How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 760 - 312: Qatar Finale (6K, Extra Release 8/14)

It is worth mentioning that the pit stop tire change time lost at Losail International Circuit is approximately 22 seconds.

When the top three drivers exited the pit stop, their positions remained unchanged, still holding their original spots.

In other words, with only 19 laps into the race, the gap between the three and Alonso in fourth place had already exceeded 22 seconds.

...

After Qin Miao came out, he naturally had a different idea.

Qin Miao started accelerating.

Due to the team's temporary decision, Qin Miao also switched to a two-stop strategy for this race, so Qin Miao no longer had to worry about tire wear.

Moreover, with the local temperature in Qatar tonight only at 26℃, it's comfortable for the car's cooling system, so Qin Miao didn't have to worry about the car engine overheating.

Therefore, after coming out, Qin Miao started accelerating to chase Hamilton ahead of him.

On lap 20, it was visible that the original 10-second gap between Hamilton and Qin Miao had been shortened to 8.9 seconds.

Qin Miao closed the gap to Hamilton by 1.1 seconds in one lap.

The reason Qin Miao was able to catch up so quickly was not only because of his acceleration without worrying about tire degradation, but also because Hamilton had little sense of crisis at that moment, running at a normal tire-conserving pace.

Meanwhile, as Qin Miao was fully accelerating on this lap, Verstappen was also accelerating behind him.

Verstappen knew that when Qin Miao came out with fresh tires, the tire temperature definitely hadn't warmed up yet, giving him one lap to heat the tires, maybe he would be able to use this chance to overtake Qin Miao.

However, Verstappen was a bit shocked to find that under the influence of Qin Miao's car turbulence, he couldn't catch up to Qin Miao...

Moreover, his tentative attacks from behind Qin Miao couldn't disrupt Qin Miao's race rhythm at all.

In fact, by lap 21, the gap between the two had even widened to 2.5 seconds. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

In the next few laps, Verstappen maintained his position behind Qin Miao, attempting to pressure him, but whether it was sudden acceleration or pulling out before the braking points on the track, it had no impact on Qin Miao.

Qin Miao behaved as if he didn't notice Verstappen pressing from behind, continuing to run his rhythm on the track.

Verstappen, on the contrary, didn't find it unusual because Qin Miao's defensive ability had always been like this.

Lap 28.

After 8 laps, the gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton was marked at 5 seconds.

Qin Miao also gave up on continuing to chase Hamilton because he really couldn't catch up; when Hamilton started to accelerate, Qin Miao could only gain less than 0.2 seconds per lap on Hamilton.

Moreover, Qin Miao had a feeling that Hamilton was in a normal race cruising mode, and if he also started to accelerate, he might really not be able to catch up with him.

On the other hand, Verstappen was also following at a distance of 2.7 seconds behind Qin Miao without any movement.

In this race, Mercedes' cars were indeed strong, although Verstappen knew his personal ability was superior to Qin Miao, he couldn't catch up with Qin Miao, and it was somewhat strenuous to stay behind Qin Miao.

Thus, the top three drivers officially entered a cruising state.

And the most surprising thing in this lap was that Ferrari executed a double car pit stop.

And even more surprisingly, Ferrari's tire change didn't encounter any mishaps.

Sainz's tire change time was 2.2 seconds, while Leclerc took 2.4 seconds.

Both drivers switched from medium tires to hard tires, and both tire changes were very smooth.

Despite this tire change being only considered excellent for other teams like Mercedes, Red Bull, or even McLaren, for Ferrari, this kind of tire change was enough to make the Iron Buddha Temple fans ecstatic.

In fact, quite a few imaginative Iron Buddha Temple fans started imagining Ferrari's strong rise next season, sweeping the competition and finally reversing Ferrari's recent downfall, stepping on Mercedes and punching Red Bull, ultimately clinching the teams' and drivers' double championship in the 2022 season.

The Iron Buddha Temple fans rarely had something good to enjoy.

Lap 38, 10 laps later, due to tire wear and the passage of time, Verstappen gradually fell behind Qin Miao's pace.

At this point, Qin Miao still maintained a gap of 5 seconds with Hamilton in front of him, but the gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao widened from 2.7 seconds to 4.4 seconds.

Lap 40, at this point, there were 17 laps left until the end of the race.

Qin Miao asked Frankie: "Do I still have a set of soft tires in reserve?"

Frankie was puzzled as to why Qin Miao suddenly asked this, especially since the strategy didn't include an option for Qin Miao to switch to soft tires because the strategy group had simulated the yellow-white-red pit stop strategy and found that the speed would be dismal.

Though puzzled internally, Frankie still responsibly replied: "Yes, you have left a set of soft tires in reserve for yourself in almost every race."

Then Qin Miao curiously asked: "How many laps can my soft tires run on this track?"

"The result from Friday's second practice was 13 laps, but we were using different setups back then.

If you were to pit now, the lifespan of the soft tires would be about 11 laps." Frankie glanced at his recorded data.

"Got it." After responding, Qin Miao didn't continue speaking but slightly increased his speed.