"This JS53 car adopts a new generation of chassis architecture, and the drag coefficient is nearly 0.05 lower than the previous generation, but the wind tunnel optimization of the front and rear fixed wings ensures that the car can still maintain sufficient downforce at high speeds."

Charlie began to explain to Zhang Yifei the principle of the aerodynamic layout of the car modification, so that he could better understand the new car he was about to drive.

You must know that the most important part of F1 cars is about aerodynamic design, and every F1 car needs many wind tunnel tests from development to finalization, which is also one of the most expensive parts of car development.

And it's not just the wind tunnel test that burns money, the construction of the wind tunnel itself is not cheap, the cost of a wind tunnel is about 60 million to 100 million US dollars, this high price, directly dispels the idea of many teams to enter F1.

After all, the standard of burning money is here, and hundreds of millions of dollars are smashed into it, not to mention competing with other teams on the track, and even the "basic equipment" can't be put together, what is this better than?

Therefore, in order to lower the entry standard of F1 teams, the FIA, the "king of ideas", announced that the two teams could share a wind tunnel and adopt a "shared" way to reduce expenses.

This idea is actually correct, but it is a pity that the technology content of F1 in later generations is too high, and it can no longer be solved by sharing a wind tunnel. Small teams or private teams with no money are not opponents of big manufacturers at all, and Mercedes-Benz's winning rate of up to 80% also shows that the balance of the event has actually been broken.

But in this era, still in the era of competition for supremacy, even the strongest Ferrari, other teams have not lost the confidence to challenge it. Even the teams at the bottom, such as Prost and Minardi, did not choose to give up on their fate.

"This time the chassis has a sandwich structure, with a honeycomb aluminum plate in the middle and an outer layer of carbon fiber. However, the carbon fiber material has enough rigidity, but not enough toughness, so we injected epoxy resin before the carbon fiber outer plate was formed to ensure the combination of rigidity and toughness of the entire chassis. ”

Listening to Charlie's explanation, Zhang Yifei kept nodding seriously. Because he knows that the quality of the chassis will determine the handling of the whole car and, more importantly, the safety after an accident.

Therefore, the chassis of F1 cars is as light as possible and strong enough. In this way, in the event of an accident, the driver's life can be safeguarded.

In terms of racing power, it uses the 3.0LV10 engine developed by the new generation of Peugeot of France. Due to the problem of high failure rate last season, Peugeot reduced the power output to 890P horsepower this time, and the top speed is 19,000 rpm. ”

Last season, Prost had a completion rate of less than 30 per cent, with drivers retiring almost every time, mostly due to engine failures.

This tragic performance has put a lot of pressure on Peugeot, and the previous 930P horsepower has almost squeezed out the potential of the engine, and it is easy to have engine failures such as cylinder bursts.

Therefore, in order to enhance stability, they adopted a less extreme engine setting this time, reducing both the maximum horsepower and the fastest rev, so as to avoid the tragedy of last season repeating this year's F1 season of Prost Racing Team.

But when he heard this parameter, Zhang Yifei frowned, before 06 years, FIA has not limited the number of cylinders to 8 cylinders, and the displacement is not limited to 2.4L, the power is actually an upward trend, and the maximum power of many F1 engines has actually exceeded 1,000 horsepower.

According to normal logic, Peugeot uses a new engine to ensure stability, even if the horsepower does not increase, it should not decrease. Could this kind of reversing behavior also be regarded as a "new generation of R&D" event engine?

Zhang Yifei was very puzzled in his heart, but he didn't say it, because if it wasn't for the special bar, in fact, the 890 horsepower of the F1 car was enough.

It's like F1 cars have no problem breaking through the limit speed of 400km/h, but in fact, on the track, the fastest speed of F1 can reach 360km/h, which is already considered the sky, and it can only be driven at such a limit speed on a very small number of specific track sections.

So this is just Zhang Yifei's inner speculation, and it's not good to really say that there is a problem with the Peugeot engine. If you don't know anything professionally, it's best not to jump to conclusions, at least wait until you have tested it yourself to get the answer.

Charlie then introduced several aerodynamic components to Zhang Yifei, the most important of which is the height of the racing chassis and so on.

The height of the chassis is also where the F1 team is always looking for a balance, and theoretically the lower the chassis, the better, so as to minimize the lifting force caused by the air passing under the chassis.

In fact, compared with the power and weight of F1 cars, as long as the body and aerodynamic package are not well designed, the front of the car can be cocked and somersaulted directly with one foot of the accelerator.

Therefore, the aerodynamic design of F1 emphasizes downforce as much as possible and puts the chassis to a minimum.

However, the problem brought about by this is that when there is a large turn, there is a chance that what we usually call "hanging bottom" will occur.

In the eighties and nineties, it was common to see sparks flying on the track due to the bottom of the car. Even when there was an accident at the Seine corner, it was suspected that the reason for the understeer was not only the speed and steering mechanism of the car itself, but also the bottom.

Later, in order to ensure the safety of drivers, the FIA also imposed a minimum height limit on the height of the racing car chassis. However, in the process of racing, with the loss of tires or the decrease of tire pressure, the height of the car will gradually decrease in the later stage.

Therefore, the chassis height setting is also a very complex problem, and different judgments must be made according to the track conditions and driving time.

The reason why F1 has become the most high-tech automobile race on the planet is that it is thought that the requirements for technology in all aspects have been pursued to the extreme!

After the JS53 car performance explanation was completed, the next step was the testing phase, but the first round of testing was not Zhang Yifei, but the team's veteran Alessi for the first test.

Because Alessi is also a veteran for more than ten years, he is also very familiar with the winter test track venue, and can feedback the problems of the car at the first time and make the best adjustments.

Zhang Yifei has no opinion on this. Although he doesn't think he is a very modest person, he definitely has his name in the F1 paddock, and he is a rookie in the field.

For the fields that you are not good at and understand, take a good look and study hard is the truth!

The JS53 car was ready to be tested on the track, and Zhang Yifei and Kosell stood outside the pit in advance, because at this moment, some teams that arrived early on the track had already started their own winter tests.

Zhang Yifei's goal is naturally on Schumacher, he wants to see what kind of lap time Schumacher can run on the winter test track at his peak. In this way, I have a reference standard, and I dare not say that I can surpass Schumacher's speed, at least not too far behind.

It's just a pity that the Ferrari team on the track has not yet started testing, and the three teams that are winter testing on it are Renault, McLaren and Minaldi.

Although Ferrari has not yet started winter testing, McLaren is also a giant among the three teams, so Zhang Yifei quickly set his sights on the McLaren team. It's just that they are all test cars now, and the driver number is not printed on the body, so Zhang Yifei doesn't know who the specific driver is.

"Little one, I didn't expect to see you in the F1 paddock so soon."

A familiar voice came from behind him, and Zhang Yifei looked back to find Niki Lauda standing behind him, looking at him with a kind smile on his face.

"Hello, Mr. Lauda."

Zhang Yifei greeted politely, Niki Lauda is not only his predecessor, but also a legendary driver of F1, respect is the basic etiquette.

"Don't be so polite, when I first saw you at the Nürburgring, I felt you had a lot of potential. It's just that you're improving faster than I thought, signing for Prost from a junior driver to Renault in a few months, and seeing you on the winter test track today really makes me feel that there is a lot to be done as a young person. ”

In addition to praise, there was also a trace of regret in Lauda's tone, after all, he had already seen Zhang Yifei's potential. It's just that the internal factions of the Jaguar team are too complicated, and the "old" faction of the European Stewart team and the Ford faction of the American parent company are fighting inextricably, and any important decision has the other party to make a trip.

In this situation, it is difficult to sign a pure newcomer like Zhang Yifei to become a team driver. So Lauda could only regret missing it in the end, and then watched Zhang Yifei grow step by step, from an unknown Formula Renault newcomer to today's F1 driver.

"Mr. Lauda, you have a good reputation, it's a good time to praise me now, at least after I win a few championships, then talk about it."

Hearing Zhang Yifei's words, Lauda felt humble at first, but soon he understood another meaning in his words, the Chinese kid is now thinking about winning a few championships.

But it's normal to think about it, if Zhang Yifei didn't have this self-confidence and sharpness, it would be impossible for him to stand out from the Renault Formula and gain a firm foothold in F1.

"Very well, then I'll see if you win the championship first, or if another talented newcomer on the track becomes the champion first."

"Another one on the track?"

When Zhang Yifei heard this, he was a little puzzled in his mind, who was the other one? However, he soon remembered that Kimi Raikkonen had been selected by Sauber and had jumped to McLaren, a Big Three, the following year, as their full driver.

And this season, Kimi began to show his amazing talent, finishing sixth in the drivers' standings with McLaren, which was not leading in performance. Unfortunately, Kimmy's best result was second in the race and he didn't win a title.

At this time, Zhang Yifei looked at the McLaren car on the track, his eyes were a little blurry, he didn't expect that he had become a genius newcomer alongside Kimi, it seems that just like the trembling of ice and fire in history, he may stage a battle of twin stars with Kimi in advance.

"Mr. Lauda, I don't know if you've seen one of my interviews."

"What interview?"

Niki Lauda shook his head, he was not interested in any of these media interviews.

"That's what I once said, I'm going to win Kimi Raikkonen!"

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