Car Racing without Money-Chapter 583 - 229: The Legendary Drift Turn

"The RB6 from Red Bull Racing Team is currently the fastest car in the paddock, and combined with Weber’s experience and strength surpassing Trulli, it’s very difficult for Xiangbei to overtake."

Prost observed the situation on the track and shook his head as he explained.

Just after a few rounds of tentative offensive and defensive battles, Prost could see the performance of the Red Bull Racing and the seasoned skills of Weber.

This Australian driver is currently at the peak of his career, hardly giving Chen Xiangbei any chance to capitalize on a mistake.

In terms of sheer speed and line-taking ability, Chen Xiangbei has no chance of winning.

In fact, it’s exactly so. Weber, although he hasn’t won a world championship, has been a regular contender for the title in the seasons from ’10 to ’12, even keeping the championship in suspense till the final showdown.

And after leaving the Red Bull Racing Team, Weber even won the WEC world championship, proving that he maintains a consistently high level of competitive state.

Chen Xiangbei, who’s in his rising phase as a rookie, is not afraid of drivers who are unpredictable and inconsistent.

But he does fear those veteran drivers who excel over long distances with stability!

The air-tight defense makes it very challenging to find a breakthrough point.

The situation on the track is just as Prost predicted, with Chen Xiangbei and Weber playing a cat-and-mouse game. Every time Chen bites the tail of Weber’s car trying to find an overtaking opportunity, the distance widens again.

Repeating this operation over and over!

Two laps, three laps, four laps...

Chen Xiangbei trailed behind Weber for eight laps, enduring until midway through the race, yet he still couldn’t manage an overtaking maneuver.

In fact, this is commonly the case on circuits where overtaking is challenging, usually leading to a "train" of cars during the mid-race phase, competing on who’s better at tire management, ultimately to see if they can wear down the opponent.

The furious overtaking spectacle in the first half by Chen Xiangbei is instead rather uncommon.

"Senior Sawano, Weber is stronger than expected, Xiangbei-kun can’t overtake."

Watching the following footage on the monitor, Mizutani Sho expressed his concern.

Without the historical omniscient view, in most people’s cognition in this world, Masa is considered much stronger than Weber. Masa was, after all, in ’08 a de facto half-minute world champion driver.

Weber, in the earlier years of his career, had only a best rank of tenth in the annual standings.

It was during the ’09 season, relying on Red Bull Racing Team’s rise, that he achieved fourth place in the driver’s annual ranking.

Given Weber’s age, there’s generally not much potential left to tap into, and his strength remains as such. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Unexpectedly, Chen Xiangbei decisively overtook Masa but couldn’t get past Weber!

Could this be the legendary "home advantage"?

"One could only say that Weber’s competitive form from last year has continued till now."

Sawano Hiroyuki, after all, is a double champion of Japanese Formula Racing. He knows that a driver’s performance often relies on competitive form and momentum!

Masa displayed some lack of speed right in the opening race of the new season, clearly overshadowed by teammate Alonso.

But Alonso is too strong, making his victory seem natural, to the point that no one noticed there was something off about Masa.

Weber, on the other hand, is entirely different, with his ranking consistently on an upward trend over these years, and he even reprised a podium finish in the rain battle at the Nürburgring in ’07, starting from seventh, demonstrating he does not falter in wet conditions.

Adding in the familiarity with the home track and a "luck" factor, it becomes evident that Weber is more difficult to deal with than Masa.

"If this drags on, Xiangbei-kun’s hope of getting on the podium becomes slim."

"Getting on the podium isn’t easy; some drivers race their whole lives without reaching it. In the F1 paddock, there’s no absolute rookie. Xiangbei-kun’s career is just beginning, and he should have a long-term perspective."

Sawano Hiroyuki was quite calm, despite the pre-race bold talk, the competition itself requires a realistic approach.

For someone like Chen Xiangbei, who has only participated in two Grand Prix races, not making it to the podium is perfectly normal.

Merely getting into the points zone is already a victory!

Moreover, even if he surpasses Weber, the drivers ahead are Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Schumacher — three world champions and one world runner-up. Who could be weaker than Weber?

Amidst the conversation between the two, Chen Xiangbei’s voice came through the headphones.

"Odetto, how are my tire conditions?"

"Currently in peak condition, but within five laps, they’ll start to deteriorate."

"What do you plan to do?"

Odetto asked back, knowing Chen Xiangbei’s intent and wanting to clarify the specific execution of the "plan."

"Turn T15 hairpin, I plan to use the V-shaped maneuver to overtake."

[V-shaped overtaking?]

Hearing Chen Xiangbei’s response, the strategy team members outdoors at the command post glanced at each other in astonishment.

Indeed there is a V-shaped line in F1 racing but never heard of anyone using it in a rain battle.

The reason is simple; the V-shaped line requires a gamble on entry speed, then using extreme braking to instantly bring the car’s speed to an extremely low standard to complete a turn-like overtaking.

Otherwise, the car would just shoot off the track.

In rainy conditions, with drastically reduced grip, how can Chen Xiangbei execute a "heavy braking stop" while entering the corner?

"Xiangbei, even if it’s gambling, at least there needs to be a fifty-fifty chance for it to be worth betting on."

"Nobody goes all-in on a gamble destined to lose."

Undoubtedly, this so-called V-shaped maneuver overtaking by Chen Xiangbei is an almost assured losing gamble.

Chen Xiangbei seems a bit naive in his thinking.

"I have a fifty-fifty chance."

Chen Xiangbei didn’t know how to explain, so he could only give a simple probability.