How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 611 - 265: Verstappen Learns from Qin Miao

The podium holds an irresistible allure for drivers racing in either the Earth or Core groups.

So Gasly, after discussing with the team, ultimately chose to stay on track to fight for third place.

However, for Hamilton, who saw Gasly in front of him, there was no tension at all.

Small little Red Bull Junior Team, laughable, laughable.

At this moment, Hamilton didn't even carefully consider how he should overtake Gasly in front of him, but rather began to think about how he would overtake Qin Miao and Verstappen ahead after passing Gasly.

Even knowing that both Qin Miao and Verstappen had car damage, Hamilton had a feeling he could reclaim first place.

At the end of lap 64, the race committee issued a penalty notice: Qin Miao was fined five seconds for failing to cede track position and causing a collision; however, since Verstappen was the one who actively instigated the contact, they only penalized Qin Miao with the time penalty.

Qin Miao was not penalized with a pit lane pass or anything similar.

It's not too severe, but it's not light either.

You Horner pressed the FIA, and I've also got Toto helping to explain on my end, so the final penalty result of just a five-second time penalty is understandable.

But there are only 8 laps left until the race ends, the question remains whether Qin Miao can surpass Verstappen ahead of him within these 8 laps and create a gap of more than 5 seconds from Verstappen and Hamilton.

Meanwhile, Verstappen's task is simple; just like defending Qin Miao, he needs to keep Qin Miao behind him for as long as possible.

In the same lap, the debris on the track was mostly cleared by Matthew, and the safety car's top lights went off, signaling the race will soon restart. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Verstappen and Qin Miao immediately began frantically weaving to heat up the tires.

Furthermore, Qin Miao occasionally feigned an outside maneuver on Verstappen, causing Verstappen's stress levels to visibly rise.

This continued all the way to T14.

Verstappen still showed no intention to accelerate, compressing the positions of the drivers behind while weaving to maintain his tire temperature.

Qin Miao dared not follow Verstappen's strategy to keep his tire temperature because the dynamic start was coming, and he needed to watch Verstappen's car movements closely.

Knowing Qin Miao's tactics from F2, he enjoyed pressuring opponents, waiting for them to heat up their tires before accelerating suddenly to catch the rear drivers off guard.

Judging from past experiences, Qin Miao naturally couldn't be careless at this stage.

If he wanted to pass his opponent quickly and increase the gap, every minute detail should not be overlooked.

Finally, upon exiting T14 and entering roughly 200 meters before the starting point, Verstappen performed a routine weave.

But after this weaving, he suddenly accelerated.

Qin Miao, who had been tracking Verstappen's movements, immediately followed Verstappen's rhythm.

Gasly's reaction was not slow either, but due to the disparity in car performance, he could clearly see the gap between himself and Qin Miao opening despite a timely reaction.

Hamilton's start was rather average, but he utilized his car's performance advantage to claim Gasly's inside line on the starting straight, gradually closing on Gasly, preparing to attack and attempting to overtake him on the inside line of the starting straight.

However, overtaking during the start phase isn't easy, especially in a dynamic start, where even with an engine advantage, after taking the line, Hamilton still has to contend with turbulent air from Qin Miao's car ahead, and Qin Miao's slipstream can assist Gasly.

But Hamilton, a seven-time champion, despite numerous disadvantages, managed to brake late entering T1 using his inside line advantage, guarding the center of the turn and blocking Gasly from the optimal exit line, completing the overtaking of Gasly by the time he reached T2.

However, just after one skirmish, Qin Miao and Verstappen had already extended a one-second lead over Hamilton.

At this point, everyone was relentlessly deploying their ERS power, and naturally, Hamilton would quickly be left behind fighting the car.

Hamilton wasn't in a hurry, considering the race had plenty left; he calmly followed behind the duo, waiting for them to make mistakes.

After the start, Qin Miao's speed was clearly slower than Verstappen's, but Qin Miao knew Verstappen's car was heavily damaged.

Therefore, Verstappen's car balance wouldn't be great either; Qin Miao's task was straightforward.

Acting like a hunter waiting, ready to deliver a fatal blow to his prey.

Zandvoort is a circuit with many turns; Qin Miao needed to utilize his car's faster cornering speed compared to Verstappen to consume Verstappen in the corners.

The second timing sector of lap 64, at the familiar T12 corner.

Qin Miao already trailed right behind Verstappen's car before T11 and officially launched an attack by T12.