How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 652 - 279: The Team Steps in to Mediate

At this moment, the director once again switched the live camera to Toto Wolff, and Toto no longer appeared as calm and composed as before.

Right now, Toto was standing with one arm crossed over his chest, the other hand kneading his forehead, looking somewhat troubled.

And indeed, he was regretting why he agreed not to interfere in the duel between Qin Miao and Hamilton back then.

Even if he had to make such a promise to Qin Miao, he should have let Qin Miao stay with the team for another year to observe him for a while.

Toto began to reflect on himself, thinking he might have been too eager to secure a leading driver for Mercedes for the next decade.

...

After a failed attack, both drivers needed to recharge their battery power.

So, it was clearly visible from the broadcast that the rear indicator lights of both cars were flashing red, indicating they were recharging their cars.

Lap 37, still the same place, the same people.

As Qin Miao exited T17, there was oversteer again, causing the rear wheels to slightly slip and speed to drop.

Yet again, Hamilton faced the same decision.

To overtake, or not to overtake?

At this moment, many thought Hamilton should learn from the previous feint by Qin Miao and refrain from overtaking, staying closely behind him until the start-finish straight to make a move.

But at this point, if Hamilton doesn't overtake Qin Miao, he must apply the brakes or significantly ease off the throttle.

On the racetrack, a 0.1-second speed gap can determine the outcome of a race or the fight for the podium.

So, even though Hamilton knew this was another opening left by Qin Miao, he still chose to overtake Qin Miao.

Isn't it just a defense? This time, Hamilton had a plan to counter Qin Miao's overtaking.

And just like before, Qin Miao took a wider line at T18, relying on the slipstream provided by Hamilton and the assistance of DRS, ready again to cut to the inside.

But this time, Hamilton chose to switch lines at the same time as Qin Miao, just as Qin Miao was pulling out from behind Hamilton to switch lines, denying him access to the inside line.

Realizing that Hamilton had opted for an early defensive move to block the inside line, Qin Miao simply decided not to fight for it, counter-steering to dive from Hamilton's outside line.

However, Qin Miao's approach rate was slightly lacking compared to the last time, so by the time they passed the pit exit, he was only wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton.

Approaching the T2 braking point, Qin Miao hadn't completely overtaken Hamilton.

At that moment, Qin Miao's right rear tire was directly opposed to Hamilton's left front tire, but he knew this small advantage wasn't enough. Therefore, Qin Miao tried to squeeze Hamilton towards the right side of the track.

Heading into T2, both Qin Miao and Hamilton's entry angles were not at the optimal point on the far left side of the track, rather just at the middle.

At the T2 position, knowing he was at a disadvantage, Hamilton slightly veered more to the right, preparing to brake later, while Qin Miao was ready to take a crossover line.

What no one, including Qin Miao, anticipated was that when Hamilton tried for a late brake, for some reason, his right rear wheel locked up.

Producing a trail of white smoke, he skidded straight towards the T2 runoff area.

Luckily, as Qin Miao was preparing to take the crossover line, he evaded Hamilton's torpedo-like move.

Thankfully, the Sochi track's T2 runoff area was spacious enough that, after skidding off, Hamilton could regain control of his car and return to the track through the escape road. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Due to Hamilton's mistakes, Qin Miao retained his position. When Hamilton got back on track, the gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton was 2 seconds.

Both of them could take a slight breather, catch their breath, and recharge their cars again.

Hamilton's error this time wasn't largely attributed to his operation but was purely due to the poor track conditions at that moment.

When Qin Miao negotiated the bend, he deliberately squeezed Hamilton towards the dirty side of the track, and since Hamilton was preparing to brake later on the inside line, he naturally had to push the brakes to their limits.

During braking, Hamilton's tire grip was at a critical state.

In such a state, any slight contact with something would instantly destabilize the tyre balanced at its limit.

On the typical racing line, because cars are constantly passing, even if there's dust or small stones, they're blown to the sides of the track.

The dirty side is called so because visually undetectable debris is more prevalent on this part of the track.

Things like rubber debris, tiny stones, dust—all of these can affect a car's balance.

At that moment, Hamilton ran over a small stone, causing a slight loss in rear tire grip, and as a result, the rear wheel locked up.

Qin Miao hadn't anticipated this outcome either; his aim in pushing Hamilton to the dirty side was simply to make Hamilton's tires pick up more rubber, thereby slowing down Hamilton's car.