All-round Athlete

Chapter 656 Rushing to the Top Three (2020)

In racing competitions, the leading car tends to run faster and faster, while the cars behind often run slower and slower. Sometimes even if there are two people standing on the same podium, there will be a gap of more than 1 minute. It is also common for the eighth place to be lapped by the first place in the same situation where they all get points.

Therefore, in the race, the more the cars behind chase the front, the more difficult it is to make further progress, especially in the middle and late stages of the race, every advancement in the ranking means a huge victory.

Zhang Guan has already reached the twelfth place, and it has become more and more difficult for him to go further. At this time, an accident occurred on the track, BMW Sauber's Kubica and Toyota's Special Lully crashes the car.

Turn 16, the last turn in the entire track, after turning 16 is the big straight before the finish line. This corner can barely be regarded as a medium-speed corner. Generally, drivers will pass in third gear, and the difficulty is not too great.

However, it was such a not-so-difficult corner that an accident happened. Among the two cars that collided, Toyota retired directly, while BMW Sauber stumbled back to the maintenance area.

In rainy days, it would have been troublesome to clean up the track, so the race committee showed the yellow flag without hesitation and dispatched the safety car. This also means that Vettel, who is the first, has his lead cleared, and all the cars will return to the state at the start.

The safety car is obviously good news for Zhang Guan, he smoothed the gap with the car in front.

The two cars in front had accidents, and Zhang Guan rose directly to the tenth place, and he was only two steps away from the eighth place where he could get points.

When the safety car was dispatched, someone from the car in front would inevitably take advantage of this opportunity to pit. For example, Heinfeld of the BMW Sauber team, his pitstop allowed Zhang Guan to advance to ninth place.

But Zhang Guan's good luck did not end there. Under the leadership of the safety car, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, who had rushed to third, suddenly stopped his car on the side of the road, and blue smoke came out from the rear of his car , The slow motion showed that the car suddenly had power on the straight, which was obviously an engine problem, and Massa retired because of this.

Under the condition of the safety car, it is not allowed to overtake, but under the guidance of the safety car, Zhang Guan was lucky to come to the eighth position, and he has already entered the scoring zone. If you finish the race in this order, Zhang Guan can get a point.

At this time, among the seven cars in front of Zhang Guan, the two cars of Red Bull Racing are still in the lead, followed by Raikkonen of Ferrari, Hamilton of McLaren, Barrichello of China Power, and Hamilton of McLaren And Toro Rosso's Bu Aimi. Among them, the two Red Bull cars, Barrichello and Bu Aimi, have completed a pit stop, and the others have not pitted yet.

"We may really have a chance!" Ross Brown's expression gradually became more relaxed. The biggest difficulty in running the entire distance without pit stops was the wear of the tires. The safety car for the first eight laps reduced the wear of Zhang Guan's tires. A lot, and now the safety car appeared again, once again giving Zhang Guan's tires a rare rest.

The safety car led the race for five laps, and on lap 23 the safety car returned to the pit lane and the race restarted.

The rain was still heavy, and the advantage of the Red Bull car was still obvious. After one lap, they left the other cars behind. In the car ahead, McLaren's Hamilton overtook Ferrari's Raikkonen, and Zhang Guan also started to attack the seventh Bu Aimi.

Bu Aimi had already made a pit stop. He used a light oil strategy and also used a brand-new set of tires, so Zhang Guan fell into a short fight. However, Bu Aimi was finally defeated by Zhang Guan. Zhang Guan took advantage of Bu Aimi's corner and failed to take a good route. On the 26th lap, he overtook Bu Aimi and rose to the seventh place.

On the 27th lap, Raikkonen of Ferrari pitted for the first time. He spent a lot of time on refueling and put on a new set of rain tires. There are 29 laps left in the race, and a set of rain tires is enough to complete the race. Raikkonen is obviously ready to use a one-stop strategy.

Räikkönen's pit stop allowed Zhang Guan to move up another rank and came to sixth place. He began to approach McLaren driver Kovalainen gradually.

Thirty laps later, the drivers who adopted the one-stop strategy began to pit in succession. The two McLaren cars pitted in the 34th and 35th laps, and ranked eighth and ninth after exiting the pits. Guan took advantage of the trend to rise two places and came to fourth, ahead of him was his teammate Barrichello. It's just that Zhang Guan at this time is still some distance away from Barrichello.

There are still 20 laps left in the race. At this time, there are three drivers in front of Zhang Guan, namely Vettel in the first place, Webber in the second place and Barrichello in the third place. Each of these three drivers has completed a pit stop. And then they will make another pit stop, and that will also be an opportunity that Zhang Guan must seize.

At this time, Zhang Guan doesn't have to fight with other drivers, he can run at his own pace with peace of mind. In this state, his speed is getting faster and faster, and he is slowly approaching.

On lap 37, Webb, who ranked second, chose to pit for the second time. The time of this pit stop seemed a bit early, Webber obviously hoped to use different strategies to surpass his teammate Vettel, and when Webber walked out of the maintenance area, he ranked behind Zhang Guan, which was the fourth position.

Zhang Guan finally came to the third place, which can be on the podium.

The 20th place on the grid started, and with 19 laps left in the race, Zhang Guan became the third place, and he rose by 17 positions!

And the race is not over yet, there are still 19 laps to go!

"There is a chance, there is a real chance." Ross Brown clenched his fists, and the GPS positioning system showed that Zhang Guan had gradually approached Barrichello.

Barrichello saw the smear of red in the rearview mirror, but the water mist was too large to distinguish the specific appearance.

"Red, Ferrari? Massa has already retired, so only Raikkonen is left. It's impossible, Raikkonen should have stopped, and now he must have completed a pit stop, and I am now It was also a pit stop. I was using light fuel oil and he was heavy fuel. His car was heavier than mine. In the same pit stop, I ran faster than him, and he couldn't catch up with me. "

Thinking of this, Barrichello asked: "Who is the person behind me? Is it Raikkonen?"

"No!" A decisive answer came from the radio: "The one behind you is our boss. It's Zhang Guan!"

"What? There are still eighteen laps left in the race, and he has already caught up with me? He is the last one to start! He has risen seventeen positions so quickly!" Barrichello's surprised voice was transmitted through the radio. Back to the team.

"The boss is one second faster than you every lap, and he will be able to catch up with you in a short time. There are still 18 laps, and I suggest that you can pit on the next lap!" the team engineer said.

"Okay, prepare the tires for me, I will stop." Barrichello said. This is also equivalent to giving up his second place.

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