Although Red Bull Racing Team is not a factory team, its momentum is becoming increasingly strong, challenging the positions of Renault and McLaren, the "Big Three".

Ricardo simply couldn't believe that the car set up by the Red Bull F1 team would lose to the former Super Aguri team!

How exactly is the Chinese driver Xiangbei so fast?

Unable to overtake at the start, what Ricardo could do was quickly change lanes to catch the slipstream and fight for the T1 corner entry line, leaving Bottas no chance to overtake him.

Soon the leading row of cars formed a long line, and no driver wanted to become a "torpedo", forcing their way to take the T1 corner entry line.

For true rookies, managing to mix into the ranks of well-known F3 front-row drivers in this era is equivalent to having the chance to knock on F1's door. They are a group of drivers who "wear shoes" and don't want to do such "barefoot" things.

The Spa Circuit is a relatively easy track to overtake on, with many opportunities to do so, making impatience unnecessary.

But many drivers on the scene did not realize that by not choosing to overtake at T1, they would have no more chances.

Chen Xiangbei pressed the throttle all the way down, his speed quickly soaring to over 200 km/h, which was no different from his practice and qualifying lap times.

But bear in mind, right now the car is not in a light fuel load state, but fully loaded with heavy fuel!

At the same speed, where braking could pass through turn one before, now it couldn't.

And with more than twenty F3 cars following closely behind, the congested traffic situation offered no good space for lane changes.

At Chen Xiangbei's speed, there was a high chance he could rush out at the first turn without managing to brake!

"The Chinese kid held onto pole position at the start and even widened the gap with the car behind. Does he really need to be so aggressive?"

Renault's sports manager Nelson, somewhat puzzled, asked the team leader Blair beside him.

"He's proving his strength."

Blair replied blandly; he felt he understood the heart of this Chinese driver.

Without the strength to crush peer-level drivers, on what grounds could he leapfrog and be recruited by an F1 team?

"Too much is as bad as too little, this speed might not even make it past the first corner."

Nelson shook his head; he could understand young people wanting to prove themselves.

However, Chen Xiangbei was clearly a bit too hasty, and impulsivity is not a good thing for a driver.

"Jumping levels without a background is essentially a gamble, and this race is Xiangbei's all-in."

Under normal circumstances, a lower-level driver would jump levels after first contacting an F1 team, reaching a preliminary agreement or even signing a driver contract, before announcing withdrawal to fully prepare for F1.

Like Verstappen in later years, who displayed strength that teams proactively sought out, not caring whether he completed the Renault Formula and F3 seasons or if he could take the annual championship.

But as far as Blair knew, Chen Xiangbei hadn't reached an agreement with any F1 team.

Even the Brawn GP team that gave him a test driver contract didn't promise him a formal driver seat next year.

The Chinese kid left himself no way out, so he had to go all out in the race.

150m, 120m, 100m!

As the distance to T1 grew shorter, the vast majority of drivers had already stepped on the brakes, well aware that heavy fuel load meant they couldn't stop in time.

But Chen Xiangbei's car's brake force sensor showed no change in the braking force curve!

"What's Xiangbei up to?"

In the P-room, Mizutani Sho couldn't help but shout.

If Chen Xiangbei braked at the 70-meter mark as he did in qualifying, he would undoubtedly rush out of the track. He wouldn't make such a basic mistake of confusing light and heavy fuel loads, would he?

Before Mizutani Sho could finish speaking, Chen Xiangbei braked at the 80-meter mark of the T1 bend.

And in this step of braking, the force was much heavier than before, resulting in slight locking of all four wheels, leaving a faint tire mark on the ground.

The slight tire lock didn't produce any tire smoke, and in this era, the circuit broadcasting cameras weren't as clear as modern high-speed cameras, unable to capture the image of the tire coming to a full halt.

If it weren't for Chen Xiangbei running ahead and suddenly leaving several brake marks on the ground, they wouldn't have noticed that Car No. 13's tires had become locked.

However, despite the lock-up, Chen Xiangbei's car did not lose control or understeer; he continued to brake intermittently and cut into the apex, maintaining control at the edge of losing it, and needed to carry the brake through the corner.

But this extreme corner entry speed gave Chen Xiangbei extreme corner exit acceleration.

When the car's nose brushed through the apex, Chen Xiangbei floored the throttle to accelerate, widening the gap to his pursuers with a speed that opened up nearly a 10-meter distance.

"It's too fast, Xiangbei's cornering speed is too fast, he's recreated the shock he brought during practice!"

"In the F3 series race, no driver has ever, in the first lap on heavy fuel, used such an extreme late braking speed to take a corner. The Chinese driver Xiangbei is once again challenging the limits of the Spa Circuit!"

"To be honest, I don't even know if that slight tire lock prior to cornering was an error or intentional by Xiangbei."

James's tone was very excited as his producer screen displayed Chen Xiangbei's lap times and braking distances.

Compared to a relatively "unpopular" track like Donington Park, the T1 and Red River Bend combination at Spa Circuit is so classic that the cornering speed limit has been thoroughly explored by all kinds of genius drivers over the years.

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