22. Nightmare lap, best in the field

"Yo yo yo, why did we commit the peach blossom world head Shuai Mr. was a thief last night? So empty? At the pre-match meeting, Marcus quipped when he met Liu Hongyu.

"Fuck off... When did this thing reach your ears......" Hearing Marcus's words, Liu Hongyu suddenly had a big head.

After Li Xiuman was not a good person last night, Liu Hongyu simply pulled Lin Xi, who was far away in Spain, to stay up all night frantically to pick up the evidence and clarify, and it took several hours of hard work to strangle the statement that he was stepping on two boats in the cradle before it spread. Otherwise, he wouldn't have directly rejected Li Xiuman after listening to the conditions last night.

"Do you think this race will start with a safety car like it did in Canada?" Before Harris came, Marcus simply chatted with Liu Hongyu.

"I don't know..."Hearing this, Liu Hongyu suddenly froze.

How? Marcus is working part-time as a team engineer and a prophet? After all, the original Monaco was also brought by a safety car, and then the red flag was brought out again, but in the end the rain turned clear.

In 2011, 2009 F1 World Champion Jenson Button, who played for McLaren in a similar situation at that year's Canadian Grand Prix, won the race with six stops on the seventh grid, which was quite impressive, after all, it was the Red Bull Racing team that dominated the paddock to win the race.

"I think it's possible, but the rain is a lot lighter than it was at four or five o'clock in the morning, and there is still a good chance that it will turn sunny like the Shanghai race in the previous two weeks, so the key estimate for this race is when to pit and switch to dry tyres." Kimi, who was on the side, analyzed after listening to the conversation between the two.

Liu Hongyu: "Good guy, the two prophets together want to play me, right?" ”

"Bad news for you, I guessed right. The race really had to roll off the grid after a few laps of the safety car lead. Ten minutes before the game, Liu Hongyu was just about to put on a helmet and prepare to enter the cockpit, when Marcus, who had disappeared for several hours, suddenly burst out from the side.

Not surprisingly, after the Shanghai station, the race will once again show the rain sign to signal that all cars use blue tires, that is, all rain tires to start. The safety car was also parked in front of Verstappen and Pérez's two Red Bull cars, ready to start the race with the 22 cars behind them.

On lap 4, the safety roof lights went out and the race rolled off. Verstappen pressed a few corners and went straight to a frantic acceleration, with Leclerc and Pérez hurrying to follow. Liu, who was fourth, tried to get past Leclerc from the outside before entering the corner, but PG-01's tail speed was still a bit insufficient. After entering the corner, the rhythm was affected a little, but at least the position was maintained.

Kimi behind him was not so lucky, being directly overtaken by Hamilton on the starting straight, and Russell behind him was also staring at his position.

Just past T1, Liu Hongyu just wanted to seize the opportunity to keep up with Leclerc on the small straight, but the steering wheel didn't have time to turn when cornering, and suddenly he was pushed against the wall from behind.

"F**k, what the hell is the car behind you?" Liu Hongyu asked, looking at the fragments of the front wing end plate that was flying away from Halo.

"Track accidents, track accidents. Russell didn't give way to Kimi when he passed him, and after a collision, he hit Hamilton. Now you and Hamilton have problems with the front wing, pit for tyres, and the rain is already light. There was a safety car again. Marcus said in TR.

Safety car: "Grandma, how long did it take for me to call me out again?" ”

When Liu Hongyu and Hamilton both pitted for semi-wet tires and a new front wing, Matthew on the sidelines almost finished cleaning up the pieces. The safety car's overhead light went off again on lap 9 and the race was ready to resume again.

"As it stands, there is a high probability that the race will allow the car to use DRS after a dozen laps, and during this time we will see if we can improve the position on the straights." Marcus reminded.

On the starting straight, Liu Hongyu stole Magnussen, Latifi and Aston Martin's "young master" Stroll in a row. Hamilton in the back followed.

After following a lap, it was still a familiar starting straight, Liu Hongyu sucked Zhou Guanyu's wake and directly pulled Schumacher, Albon and Zhou Guanyu from the outside line. At the same time, the rain has become much lighter.

"Louis, now that we're pushing with all our might, we might have to change the tires early." Marcus said as he looked at the radar chart in room P.

Three laps later, Liu Hongyu relied on his tail speed advantage to barely pass Tsunoda in front of the DRS test point and rose to 13th. But at the same time, Marcus has also signaled Liu Hongyu to pit stop in TR for dry tyres.

Looking at the gradually visible racing line on the track ahead, Liu Hongyu chose to turn the steering wheel and enter the pit area. The tire changer played steadily for 2.6 seconds to replace Liu Hongyu with new hard tires.

After leaving the pit station, he fell to 17th place, and Liu Hongyu also hurriedly began to grind the tires left and right to increase the tire temperature.

Two laps later, Liu's car was getting warmer, and he was getting closer to Gasly in front of him. Taking advantage of the fact that the temperature of Gasly's new hard tires had not yet risen, Liu Hongyu directly ate raw on the straight, and Gasly began to chase Alonso and Ocon who were fighting in front of him.

On the next lap, Liu Hongyu just chased behind Aokang, and within 1 second, Aokang followed a large number of cars to choose to pit stop. Liu Hongyu opened the DRS on the rear wing on the starting straight, stepped on the accelerator pedal to the end, and got stuck in front of Leclerc, who had just changed to new yellow tires at the station, to seventh in the row.

"Ready to start defending, now we only have an advantage in terms of tyre durability. Let the engine run at full power to distance Leclerc and Pérez. "This time, the person who spoke in TR became Grant.

Three laps later, Leclerc had already bitten behind Liu Hongyu, but because there were still a few cars in front of him who had just chosen to make a late pit stop and change to dry tires, Liu Hongyu also had DRS. And when it came to the starting straight, the loophole of Ferrari's low-resistance tuning came out, and Liu Hongyu, who chose high-resistance and high-downforce tuning, directly pulled Leclerc away for 0.2 seconds on a straight.

On lap 42, when Liu Hongyu forced his head on the straight past four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who was driving a green tractor (Aston Martin) on old tyres, to move up to fifth, his hard tyres began to wear out.

Liu Hongyu was just about to ask when the team would enter the station, when suddenly a yellow flag was waved on the sidelines, and a sign symbolizing the departure of the safety car appeared at the same time.

As soon as Liu Hongyu wanted to ask why, Marcus on the other end of TR was the first to speak.

"Mick Schumacher crashed and now the race has shown physical safety... Oh no oh no, it's upgraded now. The race will be red flag, now go back to the pit lane and we will give you new tires, the opportunity is here. Marcus said.

At the same time, the flag waved by Matthew on the sidelines also turned into a red flag, and Liu Hongyu chose to return to the pit lane to change into new neutral tyres.

Liu Hongyu: "Bolt Q, Xiaoshu, give me a chance to change the tire for nothing." ”

Ten minutes later, the track debris was cleared and the race resumed.

Liu Hongyu started quite well, directly overtaking Pérez in front of him to rise to second place, but Verstappen, who was driving a rocket car in front, was too difficult to chase, and Liu Hongyu had to choose to defend Pérez.

After a lap, Pérez took a lead on the straight, but Liu's early line change affected his tempo, and Pérez couldn't make it over from the outside.

After four laps, Verstappen in front of him was gone, and Liu Hongyu was directly inspired by Alonso's mission as the locomotive.

In the next few laps, Pérez also tried several times to tap on the starting straight, but Liu Hongyu's tail speed was too fast, and Pérez, who had not yet used the upgrade kit, could not surpass it at all, and in the end Pérez could only bring back third.

"P2, well done!" After Liu Hongyu crossed the line, Grant shouted excitedly in room P.

"Thanks to the strategy team, the start of this Grand Prix is really not good...," Liu Hongyu said.

Post-race standings and points earned:

P1 Verstappen +25+1 (fastest lap)

P2 Liu Hongyu +18

P3 Pérez +15

P4 Hamilton +12

P5 Leclerc +10

P6 Sainz +8

P7Kimi +6

P8 Russell +4

P9 Bottas +2

P10 Vettel +1

The remainder are: Norris, Alonso, Ricardo, Tsunoda, Gasly, Zhou Guanyu, Magnussen, Stroll, Albon, O'Com (retired), Latifi (retired), Schumacher (retired)