Chapter 7: 5 Red Lights out !!!
On the Race Day, Senna arrived pretty early he and Jason went out to check the race track before the race. After Senna had fan interaction its safe to majority of attendees were girls
Senna finished his job and returned to the garage to prepare for the race.
At Jason's signal, Senna knew that the first round of F3 was over, and in ten minutes they would move the car and equipment to the maintenance area to prepare for the start of the F2 race.
After indicating that he had received the signal, Senna took the bag containing his racing suit and walked into the team's locker room. He took off his casual clothes, put on a sweat-absorbing and close-fitting cushioning one-piece suit as a base, and then put on the red, white, and green one-piece racing suit of the Prema team.
The weather was hot today, which was good news for racing, but not good news for racers.
So Senna just put on the pants of the racing suit and tied the sleeves of the upper body around his waist like he tied his coat when he was a child.
It was very convenient to do this, unlike Vettel, who left his two sleeves hanging beside his body and swung them around when walking.
After putting on his clothes, Senna went to the track alone. At this time, many team staff were pushing racing cars, tyres, tire-changing equipment, and tire-changing tools towards the maintenance area and the track.
If you looked down, you could see the crowd pouring from the temporary P room of F2 to the track.
When he arrived at the maintenance area, his car had been pushed onto the track by Sui Wentao and others.
In the maintenance area, he found his water bottle, in-ear noise-cancelling headphones, sweat-absorbing headgear, helmet, gloves, and steering wheel.
After taking this equipment, Senna went to the track.
There is a connecting exit between the track and the maintenance area, but in the middle, Senna had to pass by many vehicles to walk from there to his car.
At this time, there were more than ten minutes before the F2 broadcast started, which allowed for a certain amount of spare time, so Senna walked slowly all the way.
he asked Sui Wentao: "Is it possible to rain during this race?"
Sui Wentao had obviously checked the weather forecast a long time ago. After hearing Senna's question, he didn't think about it and immediately answered: "The probability of rain is less than 15%, and there is basically no possibility of rain during the race."
Senna nodded in understanding.
Sui Wentao then said, "The car has been checked for you in advance, and it's in good condition. It's up to you to perform."
Senna gave him a thumbs up: "Just watch, I've got this."
Then he took a sip of the health potion in the kettle and put on all the equipment.
Although the sun was very strong now and it would be very hot after putting on the racing suit, there were less than 10 minutes left before the start of the race, so the heat would not last long. In addition, Senna saw a red parasol with the Prema team logo stuck in the trolley where Sui Wentao had put the tyres.
After putting on the equipment, Senna jumped on the spot, moved his limbs, and then sat in the monocoque of the car with the help of Sui Wentao.
After entering the car, Senna locked the headrest, installed the steering wheel, and started the car's system. During the self-check of the car system, Senna plugged his headphones into the TR system in the car.
"Hello, hello? Can you hear me?"
Jason's voice sounded: "Yes, very clear."
"Got it..."
After testing the status of TR as a routine, Senna turned his head to look at the audience seats above the P room.
There was a beautiful figure looking at him. When he saw her looking at him, a bright smile suddenly appeared on her face. Senna didn't know who it was, but he slightly waved him to greet his audience. The girl saw Senna waving to her and waved back at him lightly.
After retracting his gaze, Senna was ready to prepare his car.
After a set of routine operations, Senna felt that he might encounter many accidents today, but it was absolutely impossible for him to encounter an accident where the car retired due to mechanical failure.
Sui Wentao, who had been holding an umbrella next to Senna to shade him, obviously saw Senna's set of actions. He didn't say anything about it. After all, there were also many drivers who would perform some special rituals like Senna before the start of the race to bless themselves with relatively good luck in the upcoming race.
Senna's preparations were complete, and the five starting lights in the distance also lit up at the same time.
At this time, the five red lights were not for the start of the race, but to indicate that all drivers should get into their cars within one minute, as the race was about to begin.
It was not until this time that Senna saw Zhou Guanyu rushing over.
Fortunately, his equipment was already on by this time.
When Zhou Guanyu passed by Senna, he turned his head to look at Senna, who was already seated in the car.
The director switched the camera to the track.
At this time, one of the five red lights on the track had gone out, leaving only four red lights still on.
The meaning of only four red lights remaining is to remind the team staff to evacuate the track as soon as possible, as the race is about to begin.
So after the four red lights came on, Sui Wentao reached out and shook hands with Senna and said, "It's time. Good luck out there."
Senna nodded and replied, "Thanks, watch me take the lead."
As the staff evacuated, there were only three red lights left. At this time, in addition to the FIA staff, there were only a few team members on the track making final preparations.
Soon the three red lights turned into two, and after the two red lights appeared, the drivers on the track started the engines of their F2 cars one after another.
The roar of 22 engines resounded throughout the stadium.
At this time, all the team members had withdrawn from the track, leaving only the official FIA staff and Matthew, wearing an FIA vest, standing on both sides of the track to confirm the situation of the car and the track.
As the last two red lights went out one by one, Matthew was the only one left on the entire track.
At this time, Senna no longer felt any nervousness. After sitting in the car, he was the same as countless times before. His emotions were calmed down, his brain was empty, and only the knowledge about racing remained.
It was as if he was born to do this job.
The yellow flag waved at the back, and the red light turned green at the fifth station.
Zhou Guanyu and Senna, who were at the front, drove out of their grids as soon as possible, and the warm-up lap for the race began. Senna also wore out his tires as much as possible during the warm-up lap so that his tyres would have sufficient grip at the start of the race.
Today's weather temperature was relatively high, and the track temperature was also good, so Senna's tyre wear was not so serious. After all, he used soft tyres at the beginning of the race to test how many laps his soft tyres could run in the current environment.
It also served as a rehearsal for tomorrow's sprint race. Although the team's calculation was based on Senna's tyre wear, estimating that a set of soft tyres could run a full 28 laps of the sprint race, Senna still wanted to test the degradation of this set of soft tyres in actual conditions.
Soon, the warm-up lap ended, and Zhou Guanyu and Senna parked in their grids.
Senna's parking this time was not perfect, and there was about 10 cm between the tyres and the white line.
However, this distance did not have a big impact on the next start.
Senna had practised starting during the practice race, so he was familiar with the following operations.
When the F2 cars in the back row entered the starting grid and the safety car stopped at the end of the team, the F2 race was about to begin.
Soon, the race steward at the end of the team waved the green flag in his hand, and five red lights came on one by one.
The racers in the team put the car in neutral and slightly stepped on the accelerator.
Senna didn't know how the others started, but he kept his engine speed at about 6000 rpm, staring at the five red lights above, and then pressed the clutch button after the five red lights went out.
Amid the roar of the twenty-one F2 engines, the five red lights went out, and Senna also pressed the clutch button at the same time. The clutch gear coupled with the engine, and the rear wheels of the red Prema racing car started instantly, launching the car out of the starting grid.
Senna's start was perfect this time, much better than Zhou Guanyu's, and his reaction was at least 0.2 seconds faster.
0.2 seconds may actually feel like just a moment, but this 0.2 seconds is a significant advantage in the sport of racing, where milliseconds are crucial.
So before the traffic entered T1, Senna had already surpassed Zhou Guanyu and seized first place with his excellent starting ability.
After ensuring he had taken the lead and Zhou Guanyu was no longer a threat, Senna glanced at the vehicles behind him.
He had no intention of relaxing. After surpassing Zhou Guanyu, Senna aggressively defended his outer line, using the widest track width possible and aiming for the fastest exit speed from the corner.
Zhou Guanyu, understanding Senna's fierce defensive capability, knew overtaking him would be extremely difficult. Therefore, Zhou focused on defending his position against his teammate, Callum Ilott, who had also started strong.
Although Ilott drove a red car, he was from the same team as Zhou Guanyu.
With an excellent start, after Senna overtook Zhou Guanyu, Ilott also managed to pass Zhou Guanyu on the inside with his speed.
With just one start, Zhou Guanyu dropped two positions, from first to third.
"Five red lights go out and the race begins!"
"Senna's start was phenomenal, he overtook Zhou Guanyu before entering T1!"
"Zhou Guanyu's teammate Ilott also had an amazing start, moving up two places to second just by the start!"
"However, Zhou Guanyu held firmly to the outside line, and even if Ilott overtook him at the start, he had to take the inside when entering T1."
Just as predicted, although Zhou Guanyu lost two places at the start, he kept the outside line when exiting the T1 corner, giving him a higher exit speed than Ilott who took the inside line. On the long straight road between T1 and T3, Zhou Guanyu had a clear speed advantage.
So after entering the straight road, Zhou Guanyu began to catch up with Ilott at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Even before reaching T2, Zhou Guanyu was on the outside line.
Because Zhou Guanyu took the outside line before entering T2, when passing the right turn of T2, he directly surpassed Ilott by half a car length.
But the next right turn was a slow-speed turn. Ilott, who was on the inside, could squeeze into the inside by braking late and overtaking Zhou Guanyu.
With this in mind, Ilott kept the inside line when exiting T1, aiming to retake his position.
But Senna was not one to ease off. He was aggressive, keeping his lines tight and forcing Ilott to take riskier moves. Senna's fierce determination and relentless pace put pressure on everyone chasing him, asserting his dominance early in the race.
Senna's aggressive driving style continued to pay off as he maintained a tight line and accelerated with precision. His focus was unyielding, and he pushed the car to its limits, determined to extend his lead.
Zhou Guanyu, having overtaken Ilott momentarily, found himself under intense pressure. Ilott wasn't backing down; he was right on Zhou's tail, looking for any opportunity to retake his position. The battle between the two teammates was fierce, but Zhou's determination kept him ahead, at least for now.
Ahead of them, Senna was a force to be reckoned with. He approached each corner with a blend of aggression and skill, expertly balancing the car through the curves and maximizing his speed on the straights. His eyes flicked to the rearview mirror occasionally, ensuring that his lead remained unchallenged.
And this gap was gradually widening at a speed visible to the naked eye. After the first lap, the gap reached 1.7 seconds, 2.1 seconds in the second lap, and 2.9 seconds in the third lap.
Senna was at least 0.6 seconds faster than Ilott in every lap.
Zhou Guanyu was also left behind by Senna by 1 second before the DRS was activated in the race.
It's not that Zhou Guanyu didn't want to catch up; he simply couldn't.
Even if he managed to catch a bit of Senna's slipstream, the gap continued to widen.
From Zhou Guanyu's perspective, Senna's driving seemed almost machine-like. Every action—braking, turning, cutting, or exiting a corner—was executed perfectly, pushing the car to its limit while minimizing tyre wear.
Zhou Guanyu, in comparison, had some flaws. His timing might be off by just a meter, his entry angles are slightly askew. Individually, these were minor issues, but over time, they accumulated, preventing him from catching Senna.
After the third lap, Zhou Guanyu settled into his own pace, realizing he couldn't match Senna's speed.
Then...
Senna and Zhou Guanyu disappeared from the main broadcast.
By the seventh lap, Senna had opened up a 2.5-second gap from Zhou Guanyu, and a 3.6-second gap from Ilott.
Because it was an F2 race, the director preferred to showcase more of the field rather than focusing on the leading cars. When the broadcast did show the tighter corners, Senna's car was usually nowhere to be seen, having already sped through.
On the eighth lap, Senna set the fastest lap: 1:17.667.
By the ninth lap, Senna began lapping other racers. The first to be lapped was Yuki Tsunoda, who had encountered a mechanical failure and had to pit early. He rejoined the track just ahead of Senna, who caught and passed him within two laps under the blue flag.
On the eleventh lap, British driver Jack Aitken pitted for hard tyres, with 29 laps still remaining.
Meanwhile, Senna again set the fastest lap: 1:17.555.
On the twelfth lap, the pit window opened, and three cars pitted for tyre changes.
By the thirteenth lap, Senna's lead over Zhou Guanyu had extended to 6.5 seconds, while Zhou Guanyu's gap to Ilott slightly increased to 1.7 seconds.
The commentator remarked, "This looks like an F1 driver dropping into F2 ..."
On the 18th lap, Zhou Guanyu pitted for new tyres. The pit stop was flawless, taking just 6.2 seconds.
After rejoining the race, Zhou Guanyu found himself in sixth place, just ahead of Russian driver Artem Makarov, who had not yet pitted.
Senna continued to dominate, his lead unchallenged. His precise and aggressive driving style was unmatched, and his team was confident in their strategy. The race continued, with Senna maintaining his focus, his eyes on the prize as he pushed toward a seemingly inevitable victory.
On the 22nd lap, almost all the drivers on the grid opted to pit for hard tyres. However, there was one exception—Senna remained out on track, still pushing his soft tyres to the limit.
As the other cars filtered into the pits, Senna continued to set blistering lap times. On this particular lap, he unleashed his full potential, setting a new fastest lap time of 1:17.332.
His decision to stay out on the soft tyres raised eyebrows in the pit lane. Would he be able to maintain his pace until the end of the race, or would tire degradation become a factor?
For now, Senna remained focused, his eyes fixed firmly on the track ahead. He was determined to extract every last ounce of performance from his tyres, pushing himself and his car to the absolute limit.
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Senna Started his First F2 race, Will his tyres fail or will he be crowned champion? More chapters are coming soon.
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