On the 29th lap, when Zhang Guan passed by the entrance to the pit area, he did not pit, but drove straight past.
"Zhang Guan did not stop to change tires. He chose to run one more lap on the road. He is now using full wet tires. If he ran one more lap on the track, he would be nearly two seconds behind. Change as soon as possible. You can always earn more time by running on dry tires!" the commentator said.
"Force China is probably going to let Barrichello stop first to change tires and test the track environment first. After all, Barrichello is the No. 2 driver and there are plenty of racing flags. And Zhang Guan may pass by the pit area next time. It’s time to pit. Huh? The response of the Force China team seems to be a bit slow! Their maintenance technician is still in the garage and has not come out.”
At this time, the TV broadcast camera was focused on the maintenance area, and all the maintenance technicians were seen sitting there in the garage of the Force China team, with no intention of moving at all.
If a Formula One car is not refueled, a simple tire change process only takes two seconds, and all of this is of course recommended with adequate preparation. The car is still far from the pit entrance, so the team's technicians will be preparing to pick up the car with tools. If they wait for the car to enter the pit area before changing tires and refueling, it will be a trap for their teammates.
"Isn't Barrichello ready to pit as well?" As soon as the commentator finished speaking, the camera cut to Barrichello. The red racing car was seen passing by the entrance of the maintenance area and heading directly to the main pit. On the long straight in front of the grandstand, there was absolutely no intention of pitting.
"Really not pitting! Barrichello is also running on wet tires! Why? Why is this? You will lose two seconds in such a lap! If the road surface is completely dry, the temperature of the soft tires will increase a little, maybe More time will be lost! I really don’t understand what the Chinese force is thinking!” the commentator sighed.
…
As the top two teams, Force China's strategic choices will certainly attract the attention of other teams. At this time, the strategic engineers of all teams have noticed that the two cars of Force China passed the pit entrance without stopping to change tires.
Ferrari was the first to put on wet tires, which gave them a few seconds advantage in the previous laps, and after the rain stopped, they were the first to put on dry tires. By this time, they had already used dry tires. The tire has been on the track for two laps.
"Raikkonen has already run two laps on dry tires. Please calculate the speed difference between him and Zhang Guan." Ferrari team leader Domenechali said.
A few seconds later, the staff said the numbers: "The first lap when Raikkonen put on dry tires, he was 1.1 seconds faster than Zhang Guan. On the last lap, he was 1.7 seconds faster than Zhang Guan."
"The temperature of the tires has increased, which can provide better grip, so our speed is also getting faster. It is estimated that the grip of the tires will be better in the next lap, and the speed gap will widen! Maybe it can be two Seconds." Domenecalli nodded silently. He looked at the command area of the Chinese force not far away, but there was doubt in his eyes.
"Ross Brown, you old fox, what are you thinking about? Are you betting that it will rain again?"
…
On the 30th lap, Zhang Guan still ignored the entrance to the pit stop. He stepped on the accelerator and rushed onto the straight, passed the finish time point, and then let the race enter the 31st lap.
The third place on the track at this time was Toyota's Trulli, who also changed to dry tires relatively early, while Rosberg lost third place because of his pit stop.
"I can already see Barrichello in front of me. How far behind Barrichello and I are?" Trulli asked.
"About 7 seconds! But Barrichello is still using wet tires, so he will definitely stop and change tires. You don't have to worry about him." The team engineer said.
"Are you still using rain tires? That will slow you down a lot. I will try to catch up with him within three laps." Trulli said.
"In addition, Zhang Guan, who is number one, is still running on wet tires." the team engineer continued.
"Zhang Guan is also using wet tires? How big is the gap between us?" Trulli asked next.
"32 seconds. In the past three laps, you have caught up with 5 seconds. And Zhang Guan will definitely stop again to change to rain tires. Excluding the time consumed in the pit, the actual gap between you and Zhang Guan is also That’s fifteen seconds,” the team engineer continued.
"Fifteen seconds? There are still twenty-six laps, I'm afraid it will be difficult to catch up." Trulli said a little discouraged.
"Don't be discouraged. We have been staring at the maintenance room of the Force China team. Their maintenance technicians are still sitting there chatting. They have no intention of coming out to change tires, so Zhang Guan will still run a few laps on wet tires. And this is our opportunity. Your tire temperature is already close to optimal operating temperature, so you will be faster!" the team engineer encouraged.
…
On the 31st lap, Zhang Guan once again passed the pit entrance. He still did not enter the pit. However, this time, all the teams behaved as if they were used to it, because in the pit area, the technicians of Force China were still chatting and joking, and there was no trace of it at all. The intention to come out and work.
At this time, Ross Brown in the command area looked at the latest data and couldn't sit still.
"Our lap was really two seconds slower than others. Barrichello was almost caught up by Trulli. This is not going to work. We can't wait any longer." Ross Brown stood up suddenly. He said: "Go and prepare dry tires, calculate the amount of fuel required for the last twenty-five laps, inform Barrichello to pit on the next lap, and prepare to race to the end in one breath."
As soon as Ross Brown finished speaking, another voice fell into his ears.
"Crack!"
"Huh?" Ross Brown looked outside
"Da da da da da da..." Countless raindrops fell from the sky and landed on the ground, making a crackling sound like machine gun fire.
"It's raining! It's really raining!" Ross Brown exclaimed and quickly ran out of the carport. He looked up at the sky. Raindrops fell from a high place and hit his face, causing him some pain.
This time the rain was heavier and more rapid than before, and it came more suddenly. In just a few seconds, the ground was completely soaked.
The control rooms of the surrounding teams were all in a state of chaos. Ross Brawn looked around. He was not the only one who came out to see the rain. Ferrari's Domenicali, McLaren's Whitmarsh, Red Bull Racing's New Zealand Wei, Honda's Gascoigne... Almost all the leaders of each team ran out of the command center and then looked up at the sky.
"It's raining, it's raining again!"
"The rain has just stopped for five rounds, why did it start raining again!"
"This time it rained even harder than before, it rained so hard!"
"The track is already soaked. In this kind of road conditions, it's impossible to run on dry tires! Damn it, I have to change to rain tires again."
There were angry curses all around, but they were gradually drowned in the pouring rain. Ross Brown looked at the carport opposite, but found that everything in front of him began to become blurry.
Because the rain is really too heavy! This can no longer be called heavy rain, but a heavy rain!
Ross Brown returned to the control room. He looked at the broadcast screen. The camera happened to be Zhang Guan speeding past the main straight. The set of full-weather tires rolled across the road, splashing water more than one meter high toward the direction. Spread out on both sides.
"It's really raining, and it's still raining so heavily! Zhang Guan made the right bet." Ross Brown's anxious heart also calmed down.
"You can win this bet, Zhang Guan is really a man blessed by God!"
Chapter 4 has been delivered. Please give me a monthly ticket. If you have any recommendation votes, please give them too!
(End of chapter)