F1 in Spain: An old-fashioned strategy fight can still be thrilling
F1 in Spain: An old-fashioned strategy fight can still be thrilling
西班牙大奖赛：传统的策略博弈依然扣人心弦
Formula 1 raced in Spain this past weekend. The Barcelona-Catalunya circuit is one of F1’s purpose-built race tracks, with a number of fast corners and a track surface that’s more abrasive than usual. That means downforce is the name of the game. 上周末，一级方程式赛车（F1）在西班牙举行。巴塞罗那-加泰罗尼亚赛道是F1专门建造的赛道之一，拥有多个高速弯道，且赛道表面比一般赛道更具磨损性。这意味着下压力是比赛的关键。
Catalunya has always required good aerodynamics, but it’s doubly important now. The more speed you can carry through a corner, the less energy you have to add on the following straight, and energy management is now as important in F1 as it is at Le Mans or in Formula E or even IndyCar. And the more downforce you have, the less the car slides, and the less the car slides, the less the tires get eaten up. 加泰罗尼亚赛道一直对空气动力学有很高的要求，而现在这一点显得尤为重要。你在弯道中保持的速度越快，在随后的直道上需要额外补充的能量就越少。如今，能量管理在F1中的重要性已不亚于勒芒24小时耐力赛、电动方程式（Formula E）甚至印地赛车（IndyCar）。此外，下压力越大，赛车打滑就越少，而打滑越少，轮胎的磨损也就越小。
It’s the tire wear that suggested the strategies. So far, all the races this season have been one-stop affairs as drivers make their required change from one tire compound to another. But 66 laps of Catalunya would require at least three sets of Pirelli tires to get to the end. Maybe even four. 正是轮胎磨损决定了比赛策略。到目前为止，本赛季的所有比赛都是“一停”策略，车手们只需按规定更换一次轮胎配方。但在加泰罗尼亚赛道进行66圈的比赛，至少需要三套倍耐力轮胎才能完赛，甚至可能需要四套。
As the tires wear, they become slower, to the tune of 0.2–0.3 seconds per lap. And one way to exploit that is with an “undercut”—pit early, change onto fresh rubber, and make use of the tire offset against your rivals to put in fast laps while they’re losing time. Do it right, and when they make their next pit stop, you should be in front. 随着轮胎磨损，圈速会变慢，每圈大约损失0.2到0.3秒。利用这一点的途径之一是“超车策略”（undercut）——提前进站换上新胎，利用轮胎性能差在对手损失时间时跑出快圈。如果操作得当，当对手进行下一次进站时，你就应该能排在他们前面。
Splitting the race into four stints means one more pit stop, and it costs about 22 seconds to drive through the pit lane, stop in the box, and then exit the pit lane again, assuming a tire change in less than three seconds. But since each set of tires is needed for fewer laps, they can be worked hard enough to offset that 22-second pit stop and more. 将比赛分为四个赛段意味着要多进一次站。假设换胎时间少于三秒，通过维修区、在维修位停车再驶出，大约会损失22秒。但由于每套轮胎的使用圈数减少，车手可以更激进地驾驶，从而抵消这22秒的进站损失，甚至获得更多优势。
Bold strategies like that don’t always work; the two-stop plan that most teams opted for was the safe, sensible option. But Ferrari didn’t play it safe. It arrived in Spain with a massively upgraded car—new front wing, new floor, new sidepods, and so on. It probably already had the best chassis on the grid, and unlike a couple of years ago, the upgrade it brought to Spain worked well, particularly when driven by a newly resurgent Lewis Hamilton. 这种大胆的策略并不总是奏效；大多数车队选择的“两停”方案是稳妥且明智的选择。但法拉利并没有选择保守。他们带着大幅升级的赛车来到西班牙——包括新的前翼、底板、侧箱等。法拉利可能已经拥有了赛道上最好的底盘，而且与几年前不同的是，这次带到西班牙的升级非常有效，特别是在状态复苏的刘易斯·汉密尔顿驾驶下。
Still got it? The seven-time World Champion suffered a serious loss of form with the introduction of ground effect cars in 2022. Those cars generated downforce mostly from the shape of their underfloor (rather than their wings and diffuser) and had very limited suspension setups. It’s fair to say that Hamilton never gelled with them. 宝刀未老？这位七届世界冠军在2022年引入地面效应赛车后，竞技状态严重下滑。这些赛车主要通过底板形状（而非尾翼和扩散器）产生下压力，且悬挂调校非常受限。可以说，汉密尔顿从未适应过这些赛车。
The 2026 car is much more to Hamilton’s liking. It’s smaller, lighter, and more nimble, and the ground effect-generating floors are gone. It’s much more compatible with his driving style, which involves late, heavy braking before rotating the car at the corner apex. Even more so since he was able to persuade team management that it was worth upsetting long-term partner Brembo—a relationship that stretches over 50 years—to switch to his preferred brake pad supplier, Carbon Industrie. 2026款赛车非常符合汉密尔顿的口味。它更小、更轻、更灵活，且不再使用产生地面效应的底板。这与他的驾驶风格更加契合——即在弯心前进行晚刹车和重刹车，然后让赛车转向。更重要的是，他说服了车队管理层，为了换用他偏好的刹车片供应商Carbon Industrie，不惜得罪合作超过50年的长期合作伙伴Brembo。
Buoyed by second places in both Canada and Monaco, Hamilton appeared a little lost during the second of Friday’s two practice sessions, having given up his car during the first for Ferrari junior Dino Beganovich. But on Saturday, Hamilton was much more at home in the car and missed out on pole to his former Mercedes teammate Russell by less than a tenth of a second. 在加拿大和摩纳哥站获得亚军的鼓舞下，汉密尔顿在周五的第二次练习赛中显得有些迷失，因为他在第一次练习赛中将赛车让给了法拉利青训车手迪诺·贝加诺维奇（Dino Beganovich）。但到了周六，汉密尔顿对赛车的感觉好多了，仅以不到十分之一秒的差距输给了前梅赛德斯队友拉塞尔，错失杆位。
Despite Hamilton’s qualifying performance, conventional wisdom still had the silver Mercedes cars as favorites. Kimi Antonelli qualified third, fresh off yet another win at Monaco, but Leclerc’s Ferrari was in 10th after a crash, unable to support his teammate—or challenge for the lead himself—at the start of the race. 尽管汉密尔顿在排位赛表现出色，但传统观点仍认为银色的梅赛德斯赛车是夺冠热门。基米·安东内利（Kimi Antonelli）在刚赢得摩纳哥站冠军后，排位赛获得第三；而勒克莱尔的法拉利赛车因撞车仅排在第10位，无法在比赛开始时支援队友，也无法挑战领先位置。
The right call: Hamilton started on soft tires, unlike the medium-shod cars around him, and committed to the three-stop early, pitting on lap 11. Immediately, he started using the tire advantage to good effect, and, seeing his sector times, other teams called their drivers to the pits in response. 正确的决策：汉密尔顿起步时使用了软胎，这与周围使用中性胎的赛车不同。他很早就确定了“三停”策略，并在第11圈进站。他立即开始利用轮胎优势，其他车队看到他的分段成绩后，也纷纷召回各自的车手进站应对。
Russell stopped on lap 12 and stayed ahead of Hamilton, who pitted again on lap 27. Russell kept the lead until he made his second stop on lap 36, battling with his own teammate Antonelli until then, with the pair losing time hand over fist to Hamilton. Antonelli stopped from the lead on lap 37, at which point Hamilton took first place and kept it until the end. 拉塞尔在第12圈进站，保持在汉密尔顿身前。汉密尔顿在第27圈再次进站。拉塞尔一直保持领先直到第36圈进行第二次进站，在此之前他一直与队友安东内利缠斗，两人因此损失了大量时间，被汉密尔顿迅速追近。安东内利在第37圈从领先位置进站，此时汉密尔顿升至第一，并一直保持到比赛结束。