How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 607 - 264: The Consequences of a Head-On Clash
But with Qin Miao's arrival, the pressure on Hamilton instantly decreased.
At this moment, the most important task for Verstappen is to defend against the aggressive Qin Miao coming up behind him, rather than chasing the Hamilton ahead. In fact, if Verstappen dares to pursue Hamilton, Qin Miao can easily use his tire advantage to overtake Verstappen from behind without any bloodshed.
If Verstappen doesn't want to give up his position, he can only slow down his speed and seriously defend against Qin Miao behind him.
Meanwhile, Hamilton can run without concerns, maintaining his rhythm until Qin Miao overtakes Verstappen or Qin Miao's tires reach their cliff point, making him no longer a threat to Verstappen.
Hamilton believed that by the time Qin Miao and Verstappen settled their positions, the race would be nearing its end, and he would most likely pick up the win.
And Hamilton wasn't the only one with this thought. The three commentators at Five-Star Sports, seeing the situation on the field and the laps remaining, Fei directly asserted, "It's over, it's over. Qin Miao can't compete with Hamilton for the championship in this race. Hamilton's decision for a one-stop strategy was indeed beautiful, taking advantage of teammate Qin Miao's pit stop. Killing two birds with one stone."
Bing nodded in agreement, "It's fair to say Mercedes still values Hamilton more. They spotted an opportunity to steal a championship from Verstappen, and with Qin Miao holding Verstappen back, Mercedes decisively chose to let Hamilton do a one-stop strategy, opting for old Yellow Tires to run a long stint."
"Although this choice looks stunning, almost a divine move," Zhou Haoran chimed in, "It still depends on when Qin Miao can overtake Verstappen. If it's soon, there might still be suspense in this race.
But I personally feel that Hamilton is most likely to win the championship in this race. The suspense lies more in who will take second and third place."
...
[Open the milk!]
[Well said!]
[Pragmatic milk is unacceptable (annoyed)]
[Hamilton (in danger!)]
[Hamilton starts noticing milk overflowing from his steering wheel and throttle pedal as he races]
[After the race, FIA officials find there's no fuel in Hamilton's tank, just milk]
[The ancient and mysterious power from the East has silently targeted Hamilton]
[Is the Five-Star curse about to take effect?]
On the track, Hamilton was naturally unaware that three mysterious Eastern masters were performing rituals on him. Although his tires were starting to struggle, Hamilton wasn't worried at all.
Because with Hamilton's years of driving skills, despite his tires struggling now, he believed they could still last through the remaining 12 laps.
Moreover, by the 59th lap, Hamilton noticed that the time gap between him and Verstappen, which was previously narrowing, had stalled, and then it even widened.
This shows how much pressure Qin Miao was putting on Verstappen, forcing him to lose more speed to defend against Qin Miao.
Indeed, Verstappen on the track clearly felt the significant pressure from Qin Miao.
However, Verstappen wasn't without defensive tactics to use against Qin Miao.
After all, Verstappen was a genius. At the very least, when attacking Qin Miao, he had been defended for so long by Qin Miao's deliberate trap-setting that, without post-race analysis, he simply experienced it once and then comprehended it. He learned Qin Miao's defense tactics well enough and directly used them on the track.
In the first timing sector, Qin Miao watched in confusion as Verstappen made several mistakes entering and exiting the turns right in front of him.
At that moment, Qin Miao's heart skipped a beat.
Is this a Minotaur-like defense upfront?
Not to mention that Verstappen's positioning mistakes didn't open up the crucial inside line, much like Qin Miao's defense strategy. But think about it, Verstappen, as a merciless racing machine, making so many mistakes in these technically simple corners during the first timing sector — is it really reasonable?
So Qin Miao didn't fall for it at all. On the contrary, because Verstappen wasn't taking the optimal line, Qin Miao further closed the time gap between them. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
Of course, Qin Miao quickly realized why Verstappen was already performing defensive maneuvers when he hadn't even reached the high-threat position of 0.5 seconds behind Verstappen.
[Verstappen Pressure Level: 22%]
When the pressure is too high, Verstappen may make some irrational defensive moves, which is understandable.
Afterward, Qin Miao kept closing the gap to Verstappen and exerting pressure on him.
However, Verstappen being Verstappen, Qin Miao didn't immediately find a good opportunity to attack.
Until the second timing sector of the 62nd lap.
In the DRS zone after T10, Qin Miao launched his first attack on Verstappen.
Due to his tire advantage, Qin Miao stayed right behind Verstappen after the corner, not getting left behind by the turbulent air in the turns.
After exiting the corner, even before Verstappen reached the braking zone, he started weaving, but Qin Miao remained unfazed, activating DRS and beginning to accelerate.
