Free Web NovelChapter 740: Chapter 299: A Completely Different Chen Xiangbei (2)
The commentator Lei De was a bit stunned by this situation. Internal competition is indeed inevitable, but timing can be chosen.
Today, whether it was Chen Xiangbei or Perez, it was far from the "life or death" moment of competing for a driver’s seat, is it really necessary to fight so hard?
No one knows why, only the two drivers of HRT Team understand.
This is a battle to determine psychological advantage!
F1 teams with clear "subjugation" rankings are ultimately few. In most teams, the two drivers are often on par in strength, making it even more difficult to distinguish the No. 1 and No. 2 drivers.
If driving skills cannot make the other submit, then one must retreat psychologically.
When brave meets brave on a narrow path, the braver one wins, often securing more resources within the team.
Just like McLaren’s internal conflict between Alonso and Hamilton in ’07. No one expected that the two-time champion Alonso would ultimately leave the team defeated by a rookie black driver in his debut season.
Was the fledgling Hamilton’s driving skills stronger than Alonso at his peak?
It’s likely that even Hamilton would not dare to admit it.
One factor in his victory was the team’s biased support, and another was his stronger desire to win compared to Alonso.
It was this all-or-nothing mentality that made him the victor in McLaren’s internal conflict.
Today, Chen Xiangbei proved to Perez: Don’t play hardball with me, little brother, I’ll always be tougher than you!
When Chen Xiangbei dashed into Turn 4 at a seemingly out-of-control speed, executing a graceful arc without easing off the throttle, and his front wing brushed the cement guardrail as he entered Turn 5.
Perez, witnessing this from the rear, was visibly shocked.
Not only by Chen Xiangbei’s driving skills but also by his fearless courage.
Upon self-reflection, Perez thought that after once losing control at the start, he absolutely wouldn’t dare to take such risks again in a short period.
But Chen Xiangbei dared!
Driven by instinct, Perez eased off the throttle at Turn 5, finally allowing the two close cars to open some distance in the turn.
"Perez lost."
Pete Sauber, the owner of Saub Team, saw this and said with a complex mood.
The reason he paid such close attention to Perez was because the initial negotiation target of the Mexican Telecommunications Group was Saub Team!
Despite Saub Team consistently being in the mid-to-low range, it is actually hailed as the cradle of genius drivers. Numerous drivers who became famous in the F1 Paddock were signed by Pete Sauber, starting them on their path to stardom. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
In the last twenty years alone, there have been Raikkonen, Masa, Vettel, Perez, Kubica, Leclerc, and others.
Even Zhou Guanyu, the Chinese driver, made his debut from Saub Team.
In 2006, Saub Team was acquired and named by BMW, forming BMW Saub Team, with hopes of becoming a factory team and sprinting towards the championship.
Unfortunately, BMW didn’t last long before encountering the financial crisis, and feeling the F1 championship was unattainable, they withdrew in 2009, returning Saub to its previous private team status.
With the development of the times and the increase in research and development funding, the survival space for small private teams in F1 narrowed accordingly. The sponsorship funds behind Perez from Mexican Telecommunications were very important for Saub.
Unexpectedly, HRT Team snagged them away!
Currently, the team’s two drivers are the Spanish de la Rosa and the Japanese prodigy Kobayashi Kamui.
The number one driver de la Rosa, responsible for technical duties, is deemed almost useless and will soon be replaced by a returned veteran, Heidfeld.
As for the number two driver, Kobayashi Kamui, though praised as Japan’s prodigy and historically ranked first or second among Asian drivers along with Sato Takuma.
Both have podium finishes, with Sato Takuma winning the Indianapolis 500 and Kobayashi Kamui winning the Le Mans 24 hour race, proving similar competence on other circuits.
But Japan’s prodigy is ultimately limited to Japan; in Europe, he falls short, and Saub signed him mainly to maintain their relationship with Toyota behind the scenes.
Now with Toyota completely out, just like Williams Team abandoning Nakajima Goro, Saub Team was originally prepared to release Kobayashi Kamui, welcoming Perez in exchange for substantial sponsorship funds.
Now snatched by HRT Team, plans can only be shelved, awaiting further developments.
The better Perez performs, the more difficult it is for Pete Sauber.
After all, the intention was solely for money, and drawing a top-tier driver would be a massive win.
If Perez is weak, Saub Team would just lose money.
If he’s strong, it equates to losing both people and finances!
Judging by the current performance, Perez indeed lost, yet Saub Team leans towards the latter scenario.
Because Perez, as a substitute rookie, not only reached Q3 in qualifying but maintained pace behind Chen Xiangbei’s car, already proving competent or even excellent.
That’s why Pete Sauber’s feelings are so complex!
As the two HRT Racing Cars pass through Turn 6, starting from Turn 7, the Lingyan Circuit enters the second half, a high-speed circuit layout. freewebnoveℓ.com
Especially the full-throttle super-long straight after Turn 6, serving as the car’s top-speed testing area, demanding high performance and top speed, Chen Xiangbei no longer holds any advantage over Perez.
It’s clear both drivers are aware of this, almost synchronously choosing to fully accelerate, closing the gap opened in the turn on the long straight while tailwind effect further narrows the distance rapidly.
"Is the rumor about Chen Xiangbei’s car engine issues confirmed? The tail speed disparity between the same HRT Racing Cars is too significant!"
A Chinese spectator couldn’t help but mutter upon witnessing this.
Even with the tailwind effect, it’s not supposed to show a one-sided trend.
Understand that during this time, the flywheel energy storage device does not have the later DRS activation restrictions.
Perez, as the rear car, can release flywheel energy storage while Chen Xiangbei’s front car can do the same. Theoretically, their tail speeds should be close, with only a slight advantage for the rear car.
"It seems there are indeed issues with the power unit from Xiangbei. It’s uncertain if it’s a practice session fault or from previous race rumors of overpowered output."
Another foreign spectator chimed in, having watched F1 races for years and relatively more professionally judged Chen Xiangbei had restricted his output power.
However, the moment the words left his mouth, a nearby South Korean spectator immediately retorted.
"What power unit trouble, clearly it’s cheating over output from the last race, now tasting the consequences!"
"Right, everyone pays their dues, can Toyota engines stand up to cheating?"
"Before the race, he boasted of dominating the Lingyan Circuit, but I see that the Chinese man is not even entering the points zone."
The ridicule poured in, and if before many rumors within the paddock were speculation.
Then Chen Xiangbei’s tail speed dramatically slower than Perez now pretty much confirmed it.
In fact, rigorously speaking, overpowered output isn’t precisely cheating, only if teams programmed a specific control mechanism for race-switching like post-DRS, then it’s cheating.
Because only by enabling it briefly won’t significantly affect engine stability, the yield far outweighs the risk.
Clearly, Chen Xiangbei didn’t have such cheating mechanisms, but now South Korean fans don’t care about truth, they’re merely excited and attacking with "cheating" evidence in hand.
Of course, none of this affected Chen Xiangbei.
Watching Perez increasingly approach in the rearview mirror, when the outside anticipated another tough defensive stance from him, Chen Xiangbei didn’t switch lanes for a defensive route, maintaining the conventional way through the turn.
No defense indicated Perez could easily overtake with faster speed.
One second Chen Xiangbei risked his life, the next wide-open gate left the entire scene surprised.
Not just the ordinary spectators and team members, even Perez had never imagined Chen Xiangbei suddenly giving up defense, opting to let him pass!
At the moment the cars crossed, Perez glanced at Chen Xiangbei, under the black helmet’s visor, unable to see any expression.
However, upon entry into the turn, Perez saw Chen Xiangbei’s hand quickly release the steering wheel, subtly giving him a thumbs up.
