At 11 o'clock on Saturday morning, the third practice session started on time.
"Same as in Australia, the graining of super-soft tires is still very serious, and Princeton's set of soft tires are really not wear-resistant." Zhang Guan said to the radio.
"The sensor shows that your engine temperature seems to be a bit high." The engineer's voice came from the earphones.
"Do you need to slow down?" Zhang Guan asked.
"No need for now, let's take another look... Well, the temperature seems to have dropped a bit, probably because of the continuous high-speed turns just now." The engineer said.
"What are the results of other teams?" Zhang Guan asked next.
"McLaren's double-layer diffuser looks very effective. Hamilton currently holds the fastest lap, and you are 0.1 seconds behind." The engineer said.
"Okay, I'll run faster in the next lap." Zhang Guan replied.
"Alonso skidded off the track at Turn 9. There seems to be something wrong with his car. Pay attention to Turn 9. His car is still parked there. You need to slow down when you get there," the engineer reminded.
"Ok, no problem."
In practice on Saturday morning, the three teams of the "Diffuser Gang", Force China, Williams and Toyota still achieved good results, and the McLaren team, which installed a transitional double-layer diffuser, also performed well, with two cars All ranked in the top ten. The Ferrari team did not install a kinetic energy recovery system in this stop, and their condition has also improved. However, the Red Bull team, which performed well in the first two stops, did not show good results in practice. The two drivers only ran seven seconds. It was back to the pit lane after eight laps.
The 60-minute practice session in the morning ended quickly. Williams Racing's Rosberg finally surpassed Zhang Guan with an advantage of 0.039 seconds on the last lap and became the first place in Saturday's practice session. Although Zhang Guan Won second place, but still received the most applause, followed by Trulli, Hamilton, Barrichello and others.
Saturday's practice session is regarded as a benchmark for qualifying. Judging from Zhang Guan's performance, he is still the most promising person to hit the pole position. Moreover, this is the home court of Force China, so the advantage is very obvious.
Qualifying will start at two o'clock in the afternoon, and while the drivers and staff of each team are still enjoying lunch, the circuit is already packed with spectators.
The fixed grandstands of the Shanghai International Circuit can accommodate 50,000 spectators, and the temporary grandstands can accommodate 150,000 spectators. Due to the appearance of Zhang Guan this year, the organizers have temporarily built a grandstand that can accommodate 50,000 spectators. This is equivalent to Two hundred and fifty thousand people arrived to watch the battle. And there are countless people waiting in front of the TV.
The sports channel started broadcasting the Shanghai Grand Prix special program after the midday news program. Several guests chatted there for more than an hour, and finally waited until 2 p.m., when qualifying started.
The climate in mid-April is still very suitable. The air temperature is 24 degrees Celsius, which is neither cold nor hot for the drivers; the track temperature is 37 degrees Celsius, which is just right for the tires.
In the first quarter of the race, Williams Racing's Rosberg took the lead and set the benchmark of 1:37.100 in the first time lap. Then Ferrari's Massa ran 1:36.780, which was possible. Then it ran out of the road at 1 minute 36 seconds 480, and the two Ferraris quickly set new fastest lap times.
McLaren also performed well after switching to a transitional diffuser. Hamilton started McLaren's recovery campaign with a time of 1 minute, 36 seconds and 381 seconds. After that, except for Webber of Red Bull Racing, no one could surpass Hamilton's result.
Red Bull, which had a poor performance in the practice session, also recovered in the first qualifying session. Webber's time was 1 minute 35 seconds 751. He was the first driver to run within 1 minute 56 seconds. For a track like the Shanghai Circuit, which tests the overall performance of a car, a car like Red Bull that focuses on aerodynamics is very advantageous.
The team told Weber that he had become the first driver to run within 1 minute and 36 seconds. Weber returned to the pit area happily, and the extremely warm applause from the surrounding audience made Weber feel elated.
"The Chinese audience is so enthusiastic!" Weber thought happily.
However, soon after he saw the driver results list, he knew that these applause were not for him.
Force China Team Barrichello has just set a new fastest lap, 1 minute 35 seconds 701. As a home team, it deserves warm applause from the audience.
However, the warmer applause came later. Zhang Guan set the fastest lap of 1 minute 35 seconds 433 behind Barrichello, which was 0.3 seconds faster than Webber's lap just now. In qualifying, 0.3 Seconds are still an insurmountable gap.
The applause was deafening. Although it was only the first practice session, many fans seemed to have a premonition that Zhang Guan would still get the final pole position.
"Zhang Guan was 0.3 seconds faster than Weber. Although this is not as abnormal as 0.5 seconds in the previous games, it is based on an insurmountable gap. It seems that Zhang Guan's dominance continues to the Chinese station." Foreign countries. A commentator sighed, while domestic commentators kept touting it. The 0.3-second advantage seemed to be the gap between high-speed rail and ordinary express in the mouths of domestic commentators.
In the first qualifying session, Zhang Guan showed a crushing advantage, which is not surprising. The two Force India cars were the last two and were eliminated.
After a five-minute break, the second qualifying session began. All cars were put on super-soft tires and used light-load fuel. Especially the two cars from Red Bull were completely out of control, posing as if they were going to challenge Zhang Guan. .
Barrichello took the lead to wait for the summit, while Hamilton ranked second. The gap between the top six was very close. Raikkonen, who was sixth, was only 0.1 seconds behind Barrichello, and the drivers on the track were still there. The fastest lap ever.
Red Bull's Webber ran another fastest lap of 1 minute 35 seconds 173. This result was infinitely close to the 1 minute 35 seconds mark, but he only sat in the first position for five seconds. Zhang Guan He took first place with a time of 1:34.879, breaking the 1:35 mark. This was also the fastest lap time in today's game.
After switching to super-soft tires, Zhang Guande still maintained an advantage of 0.3 seconds.
After that, Vettel ran 1 minute 35 seconds 130, which was still far behind Zhang Guan. Obviously Vettel had squeezed the Red Bull car to the limit, but there was still no way to surpass Zhang Guan.
In the command center of the Red Bull Racing Team, Newey shook his head helplessly. On the surface, today's results seem to have narrowed the gap with China's strength, but taking into account the factors of the track, in fact the gap is still the same as before.
"Zhang Guan still dominates the race. The advantage of 0.3 seconds is unshakable. It seems that the China Force Racing Team can celebrate the pole position in consecutive races." The commentator said.
"Yes, Zhang Guan has won the pole position for three consecutive races. How many years has this kind of dominance not been seen?" another commentator said.
"The third qualifying session has started. Zhang Guan came out very early this time... Hey, what's going on? Black smoke! Black rocks came out of the rear of Zhang Guan's car. Could it be that there was something wrong with the engine."
In the third qualifying session, Zhang Guan left the pit area relatively early and started his tire warm-up lap. But before Zhang Guan's tire warm-up lap was over, billowing black smoke came out of the rear of his car, and then the black smoke got bigger and bigger, and then turned into thick smoke.
"Oops, Zhang Guan's engine exploded!"
Chapter 12, please give me a monthly vote and a recommendation vote.
(End of chapter)