Car Racing without Money

Chapter 684 - 273: Bringing in a Chinese Technical Team

Chen Xiangbei likewise isn’t someone who likes being pretentious. Since Trulli doesn’t want to admit it, there’s no need for him to dwell on it.Due to the lack of personal ties, Odetto also didn’t have many topics to chat about with Trulli, he could only exchange a few pleasantries from the team leader’s standpoint.

As the visit was about to end, race engineer Sote couldn’t help but ask: "Team leader Odetto, will there be a replacement driver for Trulli next?"

This question is the key and core issue. Trulli himself hasn’t been on good terms with Briatore, and coupled with the financial power behind Perez’s Mexican Telecommunications, the two-month recovery period might just never return.

If the Italian old rogue is any less shameless, there might be a "termination" storyline in the contract.

The answer Sote truly wanted was whether Trulli’s seat was secure.

"Perez will be stepping in to race, just focus on recovering."

Odetto didn’t give an accurate answer, or rather he couldn’t actually answer.

Whether to terminate a driver’s contract, the team leader at most has advisory rights. The actual decision still depends on the team management.

Of course, there is another decision point, and that is Perez’s performance.

If the Mexican rookie’s race results far surpass Trulli’s performances in the first three races, then the final result goes without saying.

If Perez can’t adapt to the F1 cars, then he will end up like those other rookies who have come and gone, getting a two-month trial card.

"Understood, thank you."

Sote nodded, he knew his question was somewhat redundant.

Chen Xiangbei and the others waved goodbye, but as he reached the hospital door, he stopped.

He turned and said, "Trulli, I look forward to racing alongside you again."

Hearing this, Trulli was initially stunned, then felt a sense of unexplainable comfort and emotion, even a sudden urge to tear up.

His reputation in the paddock isn’t great, he competed with Jenson Button early on, Alonso midway, and after joining Toyota Team, he didn’t get along well with Ralf Schumacher.

Apart from the rivalry between teammates, he also had torn relationships with previous managers or team leaders.

Impulsive, fiery, reckless, maybe that’s the synonym for his career.

After over a decade of his career, it was his first time hearing a teammate say they look forward to racing alongside him again.

Trulli didn’t respond with words, instead, he lightly nodded to Chen Xiangbei.

After visiting Trulli and returning to the hotel, Chen Xiangbei took a shower and fell asleep quickly. The Chinese Grand Prix was his first race win, as well as the race with the most pressure so far.

This pressure wasn’t physical or technical but psychological!

No matter how confident and flamboyant Chen Xiangbei seemed outwardly, racing always holds unpredictable outcomes.

Timing, geography, "partnership", any of these can result in unexpected events.

Just like the "red-blue battle" between Ferrari and Renault before, there was the "ice and fire song" between Raikkonen and Schumacher, but Raikkonen ended in defeat, unable to shake the Yue Ma Dynasty established by Schumacher.

In those five years, Raikkonen teamed up with McLaren Team and never had a chance. Was the gap in skill that large?

In reality, it wasn’t.

At his peak, Raikkonen might not have been as complete as Schumacher, but he wasn’t completely without a chance.

He took second in the world championship twice in ’03 and ’05, including a two-point loss to Schumacher in ’03.

The reason for this defeat was McLaren’s stability, which was far inferior to Ferrari. Engine failures led him to withdraw from three races.

Without these issues, perhaps the Yue Ma Dynasty established by Ferrari would have ended in Raikkonen’s hands, way before Alonso intervened.

To summarize with a Chinese saying: it’s all about timing, luck, and fate.

No matter how confident Chen Xiangbei was, he couldn’t guarantee a championship, let alone winning after a ten-place penalty!

Family and friends, a crowd of 200,000 home fans, billions of viewers in front of the TV, all of these were invisible pressures to Chen Xiangbei, as he didn’t want to disappoint the outside world at his home track.

When the tense nerves finally relaxed, Chen Xiangbei naturally could sleep well.

When waking up the next day, it was almost noon, and as Chen Xiangbei headed to the restaurant as per usual, there were no team members inside, let alone a post-race "breakfast meeting."

Chen Xiangbei thought he might have woken up late, but after finishing breakfast and strolling around the hotel, he still couldn’t find any team members, even Briatore was nowhere to be found.

Then, close to noon, Sawano Hiroyuki rushed back from outside.

"Sawano, where are the team members?"

Chen Xiangbei asked, shouldn’t they bring him if they were doing something?

"Everyone left early to pack the equipment at the track. We spent a lot of time dismantling the car yesterday, and if we don’t complete the equipment transfer by tonight, we won’t catch up with the FIA’s fleet of transport planes."

"Oh~~!"

Upon hearing that, Chen Xiangbei nodded in realization.

Although China and South Korea are barely neighboring countries, there isn’t a direct land route. Unlike Europe, where equipment can be transported by road.

Missing the FIA charter flight would cause the equipment transfer costs to soar.

"Where’s manager Briatore?"

"No idea, he went out very early, probably to discuss some business cooperation."