But at the Spa Circuit, Chen Xiangbei is the local snake on that track!
When the silky smooth racing line was displayed, it brought an ultimate sense of beauty in racing control.
Apart from considering tire pressure and not pushing the curbs to the extre, Chen Xiangbei had already maximized his cornering techniques in the bends.
Seeing this scene from the broadcast, many mbers of the Dream Team couldn’t help but have a faint smile on their lips.
Chen Xiangbei had almost perfectly replicated his simulator performance onto the real track, clearly showing he had no intention of giving his opponents any hope!
As car number 13 crossed the finish line, after a brief silence from the grandstands, thunderous applause erupted.
Because the number displayed on the big track screen was 2 minutes 04 seconds 997.
This lap ti broke Hamilton’s F3 pole position record.
"OH MY GOD, did the Chinese driver North break the pole position record in just one practice lap?"
"Even with an F1 team adjusting the car, it couldn’t be this exaggerated, right?"
"Is this the speed of China’s genius driver?"
The shock and skepticism filled the track, and spectators, from Chen Xiangbei’s speed on the long straight and his perfection in line control, could vaguely predict his practice lap speed would be fast.
They just didn’t expect it to be this fast!
To be nearly 0.3 seconds faster than Hamilton, who is known as a historically legendary driver, winning the world championship in his sophomore year.
Even if it was a "specialized car," the driver must have the skill to challenge the limits of the track.
Clearly, this was a speed that couldn’t be adjusted for, unless the engine power was tweaked.
"Could it be cheating?"
Soon, an audience mber related it to such issues.
"This might not even be an F3 car, but could be called an F2.5!"
"The FIA should imdiately conduct a weight check."
"The Brown GP Team managed to create the Mars Rover with three wind tunnels. Now North from China has the technical resources from two F1 teams, which is not fair to other drivers!"
When speed and performance break so people’s understanding, they find reasons for skepticism in other aspects.
The intricacies of standardized racing are indeed deep, and not just in this era. Even in the F2 races of ’25, teams were found to have cheated by drilling holes in the track chassis to obtain better airflow through adjusted data.
As for specialized car tuning, it can similarly elevate a car to a higher level.
Mick Schumacher, without needing to say much, directly took the F2 championship.
In fact, there was another driver, whose operations were even more excessive than Mick Schumacher’s, starting specialized car tuning from F3 events.
That would be the driver Lance Stroll, known as the "Young Master" for winning through his father’s efforts.
This kid, in his first year in F3, only achieved fifth place, and unwillingly called on his father to use connections and financial power to bring in engineers from the Ferrari Team for specialized tuning.
As a result, in the second year, he won the F3 European Championship.
And Stroll, leveraging this achievent, directly jumped into F1, splashing out 35 million US dollars to join the Williams Team.
It proves that sotis sweat and effort are less effective than having a powerful father.
On the track, Chen Xiangbei naturally couldn’t hear these doubts and debates.
Even if he did hear them, he would probably just smile it off.
It’s foolish not to use resources. As a Chinese driver who started behind others, when have we ever heard European spectators think it was unfair?
This world has no absolute fairness, much like how in Chen Xiangbei’s past life, lacking sponsors and household registration, he fell at the threshold of F1.
The things once lost, Chen Xiangbei would go to any lengths to regain.
Insults and controversies are the inevitable paths of every formula racing king!
"Sawano, I’ll enter the pit this lap for a tire change and conduct a heavy fuel load test."
Over the team radio, Chen Xiangbei conveyed his feedback to Sawano Hiroyuki.
The car’s performance with light fuel and heavy fuel not only reflects changes in weight and speed but also affects control.
To give the simplest example, in a race with a heavy fuel load, an F3 car can weigh about fifty kilograms more, equivalent to having an additional driver on the car.
With the sa bend, the extra fifty kilograms certainly can’t corner like it did under light fuel load.
For example, in the T1 bend, under light fuel, Chen Xiangbei would brake at the 70-ter mark, but with heavy fuel, he might need to brake at the 90-ter mark to avoid overshooting the bend.
This explains why lap tis in qualifying are significantly faster than in the race.
"Roger that, the technician team is prepared."
After Sawano Hiroyuki answered this,
He hesitated a mont, then added: "Xiangbei-kun, don’t you want to know your lap ti just now?"
"I know it’s fast."
Chen Xiangbei was well aware that it was extrely close to the pole position lap ti, as this was the data he had already run on the racing simulator.
As for the exact ti, he wasn’t interested.
Because this was rely a practice session, not a qualifying one, the lap ti didn’t hold much significance.
"Very well, then keep running."
Odetto’s voice tily ca through the TR, the Chinese kid was growing more confident.
If he wasn’t curious, then he didn’t need to know.
As Chen Xiangbei’s car number 13 entered the pit for a tire change, the technician team took it as a real race practice.
Although their current tire-changing speed still had gaps compared to F1 teams in the paddock, they had no problem surpassing F3 teams, even if it was against veteran strong teams like ART or Primma.
With the front jack lowered, Chen Xiangbei sped out of the pit on soft tires.
User Comments
0 comments from readers