Car Racing without Money-Chapter 436 - 175: Drivers Must Adapt to Their Cars

Trulli had long golden hair, a high nose bridge and deep eyes, definitely among the top-tier looks within F1 drivers, naturally carrying a kind of Italian carefree and rebellious vibe.

But facing Chen Xiangbei and his group, his attitude was just a bit cold, merely nodding without expression as a greeting.

This attitude wasn’t aimed at Chen Xiangbei, but rather stemmed from deep grudges with Hua Bu.

To be serious, Trulli also had a bit of a "fearless towards authority" personality.

Back in the day, he entered the F1 paddock with the title of German F3 champion, and after running seven races with the Minardi team, he moved to the Prost team.

At that time, four-time champion Prost had just retired, and with the engine advantage of "Honda Unlimited", the car was very competitive.

Trulli did not disappoint, leading his teammate by a second in qualifying laps, earning himself a two-year formal driver contract.

But in the second year, Prost began to mess around, abandoning the Honda Unlimited engine to chase a "French Dream", turning to the extremely underperforming Peugeot engine, dropping the car straight from the middle group to the bottom.

Facing this situation, Trulli publicly responded, claiming that the Prost car was the worst car he had driven in his career!

In comparison, Alonso’s famous "GP2 engine" complaint was relatively conservative, with its effects limited to the power unit and not implicating the team’s chassis.

However, media outreach wasn’t as developed back then, and Trulli’s fame was far inferior to Alonso. The spread and impact were not as extensive.

But from this perspective, it can be seen that his character was indeed very "tough", having had frequent fall-outs with team bosses and managers.

Now, with "enemies" meeting, he naturally would not show Hua Bu a friendly face.

By contrast, Hua Bu just casually waved his hand. His character was one that cared only about interests, not right or wrong.

Back then, siding with Alonso was because Hua Bu held the role of Agent and could receive a cut from advertising income and signing bonuses, so naturally, he had to support the Spanish rookie for money.

Now that there’s no conflict of interest between them, Hua Bu can face Trulli very casually.

As for Chen Xiangbei, he also nodded slightly in response.

Given the coldness from the other side, and unfamiliarity with Trulli, there was no need to offer warmth to a cold face.

After the crew arrived, there was no time for rest. They went directly to the garage to begin unloading and testing equipment.

Over two hundred tons of equipment, just the cable length exceeded a hundred kilometers, the complexity of assembly cannot be compared to F3.

This is why the racing crew at each race can number in the hundreds.

Chen Xiangbei didn’t idle the afternoon away but went to the Mercedes garage to meet Ross Brown.

Hoping through his connections to persuade the new FIA president Jean Todt to expedite a special approval for his Super Driver’s License.

After listening to Chen Xiangbei’s request, Ross Brown readily agreed: "Bei, no problem, Mr. Todt really likes potentially young people, and more importantly, he is very decisive and courageous in making decisions."

In the history of F1, there are many renowned managers and leaders, such as Jean Todt, Briatore, Toto Wolff, Horner, Binotto, etc.

If choosing the historical level ones, then Jean Todt is definitely on the list!

This French manager gives the external impression of a gentle-looking old man.

But definitely do not be fooled by his appearance. Every successful team manager or leader has extremely strong iron fist control!

Similarly directing number one drivers to act as pawns for a win, Hua Bu at least staged a "collision" drama.

If it hadn’t been for insufficient hush money and betrayal, "Crashgate" would have passed silently long ago.

Binotto’s order for Barrichello to yield at the finish line in the "Brakemate", it simply spoke to boldness without bothering to stage anything, which would be an understatement to call it race manipulation.

Without iron-fist methods to issue such directives, it would be impossible to suppress any dissent within the Ferrari team or have their star drivers comply.

Why did Ferrari gradually become a joke after more than a decade, with a chaotic internal directive system unable to execute firm strategies?

It lies within the illustrious team’s decades-long fragmentation and lack of a strong leader like Jean Todt!

Likewise, showing initial signs of this is seen in the Red Bull Racing Team, where manager Horner and "emperor" Marco engage in various power struggles, coupled with the independent star driver Verstappen, many internal decisions cannot be unified.

The reason it hasn’t collapsed like Ferrari is purely relying on Verstappen’s personal ability to hold the scene.

If it had been any other driver from the paddock, Red Bull Racing Team wouldn’t achieve driver championship and without the performance "adhesive", internal strife would intensify until one side completely collapses.

"Thank you, Mr. Ross, really troubling you a lot."

Chen Xiangbei replied very gratefully.

Though he indirectly helped Ross Brown in the acquisition of Honda F1 Team.

But this "favor" has been repaid almost completely.

Now willing to step out to contact Jean Todt already belongs to pure friendly assistance.

"Bei, you don’t need to be so polite with me."

Ross Brown waved his hand, even if they didn’t have those previous ties, he would still help Chen Xiangbei.