How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 779 - 316: Unexpected Yellow Flag

Next up, there were no position changes between the leading drivers, even with the DRS open, Qin Miao could only hover 1.4 seconds behind Hamilton.

It was almost the same for Verstappen, as he could only stay behind Qin Miao, also failing to enter Qin Miao's DRS zone.

Honestly, Qin Miao felt that Hamilton was relying on the fact that this track was difficult to overtake on, holding back both him and Verstappen.

As for Leclerc, who was in fourth place by the fifth lap and 3 seconds behind Verstappen in front of him...

It could only be said that the Mercedes and Red Bull cars were too fast.

On the 9th lap, the time gap between the top three drivers remained unchanged, with the time gap between Leclerc and Verstappen having reached 5 seconds.

At this point, Qin Miao was already considering whether he should pit later and switch to a set of soft tires after pitting.

Even though this track made it difficult to heat up the tires in the later stages of the race, and soft tires had a higher working temperature compared to medium and hard tires, which was troublesome.

But Qin Miao was confident in getting the soft tires up to an optimal working temperature within two laps.

Just as he started pondering, the race entered the 10th lap and shortly after.

A yellow flag appeared on the track.

Qin Miao's thoughts turned into wishful thinking.

This yellow flag appeared in the second sector.

When the broadcast camera cut over, it showed a Haas embedded in the guardrail.

The rear wheel was crooked, the rear wing entirely broken, and even the engine cover was knocked off.

Soon, with the changes in the ranking on the left side, everyone reacted and realized that the driver involved in the incident was Mick Schumacher.

Upon confirming that Mick had an accident and that the guardrail had been damaged, requiring repair, the Safety Car was deployed.

The matter was now handed over to Mercedes and Red Bull.

Should they pit during this Safety Car? And what tires should they change to?

The team discussed quickly, and shortly after, Qin Miao received a TR from Frankie: "BOX! BOX!"

Actually, Qin Miao was somewhat reluctant to pit, considering it was only the 10th lap of the race, and there might be another Safety Car later on.

Moreover, his medium tires could last at least ten more laps, so pitting now seemed unnecessary.

However, after thinking it over, Qin Miao ultimately gave up on suggesting alternatives, slowed down honestly, and then followed Hamilton into the pits to change to hard tires.

Due to the Safety Car, and since Qin Miao and Hamilton had already created a sufficient gap with the cars behind before pitting.

And also because Leclerc and Perez both opted to pit as well.

So after pitting, they positioned themselves behind Verstappen, who hadn't pitted, without losing too many positions.

Qin Miao was in third, Hamilton in second, and Verstappen in first.

Behind Qin Miao was O'Kang, who like Verstappen, hadn't pitted.

Then, as all the cars prepared to resume racing after the Safety Car ended, the Safety Car led for three laps.

Matthew, the trackside marshal, looked at the bent guardrail and helplessly took out his walkie-talkie to inform the stewards: "The guardrail repair will take at least 5 minutes."

Then on the 13th lap, the stewards issued a red flag.

Qin Miao, Hamilton, and all the drivers who chose to pit for a tire change during the Safety Car, upon seeing the red flag, had a big question mark pop up in their minds.

If you were going to issue a red flag, why the hell did you let the Safety Car lead for three laps?

Qin Miao even swore in his helmet without using the team's TR: "Massi, WCNMLGJB!"

On Hamilton's team TR, they directly sent out a signal: "Beep beep beep beep~"

However, because Hamilton's message was rather too polite, FOM didn't broadcast that part of the conversation.