Speed ​​God

Chapter 62 Great value for money

At home, Song Bo, who was always idle, inconsistent, and only had a short attention span, found a completely new mission for the first time and began to work diligently and tirelessly.

However, Song Bo did not tell Lu Zhizhou any of this for the time being, because Lu Zhizhou was busy with work, so busy that his feet barely touched the ground and his head was spinning.

Literally, real work, and crucial work at that:

Test car.

In Formula 1, the rules are modified every year, and technical directives are even issued mid-season to reinterpret the boundaries of the rules. Therefore, teams need to design a completely new car every year according to the rules. If it is a major change to core components such as aerodynamics or engine, the team may even start designing the car one to two years in advance.

Design, production, and assembly are all part of the process, after which the race car will be tested during the winter break.

Problems are bound to occur during testing, and the race car will need to be returned to the factory for readjustment. The schedule is packed with work before the start of the new season in March.

Here, racing car testing is divided into two parts: simulator testing and actual vehicle testing, and the whole process is tedious and complicated.

The reason Monfati temporarily summoned Lu Zhizhou was that Ferrari's 2016 F1 car testing during the winter break did not meet expectations, and the window of opportunity left for the team to make corrections is now very small. Any problems need to be dealt with quickly, and starting over is basically impossible.

Therefore, the team is now divided into several parts to collaborate. One part continues to work on the actual vehicle follow-up, another part analyzes the data, and the third part returns to the Maranello base to continue retesting in the simulator, discovering problems, and finding solutions.

At this stage, simulator testing is not only focused on the present but also on the upcoming season. As the season progresses, the car will be upgraded step by step, constantly adjusted and improved, in the hope of squeezing out the car's performance and full potential to compete for the championship.

But what if that doesn't work?

These test data will also serve as an important reference for the design of next year's race car. Taking one step forward and considering three steps ahead, the importance of these tests far exceeds imagination.

At this point, these young people from the youth training academy can come in handy, because the testing process can also help them accumulate experience to prepare for F1.

Of course, not everyone is a good fit. Every engineer has their own ideal candidate, and Montfati is no exception.

On the one hand, they need to test a lot of data, which is a heavy workload. The F1 season starts in March and the F2 season starts in April. They are also busy preparing for the season. The GP3 season, which will start in May, does not need to be rushed for the time being.

On the other hand, they need a driver who is perceptive, has a keen sense of the car, and can accurately convey information to achieve efficient communication, assisting the team in collecting data and providing precise advice to quickly improve the car's positioning.

The first choice that came to mind was Lu Zhizhou.

It wasn't that Montfati was biased; the engineers at the Maranello base all liked Lu Zhizhou.

Lu Zhizhou still lacks experience and has a lot to learn; but the key point is that Lu Zhizhou is humble and low-key, and he is not ashamed to ask questions. Every time he asks a question, he can grasp the key points and bring inspiration and stimulate divergent thinking. The person being asked the question often gains something.

In fact, the engineers in Maranello really enjoy communicating with Lu Zhizhou; it not only makes things much more efficient, but they also gain new insights every time.

Of course, the process was not pleasant, and even agonizing. After all, after being bombarded with a barrage of "whys," one is often exhausted. But what's amazing is that the seriousness and tension of the work process eventually turn into laughter and anecdotes, making it a bittersweet experience in retrospect.

Therefore, when Montfati proposed the Continent, all the engineers expressed their approval.

On the contrary, Montfati was unsure whether Lu Zhizhou was willing.

Somewhat surprisingly, Lu Zhizhou readily agreed, as participating in the testing and development of F1 racing cars was an extremely rare opportunity. Lu Cheng and Jiang Mo also nodded in agreement after discussing it.

Jiang Mo thought they should go to Maranello to sign a contract with ART as guardians, see Lu Zhizhou's living environment, and meet with the youth training academy, since the situation is now completely different.

Originally, Jiang Mo didn't want to go and wanted Lu Cheng to go by himself, but in the end, Lu Zhizhou persuaded his mother that the three of them could spend the New Year together. Moreover, Jiang Mo hadn't taken a vacation for many years, so she took this opportunity to travel to Italy. In the end, Jiang Mo couldn't refuse her son's suggestion.

So, the family of three arrived in Maranello one after the other. This was their first time spending the Lunar New Year in a foreign country, and the whole experience was completely different.

Upon arriving in Maranello, Lu Zhizhou immediately joined the simulator testing, entering a busy mode from day one.

As a result, when Lu Cheng and Jiang Mo arrived, Lu Zhizhou was completely preoccupied, and the person responsible for picking them up at the Milan airport and receiving them was a familiar face—

Rosana.

The enthusiastic Rosana fully embraced the role of hostess, not only leading Lu Cheng and Jiang Mo on a tour of the entire Maranello training base and providing detailed explanations of the youth training facilities to ensure they understood every aspect of Lu Zhizhou's life there, but also choosing to host a banquet for Lu Zhizhou's family at her home on New Year's Eve.

"I love the Lunar New Year culture. It's very special and very happy. You could say it's very Italian."

"Just as we shouldn't let our families spend Christmas alone, we shouldn't let you spend Lunar New Year alone. We need to celebrate together."

Rosana did not give Lu Cheng and Jiang Mo a chance to refuse.

By the time they arrived at Rosana's house, it was already too late—

The large family of over fifty people, all of whom were Rosana's family members, collectively welcomed Lu Zhizhou and his family of three.

Lu Zhizhou and his companions had never seen anything like it before. Although they were in Maranello, they experienced a different kind of Lunar New Year, with a lively atmosphere and laughter even without firecrackers.

Jiang Mo and his group did not stay in Maranello for long. They still had work at home, and there were only a few days left of the New Year holiday. Moreover, Lu Zhizhou was also working.

So, after meeting and signing the contract with the ART team, officially meeting with Marchionne, and meeting with the team that Lu Zhizhou is currently working with, and presenting each of them with small gifts such as Peking Opera mask refrigerator magnets as a gesture of goodwill to help Lu Zhizhou build connections; Jiang Mo also thoroughly inspected his son's residence, canteen, and morning exercise route, and after finally understanding Lu Zhizhou's life here, he and Lu Cheng embarked on their journey home.

As he left, Jiang Mo gave Rosana a big hug and sincerely welcomed her to visit their humble abode again.

After that, Lu Zhizhou's life began to become more regular, and he truly became a member of the F1 testing team, entering the world behind the race cars for the first time.

Although Montfati had anticipated this, Lu Zhizhou always managed to surprise everyone during the actual work process.

Their innate, absolute sense of the car always allows them to keenly detect abnormalities. Perhaps they can't find a solution, or perhaps solving one problem might lead to more problems; but the testing process has indeed become more efficient, and Lu Zhizhou, who has only been in Maranello for less than three months, is truly becoming one of them.

Busy times are always like this; you don't even notice the passage of time. It seems like only yesterday that the F1 season started, and the GP3 season is already about to begin.

Lu Zhizhou has finally left Maranello and is about to step onto the real pitch.

　This is the third update today. With the new book launch in its final days, I'm still struggling to climb the charts. I'm desperately begging for your support! Thank you everyone!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)