Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 300 A Completely Different Chen Xiangbei
【interesting. 】

Faced with this situation, Chen Xiangbei showed neither surprise nor anger.

If a top driver, who has the potential to compete for a place among the top three wingmen in history and has even won a world runner-up title, can't even do the most basic learning and imitation of racing lines, then he shouldn't be driving an F1 car; he should go back to his hometown in Mexico and drive a taxi.

As the Perez gradually approached in the rearview mirror, Chen Xiangbei pressed the accelerator harder and harder, and the speed of the car had exceeded 280km/h.

The problem is that the T4 and T5 combination corners of the Lingyan Circuit are ahead. This section is still a low-speed section similar to a street race in the first half, and it simply cannot withstand such high cornering speeds.

But Chen Xiangbei cannot slow down!
Because Perez is learning not only his cornering line, but also his driving habits and braking points, if he drives in the conventional way on a track simulator, he will inevitably be overtaken.

With no other choice, Chen Xiangbei could only resort to a more extreme and unconventional defensive approach!

"Team leader Odeto, Xiang Beijun's move indicates he's going all out to defend Perez, and the end result will likely be a lose-lose situation for both sides."

Looking at the data transmitted back from the race car, Hiroki Sawano said with a worried expression.

Although he is Chen Xiangbei's competition engineer and both parties share common interests, from a rational perspective, they should strive for a win-win situation, rather than the current hardline defense that "harms others without benefiting oneself."

Both Chen Xiangbei and Perez employ a one-stop tactic, which excessively depletes tires and leads to tactical chaos, as well as an extra pit stop window.

In severe cases, it could even lead to a double-vehicle accident!

It's worth noting that such scenes are commonplace in F1; there's no need to elaborate on the long-standing stories of Senna colliding with Prost and Häkkinen clashing with Coulthard.

In the 16 season, Hamilton and Rosberg of Mercedes publicly exposed their internal conflicts. One aggressively cut in front of the line to overtake, while the other forcefully closed the gate, resulting in both cars being completely destroyed.

And when the staff arrived at the accident scene immediately, they created a memorable moment: they all gave Hamilton a thumbs up.

This action was certainly not a compliment; in a sense, it was more of an irony, which angered Hamilton so much that he immediately disassembled the steering wheel and threw it away.

The 18 season saw a technical pinnacle of infighting between Ricciardo and Verstappen in Red Bull Racing.

That year, Ricciardo was in a critical period of contract renewal and desperately needed results to prove his ability in order to continue to be a full-fledged driver for the Red Bull team.

So the two Red Bull race cars put on a fierce battle on the track, chasing and overtaking each other at all costs, making it even more intense than the competition with their rivals in the paddock.

The two battled fiercely for dozens of laps, ignoring numerous instructions from the Red Bull team. Finally, on lap 40, Ricciardo, at an astonishing speed of 340 km/h, rear-ended Verstappen on the long straight, completing a double kill and retiring from the race together.

For a new team that desperately needs results and exposure, the result of both cars retiring in the end is obviously unacceptable.

Moreover, Perez is different from Trulli; he is also in his prime, and a crash would likely be more violent and serious.

HRT has been repairing cars at every station since the opening race, and then two cars withdrew from the race together. Putting aside the issue of money, it is likely that they will not be able to gather enough spare repair parts for the next race!
"Let them fight."

Odeto's indifferent reply completely surprised Hiroki Sawano.

"Let them fight?"

"Team Leader Odeto, why?"

Hiroki Sawano immediately countered with a question.

This kind of answer is completely unlike Odette's style!
As expected, Odette did not answer directly, but instead looked at Briatore.

The two are extremely incompatible in terms of ideas and personality, yet they have a strange tacit understanding at crucial moments.

Briatore knew what Odette wanted to say.

"Sawano, history has proven countless times that you can't stop the two young drivers from fighting each other until they have a clear winner."

"The best way to resolve internal strife is to let you fight each other thoroughly, with the loser accepting the consequences!"

Indeed, in the history of F1, no team has ever been able to resolve the infighting among young drivers.

Unless one party completely "submits" to the other.

For example, Barrichello for Schumacher, and Bottas for Hamilton.

That's why, early in the season, Briatore allowed and even encouraged Trulli to run a race with Chen Xiangbei.

Problems that can be solved during the testing phase should ideally not be addressed during the official competition phase.

If it is truly unavoidable, then let them bear the consequences themselves.

Just like Chen Xiangbei chose to take a high-speed corner at almost full throttle.

Extreme speeds put immense pressure on both the driver and the car, especially since Chen Xiangbei had already lost control and veered off the track once during the initial stages.

But he still didn't let go of the throttle. F1 is always a game for the brave. Whether it's defeating opponents or teammates, you often need to show a do-or-die spirit and not leave yourself too many options.

"OH MY GOD, driver Bei didn't slow down at the T4 and T5 combination corners of Lingyan Circuit. You know, he went off the track before and almost caused a serious accident. Even if he didn't have any psychological trauma, he shouldn't be risking his life again."

"What's even more outrageous is Perez, who followed behind. He chose the same cornering speed as North. Have both HRT drivers gone mad today?"

The commentator, Reid, was somewhat shocked by the situation. Internal strife is indeed unavoidable, but the timing can be chosen.

Today, neither Chen Xiangbei nor Perez is in a "life-or-death" situation when competing for a driver's seat. Is it really necessary to push them so hard?
No one knew why, except for the two HRT drivers.

This is a battle that will determine psychological advantage!

In F1, only a few teams can clearly establish a "subordinate" status. In most teams, the two drivers are often evenly matched, making it even more difficult to distinguish between the number one and number two drivers.

Since you can't make the other party submit through driving skills, you can only make them back down psychologically.

In a close contest, the brave prevail, and the one who fights harder and more fiercely often gains more resources within the team.

Just like the internal strife between Alonso and Hamilton in McLaren in 07, no one could have imagined that it would be the two-time champion Alonso who would ultimately lose and leave the team. He couldn't even beat a black driver in his rookie season.

Was Hamilton's driving skill better when he was a rookie than Alonso's at his peak?
Hamilton himself probably wouldn't dare admit it.

His victory was partly due to the team's biased approach, and partly because his competitive spirit was stronger than Alonso's.

It was this all-or-nothing mentality that made him the victor in McLaren's internal power struggle.

Today, Chen Xiangbei was going to prove to Perez, "Little brother, don't try to play dirty with me, I'll always be tougher than you!" When Chen Xiangbei used what could be described as out-of-control speed to plunge into Turn 4, and drew a beautiful arc without easing off the accelerator, his front wing scraped against the concrete barrier as he entered Turn 5.

Perez, who witnessed this scene from the car behind, had a shocked expression on his face.

Besides Chen Xiangbei's driving skills, there's also his fearless courage.

Honestly, Perez felt he had lost control once in the early stages and would absolutely not dare to risk his life again in a short period of time.

Chen Xiangbei dared to do it!
Driven by instinct, Perez eased off the throttle at T5, and the two cars, which had been neck and neck, finally pulled away from each other in the corner.

"Perez lost."

Upon witnessing this scene, Sauber team owner Peter Sauber uttered a complex statement.

The reason he paid so much attention to Perez was that Telemex's first target in negotiations was the Sauber team!

Despite Sauber's relatively low profile and mid-to-lower tier of the F1 team, it is actually known as a cradle of talented drivers. Countless F1 drivers who rose to fame were discovered and signed by Peter Sauber, thus embarking on their path to superstardom.

In the last twenty years alone, there have been players like Raikkonen, Massa, Vettel, Perez, Kubica, Leclerc, and many others.

Even Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu started his career with the Sauber team.

In 06, BMW acquired a stake in and named the Sauber team, forming the BMW Sauber team, which at one point had the opportunity to become a factory team and compete for the championship.

Unfortunately, BMW didn't last long before the financial crisis hit, and feeling hopeless about winning the F1 championship, they simply withdrew in 09. From then on, Sauber returned to its previous model of a private team.

With the development of the times and the increase in R&D funding, the space for private small teams to survive in F1 has shrunk accordingly. The sponsorship funds from Mexican telecommunications behind Perez are very important to Sauber.

To everyone's surprise, the HRT team snatched it away!
The team's current two drivers are Spaniard de la Rosa and Japanese prodigy Kamui Kobayashi.

One of the drivers, de la Rosa, was the technical lead, but he was deemed largely ineffective and would soon be replaced by a returning veteran, Heidfeld.

As for the second driver, Kamui Kobayashi, although he is hailed as a Japanese genius and his historical status among Asian drivers is comparable to that of Takuma Sato, he is considered to be second only to him.

Both have podium finishes; Takuma Sato won the Indy 500, and Kamui Kobayashi won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They are also evenly matched in other races.

But Japanese talent is ultimately confined to Japan; he's simply not good enough for Europe. Sauber signed him more to maintain their relationship with Toyota.

Now that Toyota has completely withdrawn, just like Williams abandoned Satoru Nakajima, Sauber was originally preparing to abandon Kamui Kobayashi and bring in Perez in exchange for a large amount of sponsorship funds.

Now that the HRT team has snatched the deal, we can only shelve the plan and wait and see.

The better Perez performed, the more uncomfortable Pete Sauber became.

After all, the original intention was just to make money. If they could also win a top driver in the lottery, that would be a huge profit.

If Perez is bad, Sauber will only lose money.

If it's really that bad, it's like losing both your money and your life!
Based on current performance, Perez has indeed lost, but Sauber is more inclined to favor the latter.

As a reserve rookie, Perez's ability to reach Q3 in qualifying and keep up with Chen Xiangbei's car is already considered satisfactory, even excellent.

That's why Pete Sauber has mixed feelings!
As the two HRT race cars passed through Turn 6, the Lingyan Circuit entered the latter half of its high-speed track layout starting from Turn 7.

Especially the long straight after Turn 6, which is a high-speed testing zone for racing cars, has extremely high requirements for performance and top speed. Chen Xiangbei no longer has any advantage over Perez.

It was obvious that both of them understood this, and they almost simultaneously chose to accelerate at full throttle. The distance they had left in the corner gradually shortened on the long straight, and they used the wake effect to close the gap at an increasingly faster speed.

"Has the rumor that Chen Xiangbei's racing car engine has a problem been confirmed? The difference in top speed between two HRT racing cars is too big, isn't it?"

Upon witnessing this scene, a Chinese spectator couldn't help but mutter something under his breath.

Even with the added effect of the wake effect, it wouldn't necessarily present a one-sided situation.

It's important to know that flywheel energy storage devices in this era did not have the activation restrictions that later DRS devices did.

The car behind, Perez, can release the flywheel's stored energy, and the car in front, Chen Xiangbei, can do the same. Theoretically, their top speeds should be very close, except that the car behind is slightly faster.

"It seems there is indeed a problem with the North Power Unit. I just don't know if it's a malfunction from practice or the overpower output rumored in the last race."

Another foreign spectator chimed in, saying that he had been watching F1 races for many years and was relatively knowledgeable, and judged that Chen Xiangbei had limited the output power.

However, as soon as he said that, he was immediately retorted by the South Korean audience member next to him.

"What do you mean there's a problem with the power unit? It's clearly the result of cheating in the last competition, and now they're reaping the consequences!"

"That's right, what goes around comes around. Can a Toyota engine really cheat at every stop?"

"Before the race, they were so arrogant that they wanted to dominate the Lingyan Circuit. I don't think the Chinese can even get into the points zone."

Various sarcastic remarks followed one after another. If many of the previous rumors in the paddock were just speculation, then...

So now that Chen Xiangbei is significantly slower than Perez in terms of top speed, it's basically confirmed.

In reality, overpowering doesn't necessarily constitute cheating. Only when a team mods a specific program to control the switch during a race, similar to the DRS system in later generations, to overtake, can it be considered cheating.

Only by starting it up for such a short period of time can the engine's stability not be significantly affected, and the benefits far outweigh the risks.

It's obvious that Chen Xiangbei didn't have such a cheating program, but now the Korean fans don't care about the truth. They're only excited about having caught "cheating" evidence and are taking advantage of the situation to attack.

Of course, these things had no effect on Chen Xiangbei.

As he watched Perez getting closer and closer in his rearview mirror, just when everyone thought he was about to take a tough defensive stance again, Chen Xiangbei didn't change lanes or take any defensive route, and continued to take the corner in the conventional way.

Without defense, Perez can easily overtake with his higher speed.

One second Chen Xiangbei was risking his life, the next he was wide open, this extreme contrast left everyone on the scene stunned.

Not to mention ordinary spectators and team members, even Perez himself never expected that Chen Xiangbei would suddenly abandon his defense and choose to let him pass!
As the two vehicles passed each other, Perez turned his head and glanced at Chen Xiangbei. His expression was hidden by the black helmet visor.

However, just as he entered the turn, Perez saw Chen Xiangbei release one hand from the steering wheel and quickly and subtly give him a thumbs-up.

(End of this chapter)