How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 718 - 299: Did He Really Complete a Stint on Hard Tires?

However, it is worth mentioning.

Lap 24, which is the time point just after Qin Miao overtook Kimi.

Hamilton had already been pulled away by Verstappen by nearly 9 seconds.

Red Bull's trust in Verstappen received its due reward, they did not trust the wrong person, and Verstappen indeed defeated Hamilton.

From the moment the safety car withdrew and Verstappen started, until now, Verstappen hasn't given Hamilton any chance to attack him.

And at this moment, Hamilton is also somewhat discontented, complaining on the team's radio: "Red Bull is so much faster than us in this race."

It sounds like a complaint, but actually, Hamilton is putting pressure on the team.

What kind of lousy car have you given me? Why can't I catch up with Verstappen?

And it's not just Hamilton feeling exasperated, others at Mercedes, except the staff focusing on Qin Miao, looked at Verstappen getting further and further away, feeling the same unreal sensation as Hamilton.

After all, in yesterday's qualifying, both Red Bulls performed poorly.

Who would have thought that in the race, Verstappen could pull away from Hamilton by 9 seconds in just 20 laps, and Perez could stay 2.2 seconds behind Hamilton, continuously putting pressure on Hamilton and Mercedes' strategy team.

But Qin Miao was not aware of the team's frustration, instead, he was quite relaxed at this time.

It's hard to see how fast Qin Miao was in this race, but he really cut through the field seemingly effortlessly, apart from Giovinazzi and Ricardo who lined up behind Qin Miao after leaving the pit stop, every driver behind Qin Miao was overtaken by him.

At least it proves that Qin Miao's speed in this race was definitely noteworthy.

On lap 31, Qin Miao completed the overtake on Vettel.

This overtake took Qin Miao 5 laps to close in on Vettel, and another two laps to overtake him.

After completing this overtake, Qin Miao moved up to the 7th position.

And ahead of him, at 11 seconds distance, was Sainz.

Seeing this time gap, the three commentators from Five-Star Sports all breathed a sigh of relief.

In this race, Qin Miao occasionally overtook a driver, occasionally overtook another.

Even if you put aside the commentary identity, purely from a fan's perspective, Qin Miao's performance was indeed thrilling to watch.

But as commentators, every time Qin Miao overtakes, they have to say something, it's really exhausting.

This bittersweet feeling can finally come to an end.

Now Qin Miao finally reached a period without slow cars or other drivers blocking him, where he could comfortably run a long stretch and try to cool down his tires and engine.

However, in lap 31, Leclerc chose to pit.

When Leclerc came out, he directly fell to the 10th position, behind Alonso.

Thus, Qin Miao moved forward to the 6th position.

But at this moment, apart from Hamilton and Qin Miao, none of the drivers in front of Leclerc had pitted, and the pit stop Qin Miao made was before the race started, so he inevitably has to pit again later.

Therefore, Ferrari believes that Leclerc's original 5th position can still be maintained.

The pit stops by Hamilton and Leclerc also effectively opened up the pit window for the front runners.

On lap 32, after Hamilton pitted, Gasly, who was in 3rd, pitted and rejoined in 8th.

It's worth noting that Zhou Haoran, who has been closely monitoring Qin Miao's lap times, suddenly exclaimed, "This lap, Leclerc's speed on new white tires is the same as Qin Miao's on old white tires running for 33 laps?!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Huh? Is Qin Miao's speed this fast now?" Bing and Fei both seemed surprised after hearing Zhou Haoran's words.

"Yes, and Qin Miao is even 0.1 seconds faster than Leclerc."

"Let's wait and see, it's likely the first lap, Leclerc's tires haven't reached the optimal working temperature."

...

On lap 34, Verstappen pitted, taking 2.2 seconds, and rejoined in 2nd, in front of Hamilton, behind Perez.

In this race, Verstappen's speed was too fast, leaving Hamilton behind, and even his own teammate.

On lap 37, Qin Miao narrowed down to within 8 seconds behind Sainz, taking 3 seconds in 6 laps, noticeably slowing down, while Gasly, who originally lined up in 4th, was now 7 seconds behind Qin Miao.

Despite Qin Miao being ahead of Gasly, and according to FIA data, Qin Miao's speed was the same as Gasly's,

no one at Red Bull was worried because everyone believed that Qin Miao's set of hard tires wouldn't last the whole race, and he inevitably has to pit again to change tires.

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So Red Bull leisurely awaited Qin Miao's pit stop.

As soon as Qin Miao pits, Red Bull will be ready to put pressure on Qin Miao.

On lap 40, Qin Miao's speed began to drop, but honestly, not by much.

However, Qin Miao's fatigue caught the attention of Gasly behind, who began to close the time gap between them.

At the same time, Perez opted to pit, switching to hard tires, and rejoined 4 seconds ahead of Sainz.

On lap 43, Qin Miao narrowed the time gap to 3 seconds behind Sainz ahead.