How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 606 - 264: The Consequences of a Head-On Clash
Hamilton faced two choices, and it's already clear what he would choose.
Qin Miao, unaware of his teammate's thoughts, controlled his car's speed below 60 km/h and activated the pit stop mode. All he could do was silently pray, like every previous pit stop, that the team's tire changers wouldn't mess things up.
The car was lifted and set down, brand-new red tires were installed on Qin Miao's car.
After landing, Qin Miao hit the accelerator, causing the car to "slide" out of its parking spot with a tilt.
The timing shown on the broadcast screen's lower-right corner was 2.5 seconds.
"2.5 seconds, that's a bit slow, 0.3 seconds less than Verstappen earlier. That 0.3 seconds could cost a position on the track!" Despite this tire change time being considered acceptable among all F1 teams, even dreamlike for Alfa Romeo and Haas, Fei was still not very satisfied.
After all, in Fei's view, this was an advantage Qin Miao worked hard to earn on the track, only to be squandered in a 0.3-second tire change. They felt it was unfair for Qin Miao.
However, Qin Miao was quite satisfied, as he had never experienced a tire change exceeding 10 seconds in his career, nor had he encountered a bolt stuck on the tire.
Thus, while driving in the pit lane, Qin Miao didn't forget to compliment his team's tire changers on the TR: "Nice work, everyone. Now, watch me."
The drivers' TR is connected to the team staff's TR, but the difference is that Qin Miao, his track engineer, and Toto can speak, while other technicians can only listen; their communication frequency is different from the drivers'.
"Copy that. We're all waiting for you to show Verstappen a thing or two," Frankie's voice sounded in Qin Miao's TR. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
Listening to the Mercedes team's TR, the Red Bull staff furrowed their brows upon hearing this.
You Mercedes folks, why speak so bluntly?
...
After exiting the pit lane, Qin Miao found himself trailing Verstappen by 11 seconds, with 22 laps remaining in the race, starting his pursuit.
The director didn't focus on other drivers now, keeping the broadcast camera fixed on Qin Miao's car with the time gap between Qin Miao and Verstappen displayed at the bottom.
Verstappen was using old medium tires, while Qin Miao had fresh soft tires, so the speed difference was quite pronounced, making it evident at every corner that the gap between them was rapidly shrinking.
Basically, a timing sector would reduce by 0.4~0.6 seconds.
The three commentators from Five-Star Sports spoke less at this moment, as they became immersed in Qin Miao's perspective, involuntarily tensing for him.
What if he doesn't catch up? What if a blown tire or rapid tire degradation occurs due to the long distance run? What if he catches up to Verstappen, but lacks tire grip to overtake?
In essence, they worried about everything Qin Miao hadn't considered.
Yet, on the track, Qin Miao remained the most focused.
At this moment, his mind was solely on handling his car, lap after lap achieving his best speeds.
Without even noticing, he snatched the fastest lap on the track from his teammate Hamilton.
However, this was normal, as they were nearing the race's end; there was much less fuel in the cars, and Qin Miao came out with fresh soft tires. Despite not pushing to the extremes to have enough tire durability to attempt overtaking Verstappen, his speed was still very fast.
By the 50th lap, the gap between Qin Miao and Verstappen, originally over 11 seconds, had reduced directly to 10.6 seconds.
By the 51st lap, the gap became 9.2 seconds.
By the 52nd lap, 8.1 seconds.
Even though Red Bull's staff knew Qin Miao would catch up to Verstappen soon, they were helpless.
They'd done everything they could, and whether they could maintain their position would depend solely on the drivers on the track.
Finally, on the 55th lap, Qin Miao saw the rear lights of Verstappen's car from behind.
By the 57th lap, Qin Miao entered the turbulent zone behind Verstappen, resulting in a noticeable speed decrease.
By the 59th lap, Qin Miao reached the DRS zone behind Verstappen, beginning to apply pressure, using skills without hesitation against Verstappen.
[Verstappen's pressure level: 19%]
Qin Miao's chasing rate towards Verstappen matched his estimate; he truly caught up to Verstappen by a second per lap, reaching Verstappen in ten laps.
The dynamics of attack and defense had now reversed, and both parties were in completely different situations.
At this moment, Verstappen not only needed to defend against Qin Miao's attack but also find a way to catch up to Hamilton ahead, with only 13 laps left in the race.
The gap between Verstappen and Hamilton was narrowing each lap, and currently, the time difference between them was merely 6 seconds.
