Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 251 You're getting more and more cowardly

Mercedes has finished fourth in the overall standings in its 10 seasons, which seems pretty good.

In fact, the gap between it and the top three is a precipitous drop. Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren form the true "Big Three," while Mercedes can only sit in the middle with Renault.

As for teams like Williams and Sauber, they simply sat at the children's table.

Virgin, Lotus, and other new military vehicle fleets are simply not worthy of being served!

Schumacher's victory at the Australian Grand Prix was partly due to his undeniable talent.

On the other hand, the rain leveled out the performance differences between the race cars.

Rosberg's attempt to challenge the upgraded TF110 is simply humiliating!
Chen Xiangbei had no intention of playing any technical game with him. He could easily beat his opponent simply by relying on the car's performance, so why risk his life?

However, to the audience and the team staff in the paddock, this scene was undoubtedly similar to a movie plot.

Although Mercedes can be considered a "new" team, it is in fact just a shell of the championship team Brawn GP, ​​with a foundation far exceeding Virgin, Lotus, and even HRT.

After all, HRT is nominally a fusion of the "three forces", but in reality, even its headquarters and factory were built from scratch. Its only advantage was that it picked up the prototype vehicles from the Toyota fleet. Otherwise, it wouldn't be much better than Virgin and Lotus.

As a result, this "assembled product" managed to defeat the top-tier Mercedes team.
Not to mention outsiders, even members of the HRT crew subconsciously swallowed hard when they saw this scene on the track.

Through various simulation data, they know that the upgraded TF110 race car is very strong and can compete with the "Big Three" teams in the paddock.

But I didn't expect it to be this strong!

"Team leader, it seems Trulli and Perez couldn't find the car's limits on the simulator."

Mizutani Sho muttered something to himself.

As a data engineer, no one knows the theoretical performance of the TF110 better than him.

Previously, theoretical performance was slightly lower than actual performance, but now it has surpassed the data on paper!

Mizutani Sho casually expressed his feelings, but when Perez heard these words in the repair shop, they evoked mixed emotions.

His own all-out testing was no match for Chen Xiangbei's actual combat?
To be honest, the events I've witnessed at the repair shop these past two days have been a blow to Perez's youthful arrogance.

He never imagined that Chen Xiangbei, a nominally paid driver, could be so powerful.

Or perhaps Perez was also brainwashed by media propaganda, believing that Chen Xiangbei's rapid advancement and rise to become an F1 driver was due to the acquisition of team shares by Chinese capital.

The facts are quite different!
In some ways, Perez and Chen Xiangbei have similar experiences. Perez also joined the team with funding from Mexican telecommunications companies, which is why he worked so hard to prove his talent and strength.

It was precisely because of this shared arrogance that Perez refused to submit to Chen Xiangbei.

Chen Xiangbei's current performance is undeniable...

"Damn, Chen Xiangbei!"

"A second-generation car dealer who relies on his father's connections, does he really think he's so great?"

"TF110 is too ruthless. Is HRT going to become the next Brawn GP?"

"With this performance and speed, could Chen Xiangbei really become the home team champion?"

"If you dare to dream, you can achieve it! Go for it, racing god Bei!"

Countless Chinese fans cheered at the scene, they never imagined that Chen Xiangbei and the HRT team were so strong.

So much so that even the defending champions, Mercedes, paled in comparison!
In the team's maintenance area, many engineers and management personnel looked very serious upon witnessing this scene.

Chen Xiangbei's outmaneuvering Rosberg undoubtedly exposed the true performance of the HRT race car, which at least had an absolute leading advantage in top speed!

It's worth noting that Mercedes engines aren't only used by the home team; McLaren and Force India also use them.

India's strength is, needless to say, at a mid-to-lower level.

McLaren is currently the second fastest car in the paddock, second only to Red Bull.

In terms of engine performance alone, Toyota's powertrain is on par with Mercedes-Benz, meaning it possesses top-tier capabilities within the paddock.

In addition, Chen Xiangbei demonstrated exceptional skill at the Donghai International Circuit and also had the advantage of playing at home.

With favorable timing, location, and support, the Chinese newcomer could very well snatch pole position in the afternoon qualifying session.

At least the "Big Three" racing teams cannot accept this.

"Newey, the HRT race car is moving faster than expected. We need to take action."

Red Bull team manager Horner, with a blank expression, emphasized something to the designer Newey beside him.

In order to take the leap from runner-up to champion, the Red Bull team has made various small upgrades in these races, which has led to designer Newey having to accompany the team to collect first-hand data.

Red Bull Racing replaced the front brake components for the Chinese Grand Prix, specifically to cope with the heavy braking on the long straights of the Donghai International Circuit, and to avoid problems such as brake system instability and overheating for the RB6.

It's fair to say that Red Bull Racing went all out for the 10 season, determined to win both the team and driver championships. They couldn't afford to let Brawn GP steal the title like they did last year!

"White, do you have the top speed data for car number 13 from earlier?"

Instead of answering Horner's question directly, Newey turned to the data analyst and asked a question.

"352 km/h."

White simply gave a number.

Upon hearing the claim of a top speed of 352 km/h, Newey's expression grew increasingly serious.

"For an HRT race car to achieve this top speed under non-extreme light fuel conditions, either their team has chosen an extremely qualifying-oriented setup, or Toyota's power unit has hidden performance that far surpasses that of other engine suppliers."

"I think the latter is unlikely, otherwise Ferrari would probably have leaked the information, and they wouldn't want to raise a tiger that will become a threat."

"That leaves only the former."

Newey offered his own speculation.

While there are indeed differences in performance among the various F1 engine suppliers, the differences are usually not significant.

The absolute performance difference is at most 5 to 10 km/h.

Of course, there are occasional exceptions, such as the Cowell engine at a certain time, and Alonso's famous "GP2 engine" comment triggered by Honda's power unit.

McLaren's performance in the first two races proves that the Mercedes engine is not weak at all, and at least there is no possibility that it will be overwhelmed by the Toyota engine!
"It's too late to change the settings now."

Horner shook his head in response.

We've now reached the third practice session. All teams have completed their car setups, and the main focus of the testing is on long-distance runs and tires. Asking drivers to adapt to a low-downforce setup would be counterproductive.

Just like Trulli now, he's struggling to drive it and is still trying to adapt.

"Then let's go over power."

Horner calmly replied.

Renault was in internal chaos and its car manufacturing was in terrible condition after the "crash scandal," but the Renault RS27 engine performed very well in terms of performance and stability, with almost no engine failures or stability issues throughout the year. At that time, F1 did not have the strict regulations of later generations that only allowed the use of four power units per year. In order to pursue extreme performance and stability, teams would basically start a new engine every two races.

This means that even if the engine is operating at overpowered speeds, there's no need to worry about its lifespan; at worst, you can simply replace the power unit at the next stop.

Especially for a giant like Red Bull, having money means you can do whatever you want!
In fact, Red Bull isn't the only one with money to burn; everyone feels the pressure from the absolute performance of the HRT race car.

The management teams of McLaren, Ferrari, and even Renault have all decided to activate the engine over-power mode, at least to avoid losing to Chen Xiangbei in terms of performance and top speed.

Meanwhile, in order to test the fit with the tuning scheme, each team unanimously called their drivers to pit during the remaining time of the third practice session, changed to soft red tires, and pushed a lap at maximum speed to feel more confident.

Looking at the unusual scene of people rushing into the station, Liang Chi, who was standing in an outdoor parking space, sensed that something was wrong.

So he went into the pit lane and told Hiroki Sawano, "Several racing teams have brought their cars directly into the garage for tuning. What exactly are they trying to do?"

Upon hearing Liang Chi's words, Hiroki Sawano went outside and happened to see Lewis Hamilton of the McLaren team pitting.

Instead of stopping at the outdoor repair bay as is customary for tire changes, the mechanics pushed the race car into the garage, while an engineer connected it to the car's control system with a laptop.

Upon seeing this, Hiroki Sawano instantly guessed what the other party wanted to do.

Engineers are modifying the engine output mode; they want to boost power for qualifying!
Realizing this, Hiroki Sawano immediately returned to the pit room and reported to Odette: "Team leader, it seems that the speed that Mukai-kun revealed has put a lot of pressure on the opponents in the paddock. Red Bull and McLaren are planning to run at overpowered speed in qualifying."

"If they can exceed power limits, then we can too."

Before Odette could reply, Briatore chimed in.

"We might not be able to."

Test engineer Mazzola shook his head.

He also followed the team to Donghai, specifically to collect data on the Toyota engine after it had been tuned by Ferrari's technical team.

Ferrari overcame the stability issues of Toyota engines through tuning, but could not completely eliminate them.

The reason is simple: after all, this engine was made by Toyota, and many things are already fixed. The only way to completely eliminate it is to start from scratch.

There is no doubt that the HRT team does not have the time or the capability to build a completely new engine.

Forget about manufacturing it, they can't even do the adjustments.

Being able to achieve the original paper-based data output is already a huge success.

Are you pushing the engine to its limits, afraid it won't explode fast enough?

Briatore isn't afraid of engine failure causing driver safety issues, but he is afraid of it affecting the team's performance.

He was waiting for Chen Xiangbei to achieve an amazing result so he could contact China's top sponsors and make money. If Chen Xiangbei had to withdraw from the race due to engine failure, wouldn't all his efforts be in vain?

Mazzola's words made Briatore realize the problem, and he immediately fell silent and stopped replying.

Odette observed everything and then calmly remarked, "Let's see how the other teams perform with their overpowered engines; they'll definitely need to run a test lap."

"Well, that's all I can do for now."

Hiroki Sawano nodded and shifted his gaze to the broadcast screen.

The engineers from the giants and the factory teams were very professional. They completed the engine power setting for the race cars in just a few minutes. When the four teams came out again, they had already switched to soft red tires with better grip.

Just as Odette had predicted, they were going to run a test lap to verify the results.

Compared to the aggressive play of the larger teams, mid-to-lower-tier teams such as Sauber, Toro Rosso, and Virgin saw no need for pointless competition and returned to the pits to watch the show as Practice 3 drew to a close.

Chen Xiangbei's fastest lap time in practice, 1 minute 32.422 seconds, is anyone going to break it?
A temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and a track covered with rubber granules mean that the road surface conditions are perfect.

After pushing Rosberg for a few laps, Chen Xiangbei's tires had entered the grip deterioration phase. He glanced at the countdown timer above the track and prepared to pit.

But at that moment, he saw the race cars passing by him all switching to soft red tires, and realized that something was about to happen.

Due to tire wear limitations, the Donghai International Circuit mostly uses neutral yellow tires and hard white tires, rarely uses soft red tires, and never appears in long-distance tests.

The fact that several major racing teams have all switched to soft red tires is definitely suspicious!
"Odette, something's not right on the track. Is there a problem at the pit lane?"

Chen Xiangbei asked Odeto a question through the team's voice chat system.

"You'll find out soon enough."

Odeto didn't tell him directly, but instead remained silent.

In fact, Chen Xiangbei soon found out that after all the teams finished their warm-up laps, the roar of the accelerators at full speed resounded through the sky, and even wearing a thick racing helmet could not block it out.

Listening to the roar of the engines and feeling the race cars whizzing past him, Chen Xiangbei knew that these drivers were pushing for top speed!
No one expected that a road rage incident between Chen Xiangbei and Rosberg would trigger a domino effect, leading to numerous changes within the paddock.

Button, Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Webber...

These drivers, whose names will be remembered by future generations, are now frantically flooring the accelerator and pushing forward. Some are trying to prove themselves and win the team competition, while others want to take the Chinese Grand Prix and solidify their ranking.

There is only one core concept: to be faster than Chen Xiangbei!

A minute or so is neither a long nor a short time.

New lap times appeared one after another on the practice session leaderboard.

Many audience members held their breath, not wanting Chen Xiangbei to be dethroned from the top spot.

Unfortunately, sports competitions are not about making wishes, but about the best performing being in charge!
Light fuel, high power, and conscious pushing by the driver—these three factors combined mean faster lap times.

With a time of 1 minute 32.401 seconds, Alonso surpassed Chen Xiangbei's fastest lap.

Just seconds later, Vettel clocked a time of 1 minute 32.357 seconds to take the lead.

But Vettel did not achieve the fastest lap.

Hamilton surpassed Schumacher's track record in practice with a time of 1 minute 31.992 seconds, just as he later set a new track record at Donghai!
As for Button and Webber, although they were not faster than Chen Xiangbei, they also ran a time of 1 minute 32.5 seconds.

In a mere 0.5 seconds, six drivers squeezed in!
"Manager, do you think we need to overpower our qualifying sessions?"

After seeing the lap time leaderboard, Odeto asked Briatore a question.

Hua Bu could sense the other party's "malicious intentions," but the stakes were too high for him to make a decision. He didn't want to gamble on the possibility of an unexpected situation where the engine would explode and he would have to withdraw from the race.

Seeing that the old Italian rogue remained silent, Odeto's face revealed a mocking smile.

"Briatoli, you're getting more and more cowardly as you get older. You've even forgotten what a driver should really be pursuing."

This time, Odeto returned the same words.

"A driver who only pursues profit will not win a championship, let alone achieve greatness."

"On the contrary, only drivers who are single-mindedly focused on pursuing speed can surpass their opponents and themselves."

"Sawano, summon Kita to the pits. Before the practice race ends, set the engine to overpower mode!"

(End of this chapter)