Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 267 is ultimately a team game.

Rosberg didn't react in time to block, but another driver did.

He was Hamilton, who was following behind Chen Xiangbei in his car.

When Hamilton realized that Rosberg was unable to complete the crossover instruction and was about to be overtaken by Chinese driver Bei Ge, he did not hesitate to follow the car and overtake together.

Since everyone can move up a rank anyway, does it matter whether this person is Chen Xiangbei or not?

For Hamilton, there is no friendship on the road to the championship.

Just like Schumacher, who spent over 20 years in the paddock, after his skiing accident, none of his former teammates were allowed to visit him.

In the words of the racing legend, he had no friends in the paddock!

As Rosberg watched the McLaren race car following behind Chen Xiangbei's car, taking the opportunity to overtake him, he felt a mix of emotions.

His willingness to carry out cross-team orders stemmed from friendship, not from any personal gain, a fundamental difference from O'Connor in later generations.

After all, Rosberg didn't come from a poor background like Ocon. He had a world champion father, German citizenship, and resources from the Mercedes factory team, making his official driver's seat a sure thing!
Even if he refuses to comply, McLaren owner Dennis can't do anything about it.

When he was overtaken by the opponent's two-car strategy, Hamilton not only did not offer any help, but also took the opportunity to improve his ranking along with Chen Xiangbei, which Rosberg found unacceptable.

There's a conflicting feeling: I don't want my brother to suffer, but I'm also afraid he'll drive a Land Rover.

However, this sense of contradiction vanished almost immediately, and the expression on his face turned into one of shock.

After Trulli, who was at the front, let Chen Xiangbei pass, he would definitely try his best to stop Hamilton, who was following closely behind and wanted to take advantage of the situation.

After all, Hamilton, the youngest world champion in history, is clearly much stronger than Rosberg.

Without the slightest hesitation, Trulli swerved the steering wheel, attempting to block Hamilton's overtaking path.

However, the route to overtake is right in front of us. If Trulli blocks our way, it will be much more difficult to catch up with Chen Xiangbei, and the tires will not be able to support the long-term propulsion wear and tear.

Hamilton, who was only in his early twenties at this time, had absolute speed but lacked sufficient composure. His style was more like that of Senna in his prime, but he lacked effort and perseverance.

Faced with Trulli's obstruction, Hamilton, his blood boiling, stepped on the gas and sped up, intending to rush past Chen Xiangbei before Trulli could "close the door."

But Trulli is no pushover either. He's the kind of person who's willing to fight on the track, so how could he possibly swallow his pride?

While declining strength with age is an objective factor, a decline in temper is a subjective one.

It's clear that Trulli isn't going to spoil this young upstart!
One driver aggressively overtakes the other, while the other forcefully closes the door. The distance between the two cars is getting closer and closer, and they are engaged in a fierce psychological battle, betting that the other will back down first.

Unfortunately, both of them underestimated each other's resolve. They didn't even slow down, let alone back down.

This highlights the point: whoever backs down is a coward!

Unsurprisingly, Hamilton's car crashed head-on into Trulli, who was changing lanes, resulting in an unconventional "American-style stop".

Then the McLaren collided with the sidepod of the HRT car, and both cars went off the track together.

"Yellow flag! Double yellow flags indicating an accident on the track!"

"World champion Lewis Hamilton from McLaren crashed into HRT veteran Jarno Trulli, who was defending the door, and it was the car's most vulnerable sidepod."

"We can clearly see that the HRT race car cockpit is damaged. Trulli is leaning against the seat and unable to move. We don't know the extent of his injuries. If it's serious, we might have to call a red flag."

Thanks to its new construction and higher safety standards, the Donghai International Circuit has not experienced any major accidents or serious injuries or fatalities to drivers since it began hosting the Grand Prix in 04.

Although Trulli is not a Chinese driver, people often tend to favor those associated with him. Just like Zhou Guanyu's time with Sauber later boosted the Chinese fans' positive feelings towards Bottas.

Not to mention Trulli's blocking and closing of the door was clearly intended to help Chen Xiangbei overtake, and guest Sha Tong really hoped that the other party could escape danger.

"The track medical team has arrived. Trulli appears to be unbuckling his seatbelt, indicating that he is at least conscious."

"Hamilton was hit head-on, but he has climbed out of the cabin and appears to be unharmed."

The design of any vehicle, including F1 cars, emphasizes protection against frontal impacts.

This means that if you encounter an unavoidable dangerous situation, never swerve the steering wheel randomly; instead, simply crash into it head-on. This will actually be safer and reduce the extent of the damage.

While the two commentators were worried about the injury, the audience was buzzing with discussion.

"Turulli is a veteran, after all. How could he close the door so recklessly?"

"It's clearly a team order to block the car. Briatore has a history of harming drivers and will stop at nothing for profit!"

"Although Trulli appears to be more seriously injured at the moment, I think the FIA ​​should severely punish this dangerous closing behavior!"

"That's right, Chinese driver Bei is suspected of improperly profiting!"

Just like in a traffic accident, it's not necessarily true that whoever is more seriously injured is in the right.

Often, there is a contradiction between rules and compassion.

Trulli's forceful blocking of the overtaking lane, commonly known as "closing the door," left Hamilton with absolutely no room to maneuver. Unless the car behind him chose to back down, a collision became a certainty.

As the youngest world champion and one of the most dazzling star drivers in recent years, Hamilton has a large number of fans worldwide, and naturally some people feel he has been wronged.

"North, Trulli accident, watch out for double yellow flags."

Odette's voice came through the headset, reminding the driver not to overtake or speed during the yellow flag period.

"Odette, how is Trulli?"

Chen Xiangbei immediately countered with a question.

F1 cars travel at extremely high speeds, and the field of vision in the rearview mirrors is very limited.

Before entering the bend, Chen Xiangbei vaguely saw two race cars rush off the track, but he couldn't see how they collided or what their condition was like as clearly as he could on the broadcast.

However, the appearance of two yellow flags on the track indicates a significant accident, at least necessitating a withdrawal from the race.

"The car's voice system is malfunctioning, Trulli is unable to report the situation, medical personnel have arrived, and we are waiting for news from the race command center."

A common scene in F1 live broadcasts is the crew members standing in the pit lane, looking at the monitor screen with serious or worried expressions. They also cannot know the situation and injuries immediately.

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiangbei felt a sudden heaviness in his heart.

To be honest, he had never experienced a teammate getting injured like this before. Because whether it's lower-level formula racing, or F3 or F2 racing, teammates are often not as fixed as in F1, and there's rarely any two-car coordination in the paddock.

Using the NBA, which is more familiar to Chinese people, F2 is more like a development league, emphasizing the word "independent".

All you need to do is show off your speed to get a higher ranking. There is absolutely no foolish behavior of using two cars to help your teammates, let alone Trulli endangering himself by forcibly closing the gate.

Chen Xiangbei's relationship with Trulli wasn't good; at best, they were just casual acquaintances.

However, in the six months they spent together after the winter test, their relationship, which was both adversarial and friendly, gradually became harmonious. The initial hostility had long since disappeared, and they maintained their pride rather than compromising.

Although Trulli became the second driver to carry out the team's instructions, Chen Xiangbei knew very well that the crash was not part of the plan; it was Trulli's voluntary sacrifice and contribution.

That's precisely why Chen Xiangbei felt such mixed emotions.

Often, owing someone a favor is the hardest thing to repay!
"Truly was rescued from the cockpit, and the command center did not cut off the broadcast, so his injuries should be within an acceptable range."

Odeto quickly provided another update on the accident.

There's an unwritten rule in F1 racing broadcasts: if the camera doesn't move away from showing the rescue process after a driver's accident, the driver is likely not seriously injured.

Because of several serious F1 accidents involving injuries and fatalities in history, including the one involving Senna, the broadcast footage of these accidents would cause significant psychological harm to the drivers, their families, and fans, especially due to the graphic violence.

As a result, there was an agreement within the FIA ​​that if the on-site medical personnel initially determined that the situation was very serious, then the rescue footage would not be released, and the official announcement would only be made after the final results were available.

If the injury is not serious, or is within an acceptable range, the rescue process will be broadcast live.

The race center did not cut off the footage of Trulli's medical assistance, and we can see him getting off the car with the help of medical personnel, which means that his injury is not too serious.

Hearing this, Chen Xiangbei breathed a sigh of relief.

"North, F1 is never a one-man race. Today you should be able to feel what teamwork means."

"Keep it up, don't let Trully down."

Odeto is not a sentimental person, nor does he like to say anything emotional.

But at this moment, he still emphasized one point.

In this home race, whether it was the teamwork that led to Hamilton's undercut or Trulli's two-car strategy that allowed him to overtake Rosberg, it was all remarkable.

All of this demonstrates the unity, cooperation, and dedication of an F1 team!
Even a racing legend like Schumacher often needed Barrichello's cooperation.

Even someone as focused as Verstappen still relied on Perez's pressure to keep up.

Young people often become arrogant after achieving some success. Today, Oddoto wants to tell Chen Xiangbei that F1 is ultimately a team game.

After saying this, Odeto gave Perez a meaningful look.

He saw the same youthful arrogance in this Mexican young man, who was absolutely unwilling to be subordinate to anyone.

Having the ambition is fine, but the prerequisite is having the ability.

Odeto now agrees with what Briatore once said: mediocre teams can accept two drivers competing fairly, but championship-contending teams must clearly designate their number one and number two drivers.

Only by clearly defining our position can we reduce internal losses.

If Perez ever becomes a full-fledged driver for the HRT team, he either needs to defeat Chen Xiangbei or understand his own position and situation.

Odeto cannot accept someone who can neither win nor accept defeat!
"I will."

Chen Xiangbei's tone was filled with determination.

Whatever Trulli's reasons for helping, he wouldn't let him waste his efforts.

For myself, for Trulli, and even more so for HRT!

The cleanup of the damaged car took longer than expected. Originally, it was just a pit stop for mid-to-lower-tier drivers to change tires, hoping to improve their position with better grip.

As time went on, the front-row team strategy team judged that the double yellow flags would last for some time, so they brought Vettel of the leading group to pit for tires.

After being overtaken by Alonso on the first lap, Vettel remained in second place and launched several attacks, all of which came to nothing.

Behind Vettel was his teammate Webber, also an extremely excellent long-distance race driver, the kind of driver who can achieve whatever speed he's given a car.

Of course, you shouldn't expect him to drive at speeds exceeding the limits of a race car.

Vettel couldn't overtake him, and to avoid Alonso getting the upper hand, the team's strategy team couldn't allow Webber to launch an offensive that would be detrimental to their own game, which would be like having two Red Bull cars following behind, eating each other's exhaust fumes.

However, there was also a benefit during the attack: it wore out Alonso's tires.

Red Bull has now decided to pit Vettel for tires, then use the superior ability of the fastest car in the RB6 paddock to catch up, while Webber takes over to launch an attack on Alonso during this process.

As Odeto emphasized, F1 is ultimately a team game, and with two Red Bull cars in the front row, they have the resources to engage in a series of races.

On the contrary, if Alonso pits for tires, he will lose his lead, and Massa will be far behind and unable to help at all!

"Bei, are you considering going into the station?"

During the patrol while waiting for the yellow flag to end, Hiroki Sawano's voice came through the earpiece.

The race has now reached lap 31, meaning there are only 25 laps left.

Many drivers changed to new tires during the yellow flag and safety car period. In the final stage of the race, Chen Xiangbei's old white tires, which had been used for forty laps, would not only make it difficult for him to overtake the last two opponents, but at least he would have a hard time holding off the pursuers behind him.

Hiroki Sawano was worried that all his efforts would be in vain.

"I don't need to think about it, I can run the whole course."

Chen Xiangbei rejected Hiroki Sawano's suggestion, even though changing tires in the pits during the safety car period could reduce the window time.

However, by shortening the distance between trains, you will drop a lot of places when you leave the station.

Toyota's engine performance and speed are not much weaker than Red Bull's, but the two have a big difference in stability.

If they keep pushing the engine to its limits to overtake like this, Chen Xiangbei is worried that there will be a scenario where the engine blows up during qualifying.

And even more importantly, Chen Xiangbei had already used the safety car to press down on Webber and Alonso, shortening the planned pursuit time and indirectly increasing tire life.

Red Bull's strategy of using a series of attacks is like a mantis stalking a cicada, so why can't I be the oriole lurking behind?
(End of this chapter)