How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 643 - 275: Little Schemer Russell (Part 2)

It was all to seize that fleeting opportunity.

But honestly, Qin Miao was still hoping for the chance to return to the pits in the final phase of Q2 and switch to a set of soft tires for a flying lap.

Unfortunately, by the end of Q2, Qin Miao never got that opportunity.

Ultimately, everyone completed Q2 on intermediate tires.

Qin Miao advanced to Q3 with a final Q2 position of fourth.

After Q2 ended, when Qin Miao got out of the car to stretch, Toto came over to praise Qin Miao's speed of progress.

The drivers eliminated in Q2 were: Vettel, Gasly, Tsunoda, Latifi, and Leclerc.

Latifi aside, Leclerc was penalized and would start from the back, so he treated Q1 as a practice session, ran for over ten minutes, collected enough data, and didn't come out in Q2 like Verstappen.

During Q3 preparations, the director meaningfully gave a long shot while thick clouds over the horizon cleared, and golden sunlight illuminated half the sky in the distance.

In Q3, the racing lines on the track became more apparent, and track conditions had improved to some extent.

Meanwhile, Qin Miao gradually got accustomed to the feeling of driving in the wet conditions of the Sochi Autodrom.

Thus, his speed was significantly faster than the team's estimates.

However, at the start of Q3, everyone was still using intermediate tires.

Qin Miao wanted to switch to slicks, but the team talked him out of it.

Reyes stood beside Qin Miao's car with a tablet and said, "The analysis department thinks the track hasn't dried completely, and during the Q2 pause, the water gathered again. If you really want to switch to slicks, we suggest setting a good time on intermediates first."

After some thought, Qin Miao decided to follow the team's advice and headed out on intermediates.

He set his first flying lap in Q3 on intermediates.

The final time was 1 minute 44.8, which was 0.8 seconds slower than his teammate Hamilton.

But just as Qin Miao crossed the line and hadn't yet communicated with the team about pitting, the track situation suddenly changed.

To everyone's surprise, Russell was the first to enter the pits and switch to soft tires.

Now, the teams running qualifying laps on intermediates couldn't sit still.

With the catfish effect created by Russell, Qin Miao didn't even need to suggest it; the team called him back.

At this moment, Qin Miao had just finished his first flying lap in Q3, far from the pit entry, and the session was six minutes from ending.

The Sochi Autodrom is the longest track this season, taking time to get back, change tires, and run an out lap.

With today's rain, the track temperature was low, at only 15°C.

The optimal working temperature for soft tires is generally between 90-110°C.

In such track conditions and temperature, heating up the slicks was challenging.

One couldn't swerve left and right to warm the tires.

Otherwise, the standing water would show you why the Chinese character for "slip" has three drops and how expensive fixing an F1 car can be.

So, one out lap might not be enough to bring the tires to the right temperature; an extra warm-up lap would be needed.

But the problem was, with only six minutes left before Q3 ended, with Hamilton's fastest lap at 1 minute 44 seconds, five minutes wasn't enough for Qin Miao to bring the soft tires to the optimal temperature.

Thus, Qin Miao had only one chance at a flying lap.

The rhythm of all the drivers ahead of Russell was disrupted by his pit stop.

Among them, Qin Miao was right in front of Russell.

Qin Miao even maliciously speculated that Russell's sudden pit stop might have been a deliberate act of revenge.

Specifically to have the Williams team release Russell right behind him.

But regardless, Qin Miao still aimed to compete on the last lap of Q3, so after acknowledging the "Box" call from the team, Qin Miao completed his in-lap with a qualifying attitude.

He then stormed out after changing to softs in the pit box.

The tire change rhythm was just like during a race pit stop, and if there had been a timer in the bottom right corner, it would have shown Qin Miao's tire change took only 2.0 seconds.

Aside from Qin Miao, the Mercedes staff knew how crucial the next moments were for Qin Miao, and after Monza had once let Qin Miao down, all Mercedes technicians were fully committed in this tire change.

Worth mentioning is that Hamilton had already stopped for a tire change before Qin Miao came in.

But Hamilton's tire change took a long time because the pit entry at Sochi isn't wide, and he came in a bit too fast, sliding slightly and hitting the pit entry barrier with the left front wing.

The impact wasn't light, and Hamilton's left front wing was snapped off.

This crash was equivalent to losing a Mercedes C-Class car.

Fortunately, Hamilton's suspension wasn't affected by the crash.

However, none of the tire changers anticipated Hamilton breaking his front wing during the pit stop, so they weren't prepared.

They only noticed Hamilton's damaged front wing after he stopped in the pit box.

The staff responsible for changing the front wing quickly removed the damaged one, carrying it into the team's garage at a run.

At least half a minute later, he came running out with a brand-new front wing from the garage.

This delay meant Hamilton's time was also insufficient.

Meanwhile, during Hamilton's tire change, Russell had already begun his first flying lap.

However, as mentioned earlier, the tires wouldn't come up to temperature in such track conditions.

After completing one out lap, a warm-up lap was necessary.

From Russell's lap times, it was clear that his first sector on softs was 1.1 seconds slower than his time on intermediates.

But once he started his second flying lap and the soft tires reached their optimal working temperature, his speed improved dramatically.

In the first sector, Russell was 0.5 seconds faster than his time on intermediates.

All the drivers who did an extra lap improved their times by over a second on average in their last flying lap before the session ended.

On the other hand, Sainz went purple in the second sector, being 1.2 seconds faster than Hamilton's second sector.

Meanwhile, when Qin Miao started his first flying lap, only a minute remained in the session.

While a minute might seem long, there wasn't enough time for Qin Miao to complete this lap, bring his tires up to temperature, and do another flying lap.

So, it could be said that Qin Miao didn't even get to run the last flying lap.

On the other hand, the same went for Hamilton, who had only two corners left when the Q3 countdown stopped, just before crossing the finish line again.

In the end, the driver who claimed pole position was McLaren's Norris.

Norris was also one of those who set their lap times following Russell, and his pole could only be attributed to his luck and seizing the opportunity.

Unlike Qin Miao and Perez, the two aquaphobic teammates from the major teams.

From the past Spa to today's Sochi, Norris proved his ability to adapt to wet conditions to everyone.

In the end, during the Q3 phase of qualifying, neither of the Mercedes drivers had ideal results.

After qualifying, Qin Miao's team radio was eerily silent.

Qin Miao didn't speak, and no one from the team spoke either.

For a moment, there was a bit of silence.