Car Racing without Money

Chapter 807 - 329: Legendary Star Circle (Part 2)

But now the difference in qualifying lap times has come down to thousandths of a second. Even a draft that can increase speed by 0.01 seconds is enough to determine the final outcome.Following that, Ferrari and the Mercedes Team both started flying laps, and the two HRT Team cars were still waiting for the right timing. Perez was already seated in the cockpit, but Chen Xiangbei remained standing in front of the computer screen watching the onboard footage.

"Team leader, should we hurry Xiangbei up?"

Mizutani Sho’s tone was a bit anxious. The third qualifying session is the shortest, with only 12 minutes in total.

If you consider the warm-up and cool-down laps, you can at most do two flying laps, and you need to go out from the start.

Chen Xiangbei still watching his onboard footage means he will lose the margin for error in two laps. The Monaco Circuit itself is very unforgiving, almost as if there’s no plan for a second chance.

"No need, he’ll watch the time."

Odetto shook his head, his tone seeming very calm.

If a driver doesn’t even have the basic concept of time management for qualifying, that really would be a joke.

During their conversation, Trulli came next to Chen Xiangbei and said, "The corner line you studied last night, you drove it perfectly on the last lap. Now, looking at the onboard footage, there’s almost no room for improvement."

"It’s better to adjust your state, maybe the effect will be better."

What Trulli wanted to express was clear. When a driver’s control reaches an extreme, nitpicking has little meaning.

State and performance are more decisive factors.

Just like it’s often said in F1, top-level drivers are no longer competing in driving skills, but more in psychological quality and state performance.

"I’m not looking at last night’s corner line."

"Then what are you looking at?"

Trulli looked a bit surprised. Chen Xiangbei wasn’t aiming for perfection?

"A new line."

"A new line?"

"Yes."

"Q3 has already started. How can you have a new line?"

"You’ll see in a moment."

After saying this, Chen Xiangbei turned and took his helmet, sat in the cockpit, leaving Trulli in disarray.

Could the Chinese Kid be planning some "innovation"?

Monaco is not a new circuit. With decades of race history, perhaps some details in corners have seen adjustments, but the overall layout remains largely unchanged.

It means every line of the circuit, every braking point, has been tried by drivers. There’s no room for innovation.

Even if there were, it’s impossible to come up with it in just over ten minutes between races.

Even if it could be thought of, Chen Xiangbei only has a single lap chance in Q3, with no opportunity to verify it!

To take the chance at deciding the world championship and run a completely unverified new line, Trulli didn’t know whether to call Chen Xiangbei bold or ignorant.

Chen Xiangbei didn’t know Trulli’s thoughts, but from the change in his expression, he could roughly guess.

He’s neither bold nor ignorant.

The reason Chen Xiangbei didn’t choose to go out first was partly because he needed time to watch the onboard footage and simulate the new line in his mind.

On the other hand, he needed to see the speed of his opponents before deciding whether to implement it.

In any competitive sport, the value of a champion far exceeds that of a runner-up.

It’s not too much to call a runner-up the greatest failure!

If he can’t take the Monaco championship, then no matter what position he finishes, it means nothing to Chen Xiangbei, because it’s not just a matter of being the greatest failure. He would also completely lose the qualification to contend for the world championship.

If his opponent’s lap time stays above the range of 1:12.7, then Chen Xiangbei won’t take the risk.

But if the opponent breaks this limit, Chen Xiangbei, in the usual situation, cannot achieve a faster lap. He must go all out and take the risk.

At this moment, Chen Xiangbei withdrew his gaze from Trulli, looked up at the wall-mounted broadcast screen, and the top lap time was 1:12.698.

The breakthrough pace was faster than Chen Xiangbei expected.

Without much hesitation, as the starting light turned green, Chen Xiangbei slammed on the accelerator and drove out of the P-room, rushing onto the main circuit of Monaco.

The two commentators in the booth didn’t notice the last car of the HRT Team going out. They were still engrossed in the shock of the track records being repeatedly broken.

"1:12.691! The fastest lap time, which hasn’t even been maintained for twenty seconds, was broken by Weber from the Red Bull Racing Team. The record once considered unbeatable by Schumacher has now been surpassed by a full 0.1 seconds!"

Red was still marveling at Weber’s speed when the local guest Henry yelled, directly interrupting his commentary.

"1:12.784! Friends in the audience, you didn’t hear wrong. From the Mercedes Team, Rosberg once again surpassed his fastest lap, reaching the top position!"

"Driving a mid-field car, yet repeatedly creating miracles of the fastest laps, Rosberg proved the value of the new generation driver. His gap with Hamilton is just a fast car!"

Henry felt his eyes were a bit moist. Even though Rosberg wasn’t a pure local Monaco driver, he still brought him shock and emotion.

It’s known that the performance standard of Mercedes cars is upper-middle tier, with the fastest time only ranking fourth in the paddock.