Chapter 248: Victory
The two Scuderia Ferrari cars were gearing up to take advantage of the start to get to the front. The extra 80 hp provided by their regenerative system www.biquge.info Pen & Fun was very helpful for the start.
Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel is also eyeing the action, having just switched to a brand new set of tyres, which gives him the confidence that he can keep putting pressure on Zhang Guan for the next few laps without tyre wear.
The safety car led the full four laps, during which the car used the fuel economy mode, and the tire wear was also very light, so both the fuel level and the tires had to be recalculated.
On lap 23, the safety car's roof light goes off, indicating that it will return to the pits on the next lap.
"The safety car is going back, and here comes the opportunity! If you can take advantage of the wake of the car in front of you in the straight, you may be able to overtake it at the end of the straight. "The drivers in the back were holding their breath, waiting for the next lap of the safety car to pit.
In the command center of the China Power team, Ross Brown's face involuntarily showed a trace of worry, and he was still worried about Zhang Guan.
"This time it is not a static start, but a dynamic start, I don't know if Zhang Guan can handle it. The gear control for dynamic and stationary starts is completely different. ”
Lap 24. There was still a long way to go from the entrance of the pit, but Zhang Guan deliberately slowed down the car and opened some distance between him and the safety car.
As long as the safety car has not returned to the pit area, all the cars on the track cannot overtake, and even if Zhang Guan slows down, some of the cars behind him cannot overtake, so they can only slow down.
Zhang Guan has two major advantages in doing this, which means that he will have more room to accelerate from the car, and it is easier to control the pace. Because Zhang Guan is the first car, he can choose the acceleration point first when the safety car is about to go back, while the other cars can only wait for Zhang Guan to accelerate before choosing to follow.
"Zhang Guan is controlling the rhythm, doing a good job!" Ross Brown let out a sigh.
The safety car is getting closer and closer to the entrance of the pit, while Zhang Guan is getting farther and farther away from the safety car.
Turning around Turn 16, the safety car was approaching the pit entrance, when Zhang Guan suddenly began to accelerate.
Zhang Guan was not worried that his acceleration would exceed that of the safety car, and there was already a certain distance between him and the safety car, and by the time he caught up with this distance, the safety car had already run into the pits.
Vettel, who followed the car, was not stupid, he knew that Zhang Guan would definitely choose the strategy of accelerating in advance, but he could not predict when Zhang Guan would accelerate, and as long as the safety car was still on the track, he could not overtake, from this point of view, he was in a passive position.
Vettel focused on Zhang Guan in front of him, and when Zhang Guan accelerated, Vettel chose to accelerate for the first time, and the racer's reaction was quite fast, and on the surface it seemed that the two of them were accelerating almost at the same time.
But Zhang Guan in front of him slowed down again, and at this time, the safety car had not yet turned to the entrance of the pit area.
Vettel had to slow down as well, he couldn't overtake, otherwise it would be a foul, and even if he overtook the past, he would have to give up his position, and maybe he would have to be penalized.
However, at this moment, Zhang Guan stepped on the accelerator again, and this time, Vettel did not react as quickly as he did just now.
"Oops, it's a trick!" Vettel had already understood at this time that Zhang Guan's first acceleration just now was just a trick to lure the enemy, Zhang Guan forced himself to slow down by accelerating and accelerating again, but Zhang Guan took advantage of this gap to accelerate again.
Sebastian Vettel's reaction was a second slower than it had just been, but in a race like Formula 1, a second is a big difference. Sebastian Vettel was once again left behind by Zhang Guan.
However, Ferrari's two cars were not able to catch up with the front, whether it was Zhang Guan or Vettel, they were fast enough, the Mercedes engine used by the Chinese Power team was not inferior to Ferrari in the straights, and the excellent aerodynamic design of the Red Bull car also made Ferrari less than half cheap.
They all made it through the first corner, but Renault's Piquet burst off the track at the Crown and plunged headlong into the sand and gravel buffer.
Calm returned to the track for a moment, with leading Zhang Guan once again pulling away from second-placed Sebastian Vettel before moving at his own pace.
……
"It's like this again!" Sebastian Vettel looked at Zhang Guan in front of him, when he passed here in the last lap, there was not such a big gap between him and Zhang Guan, and when he passed the same position again in this lap, the gap between them widened a lot, which was the same as at the beginning of the race.
"You can't catch up, you can't catch up at all! Our gap has widened again! The flame of hope in Vettel's heart was extinguished again, and he thought that the safety car could help him, but now it seems that the safety car has no effect. Zhang Guan still ran at the front.
Vettel's original plan was to keep pressing Zhang Guan during the race to make mistakes, but to do so, he had to be able to catch up with Zhang Guan first, and now he is once again in a situation where he is a second behind in the lap.
Now it seems that the safety car is not a variable at all, but only slows down the pace of the race.
……
On lap 32, Ferrari's Massa made a second pit stop to refuel, this time much slower than expected. His last pit stop was on lap 10, which equates to another 22 laps on the track, and he wouldn't have been able to make it through if it weren't for the safety car that led the pack for four laps.
Ferrari's pit stop also kicked off a pit stop for a team, with other teams choosing to pit for the rest of the team.
On lap 46, Zhang Guan was nearly 20 seconds ahead of second-placed Sebastian Vettel, and he chose to pit for refueling, and Sebastian Vettel also chose to pit for refueling on the same lap. With 12 laps left before the end of the race, the team did not hesitate to put Zhang Guan on ultra-soft tyres.
After Zhang Guan came out of the pit lane, he was still in first place, and now he is still using super soft tires, which means that his first place is unshakable.
……
"The first place is already secure." Ross Brown leaned back in his chair with a relieved expression on his face.
For a new team, the first race is really important, and it is a great pleasure for Ross Brown to be able to win the medal in the first race, or even win the championship.
At this time, there was a new change on the track.
A red Ferrari slowly pulled up to the side of the road. (To be continued.) )