How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 1230 - 464: Soaring Dragon in the Sky

Moreover, Qin Miao also knew that the reason why his current lap speed was 0.2 seconds faster than Verstappen’s was not that he was really faster by that much; it was most likely because Verstappen was conserving his tires at the moment.If nothing unexpected happens on the track later, it will be very difficult for him to catch up with Verstappen.

But Qin Miao still attempted to chase Verstappen for two laps on the track, and after seeing no effect, he was persuaded by the strategy team staff.

Most drivers in today’s race were using a two-stop strategy. Although Qin Miao could run to the finish using one yellow and white stop, the biggest drawback of this tightening approach that pushes oneself to the brink is that there was hardly any tire margin.

Anyway, all the drivers ahead have to pit. Keeping his own pace without worrying about them is the best choice.

...

Actually, when he overtook Sainz just now, Qin Miao’s lap speed might have been only 0.2 seconds or even 0.1 seconds faster than Sainz’s.

However, as the race reached the 12th lap, the Ferrari car’s speed began to significantly decline.

In this lap, Hamilton finally overtook Sainz from behind.

Honestly, Hamilton had a feeling that Sainz wasn’t defending against him as seriously as when defending against Qin Miao.

To be fair, last season Sainz was compared to Qin Miao by Iron Buddha Temple fans and was heavily criticized, so why is he going easy on Qin Miao on the track? I can’t understand it!

But in reality, it’s not that Sainz doesn’t want to; rather, Qin Miao clearly understands the principle of putting all efforts into a single move. For most overtakes, Qin Miao would fully cool down his car and keep the ERS battery level above 70%.

At that time, Sainz naturally had no power to resist against Mercedes cars in their prime.

But anyway, Hamilton managed to overtake.

The race entered a brief period of calm.

First-place Verstappen and second-place Qin Miao were running their own pace on the track, while Hamilton was chasing the forward Qin Miao. However, due to Sainz, the distance between Hamilton and Qin Miao was quite far, unable to catch up in a short period.

In the 13th lap, many teams reached their pit window, including Qin Miao’s teammate Hamilton.

When Hamilton pitted, he was just 2.1 seconds behind Qin Miao.

Hamilton seemed to intend to undercut his teammate when he pitted.

But actually, after becoming teammates with Qin Miao, Hamilton clearly understood how formidable Qin Miao really was. They weren’t running the same pit strategy at all.

Now, the Old Man wasn’t thinking of competing with Qin Miao for position.

Verstappen also pitted to change tires in the 14th lap.

After Verstappen pitted and changed tires, Qin Miao naturally moved to the lead position.

Qin Miao originally planned to use his set of medium tires until the 20th lap before pitting and changing tires. Considering the significant reduction in fuel after the 20th lap, Qin Miao and his team agreed that Qin Miao could use hard tires to finish all subsequent laps.

But plans couldn’t keep up with changes.

In the 17th lap, Bottas, using a special edition helmet, made a mistake at turn 19, charged into the gravel, and ultimately due to inadequate rally ability failed to recover from the gravel buffer zone and retired.

Honestly, F1 drivers should all enroll in a tutoring class with Sainz to learn how to drive a rally on the track, given Sainz’s family tradition of rally experience.

Bottas’s mistake naturally triggered a safety car.

Giving many drivers using hard tires, as well as Qin Miao, who had persisted on medium tires, a free pit stop opportunity.

All drivers using hard tires profited greatly, while Qin Miao made a slight gain.

Because Qin Miao had initially planned on a one-stop strategy, the timing was extremely tight, about to finish right before Qin Miao’s hard tires reached the cliff.

But now, with three more laps until the end of the race, Qin Miao’s hard tires likely won’t last to the finish, forcing Qin Miao’s pit strategy to shift to a two-stop plan.

Yet this small gain is something Qin Miao couldn’t ignore, so Qin Miao pitted and changed to hard tires.

Naturally, he followed the safety car.

During this time, Qin Miao communicated with the strategy team, knowing that a two-stop was inevitable after this tire change, as persisting post-cliff not only concerns tire wear but also the potential risk of tire blowouts.

Although compared to the 2021 season, the enlarged tires in the 2022 season have reduced incidents on the track caused by excessive driving leading to blowouts.

But this situation has only decreased and not disappeared; the team and the driver cannot afford the risk of a blowout on the track.

Therefore, the strategy team in the P room and the remote team at Mercedes’s Brackley headquarters were tensely calculating Qin Miao’s second pit stop time and when was the best time to pit.

Of course, as previously mentioned, this was just a slight gain and not a loss.

At this point, Frankie obviously told Qin Miao, "After the safety car restart, you can push a bit on the speed."

Now Qin Miao’s actual position had reached first, Verstappen was second, Hamilton third, Sainz fourth, Perez fifth, and Leclerc sixth.