Chapter 291: Interlaced Teeth (3)
As Germany enters the hottest season of the year, the German Grand Prix is finally starting after a two-week hiatus.
This year's competition became extremely fierce with the sudden outbreak of Ye Feng and the Williams team. Now with Alonso failing to pick up points in the last race due to engine problems and Schumacher taking the title, the top three are now closer with 69, 54 and 54 points. Of course, the former frontrunner has now been overtaken by Schumacher.
So, the next few races in Europe from now on may bring clarity to the uncertain situation at this time, and no driver with any dream of a championship wants to be left behind at such a moment.
Although his popularity in Germany has not been great, Schumacher received the most cheers in Hockenheim in recent years. Perhaps it was because Lao Shu was about to leave, or maybe his performance this year was behind his opponents and stubbornly fought back to regain the lead, but for the first time in many years, Hockenheim truly became a veritable home of the king.
However, Ye Feng, who had just offended many French fans, did not seem to have the consciousness to stop. With the strong performance of a continuously improved Cosworth engine, Ye Feng and its slight advantage snatched the pole position that originally belonged to Schumacher. This once again made many German fans start to "hold a grudge" against this driver from China.
Twenty-four hours later, the official match began at the moment when the red light went out. Ye Feng took the lead and began to lead. It took less than 10 turns of sawing. Ye Feng, who is in the lead, has opened a gap of nearly 11 seconds with Schumacher behind him. Such data undoubtedly makes the entire Williams technical team who have been working hard excited, and such data also fully shows that this FW-28 at this time is not weaker than any opponent and completely has absolute competitiveness.
At this time, Schumacher not only had to keep up with Ye Feng in front of him, but also faced a strong challenge from Alonso, another direct competitor behind him.
The Spaniard, who was overtaken by the king of cars in the recent past, seems to be about to completely release his inner depression in this game. Alonsodi's overtaking attempts didn't stop almost from the start of the race. And on a few occasions, they almost ran into Schumacher's car because they braked too late.
With such a scramble, the screaming sound of the entire Hockenheimring circuit continued, and the focus of the entire event was completely occupied by these two men.
It's a situation that everyone at Williams wants to see. What's more, just behind Alonso, Massa is just behind him, waiting for his chance. Behind the Brazilian is the Trulli, who has played a mediocre role since arriving at Ferrari this season.
It has to be said here that during this period, although all the limelight was occupied by Ye Feng, who rebounded strongly, as the team's second driver, Massa is also contributing to the team with his more and more stable performance.
Among the 2 drivers of the Ferrari, Williams and Renault trio teams. Massa was one of the best performers, almost finishing well in the middle of the game.
With this impressive performance, Massa also surpassed Raikkonen's fourth place in the standings with 30 points, while Williams also tied for second in the train standings with 84 points. Just six points behind the Scuderia Ferrari, who had 90 points in front.
Now, every Williams member is watching the race nervously and excitedly, and it is hoped that the current ranking will be maintained until the end, so that Williams, who have added another 15 points, will continue to close the gap with Ferrari.
The expectation turned into the most intense time when the race was 40 laps on
In order to grab the pole position, the team formulated a light fuel strategy for Ye Feng. Therefore, in this competition, Ye Feng adopted a more risky 3 strategy. And when Ye Feng made the last pit stop, he was about 24 seconds ahead of the car king behind him. So when Ye Feng started to go out. The air at the scene froze again, and it was a familiar shot again.
Ye Feng still won! After leaving the station, he still steadily pressed the car king. And just when people were expecting the king of the car to fight back in the few laps that followed, there was a thrilling overtaking after them.
Maybe it was because he was chased too close by Massa behind him, or maybe the previous battle with Schumacher consumed too much energy. So Alonso's mistake at the first turn sent the car into the buffer zone. Take advantage of such a rare opportunity. Massa finally "got the right result" in this race, that is, the second consecutive podium after the last race.
With this victory, the gap between Ye Feng and Alonso has narrowed to five, and only 13 points with Schumacher left. The Williams team is also officially in second place in the standings with an advantage of seven more points. The situation seems to have become more tense.
……
The next race in Hungary is the final race before the team's "summer break". So every team wants to earn enough points for themselves before the 3 break. And. The current public opinion is undoubtedly the most stressful time for Renault and Alonso, with successive defeats dropping them from the top of the driver and team rankings, and if they don't get out of this 'habitual' mid-season slump as soon as possible, they are likely to fall behind at the end of the European competition. For Schumacher and Ye Feng, this is also a game that must not be relaxed.
As one of the most difficult circuits in F1 to overtake, qualifying became fierce from almost the start. However, when the focus was on who would take pole position in this season's "championship trio", the result was a surprise for everyone.
McLaren's Raikkonen unexpectedly took pole position when he was not favoured. Williams' Massa fell 0.3 seconds to second according to 2nd ~|. to 8. The contenders for the drivers' championship, Schumacher and Alonso, were punished with 2 penalties for blocking other cars, and both were eliminated in the second quarter of qualifying......
What no one expected was that a originally suspenseful Romance of the Three Kingdoms would begin to be staged in such a way......
That's not all there is to this unexpected weekend, though. Even more surprising was the fact that it rained lightly before the Hungarian Grand Prix, which had not been in a rain for 20 years. The track was completely wet.
The 22 F1 cars had to compete fiercely in such skidding conditions. The results are naturally conceivable. The whole race was full of mistakes and collisions, and by the end of the day, the race had almost evolved into a point where points were earned just by finishing the race.
After an hour and 52 minutes of action, Barton finally got his first career title, with De La Rosa second and Heefeld third. Of the six cars of the three contending teams, only Williams' Massa finished the race and earned one point. The long-awaited "summer break" has finally kicked off in such a grotesque way.
……