Car Racing without Money

Chapter 834 - 342: Fear Means Defeat (Part 2)

From his perspective, judging Perez by rookie standards, the Mexican’s overall performance is without question qualified, even excellent.It’s just that Perez gets very little attention inside the paddock.

There are two reasons for this, and the first is that his driving style is destined not to be very box-office.

The focus of attention in the paddock is usually on outright speed, while long-run consistency is relatively less valued.

It’s like Leclerc from the later Ferrari Team era—his "Brother Extreme" nickname is world-famous, many people put him in the same tier as Verstappen, and say the difference between them is just a good car.

But what a lot of people don’t know is that over the first five years of their careers, Leclerc’s record was actually worse than Masa’s...

In many people’s eyes, Masa is the textbook number-two driver, a non-swimmer; even though he once held the world championship for half a minute, that was more of a fluke that pushed him forward, and the team hadn’t built its early title strategy around him as the core.

Leclerc is different: the genius kid with three straight titles on the formula ladder, the absolute future core of the Ferrari Team, basking in countless halos, the driver tasked with restoring Ferrari’s glory.

Judging purely from results, their identities and treatment should be reversed, so why is Leclerc the one in the spotlight?

The answer is outright speed.

Of course, part of this is down to car differences—it does carry a whiff of Guan Gong fighting Qin Qiong.

But it’s generally acknowledged that Ferrari’s car is, most of the time, not as good as Red Bull and Mercedes, which means that if everyone is extracting the same percentage of performance, Leclerc’s "proper" finishing spot most of the time should be around fifth.

In fact, his race results are roughly in line with the car’s theoretical performance, hence the nickname "Le the Fourth."

But in qualifying, Leclerc can arm-wrestle with the likes of Verstappen and Hamilton, and has often snatched pole positions out of their hands.

The single-lap times that come from outright speed are destined to shine brighter than long-run pace!

The second reason is that Perez is completely buried under Chen Xiangbei’s light.

There’s an old saying in China that perfectly describes Perez’s situation: "Since Yu was born, why was Liang born too."

If Chen Xiangbei didn’t exist, Perez could fully compete for Rookie of the Year; his performance is in no way inferior to fellow rookies like Hockenheim and Petrov this season.

But Chen Xiangbei’s performance has far, far exceeded rookie standards.

The spotlight of the entire HRT Team, and even the whole paddock, is all focused on the Chinese rookie; how could there be any leftover attention to spare for Perez?

Now Perez has finally made it to the front; whether this is a mandatory blocking order from the team or the fate of a number-two driver, at least he has a chance to go head-to-head with the strongest driver in the paddock, Alonso.

Red is very much looking forward to seeing what kind of answer sheet this Mexican rookie, hidden beneath Chen Xiangbei’s radiance, can hand in!

"Come on Perez, you are the pride of Mexico!"

"Perez, prove your strength, America needs a flag-bearing driver!"

"Go Perez, go HRT!"

The American fans at the scene are thrilled by this; you have to know that compared to Europe and Asia, where drivers are more often divided by nationality, American audiences have a stronger sense of continental identity.

As long as a driver from Central or South America appears, he is often regarded as the shared pride of the whole of America, regardless of nationality.

Especially now that little Senna has been performing so poorly and clearly cannot inherit his uncle Senna’s Car God mantle, America needs a promising driver to secure a foothold in the paddock and maintain a presence!

It’s just that these cheering spectators, who think Perez has now stepped under the paddock spotlight, haven’t actually realized his real situation.

This battle with Alonso is not really an honor for Perez; it’s more of a compromise.

He is indeed doing this for the HRT Team, not for himself.

Perez’s most famous defensive scene is undoubtedly the final round of the ’21 season in Abu Dhabi, where he defended against Hamilton of the Mercedes Team, helping his teammate Verstappen win his first world title,

and thus writing a Chapter titled "A Short Introduction to Defending Hamilton."

But in truth, Perez’s wheel-to-wheel offense and defense is not top-tier when placed among the elite drivers of the paddock.

Although he contributed that crucial defense against Hamilton, over the course of his whole career his wheel-to-wheel combat can only be described as average; he wins more often by relying on long-run advantages.

Especially because Perez is prone to mental blowups in prolonged dogfights, making low-level mistakes and committing infringements that earn penalties from the stewards, which then lead to time penalties and a drop in finishing position.

To put it simply, Perez is a steady type of driver; he just can’t handle long, intense battles!

Alonso doesn’t have a God’s-eye view, so of course he doesn’t know Perez’s traits, but that doesn’t matter.

For him, the task now is to use a storm-like offensive to quickly crush this rookie, seize the lead, and then rapidly open a gap to the cars behind.

As for what strength or style Perez has, it’s meaningless—he’s not a real opponent anyway!

While Perez is backing up Alonso, Chen Xiangbei is charging hard from behind, clocking in almost every lap at around 1:13.4 and firmly holding onto the title of fastest lap in the race.

Lap thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight...

The laps keep ticking forward, and Alonso’s face is getting darker and darker.

He originally thought Perez was just some random backmarker, a number-two rookie for a new team, who at most belonged in the midfield pack.

Yet after three laps, he’s been completely blocked!

And Alonso is surprised to discover that Perez’s defensive style and racing lines faintly carry the shadow of Chen Xiangbei.

It even makes him feel, for a moment, that this is exactly like when he was attacking Driver Bei earlier!

This kind of situation can’t be a coincidence; it’s obvious the two have discussed racing lines, which is why their line habits are so similar.

Bear in mind that under normal circumstances, competition between two young drivers on the same team is extremely fierce; they don’t just refuse to share their driving experience and lines, they’re not even willing to share setup data.

Chen Xiangbei is really this generous?

Or is he just this confident?

Actually willing to teach or coach Perez on how to drive the circuit?

Alonso is, frankly, a bit stunned—this runs completely counter to his career experience and the notions of competition he’s absorbed.

From the moment Alonso entered the F1 Paddock, he was almost constantly surrounded by intra-team competition and paddock politics; there was never anything like "team friendship," let alone selfless instruction.

This only changed when Alonso entered the later stages of his career; maybe his mindset mellowed and he saw things more openly, and he instead began frequently guiding rookies in the paddock on how to drive, and telling them about each circuit’s characteristics and the points they needed to watch out for.

If Perez really has absorbed Chen Xiangbei’s essence, then the situation might not be as optimistic as it looks.

In fact, Alonso isn’t the only one facing worsening conditions; Kubica, right behind him, looks even more grim.

The reason is simple: in his mirrors, Kubica has already spotted that black-and-orange HRT Racing Car coming up like a ghost!

Judging by eye, the gap between them can’t be more than two seconds, which means Chen Xiangbei has taken at least three seconds out of him over three laps.

On a track like Monaco, just over one minute per lap, clawing back a full second in a single lap can only be described as terrifying!

Originally, Kubica’s plan was to sit behind Alonso and play fisherman, but he never imagined that his own being attacked might come sooner and quicker than Perez’s defensive collapse.

At the same time, the faces of the people in the Renault Team garage are also growing increasingly ugly.

What really worries them isn’t entirely Chen Xiangbei’s chase pace, but more the aura this Chinese Kid is showing as he storms his way up the field.

"Momentum" is something you can’t see or touch, yet it can very tangibly affect a driver’s competitive state.

Vettel of the Red Bull Racing Team got lapped not only because of the damage to his car, but also because his momentum was completely crushed by Chen Xiangbei; his head was full of how to defend with all his might, and the rhythm was entirely in Chen Xiangbei’s hands.

Now Kubica is in the same boat; the broadcast clearly shows his lines drifting toward the middle of the track, already preparing for defense in advance.

The problem is, for god’s sake, there’s still about a two-second gap between the cars—Kubica, are you really that scared?