Car Racing without Money-Chapter 461 - 183: Focus of the New F1 Season (Part 2)
If Bob Bell had any doubts about Chen Xiangbei before,
now he is convinced that Driver Bei will be the dark horse of the new season!
Listening to the answer from the design director, Hua Bu looked at the clock on the wall. Only the last two hours remained before the end of winter testing.
"Odetto, how’s the car’s condition?"
Hua Bu turned back and asked.
"Best condition."
Without much fuss, Odetto directly gave a positive answer.
It can only be said that iron-fisted management is indeed effective. In recent days, under Hua Bu’s threat and Odetto’s strict management, the team of technicians, primarily from the original Super Aguri, has greatly improved in team cooperation and efficiency.
They are more rigorous and serious!
No one wants to be kicked out of the team, especially when they see hope.
The value brought by being a member of a championship team far exceeds anything from Super Aguri, Campos, or Toyota.
Just like personnel coming out of the Ferrari team naturally get more attention.
"Bei, go up and push for a lap."
"This time, I aim to enter the top three in winter testing lap times."
After enduring for seven full days, this time Briatore wants to see the full strength of the TF110 car.
"No need for this; it will prematurely expose our strength."
Bob Bell hesitantly advised.
Winter testing is not about the fastest lap time but the overall stability of the car. Many teams deliberately hide their strength to avoid attention and imitation or targeting by rivals.
Unless it’s something like the "Mars Rover" that can’t be hidden, such as the Red Bull RB6.
Vettel probably also wants to be low-key, but the strength and the car don’t allow it.
"Absolutely necessary, Bei needs this exposure!"
The team members always inadvertently overlook a reality: up to now, Chen Xiangbei has still not obtained the Super Driver’s License.
Ross Brown once said that Chen Xiangbei needs to showcase his speed during winter testing so that Jean Todt can more easily persuade the FIA committee.
Of course, Hua Bu also has unspoken thoughts: he needs this exposure as well.
Not for anything else, but to slap the faces of FIA officials who once kicked him when he was down, and the reporters who mocked him.
So what if he exited Renault? He can still lead HRT to "return as king"!
"Understood."
Chen Xiangbei nodded, understanding Hua Bu’s intent.
Accompanied by the roar of the engine driven by the starting motor, the TF110 car once again drove out of the pit.
This time, no one paid attention to Chen Xiangbei’s exit from the pits. His once "stunning" results have now faded into obscurity among the crowd.
All teams have realized that with improvements in engine performance, optimization of air kits, maturity of the KERS energy recovery system, and removal of redundant safety equipment in the refueling system.
This year’s car represents a qualitative change compared to last year!
The so-called pole position lap times become utterly irrelevant.
The once brilliant lap time of 1 minute 18 seconds 993 has now fallen to fifteenth place.
Compared to other team members’ indifference, Trulli, who once ignored Chen Xiangbei, is now very serious about monitoring the data of this new team member’s car.
After eight days of winter testing, Chen Xiangbei’s speed, strength, professionalism, diligence, and other aspects have changed Trulli’s notion of "disdain."
At the same time, Trulli also struggles to admit that facing Chen Xiangbei, he feels the pressure reminiscent of facing Alonso!
Visibly exploding talent, filled with passion for racing and a hunger for victory.
Moreover, Chen Xiangbei has an advantage beyond Alonso: his diligence and effort in the paddock are unparalleled, almost giving up any personal leisure and relaxation. Every day after testing, returning to the hotel does not diminish his training intensity—not quite a human racing machine.
In many other sports, effort can determine the lower limit, but talent determines the upper limit.
F1 is different; it requires both!
The reason is simple: drivers crossing the F1 paddock threshold are the most talented globally.
If you don’t work hard, you will be surpassed by others.
Talents like Kimi Raikkonen, without enough self-discipline and high-intensity training, will quickly fall from the peak.
The opposite example is Hamilton. Luckily, he got the "godfather" Ron Dennis’s nurturing, able to subdue his free-spirited personality as a Black man and maintain the F1 driver’s training intensity.
If both talent and effort combine, if this doesn’t yield results, then the world has no fairness.
The reality unfolded just as Trulli anticipated: seven days of car calibration and tuning, plus Chen Xiangbei has over two thousand kilometers of testing experience on the Catalonia Circuit. He has memorized every corner’s line and the TF110’s extremity margins.
On the track, drivers are experiencing a black-orange car speeding past them like lightning.
Especially with those extremely precise and smooth corner-cutting lines, it brings a unique speed aesthetic.
"S1 sector timing goes green!"
"S2 sector timing goes purple!"
Inside the HRT Team’s control room, Sawano Hiroyuki kept reporting Chen Xiangbei’s lap times.
Especially when the second sector timing went purple, his voice showed a slight tremble.
You must know although last year’s championship team was Brawn GP, the Red Bull Racing Team also made a championship-contending car, mid-season fiercely contesting for points.
If it weren’t for the few early races in the season giving Brawn GP team too much of an advantage, the progress of other teams copying the double diffuser was a bit slow. Otherwise, Vettel from the Red Bull Racing Team might have been crowned the youngest F1 World Champion a year sooner!
