After completing the dive-bomb move, Chen Xiangbei immediately slammed the brakes, the heavy braking causing a slight lock-up, a wisp of white smoke curling up from the middle of the corner.

Even so, the speed still didn't fully bleed off. Car No.13 directly mounted the kerb, using literally the entire width of the corner, only just managing to steady itself with all four wheels skimming the edge of the white line outside the track!

Barrichello's prediction, built on twenty years of professional racing, was spot on: Chen Xiangbei really did use his decisive deceleration to pull off the overtake.

But he hadn't expected this rookie from China to dare play it this hard, this on the edge!

"Beautiful! Chen Xiangbei followed Barrichello for four laps, seized the chance on the long straight, heavy-braked and dived up the inside to complete the overtake. The whole process was insanely risky and thrilling."

"These last few laps Barrichello's defense was rock solid, but Chen Xiangbei's attack was even more aggressive. Spear versus shield has finally decided a winner—Chen Xiangbei is the one who comes out on top!"

Commentator Li Bing was extremely fired up. Though Barrichello doesn't have any world championship titles,

his fame and seniority are actually no worse than your average world champion.

For a whole generation of China fans, their impression of him is still stuck in the era of Ferrari's red duo.

And now this young gun, Chen Xiangbei, has used just five laps to successively pass these two legendary drivers. Watching it unfold feels downright surreal, like a dream.

So rookies from China have already become this strong.

"He's up to seventh! Chen Xiangbei has gained another position."

"This kind of forceful wheel-to-wheel overtaking, an average rookie simply can't do it."

"No doubt about it, strongest rookie of the 2010 season—Chen Xiangbei is leading by a massive margin!"

"No idea where Car God Bei's ceiling is in this race?"

"Car God Bei has no ceiling!"

The emotions of the home China fans at the circuit were completely ignited, their tone shifting from earlier doubt, caution, and modesty

into the confidence, swagger, and even faint arrogance of now.

The feeling was just like when Liu Xiang first broke the foreign monopoly in sprinting, making the nation realize that yellow-skinned people could also reign supreme.

Now in motorsport, a champion-level genius driver has finally been born!

"Barrichello actually didn't hold him off!"

Sir Williams clenched his fists, his expression written all over with unwillingness.

To be honest, after so many years of running a team and scouting rookies, he could already feel how astonishing Chen Xiangbei's talent was—definitely a rising star of F1.

But a rising star is supposed to be about the future; at least for now he shouldn't be faster than Barrichello.

Yet it only took four laps for him to complete the overtake on Barrichello. The performance was simply too shocking.

Was the rookie he'd chosen, Hockenheim, really stronger than Chen Xiangbei?

Many times, the older people get, the more stubborn they become.

Especially those who've had glorious achievements and history—they're even less willing to admit their own failures.

Sir Williams was exactly like that. He was clearly the first to discover Chen Xiangbei's talent, and the team management with the best shot at signing this rookie, yet he'd missed out with a kind of blind confidence and arrogance.

Deep down he was desperate to prove to himself that he hadn't made a mistake, but things were going against his wishes.

Hockenheim had yet to grow up, Barrichello was "over the hill," and now it was time to pay for his wrong call.

Just as everyone at Williams Team was still in a state of shock, an even more despairing scene followed. After entering the corner Barrichello's speed dropped, and he clearly moved off the racing line.

"Barrichello, what happened?"

Race engineer Ross immediately asked.

"Rear tire pressure is abnormal, shows it's losing air."

Hearing Barrichello's reply, Ross finally focused on the car data, and indeed the left-rear tire pressure on Car No.9 was slowly dropping. It looked like there was a leak point.

"Rear tire pressure abnormal, you need to pit for checks." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Ross relayed the team's instruction. The telemetry couldn't show the exact issue; the driver needed to pit for fresh tires so they could run a detailed inspection.

"FUCK, it must've been Bei's front wing that sliced open the tire during the overtake!"

Barrichello's tone was full of anger.

During Chen Xiangbei's overtake he'd glanced at the mirrors and vaguely sensed contact between the other car's front wing and his left-rear tire.

But because F1 mirrors are designed small to reduce drag, their visible area is tiny. Forget spotting details—half the time, if the angle's wrong you can't even see there's a car behind you.

So earlier Barrichello couldn't be sure that Chen Xiangbei's front wing had touched his tire.

But now he was certain!

Don't be fooled by how fragile an F1 front wing looks; in fact, the characteristics of carbon fiber mean it's not weak at all. At high speed and the right angle, it becomes sharp like a blade.

We were only on lap five; tire degradation wasn't heavy yet. Only if the tire had been cut by the front wing would you see this kind of slow leak.

The Chinese Kid not only overtook him, he'd also left his tire damaged and leaking. For Barrichello, this was impossible to accept.

Pitting for new tires now would drop him straight to the back of the field and effectively announce an early end to his race!

"Barrichello, watch for cars behind and prepare to pit."

Race engineer Ross kept his voice neutral. He knew that even if this had something to do with Chen Xiangbei, it was at most an accidental incident.

No driver can truly use his front wing as a surgical scalpel.

If you deliberately tried to touch a tire, given how fragile the front wing is, it would probably shatter on the spot.

"Barrichello's left-rear tire has completely collapsed, there's a single yellow flag out on track warning others to avoid him. He's forcing the car back into the pit lane."

"He's retired! Race control has just sent word—Williams driver Barrichello has officially retired from the race!"

Sha Tong described what was happening on track. The commentary box still didn't know exactly what had gone down.

The contact between Chen Xiangbei and Barrichello's left-rear was too subtle. Unless you called up a super slow-motion replay, you could only assume the Williams car had suffered a puncture or blowout.

Even Chen Xiangbei himself had no idea that, during the overtake, he'd nicked Barrichello's tire.

He was currently charging forward at full speed, and Barrichello's attempt to "have it both ways" had left one benefit: he'd managed to stay glued to the car ahead, Jenson Button, so the gap between Chen Xiangbei and him was now very small.

"Button lacks absolute race pace; he might not be able to hold off Bei."

McLaren team principal Whitmarsh muttered worriedly to team owner Dennis beside him.

Jenson Button has a trait as a driver: he rises to strong opposition, and dips against weaker ones.

On difficult tracks, in complex conditions, the best is a wet race—Button can unleash performance above his usual level. Even if his opponents are rain gods like Senna or Schumacher, he can still fight.

But if you get good weather and a wide track that's great for overtaking, his lack of absolute pace becomes exposed.

Just like at the start, Button got muscled aside by his teammate Hamilton!

Beyond that, there's his race form today.

Even standing out on the pit wall, Whitmarsh could feel a kind of unstoppable "killing intent" coming off Chen Xiangbei. That aggression and decisiveness he showed in the overtake on Barrichello is something a normal rookie simply doesn't have.

In this kind of state, paired with an HRT Racing Car that's not slower than McLaren, barring surprises, Button would be just like Barrichello—unable to hold him back.

Of course, this sort of worry was something he could only share with the boss, never say openly within the team.

Otherwise, if everyone heard that a reigning world champion might not be able to hold off a home rookie, wouldn't that be humiliating?

Faced with Whitmarsh's words, Dennis didn't reply.

He knew Button's traits very well. He'd spent a fortune to bring him into McLaren Team exactly for that reason.

Put simply, Hamilton was fast enough, but not steady enough.

Button was steady as a rock, just right to complement their golden boy Hamilton, ensuring they could secure the WDC while also taking the WCC.

And Button's "average" outright speed is only average relative to the very top-tier world champions; ordinary strong drivers aren't even qualified to compare themselves with him.

On top of that, Button's tire-management skills are god-tier, basically a buffed version of Perez. Where others can wring maybe fifteen laps out of the prime yellow compound, he can casually stretch it to twenty-five.

Under normal circumstances, even if eleventh-placed Chen Xiangbei caught up to Button, it would take at least ten-plus laps.

Leaving Trulli aside, Schumacher, Kubica, and Barrichello were all no slouches.

By then, once the prime yellow tires had passed their peak grip window, even if the Chinese rookie had more outright pace than Button, he'd still lose his chance to overtake.

Who could've imagined that in just five laps, Chen Xiangbei would already be tucked up behind Button's gearbox.

Dennis didn't even know whether to call it a strategic miscalculation, or admit that Chen Xiangbei was so fast that human planning just couldn't keep up!