How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 934 370: The Second Yellow Flag

The safety car led for four laps, and when the race reached the sixth lap, the lights on top finally went out, and the race was about to restart.Qin Miao got a bit of an advantage, as his soft tires had four fewer laps of wear, and during those laps, Qin Miao kept his tire temperature at a very optimal level, so once the race restarted, he had the opportunity to attempt to take that damned second place.

It is worth mentioning that a new rule for the safety car was introduced from this race on, which is that when the safety car is about to release, the rear car's front wing is not allowed to surpass the front car's rear wing. The first offense results in a warning, and the second in a direct +5 seconds penalty.

Actually, Qin Miao had a feeling that this rule specifically targeted Verstappen.

Because this guy, when in second place, liked to pressure the front car's driver by squeezing from the side to wheel-to-wheel position during the safety car release.

But this time, he behaved himself, honestly following behind Leclerc, not daring to step over the line.

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Qin Miao was much more calm during the start phase, simply following normally behind Verstappen, eyeing Leclerc ahead of Verstappen's car.

This performance was due to Qin Miao's full confidence in his own start reaction speed; he was certain he could keep up with Leclerc's pace at the moment Leclerc started.

And indeed, Qin Miao never does anything he's not sure about.

After Leclerc accelerated out of T14, Qin Miao, who had been closely watching, quickly kept up with Leclerc's pace.

And because of the new safety car regulations, both Qin Miao and Verstappen in front couldn't find any opportunity to attack the car ahead once the race restarted.

However, unexpectedly, Perez experienced a rare instance of flooring the gas out of T15.

The car's rear wheels briefly lost traction, and Hamilton seized this rare chance, forcefully squeezing into Perez's inside line at T16, completing an overtaking move on Perez.

This result was satisfying for both Mercedes drivers: Hamilton moved up from fifth to fourth.

As for Qin Miao, the duel between Hamilton and Perez allowed him to increase the time gap with Hamilton.

Originally, the time gap between Perez and Qin Miao was only about 0.5 seconds, and due to the difference in car performance, this time gap would soon be closed by Perez.

But with Hamilton's successful overtake, Qin Miao not only gained enough breathing space, but the time gap with Hamilton increased to 1 second.

Furthermore, with the soft tires on Qian Miao's car, he estimated he wouldn't need to worry about threats from drivers behind him for a long period.

When the race reached lap 8, the commentators clearly noticed that the time gap between Qin Miao and the two drivers ahead had not widened, while Hamilton behind him was visibly left behind by Qin Miao.

Maybe those new to F1 rules would be very happy to see this scene, because Qin Miao's performance in the race stage was indeed excellent.

But the strategy staff responsible for Qin Miao at Mercedes and Qin Miao's track engineer, Frankie, simultaneously frowned.

Because Qin Miao was totally running the race like it was a qualifying lap in his pursuit of the cars ahead, at this rate, his set of soft tires would wear out particularly quickly.

However, as mentioned before, Qin Miao was running the race with a qualifying lap mindset, in this situation, any slight interference could possibly cause driving errors leading to an accident.

So everyone chose to remain silent.

They anticipated Qin Miao might want to move up a few positions and was likely waiting for the DRS zone to open so he could attempt to overtake the Verstappen ahead of him.

Despite Toto, Elliott, and other team executives thinking Qin Miao's actions were somewhat impulsive, they still believed in him unconditionally, which was a confidence derived from an entire season of races without any proactive or forced mistakes from Qin Miao.

By lap 9, the time gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton had reached 2 seconds.

Lap 10, DRS enabled.

Qin Miao, who had been trailing closely behind Verstappen by around 1.5 seconds, began to fully discharge the remaining battery power in his car.

And quickly closed the gap to 0.8 seconds behind Verstappen, ready to launch an attack on him.

However, when they reached the main straight at lap 11.

Even with DRS, Qin Miao only managed to get within 0.4 seconds behind Verstappen on the straight, unable to exert any pressure on him.

Seeing this, Qin Miao, known for his stability, got slightly carried away.

But it was at this moment that Frankie coolly reminded Qin Miao, "Qin Miao, now your soft tire consumption has exceeded expectations, and Hamilton behind you hasn't defended against Perez's attack. Perez is only 3 seconds behind you now, protect your tires if you still aim to fight for the podium."