Chapter 695: Chapter 278: Quantitative Change Triggers Qualitative Change

It was Wednesday of the race week, and crew members from the other eleven teams were dragging cargo containers from the airport to Lingyan Circuit.

When they saw the HRT Team engineers already laying out the track, their expressions varied.

Especially the Renault Team members, who were very familiar with Briatore, as they had all been in the same team last year.

Sports manager Nelson couldn’t help but say, "Team leader, has the HRT Team been influenced by the Chinese members? Since when did they become so proactive and efficient? Has Briatore also learned to ’hustle’?"

Back in the day when the old rogue from Italy was with the Renault Team, his style was to not compromise on big directions and not interfere in small details.

Briatore was strict on team operations and management, but when it came to equipment transport and loading, he had nothing to do with it.

During the races, Briatore mostly stayed in the P room with the air conditioning, unwilling to be out on the command post in the sun and exhaust. Scenes of early transitions and layouts were truly different from the previous Hua Bu style.

"Maybe, but I think it’s more about performance."

Renault’s leader Blair quietly replied.

"Performance?"

"Yes, performance is the stimulant for a team. Winning brings endless motivation, and not winning leads to downfall."

No one probably understands this better than Blair at the moment.

Last year, Renault Team was one of the "Three Royal Families", but after Alonso’s departure and technical team layoffs, they went downhill, falling out of even the "Four Major Teams".

If we include the rising HRT Team, Renault Team is now ranked sixth!

The worse the performance, the more depressed the team’s atmosphere.

The more depressed the atmosphere, the less the team desires victory.

In this vicious cycle, the Renault Team seems hopeless. Even Kubica, seen as the "savior", is said to have contacted the Ferrari Team, who has clearly offered him a regular driver seat.

"This is still a change brought by Xiangbei."

Hearing this, Blair was momentarily speechless.

Indeed, just as sports manager Nelson said, the victory was brought by Chen Xiangbei, and he is a Chinese man.

The quantitative change led to a qualitative change!

The reason Blair subconsciously didn’t want to admit it was because he had missed out on Chen Xiangbei.

No one likes to admit their mistakes.

Accompanying the F1 Team was HRT’s third driver, Perez.

Trulli, after two months of recuperation, couldn’t drive the race car, so Perez would replace him in the upcoming F1 Grand Prix series.

For a GP2 driver, temporarily being promoted to an F1 team to compete is certainly a stroke of luck.

But for veteran Trulli, this might signal the end of his career.

Whether he can stay after recovering depends entirely on Perez’s performance in a few races.

Trulli originally went to the Lingyan Circuit in South Korea with the team after the F1 Chinese Grand Prix. However, he is still participating in the GP2 events and has performed spectacularly, winning two races and standing on the podium four times, only behind the Venezuelan driver "Maldonado". 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Such excellent results naturally require discussions with the GP2 team and making a choice.

That is, based on Perez’s performance, there’s a high possibility he’ll secure the GP2 championship title for the season.

Holding that title, even if HRT doesn’t offer a regular driver seat next year, finding a spot on another team wouldn’t be hard, especially with the huge sponsorship from Mexican Telecommunications behind him.

But if he enters F1 prematurely and fails to adapt, it could severely tarnish his reputation and potential, leading to a situation where not even money can buy a seat.

After all, a scratched-off lottery ticket that reads "Thank you for participating". Ambitious candidates with some achievements would gamble on another promising newcomer, or simply sign Maldonado.

This Venezuelan GP2 driver also has the backing of a giant oil sponsor, capable of attracting attention from the American world, thus making his commercial value nearly equal to Perez!

Needless to say, after Perez withdraws from GP2, Maldonado loses his main competitor, almost confirming the championship title in advance.

Though the F1 substitute seat is tempting, it came at an inappropriate time, and Perez’s management team and the GP2 team need to weigh and consider it.

But the result soon came out, and Perez’s appearance at Lingyan Circuit was equivalent to the answer being announced.

Many people’s impression of Perez comes more from his time with the Red Bull Racing Team as an expert tire-conserving second driver.

In fact, early in his career, Perez was known for his aggressive style, typical of all American drivers, or rather, of all young drivers!

The reason is simple, in the highly competitive F1 Paddock, if you don’t push, you have no speed, and without speed, you have no seat.

A team won’t say it will develop a rookie for years, considering him a potential talent with great promise.

If a driver can’t produce results or demonstrate absolute speed in three to five races, it’s like they hit the "cut-off line" of team management’s patience.

In later years, the Renault Team under Briatore swapped young drivers around like a revolving door, clearly stating that offering money would only secure a five-race seat, and failure to prove oneself meant leaving quickly!

A young person filled with ambition and desire to prove themselves is destined to choose to compete in the F1 Paddock.