"Is the Chinese kid still racing?"

Looking at Chen Xiangbei speeding on the track, McLaren boss Dennis sounded quite surprised.

They had confirmed through tail speed monitoring that the engine output power of Chen Xiangbei’s No. 13 car was low, 3 to 5 kilometers slower compared to Perez’s car in the same team.

It’s not just an occasional low-speed lap data, but from practice to qualifying, the top speed of each lap was slower than Perez’s, indicating a problem with the power unit.

Malfunction during the second practice also provided evidence for this suspicion.

Based on calculations by McLaren engineers and comparisons with Perez’s lap times, the Q3 result of 1 minute 36.311 seconds was likely the limit of Chen Xiangbei’s current car.

Yet the HRT Team was not satisfied, intending to let Chen Xiangbei push for another flying lap; are they not considering the consequences?

"Xiangbei doesn’t want to give up the top pole position, this guy is determined."

Whitmarsh muttered in reply; he wasn’t familiar with Chen Xiangbei but knew Ross Brown well.

The latter had mentioned Chen Xiangbei’s efforts and madness more than once, which brought him into the F1 Paddock creating miracles along the way.

"Do you think Hamilton’s pole position time is at risk?"

Dennis wasn’t concerned about Chen Xiangbei, only worried about Hamilton.

Hamilton was eager to win this race with a mindset of "revenge" and certainty, planning to crush Chen Xiangbei to make the Chinese Principal understand who truly is the superstar of F1 paddock and the future giant driver.

If he loses, Dennis cannot imagine the consequences.

Without the perspective of a god, he doesn’t know how resilient Hamilton inherently is, he even becomes a seven-time champion like Schumacher in the future.

With the current perspective, despite winning the world championship, Hamilton hasn’t broken away from being naive, his journey so far has been too smooth.

Especially his fondness for complaining gave others the wrong impression he’s mentally fragile, possibly unable to accept failure.

The competition among F1 top drivers is more like a clash of experts, involving technique and mentality.

Dennis worried Hamilton would have a mental breakdown, questioning himself.

"Should..."

Whitmarsh meant to say there shouldn’t be a risk, but he paused.

Truthfully, nobody knows how deep the potential of the Chinese kid is so far.

Like how nobody expected his podium finish in Australia’s rain battle and triumph at the China Station.

In recent years, F1 sports are moving towards youth and talent, whether it’s Raikkonen, Hamilton, or Vettel, they repeatedly break F1’s youngest records, challenging people’s cognition.

Previously, there might be champions like Damon Hill and Jenson Button who matured late, but in the future, it seems to be twenty-year-old prodigies destined to make a sensation upon entering the paddock!

Seeing Whitmarsh not responding, Dennis didn’t pursue further inquiries, perhaps he already knew the answer in his heart.

On the track, Chen Xiangbei continued to race; to improve the fastest lap time, many of his lines were so risky that they could lead to car crashes if not careful.

In many long straight sections, Chen Xiangbei’s extremely late braking made him "skate" on the track, with broadcast footage almost capturing his sliding in a locked wheel state over an exaggerated one to two meters.

Although Chen Xiangbei might not reach the level of drifting through turns, he genuinely achieved "drifting" into them.

Additionally, according to sensor data from the car, Chen Xiangbei increased his full throttle time in corners by a solid three seconds compared to the previous lap, meaning he challenged the track’s limits with every corner.

Since performance improvements on the car weren’t possible, he could only make efforts on the track itself.

His many cornering scenes reached ideal line speeds calculated for rainy condition simulations, accurate like a robot.

It’s fair to say, in Odetto’s view, pure driving skills can’t reach this level alone; luck is an additional factor.

The problem is luck might help once but not throughout Lingyan Circuit’s eighteen corners, Chen Xiangbei is bound to slip up if he continues!

"Leader, Xiangbei can’t keep driving like this."

Sawano Hiroyuki also realized the risks were entirely uncontrollable and suggested this to Odetto.

Odetto knew this too; the current situation prevented even team communications from being initiated.

Who knows if an unexpected sound might distract Chen Xiangbei, causing an accident?

"This kid sure dares to risk his life."

Jolly Briatore, seeing this scene, took the initiative to speak.

He wasn’t much concerned about the driver’s safety or life, even with better results for the team in the future, Briatore repeatedly caused mental breakdowns in new team members, leading them to drive fast, crash, try to prove themselves, and crash again in a vicious cycle.

Every crash threatens the driver’s life, but Briatore enjoys it.

Whether you die is your problem; without speed and results, even if you live, I will "slaughter" you.

Only this time, something touched him inside.

Chen Xiangbei doesn’t face being "slaughtered" by the team, and his performance makes signing next year’s contract seamless without relying on China’s capital share.