Car Racing without Money-Chapter 506 - 198: Attacking and Defending Beyond All Expectations

No one in this era understands Rosberg better than Chen Xiangbei.

As the F1 World Champion driver of 2016, in his previous life, Chen Xiangbei watched many live broadcasts of Rosberg’s races, even studying Rosberg’s driving style and habits, hoping to learn some skills and experience.

Because back then, in most people’s perception, the seven-time champion Hamilton was a historically talented driver beyond reach, making it pointless to try learning and imitating him.

Just like Verstappen today.

However, Rosberg was at least within the realm that "mortals" could aspire to.

But as Chen Xiangbei delved deeper, he found Rosberg stronger than he imagined.

Although Rosberg only won one world championship, in fact, during his years as Hamilton’s teammate, their pole position counts were 29:35, losing merely six qualifying sessions!

Keep in mind, this was peak Hamilton, who had the nickname of "Lap King" in qualifying.

Even the future "Limit Brother" Leclerc might steer clear when facing peak Hamilton.

For comparison, Bottas, known for his qualifying speed, with the nickname of "top driver," faced Hamilton during his seven-time championship period, with a pole position count comparison of 22:6 in their first two years as teammates.

Such a gap, to call it a crushing defeat is not an exaggeration.

Briatore was not wrong to remind, he did pay attention to Rosberg’s driving style, knowing that the German driver inclined towards long-distance stability.

The Italian rogue didn’t realize that Rosberg’s single-lap speed was equally fast.

Perhaps the only shortcoming is wheel-to-wheel combat.

And this "shortcoming" comparison is still against peak seven-time champion Hamilton, not implying that just any driver could overpower Rosberg.

Briatore believed there are three laps for an overtaking opportunity.

Chen Xiangbei knew clearly he only had the first lap!

Once entering the cruising state of lining up in a queue, Rosberg’s long-distance speed and stability advantage would be fully displayed.

Either your car has a significantly stronger absolute speed, or you have significantly stronger individual skill.

Unfortunately, Chen Xiangbei has neither...

There’s no need to mention individual skill, and as for car speed, Honda and Mercedes’ base can’t be overcome by some exhaust diffuser black tech from the HRT Team.

This is why Chen Xiangbei had to pull away at the start!

Being a newcomer often means a disadvantage, signaling a lack of skill and experience.

Yet sometimes, it can become an advantage.

Chen Xiangbei dared to bet that Rosberg absolutely had no interest in pulling out his lower-tier formula car footage to watch, mostly just glancing at the team-provided driver profile to get a rough idea of the driving style.

In other words, Chen Xiangbei knows Rosberg very well.

Rosberg knows nothing about him!

Because of this, when Chen Xiangbei’s car #13 appeared beside him in his peripheral vision, Rosberg’s pupils instantly contracted. He never would’ve imagined Chen Xiangbei’s starting speed would be faster than his, daring to change lanes immediately to pull ahead and seize the racing line!

"Ladies and gentlemen, 24 cars have completed their start, with Vettel from the Red Bull Racing Team in the lead. You can clearly feel that their cars’ overall performance this year, whether in top speed or responsiveness, is stronger than last year."

"Ferrari Team’s Masa faced an attack from McLaren Team’s Hamilton right off the start. The British young driver displayed his usual aggression and speed, filled with desire for his second championship title!"

James quickly narrated the situation with the front-row cars, which is typically the focal point of an F1 Grand Prix.

However, at that moment, the broadcast director suddenly shifted the camera focus to the mid-group at the start.

Due to angle limitations, James could only see a dense cluster of cars and couldn’t immediately understand the broadcast director’s intention.

Yet as the flow of cars surged towards the T1 corner, guest Emil noticed something different on the track: the black-orange HRT Team’s car #13 was gradually accelerating past the silver Mercedes car #4.

"MY GOD, the Chinese rookie’s starting speed is astounding, having balanced with Rosberg and seized the best cornering line."

"Is it possible that Beiping is going for a complete start overtake?"

Emil understood the broadcast director’s intention but found it hard to believe his own eyes.

Nobody at this time knew Rosberg could become a world champion, but it doesn’t mean no one knew Rosberg’s potential!

Compared to those simply "relying on their dad" to enter the paddock, Rosberg as a rookie lost only three points to his world runner-up teammate Weber.

The next year, driving Williams’ poor car, he fought his way to seventh in the driver standings!

Simply looking at seventh place doesn’t mean much, but adding the fact that he shut out his teammate and used one of the bottom three cars in the paddock, it proves the gold content of this achievement.

Emil expected Chen Xiangbei to be overtaken by the fierce Kubica at the start.

But to his surprise, Kubica couldn’t overtake Chen Xiangbei, while the Chinese kid seemed set to overtake Rosberg at the start!

As Emil finished speaking, the surging flow of cars pushed towards the T1 corner, and thanks to the Bahrain Circuit’s super-wide track, no collision incidents occurred.