All-round Athlete

Chapter 617 Qualifying Match (6 more)

The practice session on Friday morning lasted 90 minutes, but no car would choose to run the entire field, and the average driver would limit the number of laps to around 20 according to the actual situation. There are several reasons for this.

First of all, tire consumption is a problem. The tires of Formula 1 cars wear very badly. Depending on the type of tires, a set of tires can last ten to twenty laps. The rules require that a car has only eight sets of dry tires in a race. It can be used, but if the tires are buffed in practice, it will be useless in the race.

Secondly, the driver has to protect the engine. The rules stipulate that a car can only use eight engines in a season, so one less engine is used. The 17 races of this season are just the first round of practice. Sai, the car engine can't wear too much.

In the end, the drivers have to maintain their physical strength and prepare for the main race the day after tomorrow. Motorsport is actually a sport that consumes a lot of energy, especially Formula One. Formula One racing cars do not have an electronic power assist system, so many operations are completed by the driver's strength, and at the same time, the driver has to bear several times the acceleration of gravity when the car is turning. Under normal circumstances, after a race, each driver will lose several kilograms of water, which is the same as dehydration during strenuous exercise.

Based on the above reasons, Zhang Guan was called back to the maintenance room. Ross Brown made an adjustment to the car based on the data returned by the sensors on the car, and then asked Zhang Guan to run for three or four laps, and then returned to the maintenance room , start tuning the car.

Adjusting the car to the best condition is the most important task of every team in practice, and it is also something that must be done. Considering that the characteristics of each track are different, some tracks are fast, and some tracks have many corners. Every race, the car will undergo a new adjustment.

The 90-minute practice session in the morning ended quickly, when Zhang Guan walked off the field and walked towards the rest area with Barrichello.

"Hi, Zhang Guan! I'm Vettel!" Red Bull Racing's Vettel came over.

"Hello, Zhang Guan, I'm Rosberg." Rosberg of the Williams team also greeted Zhang Guan.

This is change, or rather a recognition. Before that, the drivers may not regard Zhang Guan as their peers, and even some of them think that Zhang Guan's super driver's license was bought with money, but today's practice race has obviously changed the drivers' attitudes. In my opinion, Zhang Guan's strength has been recognized by everyone and recognized by his peers.

...

In the practice session on Friday morning, the performance of the Williams team was quite dazzling. The two drivers of the Williams team, Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima, took the top two positions in the practice session. However, the performance of China Force Team is above the middle. Among the big teams, Ferrari is still among the best, while McLaren's performance is not satisfactory.

By Friday afternoon, the Williams team was still eye-catching, Rosberg once again won the first place, the status of Red Bull Racing and Toyota Racing Team has recovered, while McLaren is still in the doldrums.

On Saturday morning, the teams began to practice with super soft tires, which greatly improved the performance of the drivers. In the practice session on Saturday morning, some drivers had already run within 1 minute and 26 seconds.

In these three practice sessions, Zhang Guan's performance can be regarded as tepid. He didn't hit the top lap times, but he didn't fall behind either, and he was almost in the upper middle.

Zhang Guan felt that as a new driver, the first race should be low-key, and after all the practice race, there was no need to fight for the first place, but in fact, his performance had shocked everyone.

For a driver who has just entered Formula One, it is normal for him to finish last in his first race. For example, the Swiss driver Bu Aimi, who is also a rookie in F1 this year, got the bottom one in the practice session on Friday, which is the ranking that a rookie should have.

However, after a brief surprise, people still focused their attention on big-name teams such as Ferrari and McLaren. Chasing big names is a relatively common phenomenon in sports, such as Real Madrid in football and the Lakers in basketball. Even if their results are relatively average, they can still get a lot of media attention.

...

On the afternoon of March 28th, the Albert Park Circuit welcomed a large number of spectators, and the qualifying session for the F1 Australian Grand Prix was about to begin.

It is impossible for a racing car to be like a track and field sprint. Everyone lines up and starts together. Among other things, it is not allowed just because of the width of the track. Moreover, it is not easy to overtake in motorsports, and the person who starts at the front will undoubtedly have an advantage, so whoever is ahead and who is behind needs a qualifying match to compare.

Qualifying is about the fastest lap time. The rules of Formula 1 qualifying have been constantly changing over the years. In the previous qualifying, each driver took turns to run laps. Whoever has the best result will start at the front. Later, the International Automobile Federation felt that this running method was too boring, and it was not interesting for a car to go around by itself, so it carried out reforms.

The current qualifying match is divided into three quarters, and an elimination system is implemented. After the maintenance area is opened, all the cars can come out to run laps, and they can run as many laps as they want within the specified time. After qualifying, the drivers will be ranked according to their fastest results. That is to say, if you are fast enough, you can get the first place by running a timed lap, but if you are not fast enough, you may be the last one by running ten laps.

In fact, this is also the case. In previous competitions, teams like Ferrari had the fastest car and the fastest driver, so they often only ran a timed lap before calling it a day, because their speed was fast enough. Run once to get first place. But some small teams will keep running on the track, hoping to get a better starting position with better luck.

The time for one qualifying session is 20 minutes, and the top 15 in the final score can advance to the second qualifying session. There are only 20 cars in the field this year, so in fact the first qualifying session will actually only eliminate five people.

"I think with the level of our car, we can run the first qualifying session with medium tires, so that we can save a set of soft tires." Ross Brown's voice sounded from the earphones.

"You are the conductor, we will listen to you." Zhang Guan said.

The pit crew put medium tires on the car, but they didn't get the heat shields on the tires. Because racing tires need to reach a certain temperature to have the best grip, the thermal cover can keep the racing tires from cooling down.

"The pit lane is open, follow my instructions and prepare to go out. We need to find a better timing so as not to be blocked by other cars." Ross Brown said.

A dozen or twenty cars are running on the track at the same time, and everyone wants to run the fastest lap time. However, there are some fast cars and slow cars, and there are often situations where fast cars are blocked by slow cars. For example, if the car in front is ready to return to the pit lane after running, the speed will definitely slow down to avoid tire wear, and if there happens to be a car sprinting the fastest lap behind, the result will definitely be affected.

Therefore, the timing of the car is very important for qualifying. If the timing of the departure is good and there is no slow car in front, the lap can be completed relatively smoothly; if the timing of the departure is not good, there is one or even a few slow cars ahead, and the performance will definitely be greatly affected.

Finally, Ross Brown saw an opportunity, and he said to the intercom: "It's now, get out immediately!"

The maintenance man quickly pushed the car out and removed the tire insulation cover. As soon as Zhang Guan stepped on the accelerator, he drove onto the main road of the pit lane, and at the same time, the camera lens was also aimed at Zhang Guan.

"It's medium tires! Zhang Guan actually used medium tires for the race! I thought he would use supersoft tires!"

"Why did he use medium tires? Is he so confident that he can enter the second round with medium tires?"

"Medium tires are much slower than supersoft tires. A new team did not choose supersoft tires to compete in the first qualifying session, but chose medium tires! The Chinese The idea is also unique enough!"

In the distance, Omi watched this scene with the corners of his mouth slightly upturned.

"Who do you think you are, Ferrari or McLaren? Wanting to go to the second round with medium tyres? Arrogance!"

PS: The sixth update is completed, on the first day of September, please ask for a guaranteed monthly pass, thank you everyone!