Chapter 838: Chapter 344: King of Eastern Monaco (Part 2)
Another dragon slayer, brandishing his sword towards the "evil dragon" within the arena!
"If Driver Bei can’t defend, then he equally can’t break through."
"Without third-party interference, the Chinese rookie at a tire disadvantage will be relentlessly suppressed by Alonso, only to watch helplessly as the checkered flag waves, experiencing what true despair feels like!"
Commentator Henry’s tone also became firm, as Alonso is currently the highest mountain in the arena; how could he be easily surpassed by Chen Xiangbei?
Moreover, Driver Bei’s "drift" overtaking earlier, though not the tail swing drift seen in rally races, involves any tire locking in F1 crazily consuming tire life!
Originally, Chen Xiangbei’s hard white tires and Alonso’s medium yellow tires were on the same level; now after this overtaking maneuver, his tire life will soon exceed the grip peak value, presenting a cliff-like decline.
Additionally, it’s even more important to note that defending on the Monaco Circuit is inherently simpler than attacking.
If you can’t defend, what makes you think you can break through?
If Chen Xiangbei could hear Henry’s commentary at this moment, he might truly feel a slight sense of agreement inside.
Around 2010, although Alonso couldn’t secure another world championship, without a doubt his form and strength during this period were completely on par with his championship years of ’05 and ’06. It was simply his "genius in team selection" luck that stopped him from final coronation.
Sometimes fate is just like this, with the hard rules of car seven, person three in place, even if you can force a single lap to be 0.5 seconds faster than the theoretical performance limit of the car, facing others who can be 1 second faster with a Mars Rover, you’re still powerless to compete.
During this period, whether it was the Renault Team Alonso stayed with or the Ferrari Team he transferred to, both went downhill and never reached their former peaks again for the next decade or two, unable to ever claim the championship.
It’s like when Hamilton transferred to Ferrari in the 25th season, thinking the Mercedes Team was his low point, but not anticipating Ferrari being an even bigger pit.
At least Mercedes was just slow, while Ferrari had all sorts of antics.
As a later internet saying goes, Hamilton’s eyes have lost their light.
The HRT Racing Car compared to the current day Ferrari car, their performance is almost equal; perhaps the HRT Racing Car has a slight advantage but is far from achieving an astonishing single lap gap of 0.5 to 1 second.
With evenly matched cars, to win, one must have superior driving skills.
Undoubtedly, Chen Xiangbei wouldn’t dare to say he’s better than Alonso now.
Since this is the case, Henry’s words indeed make sense, and the live audience responded accordingly.
"Go Alonso, no one can defeat you!"
"You’re the strongest driver on the track; you’re the real dominator of the F1 circuit!"
"The Chinese Kid wanting to challenge now is still a bit too naive."
"Let Driver Bei follow behind your car with admiration and let him witness what true Car God-level strength is."
As the race reached its final moments, there were only two groups of fans on the track, supporting Chen Xiangbei.
Aside from that, all the voices were in favor of Alonso.
Chen Xiangbei may have reversed a lot of previous hostility during his rookie season, attracting many fans from around the world.
But his identity as an Asian driver and his image as the track’s public enemy meant his rapport was ultimately a bit poor.
Facing the same rookie driver, Chen Xiangbei’s cheer of support could be completely noninferior to the opponent’s, but when encountering a true star-level driver like Alonso, the huge number of neutral fans would all turn to support Alonso.
Not to mention Alonso has the influence of the Ferrari Team behind him.
No matter how Ferrari performs or how bad its results are, it will forever be any driver’s childhood dream, the final destination to become a world champion.
This is the charm of Ferrari in the Formula World, the white moonlight in one’s memory!
The race continued lap after lap, while the situation on the track changed.
When the race reached lap fifty-three, Red Bull Second Team driver Alguersuari hit the wall at T2, and the safety car was deployed.
After only one lap, Barrichello smashed into the guardrail at T3 and famously threw away his steering wheel onto the track, causing Virgin Team driver di Grassi to nearly lose control and hit the wall also.
Barrichello’s actions led to an investigation by the stewards and would likely face severe penalties.
On lap sixty-two, Lotus Team’s Senna retired due to engine failure.
On lap sixty-five, Sauber Team’s de la Rosa retired due to suspension failure.
In this Monaco Grand Prix, one-third of the twenty-four drivers on the track experienced various failures and accident factors, with the overall completion rate barely around seventy percent.
Amidst the myriad changes on the track, the only constant was Chen Xiangbei being relentlessly stuck behind Alonso, as if no amount of full-throttle attack made any difference.
"Senior Sawano, there are only the final ten laps left in the race, hopes for Mr. Xiang Bei to overtake are becoming increasingly slim."
Mizutani Sho said solemnly, having seen Chen Xiangbei’s tire data, it had already exceeded the grip peak. Now even finishing smoothly would be difficult, and a strong attempt at overtaking risks a high chance of tire blowout.
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