Car Racing without Money-Chapter 577 - 226: Mental Resilience Determines Your Ceiling (Part 2)

Chapter 577: Chapter 226: Mental Resilience Determines Your Ceiling (Part 2)

The audience in China at the track did not know Chen Xiangbei’s situation; they were celebrating his chase of Masa.

"NICE, Chen Xiangbei has caught up to sixth-place Masa. With this pace and frequency of overtaking, getting on the podium isn’t impossible!"

"The lap time is more than a second faster than Masa’s. Chen Xiangbei is truly incredible; his opponent is driving a Ferrari, the world runner-up!"

"Driver Bei has proven himself to be a prodigious talent, no less than Raikkonen!"

Voices of exclamation were continuous, and even many professional racing personnel standing in the pit lane gave significant acknowledgment to Chen Xiangbei when they witnessed this scene.

Compared to regular spectators, they knew better the difficulty of Chen Xiangbei’s pursuit and the courage needed to decide on a challenge.

The Chinese rookie is filled with speed and passion; this is the spirit of a driver!

Chen Xiangbei stayed right behind Masa, looking for an opportunity to attack, but the opponent’s defensive experience was too rich, constantly disrupting the rear airflow, giving Chen Xiangbei no chance to pull out and shoot past during a slipstream.

The kinetic release in this era is not as direct as the later DRS, making it very difficult to rely solely on car performance for overtaking on long straights.

Thus, for Chen Xiangbei, only the corners remained as potential overtaking areas.

But the problem was that the tire grip did not support Chen Xiangbei taking extreme racing lines; all the conventional overtaking lines were sealed off by Masa, leaving no visible hope!

A lap passed, and several tentative attacks by Chen Xiangbei still left him blocked behind the car.

"Bei, the sensors show that the tire life has dropped below the warning line; you need to consider pitting."

The acceleration and heavy braking from the several tentative attacks consumed what little tire life was left, and Sawano Hiroyuki gave Chen Xiangbei an early warning.

If he couldn’t pass in the previous lap, Chen Xiangbei could decisively abandon the sunk cost, but now that Masa was just ahead, he really couldn’t give up the attack to pit for tires.

"Senior Sawano, there’s one more lap according to the plan. I can hold on."

"You can hold on, but the tires can’t."

"Bei, follow the team orders."

Odetto’s voice came through accordingly; this set of tires couldn’t withstand continuous attacks for two laps.

"I’ll try one last time!"

Chen Xiangbei gritted his teeth and gave this answer, his gaze locked on the T10 corner ahead on the track.

This corner was not a conventional overtaking point on the Albert Park Circuit but an extremely ordinary C-shaped turn, requiring both mechanical downforce and aerodynamic downforce to cooperate through it.

At the moment, the mechanical downforce of Chen Xiangbei’s car could not hold the ground, and the aerodynamic downforce from the new upgrade package was also insufficient to maintain his overtaking speed. Choosing to try one last time seemed more like a desperate struggle!

Listening to Chen Xiangbei’s answer, Odetto shook his head and released the headset button.

He didn’t agree with Chen Xiangbei’s idea, but as an F1 rookie, there were many things he needed to experience himself.

Even if it meant failure!

In some sense, this was the state of a positive and healthy team, not refusing any challenges or attempts by rookies and criticizing them to the "killing line" after a single failure, which was more likely to destroy a young driver’s career.

Briatore was often criticized because he didn’t treat rookie drivers as people, never considering their psychological state, purely using them as "profit generators"!

In the T10 corner braking zone, Chen Xiangbei braked later than Masa, relying on the speed advantage to change lanes and pull out. At the moment of entry, he caught up with the Ferrari in front, with both cars entering the corner side by side.

[Is he overtaking?]

With the broadcast screen appearing on the big screen, this thought popped into the minds of almost everyone at the Albert Park Circuit.

Only Masa’s lips showed a touch of disdain.

Given the current state of Chen Xiangbei’s tires, if he managed to overtake him at this speed, it would be a miracle beyond the laws of physics!

Years of racing experience allowed Masa to maintain a calm mind; he firmly held the racing line through the corner without any panic, slightly increasing speed within the corner to preemptively capture the APEX point (the midpoint).

What gives this Chinese rookie the right to challenge me when he can’t even capture the midpoint?

At this moment, Chen Xiangbei had a firm grip on the steering wheel; he could already feel the car sliding sideways and "trembling."

Yet seeing the Ferrari beside him, victory was almost within reach, and he didn’t want his prior efforts to go to waste!

But racing cars adhere to materialism and don’t change based on determination.

With Masa successfully cornering to capture the midpoint, it meant that Chen Xiangbei’s racing line through the corner was wide.

The HRT Racing Car, which couldn’t grip the ground, when faced with strong lateral G-forces, could not maintain steering even with its oversteering characteristics, and Chen Xiangbei directly "drifted" towards the run-off area.

"Something happened!"

When this scene appeared on the screen, all the HRT Team members instinctively clenched their fists.

F1 racing is a high-risk sport, and with a loss of control at over 200km/h, no one could guarantee that Chen Xiangbei would be safe.

Whether out of long-term team spirit or because Chen Xiangbei represented the future and hope of the HRT Team, the team members could not accept him facing any mishap.

Constantly teetering on the edge of losing control, there always comes a time when it slips out of control!

Feeling the loss of control of the car and the fishtailing at the rear, Chen Xiangbei quickly counter-steered in an attempt to save the car.

He could accept a simple slide or heading for the run-off area since the car would still have a chance to get back on track that way. If it spun (rotated), even without stalling and being able to rejoin the race, at least ten to twenty seconds would be wasted.

In the current track conditions, it would mean that Chen Xiangbei’s efforts in overtaking were all in vain, dropping him to a much lower position.

Ultimately, he had overestimated the tire grip and underestimated Masa’s skill!

Rapid braking, throttle blipping, and counter-steering for correction...

Within just a fraction of a second, Chen Xiangbei executed these maneuvers to save the car.

From an outside perspective, what could be seen was the HRT Racing Car’s rear making a series of back-and-forth swings but miraculously recovered grip at a critical point; Chen Xiangbei did not completely lose control and went off-track!

"GOOD!"

"Driver Bei executed the maneuvers very accurately, successfully saving a car that was already out of control."

"The psychological stability and solid driving fundamentals displayed by this Chinese rookie in the face of a crisis possibly far exceed everyone’s perception!"

Prost, who was usually composed, appeared a bit flustered after witnessing Chen Xiangbei’s car-saving scene.

This kind of extreme control of saving the car is something that not even a seasoned driver in the mid-to-upper groups might calmly handle with perfect measures.

For a driver with top-notch racing skills, it guarantees the lower limit in the F1 paddock.

A driver with top-notch psychological capabilities, now that’s a driver who determines the ceiling of their career!

"Oh crap..."

"FUCK..."

There weren’t too many words exchanged in the paddock, with more venting through pure expletives.

Even Odetto and the strategy team members couldn’t help but use swear words to vent their tension and stress.

But Chen Xiangbei, watching Masa pulling away again, was filled with an overwhelming sense of unwillingness.

Just a little more, just a little bit more.

If only the tire grip were better, Driver Bei could have overtaken and snatched the midpoint, making Masa the one who couldn’t execute a perfect line.

It’s just a pity that there are no ’ifs’ in this world, and in the end, he couldn’t surpass Masa!

Just when Chen Xiangbei was filled with mixed emotions, a tiny crystal dot appeared on his helmet’s visor.

This tiny dot was not obvious, more like a bead of sweat flicked from the inside.

But soon, the small dots began to increase, and the droplets grew larger. This couldn’t just be sweat flicked onto the visor.

Is it raining?

After a moment’s distraction, these three words flashed through Chen Xiangbei’s mind.

Before he could press the communication button on the steering wheel to inquire, Odetto’s voice came through the headset.

"Bei, rain clouds have reached above the track; pit immediately to change tires!"

When Odetto issued this command, there was a hint of joy in his tone.

Every cloud has a silver lining, especially volatile in the F1 Paddock.

By persisting in his attacks for a few laps without success, Chen Xiangbei inadvertently waited until the rain arrived, thereby indirectly saving a pit stop!

Otherwise, in the current track conditions, it would mean that Chen Xiangbei’s previous overtaking efforts were in vain and he would drop to a much lower position.

He missed the opportunity to pit, but he unexpectedly waited for the rain, effectively saving him a pit stop!

However, the joy that Chen Xiangbei and Odetto felt was not quite the same.

Chen Xiangbei finally awaited the long-desired rain battle as well as another chance to surpass Masa once again.

This time, Chen Xiangbei won’t give Masa any chance.

This time, he plans to win this duel!