Beyblade: You call this a four-wheel drive vehicle?

Chapter 258 AI's Choice
At this time, in Ferrari's team channel, Carlo and Okita Kai were constantly urging the team's software engineers to grant some basic permissions to AI. After seeing Xiao Hao's performance, the two also realized that if in a competition of this level, even the most basic acceleration had to be confirmed layer by layer, then how could they compete with others.

"But, Carlo, if you give the AI ​​too many permissions, the chances of the car losing control will greatly increase."

"Anyway, there is the underlying code that protects the driver's life. There will be no danger even if control is lost." Okita Kai said as he controlled the car to speed up.

"The purpose of that guy developing AI is to assist drivers to better break through their own limits, rather than to impose layers of restrictions here!" Carlo also urged.

"Listen to them!" Ferrari's technical team leader made the decision at this time. Compared with other teams, their team has more pressure on performance. With the tradition of palace fighting in Wofa, if they don't perform well in this first GPX competition, which is of great significance, they will probably have to report to the WGP next door soon. In his position, there are a lot of people watching him.

After full acceleration, in the second lap, Xiao Hao's Charge reached a lap time of 1.01.532, which is nearly one-third faster than the previous F1 record of 1.32.573 on this track. Moreover, judging by the posture of the whirlwind charge, this speed seems to be able to be improved.

Following closely behind were Carlo and Okita Kai. Although the Pegasus, which had released most of its AI permissions, was currently finding it difficult to catch up with the Tornado Charge, which had taken the lead, its lap time was not slow at all, with the lap times for the second lap staying at 1.01.625 and 1.01.644 respectively.

Nie Ming's Aurora, which is a little slower, has now reached a lap time of 1.01.

Looking at the lap times that were significantly higher than the previous F1 records, Li Bing couldn't help but sigh: "This is really a new era for Formula One cars. The competition has just begun, and the lap time record on this track, which had not been broken for several years, has been greatly improved."

"And, judging from the performance of the drivers, they seem to have some energy left," said Brother Ran.

"The lap times of the two Mercedes-AMG cars have also reached the 1.01 mark. Who will be the first driver to break one minute?" Li Bing asked curiously.

"Haojun, in the last lap, on the long straight line after T13, you were not decisive enough in accelerating after the turn. With your skills, you could have gone even faster without anyone interfering." Magrum's voice rang out from the cockpit of the Tornado Charge. "Also, in the continuous turns from T1 to T4, the speed loss due to braking was a bit too great. In the next lap, you can try to slow down a little less. If you reach the limit, I'll remind you."

"Okay! Let's run under one minute in the next lap!" Xiao Hao said excitedly, stepped on the accelerator and started a new round of acceleration.

"This kid is really energetic." Lin Che, who is currently ranked 14th in lap time, smiled after seeing the data sent back by Silvery. In this qualifying race that lasted for 15 minutes but only took the fastest lap time, Lin Che was not in a hurry and slowly increased the speed of Tai Chi War Dragon.

After entering and exiting the realm of zero for a period of time, Lin Che also discovered a pattern, which is that the conditions required for him to enter that state are that both the acceleration and speed are at a relatively high level. If the acceleration is lower, even if the speed has reached a relatively high state, he will not be forcibly pulled into that realm.

Michael also adopted the same strategy as him. In the current lap time ranking of Mercedes-AMG, Tu Fangling's No. 13 car is in fifth place, while Michael's lap time is in the 15th to 2th area, which is on the edge of entering Q. Even his car is not far from Lin Che's Tai Chi War Dragon.

Xiao Hao successfully broke the one-minute mark on the third lap, and the top five drivers followed closely behind.

At the same time, Magnum also reviewed the problems he had in the previous lap. Just when Xiao Hao was about to continue speeding up, Xiao Lie suddenly signaled to Xiao Hao in the team channel that he could return to the maintenance area.

"Magnum and I can still run." Xiao Hao didn't want to go back. He had just started to run well.

"Your lap time is already good enough to enter Q2. There's no need to take the risk of improving it further." Xiao Lie said, "If you want to fight for pole position, you have to ensure the car's condition before Q3."

"Okay." Xiao Hao nodded, turned and drove into the maintenance area.

At this time, the drivers who had broken the one-minute mark also finished their Q1 races and entered the maintenance area one after another.

After Lin Che ran a lap time of 1.00.132 in the ninth lap, he drove the Tai Chi War Dragon into the maintenance area.

Soon, the 1-minute race time of Q15 was over, and the lap times of each driver were released. The top eight drivers all ran into the one-minute mark, while Lin Che and Michael ranked 11th and 12th respectively and entered Q2.

"We can see that two drivers from some former F1 veteran teams have entered Q2. However, the Tai Chi Zhan Long, who we were all looking forward to, did not seem to have any intention of exerting its strength in the first round of qualifying. Neither the Tai Chi Zhan Long's iconic thrusters nor the lifting turn that relies on airflow to pass through corners were used." Ran Ge said.

"After all, qualifying only looks at the lap time of one lap, and the results of each round will not be carried over to the next round. It is indeed a bit too early to exert effort in the first round." Li Bing said.

“However, in this round, we can already see the characteristics of many different racing cars.”

"DRS's No. 2 car has the whirlwind charge that left a deep impression on people in the first WGP. The car's performance characteristics also restore the mini racing car known as the burning bullet. The explosive power and speed in a straight line are excellent. However, compared with the cornering skills of the car that ranked last among all GP racing cars, this car's performance in the corners is a bit difficult to control because of the strong acceleration in a straight line and the fast cornering speed. However, under the driving skills of Xing Mahao, a talented driver who set a record of winning all the championships in the F season, this problem can be completely ignored."

"The two Ferrari Pegasus cars also performed extremely well. Although they were a step behind the Tornado at the start for some reason, they soon picked up speed. The technology that was once banned by the F1 Organizing Committee due to safety reasons was reproduced on the CF car, and the car's speed became extremely amazing. It is worth mentioning that the original lap record of this track was held by their predecessors. Whether they can get this record back in this race is also very exciting."

“As the only two cars among the eight that broke the one-minute mark that were not from a former F1 team, the Aurora’s performance was also very eye-catching in addition to the Tornado Charge.”

"The driver of this car, Nie Ming, was once one of the four top drivers in WGP and later made his mark in the European Touring Car Championship. After entering the field of Formula One, he did not show any discomfort. His previous experience of cooperating with AI made him perform with ease."

What the commentators didn't know was that in the Arctic Fox team's maintenance area, Nie Ming had already started arguing with his own AI.

"You have to pop up a confirmation popup every three seconds. Do you think I'm mentally retarded?"

Aurora also felt aggrieved. If this guy hadn't caused so many troubles during training, would his authority be so limited?
"Coach, please give Aurora more authority. Otherwise, it will be restricted when running and how can it be a match for other teams?" Nie Ming was exhausted after running these laps. Sometimes when he wanted to choose a route that had an 8% success rate for him around a corner, the AI ​​would ask him to confirm it again. Who could stand this!

"Okay." Vatanen thought about it and agreed to Nie Ming's request. After all, their other driver ranked 1th in Q17 and had no chance to participate in the next race, so Nie Ming was the only one left.

"Okay, that's all right now!" Nie Ming said, rubbing his hands in anticipation. He could finally fight Xiao Hao without any hesitation. At 14:20, the Q2 qualifying round started.

Xiao Hao and Nie Ming stepped on the accelerator and rushed out almost at the same time. Seeing this, the others simply gave 10 seconds to these two people. After all, qualifying only counts lap times.

"Oh no!" In the DRS maintenance area, everyone slapped their foreheads after seeing Aurora and Tornado fighting at the very beginning.

Based on their experience back then, once these two people started fighting, all tactics and arrangements would basically be like a piece of waste paper.

"Haha, you want to overtake me? Impossible! Magnum, let's go!" Sure enough, after seeing the Aurora chasing him closely, Xiao Hao stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, and the speed of the Whirlwind Charge suddenly increased.

"I won't lose to you!" Nie Ming also started to speed up.

"Wow! The second round of qualifying is so intense? There must be a story between the two of them!" Brother Fei laughed.

"Of course not!" Li Bing said, "These two have been competing fiercely for the title of the fastest car in the world for several years. It's still a good thing that the guy sitting in the DRS pit area didn't join in, otherwise the situation would have been even more exciting."

"We've reached the T1 curve, but why aren't you slowing down? This is a series of curves!"

"Mr. Nie Ming, at the current speed, the chance of passing the curve ahead is only 50%. Please slow down." Aurora's voice sounded in Nie Ming's ears.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Nie Ming yelled, without stopping his hands, intending to maintain this speed to pass the bend.

"Haojun, the probability of passing the curve at the current speed is 53%. However, if you cannot get rid of the opponent at the current speed, it is recommended to increase the speed by 10%. With your skills, speeding up will only reduce the probability by 5%. It is worth a try." After analysis, Magnum gave a completely different response from Aurora.

"What else is there to say! Let's go!" Xiao Hao laughed and stepped on the accelerator to speed up.

The two entered the curves one after another. On the continuous curves from T1 to T4, the two cars were as fast as lightning. However, the completely different choices made by the AI ​​of the two cars determined the outcome in an instant.

Although the Tornado Charge performed extremely thrillingly on the curve, it finally passed the corner, but the Aurora ran off the track at the third corner and entered the buffer zone for emergency braking.

"Haha, I won!" Xiao Hao laughed and continued to accelerate.

Inside the Aurora which had already stopped, Nie Ming pounded the steering wheel unwillingly.

The warning given by the Aurora before entering the turn eventually affected him, making him less resolute in his operation on the turn. It was just this slight difference that led to his defeat.

The Aurora also became the first car in the history of GPX to run off the track.

"The Aurora lost control and flew off the track." Li Bing said regretfully, "Fortunately, it seems that neither the driver nor the car suffered any serious damage, so it should not affect tomorrow's race. However, the Aurora's starting position can only be ranked last in Q2, th."

The Tornado Charge ran a lap time of 59.255 in the first lap, and it seemed that it could continue to improve.

At this time, Michael also started to exert his strength and ran a lap time of 57.225 in the third lap. Although the record was soon broken to 57 by the whirlwind charge, this speed was enough to illustrate the strength of Michael, the young F136 genius.

As for Lin Che, after he increased his lap time to 59.862 on the fifth lap, he was the first to drive his car into the maintenance area.

The Q2 qualifying round soon came to an end. Xiao Hao still maintained the first place, while Lin Che was a little regretful that he failed to enter the Q3 competition with the eleventh place.

After the repairs are completed, the Q3 race is about to begin. Different from the first two rounds of qualifying, the requirements for Q3 are more stringent. The Q3 race requires that the parts and fuel volume of the participating vehicles are exactly the same as when the main race starts one day later. There is also a weighing session before the start of the race.

Although DRS uses electricity as its energy source and does not need to worry too much about this aspect, most of the current GPX teams still use F1 racing car fuel as their energy source.

After the start of Q3, all the players who remained on the field became serious. The pole position in this first GPX race is of inestimable significance, and almost all drivers want to fight for it.

"Ferrari ran into 55 seconds! Mercedes is right behind! Are they starting to get serious?" Li Bing was excited as he watched the lap times being constantly refreshed. For a racing commentator, what could be more enjoyable than this?
Soon, drivers withdrew from the competition for pole position one after another, mainly because the two drivers currently ranked at the top seemed to be giving it their all and constantly breaking new records.

"Whirlwind Charge, 54.872! He can go even faster! Mustang! 54.869!"

Xiao Hao and Carlo kept improving the lap records one lap at a time, and both seemed determined to get the pole position.

"There's really nothing we can do about these two guys." After running a score of 54.961, Michael thought about it and felt that it was not worth it to reveal his trump card for the pole position, so he simply withdrew from the competition and watched the two guys continue their performance.

However, after seeing Hijikata Ling follow him back to the maintenance area, Michael smiled and said, "You can continue if you still want to run."

"There's no need for that. If that guy doesn't participate, there's no point in getting this pole position." After taking off his helmet, Hijikata glanced in the direction of the DRS maintenance area and said through gritted teeth.

(End of this chapter)