Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 318 The Three Crowns of the Motorsport Circuit

Inside the hotel next to the racetrack, Chen Xiangbei sat on the sofa, looking at the exaggerated headlines in the media, with only a faint smile on his face.

The two back-to-back F1 races in East Asia have ended, and the team will next make an intercontinental transfer. However, Chen Xiangbei did not participate in the equipment packing with the mechanics team as usual.

Instead, he remained in the hotel's reception room, preparing to meet with representatives from Toyota and Huali.

The previous station reached a preliminary agreement on the cooperation between the HRT team and Huali, but many details have not yet been implemented, and there are still differences of opinion between the two sides regarding the degree of technical involvement.

Huali naturally wanted to be fully involved in the development of F1 cars. Regardless of whether they could develop anything decent, the mere fact that they had an F1 factory team was incredibly attractive.

It's important to understand that Formula 1 is not only the pinnacle of motorsport, but also the pinnacle of automotive technology.

Countless top global automakers have spent exorbitant sums to participate, hoping to enhance their brands through F1 racing and thereby improve their overall technological development and commercial value.

Even if there are instances of companies struggling to survive and withdrawing from the market during the mid-term, they will flock back to the market as soon as they have the opportunity. Japanese companies are a typical example of this.

Honda has gone through several twists and turns, and even after Toyota withdrew from the scene for more than ten years, it has made a comeback by partnering with the Haas team.

European car manufacturers are another story altogether; almost every well-known brand has a history of participating in F1, it's just a matter of whether they can achieve good results.

Huali Auto is currently in a period of rapid expansion. Whether it is acquiring Volvo or investing in the HRT team, its essence is to get rid of its cheap and knock-off image and move towards the high-end and high-profit market to achieve a positive cycle of brand value and profit.

However, the HRT fleet was unwilling to accept the offer so quickly, with management and shareholders giving two main reasons.

On the one hand, they don't believe in Huali's technology.

Chinese engineers are indeed hardworking and cost-effective, but in F1 development, you can't put the cart before the horse. No matter how hard you try, it's worthless if you can't build a good race car.

On the other hand, there are technology protection agreements.

Consider that even after Huali Group fully acquired Volvo, it still couldn't gain access to the Gothenburg R&D center in Scandinavia. To "steal" some technology, it had to build a joint European R&D center, then establish a subsidiary through cooperation, and finally apply the results to the sub-brand Lynk & Co.

The entire integration process took more than a decade, and even in later years, Volvo has maintained a considerable degree of independence.

Huali Group only holds 40% of the HRT fleet, yet it wants to fully install engineering and technical personnel. What gives it the right?
Chen Xiangbei doesn't have that much influence.

Therefore, the main purpose of this meeting was to discuss the depth of cooperation and the arrangements for Huali's engineers.

Chen Xiangbei and Huali's bottom line is to imitate Volvo's cooperation model and indirectly establish another subsidiary for joint research and development, with both parties having the right to use the technology and patents.

Unfortunately, circumstances often dictate how things are handled, and in 10, there simply wasn't much room for negotiation.

As for Toyota Group's visit to South Korea, it was to discuss the optimization of engines and racing chassis, as well as the stockpiling of parts.

Originally, Toyota Group had eliminated its F1 racing division and wasn't very enthusiastic about continuing its cooperation with the HRT team. It was basically a situation where Chen Xiangbei would urge them to make changes.

But it is different now.

HRT team's two consecutive race wins are the best testament to the engine supplier!

Honda's final dance for Brawn GP paved the way for their later return to the F1 paddock and their re-establishment of a team dynasty with Red Bull.

As a long-time rival, Toyota is actually filled with resentment, but the huge investment in F1 and the lack of results have made it difficult to continue and forced them to withdraw from the paddock.

Now the situation has reversed, and the race car has been officially recognized through HRT.

Toyota Group hopes to maintain the HRT team's competitiveness in the paddock by deepening cooperation. As long as they can win either the drivers' championship or the team championship, the brand value gains will offset past losses.

It just goes to show how realistic this world is. In the past, the HRT team had to go to Japan to beg the Honda team for cooperation, but now the other side is coming to South Korea to take the initiative to discuss upgrades and development.

In competitive sports, results determine everything!
Once business negotiations progress to the substantive stage, the entire process becomes rife with intrigue and backstabbing. Chen Xiangbei is not good at this; he merely serves as a bridge for communication.

How to negotiate and to what extent depends on each person's abilities.

As for Chen Xiangbei himself, during the two-week break after the Korean Grand Prix, he participated in collaborations with his personal and team sponsors, which is an obligation that every driver must fulfill when signing a commercial contract.

After all, brands don't get their money from thin air. If others invest millions or tens of millions in sponsorships, it's unreasonable for you not to even run an advertisement.

Of course, Chen Xiangbei also benefited a lot from it.

According to Lu Xiaoman's statistics, Chen Xiangbei's personal assets have now exceeded ten million US dollars, and his net worth has soared to more than fifty million US dollars, which means that the price of each of his future endorsement contracts will at least double.

Previously, Chen Xiangbei was just a newcomer to the paddock, but after winning two regional championships, he has become a rising star in the paddock.

If he can maintain this level of performance, he will be the next superstar in the paddock!
However, the competitiveness of the F1 paddock is not as overwhelming as one might imagine most of the time, especially for a small team.

At the beginning of the season, thanks to Toyota's foresight and Chen Xiangbei's guidance on the team's upgrade and development direction, relying on the two cutting-edge technologies of exhaust diffuser and stall wing, they closely followed Red Bull and firmly occupied the second position in the paddock.

Especially with the high-powered engine launched at the Chinese station, it achieved the feat of becoming the fastest car in the paddock.

The problem is that, just like how all writing is plagiarism, when you stand out too much, the entire paddock will be filled with imitators.

Furthermore, large fleets and even factory fleets can achieve results that surpass their predecessors by relying on a solid R&D foundation and multiple times the investment of funds.

Ultimately, this leads to a situation where we follow the path our opponents take, leaving them with no way to go.

The HRT fleet is a case in point. Even with the addition of cost-effective engineers from the Huali Group to supplement manpower and save on R&D funds, and with the Toyota Group also investing some resources in upgrades and replacements, the fleet still faces challenges.

The speed of mid-term upgrades is still far behind that of the four major teams in the paddock!
In the following back-to-back races in the Americas, Chen Xiangbei struggled greatly. His car's overall performance was completely outclassed by the Red Bull team, and even Ferrari and McLaren surpassed him, leaving him to sit at the same table as Mercedes.

Faced with this disadvantageous situation, Odette and others were well prepared and directly changed their previous aggressive tactics of pursuing extreme points in qualifying races, instead focusing on long-distance stability to score points and keep up with their opponents.

They may not look good in terms of ranking or pole position, but they can always stay in the top group in terms of total points.

Even so, after the summer break, Chen Xiangbei's points dropped from first to third, behind Red Bull's Vettel and Ferrari's Alonso.

The former possesses the absolute performance of a Mars rover, while the latter possesses absolute driving skills within the paddock. As for Hamilton and Webber, they are also close behind. The top few positions depend on who wins one more race, as this could lead to a comeback and a challenge for the top spot, continuing the recent F1 tradition of leaving the championship suspense until the very end.

After the summer break, the performance gap between the cars continued to widen. Even with the best efforts of the engineers at the HRT team's Lifield R&D center, some gaps in strength and funding were still difficult to bridge.

Moreover, the team also needs to allocate some of its technical resources to the research and development of the new race car for next year.

It's important to know that HRT's new generation of cars for the 11 season will completely abandon Toyota's technical approach, adopting a self-developed chassis paired with Ferrari's power unit, which is equivalent to building a new car from scratch!
However, the development of the self-developed chassis and aerodynamic kit has greatly benefited the engineers of Huali Group. This is F1-level chassis technology, and countless cutting-edge technologies have been deployed to the civilian market!

Furthermore, and more importantly, the FIA ​​has clearly stated that it will adopt a new hybrid electric mode in the 14 season, which will also abandon the current flywheel mechanical power storage method, meaning that it is once again at the forefront of technology.

Previously, the commercialization of F1's cutting-edge technologies was too far removed from Chinese automakers. Now, the next wave of hybrid technology revolution is right before our eyes. This is the truly leading-edge hybrid technology, and whoever masters it first will seize the market for civilian vehicles.

In that era, the F1 season only had a dozen or so Grand Prix races, far fewer than the twenty or so races of later years.

By the time the penultimate race, Monaco, came around, Chen Xiangbei's points had dropped to fifth place, but he was very close to the top four drivers, meaning anyone could win the world championship.

The competition in the 10-season history has been so fierce that it was full of suspense until the final race. In the end, Vettel, who was third in the standings, made a comeback and won the last Grand Prix to become the new world champion.

Alonso missed out on a triple crown, and Webber also lost the chance to change the fate of the number two driver. Hamilton, on the other hand, was not favored by Lady Luck and finished fourth in the standings.

On the balcony of a Gothic building in Monte Carlo, Monaco, Chen Xiangbei and Odette sat facing each other, drinking coffee and looking down at the street that would soon become an F1 racetrack. The two looked very relaxed, without any tension before the big race.

"Bei, now the outside media all think that you are just a flash in the pan. Without the support of the car's absolute performance, it is no longer possible for you to break Hamilton's rookie season record."

What's your opinion on this?

If it were a typical team management team, with only two races left and their driver still in fifth place in the standings, they would probably be rushing to find ways to provide psychological support and help him avoid too much pressure and start the race with a lighter heart. They would not be so quick to unleash negative comments from the outside world.

But Odeto did just that. After spending almost the entire season together, Chen Xiangbei had completely shed his rookie naiveté. His mental fortitude was as hard and stable as iron, and external comments could no longer affect him in the slightest.

"Good."

"Good?"

Even though he knew Chen Xiangbei wouldn't take it seriously, Odeto was still somewhat surprised when the other party said "pretty good".

"Only in this way can the value of the championship be highlighted, and it will not be labeled as a fraud in the future."

Chen Xiangbei explained calmly that he knew all too well what the Mars rover could bring to the driver, and he also knew what it would cause the driver to lose.

Just like Verstappen, although he only won four world championships, he is almost universally recognized as the third god-level driver after Senna and Schumacher. In terms of strength, he is even rated above Alonso and Hamilton, while Vettel is slightly inferior.

The reason for this is that Red Bull has had both a Mars rover and an Earth rover.

Everyone knows that Verstappen's victory was not entirely due to the car's speed.

Give him a slow train, and he'll still be able to make something beautiful.

If Verstappen can stage a comeback against McLaren in the final moments of the 25 season, he will be qualified to compete for the title of the best GOTA in the motorsport world after his retirement.

From now on, the racing world will have three titles: God of Cars, King of Cars, and Car.

"The prerequisite for demonstrating its value is winning the championship. The problem is that it will be very difficult for Monaco to win the championship. You should know the historical significance of this track."

The Monaco circuit is one of the three crown circuits in motorsport. In terms of status and prestige, it probably surpasses all F1 circuits and has its own title of "King of Monaco", just like the Le Mans championship is to the WEC.

This is why the pursuit of honors on this track is exceptionally fierce, and the extremely narrow street circuit layout presents an unimaginable challenge to the drivers.

Chen Xiangbei no longer has any advantage on this track.

"That's exactly why I need to win it."

"Furthermore, street racing doesn't test the car's limits, so the gap between us and the big teams will narrow. It's a pure contest of skill and courage."

Upon hearing Chen Xiangbei's reply, Odeto did not say anything more.

He nodded and said, "Very good, I acknowledge your courage."

He then changed the subject, saying, "Since you're so clear about this, what about your agreement with Raikkonen? Do you still intend to honor it?"

Even before the summer break, Emily had conveyed a message to Kimi Räikkönen: she wanted to run a match against Chen Xiangbei to see if this young Chinese player, who was trying to piggyback on her "Twin Stars" title, had the ability to match his reputation.

Of course, the most important point is that Raikkonen is curious about Chen Xiangbei's rally racing ability.

"of course."

Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Xiangbei nodded in response.

"why?"

Odeto countered by saying that the Monaco circuit is too difficult, which requires even more preparation from the drivers.

If Chen Xiangbei were to compete against Raikkonen, it would be difficult for him to manage both.

"There's no reason why. I just want to give Raikkonen an explanation, and also give myself an explanation."

After saying that, Chen Xiangbei stood up and walked towards the inside of the house.

Besides the world-famous Monaco F1 street circuit, Monte Carlo is also home to the WRC's most famous night race.
Just as an F1 driver aspires to win the title of "King of Monaco," Chen Xiangbei, when he transitioned to rally driving in his previous life, hoped countless times to win the Monte Carlo Night Race.

This life has made up for the regret of not being able to step into the F1 paddock in my previous life.

Now Chen Xiangbei wants to challenge the Monte Carlo night battle once again!

(End of this chapter)