Car Racing without Money-Chapter 582 - 229: The Black Phantom on the Track

The same genius driving, the same adventurous challenge!

Of course, immersed in the Odetto Circuit for half a lifetime, he had seen all kinds of situations and was not so easily shocked to the point of losing composure.

Taking a deep breath to calm his mood, he spoke to Chen Xiangbei.

"North, the driver ahead is the Red Bull Racing Team’s No. 6 driver, Weber. You are 3.1 seconds behind him."

Since he had already overtaken Masa, the next opponent needed to be determined.

He was the local Australian driver, Mark Webber!

In his thirties, Webber was considered a veteran in the F1 Paddock.

Webber’s strength was that of a standard upper-tier driver. With a good car, he could run at the corresponding speed, not pulling the team back.

On the other hand, if you give him a bad car, don’t expect any surprising results.

The 10th season was potentially Webber’s last competitive season. On one hand, young Vettel had yet to establish his dominance, without all the driver resources fully tilted towards him.

On the other hand, Webber’s condition hadn’t significantly declined.

The condition of a driver is somewhat akin to that of an esports player.

They might have been beastly the previous year, tearing through opponents.

But then the next year, they’d drop like flies, plummeting to the brink of retirement.

Perez faced a similar scenario in later years. At the beginning of the season, he held the title of "King of the Streets" and vaguely showed the potential to compete with Verstappen for the championship.

By the season’s end, he was so lackluster that he couldn’t advance past Q2 in qualifying, proving to be a third-rate driver unfit for the Paddock.

However, even at his strongest, Webber could only be considered a first-class driver, not a top-tier one.

As it stood on the track, Webber relied on Red Bull Racing’s performance to take third, with the competitors ahead of him being Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, and Schumacher, four historic WDC drivers with a combined twenty world championship titles.

How was he supposed to compete with that?

No matter how hard he fought to block, and even with the added challenge of a rain battle, Webber still couldn’t fend off Alonso and Schumacher’s combined attack, dropping to fifth place.

As long as Chen Xiangbei overtakes him, he can match the performance from the opening race.

Going one step further would enter the realm of "War of the Gods."

"Received." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

With a terse response, Chen Xiangbei accelerated toward the front.

Raindrops fell on his visor, creating streams of water that slid away, yet they didn’t obstruct Chen Xiangbei at all.

On the contrary, he felt at ease at the moment.

No car performance gap to worry about, no concerns about brake overheating or tire preservation.

Pure and fair driving control, truly an adrenaline rush!

"North’s speed is very fast. Although the fastest lap was taken by Schumacher, he’s still a notch faster than Webber."

"One lap, he’ll be within striking distance in just one lap!"

"MY GDO, that’s a three-second gap!"

Commentator Red felt dazed; before the race, no one probably anticipated Chen Xiangbei’s prowess in rain battles, able to achieve such an astonishing speed.

Next to him, Prost heard this and murmured in amazement: "To be honest, North’s chase this lap reminds me of Senna in the rain."

"Indeed, Senna in the rain, nearly 4 seconds faster per lap."

Commentator Red echoed his thoughts.

If you experienced the crazy era of unfaltering speed, you’d forever hold reverence and admiration for Senna’s rain battles.

One wonders if such a legendary driver will appear again in the future.

On the track, Red Bull Racing’s Webber was unaware of the commentators’ reflections, nor could he know about the tussle between Chen Xiangbei and Masa.

His attention had previously been entirely on fighting with the frontline drivers.

When the corner of his eye caught through the rearview mirror that black and orange HRT Racing Car, it felt like a black ghost had suddenly appeared.

How did Chen Xiangbei, qualifying from the ninth position, manage to chase to his tail before halfway through the race?

"Did the team, did North successfully undercut utilizing the rain conditions?"

Webber asked through the radio, knowing drivers like Trulli, Rosberg, and Masa aren’t rookies, and it’s quite a feat to overtake one on the relatively difficult Albert Park Circuit.

Overtaking three of them, the only possible explanation is leveraging the rain for a tactical overtake.

Otherwise, how else could he have appeared behind me?

Faced with Webber’s inquiry, Horner and Webber’s race engineer Pilbeam exchanged glances.

Then they pressed the intercom button to respond: "No undercut; North advanced to sixth through consecutive overtakes."

"Masa couldn’t block?"

Webber’s tone was filled with surprise; he knew Masa’s strength very well, there’s no way he couldn’t block a rookie.

"No, watch your defense."

"North was nearly three seconds faster than you in the last lap."

Horner didn’t say much irrelevant information, simply informing Webber of Chen Xiangbei’s speed in the previous lap.

Three seconds faster indicates exceptional rain battle capability, and Webber should understand what defensive stance to adopt.

[Three seconds?]

Hearing this number, Webber took a sharp breath.

Pursued by Schumacher, such a gap and speed would also be expected.

Without even waiting for Webber to react from the shock, Chen Xiangbei had already caught his slipstream, the distance between the two cars shortened again.

Even the audience unfamiliar with racing knew that Chen Xiangbei was poised for an attack.

As the home race driver, Webber naturally received enthusiastic support from the stands.

"Come on, Webber, ditch the Chinaman fast!"

"This is Australia’s turf; no one knows the Albert Park Circuit better than you. Don’t give driver North any chance!"

"Show your strength, Webber, give the newbie from China a good lesson!"

"Webber, take out driver North!"

Home advantage remains evident, with tens of thousands of spectators standing up excitedly, waving Australian flags all over the circuit.

Even without hearing the voices, seeing this sea of blue presented an intangible backup force.

[Challenging me?]

[Newbie from China, you’re not worthy yet!]

Webber quietly chanted this to himself. In contrast to Masa’s somewhat "soft" personality, earning him the nickname "BABY," this Australian driver was much more assertive.

With one press of the pedal, the Red Bull Racing accelerated, showcasing its powerful acceleration ability, instantly leaving Chen Xiangbei, who was ready for an attack, trailing behind.

A rain battle indeed levels the absolute performance gap of cars but cannot completely eradicate relative performance differences.

At least in terms of engine torque and power, Renault was superior to Toyota.

At that moment, Chen Xiangbei felt the so-called "Mars Rover" dimensional blow, as long as Webber was willing to speed up, the TF110, even if its pedal was pressed into the engine, could only barely keep biting on the opponent’s tail!

The subsequent scene was even more astounding to Chen Xiangbei. In the corners, the grip advantage presented by the Red Bull Racing was overwhelming.

The problem was both teams equipped similar technical direction exhaust diffusers. Even with Chen Xiangbei’s newly upgraded aero kit reducing downforce, the gap shouldn’t be so obvious.

Was it a car issue, or was it his technique that could only beat someone like Masa, a "landlubber"?

If it were the former, Chen Xiangbei could accept that.

If it’s the latter, how monstrous must Alonso and Schumacher be to overtake Webber?

"Mazzola, can you monitor Red Bull Racing’s data?"

Chen Xiangbei asked via the team radio, feeling the opponent was absurdly fast.

"Red Bull Racing changed to a new chassis in this race, with slightly reduced lower control arm height of the rear suspension. I suspect it enhances Weber’s diffuser’s F-channel exhaust efficiency, increasing cornering downforce."

"Before it rained, such high-efficiency and high-heat air would lead to Red Bull Racing’s brakes and tires overheating, so they couldn’t fully increase their speed, leading to being continuously overtaken."

"The rain essentially provides additional cooling assistance, allowing the new chassis to exhibit its full capabilities."

Red Bull Racing has always been HRT’s research focus, and Mazzola was very familiar with the car’s characteristic changes.

Often with upgrade kits, things aren’t perfectly seamless—it’s more pros and cons.

The rain battle enabled the Red Bull new chassis to perform fully, making it more challenging for Chen Xiangbei to overtake Webber than to overtake Masa.

He was faced not only with driving skills but also car performance!