

However, in order to ensure that nothing went wrong, he still agreed to Prost's request and sent several professional bodyguards over. After all, sending a few bodyguards is just a gesture, and if there is any accident, it will greatly affect the operation of the Prost team.

"Dad, don't send a few more bodyguards to Feiduo, I don't think the number of people is enough."

Standing next to Diniz was his daughter Sophia, and today was Friday's practice match, so she naturally wanted to come and watch the game.

However, Sophia is not interested in other drivers, she wants to see Zhang Yifei play on the track. Because Sophia feels that Zhang Yifei, who wears a racing suit, is the most attractive moment.

Listening to Sophia's words, Diniz was very helpless in her heart. The raised daughter cares so much about a Chinese boy, he is also an old man, how can he not know Sophia's inner thoughts.

For Zhang Yifei, Diniz uses his own standards to measure, and the overall level is good. If you only count the ability in the professional field, Zhang Yifei is already good enough.

If we can continue to play in the first two races, it is not too much to say that we are a talented teenager in the racing world.

But the problem is that Zhang Yifei is a Chinese, and it is one thing for Sophia to have a good feeling, and it is another thing to want to really be together. The complete difference in culture, language, and customs will bring a lot of trouble and estrangement to the two.

Coupled with Diniz, he didn't want to be abducted by a Chinese kid.

"Don't worry, I've made sure, it's basically just some verbal threats. Even if there are no bodyguards, nothing will happen to Fei. ”

"Really?"

Sophia knew what her father was capable of, but she was still a little uneasy.

Looking at Sophia's worried appearance, Diniz couldn't cry or laugh, and there was a feeling that the woman was not left.

"By the way, Dad, Fei's popularity is now close to the global level, and even in terms of discussion alone, he is not inferior to Kimi Raikkonen. It can be said that he is the hottest newcomer in the F1 paddock in the new season. ”

"The endorsement response from PUMA Greater China was very good, and we entered the Chinese market smoothly and began to compete with Nike and Adi. I'm very optimistic about the future prospects of Fei, why don't I take this opportunity to upgrade Feifei to a global spokesperson and sign a long-term contract? ”

If Sophia's previous remarks were treated like a child, then Diniz has always been very serious about business matters.

The daughter's elbow turned outward is too obvious, how long has Fei officially announced that she has become a spokesperson in Greater China, and she wants to become a global spokesperson?

"Sophia, I have my own opinions on business matters, and this is not something to mess around."

Diniz replied seriously, he would not put business and life together.

"I'm not fooling around, but I'm convinced that Flying Future can be a superstar driver in the F1 paddock. It would be a good deal to sign a long-term endorsement contract while he is now in his infancy, such as a five-year or ten-year contract. ”

"If you miss this opportunity and want to renew your contract with Fei after a year, the sponsorship price may not be much lower than the price of a long-term contract."

Hearing Sophia's words, Diniz was also a little hesitant in his heart, from his business point of view, even if Zhang Yifei can't become a superstar driver, he will definitely not be an unknown newcomer in the F1 car world.

And this "Sports Illustrated" incident also exposed Zhang Yifei's potential influence on a global scale. If it's a transparent little character, no matter what you say, no one will pay attention to it, and you won't be able to make any waves at all.

"Black and red" is also red, and being remembered by people shows that it has the value of attention. is just like the traffic artists who were ridiculed by all walks of life in the Internet era in later generations.

No matter how dark the Internet is, their endorsements are still soft, and various activities emerge in endlessly.

But the biggest difference between Zhang Yifei and these traffic artists is that he has the strength and potential to turn the tables! Competitive sports are always a place that pays attention to results, as long as Zhang Yifei can win the drivers' championship, today's black can become a fan of the future!

There has been such an example in history where he turned the tables through his strong strength and shocking results, and he is from the Philippine boxing superstar - Manny Pacquiao!

Pacquiao, who had just entered the boxing world, was basically a marginal figure because of his status as a yellow Filipino and the small level in boxing, and he was also ridiculed by the European and American boxing circles.

But Pacquiao conquered the entire world boxing world with 8 levels of world boxing titles, bloody fighting style and unyielding desire to fight, making European and American fans crazy about him!

In the end, he and Mayweather fought a boxing "battle of the century" with a total value of up to 450 million US dollars, and he was destined to become a legend in boxing history!

If you want to gain the respect and recognition of others, your achievements and strength are the fulcrum of the turnaround. At present, Zhang Yifei's performance on the track is either without that foundation, whether to bet on this or not, is where Diniz hesitates.

"I can make this proposal at the PUMA board meeting, but whether it will be passed or not is not something I can decide."

Hearing her father's relenting words, Sophia had a smile on her face.

"I am confident that the Board of Directors will pass this resolution because of the potential of Fly, and it will definitely not disappoint them."

Facing Sophia's confident tone, Diniz shook his head helplessly again, Chinese kid really has such a great charm, even his own daughter can be charmed?