Chapter 840: Chapter 345: Victory Belongs to HRT
"What’s going on, did Buemi hit the brakes and give up the position?"
"Buemi was a backmarker being lapped in the first place. What’s wrong with him slowing down to let them through? The problem is: why was Alonso so slow through that corner!"
"Alonso just took the corner normally. It was clearly Indian Force’s Buemi suddenly dropping back that created the gap for Chen Xiangbei to pull out and change line."
"Did the Indian Force Team get some kind of cross-team order, or do they have some private relationship with Chen Xiangbei?"
"Indian Force is a Mercedes camp team. How could they possibly carry out an order from HRT Team, who are going to the Ferrari camp next year? Besides, that team has a deep grudge with Bei. Of all people, they’d never help him!"
The grandstand erupted in an uproar. A lot of casual fans simply couldn’t understand why Indian Force’s Buemi suddenly backed off and gave Chen Xiangbei room to change line and overtake.
If he’d just yielded in a normal way, Alonso would definitely have had enough time after getting past to react, move to the middle of the track and block. Chen Xiangbei would have been stuck behind breathing exhaust again!
Plenty of conspiracy theorists couldn’t help suspecting it might be related to some cross-team order. After all, that kind of thing is hardly rare in the F1 Paddock, and with Briatore’s rock-bottom credit for integrity, he’s absolutely the type who’d pull something like this.
But anyone with a bit of rationality could see that ever since Sutil, Indian Force and HRT Team’s Trulli have had a "blood feud", and once Chen Xiangbei entered the paddock, there was even a hint of national rivalry between the two sides.
On top of that, Indian Force runs Mercedes engines, and HRT will join the Ferrari camp next year. They are truly outright opponents within the paddock.
While the grandstands were buzzing with discussion, Red’s voice came through on the FM commentary channel.
"Lap seventy. Chen Xiangbei, the Chinese driver from HRT Team, uses the cover of a lapped backmarker at Turn 11 to overtake the currently strongest driver on track, Alonso, and retake the position at the head of the field that belongs to him."
"At this moment I honestly don’t know what to say. In sixty years of F1 history, he’s the first Eastern driver to come this close to the crown of the King of Monaco, and the first rookie to take Monaco pole, set the fastest lap, and potentially go on to win the round in his debut season."
"If it all comes true, Driver Bei’s victory will be off the charts in terms of weight. He will become a legend of the Monaco Circuit!"
Red’s commentary cut through the noise of the track. In competitive sport, as long as there’s no foul, the only thing that matters is the result, not the process.
No matter how many reasons Alonso’s fans or Chen Xiangbei’s haters come up with, they can’t change the reality on track right now: Chen Xiangbei is in first place.
He just has to hold on for seven more laps, and the Monaco Circuit will bow before Chen Xiangbei!
"Driver Bei really is incredible."
In the VIP box, Raikkonen watched the overtake and a strange light flashed in his eyes.
Average fans can’t see the design flaws of the Ferrari car or the way Alonso’s cornering speed has dropped. To a historically great talent like him, though, it’s practically laid bare.
But having a flaw doesn’t automatically mean you can exploit it.
It’s like how everyone later knew that Red Bull Racing had gone down the wrong development path and the car suffered from severe oversteer and a twitchy rear end—does that mean you could go out and beat Verstappen?
Even when McLaren built a car that was practically a "Mars Rover", they could at best suppress Red Bull, but they still couldn’t suppress some of Verstappen’s godlike drives at certain tracks.
That’s what it looks like when individual ability "patches the sky".
The Ferrari Alonso is driving is the same story. The only chance Chen Xiangbei had was when overtaking the lapped backmarker and the car in front got its line change blocked, meaning it couldn’t move onto the defensive line.
At the same time he needed a perfectly "cooperative" move from Indian Force’s Sutil, seizing that literally needle-threading moment to pull off an overtake that looks unbelievable from the outside.
There’s no luck factor in that, it’s pure hard personal ability.
Raikkonen now understood why Briatore would come out of retirement and bet everything on this young Chinese driver. Maybe he really can produce the next superstar of the sport.
"The title of King of Monaco is being passed into the hands of a Chinese rookie. This reminds me of when Alonso once beat Schumacher. Could this be the start of a new era?"
Mr. Soper sighed. That’s competitive sport—each generation brings forth new talent, and the new always replaces the old.
"Alonso’s era already ended a long time ago."
Raikkonen replied faintly.
He’s just a man of few words who comes off cold; it doesn’t mean he lacks pride.
The age of Alonso’s three titles in a row was brought to an end by Raikkonen himself. Of course he has the right to say that!
But what Raikkonen meant wasn’t to point to himself; he was talking about someone else. In his eyes, the mid-generation drivers like Hamilton and Vettel have already, in reality, taken the baton. It’s just that public perception lags behind, so people still think the paddock belongs to Alonso’s era.
Just like plenty of people still believe that King of Cars Schumacher will continue to rule the paddock.
"Will the next era belong to Bei?"
Mr. Soper shot back a question.
"That depends on whether he can win Monaco and even the world title, and on whether he can beat me tonight at Monte Carlo."
Raikkonen answered calmly but firmly.
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