That is Jenson Button on this bend, who will always take the most conservative and safest route, equivalent to fixing his cornering.

Under normal circumstances, even if you know how Jenson Button will go, overtaking him is still difficult.

The best cornering line is with him, and taking other lines risks exponentially increasing, and it might not be faster than Jenson Button.

Fortunately, Chen Xiangbei knows countless lines on this bend, knows those seemingly impossible extreme curb eating, yet can still maintain control.

Because this is the result of experiments by future drivers, he doesn't need to try and err, just wait to copy the correct answer.

On many circuits, Chen Xiangbei mostly has God's perspective.

At East Sea International Circuit, Chen Xiangbei is God!

"Chen Xiangbei caught up with Button on the T6 straight, both cars almost entered the T7 bend side by side, but Button occupies the left-side best cornering line, it's impossible for Chen Xiangbei to overtake in the bend with more speed."

"The two cars enter the T7 bend, Chen Xiangbei still accelerates and takes a hard side-by-side entry position, squeezing McLaren driver Button backwards into the line space."

"However, due to Chen Xiangbei not taking the best cornering line, his car is sliding more fiercely on the right side, already reaching the edge of the track, with the right tires and body riding the curb over the edge white line."

"The left tires have also reached the edge of the track white line, is it going to be all four wheels off the line?"

"No line crossing! Chen Xiangbei straightens the car at the edge of the track, accelerates full throttle immediately through fast exit speed, overtakes McLaren driver Jenson Button at the T8 bend!"

"Overtaking the defending world champion in less than two laps, it's simply a miracle!"

Commentator Li Bing feels like he's going crazy, he truly didn't think Chen Xiangbei would make a move to overtake on the extremely difficult T7, T8 combination bends.

And succeeded!

From an outsider's point of view, not considering race condition factors, Jenson Button is the defending champion and is driving the second fastest McLaren car in the field.

The visual impact and shock Chen Xiangbei brings by overtaking him far exceed Barrichello.

"It's too awesome, Chen Xiangbei overtook the F1 world champion!"

"Am I seeing things, Car God Bei overtakes the world champion so easily and simply?"

"Button actually couldn't hold off Chen Xiangbei for two laps, are our Chinese drivers really this strong?"

"Deservedly the strongest rising star, Car God Bei!"

The atmosphere at the scene is not as explosive as imagined, not because they feel it's nothing.

On the contrary, it is too shocking, many people haven't reacted yet.

According to the previous entanglement with Barrichello, Jenson Button as the world champion, and also the opponent he defeated last year, it is normal to follow for ten or eight laps.

Even if it can't be overtaken all the time, it makes sense. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The problem is that Chen Xiangbei not only overtakes, but is incredibly fast, completely beyond the expectations of Chinese fans.

When did the F1 world champion become so unimpressive?

"What is Jenson Button doing, is there no defense at all?"

"It seems last year BGP001 was truly a Mars Rover, letting Button pick up a world championship."

"I really can't accept it, how can Button not even outrun a Chinese guy."

"The world champion losing to a rookie, it's really a joke!"

Amidst the cheering, there are many people's breakdowns.

Those foreign audiences who dislike or oppose Chen Xiangbei really find it hard to accept this result.

In the opening battle, Button was overtaken by Chen Xiangbei, it could still be said to be caught by surprise.

At that time, no one imagined a first-time participating Chinese rookie would have such a fierce attacking posture.

Now it's different, Chen Xiangbei took the pole position at East Sea International Circuit, and after the start is unstoppable, Jenson Button should be well-prepared to defend.

Yet still did not change the outcome trend!

The world champion status, at this moment, becomes a burden, only adding to many fans' dissatisfaction and anger.

Of course, this small-scale protest doesn't affect the big picture.

After overtaking Jenson Button, Chen Xiangbei continues to advance at full speed towards Hamilton in front.

Only compared to the fiercely tangled mid-field group, the leading group has already widened distance by a notch.

Alonso, Vettel, Weber, Rosberg, Hamilton, there's no one among these people that's a pushover, four of them are historical world champion drivers.

Even the weakest Weber, relying on the super performance of the Red Bull Racing and mutual cooperation with Vettel, can still easily keep pace with the leading group's steps.

In just six laps, they widened the gap with Chen Xiangbei by 3.7 seconds!

Don't look at just a few seconds in a moment, in fact, it has widened to nearly not seeing the taillights.

"Sawano, how much life does my tires have left?"

Chen Xiangbei asks a question.

"Theoretical life is sixty-one percent."

"Mr. Xiang Bei, do you plan to push?"

Sawano Hiroyuki immediately asks back, as a race engineer partnering for so long, he guesses Chen Xiangbei's intention.

"Yes, I want to catch up with Hamilton."

"Theoretical life doesn't equal actual grip, below fifty percent is past the peak, nine laps left before pitting, tire wear will be quite serious affecting speed."

Sawano Hiroyuki reminds him, at the start phase of a heavy fuel race, the tire wear speed from full-speed pushing is far beyond that of the later light fuel phase.

This is also why Jenson Button was overtaken by Hamilton and widened a long distance.

Besides being affected by Barrichello's attack, he decided from the start to drive conservatively for tire preservation, entering cruise mode early.

Even when Chen Xiangbei overtakes, Jenson Button did not make overly tough defensive moves. In familiar Chinese words, that's preparing to play the "long game".

Many fans might have a question that pops up at this point, which is the leading group pulling so far away, don't they consider tire wear during the heavy fuel phase?

In fact, this involves the complex aerodynamic efficiency problem of F1.

The leading car having no cars in front means it can absorb the freshest cold air, without any turbulence impacts.

Including both F1 and any vehicle power unit, as long as it's not in extreme cold conditions, all have the feature of not fearing cold but fearing heat.

Cold air can enhance engine efficiency, no turbulence can avoid impacts to aerodynamic components, combined, the leading car naturally speeds a notch faster!

In many F1 live races later, you can often see Verstappen cruising far ahead alone, one aspect is Red Bull Racing performance and driving skills leading, the other is leading car advantage.

And often if a driver is trapped irretrievably in a cluster, teams will issue orders to pit early for tire changes, to escape the "hot exhaust" and turbulence inside the cluster, falling behind to run faster lap times.

When opponents are trapped in the cluster for ten or twenty laps, then pit for tire changes, they find themselves inexplicably behind, the victory point lies in the lap speed lead from cold air bringing a fraction of seconds.

This method of pitting early to break free from a cluster is also a kind of undercut (strategic overtaking).

Maybe someone might ask at this point, if it's known that being trapped in a cluster is slow, why not choose to pit early for tire changes?

The answer is that fast and slow are relative, clusters have both pros and cons!

Clusters with tail gas have turbulence, but also have slipstream from the car in front breaking the air, if controlled properly can reduce air resistance for cruising and tire conservation.

Some teams aim for a single-stop strategy for tire conservation, and if the car performance is weak, being part of the cluster is a desired situation.

Cars leaving the cluster often choose multiple stop strategies, or if the absolute speed isn't slow, they don't want to be in it pecking weakly with others!

East Sea International Circuit's characteristics cause leading drivers to mostly choose one or two stop strategies, plus Alonso leading very fast, everyone naturally wants to follow behind and take slipstream.

Chen Xiangbei now comes to the front position of the mid-field group, neither with completely cooled air nor slipstream from the car in front to take. Advancing alone to chase risks great tire wear, may not sustain until the one-stop pit window, so Sawano Hiroyuki gives a reminder.

Yet before Chen Xiangbei considers, Odetto's voice comes through the earpiece seriously.

"Bei, push full speed to catch Hamilton quicker, the faster you catch up, the lower the tire wear, let me see how many laps it takes!"