Car Racing without Money

Chapter 741 - 300: World-Class Stress Resilience

Trulli’s crash taught Chen Xiangbei a lesson.That is, although teammates are the biggest rivals, if you only view them from a rival’s perspective, it will ultimately lead to a lose-lose situation.

In the future, Verstappen and Perez also encountered friction and infighting as teammates, where Pan Zi felt that his "king’s might" was challenged and offended, displaying strong aggression and selfishness.

Yet, when Perez briefly left the field, Verstappen went through several young teammates, and instead, his evaluations of his former teammate became increasingly positive in media interviews, even supporting the Cadillac Team’s signing of Perez.

The reason was simple: Perez could truly help Verstappen win the championship.

A compliant and submissive rookie teammate wouldn’t even be able to carry out the most basic tow tactics in qualifying, let alone block opponents in the main race. What use is such a rookie teammate?

Teammates need to find a balance between being strong and obedient. A strong teammate poses a threat, while a weak one offers no help.

Chen Xiangbei doesn’t want to follow Verstappen’s old path, so it’s necessary to grasp the measure of intra-team competition; there’s no need to engage in actions that harm others without benefiting oneself.

For instance, if Chen Xiangbei strives to block Perez now, aside from causing excessive tire wear for both and greatly increasing the risk of both cars retiring from the race, there’s no benefit at all.

It might even allow drivers further back to take advantage, causing both of their positions to continually drop.

In that case, why engage in oppressive and hostile acts against a teammate for meaningless ranking positions?

Chen Xiangbei once competed openly with Trulli, without any secrets or team politics, thus earning the respect of this veteran racer.

Now, Chen Xiangbei allows Perez to pass with the same openness, and can even admire and praise the latter’s ability to imitate and learn.

As the old saying goes, truly strong people are confident, and that confidence makes them gentle, needing no theatrical displays to prove their existence.

Even letting Perez pass, Chen Xiangbei is still confident he can catch up!

Meanwhile, within Perez’s heart, it was a mix of feelings.

Truthfully, after interacting with Chen Xiangbei over two races, Perez already realized that this Chinese driver is quite different from the image portrayed in media interviews; not as arrogant as perceived, but rather amicable and with boundaries.

Especially during the Korea Station, Perez witnessed Chen Xiangbei’s effort and generosity; whether it was sharing car setup data or simulator training experiences, he was willing to share without a second thought, offering Perez considerable help.

But even so, Perez questioned himself, if their positions were swapped, could he possess Chen Xiangbei’s composure?

As the team’s number one driver, it would be entirely reasonable for Chen Xiangbei to enjoy all team resources and command the number two driver to block and support him, preventing such competitive scenes between teammates.

Let alone proactively allowing the number two driver to pass and even offering a friendly thumbs up!

In the past, Perez couldn’t comprehend why Trulli, known for his fiery temper, would sacrifice himself to help Chen Xiangbei with a crash, instead of it being Briatore’s command as speculated by outsiders.

At this moment, he somewhat understood that Chen Xiangbei indeed has a certain true driver’s charisma.

The kind that makes people admit defeat wholeheartedly!

"Briatore, in the end, Bei is not the same type of person as you."

Chen Xiangbei’s act of letting Perez pass and offering a thumbs up was also caught by the broadcast camera and seen by Odetto.

Frankly speaking, Odetto’s philosophy wavered for a while, contemplating whether Briatore’s approach of encouraging internal strife and treating the number two driver as a pure tool was indeed the correct team management method.

But now, Odetto understood that Chen Xiangbei chose a different path from Briatore.

He desires teammates’ trust, not submission.

With just a tiny difference in wording, the approach is entirely different!

Perhaps the way of submission could achieve results more simply and brutishly, but it strays further and further from driver spirit and sportsmanship.

Drivers who challenge themselves and the limits on track certainly see something more important than life and profit; the pitlane is not only about life and death but also unity and cooperation.

Upon hearing Odetto’s words, Briatore, who had been smug earlier, appeared somewhat subdued.

He always believed that Odetto’s rigidity and stubbornness would eventually get him eliminated from the pitlane.

He also believed that drivers like Raikkonen were merely fleeting, while refined egoism was the eternal mainstream in the pitlane.

Although Chen Xiangbei initially displayed a strong desire for victory and fighting spirit, he eventually allowed Perez to pass.

The previously hyped twin stars were nothing but cite-marketing, and at this moment, Briatore felt a certain quality in Chen Xiangbei akin to Raikkonen, that ultimate driver spirit.

The race in the pitlane continued, and besides the HRT team members paying attention, most of the audience didn’t notice Chen Xiangbei’s action.

They thought Chen Xiangbei chickened out!

"Without the turbo cheating, Driver Bei can’t even defend against a same-team substitute now?"

"See, this is the true level of the Chinese guy."

"From pole position, he’s already dropped to ninth, and Barrichello from the Williams Team is behind him; I don’t know what can possibly hold him back."