"Raikkonen, Xiangbei said in the pre-race interview that he wants to defeat you, do you have any thoughts on that?"

"Kimi, who do you think is the most talented driver in history, you or Xiangbei?"

"Kimi, do you think Xiangbei will own the future of racing?"

Reporters eagerly bombarded Kimi Raikkonen with questions, receiving nothing but his expressionless responses.

Until the question about the future of racing was asked, Raikkonen finally took the microphone and said, "Indeed, I decided to race a rally with Xiangbei, it’s something that has been decided a long time ago."

"As for the result, I would say he won’t be able to defeat me."

"For the future, maybe it will belong to Xiangbei later, but for now, it still belongs to me!"

Many people know that Kimi Raikkonen is a gentleman with low-profile demeanor. He doesn’t resort to unscrupulous methods to win championships, and has no interest in dirty paddock politics, racing in a seemingly monk-like manner, indifferent to the world.

But this doesn’t mean Raikkonen is weak or easily bullied.

He has his own strength and arrogance. At the age of 20, he entered the paddock boldly claiming he would seize the championship from Schumacher, the King of Cars, with a tone so calm and expressionless, while undertaking the most ruthless and audacious challenges.

Faced with team instructions and suggestions, he is also unceremoniously known for saying that famous line.

"Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing."

(Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing)

And he forcefully clinched a race victory!

He’s willing to race with Chen Xiangbei just once, driven by his free-spirited nature, often doing things unexpectedly.

But announcing his victory comes from the honor and pride of a world champion!

Chen Xiangbei has already arrived at the pit stop, coincidentally seeing Raikkonen’s interview on the broadcast screen.

He reveals a meaningful smile upon seeing this.

Kimi really underestimates me a bit, not only does the future belong to me, now does as well!

The team’s strategy group members are not interested in these "off-track" events. Perhaps in later days with Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes—teams with stricter constraints on drivers—contracts might have additional agreements preventing drivers from participating in other racing projects or high-risk activities.

However, for a new team like HRT, it’s clear they don’t impose such strict constraints on drivers’ actions.

Odetto is discussing the upcoming strategy and weather conditions with Hiroyuki Sawano, Mizutani Sho, and others.

Monaco Circuit strategy doesn’t have much to discuss, they’re basically using the standard one-stop strategy, considering the overtaking difficulty is extremely high, trying to push lap times aggressively with tire limits for undercut (strategic overtaking) is hard to achieve.

It’s better to just run with one stop steadily and avoid unexpected situations as much as possible.

Of course, some choose a more risk-taking approach.

Historically, in the 2010 Monaco Station, Alonso crashed into the wall in practice 3 repairing the car, which directly made him miss the Saturday qualifying and was penalized to start from the pit lane, meaning starting as dead last.

Theoretically, in the Monaco Station starting dead last, even reaching the podium is impossible, let alone getting any points.

Thus, Alonso chose a highly aggressive strategy, that is the one-stop strategy gamble at the start, directly pitting for a tire change on the first lap, relying on a faster lap time with cooler air and no car blocking, aggressively overtook over ten opponents reaching eighth place in the field!

And his set of neutral yellow tires lasted an impressive seventy-seven laps!

Many know Perez is outstanding at tire conservation, even earning him the nickname "Master Pei," yet it seems no one has heard of any world champion having the title "Master of Tire Conservation."

The reason is, world champions are naturally masters at tire conservation.

They no longer need nicknames or praise to emphasize their tire conservation ability.

This is a skill inherent to world champions!

Strong tire conservation ability doesn’t need to be praised; poor tire conservation ability instead could face ridicule.

Just as no world champion is a "landlubber."

Chen Xiangbei’s pole position doesn’t need any cheating routes, just starting normally with red tires and then pitting once to change to neutral yellow tires to run the entire length.

The team needs to focus more on weather changes and rival strategies.

Today’s weather in Monaco is great, "cloudless skies" is a fitting description, and satellite cloud images from the meteorological bureau can confirm that the possibility of rain during the entire race is very low.

This situation brought a sigh of relief to Odetto and others.

It’s well known that rain battles in Monaco are the biggest variable, historically there have been countless classic races turned around in rain battles, most recently in the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix.

It was Hamilton’s rookie season, his qualifying performance wasn’t great, but McLaren Team used perfect strategic tactics, combined with Hamilton’s phenomenal performance, allowing him to win the Monaco Grand Prix.

Winning the title of Monaco King in his rookie season, while also being a Black driver, the doubts and ridicule he faced before this were no less than Chen Xiangbei’s struggles, with racial discrimination even more severe.

It was precisely with this title that Hamilton proved his absolute control over racing, proving his historically-level talent.

Turning former disdain and laughter into cheers and applause, just like today when Chen Xiangbei entered the paddock.

As for opponent teams’ strategies, it’s even easier to comprehend, Monaco Circuit is one that extremely benefits from double-car coordination, deliberately slowing down on the track can yield unexpected benefits.

In an extreme situation, from fifth and sixth positions onwards, lap traffic can mean that trailing drivers were slowed down by a whole lap!

The more aggressive the slowing, the safer the front-row drivers become, no longer needing to worry about track incidents, safety cars, or various variables of advancing and tire changing; one or two minutes’ advantage reaches a point where they can do anything.

But the problem arises when there’s deliberate blocking by a lap car, then what?

Monaco Circuit’s width, compared to regular roads, can completely qualify as one-way streets, there’s no space for two racing cars side by side.

The car in front doesn’t need to deliberately target, just slowing a bit upon reaching the yield zone, can hold back the car behind by a few tenths, and with harsh three blue flag reminders, slowing down by a full second is possible.

Latter Verstappen and Ocon’s weighing room spat occurred precisely because Ocon’s lap car deliberately blocked, and even crashed into Red Bull Racing, costing a championship, leading to Verstappen breaking down.

In this situation, coordination from teammates is essential.

Previously, Trulli refused to acknowledge Chen Xiangbei, fiery personality competing for the number one driver position.

But he actually understood deep down, an old driver like him was nearing retirement, internal hostile competition holds no meaning, better to respectfully help the younger new talent.

Perez is the opposite; he acknowledges Chen Xiangbei’s position as the number one driver, but internally, he’s filled with competitiveness.

A young man in his twenties, during the most reckless and youthful phase, how could Perez completely resign to being a wingman?

It’s not just facing Chen Xiangbei, even in later generations facing Verstappen, the more composed thirty-year-old Perez once attempted to resist, only unable to outrun the Netherlands’ Autobots.

To prematurely persuade Perez to prepare for wingman duties, Odetto felt somewhat difficult.

Not because he’s lacking resolve; decades of career, he’s seen countless ruthless scenes, even the commanding Ferrari team had Barrichello obediently follow orders, worrying about a Mexican rookie?

Odetto’s difficulty lies precisely in expressing his thoughts, after Briatore knows this, action can be harsh!

He can even foresee that renewal terms will certainly become a means to coerce Perez.

F1 is a commercial sport, but for drivers, it encompasses glory and dreams; Odetto is unwilling to destroy the little purity and beauty within a young person’s heart.

Just as Odetto contemplated how to communicate, a swarm of reporters descended upon the HRT Team’s P room. As Monaco Grand Prix’s pole position holder and the creator of controversy with Raikkonen.

Undeniably, Chen Xiangbei is destined to become the focal point for the entire field!