After a few days of petting his dog at home, Liu Hongyu followed the team to Baku, the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan, to prepare for the next Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Baku circuit has a year-round calendar and is also the longest big straight in F1's history, with a full 2.2km at most speeds.

Pagani was no exception, but the bad news was that Pagani didn't do much more than put the car's aerodynamics on Kimi. Pagani's main competitors have all been held back for a while and brought huge upgrades, so Pagani's competitiveness has returned to its original midstream level, and has withdrawn from the competition of the Martian group composed of the three families in the front row.

But the only good news is that the Mercedes engine is no longer fainting! Mercedes will supply its two cars and Pagani with new optimised engines for the next stop, and according to the tests, the Mercedes-powered cars are already on a trail speed comparable to that of the "Red Prancing Horse" Ferrari Benma! (However, Red Bull is still in the lead, Mercedes still only has the advantage of long-distance stability in the Royal Three, Ferrari has its cornering speed, and Red Bull has its straights and comprehensive) so Pagani's speed will bring a certain improvement in the next stop in Canada.

As for why only Pagani is given and not to McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams, which also use Mercedes engines... After all, Liu Hongyu's relationship is still in Pagani, and Mercedes definitely doesn't want to let his children be disappointed with their own things (after the start of the race, Liu Hongyu occasionally complained in the qualifying race that the speed of the Mercedes engine was not good, but that was compared to the speed of the Red Bull Ferrari), so he took the good things to his children one stop in advance.

"I guess we're going to have to change the engine in Canada or the UK, right?"

Looking at the data displayed on the screen about the wear and tear of the engine, Liu Hongyu asked.

Hearing this, Marcus said, "I think... It is still necessary to believe in the long-range capabilities of the Mercedes engine. Why is it that the number of Mercedes engine problems in the paddock in recent years is the least, especially in this family, how many times have no drivers retired due to engine problems? That's 70 games this time! So at this time, the Mercedes engine is still trustworthy. ”

When it came to the practice race, Liu Hongyu was more responsible for testing the tire lap time, but the wear of the soft tires was too serious, and Pagani did not plan to use soft tires for the two drivers in the main race, but in order to avoid accidents at the last minute of the race, the team still intentionally or unintentionally let their two drivers leave one or two more soft tires.

In the qualifying race, because Liu Hongyu's car tuning was biased towards the main race, and the team moderately reduced the engine power of Liu Hongyu's car in the qualifying race in order to prolong the service life of the engine, Liu Hongyu's results in the qualifying race were average, eighth. Kimi, on the other hand, rushed straight to the front row with the upper body of the champion's soul, behind Pérez, and started in second place. Verstappen, Sainz in third and fourth, Mercedes in the third row, Liu Hongyu in seventh, Alonso in eighth. Leclerc skipped several times in Q3, finishing ninth, 10th Bottas, 11th Vettel, 112th Norris, 13th Ocon, 14th Ricardo, 15th Zhou Guanyu, 16th Gasly, 17th Kakuda, 18 Schumacher, 19 Magnussen, 20th Stroll, 21 Albon, 22 Latifi.

"Marcus, Grant, there's something I want to talk to you about." After qualifying, Liu Hongyu found the two decision-makers of the team in the P room and said.

"What's wrong?" Marcus asked, looking at the latest car stats on the tablet.

"Tomorrow's race, don't use neutral tires at the start. We were in an awkward position, and if we didn't get up well, we would probably be attacked by the cars behind us and get caught up in the DRS train, and now our cars are starting to catch up with the cars of the three teams in the front row, and they all started on medium tyres. So... Why not be conservative and use hard tires to extend the first stint in order to overcut which unlucky guy in front of you? ”

After thinking about it, Grant said to Liu Hongyu: "It's worth a try, provided that... There was no problem with the gearbox. Didn't find out? Now your gearbox seems to be somewhat... It's not normal, should you consider replacing the gearbox? ”

"I want to... Let's change it, the first few games were too badly worn, and now it's normal to have problems, anyway, I'll still be punished for five places. ”

In the race, Liu Hongyu was punished by the race for five places due to the sudden change of gearbox after qualifying, so Liu Hongyu did not hesitate to choose a hard tire start, and extended the first STINT to chase the main competitor in front of him while running stronger than the surrounding group of neutral tires, at present, the temperature in the Azerbaijan track is not low, so Liu Hongyu as the only driver in the field who started with hard tires still occupies a certain advantage.

After the warm-up lap, Liu Hongyu stopped precisely on the starting grid and waited for the lights to go out.

“Lights out！ And here we go！ Leclerc had a bad start! Bottas in the back is coming up! Oh！ They touched！ After the lights went out and the car started, David Croft stared intently at the big screen in front of him and explained.

After the start, Leclerc had a faint start, and when he entered Turn 1, he also collided with Bottas, falling directly from eighth to eleventh, and Liu Hongyu fell to fifteenth place because of some disadvantage in tire temperature.

After a few corners, because the track in Baku is a street track, the track space is not as spacious compared to other permanent tracks, so Liu Hongyu did not rush to make a move, and slowly followed Gasly in front of him and waited for an opportunity.

But bar...

When passing through the castle bend, with the sound of impact in front of him, Liu Hongyu, who couldn't dodge, hit Leclerc's side box directly with the front nose, and the front nose wing was directly gone, but fortunately, the suspension was not broken and the front wing could continue to run. The cars behind were less lucky, either knocking out or damaging the front wing or elsewhere.

Due to the debris that fell from the Bottas car, Liu Hongyu's right front wheel also had a flat tire, so he could only choose to put the normal cars next to him and then fall to the back of the team.

"Is the physical security car out?"

On the starting straight, Liu Hongyu looked at the yellow flag waving by Matthew next to the track and asked.

"Not yet... No, the safety car won't come out. ”

Before Marcus could finish speaking, Matthew, who received the order on the sidelines, began to wave the flag of another color.

“What the hell？”

Looking at the flag next to the track, Liu Hongyu was stupid on the spot.

The first red flag of the 2022 F1 annual calendar has appeared!