Car Racing without Money-Chapter 474 - 187: You Think You’re Worthy of Playing the Victim?

Chapter 474: Chapter 187: You Think You’re Worthy of Playing the Victim?

"What, did you admit it?"

Seeing Chen Xiangbei smile without saying a word, Trulli posed a question in return.

"What’s there to be afraid of admitting? In the F1 Paddock, I am indeed a rookie."

Hearing the other party’s question with a hint of "provocation," Chen Xiangbei remained calm.

Compared to Chen Xiangbei’s calmness, Trulli’s gaze towards him was somewhat complicated.

Just now at the press conference, the Chinese rookie had a flamboyant and arrogant demeanor. Now he seems like a completely different person. Which is his true face?

Trulli’s intuition told him that the current Chen Xiangbei was more real.

"Here’s the onboard first-person view from my previous races. You can take a look."

Since the Chinese Kid admitted to being a "rookie," Trulli found no need to argue further on this topic. He directly pushed the laptop he was viewing towards Chen Xiangbei.

Though the HRT Team is composed of many former F1 personnel, its foundation is still the Campos Team from the F3 Level.

This means that the team has significant shortcomings in historical data and resource reserves.

For example, driver’s track line maps, first-person onboard recordings, and some team-confidential adjustment schemes.

Odetto had been away from the Ferrari Team for too long, and he leaned towards being more of a technical person. As for Briatore, he was a pure businessman in management, who simply didn’t understand "racing."

Chen Xiangbei severely lacked an experienced veteran to provide him first-hand track information.

After handing over the laptop, Trulli stood up to leave the driver’s lounge, feeling awkward to stay alone with him for longer.

"Thank you."

"No need to thank me. I’m doing this purely from the team’s standpoint and because I hate the reporters in the paddock!"

In last year’s 09 season Brazilian Grand Prix, the incident occurred on the first lap.

Trulli, on the outside of T4 turn, attempted to overtake the Indian Force driver Sutil on the inside line. The two cars collided, and Sutil also affected Alonso behind, causing all three cars to retire.

After the incident, Trulli climbed out of the cockpit and directly rushed towards Sutil, ready to fight.

However, the scene of a fight on the track never occurred. There was only a minor physical conflict, with Trulli almost sticking his finger into Sutil’s helmet, pointing at his nose and confronting his family.

Since the wild days of the 90s in the F1 Paddock passed, such outright brawlers on the track hadn’t appeared for years.

The next physical altercation had to wait until 2018 when Verstappen couldn’t restrain his anger and confronted Ocon in the weighing area.

Track overtaking incidents naturally had both sides sticking to their stories, with Trulli and Sutil each holding their ground.

But Trulli received a $10,000 fine for his actions on the track.

The matter was almost over until Sutil complained to BBC reporters post-race: "I was driving normally, and Trulli recklessly overtook on the outside like a newbie, causing the accident."

Alonso, who had past grievances with Trulli, immediately added fuel to the fire: "Trulli was completely crazy, and his conduct on the track was very low, like a child who can’t control his emotions."

Their post-race interviews, through media exaggeration, brought overwhelming criticism on Trulli.

If it were just criticism and scolding, fine, but labels like "madman" and "child" followed suit.

For a veteran who had been in the Paddock for over a decade, being viewed as a "baby" by the outside world was an intolerable humiliation.

Since then, Trulli harbored great resentment against the media, hoping to see Chen Xiangbei strike back hard!

Of course, this was just one of the reasons.

On another note, Trulli knew that Chen Xiangbei had refused sub-car agreements and the first and second driver disputes.

Frankly, given the Chinese investment’s share in the team and Briatore’s poor relationship with Trulli, forcibly assigning first and second driver positions could easily be done.

The F1 Paddock never lacked drivers; Trulli’s refusal could get him kicked out!

In any case, with Ferrari’s second-hand wind tunnel at hand, Hua Bu, the old rogue from Italy, was anxious for Trulli to leave so he could bring in little Senna to boost the team’s visibility.

As a rookie, Chen Xiangbei had an absolute advantage but could resist the inclination of team resources and accept fair competition on the track.

In all fairness, Trulli thought he couldn’t do the same.

His personality disliked being indebted, so sharing adjustment data was a way to return a favor to Chen Xiangbei.

Watching Trulli leave the driver’s lounge, Chen Xiangbei said nothing more, focusing on the laptop screen, carefully studying the track lines of this veteran known for his qualifying prowess.

It’s unclear how much time passed before Odetto knocked and walked into the room.

"Bei, the practice session is about to start. Get out there and get in the car."

"OK."

Upon hearing Odetto’s prompt, Chen Xiangbei closed the laptop.

Odetto noticed this action by Chen Xiangbei and asked, "Is that Trulli’s laptop?"

"Yes, he let me see the driver’s first-person view recording."

Hearing this answer, a surprised expression appeared on Odetto’s face.