ctnovel Chapter 33 pole position!
Chapter 33 pole position!
The match control center announced: "The match will resume at 18:38 local time."
With only three minutes left in Q3, no team was willing to waste even a second on unnecessary steps. The eight cars that were still able to compete drove out of the pit lane and lined up in the pit lane, waiting for the pit lane exit to open.
As luck would have it, Verstappenka was ahead of Leclerc, and Leclercka was ahead of Tontatta.
This is not good for Toncher and Leclerc.
If Verstappen presses down, Tontatta and Leclerc will not only lose time, but their tires will also have difficulty getting into working condition, which is very disadvantageous for attacking pole position.
Leclerc clearly understood this, so he turned around as soon as the pit lane exit opened, attempting to overtake Verstappen directly at the pit lane exit!
Verstappen changed lanes to defend! He blocked Leclerc's overtaking lane!
Verstappen took to the track first, creating a dragon-like trail, and the spray from his rear completely obscured Leclerc's view.
Anyone who has driven a ground effect car knows that, in the same wetland environment, the amount of water mist from the rear of a ground effect car far exceeds that of any other F1 race car.
If it rains heavily, the water spray from the rear of a ground effect vehicle can reduce visibility to almost nothing for vehicles behind, putting considerable pressure on them.
The poor visibility was one issue, but Verstappen's slow speed also prevented Leclerc from properly warming up its tires.
Leclerc's backer, Tontatta, was also affected to some extent.
Tang Che, utterly enraged and furious, his hair standing on end: Max, the mimic baby is hot! (crossed out)
Just kidding, just kidding, Tang Che wouldn't get angry about that.
In competitive sports, all compliant means can be used to win, and sometimes you have to skirt the rules or even break them outright in order to win.
All of these are understandable, acceptable, and can be directly imitated.
Tang Che: Great! If he draws a dragon, I'll draw a dragon too! If he pulls a cart, I'll pull a cart too!
Whose vision is being polluted by Tang Che's dragon painting? Whose car is being crushed by the car he's driving?
Sergio! Checo! Perez!
With Verstappen's actions, it's unlikely that Tontatta or Leclerc will be able to set faster lap times. Tontatta has simply turned his attention to Perez, who might be able to set faster lap times and threaten his position.
Although Perez's performance in the rain wasn't great today—he only managed one flight lap in Q3, as slow as his rain lap times in practice, currently sitting in P8—what if? Let's hold off for now.
It's all about choosing positions to back up the team; Toncher and Verstappen are truly a pair of smiling tigers, two black sharks.
Perez was starting to panic: "What the hell?! What is this Alfa Romeo racing car doing?!"
"Calm down, Cheko." Perez's track engineer, Hugh Bird, was at his wits' end. He was afraid that Perez would act impulsively like Torpedo Tontatta in the Australian Grand Prix. "You need to understand that as long as you start doing flying laps before the clock stops in Q3, your lap times are valid."
That makes sense, but if the tire warm-up is affected, the tires won't be able to get into working condition. Even if you do a flying lap, how fast can you go?
With one minute remaining in Q3, after Verstappen, Leclerc, and Tontatta all crossed the finish line, Perez finally crossed and began his flight lap.
First timeout: Yellow flag! Second timeout: Yellow flag! Norris went off the track and hit the wall in the second timeout: Red flag! Upgraded to red flag!
Hongqi: Everyone, drive your cars back to the track immediately. I know it's difficult, but it's an order!
Perez: ****! ******! ******!
With only 38 seconds left in Q3, there was no need to restart the game after the red flag was raised, so the FIA simply ended Q3 early.
The qualifying order before the red flag is fixed as the final qualifying order for Q3 – Verstappen pole position, Tontatta pole position 2, Leclerc pole position 3, Norris pole position 4…
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Saturday, sunny.
The sprint race will start at 16:30, and there will be a second practice session before the sprint race.
This schedule is quite abstract.
In terms of this match alone, the second practice session was a bit awkward.
You might say that the second practice session is meaningful, but the team can't adjust the car settings—the car settings are frozen the moment the clock starts in Q1 of qualifying; you might say that the second practice session is meaningless, but it's the only opportunity for the team to collect dry data before the sprint and the main race.
Looking at the whole season, the second practice session was very valuable.
Only three races have passed in the first season under the new regulations, and no team dares to say that they are completely familiar with their car.
Each team needs to collect as much data as possible to help engineers and drivers understand the car.
Private testing is not allowed; data can only be obtained from practice matches, qualifying matches, sprint matches, and the main race.
Opportunities are rare, and every single one is precious.
In short, whether it's for this race or for the entire season, let's take the car to the track for long-distance testing!
Normally, you need to verify whether the car setup has a positive effect, but since you can't set up the car for this race, the verification would be pointless.
Test each type of dry tire on this track to see how fast and how far they can go. This is important because it will directly determine the team's tire strategy in the sprint and the main race.
Tang Che Hongtai exited the station.
In a long run on dry ground, the setup I made yesterday based on experience and intuition was indeed a little lacking, but only slightly, and it didn't have much impact on the car's long-distance lap time.
Those who frequently drive F1 know that qualifying has its limits, and long-distance races have their limits as well.
If we can push the limits, the lap time limit set in qualifying is the true lap time limit of the car; the lap time limit over long distances is merely the maximum lap time that guarantees the car can finish the race.
Not fully unleashing the car's performance will definitely affect qualifying lap times, because qualifying is about unleashing the full potential of the car in a single lap; however, it may not necessarily affect, or even have no effect on, long-distance lap times, because long distances do not require unleashing the full potential of the car in a single lap.
The performance of the setup that Tang Che is currently using is precisely between the limits of qualifying and long-distance running, so it does not affect long-distance lap times.
After the second practice session, Tang Che's fastest lap ranked fifth overall.
Guess who's ahead of Tang Che?
Lewis! Hamilton!
Mercedes seemed to have a full tank of helium-magnesium alkyl today, with Russell even setting the fastest lap of the game!
But as I said before, practice race results are not very useful. Whether it's ethane or helium-magnesium ethane, the sprint race and the main race will tell the real test!
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With the five red lights extinguished, the sprint race of the 2022 Formula 1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix officially begins!
Tang Che starts the thunder!
Verstappen's start was absolutely dizzying!
Tangche surpasses Verstappen!
Leclerc is standing side-by-side with Verstappen; can he surpass Verstappen?
Verstappen held his position!
It's not over yet. Leclerc is still following behind Verstappen; their battle for position isn't over... Safety car! Safety car!
In TR, Tang Che asks, "Who had an accident?"
Mattia: "Zhou Guanyu, he..."
Tang Che quickly asked, "Is Guan Yu alright?"
Mattia: "Zhou looks very healthy."
Tang Che breathed a sigh of relief: "How did Guan Yu get into the accident? Who hit him?"
"Zhou collided with Pierre at the start of the game." One of the two involved was Tangcher's childhood friend, and the other was Tangcher's teammate. Mattia couldn't take sides, so he simply stated the FIA's arbitration result: "The tournament has ruled this collision as a sports incident."
Tang Che is not yet aware of the details of the accident and declined to comment.
On lap 4, the safety car left the track, and the race entered the dynamic start phase.
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#2022 F1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Sprint Highlights (F1 TV Commentary)#
Lap4:
"Tanter had a fantastic start, successfully creating a safe distance for Max Verstappen. But we knew Max Verstappen would catch up... Charles Leclerc closes in on Max Verstappen!"
"Charles Leclerc helped Tontatta; his restraint on Max Vestapan allowed Tontatta to move forward more easily."
"But that doesn't mean Tanger can rest easy. If Tanger can't widen the gap quickly, he won't be able to hold onto his position once DRRS becomes available."
Lap6:
"Charles Leclerc activates DRES! But his top speed isn't enough for him to attack at Turn 1. Can he attack at Turn 2? No chance!"
Lap9:
"Leclerc is trying to take the lead again! He attempted to overtake Verstappen with DR2 two laps ago, but the timing wasn't right. This time, Leclerc is closer; can he successfully overtake Verstappen?"
"Charles Leclerc drives into the paint! He's successfully overtaken Verstappen!"
"Now entering Turn 5, this is a golden opportunity for Verstappen to counterattack... Charles Leclerc is the first to cling to the apex!"
Lap14:
"Charles Leclerc has extended his lead over Verstappen to 1.2 seconds and is only 0.8 seconds behind Taunter."
"Leclerc activates DR'S! Is he close enough to launch an attack at Turn 1? Not quite! He might need another one or two laps."
Lap16:
"Turn 1 wasn't enough this time, but Turn 4 was! Charles Leclerc takes the lead... Tontatta takes the cross line at Turn 5... and regains the lead!"
Lap17:
"Charles Leclerc activates DR! Max Verstappen activates DR! Verstappen is clearly much faster! Leclerc has to abandon his attack on Tanger and instead defend against Verstappen."
Lap19:
"Charles Leclerc's tire granulation is a bit too much, which makes it impossible for him to get away from Verstappen, and may also make it impossible for him to withstand Verstappen's attack in the DR zone."
Lap20:
"Max Verstappen activates DR'S... a powerful attack on the outside at Turn 2! Verstappen takes the lead! Charles Leclerc is helpless!"
Lap21:
"Max Verstappen is closing in on Tangcher relentlessly; he's only 0.6 seconds behind. Can he overtake Tangcher before the finish line?"
"The checkered flag is being waved, and Tangche is practically in the bag... Verstappen pulls ahead just before the finish line! They cross the finish line side by side!"
"Who is the champion? Who is the champion?"
"Tanter won the race! Unbelievable! Tanter won the race by a mere 0.005 seconds! That's incredible!"
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Don't underestimate the sprint race victory; it still awards points and a podium.
The podium was indeed rather simple.
There are three black stools. The driver stands on one of them, gets a sign, and then immediately gets off to conduct an interview.
The interview was not as high-profile as the main race; the person in charge of the interview was not an F1 legend, but just a reporter.
"Tang, congratulations on your first sprint victory and your first race pole position! How are you feeling?"
Tang Che: "This is a great result."
The reporter, still holding the microphone and smiling, waited for what Tang Che would say next, but Tang Che had nothing more to say.
Reporter: Don't panic, what kind of situation haven't I seen?
"Tang, the audience here probably wants to hear you say a few more words."
Tang Che's lips curled into a slanted hook: "Thanks, Charles. Without him holding Max back, I couldn't have won this game; thanks, Max. Without him holding Charles back, I couldn't have won this game."
The audience loved hearing this, and started chanting "Ula ula!"
The reporters, always eager for drama, asked: "Charles, Max, what do you think of Tom's remarks?"
Leclerc was incredibly, immensely, and furious, his anger reaching its peak... Just kidding, Leclerc's temper isn't that explosive... Leclerc smiled politely, unperturbed: "Tang, remember to buy me a drink later."
Verstappen was furious beyond measure, his anger burning and his hair standing on end... Verstappen certainly has a temper that explosive, but not to the point of exploding because of Toncher's joke... Verstappen suppressed the urge to give the middle finger and laughed, "Tomorrow won't be so wonderful."
Today's sprint champion really had too many advantages – the track was difficult to overtake, the race distance was short, Leclerc and Verstappen were holding each other back, and Perez and Sainz were not in the front row.
There won't be as many buffs tomorrow.
Tomorrow's main race will be 63 laps, and maintaining your position will be much more difficult than in the sprint race.
Perez and Sainz finished in P4 and P5 respectively in this sprint race, and they will both be in the front row at the start of tomorrow's main race.
Tang Che mimicked that player's signature move: "Live for today, for tomorrow we may die."
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After the interview, Tang Che went to Alfa Romeo's dressing room and found Zhou Guanyu: "What do you mean?"
Zhou Guanyu knew exactly what Tang Che was asking: "It was just a normal track accident."
Tang Che: "That's it?"
"What else could it be? There are always accidents in racing." Zhou Guanyu patted Tang Che's arm. "You can't go looking for trouble with Pierre! I don't want to affect your teamwork."
Tang Che: "Am I such an impulsive person?"
Zhou Guanyu shrugged noncommittally.
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Bonus Chapter: F1 Anecdotes (4)
At 00:49, according to Sky Sports, Tontatta had a physical altercation with Gasly in the Alfa Romeo team's pit garage.
After the Imola sprint race, Tang Che returned to the pit lane and found Gasly, demanding an explanation from Gasly for the incident involving him and Zhou Guanyu.
Gasly thought to himself, "You're my teammate, and instead of standing up for me, you're standing up for a stranger?" So he retorted angrily, "I deliberately bumped into him, so what?"
Tang Che was furious and enraged, and immediately attacked Gasley.
Gasly was no match for Tontatta and was quickly beaten unconscious by Tontatta.
Alfa Romeo team principal is currently in talks with Toncher, trying to persuade him to allow medical personnel to remove Gasly.
Sky Sports will continue to provide you with coverage.