"Perez hit the bump point."

Just as everyone was in a state of astonishment, Odetto murmured.

"Team leader, bump point?"

Mizutani Sho, standing nearby, heard this and asked somewhat surprised. Even as a data engineer, he didn’t know there was a bump point on the track. How did Odetto know?

"Yes, there’s an asphalt fault at the entry of the TIO corner. Whenever a car wheel hits it, the car will experience noticeable bumps and shakes, affecting the driver’s precise control."

The T10 corner at Lingyan Circuit is a hairpin turn, preceded by a long straight, making it an important overtaking point on the track.

There’s a long braking zone before entering the corner, where many drivers attempt late braking to achieve faster entry speeds and overtake opponents.

However, due to the semi-completed state of Lingyan Circuit, many patches of asphalt on the ground are uneven. The faster the speed over these bumpy areas, the greater the impact on the car’s handling.

To draw a frontline analogy: a regular person driving a home car on the road, when encountering road damage or a curb, slowing down and driving over it may result in just a slight shake.

But if you speed through with the accelerator, the entire car might jump, and with bad luck, it could even lead to a burst tire.

Of course, the bumps on an F1 track aren’t as exaggerated as a pothole on the road.

Yet considering the long straight’s braking zone getting up to speeds of 300 km/h, even a mere one-centimeter bump in the ground can significantly impact the racing car.

Bear in mind, F1 cars have no play in the steering wheel, with a steering ratio of only 6:1, far below that of civilian vehicles’ 18:1. Meaning a regular vehicle needs one and a half turns, whereas an F1 car only needs half a turn to change direction.

The lower the steering ratio, the higher the demand on steering precision. For civilian vehicles, a bump might cause the wheel to shake slightly, but in an F1 car, a shake can veer the car drastically.

Even if you can control the shaking with ’Kirin Arm,’ there’s still over 70 kilograms of brake force to manage; controlling brake pedal pressure is far harder than gripping with fingers. A shake makes precise control extraordinarily challenging.

F1 drivers often teeter on the brink of extremes; a light brake sends them off-track, yet a heavy brake locks the tires.

What outsiders see as minuscule flaws are fatal mistakes in the eyes of an F1 driver.

Perez was affected by the track bumps, miscalculated his brake pedal pressure, allowing Chen Xiangbei to seize the moment to overtake.

"Did Mr. Xiang Bei discover this while on the track?"

Mizutani Sho inquired further.

"Yes."

"Then why hadn’t he hit it before?"

Given the existence of the bump point, drivers had almost completed thirty laps; they should be mentally prepared, thus less likely to err.

Moreover, Perez hadn’t made any mistakes before, so why now during Chen Xiangbei’s overtaking lap?

"Because the bump point isn’t on the regular driving line. Xiangbei deliberately veered toward the bump point to lure Perez to synchronize his line in defense, ultimately hitting that spot."

"Xiangbei predicted Perez’s defensive line."

Upon hearing Odetto’s explanation, Mizutani Sho couldn’t help but take a sharp breath.

This is not just a triumph of driving skills but also a frightening level of timing precision and psychological assessment.

"For some reason, I feel Xiangbei understands Perez far beyond what I imagined."

Finally, Odetto added another sentence, noting that in his perception, Chen Xiangbei displayed none of the usual unfamiliarity toward Perez and even grasped his driving habits and character traits.

Were a renowned driver like Trulli being replaced in the pitlane, it would be logical for Chen Xiangbei to be familiar.

The issue is Perez is purely a newcomer; even if he did well in GP2, Chen Xiangbei jumped straight from F3, unlikely to pay attention to a GP2-level driver.

Without such familiarity, it’s hard to predict Perez’s responses—an enigma that Odetto couldn’t unravel.

Indeed, Odetto’s doubts were justified; Chen Xiangbei was very acquainted with Perez.

The reason is simple; Perez’s career virtually spanned Chen Xiangbei’s entire previous career, like veterans Alonso and Hamilton.

No matter if Chen Xiangbei specifically watched Perez’s races, having watched a decade’s worth of F1 races, he couldn’t possibly be unfamiliar with Perez’s driving habits and technical characteristics.

As the saying goes, know yourself and your enemy, and you can win a hundred battles. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Perez and Chen Xiangbei have transparent information in one direction, making predictions and judgment effortless.

Additionally, Perez’s simulator training, which Chen Xiangbei did not miss, played a considerable role.

Chen Xiangbei mainly knew Perez’s mature driving habits, not his rookie phase, so if the latter could learn and mimic his line, then vice versa too.

Chen Xiangbei was clear on how Perez would defend!

After swiftly overtaking his teammate, car number 13 immediately sped towards Schumacher ahead.

Nowadays, Chen Xiangbei no longer holds that initial awe and "fear" for the reigning seven-time King of Cars.

Though a descending god may not be desecrated, it doesn’t mean they cannot be challenged.

Without showing at least 80% of his peak form, Schumacher certainly won’t withstand his onslaught—this is Chen Xiangbei’s confidence!