All-round Athlete

Chapter 626: Low Fuel, Running Slowly

One lap is one second slower, which is self-evident to Vettel. If every lap is like this, Vettel can give up the idea of ​​overtaking directly.

Under normal circumstances, a gap of 0.2 seconds per lap between two similar cars is considered large. A gap of one second per lap is either due to a large gap between the two cars, or a driver made a mistake.

Vettel never thought that someone could be one second faster than himself in a lap. In the last lap, although Vettel's performance was not perfect, he did not make a mistake. If he was only behind by 0.2 seconds or 0.3 seconds , It is still normal, if it is 0.5 seconds behind, Vettel can barely accept it, but if it is one second behind a lap, it is obviously beyond the acceptable range of Vettel.

"Why? Why was I so slow last lap?" Vettel asked into the microphone.

"China Power's racing car is really fast. Although I don't want to admit it, I have to admit that the double-layer diffuser is really effective. Zhang Guan's racing car has obvious advantages in corners, especially some high-speed cars. In the corners, his speed is obviously much faster than ours, which shows that his downforce is much better. And on the straight track, they are not weaker than us. After all, they use Mercedes engines. "Newey's voice sounded.

The performance of engines provided by different manufacturers is of course different. For example, Ferrari has always been known for its speed, so they can dominate a high-speed track like Monza, while Mercedes' engine is actually not much inferior to Ferrari in terms of speed, and their performance on the straights is also very good. Although the overall performance of the Renault engine used by the Red Bull Racing Team is not bad, it is of course not as good as Ferrari and McLaren in terms of absolute speed.

"Although China Force has a fast car, don't give up, we still have a chance!" Newey continued: "Although China Force also uses medium tires, we still don't lack their fuel. Maybe they are playing light oil, so they are so much faster than us. Come on, follow him, don't give up!"

...

McLaren also uses a combination of light cars and supersoft tires, so Hamilton, who started 18th, came to ninth place after 6 laps. After replacing the transmission, McLaren still showed its advantages in four degrees, and Hamilton, the world champion, could not be satisfied with this ranking, and he wanted to sprint towards the podium.

But the attenuation of the supersoft tires is indeed very strong. After about 10 laps, the supersoft tires are a little bit unbearable. Barrichello used this opportunity to overtake two Ferraris in a row.

Ferrari also knew that its tires couldn't handle it anymore, so the two cars pitted on the 11th and 12th laps respectively. At the same time, Hamilton, who had rushed to ninth place, pitted at the same time. They were all super soft tires. And this time they only refueled for a relatively short period of time. This is another light-load strategy, which means they will definitely stop again to refuel.

Vettel followed behind Zhang Guan, more and more powerless. Both he and Red Bull Racing only paid attention to the benefits brought by the double-layer diffuser, but ignored Zhang Guan's own technology.

China Force's racing car is indeed fast, but if you look at Barrichello, you can see that the advantage of the car is not as big as one lap per second, but Zhang Guan's driving allows the car to play to the maximum level, and he still maintains the The advantage of one lap and one second continues to widen the gap with Vettel.

Of course, the Albert Park track has some relatively gentle corners, which have high requirements on the traction and grip of the car. The advantages of the double-layer diffuser are more obvious on this track. If it is another track, Zhang Guan may not be able to obtain such a big advantage.

"If we can't catch up, we can't catch up at all! The gap between us is getting bigger and bigger!" Vettel was full of unwillingness, and he could only hope that Zhang Guan's car would start the race with light fuel.

"Did Zhang Guan stop?" Vettel asked.

"No, he just passed the pit entrance, he didn't come in, he's still outside."

One lap later, when Vettel was about to enter the 13th corner, he asked again: "Has Zhang Guan pitted?"

"Not yet, he's still running outside."

Another lap.

"Did Zhang Guan stop?" Vettel asked again.

Both Ferrari and McLaren were light-loaded, so they started to pit on laps 11 and 2. At that time, Vettel began to ask Zhang Guan if he had pitted, and he would ask every lap, but By the fifteenth lap, Zhang Guan was still on the track. At this time, Vettel had vaguely guessed that Zhang Guan might not be light-loaded.

On the sixteenth lap, there was no sign of the driver on Vettel's track, and the lush forest in Albert Park blocked the noise of the engine, but Vettel estimated that Zhang Guan should have reached the pit lane Entrance.

He was just about to ask Zhang Guan again if he had stopped to refuel, but the team's call came from the headset.

"I have some news for you," said the team's strategy engineer.

"Did Zhang Guan come into the pit? Sure enough, he is going to run out of gas!" Vettel's tone showed a trace of excitement.

"No, Zhang Guan just passed the entrance of the maintenance station, but he didn't come in. He is now running to the end of the straight." The strategy engineer paused, and then said: "What we want to inform you is that the next lap Get ready to pull in, you're running out of gas!"

"I want to refuel first? So Zhang Guan has more fuel than me!" Vettel made a surprised voice. He looked at the track ahead, his eyes full of disbelief. One second before, he was still excited about Zhang Guan running out of gas, but the next second the team informed him that he was the one who ran out of gas. This kind of gap was really hurtful.

Vettel's set of medium tires can actually last for a while, but his fuel can't last that long, so he has to stop to refuel.

Vettel originally thought that Zhang Guan could be faster than himself by one second per lap because of the light fuel, so he had been looking forward to Zhang Guan's refueling, so that he could take advantage of his lighter weight and run a few times. The fastest lap, recovering some results, but now it seems that his plan has completely failed, and Zhang Guan is obviously no less fueled than him.

Even if both sides have the same amount of fuel, if Zhang Guan also stops to refuel on the next lap, the two sides will at most be a tie, but the current advantage that Zhang Guan has opened is something that Vettel cannot make up.

"How could this happen? I have less fuel, but I run slower than Zhang Guan!" Vettel complained.

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