As for Briatore’s antics, Chen Xiangbei could say he was already used to it; this Italian old rogue never had a serious moment.

He continued to pack his stuff at his own pace, and after sorting everything out, he followed the team members back to the hotel in Australia, and it was already eight o’clock in the evening.

Even so, many fans still waited outside the hotel, hoping to take a photo with Chen Xiangbei or get a signature.

To be honest, fans who could wait for several hours could definitely be described as "loyal."

Chen Xiangbei wasn’t an arrogant person and could understand that sense of anticipation, so he took the initiative to greet them instead of signing autographs, as time didn’t allow, and took a group photo with them instead.

Entering the hotel lobby, Odetto was sitting on the sofa and greeted Chen Xiangbei upon seeing him: "Come to the hotel conference room; there’s an important matter to discuss."

Briatore’s words could be taken as exaggerations by Chen Xiangbei.

Odetto’s personality wouldn’t lead to boring jokes, so it seemed there truly was something important to announce.

Was it a surprise prepared for celebrating the podium finish?

That was Chen Xiangbei’s first thought because, after all, it was the first podium finish of his career and also HRT Team’s first, meaning they had at least moved into the ranks of the midfield teams.

Preparing a surprise and then celebrating with some relaxation seemed well deserved.

With this mindset, Chen Xiangbei followed Odetto into the hotel conference room.

Seeing the people sitting inside, Chen Xiangbei was indeed quite "shocked," but it was not a pleasant surprise; it was a kind of astonishment.

Present were not only members of the team strategy group, the team owner Kalanbant, investor Staler, and even Mr. Peng from China’s Huali Sports, who were all present in the hotel conference room.

Additionally, there was a middle-aged man with a Latin American look who was unfamiliar.

"North, this is the grand ceremony I prepared for you!"

Briatore stood up, emphasizing in an excited tone.

"Manager, what exactly is this all about?"

Chen Xiangbei straightforwardly asked a question; he didn’t like playing guessing games.

"Deciding the team’s future!"

[Future?]

This left Chen Xiangbei completely bewildered; all aspects of the team were currently on the right track, even if there was a need to decide on some future direction.

Perhaps sensing Chen Xiangbei’s confusion, Briatore leaned over and put his hand on his shoulder, guiding him to a seat while starting to explain.

"North, in this race, engineer Mazzola was present, and the real-world testing of the new upgraded kit showed a huge improvement. After adaptation, the lap time was at least 0.5 seconds faster than the opening race."

"Moreover, your performance in the rain race already clearly proved your speed and stability. Our HRT Team’s fight for the championship is no longer just a slogan but has the capability to challenge the top teams!"

"To defeat powerful enemies, we must continuously ensure the car’s competitiveness. This requires a vast amount of financial and material support, and we must introduce third-party investment to solve the current financial difficulties of the team and the insufficient reserve forces."

"North, do you realize the transformation is right in front of you?"

Listening to Briatore’s endless words, Chen Xiangbei tried hard to quickly digest them in his mind.

He roughly understood the essence of the "important matter," which was introducing sponsor investments for the team.

To some extent, Chen Xiangbei could understand this. Before the budget cap was implemented, and before the United States’ Liberty Media took over the operations, an F1 team was purely a money-burning game.

Only by burning enough money to climb into the ranks of the top teams would they have room for profit.

HRT was a new team, and even though it had the foundation of personnel from both Toyota and Renault, there were still huge gaps in equipment and resources; even the maintenance of the cars entirely depended on the support provided by the Toyota Group.

An F1 car comprises three important components: the power unit, chassis, and aerodynamic kit.

It was impossible to achieve independence on the power unit temporarily, and external procurement was the only option, but the chassis and aerodynamic kits could gradually be developed in-house. Also, the upcoming car upgrades needed HRT’s R&D department to become completely independent.

Otherwise, relying on the existing Toyota TF110 prototype foundation would certainly fall behind the progress of the top teams.

Simultaneous development of the chassis and aerodynamic kit meant requiring a lot of financial investment. Forget the design costs; just the wind tunnel testing costs one hundred thousand US dollars per hour, and the track rental for real-world testing was as high as three million US dollars per day.

This time, the upgraded kit brought a significant improvement without wind tunnel verification, which could be considered pure luck.

But luck would not always favor the HRT Team. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

To keep the competitive edge consistently and stably, instead of like many small teams in the future - performing like a god in one race and like a ghost in another - they would have to spend money extravagantly.

The investment risk is significant without genuine championship-contending potential.

Chen Xiangbei’s podium finish in this race represents a tremendous investment value for the HRT Team; it’s time to introduce third-party funds to grow.

"Briatore, it seems like you’ve been prepared for a while."

Chen Xiangbei replied indifferently, the result had just come out in the afternoon, and by evening everyone was present.

There was only one explanation: Hua Bu had already had this in mind.

"Of course, opportunities are for those who are prepared."

With that, Briatore leaned close to Chen Xiangbei’s ear and whispered, "No matter how you and Trulli perform, I will make HRT a powerful team. This is my goal in returning to the paddock."