Chapter 742: Chapter 300: World-Class Stress Resistance, Part 2
"Get out of the points zone, this attention-seeking clown!"
The sneers and jeers grew louder. Chen Xiangbei didn’t even hold Perez for a lap, which indeed seemed shocking.
Especially before the East Sea Station when Chen Xiangbei sliced Barrichello’s tire with his front wing, causing the latter to retire early. The two had some grudges in a way, and now if Barrichello attacks, he won’t hold back!
In fact, Barrichello indeed had thoughts of revenge. At the last station, he was forced to retire by a rookie who sliced his tire in a "scalpel" manner, which was quite an embarrassing thing for a veteran renowned in the paddock.
Even though Barrichello is getting old now, he still hasn’t given up his former glory.
After all, last season he was world champion, only narrowly losing to Jenson Button.
His setback this season, he attributed largely to the performance lag of the Williams car, rather than his own inability.
Barrichello hadn’t launched an attack in the first few laps, not because he wanted to preserve his tires or was being "soft-hearted," but because he saw Perez in a frenzy attacking Chen Xiangbei, clearly a good opportunity to benefit as a bystander.
If he rashly joined the attack, it might even cause the two HRT drivers to join forces against a common enemy.
But the situation didn’t develop as Barrichello anticipated. After strong defense for half a lap, Chen Xiangbei effortlessly let Perez pass, as if the fierce fight earlier didn’t exist.
Barrichello didn’t understand what HRT Team was playing at; he only knew Chen Xiangbei was now in front of his car.
How the Chinese kid overtook last station, he would pay it back this station!
A foot on the accelerator unleashing furious speed, Barrichello swiftly closed the gap with Chen Xiangbei.
In terms of racing performance unleashed, the HRT Racing Car, even if lowered by 15 horsepower, was still faster than the Williams car.
Just like a civilian car’s speedometer showing over two hundred kilometers, yet most people never hit maximum speed in their lifetime.
F1 cars aiming to fully unleash performance and reach top speed limits also have stringent requirements; a sufficiently long straight is required, otherwise acceleration and power response speed become more important.
The tuning of the Williams car’s power unit was far less than the Toyota Group’s final dance.
However, with Barrichello using soft red tires, coupled with Chen Xiangbei’s need to fiercely protect his tires, the two were essentially in an offensive-defensive mismatch.
Chen Xiangbei couldn’t manage both protecting tires and having speed to block cars; it was tough to balance the two.
"Williams driver Barrichello has now entered Driver Bei’s attack zone. This veteran’s moves are indeed filled with intent, clearly he’s set to respond to the humiliation of being overtaken and retired last station with his prowess."
"Bei couldn’t block his teammate Perez, can he hold off Barrichello?"
Commentator Red posed a rhetorical question, not optimistic about Chen Xiangbei’s predicament.
It’s obvious that this station’s 13th car no longer had the performance advantage, plus the neutral yellow tire was overly worn, the team’s pit strategy rhythm thrown off completely, and the opponent was a top veteran with immense experience.
Trying to fend off Barrichello was nearly hopeless.
"Within three laps, Barrichello will definitely overtake Chen Xiangbei."
Park Dongxu confidently provided his prediction, given Chen Xiangbei’s current situation, he wouldn’t last beyond three laps!
Faced with the aggressive Barrichello, Chen Xiangbei didn’t over-defend but instead tried to maintain his long-distance rhythm, conserving his tire wear as much as possible.
In truth, tire preservation works similarly to saving fuel in civilian cars; you try to avoid hard braking and acceleration, slow down early seeing a red light, and through such small-saving operations, you naturally reduce fuel consumption by one to two liters per hundred kilometers.
Tire preservation also involves avoiding abrupt acceleration and braking, minimizing sliding, skidding, and spinning as much as possible.
Frequent, rapid lane changes are, in a sense, a form of sliding. Chen Xiangbei wanted to avoid similar operations, needing to precisely guard the racing line’s middle, akin to ’line riding’ in street driving, leaving no space for Perez to overtake.
This method worked effectively in the street setup of Lingyan Circuit’s first half but it was challenging to block all overtaking routes in the wide, high-speed section of the latter half, testing Chen Xiangbei’s abilities to dynamically adjust based on the trailing car’s line.
On the other side, Barrichello didn’t choose the aggressive overtaking method typical of younger drivers, but rather shortened the distance with Chen Xiangbei to the extreme, almost as if the car’s nose was touching the tail.
He continuously made attacking moves applying pressure, challenging Chen Xiangbei’s pressure tolerance limits, until a pressured mistake appeared.
This technique is extremely effective against young drivers, and even many well-established mid-tier drivers in the paddock make pressured mistakes at key moments.
The most obvious example is Ferrari driver Leclerc; by absolute speed, he doesn’t lose to Verstappen.
Driving the performance-deficient Ferrari, he often manages to perform a star-circle operation, earning himself the nickname "Brother Extreme."
But in actual races, he struggles to convert pole position to victory and often falls behind, thus earning another nickname, "Le the Fourth."
Why does this happen?
Partly due to car performance, particularly over long distances, Ferrari is relatively weaker.
Additionally, Leclerc occasionally makes mistakes under intense pursuit pressure, known as pressured mistakes.
Veteran paddock-hand Barrichello naturally wouldn’t risk a one-for-one with Chen Xiangbei.
This season driving the Williams car hasn’t yielded many points. Currently in the points zone and anticipating easy overtaking of the two HRT drivers, Barrichello needs an impressive result to prove he’s still powerful.
If even staying in the Williams Team becomes untenable, only retirement remains.
The paddock is cruel like that, regardless of past fame or being history’s best second driver.
If you lack competitiveness, you’ll be mercilessly eliminated!
"Sir Williams, South Korea’s commentator predicts within three laps. How many laps do you think Bei can fend off Barrichello?"
Williams Team’s COO Pal inquired relaxedly, as if victory was assured.
"I don’t know."
Sir Williams replied expressionlessly.
[Don’t know?]
Hearing this answer, Pal froze.
Despite Sir Williams sitting in a wheelchair disabled, he’s incredibly assertive with iron will and renowned for his ruthless determination regarding driver and team matters.
Otherwise, how could a private team stand strong in the paddock for decades?
This answer seems to express "not knowing," but it’s actually about lacking confidence in Barrichello.
Though not part of the strategy team, as someone in the racing industry, how could Barrichello, with such evident advantages, fail to surpass Chen Xiangbei?
"BOSS, are you lacking confidence in Barrichello?"
He felt Sir Williams was being overly conservative.
"Have you noticed Bei’s driving line chaotic?"
Sir Williams didn’t answer directly but posed a counter-question.
[Chaotic?]
Pal examined the broadcast footage: Chen Xiangbei’s situation was dangerous, yet there wasn’t any frantic lane changing to block cars; he consistently held to his racing line’s middle.
"No."
"It’s been a lap; Bei’s line isn’t chaotic, meaning he’s still within his rhythm."
"South Korea’s commentator underestimated Driver Bei’s pressure resistance. This Chinese kid is definitely one of the most pressure-resistant drivers in F1 history!"
Sir Williams gave high praise, because he witnessed Chen Xiangbei’s first race in Europe and knew how he endured cold looks and ridicule entering the F1 paddock.
This driver, who withstood overwhelming disdain and paddock-wide hostility, couldn’t withstand three laps?
As if to prove Sir Williams’ point, soon the second and third laps passed, Chen Xiangbei still blocked Barrichello in front, the situation remained perilously tense, yet unwavering.
By this moment, Barrichello realized something was amiss; the Chinese kid still operated without any change, nor did he show any intention to break free from the chase.
Is he cooperating with me in a performance?
