On lap 38, Barrichello pitted, walked out of the pit area and lined up behind Red Bull Racing's Webber, in fourth place, while Zhang Guan rose to second place.
On lap 39, Vettel, who was in the lead, also chose to pit. For Zhang Guan, this will be the moment that determines victory or defeat.
Vettel entered the pit area and pressed the speed limit button at the same time. His car entered the speed limit mode, and then he stopped in front of the Red Bull Racing garage.
The TV broadcast showed the pitman changing tires. Almost in the blink of an eye, a brand new set of rain tires was installed on Vettel's car. At this time, the refueling was not over yet, and the oil pump was continuously pumping. Delivering gasoline to the racing car.
The lower left corner of the TV screen shows the time it took Vettel to pit, while the lower right corner is the GPS positioning map of the track. Only one car is shown on it, which is Vettel's teammate Webber, and the positioning map shows that Webber's distance There is still a long way to go in the final corner, No. 16.
Finally, Vettel finished refueling and the car started moving forward again, and the screen showed that Vettel's refueling and tire change took 9.2 seconds.
"Oh, Webber is too late. There is still a big gap between him and Vettel. It seems that he can't catch up with Vettel. The overall situation is decided!" The commentator's voice sounded at this time.
As for Zhang Guan, since he has not entered the pit yet, both the director and the commentator believe that he will enter the pit again, and his ranking will inevitably fall back. It is impossible to win first place, so he was directly ignored.
Vettel came out of the pits. Zhang Guan in front had already surpassed him. The subtitles below the TV screen showed that Vettel was in second place, and the first place was of course Zhang Guan, who had not pitted.
Vettel glanced at the rearview mirror, and a car exactly like his own appeared clearly in it. He knew it was his teammate Webber. Vettel let out a sigh of relief. Both he and Webber completed the last pit stop. , and he is still ahead of Webber, which shows that he can lead until the end.
"I won, I'm finally going to win, I'm going to win this race!" Vettel couldn't help but cheered, and this cheer was also transmitted back to the team through the radio.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?" The engineer asked in Vettel's earphones.
"Oh, it's nothing!" Vettel calmed down and asked, "Am I number one now?"
"No, you are second." The engineer replied immediately.
"What? Second? How could it be second? There is someone in front of me? Impossible! I was leading the whole way just now, why did I become second?" Vettel asked a series of questions.
In today's race, Vettel was leading the whole way, and just now he left his teammate Webber behind. He naturally believed that he would be in first place, and the answer given by the team engineer made Vettel puzzled. , a person who has been leading all the way suddenly becomes second, of course Vettel will feel baffled.
"After dozens of laps, I have always surpassed others, and no one else has surpassed me. When I entered the pit area just now, I was still in first place. How come I fell to second place? By the way, in the pit area, When I was refueling and changing tires in the pit area, someone else overtook me!" Vettel understood instantly.
"Who is in front of me?" Vettel asked immediately.
"It's Zhang Guan! When you entered the maintenance station just now, he passed you." The engineer replied.
"Zhang Guan overtook me? How is this possible? He started at the last place, and I started at the first place! The person who started at the last place overtook the first place at the end of the race with more than ten laps left. ? Stop joking!" Vettel said while looking at the red racing car not far ahead. The distance between them was not far.
In fact, when Vettel walked out of the pits, he had already seen Zhang Guan. At that time, Vettel didn't care. He was in first place, so he subconsciously regarded Zhang Guan as a car that was about to be lapped by him.
The engineer continued: "We are not kidding, Zhang Guan is really ranked first now. The reason why he is in the first place is because he has not pitted yet!"
"No pit stop? 40 consecutive laps? Zhang Guan's one-stop strategy is really strange!" Vettel immediately felt relieved.
Although Vettel was following Zhang Guan at this time, he did not immediately attack Zhang Guan. Firstly, it was because he had just put on new tires and the temperature of the tires was not yet at the optimal level. Secondly, Vettel believes that Zhang Guan will definitely enter the pit area again, and he will become the first one by then, so there is no need to take risks and attack others. If there is an accident, the gain will not be worth the loss.
Zhang Guan, who was running at the front, was actually very nervous. He had already run 40 laps. At this time, his fuel capacity was almost the same as that of the cars behind him, but his tires were incomparable to others. He fought hard for 40 consecutive laps. The heavy rain tires on the lap had already shown a lot of wear, so Zhang Guan needed to control the car carefully. Vettel behind him was wearing a brand new set of rain tires, and there was a big gap in tire performance between the two cars.
If Vettel launches an attack and Zhang Guan defends, it will inevitably increase the wear of the tires. Maybe Zhang Guan can hold on in the first few laps, but later on, the tires will become more and more powerful, and he will inevitably be beaten by Vettel. Beyond.
Fortunately, Vettel misjudged the situation, which gave Zhang Guan a chance to breathe. He seized the opportunity and ran faster and faster, setting the fastest laps one after another.
I guess no one would have guessed the strategy of not pitting!
…
"Zhang Guan's speed seems to be very fast! I feel that the gap between us is widening." Vettel said to the radio.
"That's right, Zhang Guan just ran the fastest lap again." The engineer said.
"Again?" Vettel repeated the word: "Does that mean Zhang Guan also ran the fastest lap just now?"
"Yes, the last fastest lap was also created by Zhang Guan, and the next fastest lap was also created by Zhang Guan. I think he probably wanted to take advantage of it before pitting to gain more advantages for him. Let’s make a pit stop to gain more time.” the engineer said.
"Huh... futile struggle!" There was a hint of sarcasm in Vettel's tone.
…
The subtitles at the bottom of the TV screen showed the number of pit stops for each driver, and behind Zhang Guan, who ranked first, the number of pit stops displayed was still "0"!
"It's been 46 laps, and there are still 10 laps left in the race. It's really hard to imagine that Zhang Guan hasn't pitted yet. I don't know how long Zhang Guan will wait."
"It's not easy to hold on to one set of tires until now. It's hard to control Zhang Guan's car now! I think he should pit soon. Maybe Zhang Guan will choose to pit next lap. If he doesn't make a pit stop, his tires will also suffer."
The broadcast lens gave a slow-motion close-up of Zhang Guan's racing car. Through the screen, it could be seen that the tread on the rotating tire had been worn very lightly.
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(End of chapter)