Jas could bet that, at least in his comntary career, he has never seen a driver achieve the speed of Chen Xiangbei.
Even in the last decade, geniuses like Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Vettel, none of them have done it!
"Holy crap, Chen Xiangbei took the lead at the T1 corner, is he really that good?"
"This is the result of him pushing the limit with late braking, truly giving the opponents no hope of catching up."
"Even with the F1 team’s car setup, Ricardo and the others still can’t catch up to Racer Bei?"
"I can’t accept this result, how can a substitute Chinese kid be this fast?"
Voices of discussion erupted from the stands, so were praising, so were exclaiming, so were questioning, and so were angry.
Not just the spectators on the stands, but even the competitors following Chen Xiangbei, watching him take the corners, all had expressions of disbelief under their visors.
They truly didn’t expect Chen Xiangbei to disregard his pole position, taking corners more aggressively than if he were barefoot!
It’s important to know that often pole position drivers behave conservatively and avoid fierce wheel-to-wheel battles with opponents.
Not just in F3, even in F1 races, it’s the sa.
Just like Verstappen once earned the nickna "Turret" because he attacked like a cannonball, indifferent to consequences.
Anyway, as a rookie and ranked lower, he bet you would give in and make way since you were wearing race shoes.
Often pole or front row drivers, facing his aggressive style, wouldn’t risk mutual destruction for a brawl. Only Hamilton in his pri, with his firm "golden left front," suppressed the turret’s arrogance a bit.
But now Ricardo and others haven’t even started their attack, and Chen Xiangbei has begun "playing with life."
Does a Chinese driver need to be this aggressive?
On the track, Ricardo didn’t have much ti to be shocked and think; he could only perform operations similar to Chen Xiangbei, forcibly stepping on the gas pedal, risking a spin in the T1 corner to speed up and exit.
Otherwise, given the current distance, he would soon be out of Chen Xiangbei’s slipstream, falling into the rear car grid and facing attacks from Bottas or Bianchi.
Once that happens, Ricardo would find it difficult to catch up to Chen Xiangbei again.
"Ricardo has shown the strength of his British Renault championship, speeding up in the corner to latch onto Racer Bei’s slipstream, preventing further gap widening."
"I believe this race will definitely not be one-sided, and the suspense will remain until the very end!"
Guest Klas saw Ricardo stabilizing the situation, imdiately getting excited.
He had looked highly upon Ricardo long before, knowing this Australian rookie had a very strong single-lap speed, reportedly not inferior to Vettel’s Red Bull tis when testing with the Toro Rosso.
And in last year’s British Renault Formula, he had already outperford Finnish driver Bottas to win the annual championship.
For Formula racing, single-lap speed defines a driver’s upper limits.
Many drivers, driving junk cars, seemingly go without points all year yet still secure driver contracts, even being promoted to big teams due to qualifying runs producing stunning "Star Circle" speeds.
This typical case was once seen in "Extremist Brother" Leclerc driving a junk car for Sauber.
And Russell who spent three years locked up in the Williams Team.
They may have driven junk cars in small teams but were already in the sights of big team managent thanks to their single-lap speed, just needing a chance to prove themselves.
Take Russell, who relied on a one-ti opportunity substituting for Hamilton to drive the rcedes race car and proved his speed, then snatched the aging Bottas’s seat to beco a formal team driver the following year.
"Go, Ricardo, don’t lose to the Chinese driver!"
"Ricardo, don’t forget you are the true genius youth!"
"European Formula tracks absolutely cannot be dominated by Chinese people."
"Ricardo, catch up and overtake, win the champion at Spa Circuit!"
Klas’s remarks instantly ignited the passion of the European audience, letting them see hope in overtaking Chen Xiangbei.
Only this excited atmosphere did not last long, as Chen Xiangbei accelerated full throttle on the long straight before Red River Bend, exhibiting insane speed rivaling his qualifying rounds, and with a heavy fuel load, it seed he was racing as if he had nothing to lose.
Even Ricardo sucking in the slipstream couldn’t manage to close the gap in speed with Chen Xiangbei!
[Does the Chinese driver plan to take this speed through Red River Bend?]
Tens of thousands on the track felt Chen Xiangbei’s speed, and this thought erged simultaneously in their minds.
Over 280km/h, the top speed of the F3 car, this ti the brakes may really fail!
Chen Xiangbei did not slow down; it was just this ti his line through Red River Bend differed slightly from before.
Chen Xiangbei hit the right side curb and then charged downhill, cutting left, hitting the left curb at a key mont, no brakes from start to finish, full throttle through the bend once again!
"Leader, that’s Michael’s line!"
In the Ferrari Team’s P room, Operations Director Armand shouted this, his tone full of surprise.
As the truly evergreen team in the paddock, the F3 events seldom cause emotional fluctuation among Ferrari’s managent.
After all, through years of thriving in the Prancing Horse dynasty, they had seen all manners of great storms.
Not just F3, even rare is there anything in F1 that makes them view with high regard.
Yet the Red River Bend line recently taken by Chen Xiangbei made Armand exceedingly familiar; this was the unique line pioneered by Schumacher during the "Red-Blue Battle" against Alonso in ’06, overtaking at Red River Bend and stunning the paddock drivers back then.
It’s known that managing the Red River Bend with full throttle was already top driver performance.
Schumacher not only passed it but dared to overtake there, with the competitor being the top driver Alonso!
The overtaking scene was quite shocking, though the FIA, considering safety, raised the curb heights the next year, making the line a bygone tune.
Who would have thought three years later, an F3 driver would recreate Schumacher’s past feat!
Chen Xiangbei couldn’t physically be present in Ferrari Team’s P room but could predict the shock among Ferrari Team engineers.
The cornering line wasn’t mysterious, on the contrary, it was widely known.
Yet as track environnts changed, F1 race car chassis heights no longer permitted curb cutting at ultra-high speeds.
But F3 car speed and chassis height existed within the realm of possibility for recreation.
Why can Chen Xiangbei be faster this life than his previous life? Besides sensitivity talent and technical experience accumulation, one more point lies in overcoming death once making him accustod to dancing on a knife’s edge.
Furthermore, two life’s regrets filled him with a determination never to slow, preferring to break into dust.
Racing ultimately belongs to the brave.
Only by genuinely disregarding their life can drivers thoroughly crush opponents into despair.
Just like Ricardo now, watching Chen Xiangbei’s No. 13 car getting farther away, an idea dawned inside him.
This race might have just started but was already concluding prematurely.
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