Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 326 Let Me Teach You How to Run

Although both sides were on the verge of a fight, the large-scale brawl that many onlookers were hoping for did not occur.

Crashes are a common occurrence in the F1 paddock. They happen not only in practice sessions but also frequently in the final race for the championship, including many malicious crashes.

Of course, there have been many instances in history where drivers have been so angry that they wanted to fight. For example, Trulli and Sutil got out of their cars and shoved each other, ready to fight. Not to mention the hot-tempered Schumacher and Montoya in their early days.

He often suffers from road rage; if he doesn't like you, he'll just want to mess with you!

With the development of the times, and most importantly, the FIA's penalties for drivers have become increasingly severe, and scenes of direct physical confrontation have almost disappeared in F1.

"Brother Bei, are you alright?"

Ah Yong leaned over and asked Chen Xiangbei a question, then glared angrily at Rosberg.

He was the youngest member of the crew and genuinely regarded Chen Xiangbei as an older brother. Chen Xiangbei's forced overtaking behavior angered him.

"fine."

Chen Xiangbei nodded, seemingly unconcerned about the track accident.

Professional drivers naturally have to face these things; he experienced a lot in his previous life, and ultimately died on the track.

"Yong, hoist the race car back to the garage as quickly as possible, don't delay the repair time."

Odeto patted A-Yong on the shoulder, his tone very calm.

Having spent decades in the paddock, he's seen it all; this little car accident is nothing to him!

The two drivers headed towards the pit lane, while the crew members moved the car with the track staff.

Upon seeing Chen Xiangbei return, the remaining strategy team members came over to offer their words of comfort. They did not expect Chen Xiangbei to feel any psychological pressure; it was just an ordinary overtaking accident on the track, the kind that even the FIA ​​wouldn't investigate as to who was at fault.

The HRT team was calm, while on the Mercedes team's side, where the home driver was Rosberg, numerous reporters stood at the pit lane entrance, all their cameras focused on Rosberg, who had just returned from the track.

"Rosberg, you just had a collision with North. Who do you think was at fault?"

Upon hearing this question, Rosberg answered without hesitation.

"Of course it's Bei's fault. He couldn't stop me, so he resorted to the dangerous and despicable method of crashing the car once again."

Rosberg's words immediately resonated throughout the paddock.

Since the beginning of the season, the HRT team has been involved in a series of reckless and dangerous driving behaviors. In the first few races, they took malicious blocking and crashing to the extreme, which has drawn a lot of criticism and controversy from the paddock.

As the competitiveness of HRT cars declined in the middle of the season, the two drivers became much more cautious. Unable to overtake, they often had to stay in the pack and "drive like a train," relying more on tire advantages and tactics to overtake.

Facing pressure to win the championship, Chen Xiangbei once again forcefully blocked the car, causing an accident.

With such a disgraceful team and driver, and having collided with the home team's driver, the audience was furious and started cursing.

"FUCK Chinamen, every time they can't stop someone from overtaking, they resort to crashing into another car. They're so shameless!"

"The Mercedes team should have given those Chinese guys a good beating just now, to teach them a lesson!"

"You can still block the car in practice, but in the race you won't even see Rosberg's taillights!"

"That's right, Rosberg will show the Chinese what true absolute dominance is in the main race."

Faced with the indignation of the home crowd, Chen Xiangbei's fans and followers couldn't help but start criticizing him on the spot.

Chen Xiangbei is no longer the unknown player he once was. His championship-contending performance in his debut season has earned him a huge fan base worldwide, and with Briatore's management, his popularity and buzz have remained consistently high.

It's fair to say that, aside from a few true WDC veterans, Chen Xiangbei's popularity and influence still make him the number one rookie.

It's all about having a say, who's afraid of who?

"It's not even clear who hit whom, so why should we assume the responsibility lies with the North?"

"You can't even see the taillights of the car? Are you saying Rosberg can't see the taillights of the car that are north?"

"In terms of pure skill, Rosberg can only look up to driver North!"

"Go, racing god Bei!"

The spectators from both sides were engaged in a heated exchange of insults. Inside the pit lane, Odette and Liang Chi stood in front of the damaged car and asked, "How long will it take to repair? Will it affect tomorrow's third practice session and qualifying?"

Upon hearing Odette's question, Liang Chi circled the race car to inspect the damage before nodding and replying, "The front suspension is broken, there's lateral damage, and I don't know what damage the chassis has."

"We have enough spare parts, and we can fix it tonight."

For F1 teams, the difficulty of repairing damaged cars has never been a technical problem.

Just check if there are enough parts.

There are enough spare parts; even if a race car is completely destroyed, the mechanics team can provide a brand-new race car the next day.

Liang Chi then added, "If the chassis is damaged, then we'll have to use parts from car B, which means we can't afford to crash at the Monaco Grand Prix, otherwise it will affect the final race."

Although the HRT fleet has no shortage of regular parts, the number of chassis is still limited.

Furthermore, the team's main R&D resources and production capacity are currently focused on the TF120 for the next season.

The new race car will use a self-developed chassis paired with Ferrari's power unit, which means it is completely incompatible with the current Toyota power unit. Monaco is also a track with a high accident rate, with a historical completion rate of only about 50%.

This means that half of the drivers will withdraw from the race due to various issues.

No one can guarantee that Chen Xiangbei or Perez will not crash again; at least the drivers should be warned.

"Then hurry up and fix it. Thank you for your hard work."

Odeto patted Liang Chi on the shoulder, saying that car crashes are often unavoidable, so no guarantee could be given.

Inside the drivers' lounge, Chen Xiangbei sat expressionlessly on the sofa, his gaze fixed on the practice race broadcast on the wall.

The second practice session continued as usual, and as the drivers became more proficient, the overall lap times became faster and faster. In particular, the two Red Bull drivers, Webber and Vettel, both reached a lap time of just over 1 minute 13 seconds, extremely close to Chen Xiangbei's lap time.

The Red Bull car's consistent performance throughout the season has proven that its speed is not just due to one or two cutting-edge technologies, but more so to Newey's ingenious design philosophy, which brings about an overall balance of performance.

It's fair to say that the 10 Red Bull RB6, without any obvious signs of decline, had already taken a significant step into the ranks of the "Martian rover" (a term used to describe a car that has already failed to achieve its full potential).

It's only because McLaren and Ferrari are equally powerful that a single company hasn't achieved dominance.

On Monaco, a track that demands exceptional mechanical performance from its cars, Red Bull's advantages are on full display. Even Webber, whose absolute speed is relatively weak, is still able to achieve astonishing lap times.

Chen Xiangbei knew very well that his practice session results couldn't stop the Red Bull team, or even Rosberg's 1 minute 12.997 seconds!

Just as Chen Xiangbei was watching the broadcast, Trulli pushed open the door and walked in.

After experiencing teamwork during the China Grand Prix and visiting Trulli in the hospital after the race, Chen Xiangbei's relationship with Trulli has improved a lot; at least they are no longer the opposing rivals they once were.

However, neither of them had a friendly or enthusiastic personality, and men are not used to being pretentious, so on the surface they maintained a gentlemanly but distant relationship.

"Are you angry about the car accident?"

Trulli asked a question.

"It has nothing to do with the car crash." "Then what is it?"

"I'm too slow."

Facing Trulli, Chen Xiangbei finally revealed his true feelings.

That's too slow!

From the very beginning of training, while others were running technical verification laps, Chen Xiangbei was running speed laps more often.

Even so, he still couldn't break through to the 1 minute 12 second mark.

Objectively speaking, even with two lifetimes of experience, Chen Xiangbei's first time running the Monaco circuit was nothing more than training on a racing simulator. Moreover, the track conditions and road conditions were very different over a decade later, making it impossible for him to fully immerse himself in the experience.

It's understandable that he can't achieve top-tier lap times.

But the question is, is it understandable that no one in the F1 paddock cares about you?

Or, if we broaden the scope to competitive sports as a whole, losing simply means you're bad, and there are no excuses you can use!

Although Chen Xiangbei did not intend to close the door during the car crash, his actions did indeed suggest that he had closed the door.

Of course, Rosberg is also suspected of being a "torpedo".

It's hard to say who's right or wrong, but under the same conditions in qualifying, Chen Xiangbei would never have the chance to block the car again.

At the same pace, Chen Xiangbei's best chance is to finish in Q3; getting pole position or even starting from the front row is impossible.

Chen Xiangbei is currently ranked fifth in the overall standings. If he wants to win the championship, he must win the last two races. Furthermore, Alonso, who is ranked first, cannot get two runner-up finishes. In fact, Webber and Vettel must both lose a podium finish.

The conditions are extremely stringent, making it almost entirely theoretically possible.

But Chen Xiangbei still wanted to give it a shot.

No one can resist the allure of a world championship; take Rosberg and Hamilton as examples.

Both of them have admitted that a world champion is more important than a friend, let alone a childhood best friend!

Chen Xiangbei has now reached the pinnacle of racing, with the world's crown within easy reach, and he has even set a historic championship record in his debut season. He is eager to take that final step.

That's why he sat dejectedly in the drivers' lounge.

The pressure during the crucial moments of the championship race is far greater than imagined!
"You are indeed quite slow."

Trulli replied with a mocking smile, then sat down on the sofa in the drivers' lounge, casually flipping through data on the Monaco circuit.

If it were a hot-tempered young driver, he would probably think Trulli was deliberately kicking him while he was down and mocking him, not to mention that this old guy can't even outrun him, so how dare he say the word "slow"?

Chen Xiangbei merely smiled. He was already familiar with Trulli's annoying style. No wonder he was able to have public conflicts with management and be kicked out of both the Jordan and Renault teams.

This mouth bears at least 50% of the responsibility.

Do you know why you're slow?

Trulli asked another question.

"My driving style clashed with the track characteristics, resulting in too many corrections in the corners."

"More than these."

"What else?"

Chen Xiangbei countered with a question.

"You don't understand the Monaco circuit at all."

These words left Chen Xiangbei speechless.

That's just a bunch of nonsense. If I understood it myself, would I be slow to understand it?

Just as Chen Xiangbei was about to ignore him, Trulli pointed to the track data and said, "You were wrong from the very beginning at T1 turn. This turn seems to have been widened outwards for safety, which would allow for better use of the track width."

“In fact, once you ride on the kerb, you will immediately encounter the narrowing track guardrail, and you will have to return to the inside of the line. Isn’t that equivalent to correcting twice?”

Have it?

Chen Xiangbei was stunned when he heard Trulli's words, and his mind began to frantically recall the actual road conditions of the track.

Indeed, the shoulder width of the T1 curve is inconsistent with the construction of the guardrail. There is a section of guardrail that is directly built on the painted shoulder, which means that you have to go down the shoulder and go around it, otherwise the left front wheel will scrape the wall and get damaged.

Chen Xiangbei made a mistake because this location exploited the driver's instinct to take full advantage of the road shoulders to speed up.

In addition, the correction was very slight, so it was impossible to determine whether it was faster to use the shoulder and then come down, or to avoid using the shoulder at all!
"After exiting the corner at T1, there is an uphill section. This section of road seems to have many curves, but in fact there is a straight line that does not require you to move the steering wheel at all. You made two slight lane changes in this serpentine section."

Chen Xiangbei knew what Trulli was talking about, but he didn't realize he had moved the steering wheel.

"You noticed my manipulation?"

"Of course, otherwise what would I be doing standing in the P room?"

As he said this, Trulli revealed a mocking smile.

"Bei, I still have a chance to become a full-fledged driver for the HRT team."

"To beat your teammates, you need to understand them better."

"Also, don't forget, I'm still Monaco's champion."

Monaco champions?
Upon hearing this, Chen Xiangbei was stunned again. To be honest, Trulli is not particularly well-known in F1 history.

Or to put it another way, F1 drivers who can be remembered by the world for more than a decade are either top-level WDC drivers or drivers who have left behind memorable moments in the paddock.

For example, Chen Xiangbei's initial deep impression of Trulli was mostly the image of him fighting with the Sutil circuit.

After all, it's rare to see someone so fierce as to actually get out of the car and start a fight.

In fact, the champion of the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix was Trulli from the Renault team. This was his only Grand Prix victory and the highlight of his career!
It was this Monaco title that earned Trulli high praise.

Unfortunately, in 05 he encountered a true GOTA-level driver, Alonso, just like Barrichello encountered Schumacher at his peak.

Whoever touches him dies!

"You need to downshift to first gear at the T6 hotel bend; your RPMs are too high, causing excessive tail swing."

"T9 is a tunnel bend that can be passed at full throttle. There is no difficulty in handling it. The main thing to pay attention to is the alternation of light and shadow caused by the sunlight, which will make people hesitate and slow down instinctively."

"You need to..."

Trulli explained step by step what to pay attention to at the corners of the track, as well as the flaws in Chen Xiangbei's handling.

That statement about wanting to defeat his teammates was more of a fig leaf to save his pride.

What Trulli really wanted to do was find an excuse to share his experience and teach Chen Xiangbei how to run the Monaco circuit!

(End of this chapter)