How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 738 - 305: Working Up a Sweat, Toto

At this time, Qin Miao still had 60% ERS power, but after defending against Hamilton for two laps, there was now a four-second gap between him and Verstappen.

Qin Miao pondered for a moment and before exiting T13 onto the start-finish straight, he asked Frankie over the team TR: "How much faster is Hamilton per lap compared to me?"

Although uncertain why Qin Miao suddenly posed such a baffling question, Frankie dutifully responded: "Before Hamilton got behind you, he was about 0.32 seconds faster per lap."

And just as Frankie answered Qin Miao, Hamilton happened to pull out on the outside line.

Indeed, even though Qin Miao was conversing with Frankie, when Hamilton arrived in a threatening position behind him, Qin Miao instinctively chose to defend by taking the inside line.

By this time, both had crossed the finish line detection point and entered the twenty-third lap.

Upon hearing Frankie's answer, Qin Miao replied: "Received."

Afterwards, Qin Miao remained silent.

While Frankie was finishing the communication and started pondering why Qin Miao suddenly asked such a question, an unexpected situation occurred on the track.

After Hamilton pulled out on the outside line, Qin Miao surprisingly did not opt for late braking this time but allowed Hamilton to overtake from the outside, gaining full advantage.

This was indeed the minimal speed loss for Qin Miao while ceding position.

As for why Qin Miao suddenly changed his mind.

On one hand, watching Verstappen widen the gap with him, Qin Miao realized that if he continued to tussle with Hamilton, neither he nor Hamilton would ultimately benefit, but rather Verstappen would.

The principle of the snipe and the clam fighting and the fisherman benefiting was something Qin Miao learned in elementary school.

On the other hand, Verstappen was scoring higher than Hamilton on the points table at this point.

In other words, compared to Hamilton, Verstappen's victory posed a greater threat to Qin Miao.

And Qin Miao's speed in this race was not as fast as he imagined.

Even though the team brought vehicle upgrades to Brazil, Qin Miao seemingly couldn't find the setup that suited him best there.

So Qin Miao felt that instead of continuing to exhaust himself internally battling Hamilton, letting him pass would be better for both the team and himself.

Of course, these were merely the reasons that prompted Qin Miao to make such a decision; the main reason was that Qin Miao realized that Perez, behind Hamilton, had closed in within 1.9 seconds during Hamilton's attack.

If it dragged on, both Qin Miao's and Hamilton's positions might not be secure...

Despite being a bit surprised that Qin Miao let him pass, Hamilton knew that, in any case, he had finally gotten past Qin Miao.

While Hamilton was confident about overtaking Qin Miao himself, he was unsure about how much time would be wasted in doing so.

"Please thank Qin Miao for me," said Hamilton over the team TR after being allowed to pass.

"Received."

Meanwhile, seeing Qin Miao's clear move to let pass, the three commentators from Five-Star Sports highly praised this action: "That's right, if they continued battling, it would inevitably result in mutual damage.

Ultimately, it would favor Red Bull and Verstappen."

"Absolutely, letting Hamilton through was the right choice; it looks like the team issued orders," Bing agreed.

But as Bing had just finished speaking, the F1 broadcast replayed Hamilton's thank you to Qin Miao.

And Frankie indeed conveyed Hamilton's gratitude to Qin Miao on the team TR.

"Qin Miao, Hamilton wants to say thank you to you."

Qin Miao naturally knew what the other party meant: "Received, I'll watch his performance from behind."

After the playback ended, the commentators at Five-Star Sports were left puzzled.

"What does this mean?"

"Hmm... could it be that the team did not issue instructions to these two drivers during their duel, and this move was Qin Miao's voluntary decision?" Though Zhou Haoran was the one speaking, his tone was full of uncertainty.

"It's very possible."

"If that's truly the case, we can't help but admire Qin Miao's sense of the bigger picture. Remember, Qin Miao currently has a lead against his teammate on the points table." Fei analyzed: "Frankly speaking, Hamilton's eighth championship is a matter between the team and Hamilton, and has nothing to do with Qin Miao.

This is merely my first season in my career, starting from scratch with no limitations, just being able to beat my teammate means a successful season for me."

Fei's meaning is quite clear, even if Qin Miao doesn't directly secure the drivers' championship title as his points suggest, just defeating his teammate Hamilton by season's end marks a successful season for Qin Miao, because he defeated the seven-time champion Hamilton while driving the same spec car.

This fact alone proves Toto's choice was correct, and Qin Miao can validate his strength and talent which Toto noticed in him.