Car Racing without Money-Chapter 513 - 200: Offense Is the Best Defense (Part 3)

Underneath the helmet, Chen Xiangbei’s face showed no change in expression, nor any trace of panic or fear. His mind was only focused on the feedback from the car’s grip and his control over the steering wheel.

The feel of the car is what truly determines a driver’s talent ceiling.

Fortunately, in this regard, Chen Xiangbei is not weaker than anyone!

Constantly fine-tuning and adjusting the steering wheel, the TF110 car teetered on the edge of losing control.

When Chen Xiangbei’s number 13 car neither lost control nor rushed off the track, the advantages of seizing the apex and exploiting the extreme line became evident as he gained an exit speed far exceeding Weber’s. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Looking at the black-orange HRT Racing Car overtaking him, no matter how shocked and incredulous Weber’s eyes were, it couldn’t change the outcome.

"He’s overtaken, Chen Xiangbei has once again overtaken the Red Bull Driver Weber!"

"Counting the warm-up laps, overtaking two top-tier F1 Drivers in six laps, who dare says Chen Xiangbei is a paid rookie?"

"Chen Xiangbei is awesome!"

"Chen Xiangbei has proven with his strength that he is not only China’s strongest driver but a world’s top driver!"

"Chinese racers can also reach the pinnacle!"

The Chinese audience in the stands were practically boiling over; many came to the race simply to support the Chinese racer with no other expectations.

Especially those true F1 fans who were realistic in their hopes.

They knew very well how weak the overall racing environment in China was.

To exaggerate a little, it couldn’t even compare to China’s soccer during the same period.

Precisely because it was so weak, there wasn’t even anyone to ridicule them; they simply didn’t expect any results.

For Chen Xiangbei to score points in his debut is already an earth-shattering breakthrough!

But Chen Xiangbei’s performance on the track continually exceeded their expectations; qualifying seventh, and in the race, climbing to fifth against the odds.

If not for the pinyin name, if there wasn’t that bright red flag before the name, who would believe that this was a result that a Chinese rookie could achieve?

As a result, many spectators at that moment began dreaming of Chen Xiangbei stepping onto the podium!

Compared to the ambition of the spectators on the track, the strategy team members were instead striving to suppress their excitement. They absolutely could not blindly advance, disrupting the pre-race strategies set by the team and the driver’s momentum.

"Xiangbei, Weber should be able to hold off Kubica for a while. Cruise to conserve the tires and try to maximize the pit stop window."

"Understood."

Chen Xiangbei replied.

Even with the ample supply of soft red tires for a three-stop strategy, it still requires running at least ten laps on each set.

The relative speed and stability of the HRT Racing Car after lowering the power are decent. The major drawback is the lack of a wind tunnel for simulation verification, solving the fundamental flaws caused by the exhaust diffuser, thus leading to relatively high tire wear.

The consecutive overtaking and dueling have already severely worn Chen Xiangbei’s tires, now requiring a cruising phase to conserve tires and strive for a pit stop window.

The intense battle entered a bottleneck phase, while various drivers started retiring from the race. Virgin Team’s Di Grassi, Lotus Team’s Kovalainen, and Red Bull’s Agur Sulaeri all left the track.

The stability issues of new teams and cars gradually became apparent. Not every team could have HRT Team’s luck in obtaining a prototype built on Toyota’s heritage.

However, these cars managed to slowly make it to the pit lane without significantly affecting the race progress.

But just as the race entered the eleventh lap, a yellow flag suddenly appeared on the track, and simultaneously, instructions came through the headset.

"Xiangbei, Trulli and Sutil have had a track incident, prepare to pit and change tires."