Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 322 needs to be upgraded.
"HRT seems to have adjusted the suspension travel; the chassis of the North is noticeably lower."

Red Bull Racing's legendary designer, Newey, was present at the Monaco circuit to greet the audience.

In fact, it wasn't just Newey; Ferrari's legendary designer Byrne, McLaren's behind-the-scenes king Murray, and even former Renault and HRT team designer Bell all came to the Monte Carlo circuit to watch the race.

The reason is simple: this is the track that best tests the pure mechanical qualities of a race car. Watching the race live allows you to identify the car's shortcomings and provides a lot of inspiration for improvement.

For Red Bull Racing, their main rival is Ferrari's Alonso.

However, both Horner and Marko viewed HRT's young Chinese driver, Bei, as a hidden threat.

After all, Alonso's strength is well-known, but driver North is like a killer hidden in the dark. No one knows when he will strike a fatal blow, just like when he defeated Vettel at the Lingyan Circuit.

The gun is easy to hide, and the dark arrow is hard to prevent.

From then on, the Red Bull team paid special attention to Chen Xiangbei, not wanting to give this guy any opportunity to take advantage!

"The tail wing angle has also been leveled, which will reduce downforce."

"Did the driver fail to adapt to the Monaco street circuit and have the setup changed to suit his driving habits?"

Horner casually chimed in.

Many people don't know that Horner was also a professional racing driver. He won a scholarship for Formula Renault in his youth and reached the F3000 series, which is equivalent to F2 in later years.

He could spot the differences in the appearance of racing car aerodynamic kits at a glance, and even judge the reason why Chen Xiangbei changed the settings based on his experience.

The new generation of drivers, who tend to understeer, are indeed not well-suited to the setup of the Monaco circuit.

Do you think North can adapt this setup to the Monaco circuit?

Newey countered with a question.

Everyone has their own expertise; he's a genius in race car design, but drivers can't quite match Horner's ability in this area.

"Maybe."

"can?"

Newey was somewhat surprised by Horner's answer.

Although he is not a member of the team's strategy group, his position as design director means he is equally proficient in car tuning and track principles.

A rookie this season, a newcomer who has never run the Monaco Grand Prix, with a completely opposite setup, Horner actually gave him a "can" rating, which was really beyond Newey's expectations.

Unbeknownst to them, the bigwigs in Weichang held Chen Xiangbei in very high regard, perhaps without even realizing it themselves.

“I looked through North’s race record and found that he had problems adapting to the upgraded kit during the Australian Grand Prix, and his practice results were once behind his teammate Trulli.”

"But he had already adapted to the changes in the car during qualifying, and he even made it to the podium in the race. This guy's adaptation speed is top-notch, and it is no exaggeration to call him a genius driver."

Chen Xiangbei has now become one of Red Bull Racing's main rivals for the championship, and the team's strategy group will definitely conduct a thorough data analysis of him, not to mention his racing records in the F1 paddock have been dug up.

Red Bull Racing even took Chen Xiangbei's racing data from his time at Renault.

For a team aspiring to become a top team in the paddock, analyzing rival cars and drivers is a fundamental skill, and Red Bull Racing is second to none in this regard.

With precedents set out, who can guarantee that Chen Xiangbei won't be able to adapt to the Monaco circuit?
"If I remember correctly, the problem with the HRT team's upgrade kit was oversteer, but the current track characteristics require understeer."

Newey replied that the two tracks have completely different characteristics, and there is no such thing as copying in the F1 paddock.

“You’re not mistaken, but you’ve forgotten one detail: it rained at the Australian station.”

"The over-steering in the rain is so extreme that even an ice skater could adapt to it, isn't that an exaggeration?"

Faced with Horner's answer, Newey was speechless for a moment.

But deep down he still didn't believe that Chen Xiangbei could conquer the characteristics of the Monaco circuit with his own skills!
It can only be said that if the same situation were to occur more than a decade later, Newey would see a living example, and this driver would be wearing the Red Bull jersey, and his name would be Verstappen.

He conquered this crown jewel track by driving a race car with its rear end constantly sliding!

In fact, during their conversation, Chen Xiangbei's latest practice lap time was released.

1 minutes 16 seconds 533!

This result surpasses that of his teammate Perez, but compared to the Monaco pole position record and the results of other drivers in the paddock, there is still a considerable gap.

But this is just the beginning. Chen Xiangbei, having rediscovered his familiar driving style, is steadily improving his lap times, climbing the practice racer leaderboard little by little, drawing more attention to him in the paddock.

"Holy crap, did the driver's pit stop and adjustments really cause such a dramatic jump from last to fourth!"

"The lap times in Monaco practice today were quite interesting. The top three were Vettel, Hamilton, and Rosberg. They all beat their veteran teammates. It seems that a new era has arrived in F1."

“I can understand Vettel being fast, but why is Rosberg so fast?”

One spectator was puzzled, as Mercedes cars are not very competitive, and Rosberg's teammate is the legendary Schumacher, so it was surprising that Rosberg made it into the top three.

"Don't forget, Rosberg has dual Monaco citizenship, this is his home track!"

Many people know that Rosberg is German, but they don't know that he is actually from Monaco.

Furthermore, this nationality, combined with his good looks and somewhat "princess-like" personality, earned him the nickname "Princess of Monaco".

This is why Vettel is seen as the successor to Schumacher, rather than Rosberg, who was almost his contemporary.

"Rosberg, the pace was very fast in this practice lap on the north side, he's about to overtake you."

Mercedes race engineer Cleary offered a reminder, knowing that Rosberg had never truly submitted to Chen Xiangbei, and now that they had finally reached their home track, it might be the only place where he could get revenge and prove himself.

"Got it, I can do it even faster."

Rosberg replied calmly, his tone brimming with confidence.

This isn't to say he's clueless, but rather that Rosberg genuinely has the ability to perform at the Monaco circuit.

In the 13-15 seasons, Rosberg achieved three consecutive victories at the Monaco circuit. Putting aside his record in the early days of F1, he became the third driver in the last thirty years, after Prost and Senna, to achieve three consecutive Monaco championships.

Neither the once-dominant Schumacher nor the future Verstappen could achieve this!
Furthermore, Rosberg's opponent, Hamilton, was also a renowned seven-time champion in his prime, which further highlights the significance of this three-peat.

"GOOD, shock Morocco!"

Cleary has no doubt about Rosberg's ability on the Monaco circuit. It's no exaggeration to say that in the team's internal racing simulator driving, this young man has already surpassed Schumacher.

That's right, it's all about crushing the competition!
There may be age differences involved, as well as the unfamiliarity of older drivers like Schumacher with racing simulators, just like Alonso rarely uses racing simulators.

But there's probably no one else in the world who can achieve a simulator lap time that surpasses Schumacher's.

With a tap of the accelerator, Rosberg's speed began to surge, reaching a level visible to the naked eye. Inside the Monaco circuit's studio sat F1 official commentator Reid and local commentator Henry, just as in previous races.

As a local commentator, Henry naturally favored the home driver Rosberg. Upon seeing the acceleration, he excitedly exclaimed, "Oh, Rosberg's speed on this lap is incredibly fast. I have a feeling he can overtake Vettel at the top of the leaderboard and declare his dominance over the Monaco circuit!"

Henry was very proud. Although Rosberg had dual citizenship, it was already a victory for Monaco to have a driver running on their home track.

Keep in mind that this is a small country with only tens of thousands of people, so the probability of producing a "pureblood" F1 driver is extremely low.

Of course, this almost impossible probability still occurred in later generations, and his name was Leclerc.

"The first timeout showed that Rosberg's lap time was indeed very fast. It was clear that he had a lot of confidence in the Monte Carlo circuit and pushed the car to the limit, almost eating up the entire kerb."

"However, we can also see that the first lap time in the North has also improved, and Vettel is also preparing to do another technical verification lap. It seems that the young drivers are all hoping to wear the crown of the King of Monaco."

Red echoed Henry's sentiments, while also praising Chen Xiangbei and Vettel, demonstrating his mastery of diplomacy.

Henry, however, was too lazy to hide his true thoughts and immediately emphasized it in a firm tone.

"They can't outrun Rosberg, he's bound to break the lap time record this time!"

"Oh, you seem very confident?"

Reid asked in a teasing tone.

"Of course, according to inside information from the Mercedes team, Rosberg's simulator lap time is terrifying."

"How scary is it?"

"One second faster than Schumacher's pole position record."

Red initially didn't take Henry's arrogant tone seriously.

But when he heard that Rosberg could run a simulator lap time one second faster than Schumacher's pole position record, his face couldn't help but show surprise.

What does one second mean?
On the short and slow track of Monaco, the distance between Q3 and Q1 in qualifying might not even be a second.

Even if these are lap times from a racing simulator and are somewhat inflated, they are still incredibly exaggerated.

This means that Rosberg has at least the ability to match the fastest lap record on the track!
Reid was about to ask if it was true or not, but before he could even speak, Rosberg's lap time had already appeared on the big screen.

1 minutes 12 seconds 997!

The moment this number appeared, the entire audience, including the team members at the pit stop, erupted in uproar.

It's important to know that in practice sessions, everyone is running at a slower pace, getting familiar with the track and setting up their cars. In addition, there are many slower cars blocking the way, so the average lap time is around 1 minute and 16 seconds.

Only the top drivers have broken into the 1 minute 15 second range.

Rosberg broke into the 1 minute 12 second range with this lap, just 0.3 seconds away from Schumacher's track record.

If this were in qualifying, it would definitely be enough to get a Q3 result, and in some years it could even take pole position!
Exaggeration, too much exaggeration.

Including Henry, he only thought that Rosberg could run a time of 1 minute and 14 seconds at most, which would be enough to get the top spot in the training session. He never expected that Rosberg could run a time of 1 minute and 12 seconds.

It seems the Mercedes team members weren't exaggerating; the simulator really can beat Schumacher by 1 second!
"Holy crap, has Rosberg exploded?"

"The last driver to perform this well at home was the one who ran the Donghai race at the beginning of the year. Is the home advantage really that significant?"

"Relying solely on home-court familiarity shouldn't be enough to run this fast; Rosberg definitely has potential."

"Nonsense, he's sixth in the overall drivers' championship, ahead of his teammate Schumacher. Do you really think Rosberg is some kind of rookie?"

"Go Rosberg!"

The audience went wild, especially the Monaco fans who were playing at home.

It's worth noting that Rosberg's performance in the 10 season wasn't bad. Although he didn't make it into the race for the championship, he ranked sixth in the drivers' standings, second only to Chen Xiangbei, and even ahead of Schumacher.

Considering Mercedes' mid-to-upper-level performance in the paddock, it can be said that Rosberg pushed this car to its limits.

The reason it wasn't that impressive was mainly because there were too many talented "monsters" in the paddock.

While Vettel, Hamilton, and Kubica of the same era, as well as the new generation of Chen Xiangbei and Hulkenberg, have all had outstanding performances, Rosberg, a driver who is neither quite good nor bad, naturally appears somewhat mediocre.

But this time, Rosberg proved himself!
Soon Vettel and Chen Xiangbei's lap times also came out, both showing significant improvement compared to the previous lap, reaching around 1 minute 14.5 seconds, which can be considered excellent results in practice.

However, Chen Xiangbei's lap time ranking did not rise, but slipped to sixth place. At the same time, Perez's lap time also made a leap, ranking seventh overall, only 0.033 seconds behind Chen Xiangbei.

On the 3.337km Monaco circuit, a slight tremor of the steering wheel could result in a gap of more than 0.033 seconds, meaning that Chen Xiangbei's adjustments to the car settings did not have the expected improvement.

At least with the current car setup, we can't fully grasp the potential of Monaco!
"North, the first practice session is almost over, get ready to pit."

Hiroki Sawano glanced at the countdown on the monitor screen and gave a reminder via the team's voice prompts.

“COPY.”

Chen Xiangbei's reply came through the earphones.

"Bei, push it one more lap, you're too slow!"

Odette's voice followed closely behind, filled with sternness and dissatisfaction.

Confidence is a subjective behavior, but data is an objective reality.

Although Odeto believed Chen Xiangbei could handle the Monaco circuit, it was clear that his current lap times were far from sufficient.

If your judgment is wrong, you must change the setup as quickly as possible to find the balance between the track and the car; otherwise, there will be no room for adjustment in qualifying.

"Team leader, this is only the first training session. There's no need to push yourself to the limit. Running like this is very risky."

Hiroki Sawano expressed his disagreement, clearly indicating that Chen Xiangbei had tried to speed things up, but had not achieved the desired effect.

Odeto's "aggressive" urging will lead to a significant increase in the risk factor.

Is it really necessary to be in such a hurry just for a training session?

"If 1 minute and 14.5 seconds is considered risky, then don't bother running on the Monaco circuit."

"Wait until Bei breaks 1 minute and 12 seconds before I talk about the risks!"

Odette remains very tough; being 2 seconds slower than the track record is no risk at all.

The second and third practice sessions also require testing the tires and heavy-duty, long-distance driving. Furthermore, Perez and Chen Xiangbei have completely different tuning styles at this station, so the data sharing between the two sides is not very valuable for reference.

Odette needs to be put under some pressure to see if this kid can adapt to the Monaco circuit!
(End of this chapter)