Car Racing without Money-Chapter 514 - 201: I’m Not a Rookie!

"Trulli and Sutil had a track incident?"

Hearing Odetto’s pit stop instruction, Chen Xiangbei was indeed somewhat surprised.

Last year, these two collided while racing, almost getting into a fight on the track.

The opening race of this year has just started, and it’s happening again?

Before Chen Xiangbei could respond to the instruction, Odetto’s voice came through again.

"Physical safety car deployed, don’t miss the pit stop."

In the F1 Paddock, under the "flag signal" rules, when a yellow flag appears, the cars must slow down, and overtaking is not allowed during this process.

If the race center determines that the incident drivers cannot resolve it themselves, staff must be sent to handle it. Then a command is launched to the team console to deploy a "virtual safety car."

At this time, the cars in the paddock slow down to a reasonable range, approximately thirty to forty percent.

If the situation is more serious, and the staff on-site find it cannot be quickly resolved, a physical safety car will be deployed to lead.

The biggest difference between the two is that the virtual safety car simply ensures the gap of all cars on the track through reasonable speed control.

It will not disrupt the track positions due to a minor incident.

However, the physical safety car deployment forces all cars to bunch up, forming a long snake line, which is a disadvantage for the driver who had a significant lead earlier.

Imagine, painstakingly leaving opponents several seconds, even a dozen seconds behind, only to be forced to slow down as the safety car comes out, allowing the cars behind to catch up, taking you back to square one.

Unluckily, if the car behind updates its tires, you might not even be able to hold your lead...

But for some drivers, a physical safety car deployment is like a "benefit" falling from the sky.

That’s for drivers who are about to pit for a tire change!

Under normal circumstances, F1’s average track speed is about 220 km/h, and the pit window period takes about 22 seconds.

During the safety car, the speed is reduced to 100 km/h, meaning it theoretically saves about half the time, taking only around 11 seconds.

seconds can elevate the finishing position of a front-row driver by three to four places if the gap is small!

"Is Trulli okay?"

Chen Xiangbei asked back.

Although he could benefit from pitting during the physical safety car phase, it also means the incident severity has increased.

Even without mentioning the teammate relationship with Trulli, humanity dictates asking a question.

"The buffer zone is large enough without any issues, but there are a lot of debris on the track."

Just as Odetto finished speaking, Briatore’s voice came through the earphones.

"OH~~! There’s a problem, Trulli and Sutil shoved on the track, are the two going to settle last year’s score?"

Hua Bu’s tone and choice of words were filled with a mindset that thrived on chaos, as if Trulli was not an HRT driver.

It’s worth noting that Trulli was ranked in the top ten scoring zone, and this crash had a significant impact on the team’s results.

Of course, it’s precisely because the impact is significant that Briatore is happy.

No management of any team can tolerate a driver who cannot control their emotions, causing damage and loss of points.

Thus, Hua Bu has sufficient reason to publically settle scores with the "enemy" in the way!

Regarding Briatore’s words and actions, Chen Xiangbei truly did not know how to describe them.

However, at this moment, he had no time to focus too much on Trulli; the car entered the pit lane, auto-limiting speed to 80 km/h, and his eyes scanned the team logos above the pits to prevent a low-level error of stopping at the wrong spot.

Meanwhile, Liang Chi led the group of technicians, on high alert, squatting on either side of the pit box, awaiting the first official pit stop of their career.

During simulated training, the technician group could already reduce the average tire change time to around 3.0 seconds.

Although it still doesn’t meet Hua Bu’s 2.8-second standard, for a "semi-newly formed" team, it can be described as qualified or even excellent.

After all, in this era, even in future teams such as Sauber, Williams, Haas, etc., pit stop average times are frequently around 3.5 seconds.

But training does not equate to actual combat; the varying track conditions and intense mental focus can all affect the performance of the technician group members.

And F1 tire change is the epitome of team coordination; any mistake can set off a chain reaction.

With over twenty people, not a single one is allowed to make a mistake!

Watching Chen Xiangbei’s car approach and then precisely stopping in the parking area, every member of the technician group, like clockwork gears, quickly and accurately performed their designated tasks.

But Lady Luck did not continue to favor Chen Xiangbei.

The left front tire group coordination had an issue, the two collided during the swap process.

Seeing this scene unfold, the always "jovial" Hua Bu in the pit box instantly wore a dark expression.

He can accept poor performance, but not incompetence!

The left-front tire group was not making its first mistake.

The timer for the tire change kept ticking, reaching 5.3 seconds when the green light above the pit stop lit up, and as the jack lowered the car but hadn’t completely touched down, Chen Xiangbei already revved the engine to spin the tires.

The moment of touchdown, the sound of "screeching" burning rubber was heard, and car 13 shot out of the pit lane like an arrow from the string.

At this moment, a yellow-black car appeared behind Chen Xiangbei, driven by Renault Team’s car no. 11, Kubica!