Car Racing without Money

Chapter 800 - 326: Demonstrating Breakthrough Progress (2)

But this time, the shouts welcoming Chen Xiangbei were not just cheers of support; there were also various voices of provocation. Rosberg had viciously shaded Chen Xiangbei on social media last night, shifting the main responsibility for the collision and subtly implying that Chen Xiangbei wouldn’t be able to hold him off this time.In fact, this was indeed the case. Many online experts analyzed the practice session footage and found that Rosberg’s speed was clearly above that of Chen Xiangbei.

If it weren’t for the fact that the Monaco Circuit is so difficult to overtake on, and Chen Xiangbei’s nearly dangerous aggressive defense, he wouldn’t have been able to hold off Rosberg, who was behind!

These statements immediately injected a strong dose of confidence into Rosberg’s supporters and the local Monaco fans.

It’s important to know that throughout the entire 10 seasons, Rosberg was basically suppressed under Chen Xiangbei, which dealt a severe blow to a driver’s pride and confidence, desperately needing a victory to break through this "inner demon."

In comparison to Rosberg’s "rising fame," Chen Xiangbei appeared much more low-key in the third practice session. He no longer insisted on pursuing better and faster results, but followed the team’s plan to conduct long-distance tests with heavy fuel loads.

Although the HRT Team’s two drivers shared data, the driving styles of Chen Xiangbei and Perez differed so much that they could even be described as two extremes. Many things are difficult to fully match without running them yourself.

Thus, in the third practice session, Chen Xiangbei didn’t achieve any remarkable results, while Rosberg deliberately pushed for another lap.

This lap speed was even more terrifying, reaching an astounding 1 minute 12.883 seconds, just a step away from Schumacher’s track record of 1 minute 12.791 seconds, with a breakthrough very likely during qualifying.

When this lap time appeared, the entire audience was boiling.

Even the commentator Henry was so happy he pounded the table and exclaimed, "NICE, Rosberg is too strong, he fully showcased his talent on the Monaco Circuit, and I believe this result is definitely not his ceiling."

"Is Schumacher’s five-year-old record about to be broken?"

"If possible, in the future, the title of heir to the King of Cars, I think, is not exclusively Vettel’s!"

The title of "King of Cars" Schumacher is a golden signboard in the paddock without any question.

With this signboard, Vettel received the favor of Marco and Horner from the Red Bull Racing Team, and for several years remained the absolute core of the team, even though Weber often temporarily surpassed in points accumulation.

But the resources and the team’s level of attention were never as much as Vettel’s.

Take the simplest example: historically, at the 2010 British Grand Prix, Vettel crashed his front wing in practice, and the team directly installed Weber’s new front wing onto Vettel’s car.

Bear in mind that at this point in time, Vettel had not yet become a world champion, and even the final few races in points were neck and neck with Weber. The title winner was still uncertain, yet such blatant resource tilt by the team occurred.

Although Rosberg has dual nationality, in essence, he is still a German; otherwise, Mercedes would not have chosen him to partner with Schumacher without hesitation.

As the saying goes, although Zhuge Liang was smart, he struggled against Hamilton.

For Rosberg, if years later, this "Zhuge Liang" refers to Hamilton.

Then right now, it’s Vettel.

The outstanding German contemporary, who occupies all the halo and glory.

"Brown, has North given up?"

In the Mercedes Team pit box, looking at the final results of the third practice session, test engineer Field asked a question.

He was the engineer left behind from Brawn GP who initially assisted Chen Xiangbei with his F1 test drives. You could say he is quite familiar with this Chinese Kid.

According to Field’s understanding, Chen Xiangbei is not someone who gives up easily, especially after the second practice crash. He will inevitably find ways to reclaim the situation, refusing to suffer any loss.

As a result, in the third practice session, the two seemed harmonious, and North didn’t even push a fast lap, which was somewhat out of character for him.

Either it’s patience, or it’s recognizing reality and giving up.

The question is, if it’s patience, can Chen Xiangbei really pull out some trump card and achieve a speed faster than the track record match for pole position?

Field believes it’s absolutely impossible. Improving by 0.1 seconds on the Monaco Circuit is as difficult as climbing to the sky and requires absolute proficiency brought by thousands of practices.

Not to mention a highly challenging circuit like Monaco, even a slight lack of proficiency on other ordinary tracks can be fatal, just like the McLaren rookie Piastri in the 25 championship battle.

When everyone thought he had a calmer mindset than Norris and was more of a champion contender.

As it turned out, he flopped on the American circuits, averaging 0.5 slower in qualifying than his teammate.

Being 0.5 slower than a teammate is a massive gap in F1, and the reason for this is that most European drivers have never raced on American circuits in lower-level events.

Everything has its pros and cons; when Europe became the center of racing, they stopped looking elsewhere.

But if a sports series wants to develop globally, it needs to involve more countries and even continents; otherwise, you might as well close the doors and race by yourselves.

This is why the number of F1 races is increasing, evolving from a dozen into over twenty, all to add tracks from other continents, with American circuits led by the United States playing a major role.