Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 176 Drivers Must Adapt to Racing
Trulli has long blond hair, a high nose bridge, and deep-set eyes. His appearance is definitely among the best of F1 drivers, and he exudes a free and unrestrained Italian charm.

However, his attitude was somewhat cold towards Chen Xiangbei and his group. He simply nodded expressionlessly as a greeting.

This attitude was naturally not directed at Chen Xiangbei, but rather stemmed from a deep-seated grudge against Huabu.

To be honest, Trulli does have a somewhat "fearless of authority" personality.

He entered the F1 paddock with the title of German F3 champion, and after seven races with the Minardi team, he went to the Prost team.

At that time, four-time champion Prost had recently retired, and with the advantage of the Honda Mugen engine, the car was very competitive.

Trulli lived up to expectations, leading his teammate by one second in qualifying, which earned him a two-year official driver contract.

The following year, Prost started messing things up, abandoning Honda's Infinite engine in favor of the "French Dream," and turning to the extremely poor Peugeot engine, causing the car to drop directly from the upper-middle group to the bottom.

In response to this situation, Trulli publicly declared that Prost was the worst car he had ever driven in his career!
In comparison, TouGe's famous "GP2 engine" criticism was somewhat conservative, at least its impact was limited to the power unit and did not involve the team's chassis.

However, media coverage wasn't as developed back then, and Trulli's fame was far less than that of the "Big Brother," so his reach and influence weren't as widespread.

But this also shows that this guy has a very "tough" personality, having fallen out with the team owner and manager one after another.

Now that the "enemy" has met, he naturally won't give Huabu a friendly look.

In comparison, Huabu waved his hand dismissively. His personality was such that he only cared about profit and didn't care about right or wrong.

Back then, he favored Alonso and served as his agent, earning a share of advertising revenue and signing bonuses. Naturally, he had to support the Spanish rookie for the money.

Now that there is no longer a conflict of interest between the two sides, Huabu can face Trulli with a clear conscience.

As for Chen Xiangbei, he simply nodded in response.

Since the other party was indifferent and he wasn't familiar with Trulli, there was no need for him to try to win them over.

Upon arrival, the crew members had no time to rest and immediately went to the maintenance station to begin loading, unloading, and debugging the equipment.

The equipment weighs over two hundred tons, and the cable length alone is over a hundred kilometers. The complexity of its assembly is completely different from that of the previous F3.

This is why each race has hundreds of crew members.

Chen Xiangbei didn't waste his afternoon; he went to the P room, now renamed Mercedes, to meet Ross Brown.

He hoped to use his connections to persuade the newly appointed FIA president, Jean Todt, to expedite the special approval process for his super license.

After hearing Chen Xiangbei's request, Ross Brown readily agreed, "Bei, no problem. Mr. Todd likes young people with potential, and more importantly, he is very decisive and has the courage to make decisions."

F1 has a history of many famous managers and team principals, such as Jean Todt, Briatore, Toto Wolff, Horner, Binotto, and so on.

If we were to pick out the greatest of all time, Jean Todt would definitely be on the list!
The first impression this French manager gave to outsiders was that of a kind-looking old man.

But never be fooled by his appearance. Every successful team manager or leader has an extremely strong and iron-fisted approach!
Both were cannon fodder for the number one driver to win the championship, but at least Hua Bu staged a "crash" scene.

If it weren't for the lack of sufficient hush money and the betrayal, the "car crash incident" would have faded into obscurity long ago.

Binotto's order for Barrichello to give way before the finish line was a blatant act, so brazen that it could be described as match-fixing.

Without an iron fist to issue such orders, it would be impossible to suppress dissent within the prestigious Ferrari and ensure the obedience of its star drivers.

Why did Ferrari gradually become a laughing stock more than a decade later, with chaotic internal systems and instructions, unable to produce the decisive strategies it once had?

The problem is that over the decades, many elite racing teams have formed their own factions, but they lack a strong leader like Jean Todt!
The same signs are emerging at the Red Bull Racing team, where manager Horner is embroiled in power struggles with "retired emperor" Marko, and the presence of a detached and independent star driver Verstappen makes it impossible to reach a consensus on many internal decisions.

The reason it didn't collapse like Ferrari is entirely due to Verstappen's individual ability to hold things together.

If any other driver were replaced in the paddock, Red Bull would still not be able to win the drivers' championship. Without the "cohesion" of results, the internal struggle would become increasingly fierce, until one side completely falls.

"Mr. Ross, thank you so much. You've gone to a lot of trouble."

Chen Xiangbei responded with immense gratitude.

Although he indirectly helped Ross Brawn in the acquisition of the Honda F1 team.

But the other party has almost repaid this "favor".

The fact that he's now willing to contact Jean Todt is purely out of friendship.

"Bei, you don't need to be so polite with me."

Ross Brown waved his hand, indicating that even without their previous relationship, he would still help Chen Xiangbei.

The reason is simple: although the paddock is indeed filled with politics and interests, there is still appreciation and respect for it.

A promising newcomer should not be kept out of the F1 paddock. Chen Xiangbei is destined to shine on the track!
"However, the FIA ​​has been in a state of chaos in recent years, and Mr. Todd was appointed to the position in a time of crisis and could not make decisions unilaterally."

"To get a super license without any controversy, you'd better show your speed during winter testing; that's the real world of Formula 1!"

Granting a super license is never an easy thing, let alone something like Chen Xiangbei's "skipping grades" in four races.

Even Kimi Räikkönen, who possessed such a strong "family" in Finland, faced numerous difficulties in applying for a super driver's license back then, with then-FIA president Max Mosley even publicly declaring it.

"It would be very difficult for a rookie who has only participated in 23 Formula races to obtain an F1 super license."

That's right, the FIA ​​president directly called Raikkonen a "rookie".

In comparison, at least no FIA official has publicly mocked Chen Xiangbei.

Back then, Raikkonen proved himself on the Jerez and Catalan circuits thanks to the testing opportunities given to him by the Sauber team owner, and finally obtained his F1 Super License just before the start of the season.

Chen Xiangbei's current situation is similar to Raikkonen's; his previous achievements, at best, were in F3, which lack sufficient persuasiveness.

Only during winter training do you drive a real F1 car and compete against the world's 23 strongest drivers!

"I will."

Chen Xiangbei nodded. He understood this point; without speed, Jean Todt would have a difficult time.

"I believe in you, after all, you were able to beat Schumacher in the ROC Nations Cup."

Ross Brown replied with a smile that he had also been following the ROC National Cup, and that Chen Xiangbei had performed exceptionally well.

Single-handedly, he defeated several world-class drivers in succession, leading the Chinese team to the top three.

There was one thing that Ross Brawn was conflicted about: both F1 drivers that Chen Xiangbei defeated came from the Mercedes (Brown GP) team.

However, he failed to sign Chen Xiangbei.

To some extent, this is a case of being caught in the middle of a power struggle, with shareholders Mercedes hoping to create a truly "German team".

Even as the team leader, Ross Brown had no say.

Having covered most of what needed to be said, and with Ross Brawn, as the team manager, having many other matters to attend to, Chen Xiangbei didn't linger and returned to his team's pit garage.

By this time, most of the equipment in the HRT fleet had been unloaded. Liang Chi and A Yong did not participate in unpacking the equipment; instead, they were setting up a ladder to put up posters.

This is not an ordinary promotional poster, but a banner with the driver's name, car number, and photo printed on it, which is shown at the entrance of the team's maintenance station on TV.

This sticker signifies that Chen Xiangbei is a formal F1 driver with his own private pit garage!
This banner may seem insignificant to others, but it holds special meaning for Liang Chi and the others.

After so many years, Chinese motorsports have finally earned their place in the F1 paddock!
Not only Liang Chi and others, but Chen Xiangbei also felt a mix of emotions as he stood in front of the repair station, looking up at the banner with his name and photo on it.

Over his two lifetimes, he has used many different pit stops during pre-race games, but he has never had one that was truly his own.

At this moment, his dream came true.

Although HRT is a new team, the crew members are all experienced, and the two to three hundred people worked very quickly. The basic equipment was installed in no time, and the two TF110 race cars were pushed into the pit lane.

Compared to what Chen Xiangbei saw at the Lifield Technical Centre, the TF110 at this time had some aerodynamic components camouflaged, and "wind catchers" were added to the front and body.

The device looks like a metal frame and is officially called a "wake rake". It uses a large number of pitot tubes to measure the wake of the front wheel, diffuser, side box, etc., and compares the data collected with CFD and wind tunnel data.

Just as the HRT team was making final adjustments, the roar of an engine came from outside the pit lane. A red-painted race car sped past through the pit lane, marking the start of winter testing for the new race car ahead of schedule.

"Ferrari's assembly speed is that fast?"

Upon seeing this scene, Chen Xiangbei couldn't help but mutter something to himself.

The woman standing nearby overheard this and explained with her arms crossed.

"Ferrari has nearly 500 crew members, which is twice the size of ours. In addition, they rent a fixed pit garage at the Catalan circuit, so many basic equipment do not need to be transported and installed, which naturally makes them much faster."

"As expected of a wealthy family."

Chen Xiangbei was somewhat emotional, as he had test-driven the vehicle in Catalonia before and knew the value of long-term leasing of P-rooms and equipment.

This expense alone amounts to at least a million US dollars each year.

"Ha, just a defeated opponent."

Florentino replied dismissively, suggesting he had a deep-seated grudge against the Ferrari team.

He discovered Schumacher when he was the manager of the Benetton team and went on to win the World Drivers' Championship in 94 and 95, which was the height of his career!
As a result, in 96, Ferrari, with its deep pockets, poached Schumacher and also took away a large number of top technical talents from Benetton, and the team never recovered.

Hua Bu will never forget this grudge.

In 05, he joined forces with Renault to make a triumphant return, ending Ferrari's reign as the Prancing Horse.

Using his other ace, Alonso, he defeated former ace Schumacher.

Briatore has the right to be arrogant; Ferrari is indeed his defeated opponent.

However, Odette, who was standing nearby, turned green with rage upon hearing this.

He was a former employee of the Ferrari dynasty, and Briatore's words were a complete trampling on Odette's career pride.

Now that Florentino is the team manager and Odeto has transitioned into a race engineer, the proud Italian veteran can only swallow his pride...

"Bell, how's the car setup going?"

After mocking the Ferrari team, Briatore turned to technical director Bob Bell and asked him a question.

In most cases, the team's technical director stays at headquarters to conduct upgrades and research.

However, the TF110 is special. It is essentially a product of the Toyota team. Bob Bell and a group of Renault engineers did not participate in its development. Based solely on the files provided by Toyota, they could only know the specific performance but could not fully understand the design concept.

Bob Bell needs to collect enough data during the winter testing period to determine the next development direction of the prototype.

"The basic tuning has been completed based on the characteristics of the Catalan circuit and the driving style of the North Test Drive."

"In addition, the RVX-09 engine data has been adjusted to its peak, with a current maximum horsepower of 800. With the addition of 60 horsepower from the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), the maximum horsepower can reach 860 when the throttle is fully released."

【860 horses? 】

Upon hearing this number, Chen Xiangbei was somewhat taken aback.

With the end of the season, a lot of F1 team engine data has been declassified.

The Mercedes-Benz BGP001 race car that won the championship last year had a maximum engine power of only 830 horsepower.

F1 power units are manufactured to the strictest limits of the rules, squeezing out almost every last drop of potential.

Under normal circumstances, even with the best efforts of engine suppliers, the increase in horsepower is only around 10.

In other words, Mercedes' new W01 race car this year will have a maximum horsepower of around 840, which is a full 20 horsepower less than the TF110 race car. It's important to understand that in F1, just 10 more horsepower can give a car a speed advantage of several kilometers on long straights, and often the difference between overtaking and winning a race hinges on that tiny speed advantage.

No wonder Lu Xiaoman was so excited when she picked him up at the airport. She told him that the horsepower measured after ignition exceeded that of Renault's new engine this year. 860 horsepower is indeed amazing.

"Bell, don't worry about North's driving style, just tune it to the fastest speed."

"A qualified F1 driver needs to adapt to the style of the car, not the other way around and make the car adapt to him!"

The ability to adapt to racing has always been one of the standards for testing a driver's true strength.

Each race car has a different development direction, or different resource allocation to the drivers, so the driving characteristics will naturally be biased.

For example, understeering or oversteering.

This is most evident in the Red Bull Racing team in later years. Everyone thought that the team's engineers took care of Verstappen and built a super oversteer car according to his driving style.

For a long time, Verstappen was questioned, with people believing that he gained an advantage in the team's competition by using the team's "specially tuned car," and that he was practically Marko's favorite son.

However, it turned out that this was not a specially tuned car at all; the research and development had simply gone astray.

Verstappen's success stems from his unparalleled driving skills and amazing adaptability.

Despite having so many teammates, none of them could adapt to Red Bull's "custom-tuned car".

The TF110 is a legacy of Toyota, which means it could not be developed according to Chen Xiangbei's driving style, so biased tuning would be meaningless.

It would be better to tune the car according to its theoretical maximum speed and let Chen Xiangbei adapt to it.

If he can't adapt, it means he's not a qualified F1 driver.

He will at least not become a top F1 driver!

When given the instruction to make the floral fabric, Bob Bell turned his gaze toward Chen Xiangbei.

While that makes sense, Chen Xiangbei is ultimately a newcomer, and sometimes he needs some room to grow and adapt.

"Bell, you don't think I'm going to give North any special treatment, do you?"

As longtime partners, Briatore instantly understood the intention Bale was trying to convey from his eyes.

Chen Xiangbei was indeed "sending timely help" to himself, and the HRT fleet also has absolute control by Chinese capital.

But so what?
Drivers without ability cannot create value, and Huabu treats everyone equally in this regard.

Just like in later generations, he wouldn't give Du Han any room for trial and error; if he couldn't drive it, he was out.

Even though Corrapinto himself had his eye on the floral fabric and it would bring him profits, he announced before the race that he only had five chances.

Anyway, just put the pressure on them to the maximum. If they can't break free, they'll have to leave.

Hua Bu even had another idea: to sell the Renault team seats in a six-race cycle, allowing the best to take them!
From a moral standpoint, it is indeed incredibly cold-blooded and cruel.

Conversely, this crazy "breeding of Gu" might actually lead to the Gu King drawing an SSR card.

"clear."

Bell shrugged at Chen Xiangbei and followed Huabu's instructions to change the car's settings.

After all, he wasn't very familiar with Chen Xiangbei. The team was always the same, but the drivers were always changing. If the Chinese rookie didn't adapt, he might be kicked out by Hua Bu one day. There was no need to take care of him too much.

Chen Xiangbei made no comment on this, choosing to tacitly agree.

In a sense, he agrees with some of Briatore's ideas: if a driver can't even adapt to his own car and can't reach the highest speed, no matter how much special care he receives, he's still a hopeless case.

Just like Red Bull's whirlwind of driver changes, regardless of whether it's a "custom-tuned car" or not, if you can't adapt to the car and keep up with Verstappen's pace, you still have to leave.

No racing team will build a "custom-tuned car" just for you.

While everyone was discussing and debating, the lap times of the first batch of winter testing teams at the Catalan circuit had already been achieved.

Ferrari, Renault, Mercedes, McLaren and other major teams were the first to complete the installation and debugging of equipment due to their numerical advantage. Among them, Nico Rosberg from Mercedes was the fastest, with a time of 1 minute 20.953 seconds.

Chen Xiangbei was stunned when he saw the number.

It's worth noting that he previously tested the car at the Catalan circuit, and his fastest lap time in the older RA108 was 1 minute 21.435 seconds.

At that time, this lap time was 0.4 seconds slower than the fastest Barrichello in the same car last year.

As a result, I was 0.5 seconds slower at the start today?
At times like these, the drivers' lap times are mostly used for testing, helping the team's R&D staff collect data.

This means it is definitely not the limit for this race car or driver.

Chen Xiangbei was somewhat unsure whether this was due to the speed of racing this year, or whether the real world of F1 was just that terrifying!
"North, are you confident you can surpass Rosberg?"

Hua Bu looked at the lap times on the screen and asked a question with a playful expression.

Chen Xiangbei did not answer the question immediately.

To be honest, he wasn't entirely confident.

After all, his fastest lap time is only 1 minute 21.435 seconds. It is extremely difficult to improve a single lap time by more than 0.5 seconds when driving a brand new race car without any adaptation period.

Chen Xiangbei will certainly not show weakness to outsiders; he will definitely give a positive answer, emphasizing that even if he loses the battle, he will not lose face.

We need to be more pragmatic internally and not constantly spout grand pronouncements.

"We've only just started winter testing, so there's no need to compete for the fastest lap time."

Odeto retorted from the side, "Briatoli really doesn't treat drivers like human beings."

He could understand the setup being based on the fastest speed setting for a race car, but asking a novice like Chen Xiangbei to run the fastest lap required time for him to adapt.

Even Odette, who is usually quite radical and had previously advised Chen Xiangbei to abandon his conservative views, felt that Briatore's ideas were a bit excessive.

"Try it."

Huabu smiled.

Then he turned to Chen Xiangbei and said, "Bei, this German guy stole your seat at Mercedes. Don't you want to prove that you're faster and stronger than him?"

Briatore has been very familiar with Chen Xiangbei's "grudges and entanglements" with GP Brown during this period.

With Button and Barrichello both leaving, and Schumacher joining, there's still one spot left, and theoretically Chen Xiangbei can still compete for it.

As a result, Nico Rosberg "stole the spot" by virtue of his German citizenship and status as a second-generation Mercedes owner, and unsurprisingly won Mercedes' support and secured the seat.

To be honest, Chen Xiangbei did not regard Rosberg as an "enemy". He had already given up the idea of ​​joining Mercedes and planned to invest in an F1 team with domestic capital.

Hua Bu was unaware of all this, and he even tried to fan the flames to start a good show.

In the F1 paddock, nothing inspires a driver's potential more easily than a "grudge match".

If so, it would probably be a championship match.

"Okay, let's give it a try."

This time, Chen Xiangbei didn't refuse; a playful smile appeared on his face as he agreed.

He wasn't going to "get revenge" on Rosberg, but rather to "establish his authority" over Briatore.

Chen Xiangbei had already sensed that this old Italian rogue was really treating him like a newbie and had begun to use various PUA tactics.

Unlike team principals like Odette and Ross Brawn, Florentino Pérez has no problem consolidating the team's various factions with his iron fist. However, we absolutely cannot let him control us; this old rogue really knows how to sell out the drivers for money.

But Florentino also has an advantage: he will spare no effort to support the drivers he approves of, just like he did for Alonso back then!
Without saying much, Chen Xiangbei put on his helmet and got into the cockpit of the TF110 after making his statement.

The fluid had already been preheated, and with the starter motor turning, the Toyota RVX-09 engine roared to life.

Chen Xiangbei wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that it was more powerful than the previous RA108!
"Bei, be careful."

Hiroki Sawano added that even Odette couldn't change the domineering nature of the floral fabric, so he himself had even less say.

"I will."

"come on."

"come on."

The crew members in the repair shop all encouraged Chen Xiangbei.

Even Trulli next door stood in front of the door watching Chen Xiangbei, curious about how fast this Chinese newcomer could run.

With a press of the accelerator, the TF110 race car drove out of the pit lane and onto the track, where Chen Xiangbei began his warm-up lap.

Perhaps it's because Japanese racing cars share a common style, but even though it was Chen Xiangbei's first time driving the TF110, he didn't feel anything particularly awkward; instead, he had a strange sense of familiarity.

Just then, Schumacher from the Mercedes team also came out and watched Chen Xiangbei's car drive away thoughtfully.

"What, are you curious about the North?"

Ross Brawn asked a question; he was a longtime friend of Schumacher and was quite direct in his remarks.

"Hmm, this newcomer is very strong."

Schumacher nodded. He and Chen Xiangbei were competing against each other in the ROC National Cup. The higher the level of the driver, the more they could feel each other's strength.

Although driving a motorhome, Chen Xiangbei's precision in his driving and his control of distance were absolutely on par with the level of a super rookie that Schumacher had witnessed in all his years of experience.

To be honest, he had the same feeling he had when he first met Raikkonen and Alonso.

"Bei's style is very radical, and I think he's a lot like you."

"Furthermore, as manager, Briatore would definitely encourage drivers to show speed in order to test whether the other party is worth investing in."

"This round of travel will show how well Bei adapts."

Briatore was recommended to Chen Xiangbei by Ross Brown, who, as an old rival from the "Red vs. Blue" era, knew the Italian old rogue's character all too well.

All those tests on driver adaptability are fake.

What Huabu really wanted to know was whether Chen Xiangbei had any value in making him invest.

If not, they're probably already thinking about how to sell the HRT seats again.

No matter how well you train with a simulator, it's all just theoretical knowledge. Only by running a lap on the track can you truly see the results.

That's why Huabu was fanatically stirring up trouble for Chen Xiangbei.

Upon hearing Ross Brawn's words, Schumacher shifted his gaze from the track to the monitoring equipment inside the pit lane.

Chen Xiangbei had completed the warm-up lap and launched himself into the T1 corner of the Catalan circuit.

Schumacher, with his more than ten years of professional career, knows the Catalan test track so well that he can roughly judge a driver's skill level just by looking at the speed of the first corner.

At this moment, the Mercedes team's monitoring screen showed a comparison of the cornering speeds of all the test drivers, and Chen Xiangbei's cornering speed instantly climbed to the top of the leaderboard.

"Rose, it didn't even take one lap; this newcomer adapts very well!"

(End of this chapter)