Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 297 Hesitation Leads to Defeat
"Drip, drip, drip..."

The starting indicator lights above the track lit up one by one, and the moment they all went out, the cars started from pole position one by one to begin their warm-up laps.

Chen Xiangbei uses neutral yellow tires, which have higher requirements for operating temperature than soft red tires. He can only adopt a more aggressive braking and warming method, which involves continuous intermittent braking to increase the friction between the tires and the ground and raise the temperature.

In addition, repeated braking can also cause the braking system to heat up quickly, and then the heat is transferred to the tires through the wheel hub.

While Chen Xiangbei was warming up the tires, he suddenly felt the engine noise behind him getting louder and louder. Before he could turn around to see what was happening, he saw the front of an orange car out of the corner of his eye.

Only two cars in the paddock used orange and yellow colors, with the HRT team using more stripes and black as the main color.

Only McLaren uses orange as its primary color!

Without a doubt, the person standing next to Chen Xiangbei's car at this moment is Hamilton, who is in the second starting position.

"What is Hamilton doing? He's right behind driver North's rear wheel, making a move as if he wants to overtake. Is this a deliberate provocation?"

Compared to Chen Xiangbei, who had to rely on rearview mirrors and looking back, the commentators in the studio had access to track rail cameras and aerial views from helicopters. They were able to see Hamilton's acceleration earlier and his overtaking maneuvers more clearly.

Everyone knows that overtaking is not allowed on the warm-up lap, and after the precedent of Schumacher provoking Damon Hill in 94, the penalties for overtaking on the warm-up lap are quite severe.

In the 18 season, Perez overtook Hartley on the warm-up lap and was penalized a full 30 seconds!
Normally, F1 penalties are only 5 or 10 seconds, so 30 seconds is quite outrageous, basically meaning the entire race is wasted.

"It's normal for Hamilton to be humiliated after challenging the world champion; he's as tough as ever!"

If Reid's tone was one of surprise, then Park Dong-wook's tone carried an undisguised excitement.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Hamilton was already being expected by the Koreans to "avenge" him, and now that he is launching such a strong counterattack against the Chinese, Park Dong-wook is happy to see this.

Hamilton, like Alonso, enjoys complaining and grumbling, but he differs from Alonso in one key aspect: he is more aggressive!
Alonso's driving style is actually quite conservative. He rarely makes one-for-one trades with opponents, relying more on his own skills to resolve crises and avoiding pointless risks.

Hamilton's driving personality is similar to Verstappen's, filled with extremely high aggression and a strong desire to win. Anyone who stands in his way to the championship will be swept away without hesitation.

In 07, when he was still a rookie, he dared to fight fiercely against Alonso, the king of the paddock, and even gained the upper hand, forcing Alonso to leave his former team, Renault.

In 08, in his quest for the world championship, he crashed into Massa while overtaking him, showcasing his fierce and aggressive side to the fullest.

09 was a relatively low-key year for Hamilton, mainly because McLaren's cars were too slow and far less competitive than Brawn GP and Red Bull, making it difficult for him to show any aggressiveness.

Ten years later, with the addition of the newly crowned world champion Button, Hamilton's competitive spirit was reignited. Now, faced with the provocation of Chen Xiangbei, a newcomer to the paddock, he was determined to teach him a lesson.

Otherwise, do you really think that just because there's no tiger in the mountains, the monkey can become king?

"You can tell Hamilton is furious. That Chinese guy really messed with someone he shouldn't have!"

"He told Hamilton he was going to win right before the start of the race, and of course Hamilton couldn't stand it!"

"I have a feeling that today's race will shatter Chen Xiangbei's confidence in racing."

"Well done, Hamilton! Give Chen Xiangbei a good lesson and show him what it means to be low-key!"

Almost instantly, enthusiastic whistles and cheers erupted in the paddock.

Putting aside the grudges and feuds with Chen Xiangbei, the fact that such a fiery scene could be witnessed even before the main competition started is a real treat for the audience.

The youngest world champion vs. the youngest division champion!
"Team leader Odeto, should we remind Xiang Beijun to keep his composure? I feel this is a psychological offensive by the McLaren team."

Sho Mizutani took the initiative to ask a question. Hamilton's driving personality was indeed very tough, and he had never backed down verbally.

But such a pointless provocation has never happened before.

And if we're really talking about arrogance, Schumacher was the kind of rebellious person who was truly arrogant to the core, while Hamilton clearly lacked that quality.

In addition, given that McLaren assisted Hamilton in using many underhanded tactics during the "spygate" and "crashgate" incidents, Sho Mizutani suspects that the other party's current actions are a form of psychological warfare.

In a sense, Sho Mizutani's guess was correct.

However, this was not McLaren's strategy, but rather Hamilton's own attempt to provoke Chen Xiangbei's anger.

The biggest difference between young drivers and veterans in the paddock is that young drivers tend to have weaker emotional control, which is commonly known as being more prone to getting carried away.

The "nice guys" in the hunting grounds of later generations were actually all naive young men who drove wildly and recklessly in the early days. Nicknames like "turret," "torpedo," "golden left front," and "dragon" were not exactly good nicknames.

Chen Xiangbei is known to the outside world as someone who makes all sorts of wild and outrageous statements, a typical hothead and arrogant young man.

Furthermore, an aggressive driving style and a gambling mentality, constantly teetering on the edge of losing control, means that failure is only one step away.

Once such a hothead gets provoked and loses his temper, his ability to control the race car will drop significantly, and his mistakes will be amplified exponentially.

Hamilton does have the same aggressiveness as Verstappen, but he is tough but not reckless. He is very clear-headed and shrewd, and he always tries to make things work in his favor.

In a sense, compared to the "unscrupulous methods" of regular F1 world champions, Hamilton is more accurately described as "refined egoism."

This is one of the reasons why he doesn't have a good reputation in the country.

A driver who is too clever tends to be cunning...

Just as Odeto agreed with Mizutani Sho's guess and was about to remind Chen Xiangbei to calm down via the team's voice chat,

Briatore, sitting next to him, preemptively pressed the call button and said, "North, how does Hamilton feel about trying to humiliate you like Schumacher did?"

Upon hearing this, everyone on the outdoor command post turned their attention to Briatore.

This old Italian scoundrel hides in the P room enjoying the air conditioning and doing nothing when it's hot, but when it rains and the weather is cool at the Korean station, he goes to the outdoor control tower and immediately starts stirring up trouble.

It's one thing to hype things up in the media, but this is happening right here on the racetrack.

If Chen Xiangbei were to take any extreme actions, it would endanger his life!
"I'm very unhappy."

"Then play with him."

"What do you mean?"

Chen Xiangbei was momentarily taken aback by Briatore's words.

"Hamilton starts on supersoft tires, while you start on medium yellow tires. He's not worried about damaging the tires during the warm-up lap, so what are you afraid of?"

"Now change lanes, block his path, and slam on the brakes. Let's see if he has the guts to rear-end you!"

As he finished speaking, Briatore's tone revealed a hint of ruthlessness.

Just kidding, the Italian old rogue is one of the most notorious ruthless people in the paddock. He doesn't even care about the lives of the drivers. McLaren's Hamilton is trying to outsmart him.
As the saying goes, the soft fear the hard, the hard fear the ruthless, and the ruthless fear the reckless. Briatore, as Alonso's manager, had done his research on the young black man during the McLaren team's internal strife in 07, and was indeed deceived by Hamilton's appearance and words at the time.

This led to internal politics within the Alonso team, and he never played with Hamilton.

Now, with this happening again, Briatore has long since figured out Hamilton's strategy.

Chen Xiangbei is the kind of guy who doesn't care about his life, and he's a natural at messing with people who are cunning!

"Okay, then I'll play with him."

As he released the call button on the steering wheel, Chen Xiangbei stepped on the gas to create distance from Hamilton, then changed lanes and blocked the McLaren race car before slamming on the brakes.

The brakes were so hard that the tires locked up, and a puff of smoke immediately rose from the track.

Faced with Chen Xiangbei's aggressive and decisive sudden braking, if Hamilton were to swerve to change lanes, the tires would inevitably slip and spin if the tires were not warm enough. This is the same principle as when a civilian car loses control when swerving suddenly at high speed.

He had no choice but to slow down the car.

As it turned out, Hamilton didn't have the guts to rear-end Chen Xiangbei and crash into him; he was forced to slam on the brakes and lock up his tires, with wisps of smoke rising from the track as a result.

Just as the distance between them was getting closer and closer and they were about to touch, Chen Xiangbei stepped on the gas and widened the distance again.

"Did Bei just brake suddenly to provoke Hamilton into a rear-end collision?"

Upon seeing this scene on the track, Park Dong-wook asked in surprise.

"That's right, North is responding to Hamilton's provocative actions!"

Reid affirmed this, then continued his commentary: "North is as aggressive as ever, he is retaliating against Hamilton in his own way, and both of them experienced tire lock-up during the warm-up lap, which is extremely detrimental to tire maintenance in the long run of the main race."

"But this also shows that Bei's toughness and arrogance are far beyond what outsiders realize. This race may be full of gunpowder and a passionate duel between the two young drivers!"

Reid's words ignited the passion of the audience, especially Chen Xiangbei's fans, who launched a fierce counterattack!

"Hamilton, do you think the North is a pushover that will just sit back and wait?"

"This is the fighting spirit of Chinese drivers! Hamilton, you've chosen the wrong opponent!"

"If you're so capable, then trade one for one with Chen Xiangbei; if you're not, then just obediently follow behind and eat his exhaust fumes!"

"Whoever steps on the brakes is a dog! Don't be a coward, just do it!"

Compared to the enthusiastic onlookers, the HRT team's strategy members were much calmer.

Odette even casually asked Briatore, "The wear and tear from sudden braking and locking up on an ultrasoft tire is indeed higher than that on a neutral yellow tire."

"But have you considered that the North is using a stop-and-go tactic?"

That's right. To determine whether it's a loss or not, we also need to consider the team's overall tactics.

Even if neutral yellow tires have a longer lifespan than soft red tires, it's unlikely that they will last twice as long.

Hamilton could make up for the losses by relying on two or even three stops. If Chen Xiangbei were to temporarily switch to a two-stop tactic, then his neutral yellow tire start would be at a great disadvantage.

"Pitting for a tire change is something that happens in the middle of the race; we're still in the warm-up phase."

"I will not let future events influence my current decisions."

Briatore replied nonchalantly.

Seeing his unreasonable and sophistical manner, Odette also became a little angry.

After all, the two of them have always been at odds with each other in terms of their beliefs.

But before Odette could speak this time, Briatore preemptively asked, "Odette, do you know why my Renault team was able to beat Ferrari in the Red vs. Blue battle?"

Odeto did not reply to this question; it was just Briatore's usual way of showing off.

"I know what you're thinking, that I'm even more ruthless."

"But was Schumacher a good person?"

"The reason Alonso was able to defeat Schumacher is that, in many cases, the duel between top drivers is not about skill level, but about their fighting spirit!"

"Ferrari put Schumacher under too much pressure, while I can choose to go all out, just like Hamilton's showdown with the North today."

"In the battle between black and orange, I will also be the victor!"

Briatore spoke these words in a calm tone, without the usual boastful arrogance, as if he were explaining the reasons to Odette in a peaceful manner.

Hamilton is like Schumacher in the past; the world championship brought him glory, but also constraints.

Chen Xiangbei is like a rookie Alonso, he can go all out without any scruples. So what if they both withdraw from the competition? Would a world champion be willing to trade one for one with a newcomer?
In Briatore's eyes, Hamilton's toughness was nothing but a show of bravado; he simply wanted to intimidate Chen Xiangbei and thus gain the upper hand in terms of momentum.

When it comes to psychological warfare, Briatore is a living fossil in the paddock. His unwavering support for Chen Xiangbei was precisely so that the Chinese lad wouldn't lose to Hamilton in terms of momentum.

In many situations, a psychological advantage is just as important as driving skills!

Odeto understood what Briatore was trying to say, and even though he was very reluctant to agree with this old Italian rogue, he had to admit that the other man had a point.

Briatore's support has boosted Chen Xiangbei's morale, and also provided him with the unwavering support of the team's management, which will prevent him from hesitating over performance and car damage.

Hesitate and you will lose!

"you are right."

Odeto responded silently.

Seeing this, Briatore revealed a smug smile.

Getting this old Italian fellow to back down won't be easy.

Meanwhile, on the track, Hamilton's face was so dark it could drip water. He never expected that his psychological tactics would be broken by Chen Xiangbei's "overpowering all techniques with sheer force".

The Chinese driver adopted a "mutually destructive" driving style, which really made Hamilton feel a sense of frustration. Continuing to provoke him would only lead to further humiliation.

(End of this chapter)