How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 650 - 278: Teammates Meet, Eyes Blaze with Rivalry

When Qin Miao reached the braking point of T2, he had already opened up a massive gap of over 0.4 seconds behind him from Gasly.

It's not that Gasly wasn't trying hard, but Qin Miao's overtaking this time was too straightforward, purely a speed crush, without any technique.

After overtaking Gasly, Qin Miao moved up to fifth, with Norris 6 seconds ahead, and except for Norris, the drivers in front had not pitted, so they weren't a consideration here.

This time surpassing Gasly, Qin Miao had not engaged in any tussle with Gasly, so there was no speed loss, and the gap between him and Norris remained unchanged.

Once behind Norris, Qin Miao immediately asked on the team radio, "How does my speed compare to Norris?"

There was a brief silence on the TR end before Frankie replied, "Your lap times are about the same as Norris. You are 0.1 seconds faster per lap. If you can, try to extract more speed."

"Roger."

After replying to Frankie, Qin Miao began to focus and run his lap times with full force.

However, immersed in chasing Loris, Qin Miao didn't notice that behind him, Sainz was overtaken by Hamilton on lap 30.

Moreover, after Qin Miao overtook Gasly, Hamilton immediately launched an attack on Gasly as well.

Before lap 32, Hamilton used the same method as Qin Miao to overtake Gasly in the DRS zone between T10 and T13.

Gasly, who felt helpless against Qin Miao, felt the same way against Hamilton.

Gasly: "What's wrong with you two?"

After Hamilton overtook Gasly, the time gap between him and Qin Miao was only 2 seconds.

Unlike the two Mercedes drivers leisurely chopping through upfront, Verstappen was virtually held in place by Ricardo at the back.

They were like wells not affecting the river, neither able to do anything to each other.

On lap 34, Qin Miao, running his rhythm in the front, was finally caught up by his teammate Hamilton.

However, after these two laps, Qin Miao had indeed closed the gap to Norris by one second, with only 5 seconds left between them.

Hamilton took 3 laps to catch up into the DRS zone behind Qin Miao, indicating that Qin Miao's speed was not slow.

When Hamilton caught up into the DRS zone behind Qin Miao and began to frequently pressurize him from behind, the broadcaster deliberately switched the TV broadcast to the Mercedes garage, focusing the camera on Toto Wolff's face.

At this time, Toto was still as usual, arms crossed, leaning against his position, his eyes fixed on the monitor in front of him.

However, there was no emotion on Toto's face that the audience expected; Toto seemed very calm, as if the two drivers ready to clash on the field were not from his own team.

What Toto was really thinking at this moment, however, remains unknown.

Strictly speaking, this was actually the first time Qin Miao had a head-on collision with his teammate Hamilton on the track.

In the past, it was either Qin Miao or Hamilton leading by a large margin, or Qin Miao voluntarily gave up his position.

But today, judging from the actions of Qin Miao and Hamilton, neither of them wanted to give up their position easily.

Then, as expected, on lap 35, the two fought.

At the T17 braking point, Hamilton braked late and stuck to the back of Qin Miao's car with a 0.5-second gap after the corner exit. If nothing unexpected happened after the next corner exit, Hamilton could use the 0.5-second gap between him and Qin Miao to overtake him on the long straight leading to the starting line.

After all, by that time, Hamilton would have both DRS and a slipstream, and it would be no surprise if Hamilton took a wider exit line in T18.

However, what no one expected was that Qin Miao's rear wheels slipped slightly when exiting T17, an obvious eagerness when accelerating through the corner.

Although Qin Miao quickly counter-steered to save his nearly out-of-control car, it was a very deadly mistake in defense.

This allowed Hamilton to forcibly cut into the inside line of Qin Miao's car.

After the corner exit, he effortlessly overtook Qin Miao using the inside line advantage.

The spectators on site exclaimed upon seeing this scene.

And the three commentators of Five-Star Sports saw this scene and were incredulously clutching their heads with their hands.

Because, in their minds, Qin Miao's real standout ability was his defensive skills.

But even such a genius driver they considered a master of defense made such a basic mistake against Hamilton.

"It shouldn't be, with Qin Miao's ability and mindset, he shouldn't make such a basic mistake in a place like this," Bing said bluntly, taking a clear stand.

"Judging by Qin Miao's performance all along, he really shouldn't have made such a mistake," the other two commentators nodded in agreement.

But before they could express more opinions, the situation on the track changed again.

Though Qin Miao was overtaken by Hamilton from the inside line when entering T18,

Hamilton used the inside line to overtake Qin Miao, but his exit line from T17 wasn't great, and Qin Miao's rear slip was only minor, not a major error. There was some speed loss, but not much.