Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 193 The Clash of Team Ideals

While driving on the main track to warm up his tires, Chen Xiangbei quickly realized that the traffic conditions were not very good.

The road conditions and climate of the Bahrain circuit are publicly available data from each team.

Everyone knows that the later a car leaves the pits, the better its grip will be.

HRT's strategy team wants to make a lap, and so do other smaller teams.

In addition, the paddock was expanded in the 10 season, with two more teams and four more drivers compared to a normal year. Now, they are all rushing onto the track, causing a lot of congestion.

In fact, the strategy teams of each fleet had not been unaware of this traffic situation, but even knowing it, they still chose to do so.

The reason is simple: leaving the station early without taking a gamble will almost certainly result in elimination.

I'm taking a gamble. If I'm lucky, I won't be the one stuck. Instead, I have a 10% chance of advancing.

If you were in that situation, you would have gambled too.

For the HRT team, leaving the station late is like a double-edged sword – neither good nor bad.

After all, the TF110 race car isn't that weak. With a standard pit stop strategy and a normal performance from the driver, the chances of advancing are actually quite high. There's no need to gamble so drastically.

It can only be said that strategy team members are human, not gods. They are also affected by emotions and are prone to being blinded by their own involvement.

Just like in later F1 races, ordinary viewers could sense that some strategies of top teams such as Ferrari and Mercedes were problematic, yet the management team, a group of elites and highly intelligent engineers, still issued "incompetent" orders.

The problem is that we consider too much, which makes us hesitant and restrictive.

Now, Odette, Hiroki Sawano, and others are under pressure to achieve good results for the team and to help Chen Xiangbei establish himself in F1. They no longer have the ease and nonchalance they had in lower-level formulas, which is why they are using this seemingly correct and conservative approach.

What seems to be correct may not actually be correct.

More than a decade later, Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu of the Sauber team often faced the same predicament as Chen Xiangbei.

I didn't manage to get a qualifying time in one lap, and I didn't have enough time to run another lap.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there are only three minutes left in the qualifying race."

"The cameras have already shown the cars of several rookie drivers this year. It seems that several teams have adopted the same strategy, trying to take advantage of the best road grip to achieve the fastest timed lap."

"The traffic is very congested right now. If you get blocked, you won't have a chance for the second lap. Who will advance to Q2 and become this year's Rookie of the Year?"

Commentator James described the track conditions, and it was clear that several teams were using the same strategy.

As a result, nearly ten drivers failed to achieve a result in the final stages of qualifying.

"Bruno is very fast, he truly deserves to be called the mantle of racing legend Ayrton Senna. I think he will be the best rookie this year!"

Emil gave a direct answer: he is a fan of Senna, and now that he sees that surname appearing in the F1 paddock, of course he will give his full support.

And it wasn't entirely out of sentimentality; Bruno Senna's S1 speed is indeed very fast, and if he maintains that speed, he will easily advance.

"I don't think so. In the first few corners, both the line and speed of the North driver were in no way inferior to those of the F1 veterans. Compared to the practice sessions, there was a qualitative improvement."

"The final results of this qualifying race will not be known until after it ends."

James offered a different perspective, arguing that while the racing legend Ayrton Senna's nephew certainly needed support.

However, Chen Xiangbei's performance was even better!

Chen Xiangbei's handling of the first few corners seemed to remind James of his own Renault racing days.

That's an almost superhuman ability to adapt, and that's how fast they've progressed!

On the track, Chen Xiangbei sped along at full speed, and the surrounding scenery turned into a series of blurry images receding into the distance in his eyes.

Precise heavy braking into the T1 corner, and silky smooth lines in the T2 and T3 corners.

The combination of corners T4 and T5 resisted the track's strong G-forces, and Chen Xiangbei even performed standard tracking brakes, utilizing the entire width of the track to exit the corner at full throttle.

The driver demonstrated exceptional control skills, and the speed showed a visible improvement compared to the practice sessions.

Even more exaggeratedly, Chen Xiangbei unknowingly caught up with Jamie Agursurari, the Toro Rosso driver who started almost a second earlier than him!

The name Jamie Agursulali is unfamiliar to many, as if he never existed in the paddock at all.

In fact, Jamie was the rising star of the paddock in 2009.

He participated in the Hungarian Grand Prix at the age of 19 years and 125 days, breaking the record for the youngest F1 driver.

Jamie's arrival also brought the Toro Rosso team a sponsorship of up to 200 million euros from the Spanish oil company Repsol and La Caixa, Spain's largest savings bank.

Yes, you read that right, it's two hundred million euros!
Such a huge sponsorship fee was enough to get Toro Rosso to replace their own driver with Jamie Teng midway through the race.

Spain originally wanted to create the next Alonso, or even a superstar who could surpass Alonso, in order to recoup the cost of its huge investment.

The fact that he is virtually unknown in F1 history tells us how he fared.

As it turns out, rising stars created by throwing money at them are unreliable.

Not every Spanish driver can become Alonso.

Not every driver who sets the youngest record in F1 can become Verstappen!

However, Jamie's fate is more similar to that of the later American driver Sargent. He himself won the youngest British F3 world championship, so theoretically his racing talent was not low.

However, with the support of capital, it was forced to grow prematurely for the sake of a reputation.

Without any testing or adaptation process, it was directly put into the F1 cockpit for the Hungarian Grand Prix, achieving a time that was lapped by other cars.

This harsh reality, from heaven to hell, shattered Jamie's confidence.

When a driver's will to win is broken and he doubts his own strength and talent, he is destined to become just another face in the crowd.

Jamie is a prime example; he ranks 19th in history across 10 seasons.

This result seems to be fifth from the bottom, with a few unlucky ones at the very bottom.

In fact, the "newcomer" team in the 10 season had such a poor car that they had no ability to score points, which was equivalent to finishing last.

The once-superstar aura faded, and Jamie's mentality completely collapsed in the 11 season. He was cut by the team before even finishing a full season.

Of course, these are all things for the future.

Jamie Agursulali is still seen as having untapped potential, waiting for him to shine in the new season.

But they were overtaken by a Chinese rookie?

"FUCK, what on earth is Jamie doing? He's a second ahead in dynamic starts, and he still gets caught up?"

"The Chinese guy was 1 second faster than Jamie in the S1 stage. What kind of speed is that?"

"How could it be so fast? Did Jamie make a mistake?"

"Did the HRT team build a Mars rover this year?"

The track was filled with gasps and questions, and most of the spectators couldn't understand what had happened.

After all, there was only one camera in the race broadcast, and the director focused more on the newcomers who appeared in the opening race. He never thought that Jamie, a "semi-new" driver who had driven a few races, could be easily caught up by Chen Xiangbei.

Not only were the audience confused about what was happening, but even the Toro Rosso team was dumbfounded as they watched the "chase" scene on the big screen.

"Messky, what happened? Did Jamie make a mistake?"

Tost, the team manager of Toro Rosso, immediately asked the chief race engineer a question.

He had been focusing more on driver number one, Buemi, and hadn't paid any attention to Jamie's situation.

"There was a slippage at the transition between the T2 and T3 corners, and the car lost about 0.2 to 0.3 seconds due to correction."

"How much earlier is Jamie than North in terms of dynamic start?"

"0.8 seconds."

Messky answered truthfully.

Upon hearing this number, Tost felt a bit dazed.

He muttered, "You mean you can be 0.5 seconds faster than Jamie on the North S1 stage?"

Faced with the team leader's questioning, Chief Race Engineer Messky found himself unable to answer. He could only nod in acknowledgment.

【MY GOD……】

Tost exclaimed inwardly, at this rate of lead, Chen Xiangbei's fastest lap time would be 1.5 seconds faster than Jamie's.

If he really has that kind of ability, Chen Xiangbei won't just have to advance; he could make it into the top five!

Chen Xiangbei was naturally unaware of the various data collected by the track monitoring system.

He looked at the little Red Bull "slow car" in front of him and pressed the call button on the steering wheel to ask a question.

"Odette, is the car in front of me warming up its tires, or is it doing some kind of flying laps?"

Under normal circumstances, if a slower train blocks a faster train that is performing a lap behind it, the train should give way to the passing lane.

The car in front made no move to give way, and it seemed to be speeding by, so Chen Xiangbei couldn't make a judgment for a moment.

"Ahead is Jamie, the number 16 rider from Toro Rosso, who is also doing flying laps."

【What? 】

Chen Xiangbei was somewhat surprised to hear this answer.

In qualifying, when cars are blocked, it's usually a slower car that isn't being timed.

Before drivers complete a flight lap, the team will often observe the distance between drivers in front and behind who are also completing flight laps, in order to avoid such obstruction.

Red Bull's second team isn't some new military vehicle team, so how could they possibly make such a basic mistake?
"North, you've been slowed down by 0.1 seconds, overtake!"

Odette didn't offer any explanations or nonsense. Currently, Chen Xiangbei's time after T4 on the straight and at T5 corner is about 0.1 seconds slower compared to the three practice sessions.

If we delay any longer, the gap will only widen.

“COPY.”

After giving a brief reply, Chen Xiangbei braked hard on the T6 bend, cut in line, and overtook the car.

His braking was extremely aggressive, and his lane change was incredibly fierce. He showed no signs of being a rookie driver, nor did he display the fear of wheel-to-wheel that Asian drivers usually have.

Of course, Jamie was also involved; there was no deliberate obstruction involved.

"Pretty!"

Hiroki Sawano immediately clenched his fist and shouted, his emotions running high.

The slower Chen Xiangbei overtakes, the longer his lap time will be.

The team originally thought that as a rookie, Chen Xiangbei would wait until the long straight to release the kinetic energy stored in the flywheel to achieve the DRS effect in the future and overtake.

Unexpectedly, Chen Xiangbei was so aggressive that he directly overtook the Little Red Bull on the bend!
"That kid Bei is taking a bit of a risk."

Faced with the passionate enthusiasm of the strategy team members, Briatore responded lazily.

Now it's not just Odette who's "conservative," but floral prints are even more "conservative."

However, the reasons for their "conservatism" are quite different.

Odeto wanted Chen Xiangbei to make a stable entry into Q2, so he chose a conservative strategy, which backfired somewhat.

Briatore, however, saw Chen Xiangbei's "value." If this Chinese kid were to crash or get injured, it would damage his personal image and affect his future publicity and advertising endorsements.

In comparison, the floral fabric industry currently prioritizes profits over results.

"adventure?"

Are you worried about the safety of the North, or are you afraid that your cash cow will be damaged?

Odeto bluntly reveals Briatore's true thoughts.

"What's the difference?"

"The difference between the former lies in honor, while the latter lies in benefits."

"Honor can bring benefits, and benefits can give rise to honor."

Briatore replied casually, then added, "Just like winning a championship requires both driver skill and car performance."

"Odetto, you should understand that the world is not black and white."

Hua Bu never felt there was anything wrong with his style of doing things or his philosophy. Without enough profit and revenue, how could he maintain the operation of the team and build a powerful race car?

Without its own integration and operation, the HRT team will be like Lotus and Virgin, unable to even build a basic racing car R&D base, let alone guarantee subsequent upgrades to maintain competitiveness.

Honor and beliefs can't put food on the table; the F1 paddock operates on the law of the jungle!

"You're right."

"But profits can only buy equivalent value, while honor can make a driver pay with his life!"

Odette experienced the crazy era of F1 and witnessed the belief of countless drivers who would rather have their fans crushed than slow down.

It could be said that he is old-fashioned and out of touch with the times.

But Oddoto would prefer Chen Xiangbei to be an old-school driver like Lauda or Senna.

They can truly disregard life and death on the track!

"North, you're 0.2 seconds slow on S2. On S3, ride onto the shoulder and floor the accelerator to get through at an even faster speed!"

After answering Briatore, Odeto turned to Chen and gave him a radical order for the convoy to head north.

Throughout the S2 time trial, Chen Xiangbei encountered not only Jamie's car, but also two slower cars blocking his way to warm up their tires.

Although they were not completely blocking the driving lane, Chen Xiangbei would inevitably lose some speed while trying to avoid them.

That's the nature of F1 racing; it demands an extreme pursuit of detail.

What outsiders or common sense might perceive as a driving mistake could be incorrect lane marking or skidding.

In fact, the mistake in F1 was simply turning the steering wheel an extra time in the corner to correct the line.

Even a slight movement of the steering wheel can cause a delay of a fraction of a second.

"receive."

Chen Xiangbei's reply came through the earpiece, and at the same time, the racing data monitoring screen in the pit lane showed a significant increase in the pressure on the accelerator pedal.

In response to Chen Xiangbei's comment, Odeto turned his gaze to Huabu.

Without a doubt, Chen Xiangbei and I are on the same path!

The TF110 race car accelerated wildly, passing by Chen Xiangbei through one bend after another.

He had no idea what his lap time was in the qualifying session; he only knew that he was being blocked by several slower cars and had to do everything he could to catch up, otherwise he risked being eliminated in the first qualifying session.

At its most insane moment, Chen Xiangbei's race car's front wing grazed the guardrail beside the track.

Fortunately, the front wing of an F1 car is usually quite flexible, otherwise it would have shattered.

The HRT race car roared across the finish line, and the lap time appeared on the big screen above the track, while also being transmitted from the track control center to the pit lanes of each team.

When everyone in the paddock saw Chen Xiangbei's ranking, their faces were filled with surprise. The Chinese kid could run to seventh place?

"Oh, an incredible scene has occurred. Chen Xiangbei, a rookie from China, has achieved the fastest lap in the first qualifying session, ranking seventh on the leaderboard, even surpassing his teammate Trulli."

"If it weren't for the slow trains blocking the way, I believe the North could have gone even faster."

"Bei proved that his skipping grades was due to talent, not money!"

Commentator James was very excited, not only for Chen Xiangbei, but also for his own good judgment.

The Chinese newcomer certainly did not disappoint.

The one who found it hardest to accept psychologically was Trulli, who was on the same team.

Other drivers can find factors related to the race, but he can't find any excuses.

Has the qualifying race, which they were once so proud of, reached the point where they can't even outrun Chinese newcomers?
(End of this chapter)