Chapter 744: Chapter 301: Rookie Status Is Not a Measure of Strength (2)

"This storm-like attack and airtight defense are extremely challenging for the skills of both drivers, making it easy to make mistakes or have incidents during the tussle. Is the paddock going to see yellow or red flags again?"

Red narrated the situation on the track. Chen Xiangbei and Barrichello were dancing on the tip of the blade with their control.

Should anyone make a mistake, or if they become any more aggressive, the two cars will collide.

Chen Xiangbei caused a yellow flag in the paddock during the starting phase, and if it happens again, he might not be so lucky to return to the track.

"Chen Xiangbei is provoking the veteran Barrichello, and he will pay for his arrogance."

Park Dongxu defined Chen Xiangbei’s behavior.

This "drawing dragon" defense on the track—isn’t it the standard rogue defense?

Barrichello is a well-known veteran in the paddock who, alongside Schumacher, helped establish the Ferrari Yue Ma Dynasty.

Playing this way with him—aren’t you brandishing a sword in front of Guan Gong?

If Barrichello gets a bit harsher, he could directly crash this Chinese fellow off the track!

"This Chinese guy drives so dirty, if he can’t defend, is he just going to ’draw dragons’?"

"Does Driver Bei have some protection under the FIA, having repeatedly made borderline illegal moves on the track?"

"Barrichello should hit the gas and crash the Chinese guy off the track to show him what rules are."

"Yes, he should use the HRT Team’s crashing methods against HRT’s driver!"

The live audience was furious at Chen Xiangbei’s ’borderline’ defense. Although regulations around secondary lane changes, braking area changes, etc., haven’t been detailed yet in this era, the serpentine moving and ’drawing dragons’ are obviously not reasonable defensive maneuvers.

Frankly, Chen Xiangbei knows his defense is a bit excessive.

However, it’s not malicious skirting the edge, nor is it defensive pressure; he’s using this method to consume Barrichello’s tires!

The direct way to preserve tires is to reduce all meaningless maneuvers, keeping the tires in a ’smooth’ state.

Frequent lane changes will drastically accelerate tire wear.

The soft red tires have already passed their peak grip; under the same accelerated wear, the neutral yellow tires show their durability advantage, and Barrichello will certainly have to pit for a tire change sooner than Chen Xiangbei.

One lap! As long as Barrichello can’t overtake Chen Xiangbei in one lap under this wear, he will forever lose the chance to overtake in this South Korean Grand Prix.

Chen Xiangbei understands this, and Barrichello knows this too.

In the second half of this lap, his offensive is getting more fierce; the two cars have even started having factual collision contacts!

"Is Chen Xiangbei this tough in the F1 paddock?"

In the HRT Team’s pit room, Cheng Jian, the chief engineer from Huali, watched Chen Xiangbei’s performance on the track with an indescribable shock.

Huali’s technical accumulation in formula racing is still limited to Renault and the F4 Level, akin to a little brother not worthy of carrying F1’s shoes.

This leads to the concept in Huali’s chief engineer’s mind that Chinese drivers are at a fledgling stage.

Yet now seeing Chen Xiangbei face off head-to-head with the star-level Barrichello, Cheng Jian is greatly shocked!

"Of course, Brother Bei is not some soft persimmon."

Listening to Cheng Jian’s murmuring, Ah Yong replied proudly.

Not to mention Chen Xiangbei’s driving skills, at least in the F1 paddock, he has never lost face for the identity of a Chinese driver.

Never mind Barrichello, even when facing Schumacher, Chen Xiangbei dares to bare his sword.

"Bei, faster!"

At this moment, Odetto’s voice came through the headphones.

"Faster?"

Facing such instruction, the strategy group members on the outdoor command stand, including Chen Xiangbei himself, were a bit surprised.

Chen Xiangbei’s defense is already at its limit. Going faster would mean every turn is a gamble, similar to the starting phase.

T1 corner has a wide buffer zone, which doesn’t mean every corner on the Lingyan Circuit does, if Chen Xiangbei loses control, it means a premature end to the race.

But this time, after a brief shock, no one in the strategy group, not even the conservative-leaning Sawano Hiroyuki, chose to oppose.

Because they had already seen the broadcast camera close-up and understood Odetto’s intent.

That is, Barrichello’s car showed slight shaking during the turn!

Shaking means the car’s grip has reached a critical point, and Barrichello’s ability to still launch an offensive at Chen Xiangbei stems more from inertia and the psychological edge of being a well-known veteran.

Just like many ordinary people in a race, when they’re about to surpass the opponent ahead, even if their lungs are about to explode, they still grit their teeth to sprint a bit.

Chen Xiangbei’s acceleration is to sever Barrichello’s hope!

Once the gap between them expands, Barrichello’s pursuing momentum will instantly dissipate entirely, ending this fierce tussle.

Although neutral yellow tires are more durable, don’t forget that Chen Xiangbei is using a one-stop strategy, having traveled less than half the distance; ultimately dragging it out until Barrichello pits for a tire change is a lose-lose result.

Given this, Chen Xiangbei needs to kill the duel ahead of time!

"Copy that."

The headphones blared Chen Xiangbei’s firm voice. He also saw the slight shaking of Barrichello’s car through the rearview mirror, understanding that the chance to crush his pursuit confidence was right in front of him.

The HRT’s Toyota engine roared; perhaps its stability isn’t high, nor its absolute performance strong, yet it belongs to the paddock’s top tier, not disappointing the whole Toyota racing department’s last dance before exiting.

The T11 corner of Lingyan Circuit, with its layout similar to Spa Circuit’s high-speed corners, presents a huge challenge for the car’s downforce and the driver’s courage, needing precise entry point and line to achieve full throttle through the corner.

This state requires complete faith in one’s driving skill and the car’s downforce to zip through like ground flying.

At this moment, Chen Xiangbei’s car’s speedometer needle had already hit an astonishing 7th gear at 320 km/h, showing no sign of slowing down before the entry point; he plunged right into the heart of the turn.

The immense acceleration G-force not only brought lateral tilt force to the car but also exerted triple body weight G-force on Chen Xiangbei, especially with the added weight of the helmet and head, pulling the neck like dozens of kilograms of sandbags!

This showcases the effect of prolonged high-intensity physical training. Chen Xiangbei grasped the steering wheel tightly, executing even the tiniest maneuvers perfectly despite such exaggerated G-force.

Watching Chen Xiangbei’s sudden pulling away to throttle through the corner, Barrichello in the back seemed unable to believe his eyes.

Chen Xiangbei already ran off the track once; does he dare to risk it like this?

Additionally, his soft red tires have passed the grip peak, and the Chinese kid’s neutral yellow tires had been worn on gravel roads; surely, they’re not much better—another dramatic gamble?

No one can give Barrichello the answer at this moment. When exiting T11 corner, Chen Xiangbei completely shook him off from the slipstream zone, heralding the end of this duel.

"MY GOD, I can hardly believe the data from the race center. Audiences might not believe this, the best speed just recorded by the sensor showed Bei’s maximum cornering speed in the turn center reached 327 km/h!"

"This is so far the fastest corner speed for T11 and nearly 20 km/h faster than the second-place Vettel!"

"Many might not understand what this implies, let me tell you: Driver Bei’s cornering speed isn’t normal driving but another challenge to his limit, likely unbeatable by other drivers."

"Bei uses this one corner speed to prove his courage and racing spirit, with mental fortitude far exceeding external perception; pressuring him till collapse is impossible."

"Being a rookie is merely a demarcation of experience, not a definition of strength."

"Now we can prematurely declare Driver Bei victorious over Barrichello!"