Car Racing without Money

Chapter 737 - 298: An Unexpected Internal Struggle

"Xiangbei has returned to the track, but his ranking fell dramatically, dropping from pole position to eighth place, with even his rookie teammate Perez appearing behind him.""Such significant drops in ranking can easily affect a driver’s mindset and race rhythm, and can even disrupt the team’s pre-race tactical strategy."

"Xiangbei has shown excellent mental resilience in previous races, but after all, this is just his rookie season, and no one knows what his pressure limit is. Can he quickly adjust his state?"

Red posed a soul-searching question, which is also the answer everyone in the paddock wants to know.

In F1 history, instances of significant mistakes at the start are innumerable, and the majority of drivers, after dropping positions, often fall into obscurity for that race, making it hard to make a comeback against the odds.

On one hand, the driver’s mindset collapses, transforming a championship fight into a struggle just to earn points, leading to a huge psychological gap and potential self-despair.

Moreover, the substantial change in rankings forces the team strategy to be completely overhauled, utterly disrupting the race rhythm with seemingly no chance of recovery.

Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu had a notable incident at the start of the 23 season in Hungary, where he dropped ten places from fifth position in qualifying, turning a promising points finish into sixteenth place, including several retirees.

That means, in essence, dropping directly from fifth place to the tail end!

Chen Xiangbei’s situation isn’t as severe, but the hope of returning to pole position from eighth place is equally slim.

Listening to Red’s commentary and analysis, the live crowd who had been thrilled by Chen Xiangbei’s successful recovery instantly became worried.

Indeed, returning to the track is just the beginning; Chen Xiangbei’s ranking and performance truly plummeted, and it’s yet unknown if his car has been damaged. Can the Chinese Kid create a miracle again?

During the double yellow flag phase of the race, all drivers slowed down while damaged cars tried to steer toward buffer zones and escape routes, facilitating race marshals in handling incidents.

As soon as Chen Xiangbei stabilized his car, he pressed the communication button on the steering wheel to ask the team.

"Mizutani Sho, is the car damaged?"

"Currently, data shows no obvious abnormalities, but the tire wear is severe. Following the original tire conservation plan would be very difficult, requiring a change in pre-race strategy."

The gravel buffer zone provided Chen Xiangbei’s car with good deceleration and protection, but compared to the smooth asphalt track, it’s clear that gravel and sand cause greater damage to the rubber.

Originally, Chen Xiangbei’s set of medium yellow tires needed to last for at least twenty laps before pitting once to change to hard white tires.

The extent of wear now makes driving beyond twenty laps challenging, and even if possible, the speed would drop dramatically, negating any advantage of saving pit-stop windows through one-stop strategy.

"No need to change, I can manage the tires."

In military strategy, the biggest mistake is changing generals before a battle, and the same applies to team tactics.

If pitting early was necessary, then why did Chen Xiangbei start with medium yellow tires, avoiding the hard assault from Hamilton at turn T1 that wouldn’t have occurred had he started with soft red tires!

"Xiangbei, let me stress again, conserving the tires will be very difficult, and the scenario at turn T1 might replay."

Mizutani Sho unusually emphasized his tone.

After nearly two years of working together, he became very familiar with Chen Xiangbei’s personality.

After significant drops in tire grip, other drivers would, like Hamilton, choose to aggressively overtake Chen Xiangbei at the corners.

Will Chen Xiangbei plan to fight back strongly again?

Having already dropped seven places upon returning to the track, another incident might mean not getting back on track again.

"I am strong, no problem."

[I am strong?]

The team strategy group on the outdoor command table couldn’t believe Chen Xiangbei’s response at this moment was "I am strong..."

They were previously worried whether this incident would affect Chen Xiangbei’s psychological state, but now it seemed to be purely "much ado about nothing."

The kid remains confident as ever!

"GOOD, then let me see just how strong you are!"

Briatore intercepted Mizutani Sho’s voice and directly expressed his approval to Chen Xiangbei.

He increasingly felt this Chinese Kid suited his taste, he is truly a born maverick!

Meanwhile, in the VIP box on the second floor of the pit, Will Smith said jokingly, "Jackie, it looks like Driver Bei isn’t as strong as you described, making a mistake at the first corner."

Cheng Long, a racing enthusiast himself, has repeatedly mentioned Chen Xiangbei’s driving skills to Will Smith during filming, believing that this young man would undoubtedly become a landmark figure in racing for both China and the world.

Moreover, during the South Korea promotional phase, he specifically went to Lingyan Circuit to watch races.

For F1 events, Will Smith isn’t very familiar, as United States racing was more into local Indy racing before Liberty Media Group took over for promotion.

This resembles formula racing similar to F1, with an average speed exceeding F1. However, the race is conducted on an oval track, with relatively lower technical and handling challenges than F1, and somewhat less entertaining.

But in motorsport, the Indy 500, WEC Le Mans 24 Hours, and F1’s Monaco Grand Prix are the three jewels on top of the motorsport crown, with anyone achieving these three honors unquestionably considered a peak figure in the racing world.