Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 214 I will make sure that human determination triumphs over chariots.
During an F1 race, whether in the indoor pit lane or the outdoor control tower, there is always a computer screen displaying radar cloud images, constantly monitoring changes in wind speed and cloud cover.

Furthermore, with the development of technology, cloud monitoring data is becoming increasingly accurate, and it is now possible to predict rain time down to the minute level.

If you encounter a rainy situation, you can hear conversations in the team voice chat such as how many minutes it will rain, how much rain it will be, or how many minutes it will stop raining.

Of course, this is the accuracy of weather radar more than ten years from now, and its application is limited to the clouds above the sky at present.

Predicting whether it will rain a few days from now at a certain time is still beyond the current pace of scientific and technological development.

However, cloud formations can provide an estimate, much like a weather forecast, to predict whether it will rain on a future day, although it cannot be accurate to the minute.

Current weather radar data indicates that there is an over 80% chance of rain during the main competition the day after tomorrow!

Why did Chen Xiangbei gamble on a rain race, and why does the F1 paddock favor drivers who race in the rain?
The reason is that rain racing can minimize the gap between car performances and highlight the driver's pure speed and skill in an even more extreme way.

In other words, it will also close the gap in car tuning.

After all, the downforce and steering characteristics brought about by adjusting the aerodynamic kit are far from comparable to the slippery feeling brought by rain. That is the real feeling of experiencing an ice rink on the track.

A battle in the rain means an "absolutely" fair contest!

Faced with the drastically different steering characteristics brought about by the TF110 upgrade kit, Chen Xiangbei was indeed unable to fully adapt to and control it in a short period of time, let alone simultaneously conduct qualifying and long-distance tests, which was beyond the driver's capabilities.

It's no exaggeration to say that even Schumacher, the most skilled driver, couldn't do it.

Schumacher is also going through a painful adjustment period due to changes in tire compound. Pirelli can't provide the same level of durability as Michelin, ensuring he can go full speed every lap!
Many things in the paddock are constantly changing, and only the drivers can adapt to the environment; the environment cannot cooperate with the drivers.

All Chen Xiangbei can do is seize every opportunity presented by change!
"North, you want to gamble on a rain battle?"

Odeto looked at the weather radar image and asked to confirm.

He also hadn't witnessed Chen Xiangbei's rain-driving prowess. Such weather changes are rare and unpredictable, unless the team has substantial capital and owns its own private track for testing.

For example, when Zhou Guanyu tested the performance of the race car's rain tires, he did so at the Fiorano test track, which belongs to the Ferrari Group, and sprayed water throughout the test to simulate the amount of rain, striving to obtain the most realistic effect and data.

The HRT racing team even uses a second-hand wind tunnel, so naturally they don't have any private racetracks.

Odeto's understanding of Chen Xiangbei's rain battle was purely based on a brief mention by Hiroki Sawano.

It's completely unknown how well they would perform in the F1 paddock.

"Ah."

Having received Chen Xiangbei's affirmative reply, Odeto nodded and said, "Okay, that's settled."

The trust between the strategy team and the drivers is mutual. Since Chen Xiangbei has already made his decision, there's no need to question it.

After returning to the hotel following the second practice session, Chen Xiangbei took a shower and went back to his room, where he opened his laptop to review the recordings of his two practice matches.

To some extent, Chen Xiangbei wasn't completely unaccustomed to the new features of the race car; in fact, he preferred the style of the upgraded kit to the old one. He just hadn't found the perfect balance.

What Chen Xiangbei needs to do now is to use video recordings and his memory to find the familiar feel from practice races, as well as precise feedback on car setup.

Compared to the noisy racetrack, the quiet night is more suitable for contemplation.

Saturday arrived the next day, and Chen Xiangbei and the technicians arrived at the pit garage early to complete the third practice session and adjustments for the race car.

"I need to switch to a medium-to-high downforce scheme because I need more cornering speed."

"The front wing angle has been adjusted to ensure that the front wheels have sufficient grip, especially to ensure a precise angle when entering corners at high speeds."

"The suspension was softened to improve the mechanical grip of the race car."

Chen Xiangbei meticulously outlined his thoughts, based on the feedback he had compiled the previous night.

Upon hearing about the revised plan, Hiroki Sawano, who was standing nearby, thought for a moment and then asked, "This plan focuses on front wheel steering, but it's more likely to cause rear wheel slippage. Can you handle it?"

"At least the front wheels have grip, which gives us a chance to correct our position in the corner."

Chen Xiangbei did not give a yes or no answer.

The reason is simple: no one dares to say they can completely control a race car that is oversteerable.

Magnussen once made a very classic comment about understeer and oversteer in F1 cars.

Oversteer means the rear of the car hits a wall, while understeer means the front of the car hits a wall.

This statement perfectly illustrates the difficulty of controlling an F1 car.

What Chen Xiangbei can do is use his exceptional car sense to perceive the sliding of the race car's rear end in the corner, and then maintain the tangent by constantly making corrections.

This is similar to Verstappen's driving style when driving a Red Bull race car.

In a sense, Chen Xiangbei's idol in his past life was Schumacher, but his "teacher" was Verstappen.

Whether you like his style or not, you have to admit his driving skills.

Even in terms of pure skill, Verstappen and Schumacher are the only two all-around champions among the best F1 drivers in history.

Senna wasn't steady enough, the professor wasn't fast enough, Alonso was too selfish, Hamilton was too swayed, and Vettel was too picky about the car.

These two may not be the best in the world in some skills, for example, they may not be as fast as Senna, or as steady as the professor.

However, the same principle applies to top F1 drivers: only those without any weaknesses can be considered the strongest!
Chen Xiangbei had watched almost all of Verstappen's F1 races in his previous life, and was very familiar with his driving style and handling skills. Since the oversteer of the Red Bull car could not be corrected, he would rely on his absolute strength to continuously correct it.

While we may not be able to conquer nature, we have certainly succeeded in overcoming obstacles!

"Relying solely on corrections will result in a significant loss of cornering time."

Hiroki Sawano frowned and replied, having won the Japanese Super Formula Championship before, how could he not know about cornering corrections?

Every turn of the steering wheel, even if it only affects the speed by a fraction of a second, can accumulate and eventually result in a loss of a fraction of a second.

Just then, Odette's voice rang out from behind.

"There is never an absolutely optimal solution for car setup. We need to make trade-offs based on driver feedback, real-time data, and the specific characteristics of the car."

"Sawano, trust Kita."

Having experienced Schumacher's era of car tuning, Odette now feels the same way he did during the Ferrari dynasty.

His intuition told him that Chen Xiangbei already had the answer!
"I understand, Team Leader Odeto."

Hiroki Sawano nodded. It was fine to have concerns, but it was indeed inappropriate to raise questions at a time like this.

Trulli, who arrived at the other garage, looked at Chen Xiangbei, who had completely overturned the car tuning plan, and said with a complicated expression.

"Sott, do you think I should share long-distance data?"

Judging from the current situation, it is clear that Chen Xiangbei is unable to conduct long-distance tests.

Normally, teams share data, and teammates can provide data for reference. However, this time Trulli and Chen Xiangbei were direct competitors, and they had agreed before the race to test independently.

However, Chen Xiangbei responded strongly to Sutil on the track, and even though Trulli knew it had little to do with him, he still felt a sense of relief.

It's worth remembering that during last year's crash, when faced with media criticism from Alonso and Sutil, no one stood up for Trulli. The feeling of being condemned by everyone is just like Chen Xiangbei's today.

Truly empathized with Chen Xiangbei's similar experience and felt an inexplicable urge to help him.

"Truly, don't be naive. If you changed the upgrade conditions today, would the Chinese newcomers really offer data sharing as a lifeline?"

"Don't forget, you are competitors!"

Race engineer Sott immediately interrupted Trulli's naive idea. After all, Trulli was a veteran driver who had been in the paddock for many years. There were countless instances of the two drivers "fighting each other" in order to compete for team resources and seats.

Even Trulli himself was kicked out of the team by his teammate Alonso!

There are no good people in the hunting grounds; only the victors deserve to write history.

Trulli didn't reply to Soter's words, though he understood the reasoning behind them.

For some reason, he had a premonition that Chen Xiangbei might do this. Of course, there was no point in talking about something that hadn't happened yet; in the hunting grounds, self-interest ultimately took precedence.

The third practice session arrived as scheduled. Compared to the qualifying test in the second practice session, the speed of the long-distance heavy-load fuel test was significantly slower, and the competition among the drivers to set lap times was not as intense.

In the first few laps after Chen Xiangbei left the pits for his third training session, he did not push himself to the limit. He basically returned to the pits after each lap to make adjustments and changed to new tire compound to collect data.

"Professor, today in Practice 3 the drivers were testing long distances. Based on yesterday's Practice 2 results, who do you think will get pole position?"

Hamilton.

Prost replied with certainty that although McLaren had clearly hidden something yesterday, both of their drivers had the best lap times among the twelve teams.

It's clear that in this race, McLaren's cars, besides the function of the F duct, have also mastered the essence of the exhaust diffuser, and in terms of absolute speed, they are no less than the Red Bull team.

In addition, Prost is very optimistic about Hamilton, believing that the British driver has the potential to surpass Alonso and will become the next superstar in the paddock in time!
"Indeed, Hamilton was very fast yesterday and outpaced Vettel of Red Bull."

"Another team that has made rapid progress is the HRT team. As a newcomer to the paddock this year, they managed to have two cars enter Q3 in the opening race, and Trulli has even improved to eighth place this time."

"Even with the newly upgraded kit, driver Bei's lap time was slower than his rivals in this race. Professor, do you think the HRT team suffered a negative upgrade, or that Bei failed to master the characteristics of the new car?"

Reid directed the question to Chen Xiangbei, a Chinese newcomer who is currently considered a "popular driver" in the paddock.

Whether it's his speed or his "arrogant and flamboyant" personality, he attracts a lot of attention.

I think it's both.

"Through the live broadcast, we could see that driver Bei's No. 13 car was still pitting and adjusting, which proves that so far the HRT team, or rather the driver, has not been able to fully control the car."

"A ranking of 13th in practice session may become the best result for the driver in this race."

Compared to the ambiguous answers given by many commentators, Prost's words were very clear and affirmative.

On the one hand, the professor's historical achievements and status are undeniable.

On the other hand, many people only know that Prost was steady, but they don't know that he was crazy.

This is the same guy who, after retiring, arrogantly announced to the media that he was afraid of Senna and had deserted, and then went back to the paddock to take down Senna.

Even more incredibly, he actually did it!

While others have to worry about being proven wrong, Prost didn't have that thought; he had absolute confidence in his own judgment.

As if in response to Prost, the moment he finished speaking, the black and orange HRT race car drove from the pit lane onto the main track.

With only a few minutes left before the end of the third practice session, many drivers had completed their tests and returned to the pits, leaving the track relatively empty.

"Mazzola, monitor the data, I'm going to push this lap to its limit."

During the tire warming process, Chen Xiangbei spoke up and gave a brief explanation.

After three practice matches, he was searching for the stability of the upgrade kit.

Now, Chen Xiangbei wants to know where the speed limit of the upgrade kit is.

Stability only determines the lower limit, while speed determines the upper limit of upgrade kits. This is one of the data that Mazzola wanted to collect when he came to the track.

There's no point in equipping an upgrade kit if there's no limit to how many you can upgrade!
Previously, Chen Xiangbei couldn't push the limits, but after several practice races and adjustments, he felt he could now control the race car.

"receive."

Mazzola responded that this was simply part of his job responsibilities.

But then he saw an anomaly in the sensor data: Chen Xiangbei's race car was running at the redline of 19,000 RPM!
It's worth noting that the team had previously reduced the maximum power output to ensure the stability and lifespan of Toyota engines.

However, on the right side of the racing steering wheel, there is a black button that can unlock the engine's RPM limit.

In other words, pressing this black button will increase the maximum RPM limit of each gear before the car shifts up, or it will provide the most powerful horsepower performance.

This results in a corresponding increase in the pressure on the engine.

Considering the power unit reserves and the fact that the car settings cannot be adjusted after practice sessions, Chen Xiangbei had never pressed this button before.

This time, however, Chen Xiangbei needs to challenge and test the limits of the upgrade kit and provide valuable reference data back to the team headquarters.

The data obtained from the tractor-like driving method is completely worthless!
Of course, this is the obvious reason.

The real reason behind it all is that, faced with countless taunts on the track and the more or less disdain from his many "colleagues" in the paddock, Chen Xiangbei wanted to take this opportunity to prove himself.

No one likes to be ridiculed, and no one is born a villain.

If possible, Chen Xiangbei will shut up the doubters!
When you floor the accelerator, the roar of the Toyota engine is more intense than ever before.

With his speed increasing dramatically, Chen Xiangbei sprinted across the starting line, completing his first flying lap after three practice sessions.

The roar of the engine at full power and the visibly changing speed of the race car were enough to make the spectators in the stands subconsciously focus their attention on Chen Xiangbei.

Did the Chinese kid only start pushing for faster lap times at the very last moment of his third practice session?

"Chen Xiangbei is moving quite fast; you can tell it's different from the slow, leisurely tests we did before."

"Did Sutil anger him yesterday, and is he planning to make a big splash today?"

"It should have been done a long time ago. I've watched Chen Xiangbei's lower-level formula races. If we don't teach him a lesson, how will that arrogant driver Chen Xiangbei be?"

"Come on, Driver North!"

The Chinese spectators on the track got excited. Chen Xiangbei had been very stable in the two practice sessions, and he hadn't pushed any extreme lap times in the second practice session.

As a result, many foreigners in the stands mocked Chen Xiangbei's opening match performance as a flash in the pan.

Now let them see what real strength is!

"Odetto, North has turned on full power mode. Isn't that a bit too impulsive?"

Mazzola reported to Odette, who, as the chief race engineer, was in charge of deciding the drivers' track strategies.

"Yes, Bei acted impulsively."

"But if young people aren't impulsive, can they still be called young people?"

The passion of motorsports lies in the enthusiasm, ambition, and fearlessness of young drivers.

If he doesn't even dare to pursue speed and passion in practice races, then he's not the Chinese newcomer I admired back then.

It was his willingness to risk his life that initially made Odeto realize that Chen Xiangbei was different from other Chinese and even Asian drivers!
On the track, the TF110 race car, with its rev limit turned off, began to squeeze out all the engine's potential, with the revs increasing by nearly a thousand revolutions per minute in the same gear compared to when the speed limit was lowered.

Higher engine speed brings higher torque output and faster acceleration, but also more difficult handling and vehicle stability.

As Chen Xiangbei navigated the bend, he felt the rear of his race car swaying from side to side like a fish tail, requiring constant adjustments and corrections to maintain his racing line.

However, this adjustment did not last long. As the number of curves increased, the number of corrections decreased proportionally.

This situation proves only one thing: Chen Xiangbei has truly taken control of the TF110 race car after it was fitted with the upgraded kit!

The spectators in the track stands went from disdain to indifference, and finally, as they watched the lap times on the timer, their faces showed shock and disbelief.

Even Prost at the commentary desk showed a strange expression for the first time; the Chinese boy's trajectory was completely beyond his expectations.

As the TF110 race car roared past the finish line at high speed, the final results of the third practice session appeared on the big screen.

1 minutes 25 seconds 314!

This lap time put him second in the practice session leaderboard, only behind McLaren's Hamilton.

In an instant, the once arrogant hunting grounds fell into complete silence...

(End of this chapter)