Car Racing without Money-Chapter 442 - 176: Brutal Internal Competition (Part 3)
Now that Trulli is back under his command, he has to regain his position, of course.
Trulli merely snorted coldly in response, without a reply.
Being under someone’s roof now, one can’t help but bow their head, especially since Toyota Team withdrew.
After mocking him, Hua Bu changed his tone and said, "Trulli, haven’t you always wanted the number one driver treatment?"
"During these eight days of testing, if you can outperform the Chinese Kid, I’ll make you the number one driver."
As Briatore uttered these words, everyone in the pit looked at him with surprise, especially Chen Xiangbei’s crew members.
When Chen Xiangbei signed the contract, the team owner Kalanbant, considering the Chinese investment, had asked him whether he needed to have the driver ranking specified, along with supplementary wingman agreements.
At that time, Chen Xiangbei had refused without hesitation, as he valued pure sportsmanship more.
He didn’t want to use domestic sponsorship investments to forcibly confirm his status as the number one driver; Barrichello was the best example of this.
If the Ferrari Team competed normally, Barrichello couldn’t possibly be Schumacher’s match; he would likely have felt humiliated after repeated defeats.
Yet, relying on the wingman agreement, they created this "give way order."
Schumacher’s win was dishonorable, and Barrichello’s loss was resentful.
Over the years serving as Ferrari’s number two driver, Barrichello often expressed dissatisfaction and sarcasm during media interviews.
Furthermore, public opinion often debated Schumacher’s strength, claiming he won by exploiting his teammates.
In fact, that year Schumacher’s driver points approached "double" those of Barrichello; the give way order was merely to make the consecutive championships look better.
Had it not been for Schumacher’s solid seven championships, he might have been labeled a "water" champion like Vettel.
That’s why Chen Xiangbei didn’t want to use the driver’s contract to enforce the driver ranking nor specify wingmen.
He simply didn’t want to be like Schumacher with the "give way order" situation.
Win without honor, teammates lose resentfully!
"Briatore, are you sure?"
Trulli asked, somewhat surprised. Hua Bu can let him be the number one driver; it’s as if the sun rose in the west.
"Of course, I never break my word."
Briatore affirmed with confidence.
It’s the same old saying: Poor character doesn’t mean poor ability, nor does it mean poor credibility.
On the contrary, Briatore is truly the kind to get things done, even if criticized by a thousand people, he doesn’t care.
"Good, then it’s settled."
Trulli agreed without hesitation.
No one wants to stay beneath others; the resources enjoyed by the number one driver far exceed those of the number two driver.
Testing, tuning, maintenance, new upgrade parts...
All these team resources must be prioritized for the number one driver.
With normal effective upgrades, the number one driver often comes with a 0.2-second lead.
Trulli didn’t know what was Hua Bu’s deal was; anyway, who wouldn’t take a free benefit?
Moreover, Trulli desperately wanted to slap Hua Bu’s face; he wanted to prove that it was a mistake for the team to favor Alonso back then!
As Trulli’s car drove out of the pit, Odetto couldn’t help but ask, "Briatore, are you inciting internal team disputes?"
Although for F1 Driver, your biggest opponent is often your teammate.
But many times, it’s still necessary to maintain surface harmony, at least avoid internal fights that hurt both sides.
Briatore’s words clearly provoked team competition, which for a "new army" team isn’t a good thing.
Facing Odetto’s accusation, Briatore remained calm.
"Odetto, what do you think is the professional goal of a team?"
"Of course, it’s to compete for the world championship."
Odetto replied without hesitation, as no team isn’t striving for a championship.
"Exactly."
"Average teams can accept fair competition between two drivers."
"Championship-contending teams must clearly define number one and number two drivers!"
After speaking, Hua Bu turned to Odetto and said, "You’ve been in big teams, you should clearly know that only clarification of positions can truly reduce internal consumption."
