Chen Xiangbei was here just to observe today. A few laps in the simulator to show his skills were enough. The dull pain from his left shoulder made him hesitant to exert too much force; his muscles needed adequate rest to tackle the main race tomorrow.

Removing the earphones and stepping out of the simulator cockpit, Chen Xiangbei turned to look at Ross Brown and Staler, casually remarking, "The performance parameters of the BGP001 are quite good, but I'm not yet familiar enough to unleash its absolute speed."

Upon hearing Chen Xiangbei's words, Ross Brown and Staler didn't respond verbally, but their expressions were extremely complex.

If this lap time was achieved when he's not familiar, how fast would he be when he's skilled?

The control that the Chinese kid displayed, did it really seem like he was unfamiliar?

Seeing their expressions, Chen Xiangbei felt a bit uneasy inside.

Could it be that his performance wasn't good enough, or was the difference between his speed and the computer-simulated "perfect lap" for the BGP001 significant?

It was one thing for Ross Brown to remain silent, but why was Staler also quiet?

"North, according to the files David (Zhang Zhicong's English name) gave me, did you really just train for over two months at the Honda Suzuka Racing School?"

Staler asked. For a rookie who had been at the academy for just over two months, being able to run understanding laps on the Suzuka Circuit with a Renault car was impressive enough. How could he even have the capacity to drive an F1 car on the East Sea International Circuit?

"Yes, I wanted to go earlier, but there was no channel available,"

Chen Xiangbei replied with a smile. Staler was not only an investor but also a founder of Huasi Sports. He only completely left around mid-2008 and returned to his home in the United Kingdom from East Sea.

Chen Xiangbei, having gone through Huasi's channels to the Honda Racing Academy, could be there for only a few months, which from a timing perspective was easy to calculate.

This might deceive others, but it couldn't deceive Staler, the founder.

Sure enough, as soon as Chen Xiangbei said this, Staler was left speechless; he really is a "fast-track" genius race driver!

"North, I have to admit, the driving skills and speed you demonstrated have overturned my perception of Asian drivers,"

"Let's head to the team meeting room now and sign the official contract for test driver."

When Ross Brown said this, his tone was filled with admiration.

Just over half an hour ago, Staler was still asking how North could prove himself.

Who would have thought, in just over half an hour, the answer was already clear.

Chen Xiangbei's lap time of 1 minute 33 seconds 198 is undoubtedly the best proof!

In the meeting room, Ross Brown took out a document he had long prepared, stating that Chen Xiangbei would become a test driver for Brawn GP, with the rights to use the racing simulator and to practice driving older model cars.

As for why older model cars are used, it's not that Brawn GP is stingy or trying to treat him differently.

The FIA has explicit regulations prohibiting drivers from privately testing new model cars, otherwise maintaining balance among teams would be impossible.

To illustrate simply, if the FIA lifted restrictions allowing teams to test new model cars at will, then large teams with advanced technology and ample funds would essentially have unlimited resources for trial and error.

Any racing upgrade component developed could be instantly tested on track by a driver; if effective, it would be installed, if not, it would be modified or scrapped and redone. Thus, the possibility of "negative upgrades" wouldn't exist.

This would result in large teams, having both money and technology, upgrading through private tests to get increasingly faster.

In contrast, small teams without the funds and technology, many of whom can't even afford a private test track. Even knowing the direction of development is wrong, making quick corrections or remakes is difficult.

Cumulatively, the technology gap widens, leading to big teams monopolizing results with no suspense.

By the final races, speeds could exaggerate to the extent of comparing F1 to "F1.5" races, with small teams lagging by four or five seconds per lap not being unheard of.

This is indeed the reality. Before the F1 team budget cap and prize distribution system were established, bottom-tier teams like Minardi and HRT trailed drastically throughout the season without scoring a single point.

Moreover, even assuming equal driver skill, in theory, the performance gap with the fastest, the Red Bull Racing Team, was two to three seconds slower per lap!

This resulted in what seemed like ten F1 teams racing on track, but in reality, the few teams languishing at the bottom weren't even fit to be part of the race, drastically reducing the spectacle of the event.

Many fans later followed Zhou Guanyu and joked that the Sauber team was a tractor, dubbing them as "F2 cars."

It must be said that compared to the truly slow cars in F1's history, Sauber's speed and performance actually represent normal levels for small teams. Observing other lower-ranking teams and their operations reveals that an abstract experience of one brilliant race followed by a disastrous one is quite common.

Not to mention the lower-ranked teams, even mid-tier teams like Renault and Aston Martin Team, and the upper-tier Ferrari Team, aren't immune to clownish behavior.

The Mars Rover, top-tier drivers, and perfect strategy team forming the iron triangle is a rare occurrence.

Chen Xiangbei had no objections to this contract; just having the opportunity to drive an F1 car, whether a new or old model, didn't make much of a difference at this stage of his career.

Drivers of Renault's level don't need to produce shocking results driving F1 cars, and they likely can't.

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