Listening to Jas’ passionate remarks, the guest sitting next to him, Klas, swallowed his saliva and didn’t know what to say.
European white superiority made Klas not take Chen Xiangbei seriously. So what if he was the Australian Grand Prix F3 champion? That event indeed had so prestige, but it didn’t an he could defeat European talents.
You have to understand that figures like Hamilton, Vettel, etc., have never won the Grand Prix but still demonstrated their historical genius capabilities.
On the contrary, in recent years, Grand Prix champions have remained obscure in other formula races, causing the "F3 King" title in Australia to gradually lose its substance.
Yet Chen Xiangbei used facts to prove he deserved it!
"Damn, so Chen Xiangbei really is that incredible..."
A spectator snapped back to reality from the comntary and muttered.
To be honest, limited by the era’s racing environnt in China, there aren’t many devoted fans.
Even today’s supporters at the Spa Circuit are mostly a group of "trend-following" fans; they hadn’t paid attention to formula racing before nor understood the drivers’ skills within the paddock.
Simply due to CCTV’s coverage and Chen Xiangbei’s identity as a Chinese driver, they stood on their compatriots’ grounds to support him in the paddock.
To put it realistically, even if it wasn’t Chen Xiangbei running today, if it were Ma Qingye or Cheng Congfu, they would still offer their support.
But when Chen Xiangbei truly achieved a pole position, the Chinese spectators present realized.
Their support needn’t rely on sentint; it could entirely rest on Chen Xiangbei’s prowess!
"No kidding, otherwise, would the Brawn GP Team have signed Chen Xiangbei as a test driver? That’s a championship-contending team!"
"Beixiangbei is Renault’s strongest driver; retired until now, no one has surpassed his points."
"I feel Chen Xiangbei is stronger than when he was in Australia; at the F3 level, truly no one is his rival!"
"He is, after all, the man nicknad the ’Car God Bei’!"
The shout and celebration from the Chinese fans on the track even had most subconsciously using their native language.
Foreign spectators in the stands couldn’t understand what they were saying, but from their actions and expressions, it was clear they were going crazy for Chen Xiangbei!
At this ti, Chen Xiangbei was on his in-lap on the track. He was not imdiately focused on his results or the cheers from the stands; instead, he kept his eyes on the countdown on the big screen.
Only when the digits hit zero would it an the end of the qualifying, with everything settled.
No suspense whatsoever, as the digits ticked to the last second, Chen Xiangbei’s na still topped the list; he officially grabbed the pole position at Spa Circuit for the F3 series.
Only at this mont did Chen Xiangbei remove the visor of his helt, witnessing the waving red flags in the stands and the cheers directed towards him.
Although Chen Xiangbei doesn’t care about cold stares and ridicule, he’s not a masochist either.
In comparison, such victory celebrations are naturally more gratifying.
ngzhou Racing Team’s mbers were also engaging in various high-fives and hugs in the pits as a form of celebration.
But they didn’t express the sa astonishnt as the spectators and comntators.
The reason is simple; most of the team mbers were psychologically prepared.
During this period, Chen Xiangbei’s simulator runs had produced so incredibly impressive data, and the team mbers knew he wouldn’t be slow.
Of course, they didn’t expect him to be as fast as the simulator lap tis.
So were happy, but naturally, others were "sad."
Prema Team’s engineer, with a very regretful tone, notified Ricardo, who was also on his in-lap, that his lap ti had been beaten by the Chinese driver Chen Xiangbei, dropping to second in qualifying.
Actually, without the team’s notification, Ricardo had already seen the change in top spot on the lap ti screen from the track’s big display.
He simply couldn’t understand how Chen Xiangbei ran that fast.
Could it be possible that F1 team’s tuning could indeed produce such startling effects?
The problem is, Prema Team’s engineer, placed within the lower-tier formula, was akin to the "Mars Team," believing they weren’t inferior to Super Aguri, the backmarkers of F1 teams.
Facts proved that even the top-level GP2 team couldn’t match up to F1.
anwhile, Bottas, Bianchi, and other drivers back in the pits likewise looked at Chen Xiangbei’s pole position na with disbelief in their eyes.
They had thought they might lose but hadn’t imagined losing to a Chinese rookie.
This unknown substitute driver, also carrying F1 team’s technical resources, seed to be playing "down-level impact" in F3.
Is it really all about team differences or driver differences?
To be honest, many people want to know the answer to this question.
In this era, F3 jumping tiers is common, aning any driver standing out in F3 events is basically within the vision of F1 teams.
The top drivers among them have even early on established connections with F1 teams, waiting to run out achievents and transform talent into a reserve or even official driver status!
Bianchi is a student of the Ferrari Driver Academy, backed by the Ferrari team’s power.
Ricardo is part of the Red Bull training program, aning he has the Red Bull team’s support.
As for Bottas, he’s nominally a contact target for the Williams Team, but in fact, his resources and background are the deepest, being a Finnish driver household!
Despite being a small northern European nation, Finland is renowned as a racing powerhouse, producing countless top-level drivers.
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