Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 331 The Monaco Pole Position Miracle

It's insane! The entire audience has gone crazy!

Today's qualifying session was just as impressive as Chen Xiangbei securing China's first pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The reason is simple: both have epoch-making significance in pioneering history.

One is a breakthrough for Chinese and even Asian drivers.

The other is a symbol of becoming one of the world's top drivers!

A driver who hasn't won pole position at Monaco doesn't deserve to claim they have top-level speed.

A driver who has never won the Monaco Championship, even if he becomes a world champion, will still lack the most dazzling diamond in his crown.

"Pole position! Pole position! Pole position!"

Countless spectators stood up, waving their arms wildly at Chen Xiangbei and shouting "pole position" in Chinese or English.

Most of them were not fans of Chen Xiangbei. In fact, just a few days ago, some of them were mocking the Chinese principal for overestimating himself, thinking he could beat Kimi Räikkönen, and that he could take pole position from Rosberg or Alonso.

Even before the end of this qualifying race, if Chen Xiangbei doesn't achieve a good result, this group of people will probably immediately turn around and start cursing him with words like "Chinese guy," "rookie," and "trash."

But at this moment, they were truly shocked by Chen Xiangbei's pole position title. Perhaps no one had ever really thought that a rookie driver from China could get pole position in Monaco.

And it set a new track record!
"That's incredibly fast! It's truly a world-shaking circle of stars!"

"Talent plus hard work, driver Bei has once again proven himself."

"I feel like the distance between the driver's tires and the guardrail was zero; even the advertising posters in the shot showed signs of being wiped off!"

"This lap reminded me of Senna, the man who won the Monaco title six times!"

"The new king of Monaco—Chen Xiangbei!"

After the cheers, there was a constant stream of praise. If someone had watched the broadcast closely, they would have noticed that Chen Xiangbei's speed was beyond what many gamers dared to achieve.

It's fair to say that even a slight mistake is equivalent to starting your life over again!

"It's not Sena; the northern route has never appeared before."

Trulli listened to the cheers of the audience outside and muttered a reply to himself.

Now he finally understood why Chen Xiangbei had left a message before the qualifying round: "A new route."

The Chinese boy did indeed run a course that was completely different from anything I had ever done before, and it was definitely not the way I had taught him last night.

This is bizarre, absolutely bizarre!
If Chen Xiangbei knew about this wiring method, why didn't he use it before?
If he didn't know beforehand and just guessed it on the spot, how could he dare to use the Q3's only flying lap for the experiment?
The experiment was a success!
"Alonso, the flying lap in the north has surpassed your previous fastest lap time."

When Chen Xiangbei's incredible lap time was announced, Ferrari team principal Domenicali immediately informed Alonso.

"what?"

Alonso, who was confident of victory, looked incredulous upon hearing this.

He is 0.2 seconds faster than Schumacher's track record. With such an invincible speed, how could Chen Xiangbei possibly surpass him?

What's the speed on the North Ring Road?

"1 minute 12.557 seconds, slightly faster than you."

Faced with this result, Alonso remained silent.

He was well aware of the difficulty of Monaco, and street racing minimized the differences between cars, just like rain racing.

The reason why "King of Driving" has earned respect in the paddock is that it wins by relying on real driving skills.

The same applies to street racing. There's no objective reason why someone can achieve a pole position lap time; it's simply a matter of skill and speed!

The question is, can a Chinese newcomer who is running the Monaco circuit for the first time really be so exceptionally talented?
Alonso didn't believe it.

Even if he believed it, he was unwilling to admit defeat.

A difference of 0.032 seconds is just a blink of an eye for an F1 driver, and Alonso believes he can go even faster.

"I want to push it one more lap."

"There's no time, Alonso."

Domenicali glanced at the bright red countdown timer; there were only twenty seconds left before the Q3 stopped.

Moreover, even if there is still time, it is not certain that he can surpass Chen Xiangbei.

The difference is not just a mere 0.032 seconds; in fact, it would be extremely difficult for Alonso to replicate his previous lap time of 1 minute 12.589 seconds.

Track records aren't something you can just get faster by driving more. Often, it's all about timing, location, and the right combination of factors. Not to mention the mechanical elements involved, even in the simplest example of sprinting, if an athlete can break 10 seconds once, can they do it every time?

Many sprinters may only have one chance in their entire career to break the 10-second barrier.

Alonso may not have known at that moment that he would experience the same regret again in his later life, only this time with Verstappen instead.

Chen Xiangbei's "new approach" is precisely an imitation of Verstappen's control!

That was at the Monaco Grand Prix in the 23 season. The defects of the Red Bull car were already beginning to show, but Verstappen's absolute control masked the flaws in the car's performance until they were exposed at the Monaco Grand Prix.

In both Q1 and Q2 qualifying sessions, Verstappen was not fast enough. Even on the first flying lap of Q3, he was still more than 0.2 seconds slower than the fastest lap.

Many people may think that 0.2 seconds is nothing, but when you realize that Verstappen is only in fifth place, and there are still four more drivers in that time difference, you can understand how close the lap times are in qualifying at the Monaco circuit!

And at that very moment, Alonso of the Aston Martin team delivered an incredible lap, outperforming Ferrari's Leclerc in a car with significantly weaker performance to claim the top spot.

Just when everyone thought the pole position in qualifying was a foregone conclusion, Verstappen miraculously overtook them with a lap around the rim.

With a lead of 0.084 seconds, they secured pole position at the Monaco circuit!

This lap was achieved by pushing the car to its limits, especially in the second and third timeouts, where there was absolutely no margin between the track and the car.

The speed would have been even more astonishing, except for a few minor flaws in the first timing segment.

Chen Xiangbei had watched the race and had even practiced driving on a simulator more than once.

Even in simulated driving, Chen Xiangbei had never succeeded, which is why he had never considered using Verstappen's driving lines.

Until they reached a point where there was no way to retreat!
This is why Chen Xiangbei would watch his own in-car video before Q3 started; he was actually mentally assessing the success rate of the new route.

When only a desperate gamble can guarantee victory, then the risk becomes worthless.

Chen Xiangbei's only focus was on full-speed advancement and victory! Fortunately, Chen Xiangbei succeeded. With surgical precision, he accomplished a miracle that Verstappen could not have achieved.

With the final countdown of qualifying over, Chen Xiangbei officially secured pole position in Monaco.

At the same time, Hiroki Sawano's voice came through the headphones: "Congratulations on taking pole position, Mr. Mukai! You are the fastest driver on the Monaco circuit!"

"I did it."

Chen Xiangbei intended to reply casually, but his tone was filled with emotion and sighs.

To be honest, with HRT team's mid-term upgrade falling behind, watching helplessly as they dropped from the top of the standings to fifth, leaving them with only a theoretical chance of winning the world championship, is not a pleasant feeling.

But Chen Xiangbei could understand that this was the difference between a small racing team and a large racing team.

The gap cannot be fundamentally bridged by simply picking up a few bargains or possessing a few advanced cutting-edge technologies.

Just like how Ferrari might do all sorts of crazy things and cause trouble in the future, as long as its fuel tank and foundation are strong enough, it may not be able to win the world championship, but it can still sit at the same table as Red Bull and Mercedes-Benz, firmly in the ranks of the "Big Three".

If a small fleet of vehicles were to perform the same operation, even if they managed to build a Mars rover, it would have been ruined long ago.

At the same time, Chen Xiangbei has a very clear understanding of his own abilities. Perhaps he is indeed very talented in this life, reaching the level of a top-notch genius driver.

Talent can only guarantee a lower limit; hard work determines the upper limit.

When Verstappen won his third world championship in 23, he was already recognized by the world as someone who could sit at the same table as Senna and Schumacher, and his popularity was even slightly higher than that of seven-time world champion Hamilton.

Besides his extraordinary talent, there's also his self-discipline and hard work in turning his job into a hobby.

Hamilton was attending a fashion event while this guy was racing.

While Hamilton was chasing girls in nightclubs, this guy was still racing.

Chen Xiangbei lost at the starting line. His foundation was naturally inferior to that of European and American drivers. Even with the advantage of historical perspective, he still needed to practice hard to translate it into actual results.

Otherwise, it would become a meme on the internet in later generations.

You'll understand it after watching it once; once you've tried it, it's like having a secret weapon...

Chen Xiangbei's ability to achieve Verstappen-level control might be considered a miracle, but in essence, it is the result of his hard work.

Without rigorous, ascetic practice and extreme self-discipline, there is no foundation for creating miracles.

At this moment, Chen Xiangbei's feelings of emotion and sighs were not because he thought he was lucky enough to run a circle of stars, but because he was affirming his own efforts and hard work!

As Chen Xiangbei drove his race car back to the track, many spectators couldn't contain their excitement and rushed to the outer perimeter of the barrier, trying to get close to him and let him see encouragement and cheers.

That's the good thing about the Monaco circuit; it's so narrow that if the driver wanted, he could even shake hands with spectators who had walked through the barriers.

Upon seeing this, Chen Xiangbei deliberately slowed down his return lap and pushed up his helmet visor, waving to the spectators on both sides of the track.

"NICE, North, you did an amazing job to get pole position!"

"North, this is just the beginning. I want to witness you become the King of Monaco tomorrow!"

"Go Chen Xiangbei! I'm waiting for you to win the Monaco championship, and even the world championship!"

"The strongest driver in the East will surely become the strongest driver in the world!"

Fans also understand the importance of the Monaco qualifying session. Chen Xiangbei has a greater than 50% chance of directly winning the race, which also means that he will enter the final competition for the world championship.

When Hamilton achieved the world runner-up finish in his rookie season, many in the F1 world wondered if this would be an unprecedented achievement, and whether any other driver could break it.

To everyone's surprise, just a few years later, a driver attempted to challenge this achievement.

What's even more unbelievable is that he's a rising star from China!

Faced with the cheers of the crowd, Alonso was shocked but could still accept it. After all, he had won two world championships and experienced the despair of losing to the world runner-up by one point. He had been through many ups and downs and could afford to lose.

But Rosberg looked extremely grim as he watched Chen Xiangbei celebrate pole position, sitting in the Mercedes team's pit garage.

No, it should be described as painful.

He thought that based on his performance in practice and two qualifying sessions, he could secure pole position and even win the Monaco title.

However, they ended up falling to fourth place in Q3.

Rosberg really couldn't imagine how the top three drivers could unleash such speed at the last moment.

Alonso's speed is acceptable to him; he's the best active player in the paddock, so it's not surprising that he achieves any result.

Vettel's speed is acceptable to him, as the fastest car in the paddock has a natural advantage.

He couldn't accept Chen Xiangbei taking pole position, even though he was more familiar with the track and had more driving experience, he couldn't outrun a rookie who was driving for the first time.

How could this Chinese kid be so fast?

How did he manage to do it so fast?
He couldn't possibly be that much faster than me!

Why? What did I do wrong? I gave it my all, so why did I still lose to Chen Xiangbei?
A mix of resentment and discontent swirled in Rosberg's mind, and these doubts repeatedly assaulted his pride.

It's important to understand that F1 drivers are all proud and would never truly admit to being inferior to their opponents, otherwise they would have no hope of defeating them.

But this time, Rosberg began to doubt his own abilities and talent.

Am I really inferior to Chen Xiangbei?
Perhaps sensing Rosberg's psychological distress, they could understand that the young man couldn't accept the gap between his grades and reality.

Mercedes team manager Ross Brown sat down next to him and said quietly, "Don't be too discouraged. Winning and losing are common in the paddock. You'll win next time."

"Team leader, is Bei really that talented?"

Rosberg knew the team leader was trying to comfort him, but he wanted to know the answer more.

"Very talented."

This time, Ross Brawn didn't offer any platitudes to comfort him; instead, he acknowledged Chen Xiangbei's racing talent.

He will never forget the first time he saw Chen Xiangbei driving a simulator at the Brawn GP headquarters, where the young Chinese man immediately demonstrated a level of skill that could be described as "self-taught".

Ross Brown knew at that moment that this guy was a genius!

"However, every F1 driver has talent. The fact that Bei walked a completely new track route today means that he has put in unimaginable effort to explore and familiarize himself with the track. Otherwise, he would not have been able to do it."

"Rosberg, hard work pays off. When you can work as hard as North, that's when it really comes down to talent!"

(End of this chapter)