Car Racing without Money

Chapter 670 267: I Have Many Moves

"Weber, pay more attention to the Driver Bei behind you, he's very fast and aggressive this round."Red Bull Racing Team principal Horner deliberately reminded Weber at this moment.

Perhaps even he hadn't expected that a rookie Chinese driver, fresh to the scene, had already become a threat to a Red Bull Driver.

The F1 Paddock is sometimes brutally realistic; never look at what's being said, look at what's being done.

No matter how many harsh words are spoken, how flamboyant the posturing, how powerful the big teams appear.

Once a truly threatening opponent appears, they often rein in their arrogance!

"Understood."

Weber replied flatly.

"You must hold your position. Vettel will be catching up soon."

Perhaps not sensing enough weight in Weber's tone, Red Bull Racing Team principal Senna emphasized it again.

A faintly strange air permeated the conversation between the two.

The reason for this was also the discord brought by intra-team competition!

Chen Xiangbei completely crushed Trulli; the talent, strength, and friendly attitude he showed made the latter willingly accept becoming the number two driver.

Vettel, however, had failed to subdue Weber.

But the Red Bull Racing Team happened to have a traditional knack for "forging gods". Once they confirmed that the young Vettel would be their number one driver, all team resources, strategies, and even the direction of car development tilted one hundred percent toward him.

Just like how they treated Verstappen in later years, the number two driver is a tool man through and through.

The problem is that Verstappen truly could crush all comers; whether his teammate was Ricardo or Albon, or later Perez, Lawson, Kakida Yuuki—whoever came, he crushed.

Aside from Perez having a few explosive periods of form, showing a certain ambition and ability to resist, everyone else was run into submission by Verstappen.

Now, Vettel's talent and speed were comprehensively ahead of Weber's, yet he had failed to achieve a crushing lead in points and results; the two were often neck and neck.

And historically, in the first half of the 2010 season, Weber even led Vettel in points for a time. How could he possibly be willing to play second fiddle?

Especially now at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix, the team's strategy clearly demanded Weber attack Alonso on behalf of the team, burning through the tyres of what was currently the strongest driver in the paddock, then hand the position back for Vettel to pass and take the win.

The script had been written, the "champion" preordained; it would be stranger if Weber weren't upset!

Hearing Horner's conversation with Weber, Red Bull Racing Team chief race engineer Monahan gently advised, "Team principal, Weber is a veteran after all. I think the tone could be a bit more tactful."

In the face of this advice, Horner only shook his head and said, "I'm not targeting Weber. But as a team principal, indecision will give a driver hope, and hope will intensify the internal friction of team competition."

"There's only one champion, and a great team should also have only one voice!"

Vettel was a driver personally chosen by Horner; he believed strongly in the young German's talent and potential.

This decision had once drawn a lot of criticism, but the 2009 world championship proved that Horner's eye had been accurate.

Having made the decision, he could not keep looking over his shoulder.

Letting a driver who should not have hope see hope is not only cruel to the team, it is a cruelty to that driver himself.

At the same time, the changing of the guard in the paddock is a very normal thing. Even for the current golden boy Vettel, once his competitive form dipped in 2014 and the car slowed down, the team still tilted its resources toward the newcomer Ricardo.

Everything that Weber had once endured, Vettel himself tasted in full.

This also led to his eventual departure to the Ferrari Team in 2015.

At this, Monahan sighed and said nothing more. The mindset of team decision-makers is destined to be filled with rationality and interests.

All the famous principals in history—Briatore, Tod, Dennis, Sir Williams, and the like—are the same.

In a sense, they share the same traits as champion drivers, which is why they can attract and complete each other: the same results-only doctrine, willing to stop at nothing to win!

The incident on track was nearly cleared. Trulli was carried onto a stretcher by the medics, and judging by the way he kept holding his wrist, the injury was likely there.

Hand injuries and fractures are the most common wounds in F1, because under impacts at hundreds of kilometers per hour, the body is tightly bound by a six-point harness; only the neck and four limbs have room to move.

After the later invention of the HOLO head-and-neck safety system, even the neck and head were fixed in place; in ordinary crashes only the limbs were left.

Among them, the hands, because they must grip the steering wheel, often take the most direct and immediate impact, leaving drivers little time to react.

This is why, in the F1 code, when a car crashes or faces an unrecoverable loss of control, drivers must let go of the steering wheel at the first moment, rather than trying to save the car.

The reason is that the risk of hand injury is too high!

A wrecked car can be repaired; a driver with damaged bones needs a hundred days to heal. Teams are more willing to shoulder problems that can be solved with money.

Watching the departing Trulli, Hamilton walked alone behind the trackside barriers, his heart filled with anger and regret.

He knew very well that Trulli was defending by "shutting the door", yet he had failed to control his emotions and chose an aggressive overtake.

Hamilton found it hard to say whether this was due to his confidence, or whether Chen Xiangbei had brought him a certain sense of crisis that made him obsess over clinging to the rival and winning this duel.