novelODS Chapter 80: Is Overtaking Difficult?
Chapter 80: Is Overtaking Difficult?
Chapter 80: Is Overtaking Difficult?
Exiting Turn 11 — Verstappen is half a car ahead!
The two cars entered Turn 12 side by side, staggered!
Turn 12 is a high-speed corner, and there is a straight section between Turn 12 and Turn 13. These are Red Bull's advantageous sections, which make it easier for Verstappen to gradually extend his lead!
Verstappen completely overtook Tangcher in the early part of the straight!
This was an aggressive overtaking maneuver—turns 11 and 12 are not traditional overtaking points on this track; the turns are narrow, the cornering speeds are high, and overtaking is difficult and very risky!
But Verstappen successfully overtook him!
However, the remaining straight wasn't enough for Verstappen to completely shake off Tanger!
Turns 13 and 14 present an opportunity for Tang Che to attack!
Before turn 13, Tangche hit the outside line!
Verstappen cuts into the paint!
The two race cars were side by side—Tanter took the crossover line! He took the lead!
This was an even more aggressive overtaking maneuver!
First, the overtaking space at Turn 13 is limited, and the margin for error when using the crossing line is extremely low. Second, the transition section between Turns 13 and 14 is very narrow; if Tangtler fails to overtake smoothly at Turn 13, not only will the line be immediately closed, but there is also a significant risk of a crash!
Before Tanger, taking the intersecting route here was only theoretically feasible; now, Tanger has turned theory into reality!
The two top drivers took turns performing difficult overtaking maneuvers to compete for the lead, which thrilled the audience, who cheered deafeningly!
Audience member: Watching Toncher and Max Verstappen grapple together is like drinking fine wine, it's intoxicating!
They kept drinking, one glass after another!
After turning 14, there's a long straight road, immediately followed by turning 1.
How could Tang Che, driving an AT03, possibly outrun Verstappen, driving an RB18, on a straightaway?
Turn 1, Turn 2, and Turn 3 are inevitably filled with attack and defense!
Turn 1 is a corner where you have to compete with your brakes, but Tancher doesn't compete with Verstappen with his brakes!
Tanger changed lanes before the braking zone, braked early, and cut into the apex of the corner early, blocking the inside lane space and giving Verstappen no chance to brake late to overtake!
Verstappen was helpless!
We held onto Turn 1, and we held onto Turns 2 and 3 too!
However, Tangche's lead will be more precarious this lap, as it is already the 3rd lap, the DRS is available, and the DRS zone is right after turn 7!
In the Drs zone after Turn 7, Verstappen did not launch an attack because his speed advantage was not significant enough, and overtaking was not easy at Turn 8.
Verstappen was also on the Dr.S. inspection line after Turn 9.
This time, Verstappen didn't wait for the Drs Zone after Turn 11; he tried to overtake on the inside line at Turn 10!
Tang Che has blocked the line!
Verstappen activates DRRS after passing the DRRS activation point before Turn 12!
Does Verstappen have enough top speed to launch an attack at Turn 13? Yes! But not the overwhelming top speed advantage he has at Baku!
There's not much room to overtake on Turn 13!
Tangche held his line firmly! Maintaining the lead!
This track is not as easy to overtake as it looks. There are indeed many overtaking points, but the Drs section is not long and there is little space to overtake, so it is still quite difficult to overtake.
Verstappen and Tontatta's two previous overtaking maneuvers, one was a sudden move at an unconventional overtaking point, and the other was an overtaking maneuver at a conventional overtaking point that was not conventional for that point. Both of them had the flavor of a surprise attack, and their successful overtaking was to some extent due to the fact that the other party was slightly caught off guard.
Both sides are now on high alert. Whether it's an unconventional or conventional overtaking point, or a conventional or unconventional overtaking method, overtaking is no longer easy.
Even with DR, Verstappen would have to put in some effort to get rid of Tancher.
And sure enough, Verstappen is stuck at Turn 1 again.
Verstappen wasn't in a hurry at all, and was even chuckling in the TR chat: "Oh~ Come on~ Himalayas~"
"Focus on the game, Max," GP said in the TR. "Sainz just passed Alonso, he's now down by 1 point."
3 seconds.
Verstappen doesn't laugh.
Previously, with Alan Rodriguez blocking Sainz, Verstappen could fight Tontatta without any worries; now that Sainz has overtaken Rodriguez and is about to catch up, Verstappen can no longer entangle with Tontatta for long.
Verstappen would be better off overtaking Taunter before Sainz closes in on him, otherwise a point-1 contest could turn into a point-2 contest.
Verstappen is ready for a fierce attack!
But before Verstappen could launch his attack, Sainz had already closed the gap to within a second of Verstappen.
After Turn 9, Verstappen and Sainz both have Dr. RS testing lines.
Although TouGe was overtaken by Sainz, he stayed close behind Sainz for less than a second, so TouGe also had drs.
The cupping king caught up to the head brother within 1 second, and also had drs.
The five cars in the front row pulled the DRS high-speed train!
This is quite rare in the entire history of F1.
However, among the DRS high-speed trains, only Verstappen has the opportunity and the willingness to advance.
Sainz, Tou Ge, and the Cupping King were not far enough to launch an attack.
Even if he has enough distance to attack, Sainz will not move forward.
If Sainz attacks Verstappen, who knows how many laps it will take to get past him? By then, Tanger will probably have pulled far ahead of Sainz.
It's clear that Sainz's attack on Verstappen would be doing Tanger a huge favor, which is why Sainz wouldn't allow it.
Sainz would rather wait until Verstappen surpasses Tanger before attacking Tanger.
It's okay to lose to Verstappen, but it's not okay to lose to Tanger!
Anyway, he wouldn't be left behind by Taunter, so Sainz just watched and waited for Taunter to drop to P2.
Sainz was quite certain that Tanger would fall off in five or six laps at most.
Simply put, the difference between Toncher's AT03 and Verstappen's RB18 is too great.
Sainz is currently thinking about how to deal with the situation if Tanger plays the same trick as in Miami.
As for the leader behind him, even if the leader might catch up to Sainz's attack range, Sainz is not worried at all.
Generally speaking, in a high-speed train, only the train after the locomotive can easily catch up with the train in front. The trains behind it are relatively more difficult to catch up with the train in front because their speed cancels out the speed of the train in front. To catch up with the train in front, you either need to have better performance or hope that the train in front is blocked by the train in front of you.
Aoge's Alpine car is definitely not as good as Sainz's Ferrari, but Sainz is being held back by Tontatta and Verstappen, which gives Aoge a chance to catch up with Sainz.
This also gave the Cupping King a chance to catch up with Brother Tou.
Sainz was certain that Boss and Cupping King would fight each other and wouldn't pose a threat to him, so Sainz wasn't worried about Boss behind him.
Of course, Sainz can wait for a chance to get past two opponents while staying in the back, although the chances of this happening are slim, it's not impossible.
With Sainz watching from the sidelines, Verstappen was a little uncomfortable. Sainz was already behind Verstappen, and no matter what Sainz's intentions were, Verstappen had to devote some of his energy to defending against Sainz. Consequently, he couldn't attack with as much full force.
So Sainz actually helped Tanger share some of the pressure.
Late lap 8, at turn 1 again, Verstappen is back!
Verstappen cut into the paint this time!
Tang Che took the outside line and fought his way through the corner!
The two cars collided wheel-to-wheel in the corner! Tancher spun! Tancher went off the track!
Fortunately, the collision did not cause significant damage to the vehicle, and fortunately, the area that the car crashed through was not a guardrail but a wide asphalt buffer zone, allowing Tangche to make a detour and return to the track.
But this wasted too much time, and Sainz, who was very close behind, went straight past!
Tang Che dropped to P3.
Tang Che: "Damn!"
In this situation, any other driver would have been cursing non-stop, but Townteau only uttered that one curse. Rather than continuing to vent his emotions, Townteau was more concerned about whether he could continue racing.
Tang Che calmly asked in the TR, "How's the racing?"
Mattia immediately replied: "The remote sensing data is normal, and there appears to be no damage to the vehicle."
Tang Che remained calm: "How did the FIA rule?"
From Tang Che's perspective, this collision resulted from both players pushing themselves too hard, and both are partly to blame. However, in competitive sports, things aren't always as you see them; they're determined by the organizers. So, you'd better pray that the competition is fair.
Mattia: "The FIA has documented the incident and is investigating."
Tang Che: "Who's behind me now? How much ahead am I?"
Mattia: "Leading Fernando by 0.7 seconds, Fernando is battling Hamilton and won't threaten you for a while—Perez has malfunctioned! Second timeout yellow—upgraded to virtual safety car!"
Whenever a virtual safety car or safety car appears on the track, whether or not to pit becomes a question that every team must consider.
Red Bull summoned Verstappen to the pit stop.
AlphaToli summoned Tanger to the station.
Tang Che: "Is Fernando or Hamilton going to the station?"
According to Tontatta, pitting was not an option, depending on the strategy of their direct rivals. The team probably thought that Tontatta was unlikely to compete with Verstappen and Sainz for position now, and was more likely to compete with Alan and Ricardo. Therefore, the team's decision to pit Tontatta was likely in line with Alan's or Ricardo's strategy.
"Hamilton is going to pit," Mattia added. "Judging from the battle between Hamilton and Fernando in the last lap, Fernando was struggling a bit."
The implication is that the main threat lies with Hamilton, while the threat from the leader is not significant.
Of course, I'm not saying that Brother Tou is bad, but rather that Brother Tou's car is terrible—Brother Tou's race car seems to have some problems. Its performance on the straights is unusually poor. Take this lap just now, for example. Brother Tou was struggling and almost got overtaken by Cupping King.
Anyway, Alfa Romeo's decision to call in Toncher is a strategy similar to that of the "cupping king".
Tang Che: "Okay, I'll get on the train right away."
Townche, Verstappen, and Hamilton all came in, what do you say?
Wofaz called Sainz to the pit.
Vofa's reasoning was this: if Sainz pitted normally, he would lose 9 seconds more than Verstappen and Tangcher. Sainz would likely not be able to completely erase those 9 seconds before pitting, meaning he would fall behind Tangcher after exiting the pits. Tangcher could then hold Sainz for another ten laps or so—and Verstappen would win the title. To preserve Sainz's chances of winning, Vofa called him to pit.
Sainz also saw this strategic change as reasonable, and he obeyed the team's instructions.
Verstappen enters the station, Sainz enters the station, Townche enters—but he doesn't!
Mattia was utterly shocked and bewildered: "What are you doing?"
Tang Che said calmly, "I suddenly feel that it's a bit too early to enter the station now. Let's stick to the original plan."
Tang Che's idea wasn't impulsive; he had a plan!
Tang Che never intended to enter the station! He only agreed to enter in TR to trick Sainz into doing so!
I'm doing this for no other reason than for the position!
Tanger didn't keep an eye on Hamilton; he kept his eyes on Verstappen and Sainz!
Verstappen and Sainz are now in the pits, and will likely use their second timeout later in the game. After their second timeout, they might fall behind Tangcher, who used his first timeout. At that point, Verstappen will likely be able to break through Tangcher's defense before the end of the game, but Sainz might not have enough time to do so. In that case, Tangcher will use his second timeout to bring Tangcher back. Even if Sainz breaks through Tangcher's defense, Tangcher will still use his third timeout.
If he goes into the pit, he can only follow behind Verstappen and Sainz to guard P3; if he doesn't go into the pit, he'll be sitting on a 3-for-2 gamble. Of course, Tangche chose not to go into the pit!
As for whether this "sit 3, bet 2" strategy is too bold—Tanter is confident that his abilities can underpin this strategy!
Normally, when faced with a driver who acts on his own initiative, the team would be furious, but Towne is different. Towne is the driver who carries the team.
Without Tontero, Alfa Romeo is just an average mid-table or even lower-middle-table team, and they would be lucky to get one podium finish per season. With Tontero, Alfa Romeo is on a constant whim of getting on the podium!
The podium isn't just for show; each podium represents a huge amount of points, and huge amounts of points mean huge amounts of prize money!
With one more player like Tang Che, the team will receive tens of millions more in bonuses at the end of the year!
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Tanger is the father of the entire team!
The team was too busy treating Tang Che like royalty to even dare to breathe on him.
AlphaTori Strategy Group: Tom must have his reasons for doing this; we just need to trust him.
Meanwhile, on the other side, upon learning that Towne hadn't entered the station, Sainz was absolutely furious, his anger reaching a fever pitch. He immediately transformed into a telegraph operator, shouting: "****! ****! *****! ****!"
Towards the end of lap 10, the virtual safety car was removed, and Mattia simultaneously reported in the TR: "Leading Fernando by 0.8 seconds, leading Verstappen by 9.6 seconds."
Although Aoge was one second behind Tang Che, his Alpine car, even with DR's on, couldn't catch up to Tang Che's attack range and couldn't put any pressure on him.
With clean air in the lead and no pressure behind him, Tang Che started pushing!
Of course, it's not about pushing tires recklessly, but about maximizing lap times while ensuring they reach their expected lifespan. This is a concrete example of what you all often refer to as tire management.
On lap 12, Mattia reported in the radio: "Leading Fernando by 0.83 seconds and Verstappen by 9.8 seconds."
On his first lap after leaving the pits, Verstappen's new white tires hadn't reached operating temperature, so it was normal for Taunter, using the old yellow tires, to be 0.2 seconds faster than Verstappen on his lap.
We'll see if Tanger can outpace Verstappen once Verstappen's white tires are in working order.
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