How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 1165 - 440: Teach You Three Phrases to Infuriate Leclerc

But as the head of the tire change team gave the order, everyone discarded the chaotic emotions in their minds, put down Qin Miao’s tires, and picked up Hamilton’s tires.Now it was a given that Qin Miao hadn’t pitted for a tire change. Holding onto Qin Miao’s tires at this point could lead to a situation where after Hamilton comes in, the team personnel mistakenly install Qin Miao’s tires on Hamilton’s car.

Although Qin Miao’s set of soft tires is brand new, Hamilton’s soft tires were used for a flying lap during qualifying.

Yet the internal configuration and dynamic balance iron piece position of both drivers’ tire hubs are different. If installed incorrectly, the car is extremely prone to accidents on the track.

After noticing something was wrong, Frankie was the first to ask about Qin Miao through the team TR: "Qin Miao, what’s up? Did you miss the pit entry?"

Qin Miao wasn’t driving at high speed at this time, but was following the safety car in front, occasionally glancing at whether the top lights of the safety car were off, and if he could overtake it to untangle the situation.

So Qin Miao had the time to respond to Frankie’s question.

"I feel my tires are still in good condition, so I want to try finishing this race without pitting. The team should have a plan for this, right?"

Upon hearing Qin Miao’s words, Frankie clearly paused for a moment before speaking: "Indeed, the team has a plan for this... One might say this is the plan the team believes is most suitable for the current race situation, especially given your tire management skills.

However, we considered that if we informed you in advance, the two Ferrari drivers might also consider not pitting, particularly with Sainz being so close to you.

So after careful deliberation, the decision was still to have you pit, but unexpectedly you came up with this tactic yourself...

Anyway, the situation is as it is, and there’s nothing that can change it now."

At this point, Frankie paused again before saying: "By the way, the team strategy group wanted me to tell you: awesome."

The last two words were spoken by Frankie in Chinese.

As for why the Mercedes team has become increasingly proficient in Chinese, this point won’t be elaborated further.

Mercedes was naturally elated after Qin Miao’s sneak attack, while on the other side Ferrari was dumbfounded.

Ferrari: ???

What?

Seriously, brother.

Can it be played like this?

Ferrari’s strategy group watched as Leclerc fell to third and Sainz to fourth, utterly disheartened.

Moreover, there were quite a few lapped slow cars in between the two drivers.

Their positions looked even more disadvantaged.

But as the situation was, Ferrari could only inform their drivers through team TR: after the race restart, try to avoid any internal conflicts, and first find a way to reclaim Qin Miao’s sixth position back to the team.

After all, Monza is Ferrari’s home ground, leading the entire race and ending up second wasn’t so bad, especially since Verstappen was indeed fast in this race. But ending third in such a manner would undoubtedly disappoint the local Ferrari fans.

Even though when the camera cut to Binotto there was no overly rich expression on his face, Binotto’s mind was in turmoil.

On the track, Leclerc, just out of the pit lane, looked at Qin Miao appearing ahead in the rankings, speechless, thinking you’re such a cunning one!

How could you pick up such a slip!

But just wait, after the race restart you’ll see if I play you.

Even though there were five laps left until the end of the race, which doesn’t seem like much, Leclerc was confident he could reclaim the position from Qin Miao within the remaining five laps.

Ferrari was thinking the same, with Binotto even mentally prepared to inform Sainz via team TR, once the race restarted, not to pressure Leclerc, allowing Leclerc to focus entirely on attacking Qin Miao.

However, what surprised all the drivers, spectators, and team staff was that the Italian Grand Prix did not restart after this safety car period; instead, it was completed under the safety car’s lead for the remaining six laps.

The reason was simple, as mentioned before.

That was the safety car being stuck in front of Qin Miao.

Thus, the safety car not only needed to untangle slow cars but also Qin Miao, who was in second place, and all the cars behind him.

Meaning Zhou Guanyu, who was lapped by Qin Miao, even needed to be untangled on the track twice to return to his original position, not to mention the drivers behind Zhou.

On the track, five laps wasn’t enough time for all drivers to complete this series of operations.

So eventually, all drivers finished the race under the safety car’s lead.

Due to his seemingly whimsical pit strategy, Qin Miao secured second place in this race.

Starting nineteenth and finishing second, Qin Miao gained 18 positions during this race.

Unsurprisingly, despite today’s race ending somewhat anticlimactically, leaving many spectators disappointed, Qin Miao was voted the best driver after the race.

Second in voting was Williams and Mercedes reserve driver, De Vries.