Chapter 719: Chapter 289: The Weak Are Born to Take Risks

Soft reds?

Hearing this request from Chen Xiangbei, the team’s strategy group, for the first time, didn’t give an immediate answer. Everyone was frantically weighing pros and cons in their heads.

The four-car crash in Q2 was enough to show just how slippery the Lingyan Circuit was, and the two cars that went into the wall were almost severely damaged. No one even knew if they could be repaired in time for tomorrow’s race.

The two HRT Team drivers had basically changed to a new power unit at almost every round. If Chen Xiangbei hit the wall now, even if it didn’t result in serious damage, they still couldn’t guarantee there would be enough spare parts to fix the car.

And after fixing the car, he’d have to start from the pit lane.

In the current situation, even if Chen Xiangbei wasn’t afraid of Q3, the worst he’d do is start from P10.

But if an accident happened, he’d have to start from P24.

Miracles like charging from the back of the grid onto the podium don’t happen every race.

And as Chen Xiangbei’s strength became more and more obvious, the many drivers in the paddock would target him more and more. It would be hard to see those overtakes completed by exploiting opponents’ arrogance and underestimation again.

Like that Bahrain Station overtake on Alonso.

Odetto could even assert that if Chen Xiangbei started from P24 this round, he definitely wouldn’t finish in the points!

"North, you’ve decided to take the risk?"

"Yeah."

Hearing Odetto’s question, Chen Xiangbei gave a firm answer.

Sometimes when the lap time is slow, it’s really not because the driver is trash—it’s just that the car is slow and there’s nothing you can do.

In later years, the super prodigy Piastri who did the triple promotion into the McLaren Team happened to run into the team’s slump. Forget winning a race; even finishing was extremely difficult, and he was basically hovering at the very back.

At the time, a lot of outside voices were pessimistic, saying Piastri dragged down the gold content of the Russell/Leclerc triple promotion, and maybe he was just a pay driver with nothing but "cash power."

The facts proved this: maybe taking a single title could be a coincidence, but winning the rookie title three years in a row at every level means there is absolutely unquestionable strength there.

Once McLaren caught its breath, Piastri immediately proved that his "genius kid" title wasn’t just talk. He directly had the pace to fight Norris for the championship, and even stood above him!

On that last flying lap, Chen Xiangbei genuinely felt he hadn’t made any real mistakes, yet he still could only line up ninth.

Looks like compared to the last round’s 30 horsepower cut, plus the setup leaning towards tyre management in the race, he could no longer make up for it with driving skill alone.

"OK, prepare to pit."

After getting confirmation, Odetto issued the pit-in order.

"Team principal Odetto, there’s still standing water on the racing line. Switching to soft reds is extremely dangerous."

Faced with this situation, Sawano Hiroyuki, who was standing to the side, spoke up with a reminder.

"I know."

The continuous incidents on track and the two red flags had already shown how dangerous switching to soft tyres was. How could Odetto not know?

But he immediately added, "Remember this, Sawano: the strong don’t need to gamble; the weak are born to offend the odds."

"Now that we’ve gotten this far in the title fight, North needs to show strength that matches his ambition!"

The China Station win, plus the way he was now hanging onto the points battle, had already proved that Chen Xiangbei in fact had the strength to fight for the championship.

And not just Chen Xiangbei—inside every member of the HRT Team, the ambition of becoming a champion team had already begun to sprout.

Unless you have a "Mars Rover" that’s miles ahead, what basis does an "Earth Group" team have to snatch the title from a big team?

Back then, Senna died on track in his pursuit of Schumacher.

Back then, Schumacher drove a wrecked three-wheeled car, using an extremely dangerous way to finish the remaining laps and win.

In the last round, the HRT Racing Car was very competitive. Odetto wouldn’t have supported Chen Xiangbei in taking meaningless risks.

This round, if he wanted a front-row start, or even a win, Chen Xiangbei had to bet his life on it!

"But..."

Sawano Hiroyuki still wanted to say something, but Odetto cut him off roughly.

"No buts. On the road to becoming a top driver, you’re destined to gamble with Death."

Seeing Odetto’s resolve and Chen Xiangbei’s determination, Sawano Hiroyuki knew saying more was useless.

Since the order had been given, it was up to Chen Xiangbei to control the car.

Car #13 screamed into the pits. Just as the outside world thought this was a routine stop, they saw the HRT mechanics come out carrying soft red tyres.

Seeing this, everyone—including the commentators—was stunned. Was Chen Xiangbei really going to run soft reds in the wet?

"MY GOD, what’s going on, is North trying to get himself killed?"

Red blurted out in surprise. With the precedent of other drivers’ incidents, the HRT Team still dared to put soft reds on Chen Xiangbei’s car—they really weren’t afraid of death, huh.

"Racing is a contest of strategy and technique, not of recklessness and impulsiveness."

"Play with your life? You really can die."

Beside him, the South Korean commentator Park Dongxu snorted coldly. In his view, Chen Xiangbei was getting a bit anxious, eager to prove his speed, or maybe wanting to recreate that China Station victory.

The problem was, in the last round the HRT Racing Car’s power was clearly off, most likely because they’d squeezed the engine life and used an overpowered mode. This round, without that "cheat," he had to rely on his real skills.

Does that Chinaman have them?

Park Dongxu guessed, most likely not.

If you could conquer the Lingyan Circuit with pure hard strength, who would risk their life like this?

On this point, Red didn’t refute him. To be honest, his rational side told him that switching to soft reds in this situation was too risky, and really did look like a do-or-die move made when you’ve run out of options.