Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 279 Quantitative Change Leads to Qualitative Change
It was Wednesday of the race week, and the crews of the other eleven teams arrived at the Lingyan Circuit from the airport, hauling containers.

When they saw the HRT team engineers already laying out the track, their expressions were quite different.

Especially the Renault team members, who are very familiar with Briatore, after all, the two were on the same team last year.

Sporting manager Nixon couldn't help but say, "Team principal, has the HRT team been influenced by its Chinese members? When did they become so proactive and efficient? Has Briatore also learned to 'roll up'?"

During his time with the Renault team, the Italian veteran was known for his style of doing things right in the big picture but neglecting the details.

Briatore is very strict about the operation and management of the team, but when it comes to the specifics of equipment transfer and loading/unloading, that's completely none of his business.

Even during the main race, Briatore mostly stayed in the pit lane enjoying the air conditioning, unwilling to go outside to the command post to be exposed to the sun and inhale exhaust fumes. This early transition and setup was a stark contrast to his previous flamboyant style.

"Perhaps, but I think it's more because of the grades."

Renault team manager Buril replied quietly.

"score?"

"Yes, results are the lifeblood of a team. Winning gives you endless motivation, while losing leads to discouragement."

Perhaps no one understands this better than Burrell.

Last year, the Renault team was one of the "Big Three," but after Alonso left and the technical team was laid off, it has been in decline and its performance has been getting worse. Now it can't even make it into the "Big Four" teams.

If we also include the rising HRT team, the Renault team is actually ranked sixth!

The worse the performance, the more depressed the crew members became.

The more subdued the atmosphere became, the less competitive the entire team felt.

After a vicious cycle, the Renault team seemed to have no hope. Even Kubica, who was regarded as the "savior", is said to have been in contact with the Ferrari team, and the other party has made it clear that they will reserve a regular driver seat for him.

"This is still a change brought about by the North."

Upon hearing this, Burrell was speechless for a moment.

Indeed, just as sports manager Nelson said, the victory was brought by Chen Xiangbei, and he is Chinese.

Quantitative change leads to qualitative change!
The reason why Burrell subconsciously didn't want to admit it was simply because he had missed Chen Xiangbei.

Nobody likes to admit their mistakes.

Accompanying the F1 team was HRT's third driver, Perez.

Trulli's two-month recovery period has indeed made him unable to drive the car, and Perolo will replace him in the upcoming F1 Grand Prix races.

For a GP2 driver, being temporarily promoted to an F1 team is definitely a stroke of good luck.

But for veteran Trulli, this could be a sign that his career is coming to an end.

Whether Perez can stay after recovering from his injury depends entirely on his performance in the next few tournaments.

Perez was originally scheduled to travel with his team to the Yeongam Circuit in South Korea after the F1 Chinese Grand Prix. However, he is currently participating in the GP2 series and has achieved remarkable results, winning two races and reaching the podium four times, second only to Venezuelan driver "King Polo".

Such outstanding results naturally require discussion with the GP2 team, and a trade-off must be made.

Based on Perez's performance, he is very likely to win the GP2 championship title in the 10 season.

With this title, even if the HRT team doesn't offer official driver seats next year, it won't be difficult for him to get a spot from another team, not to mention he has a huge sponsorship from Mexican telecommunications company Telemex.

However, if they enter F1 too early and are unable to adapt, it will greatly damage their reputation and potential, and in severe cases, they may even be unable to buy a seat even if they have the money.

After all, a lottery ticket that's been scratched open and says "Thank you for your patronage" is a good example of how ambitious people with some achievements would gamble on another promising newcomer, or if all else fails, just sign Maldonado directly.

This Venezuelan GP2 driver is also sponsored by an oil giant and can attract attention from all over the Americas. His commercial value is comparable to that of Perez!
Not to mention that after Perez withdrew from the GP2, the King of the Ball had no major competitors and could almost secure the championship title in advance.

While an F1 reserve seat is desirable, it has come at an inopportune time, and Perez's management team and GP2 team need to weigh and consider this.

However, the result came out quickly: Perez appeared at Lingyan Circuit, which was tantamount to announcing the answer.

Many people's impression of Perez comes from his time with Red Bull, where he was an extremely skilled second driver who was adept at keeping tires in good condition.

In fact, Perez's style in his early years was known for its ferocity and aggressiveness, which is also a characteristic of all American drivers, or rather, all young drivers!
The reason is simple: the competition for seats in F1 is extremely fierce. If you don't compete, you won't have speed, and if you don't have speed, you won't have a seat.

The team won't say they've been training a rookie for several years; they believe he's a promising talent with great potential.

If you can't achieve good results or absolute speed in three to five races, it's equivalent to entering the "kill line" of the team management.

The Renault team later managed by Briatore saw a rapid turnover of young players, and made it clear that money could only buy a seat in five races, and if they couldn't prove themselves, they should get out of there!
A young man filled with ambition and a strong desire to prove himself is destined to enter the F1 paddock to compete.

The entire crew expressed their congratulations and welcome to Perez's arrival.

A mature racing team is like a large company; it is destined not to be swayed by emotions, even if they are more familiar with Trulli and have a better relationship with him.

Only the race engineer, Soter, had a forced smile on his face.

He didn't dislike Perez, and he understood the survival of the fittest in the paddock; he felt more sorry for him from a friendship standpoint.

However, Sott will not be Perez's race engineer; his GP2 team engineer, Bird, has joined the HRT team as an interim race engineer.

On the one hand, the two have worked together for a long time and understand each other's needs better.

On the other hand, Soter is also considered a member of Trulli's "private" team, adhering to the principle of avoiding suspicion.

After exchanging greetings, Perez headed to the drivers' lounge, which was already packed with people.

Odette, Bell, Hiroki Sawano, and even Huali's dispatched engineer Cheng Jian were all standing in the crowd, their eyes all fixed on Chen Xiangbei driving the racing simulator.

The reason is simple: it's too fast!

When Odette left yesterday, Chen Xiangbei's fastest lap time was still in the range of 1 minute and 37 seconds.

Compared to the ideal lap time simulated by the computer, this result is not too bad, considering that it is a completely new track that no one has ever run before, and other drivers also need time to adapt.

Of course, it's not perfect, but a standard rectangular shape is just right.

But what Odeto didn't know was that after nightfall, Chen Xiangbei had already reached the 1 minute and 36 second mark!

But this result was still not enough for Chen Xiangbei. Only he, with his god-like perspective, knew the pole position speed of the first-ever Korean F1 Grand Prix, and he was still almost a second slower. Chen Xiangbei also vaguely remembered that at least three drivers had broken the 1 minute 35 second barrier for pole position in that race: the two Red Bull cars and Ferrari's Alonso.

It has to be admitted that Alonso at his peak was terrifyingly strong.

He's the third fastest car in the paddock, and he can finish in the top three no matter what track he's on.

What's even more outrageous is that Alonso doesn't even use a simulator!
That's right, Alonso has a unique characteristic: he almost never touches racing simulators.

The initial reason was that when Alonso started out, racing simulators were very rudimentary and could hardly achieve any training effect, which led to the older generation of drivers developing a habit.

As racing simulators evolved to three-axis, five-axis, and multi-screen stages, Alonso's driving feel had become fixed, and he worried that too much simulator training would negatively affect his car feel and track judgment.

It's like some young drivers in later generations treating simulators as reality.

Over time, Alonso stopped using emulators much.

Of course, "not very often" does not mean "not at all".

For new circuits like Lingyan Circuit, which have never been included in an F1 season, Alonso will definitely need to familiarize himself with them using a racing simulator.

All I can say is that the legendary GOTA drivers are all incredibly talented; ordinary people have to put in twice the effort to reach their level!
The HRT team members certainly didn't know Alonso's speed; all they knew was that Chen Xiangbei didn't return to his hotel until very late last night.

If it were any other young driver, everyone would have guessed that he was out chasing girls or going on dates. But they were very confident in Chen Xiangbei and his team. They were sure that the kid was still in the P-room driver's lounge doing simulator training.

Indeed, this was the case; Chen Xiangbei did not return to the hotel until 1 a.m.

The next morning at seven o'clock, as dawn was breaking, he went to the P room alone again to continue.

Odeto didn't find anything particularly special about Chen Xiangbei's persistence yesterday.

I just want to practice more.

But when he learned this morning that Chen Xiangbei had gone to P room, he was genuinely impressed!
Racing simulators may seem similar to games, and it's common for some internet-addicted teenagers to play computer games for ten or twenty hours a day. But if you add the simulation of real-time movement trajectories, as well as a steering wheel weighing tens of kilograms and braking force of hundreds of kilograms, they become even more impressive.

I doubt any internet addict could withstand the high intensity of this kind of game, which is comparable to "grinding bricks".

Chen Xiangbei did just that; he truly treated his profession as his life!
The result of such hard work and focus was that the lap time displayed in the upper left corner of the screen was frozen at 1 minute 35.713 seconds.

Although Odette and others did not know how fast they could run on their first pole position at Lingyan Circuit, based on his many years of professional experience, the fastest lap on such a new track was usually only about 1 second faster than the ideal lap.

This means that Chen Xiangbei's lap time is extremely close to the unknown pole position!

Improving by more than two seconds in less than 24 hours is an astonishing speed that Oddo has never heard of, even when driving a racing simulator.

That's why all the strategy team members gathered around; they simply couldn't believe it unless they witnessed it with their own eyes!

Perez had just arrived at the team's pit garage. Naturally, he had no idea what was going on and could only stand in the crowd watching Chen Xiangbei drive the racing simulator.

Compared to European and American drivers, Perez also belongs to the category of those without a local identity. He knows very well that if he wants to gain a foothold in F1, he must put in double the effort and achieve outstanding results.

After Trulli's injury, Perez had already been studying the data from the Lingyan Circuit to prepare for his substitution.

Although there was no historical cornering data or any first-person driver video for study, Perez relied on basic information and panoramic video of the Lingyan Circuit to memorize every corner and elevation change, gaining a general understanding of the overall track layout.

Chen Xiangbei had only been looking at the tangent and speed on the simulator for less than a minute when a look of shock appeared on his face.

So silky!

To be honest, when Perez watched Chen Xiangbei race live at the Chinese F1 Grand Prix, he was already deeply impressed.

He had never imagined that a Chinese driver could achieve such an amazing speed, culminating in winning a race.

However, considering the home advantage, Perez's decision is understandable.

Just like at the Rodriguez circuit in Mexico, Perez was absolutely confident of making a perfect run, and as long as the car's performance was good, he could win the home race!

But the Yeongam Circuit in South Korea is not Chen Xiangbei's home track. It is a new track that has never hosted a race before. How did Chen Xiangbei manage to run such a precise and smooth line?

"Mazzola, are you very familiar with the Korean circuit?"

Perez couldn't help but ask the test engineer, Mazzola, who was standing next to him.

He figured that since they were both East Asian countries, Chen Xiangbei might have the advantage of being closer to the source.

"Not familiar with it."

Mazzola shook his head.

"How could that be..."

Perez didn't finish his sentence, but Mazzola understood what he meant.

“Bei arrived at Lingyan Circuit yesterday and, apart from a few hours of sleep, spent the entire time driving in front of a racing simulator.”

"His current simulated lap time is only a little over a second slower than the ideal lap time on the computer, which is a time that is capable of competing for pole position."

Upon hearing Mazzola's answer, Perez couldn't help but gasp.

He thought he had worked hard enough and might be able to shine in his debut.

Unexpectedly, Chen Xiangbei was even more outrageous than he was!

When someone is more talented than you and works harder than you, I really don't know how they can win.

At this moment, Perez understood why Trulli, with his fiery and stubborn personality who had almost gotten into a fight on the track, would "willingly" become the number two driver for the Chinese rookie and even resort to crashing his car to block his opponent's wingman.

Chen Xiangbei's advantage isn't just his home field advantage; he's a true genius!

Just as Perez was stunned, cheers and applause erupted from the drivers' lounge.

Chen Xiangbei finished his latest lap, and the screen showed a time of 1 minute 35.779 seconds.

He improved the simulated fastest lap time by another 0.2 seconds, proving that the current speed has not yet reached Chen Xiangbei's limit.

However, compared to the team members' jubilation, Chen Xiangbei pressed the start button without any expression, beginning a new round of simulator driving training.

At this moment, Chen Xiangbei appeared to Perez as a heartless track killer!
Low profile, patient, and ruthless!
(End of this chapter)