Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 224 Hesitation Will Lead to Utter Waste
"Holy crap, full throttle through T2 turn, Chen Xiangbei is really fearless!"

"What kind of driver are you if you're afraid of dying? If Chen Xiangbei didn't have that fighting spirit, he would never have made it into F1!"

"Bei has surprised me. I never expected that the traditionally conservative Chinese would have this side to them."

"If this goes too far, we'll just put it on the wall. Driver Bei really has courage."

The audience members were buzzing with discussion, and many exclaimed in surprise.

Aside from those who came to watch the race purely out of camaraderie, most of the spectators who did come to watch the race had some knowledge of F1 racing or the Albert Park circuit, and they knew the difficulty of going full throttle through Turn 2.

Chen Xiangbei suppressed Kubica's overtaking maneuver using this extreme method, which can be said to be teetering on the edge of losing control.

Chinese drivers are ruthless!

"Beautiful! North's cornering line was perfect. He found the apex point even after taking full advantage of the kerbs. It seems he did his homework on the Albert Park circuit."

Prost then praised Chen Xiangbei, saying that the success of challenging limits depends not only on luck, but more on strength.

As a newcomer to the circuit, Chen Xiangbei was unfamiliar with the Albert Park circuit before the Grand Prix. Even with countless training sessions on racing simulators, he still couldn't bridge the gap between the virtual and the real.

Prost could tell at a glance that Chen Xiangbei had "practiced" this route that took up all the road shoulders.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Chinese driver did try full throttle through corners during practice, but there were too many cars on the track, and his top speed wasn't particularly high on some corners, so no one noticed anything amiss.

Kubica's momentary lapse in concentration on the track caused the already widening gap between him and Chen Xiangbei to widen even further, and he was about to be unable to keep up with Chen Xiangbei's slipstream.

Seeing this situation, Kovalenen, who was in the rear, couldn't contain himself. His initial plan was not to attack Kubica, so that the team in front could focus all its efforts on dealing with the Chinese.

Who would have thought that Kubica, who was touted as a championship contender, would be so incompetent, unable to keep up with the car at the T2 corner!

Since Kubica was incompetent, Kovalainen decided to stop tolerating it and overtake him to launch his own attack.

It's worth noting that Kovalainen was no pushover either; he entered F1 as the runner-up in the GP2 World Championship, second only to that year's champion, Rosberg.

Meanwhile, Kovalainen dominated veteran Fisichella in his rookie season and is hailed as the successor to Finland's third-generation champion driver.

He just happened to be teammates with Hamilton during his rising period, and ended up being completely outplayed by this black rookie!
People of this era don't have Chen Xiangbei's God's-eye view; they couldn't have known in advance that Hamilton would become a seven-time champion legend.

According to the evaluation standards at the time, if a third-year student couldn't outrun a first-year student, he was undoubtedly a noob!

Kovalainen was thus kicked out of the McLaren team and became one of the lower-ranked teams. At the same time, the combination of external public opinion and his own shortcomings led to a broken heart and increasingly poor driving, to the point that he could no longer stand in the F1 paddock.

It was through Raikkonen's connections that he was introduced to a team and secured a permanent seat.

This is why Kovalainen harbors such great hostility towards Chen Xiangbei.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call Raikkonen the "second parent" of his career.

Although Kovalainen's reputation has collapsed, he can actually be seen as a copy of Bottas, as he still has absolute speed.

If he really goes all out to launch an offensive, it won't be easy to stop him.

"FUCK, what's going on with Kubica? He went from attacking driver North to defending Kovalainen?"

Renault team principal Brilliant was unable to accept the changes in the situation on the track.

Kubica's first overtaking mistake in the opening game could be excused as a "careless mistake," but at the time, no one knew Chen Xiangbei's true strength, and no one expected that a Chinese newcomer would have such ability.

To be honest, Kubica's image has already been damaged by being overtaken round by round in qualifying.

However, that was just a qualifying round; the real deciding factor would be the main race.

Now that Chen Xiangbei has left him behind once again, Buril has no excuse left.

Renault signed Kubica, intending to use him as the next Alonso and a core player in building the team, but now he's sitting at the same table as Lotus's Kovalainen, which is really hard for the Renault team management to accept.

"Team leader, I think Kubica has a psychological problem. He hesitated noticeably when accelerating out of the corner just now."

"Even if he failed to overtake, this situation shouldn't have happened. The consecutive defeats have been a huge blow to him."

Sporting manager Nelson was right; Kubica was indeed on the verge of his moral collapse.

"Momentum" is an elusive and intangible thing, often resembling a kind of metaphysics.

But it really does exist!

The series of defeats caused Kubica to subconsciously lose absolute confidence in his ability to overtake and win.

In addition, after going off the track in the opening race, he instinctively didn't dare to go head-to-head with Chen Xiangbei, so he also went all out on the throttle to corner and fight to the death.

Hesitation will only lead to wasted effort!
In an F1 car traveling at hundreds of kilometers per hour, even a hesitation of just 0.1 seconds would leave the car in front far behind.

On the contrary, Chen Xiangbei shed his former awe of F1 drivers and cultivated an unstoppable confidence.

From the very beginning, he was convinced that he could beat Kubica!

While Kubica was locked in combat with Kovalainen, Chen Xiangbei did his utmost to catch up with Trulli ahead.

T3, T4, T5...

As they passed each bend, Chen Xiangbei's distance from Trulli's car continued to close.

Perhaps sensing the pressure from his teammates behind him, Trulli no longer chose to follow the car behind to protect his tires. Instead, he launched a fierce attack on Rosberg, the car in front of him.

He was well aware of the young German driver's weakness: he was slow to start!
The best way to get rid of Chen Xiangbei is to use the fastest and most intense attacks to force Rosberg into making blunders.

Trulli wasn't the only one considering taking action at this moment; Schumacher, ranked fifth, also launched an offensive against McLaren's Button.

What defending champion and new king?

They're nothing compared to Schumacher!
The battle at the front row was even fiercer, with Hamilton and Vettel, two of the best young drivers, both vying to become the rulers of the paddock for the next decade. Vettel was unable to accept being eliminated from pole position in Q3.

He wants to prove that he is the strongest!
The track was in complete chaos, but due to the narrow terrain of the Albert Park circuit and the extremely complex wind direction, overtaking was significantly more difficult.

Many times, the wheel-to-wheel race is very intense, but the car is always just a little short of overtaking. To avoid being overtaken by the car behind, the car has no choice but to reluctantly give up.

Compared to the front row drivers who can still engage in offensive and defensive battles, the mid-to-lower-ranked drivers do not have the ability to control the car, or rather, the performance and tuning skills of the smaller teams' cars do not support them in performing various tricks.

Just one lap in, Virgin Racing's Grassi collided with Toro Rosso's Aguisu, and Force India's Liuzzi went off the track and crashed into the wall, causing all three cars to retire from the race.

Fortunately, all the cars were still running and could leave the field on their own through the emergency exits. The FIA ​​officials only deployed a single yellow flag to limit the speed.

When the speed limit was lifted and the race resumed on the third lap, Rosberg's slow start and lack of experience became apparent. He failed to properly control the car and accelerate suddenly. Trulli, relying on his rich experience, anticipated the acceleration of the car in front of him!
Trulli floored the accelerator, changing lanes directly to Rosberg's left and pulling up, just managing to get into the inside corner line.

"Old ginger is spicier. When the race restarted, Rosberg made a mistake by pressing the car, and Trulli seized the opportunity to take the lead and overtake on the corner."

"Given the HRT car's strong grip in the corners from the previous race, the Mercedes W01 will most likely be unable to defend against Trulli's overtaking maneuver. Does this mean Rosberg will have to face another showdown with driver North?"

Reid calmly explained the situation on the track, and just when the audience thought it was over, they suddenly heard him exclaim in his headphones, raising his voice.

"Car number 13! Driver North, who was driving car number 13, took advantage of Trulli blocking Rosberg's turn at the corner, accelerated and overtook the car behind him."

"And to prevent Rosberg from changing lanes and blocking them, the two HRT cars followed very closely, with the distance between their front and rear wings measured in centimeters!"

"Was it driver Bei's perfect timing, or was it a two-car tactic prepared in advance by the HRT team?"

No one can answer the question about Red's commentary for now, not even four-time champion Prost.

After all, Chen Xiangbei and Trulli were "sworn enemies" before, and during the battle, both cars locked their tires and almost went off the track.

To say that after only three laps, they would immediately "bury the hatchet" and cooperate with each other seems a bit unrealistic.

But the two HRT race cars overtook each other in perfect unison, as if they had planned it in advance!
This sudden turn of events not only baffled the track commentators, but even Rosberg was caught off guard.

He hadn't expected Trulli to be able to time his acceleration so precisely, nor had he expected Chen Xiangbei to be able to keep up.

At this stop, Rosberg was actually mentally prepared to go head-to-head with Chen Xiangbei.

His slow start and lack of offensive and defensive skills are only slightly below the world's top championship standards. His comparison is with Hamilton, who is at the GOTA level. It does not mean that Rosberg can be easily defeated by other drivers.

Even though he's still a newcomer and hasn't reached his future peak, the GP2 champion's talent and achievements speak for themselves, so he can't possibly be a weakling!
As it turned out, there was no actual offensive or defensive battle. Chen Xiangbei "picked up" the opportunity and overtook Rosberg, leaving Rosberg speechless.

WHAT?

At the Mercedes team's outdoor control tower, Rosberg's race engineer, Cleary, simply shrugged, unable to believe his eyes.

Rosberg comes from a family with a prestigious background, received guidance from his father, a world champion, experienced countless competitions in lower-level formula racing, and spent two years in the F1 paddock. Theoretically, he is not a rookie without any experience.

How could such a serious mistake have occurred?

It's worth noting that in the previous race, Chen Xiangbei overtook Rosberg with a torpedo, and although the FIA ​​ultimately didn't issue a penalty, public opinion remained on Rosberg's side.

If this race can be won, no one will question Rosberg's driving skills anymore; they will only criticize Chen Xiangbei's dangerous driving methods.

If we fail to prevent it now, public opinion will develop in the exact opposite direction!
In competitive sports, ability is the only "evidence".

If you win, everything will be fine; a great scholar will surely defend you.

If you lose, even if you're right, you'll become wrong!
"Manager Brown, you've got the timing right."

Compared to the competition engineers, Field, the test engineer who had a long-term relationship with Chen Xiangbei, said this with a sigh.

Back when Chen Xiangbei was still a novice test driver, he was amazed by the talent of this Chinese newcomer. Now it seems that his growth rate is beyond expectations. No wonder Manager Brown had such keen insight and thought he had the potential to skip levels!
Upon hearing this, Ross Brown felt a mix of emotions.

He could be said to have worked with Staller to cultivate and promote Chen Xiangbei's entry into F1.

However, due to the limitations of the team's development and the competitive landscape at the time, Chen Xiangbei could not be provided with a formal driver's seat.

Until the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Daimler Group took a stake, Ross Brawn's sale of his shares meant he completely relinquished control of the team and lost the power to select and sign drivers.

Sensing that Ross Brown was in a bad mood, the strategy team at the control tower stopped talking about Chen Xiangbei and instead gave Ross Brown instructions to follow the car and overtake when the opportunity arose.

Chen Xiangbei's tires have experienced a lock-up. Even with subsequent tire protection measures, there is still a very high risk of tire blowout in the weak areas, and the peak grip will come very quickly.

Rosberg's long-distance stability is outstanding; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him one of the best in the paddock.

In addition, compared to other newcomers, Rosberg has a very stable mindset and emotions. Even when faced with adversity, he can quickly adjust, which is completely different from Kubica's somewhat impatient and impulsive personality in the early days.

The race has only just begun; there's no point in dwelling on being overtaken.

Upon receiving instructions from the team, Rosberg instantly calmed down, closely following Chen Xiangbei without making any aggressive moves.

Because he had seen the fierce competition between Chen Xiangbei and Trulli in his rearview mirror from the very beginning, Rosberg believed that it was impossible for these two HRT team members to get along peacefully.

Whether it's the hot-tempered Trulli or Chen Xiangbei, who wants to prove himself, they are destined to compete within the team.

With Massa of Ferrari leading the pack, Trulli has virtually no chance of seizing another opportunity to deflect the conflict!
Just as Rosberg had predicted, Chen Xiangbei, who had once again caught up with Trulli's tail, did not hesitate or consider his teammates' feelings, and quickly sucked in the taillights to close the distance with the car in front.

Faced with Chen Xiangbei's renewed pursuit, Trulli displayed a similarly tough attitude. He decisively abandoned the idea of ​​chasing Massa and went straight to the defensive line to block Chen Xiangbei, not giving the car behind him any chance to overtake.

It must be said that Trulli, who was defending with all his might, ultimately demonstrated his strength and experience as a veteran.

Chen Xiangbei followed behind him, feeling a sense of "difficulty in moving forward". Whenever he wanted to turn around, Trulli's car would always appear in the overtaking line at just the right time, even going so far as to make "illegal" changes of lanes in the braking zone and double lane changes.

Chen Xiangbei has truly experienced what it means for teammates to be the biggest opponents.

This guy has never put in this much effort when defending against other drivers!
(End of this chapter)