Car Racing without Money-Chapter 241 - 122: A Well-Deserved Champion!
"Xiangbei’s performance truly challenges my perception of Chinese drivers."
The commentators discussed the team’s internal conflict with the audience, while Chen Xiangbei focused all his attention on Costa, who was ahead.
Compared to the low-profile Dixon and Vergne who is not adept at single laps and dueling, Costa’s lap speed rivals Magnussen’s, making him one of the strongest drivers in this Renault European Cup.
In the previous race, Costa planned to aggressively overtake Chen Xiangbei at a corner but was outsmarted by the Chinese Kid, leading to a duel between him and Magnussen, which ended with Vergne’s tire preservation tactics stealing the podium spot from them.
This time, Costa was determined; he wouldn’t lose twice to the same person!
As the two cars raced one after the other, Costa executed a perfect defensive strategy, guarding the overtaking line tightly and not giving Chen Xiangbei any chance.
Seeing the 13-car’s attempts to attack repeatedly fail through the rearview mirror, Costa’s lips curved into a slight, mocking smile.
Between the two races, he had watched videos of Chen Xiangbei’s races countless times and even collaborated with the team’s engineers to create trajectory lines for cornering, aiming to fully understand the driving style of the Chinese driver.
It’s known that apart from Chen Xiangbei, even Japanese drivers like Kobayashi Shuji have European racing experience, and their previous race videos and data are accessible.
Only Chen Xiangbei’s profile was entirely blank!
The saying "Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat" is not understood only by Chinese people; Europeans grasp it too.
Costa believed that his loss came from not comprehending Chen Xiangbei; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been "played" in the first Renault race.
Through these days of in-depth analysis, he discovered that the Chinese Kid’s driving style favored oversteering, combined with extremely late braking before corners to seize the racing line for overtaking.
It’s known that entering corners at high speed easily causes understeer, or as formally termed, insufficient steering. Chen Xiangbei needs the steering to be more agile to offset the drawbacks of extreme late braking; otherwise, he risks missing the corner and rushing off the track.
However, oversteer doesn’t automatically mean perfection, because heavy steering in corners easily leads to fishtailing, requiring the driver to be extremely sensitive to the car’s rear movements and find the balance critical point before losing control and fishtailing!
If this critical point isn’t managed, oversteer easily leads to a spin.
Later, Red Bull Racing Team’s Verstappen favored an oversteering style, though over time, this misconception spread across the team and the external world.
This belief led to a more aggressive development direction, creating a car extremely challenging to handle.
In reality, although Verstappen merely leaned towards oversteering driving style, it didn’t mean he liked such control.
Conversely, Verstappen’s strengths lie in his understanding of tire grip, always managing to control the rear of the car well, avoiding fishtail and rear wheel slip!
This extreme car feel and talent aren’t possessed by every driver; at least, Verstappen’s teammates did not. Thus arose the revolving door of Red Bull Racing Team’s second drivers, crushing countless spirits...
Currently, Chen Xiangbei doesn’t naturally reach Verstappen’s control level.
Driving an oversteering car, Costa noticed the Chinese Kid having trouble perfectly dealing with the rear sliding, frequently making corrections during cornering.
This correction is hard to notice in broadcast footage; only the driver’s first-person race video can reveal traces, showing Chen Xiangbei occasionally counter-steering in some corners.
What Costa aimed to do was leverage the narrow and challenging overtaking nature of the circuit, tightly blocking Chen Xiangbei’s racing lines in perfect corners, then in corners where the Chinese Kid needs correction, cut the line at full speed and try to distance the two cars.
After all, no driver can perfect every corner on the track.
Suppress your opponent’s strengths, exploit their weaknesses; this is Costa’s race strategy!
"Odetto, the Manor Team’s Costa knows Xiangbei-kun well. His current style is highly targeted."
Sawano Hiroyuki’s face showed a hint of heaviness. He had already noticed that Costa must have done ample homework; every corner’s line and speed change was adjusted according to Chen Xiangbei’s driving style.
Coupled with the Donington Park Circuit’s challenging overtaking nature, finding a breakthrough quickly wasn’t easy for Chen Xiangbei.
Moreover, Scott’s blocking allowed Magnussen to pull farther ahead in the lead car, stretching the lap times gap to over a second in just a few laps!
At this rate, even after surpassing Scott, it would be tough for Chen Xiangbei to catch up to Magnussen and claim the championship.
Although Sawano Hiroyuki’s goals considered it quite an achievement for Chen Xiangbei to start from P6 and secure second place. But the Chinese Kid often, unknowingly, raised expectations during the race process.
Now, Sawano Hiroyuki only wanted to see Chen Xiangbei stand on the highest podium!
"Hmm, you’re right; Manor Team has studied Xiangbei."
"Since that’s the case, go analyze Costa with Mizutani, find loopholes and provide them to Xiangbei for overtaking."
What?
