How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 654 - 279: The Team Steps In to Mediate (6K, Bonus 4/20)_3

A championship in a race and the reputation built over so many years, which is more important? Qin Miao believes Hamilton has this figured out in his heart.

So he has no worries in this regard.

In the 38th lap, in the DRS zone between T10 and T13, Qin Miao and Hamilton peacefully exchanged positions.

Even because it was a straight path, Qin Miao's speed lost was minimal.

"This was the right thing to do. Although Hamilton is indeed faster than Qin Miao, Qin Miao certainly doesn't want to give up his position to Hamilton. Considering Qin Miao's defensive skills and with no performance gap in cars, Qin Miao might actually lock Hamilton behind him. This situation is not beneficial for anyone," Bing explained the intent behind Mercedes' team orders, worried that domestic fans might not accept it.

"That's right, compared to second and third, the team definitely hopes to see both drivers bring back first and second places, and the points for first place are more than for second and third," Fei said similarly.

"Actually, both Qin Miao and Hamilton are faster than Norris, but it will take time for them to catch up to Norris. Stopping early was timing perfectly," Zhou Haoran stated.

...

When Qin Miao and Hamilton shifted their attention back, the time gap between them and Norris in front was still at 12 seconds.

Immediately after exchanging positions this lap, Qin Miao and Hamilton began to chase Norris ahead.

From this lap onwards, with Hamilton leading, the two Mercedes cars began swiftly chasing Norris ahead.

Qin Miao maintained a gap of 0.8 seconds behind Hamilton, where the turbulence from Hamilton's car wouldn't affect him much, yet he wouldn't be pushed out of the DRS zone by Hamilton.

In the same lap, due to pit strategy errors, Red Bull's Verstappen was overtaken by Alonso behind him because of tire degradation issues.

It can be said that Verstappen's race is basically over, the points he had gained have now been given back quite a bit.

After today's race, Red Bull is definitely scratching their heads.

Having caught up to being just a point away from Hamilton, they are now falling behind again.

In the 40th lap, Hamilton came within 10 seconds of Norris ahead, reducing the gap by 2 seconds in just one lap.

At the same time, the team reminds both drivers, "Light rain is expected in about ten laps, if possible, speed up a bit."

Qin Miao doesn't respond, his current speed is already at his limit.

Hamilton responded very simply, "Copy."

In the 42nd lap, the time gap between Hamilton and Norris reached 6 seconds, still shaving off 2 seconds per lap, an absolutely terrifying proximity rate to be honest.

Meanwhile, Qin Miao had been pulled 1.5 seconds away by Hamilton.

There's nothing to be done; after the team orders, Hamilton's speed increased once more. In the 41st lap, Qin Miao could barely keep up with Hamilton by relying on the DRS, preventing himself from being pushed out of the DRS zone.

But by the 42nd lap, after the ERS was depleted, Hamilton ruthlessly pushed Qin Miao out of the DRS zone.

To this, Qin Miao could only accept it helplessly.

In the 44th lap, Hamilton came within 2 seconds of Norris ahead.

When Norris realized Hamilton's proximity rate, he really felt like swearing.

How the hell is this guy running so fast? Is your Mercedes engine burning nuclear bombs instead of fuel?

From this lap, Hamilton officially started to put pressure on Norris. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

And Qin Miao...

In the 45th lap, because Hamilton caught up with Norris, slowing him down, Qin Miao caught up with Hamilton again.

Even though he caught up with Hamilton, there's not much Qin Miao could do at this point. He could only follow behind Hamilton, waiting for Hamilton to overtake Norris ahead.

Of course, with time, Qin Miao might start to question why it's taking Hamilton so long to overtake? Is it that he doesn't want to pass Norris, preparing to give up his position?

Though these were just passing thoughts for Qin Miao.

Even Qin Miao himself wouldn't be able to overtake Norris in two laps either.

In the same lap, Hamilton got into Norris's DRS zone behind him.

And began his efforts to close in on Norris ahead.

Though Norris was so slow ahead, he mostly focused on conserving tires, and the battery was nearly charged to full capacity.

When Hamilton came behind him, Norris started utilizing his energy reserves fully.

Though the gap between Norris and Hamilton sometimes fell to 0.8 or 0.9 seconds.

But right before the DRS detection point, Norris would suddenly release a wave of energy, extending the gap between them to over 1 second again.

Thus, Hamilton would miss the DRS detection point at that moment.

Leading to Hamilton not being able to utilize DRS to quickly close the gap with Norris ahead in the subsequent long straight.

This indeed counts as an efficient defense method.

For a while, Hamilton quietly continued trailing behind Norris seeking opportunities.