Oliver Staler—this name, Chen Xiangbei has never heard of it in two lifetimes. But the name of Sir Frank Williams, anyone who follows Formula racing will know the Williams Racing Team!

This team has a glorious history; in its early days, it was on par with Ferrari and McLaren, making it one of the "Big Three" teams in the paddock.

The Williams Team has won nine team championships, seven driver championships, and pioneered many "black technologies" that have been applied to civilian vehicles.

For instance, CVT variable transmission, active variable suspension, full electronic control of the car, and so on.

In that era, the Williams racing car was not adequately described as a Mars Rover; it could truly be called a Galaxy Car. Coupling it with the powerful alliance of "The Professor" Prost, if not for McLaren having the racing god Senna to compete with, then surely its invincibility would have been so lonely.

However, as time progressed, the input of funds and research into F1 grew larger and larger, and private teams could no longer keep up.

Even the mighty Williams, entering the twenty-first century, had to recruit a large number of sponsored drivers, transforming from one of the Big Three into a directing academy.

Basically, in recent years all the renowned driver directors on the track have come from the Williams Team. The sponsorship fees collected nearly equaled the compensation paid for car damages.

One could indeed feel pity for the Williams Team for a moment.

Although the Williams Team's competitiveness has diminished, the foundation of a veteran giant is still there, allowing it to stand firm in the paddock.

Especially with Sir Williams' network relationships within the paddock, one would not dare say it is the strongest, but it is definitely among the strongest.

Additionally, the friendliest starting cradle for new drivers remains Williams, along with Sauber.

From Liang Chi and Zhang Zhicong's perspective, although the Super Dream Team harbors ambitions of returning to F1, without substantial willingness from the Honda Group, relying solely on Suzuki Aguri's personal strength simplifies things.

If Chen Xiangbei can meet more people and accumulate some connections within the paddock, it wouldn't hurt to have an additional option.

"Alright Uncle Liang, I understand."

Chen Xiangbei nodded.

F1 is a commercial competition, and the paddock itself is a political venue; knowing more people indeed does no harm.

"Then you all carry on."

Liang Chi waved his hand and quickly left the gym.

"Xiaoman, what do you say?"

"Carry on? Look at your physical condition, it's not that fatigued; there shouldn't be any major issues for tomorrow's qualifying race."

After saying that, Lu Xiaoman turned elegantly and left.

Regarding this situation, Chen Xiangbei was somewhat at a loss, proving that women are indeed unpredictable.

The day quickly passed, and on Saturday, February 28, the time for the Silverstone Circuit qualifying elimination race arrived.

This first race of the Renault Eurocup features a total of fourteen teams and thirty drivers.

Lower-level Formula racing events differ from F1; they do not have the restriction that a team can have a maximum of only two drivers.

If a team's strength is robust and there are enough vehicle group members to maintain them, even three or four drivers can participate simultaneously.

Of course, some small teams may lack funds or have no quality driver seedlings, choosing to send only one driver is also quite common.

Meanwhile, this qualifying elimination race has a different meaning from "elimination" in F1.

In later F1 qualifying regulations, it is a three-segment format with multiple laps, taking the top fifteen, top ten, and final top ten rankings.

Those drivers who are eliminated can still participate in the official race; they just start from the back of the grid.

In this era of the Renault Eurocup, the qualifying rules are more akin to F1's "107" rule. If a driver's qualifying lap time is slower than the fastest pole position by more than 107%, that driver loses the right to participate in the official race.

The reason F1 adopted such a rule was that early on there was no budget cap for research and development, and the poor operation of races resulted in very little point rewards and year-end bonuses, leading to shocking performance gaps between small teams and big teams.

Just like the HRT Team that Ma Qingye almost joined, a single lap could be two to three seconds slower than the fastest Ferrari or Mercedes Team!

This gap is nearly the distance from F1 to F2, where some tractors would block the track, only causing more accidents and risks during lap overlaps.

Yet, the Renault Eurocup uses standardized racing cars, theoretically eliminating any differences in vehicle performance, leaving only differences in driver skill, mitigating situations of being two to three seconds slower per lap.

The race organizers adopted the qualifying elimination rule mainly because too many participating drivers could cause the track to be extremely crowded, making overtaking difficult.

Eliminating some lagging vehicles and retaining only twenty cars for the race actually intensifies competition and confrontation.

By two o'clock in the afternoon, the Silverstone Circuit was bustling; as the United Kingdom's and even the world's most famous "benchmark" track, it never lacks tourists and racing fans for a pilgrimage.

Even though it is merely a Renault junior Formula race with no world-class star drivers, just a bunch of newcomers graduating from karting or F4 whose names barely ring a bell.

The Silverstone Circuit still gathered over ten thousand spectators who hoped to witness the birth of the next racing superstar!

The pit lane was equally lively, with more than ten teams, thirty-plus drivers, alongside hundreds of team members, and hundreds of event staff, one could imagine just how bustling it was.

Liang Chi led the technician team conducting the final pre-race inspection on Chen Xiangbei's No. 13 car.

```

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.