How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 949 - 374: Carried by the Competition (6K, Bonus 2/15)_3

Last season, Hamilton was still locked in fierce battle with Verstappen, but this season he has ended up in an entirely different situation, which is quite poignant and regretful.At this moment, Qin Miao still had speed, but because DRS had been activated, the gap between Qin Miao and Norris was maintained between 1.1 seconds and 0.7 seconds.

Anyway, Qin Miao always managed to shake off Norris behind him from the DRS zone before the DRS detection point.

Norris was convinced by this, as Qin Miao repeatedly demonstrated his terrifying defensive capability and strategic intelligence, along with those almost supernatural tire management skills.

Lap 50.

Norris, who had started with some confidence, was now drenched in sweat.

How come Qin Miao still has speed!??

Meanwhile, Leclerc, who was faster than Perez but couldn’t find an opportunity to overtake, and the Ferrari team decided to take a gamble at this point.

On lap 50, Ferrari called Leclerc in for a pit stop.

In 2.4 seconds, they put on a brand new set of soft tires.

Ferrari had actually calculated that Leclerc would come out in a position approximately 0.5 seconds in front of Qin Miao.

However, Leclerc was under pressure, as this pit stop timing was somewhat precarious, and the exit of the pit lane was a bit damp, so when Leclerc came out he was slightly hasty on the throttle, leading to a brief skid.

Although with Leclerc’s reaction speed and driving intuition, he quickly corrected the oversteer, but this still caused him to not quite manage to slot in front of Qin Miao completely upon exit.

So when he came out, Qin Miao just managed to overtake him from the side.

Leclerc just ended up in the middle between Qin Miao and Norris.

Qin Miao naturally noticed this situation.

Actually, Qin Miao had considered defending against Leclerc behind him.

But considering his own limited tire reserves, car performance, and the durability of Leclerc’s tires.

In the end, Qin Miao didn’t make any defensive moves against Leclerc, at the DRS detection point on lap 50, the gap between Qin Miao and Leclerc was 0.5 seconds.

After entering the DRS zone, Qin Miao kept his regular pace on the racing line, without any defensive moves, while Leclerc overtook Qin Miao from the outside.

As a result, Qin Miao exchanged positions without any loss of speed, and Leclerc didn’t spend much time stuck behind Qin Miao.

However, in the same lap 51, Perez also opted for a tire change pit stop.

Originally, he was considerably faster than Leclerc, and after exiting the pit, he continued to lead Leclerc without any pressure.

At the same time, the Mercedes team saw that the speed of the two drivers after the pit stop on soft tires was quite good, thus they asked Qin Miao on the team radio: "Qin Miao, how’s the tire condition? Do you need to attempt a pit stop?"

Qin Miao hesitated; he was indeed confident in completing the race with this set of soft tires, but the later stages might be challenging, requiring him to fully utilize his defensive imagination.

Yet if he actually switched to a new set of soft tires, the results might be vastly different. Given his tire management skills, he basically wouldn’t have to worry about tire wear in the later stages.

However, despite this, Qin Miao still asked on the team radio: "If I do pit, where will I be when I exit?"

"Positioned one second ahead of Vettel, you’ll have a 16-second gap to play with, and there are 12 laps remaining until the end of the race." Frankie’s response was quick and precise.

"...BOX!" Qin Miao thought for a moment and gave a definite answer to the team.

Finally, the set of soft tires that had been used for 33 laps on the track by Qin Miao completed its mission.

During this period, Qin Miao desperately extracted all remaining value from the tires.

Interestingly, due to Qin Miao’s sudden acceleration in the later stages, when he exited the pit lane, he ended up 2 seconds ahead of Vettel.

Seeing Qin Miao enter the pit stop, Norris instead let out a sigh of relief.

It was unclear whether he was relieved because there was no car ahead of him, or because Qin Miao finally stopped persevering with his set of soft tires on the track.

After exiting the pit lane, Qin Miao naturally began his full-force push right away.

Although Qin Miao’s lap speed couldn’t be said to be competitive with Verstappen’s, his speed was still faster than Norris’s.

Basically, Qin Miao was faster than Norris by 1.7-1.9 seconds per lap.

And just as Qin Miao exited the pit and began pursuing Norris.

Lap 54, an unexpected scene unfolded.

Leclerc made a mistake while chasing Perez.

Entering T14, possibly due to oversteering or being influenced by some mysterious Eastern force, Leclerc took too much kerb in the bend.

And the T14 sausage curb was notoriously high, causing the entirety of Leclerc’s car to be launched from the curb.

Upon landing, due to the rebound, the wheels compressed and shot the car upwards, while Leclerc attempted a rapid right counter-steering to recover.

But all of this was in vain; upon landing, the Ferrari lost control, sliding outward while turning.

Ultimately, the left side of the car slammed into the outer barrier.