Car Racing without Money-Chapter 443 - 177: F1’s Unimaginable Difficulty

F1 racing is the epitome of team collaboration, especially the pit stop tire-changing scene. When no mistakes occur, calling it "action aesthetics" is not an exaggeration; it truly is pleasing to watch.

However, F1 racing also has a contradictory point.

That is the WDC (World Drivers’ Championship) value, which is actually far greater than the WCC (World Constructors’ Championship).

Many fans can casually name the year in which a driver won the World Championship.

But when the Drivers’ Championship and Constructors’ Championship are not from the same team, the Constructors’ Championship for that year is often overshadowed by the glory of the Drivers’ Championship, gradually forgotten by most as time passes.

For example, the 2024 Drivers’ Champion Verstappen, and the Constructors’ Champion McLaren.

In a way, it means individual achievements are higher than team achievements.

Given this, whether considering media heat and promotion or real benefits.

The team management and the individual drivers prioritize winning the Drivers’ Championship.

At this point, the challenge of "split votes" arises.

Under the current F1 scoring system, winning a Grand Prix gives you 25 points, second place gets 18 points, third place only 15 points, and fourth place 12 points.

According to the point difference calculation, the gap between champion and runner-up is the largest, a full seven-point difference, gradually narrowing to three points, two points, or one point later.

This means the value of winning a Grand Prix is far greater than other rankings.

If the team hasn’t created a Mars Rover that is far ahead, and is only slightly stronger or on par with other teams.

While the two drivers within the team have very similar strengths, each winning a Grand Prix, leading to no overwhelming point advantage, the Drivers’ Championship may very likely belong elsewhere.

Similarly, take the 2024 McLaren team as an example, the car was very strong after mid-season upgrades, once catching up to Verstappen with the chance to make history, but ultimately fell short.

Of course, within this, Norris’s mental collapse under championship pressure and inability to stay composed was a factor.

However, the delay in tire change decisions at the Canadian GP, strategy disputes at the United Kingdom Silverstone Circuit, and the intra-team feud caused by team orders at Hungary, along with two drivers not yielding to each other openly or behind the scenes.

All these issues and shortcomings exposed McLaren’s lack of readiness for the championship battle.

Especially at Hungary, for the sake of maintaining team unity, team radio orders forced Norris to yield the position and helped Piastri take his first win.

From the public’s perspective, it was Piastri who led initially, and the team first called Norris into the pits for a tire change, allowing an undercut to surpass his teammate, so returning the position was not an issue.

This is the fairness of the sports spirit!

But starting at this moment, McLaren completely lost the opportunity to compete for the Drivers’ Championship.

From Hua Bu’s strong team leader perspective, he doesn’t care about absolute fairness in sports competition, he only values the final victory.

A team wanting to compete for the championship, still consumed by internal strife over who benefits from pitting first, who suffers from pitting later.

Even going so far as to make the championship-contending driver swap positions, it’s simply ridiculous.

Whether it’s the Ferrari Dynasty, Renault Dynasty, or even Red Bull Dynasty, they established clear first and second driver relationships to prevent such internal strife.

Briatore joining HRT, he’s not here to build a mediocre team, but to compete for the championship and prove his ability to the world!

As for whether the champion driver is Chen Xiangbei or Trulli, that is not important.

He definitely doesn’t want to see team resources being wasted or the two drivers waging fierce internal battles for rankings, refusing to yield to each other or even causing both cars to retire with "mutual destruction" dramas.

Such intra-team collisions in F1 history are not uncommon, usually, teammates become the greatest rivals later.

To avoid such hidden dangers, it’s better to let them compete earlier!

Odetto, who has also been employed in F1 for decades, doesn’t agree with Briatore’s personal style but understands his intent and philosophy.

Without saying any more words, he took a step back and chose to acquiesce.

Chen Xiangbei on the track is unaware of the disputes within the pits, or that Hua Bu instigated Trulli to compete for the first driver seat.

At this time, Chen Xiangbei is trying to improve his speed as much as possible, while also monitoring the LCD instrument on the steering wheel, always watching the tire temperature changes of the TF110. He has already noticed an abnormal increase in temperature at the rear tires.

"Odetto, how’s my speed in the second timed sector?"

As the car passed the T10 turn, Chen Xiangbei pressed the talk button and asked.

"Green sector, be mindful of instability caused by crosswinds from the rear."

Compared to the cloudless summer at the Catalonia Circuit, winter weather conditions become more complex.

At the same time, the airspeed tube added to the car can accurately capture airflow changes around the car, data that was not obtained during previous test runs.

[Green sector?]

A green sector indicates the speed in S2 timed sector is faster than your tire warming lap, but not faster than the fastest lap on the track.

It also means Chen Xiangbei in this timed sector is slower than Rosberg.

"Odetto, did you detect the high rear tire temperature?"

"Yes, team engineers are looking for the cause, initially suspecting it’s the exhaust collector factor."

After answering Chen Xiangbei’s question, Odetto continued.

"Xiangbei, adapting to the car means you need to seize the window period."