Car Racing without Money-Chapter 520 - 203: You Must Be Harsher to Your Opponent (Part 2)
According to the plan, Chen Xiangbei still needs to run about ten more laps on this set of tires and then make a final pit stop to switch to new red tires for a full push.
But the problem is Rosberg’s gamble tactics succeeded, putting him directly ahead of Chen Xiangbei, and with a two-stop strategy, he doesn’t need to pit again for tires. There’s effectively a pit-stop time difference between the two, which is about 22 seconds.
If Chen Xiangbei wants to regain the lead, he must average a lap time faster than Rosberg by 1 second over the remaining 22 laps!
These numbers may seem exaggerated, but it’s not actually impossible.
In the F1 Paddock, on light fuel with brand new soft red tires, many drivers can run laps two or three seconds faster than with old tires!
Take for example the 2019 season Austrian Grand Prix, held at the famed Red Bull Ring.
At that time, it was still the invincible phase of the Mercedes Dynasty, with Hamilton and Bolt winning all of the first eight races, while other teams could only look up from below the podium.
But with the Red Bull Racing Team’s home track, Verstappen decided to fight against fate!
After discussing with the Red Bull strategy group, he risked using hard white tires in qualifying, saving a set of medium tires.
Just with this set of brand new medium tires, Verstappen defeated pole-sitter Bottas and ended the dominant Mercedes Team’s streak, winning the title at Red Bull Ring.
Normally, even if Rosberg’s undercut is successful, as long as Chen Xiangbei can manage quick overtaking, there is still a high chance of securing the final victory.
But now Schumacher is behind, and the situation is completely different.
Chen Xiangbei has to face the challenge of beating two!
"What tires did Rosberg change to after the pit?"
Chen Xiangbei didn’t immediately answer but asked first.
"Hard white tires."
"I’m not pitting."
"North, are you sure you can quickly overtake Rosberg with those old medium yellow tires?"
Odetto wanted Chen Xiangbei to pit because he worried Chen Xiangbei wouldn’t be able to overtake, getting caught between two Mercedes cars.
The white tire rises in temperature slowly and has poor grip at the initial stage, while the new red tire possesses a crushing advantage. In contrast, the medium yellow tire that has gone through seven or eight laps of defense doesn’t have such a clear speed advantage anymore.
As long as he can overtake, he can find ways to catch up with the lost time.
If he can’t overtake, then the race holds no suspense.
"I can!"
Chen Xiangbei gave a firm answer.
He only has one last set of new red tires left, and replacing them might not be enough to finish the final 22 laps.
This implies there is a chance he might need to pit once more for tires, turning a three-stop strategy into four.
With four stops, he is bound to lose undoubtedly!
Given this, Chen Xiangbei chooses to leave his fate to his driving skills rather than gamble on tire life.
Before defending against Schumacher, Chen Xiangbei might still hesitate, unsure of overtaking Rosberg.
But after these seven or eight laps of offense and defense, Chen Xiangbei confirms one thing: the TF110 indeed performs better than Mercedes, at least in cornering speed.
With white tires heating slowly and running slowly, Chen Xiangbei must seize the opportunity within the window period where they haven’t reached optimal temperature.
"OK."
Without further persuasion, Odetto let go of the call button.
Rosberg, equipped with hard white tires, exited the pit lane and as calculated, blocked directly ahead of Chen Xiangbei.
Only the Lotus car hadn’t yet been lifted off the track and remained in a yellow flag stage where overtaking was not allowed.
At this moment, the broadcast camera focused on Bruno Senna squatting outside the rail, with the whole audience filled with regret and "anger".
Even commentator James couldn’t help but speak in an emotional tone: "Bruno actually had pretty good qualifying and race results, leading his teammate Kovalainen comprehensively, and if he holds his position, he could score on his debut."
"It’s just a pity that the demands from the world for him go far beyond scoring on his debut."
Listening to James’s words, this time Emil chimed in: "Indeed, Bruno basically drove the Lotus car to its speed limit, and he performed very well."
Having a deity-level relative is a fortunate thing.
But there’s a premise: never engage in the same career as him; otherwise, you’ll likely live under that halo all your life!
This not only applies to Bruno Senna, but to other second-generation racers in the paddock, and even future Mick Schumacher. This sentence suits them all.
Bruno inherited his uncle’s will, bringing the Senna surname back to the F1 Paddock.
But he couldn’t match the speed of the legendary racer.
As a fellow rookie driver, Chen Xiangbei’s ranking and performance essentially overshadowed Bruno.
Even Russian rookie Petrov surpassed him in absolute speed.
From a historical God’s perspective, Chen Xiangbei knows how far behind the Lotus car is, and any lead by HRT or Renault cars makes perfect sense.
But the world and the team don’t care about these!
They only know he is Senna’s nephew and should deliver exceptional results like his uncle. Furthermore, Lotus Team signed this mature rookie to squeeze Bruno’s commercial value.
Lack of results severely decreases commercial value!
The dual pressures of family honor and performance reality drove Bruno Senna to make risky moves.
Just like Mick Schumacher crashing everywhere in the F1 Paddock, but when transferred to WEC Endurance Races he showed stable and far better performances than ever before.
Indeed, there’s a difference in the cars, yet mental attitude also has a huge influence.
Without pressure, he drives even better.
