Chapter 718: Chapter 288: Still Not Enough? (2)

Judging from the result, Chen Xiangbei seized the last soft-tire window before the rain, which let him get into Q3 safely, and with the help of slipstream he even dragged fellow rookie Perez in with him.

At least the weather was standing on Chen Xiangbei’s side.

Faced with Red’s teasing, Park Dongxu’s expression was extremely ugly.

He had thought Chen Xiangbei wouldn’t even be able to finish his flying lap, maybe they’d even see him end up in the wall.

But this Chinese Kid forcibly held it together, many times going through corners just a hair’s breadth away from losing control.

At this moment even Park Dongxu didn’t know whether to say Chen Xiangbei relied on pure ability, or if he really had heaven watching over him.

"Qualifying isn’t over yet, Q3 won’t give him this kind of window."

Park answered stiffly. Now that it had come to the showdown, he’d stopped maintaining any so‑called neutral stance as a host and openly revealed his cards, standing on the opposing side.

In the face of that response, Red only smiled.

He’d seen too much prejudice in his career, including his own.

A few words could never change other people’s views; no matter what Chen Xiangbei did in Q3, just making it into Q3 had already proved himself in a certain sense.

Don’t forget his rookie status just because Chen Xiangbei took a race win.

He’d only run three more races than Perez, that’s all!

A rookie, on a completely unfamiliar circuit, gets into Q3—what, that’s still not enough?

Or is it that, in the subconscious of the outside world, the standard for Chen Xiangbei is already set at a top‑tier level, and it’s taken for granted that he belongs in the front group of the paddock?

The spectators in the grandstands listened to the two commentators’ discussion and felt even more stifled inside.

You had to know, South Korea’s motorsport culture wasn’t much better than China’s, maybe even worse. The vast majority of people here were pure onlookers, fundamentally lacking any real understanding of F1.

Contempt and prejudice made them firmly believe that Chen Xiangbei was just a total scrub!

As for why he could take the Chinese Grand Prix race win, that wasn’t important—either luck or cheating, nothing else.

Most of the time, people only believe what they want to believe.

"Aish, Chen Xiangbei’s luck is way too good, he just happened to finish that flying lap."

"Luck can’t protect a Chinaman for a lifetime, in Q3 he’ll still show his true colors."

"It’s just a pure tire advantage, didn’t you see Driver Bei couldn’t even beat Perez?"

"Exactly, a full‑time driver who gets beaten by the reserve in both practice and qualifying, how’s he even got the right to be here?"

"Pay driver, obviously. Don’t Chinamen just buy their seats with money?"

Mocking voices rose and fell around the stands. Since they couldn’t change Chen Xiangbei’s result, they did everything they could to smear it.

Meanwhile, listening to all this, the small number of Chinese spectators and fans finally couldn’t take it anymore.

"Bullshit. Getting into Q3 on luck? You think F1 Drivers are a bunch of rookies?"

"These Korean punks really are a bunch of fragile glass hearts!"

"Stop just shooting your mouths off, cursing him isn’t going to knock Chen Xiangbei down."

"I’m waiting to witness the moment Chen Xiangbei conquers Lingyan Circuit!"

"Koreans, Bei is far stronger than you can even imagine!"

Maybe there weren’t many supporters of Chen Xiangbei, but what they said carried far more weight.

The reason was simple: at least Chen Xiangbei could stand firm in the F1 Paddock, and he’d already taken a race win.

Where were the Koreans?

And it wasn’t just the Chinese spectators. Hearing the emotional attacks from the Korean crowd, many European and American fans also stood up to speak for Chen Xiangbei.

They were the ones who had truly witnessed Chen Xiangbei’s rise step by step from Renault Formula into the F1 Paddock.

Calling this driver, who’d made the jump only second to Raikkonen, a scrub was an absolute joke!

Many people hadn’t realized that Chen Xiangbei had already become the youngest lap‑record holder in F1 history, the youngest pole‑sitter, and held the identity of the youngest race winner.

If he hadn’t suffered a cliff‑edge slump after a strong start, it could already be predicted that he would become a brilliant new star in the F1 Paddock!

The uproar in the grandstands, of course, had no impact on the teams’ preparations.

The Koreans might not grasp how much that flying lap of Chen Xiangbei was worth, but the team members in the pit lane could see it with absolute clarity.

You could say that for the entire flying lap, Chen Xiangbei had been dancing on the tip of a knife.

"Hamilton, wet races are your strength, you need to bring out even more speed to go fight for pole."

"The slippery track has wiped out HRT’s performance disadvantage."

Dennis gave Hamilton a direct reminder. When car performance was on a similar level, what followed would be pure driving skill.

Hamilton feared no one; he was absolutely one of the strongest wet‑weather drivers in history.

But he still couldn’t afford to relax.

Back at the Australia Station the Chinese Kid had already shown his wet‑weather talent, and that last flying lap had just confirmed it again.

Ease up even a little, and the Chinese Kid might just steal one.

Just like at the China Station, no one had expected that the mighty McLaren Team, one of the Big Three, would get "chicken‑stolen" by a newcomer team, HRT, with an undercut.

Dennis absolutely would not allow the same script to play out twice!

"I’ll be glued to Bei this race."

Hamilton replied icily.

If nothing else, at least here at the Korea Station, the priority target for Chen Xiangbei already ranked higher than Vettel.

"Good. Don’t give Driver Bei any chance at all!"

Dennis was very satisfied with Hamilton’s response; he liked this kind of fighting spirit‑filled state.

Just as all the teams were actively preparing for Q3, the weather suddenly shifted again; the fine drizzle stopped.

But the rain stopping didn’t mean the standing water on track was gone, especially with Lingyan Circuit’s atrocious drainage. It might take a long time before the track fully dried, so the only viable tire choice was still intermediates.

At 3:20 p.m., after a short break, Q3 began on schedule.

The pattern of cars leaving the pits looked a lot like Q1; no team went out exactly at the green light.

In Q1, everyone delayed going out because they wanted others to run first, wait for enough rubber to be laid down so grip improved, then go on track themselves—the later you went out, the bigger the advantage.

In Q3, after the rain stopped, the standing water would drain toward the shoulders, and as the cars flew by, a clearly drier racing line would form. Again, the later you went out, the bigger the advantage.

No one wanted to be the guinea pig going out first, especially not the four top teams whose cars had a clear performance edge—they had the capital to gamble on a single flying lap time!

Only one car went the other way: Chen Xiangbei’s HRT Team machine.

Chen Xiangbei didn’t have the luxury of sitting back and watching tigers fight from the mountain top; he could only go down the mountain himself and be that tiger.

Intermediates wore very slowly, and the water also delayed the rise of tire temperatures, so you could easily do two flying laps in a row.

Since that was the case, Chen Xiangbei wanted an extra lap of margin for error.

A lone car at full speed, with spray hanging in the air and the engine roaring, made for a distinctive sight.

The whole crowd’s gaze was on Chen Xiangbei, wanting to see just how fast this Chinese Kid could go.

More than a minute flashed by, and the big screens around the paddock showed Chen Xiangbei’s lap time.

1:39.470.

That time wasn’t bad; it even beat the intermediate‑tire laps of those mid‑field and backmarker teams in Q2.

But everyone in the HRT Team knew very well that if they wanted to rely on that lap to start near the front group on the grid—

It would be tough!

Schumacher, Alonso, Button, Hamilton—those guys were all god‑tier wet‑weather masters.

Vettel, Weber, Rosberg weren’t bad either.

Among the top ten, maybe only Masa was a notch below.

Reality proved HRT Team’s assessment was spot on. After Chen Xiangbei’s time came up, the other drivers went out one after another to do their flying laps.

The 1:39.470 kept sliding down the order until it was P9, just ahead of teammate Perez.

Not willing to accept that, Chen Xiangbei immediately did another flying lap. This time his position jumped up significantly to P4 overall.

But there was no celebration in the HRT garage, because as conditions improved, the following drivers’ flying laps would get faster and faster as well. Chen Xiangbei wouldn’t be able to hold that spot!

And from how he’d been driving just now, he’d already squeezed almost every bit of performance out of car #13, yet his top speed was still well short of his rivals’. It looked like making Q3 was already HRT’s limit here at the Korea Station.

Just as everyone was about to accept reality, Chen Xiangbei’s voice came over the team radio.

"Odetto, prepare a set of soft reds, I’m coming in this lap for a tire change."