How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 783 - 318: Low Profile and Forbearance (6K, Debt Repayment 2/2)

The drivers quickly stopped at their respective positions.

"Five red lights are on! The race begins!"

The race resumed for the third time.

It seemed as if Qin Miao had used up all his luck and reaction speed in the first two starts, or maybe the hard tires really couldn't match the medium tires' speed. This time, Qin Miao's start compared to Hamilton and Verstappen's was merely average. He didn't fall behind much at the start but wasn't as impressive as the first two starts, quickly catching up with the cars ahead.

This time, Verstappen had an exceptionally good start, and Hamilton slightly better than Qin Miao, much better than O'Kang who was in first place.

Of course, it can't be ruled out that Hamilton's reaction speed was the same as O'Kang's, but because Hamilton's car performance was better than O'Kang's, it seemed that Hamilton's start was faster than O'Kang's.

In any case, after the start and before they reached the T1 braking point, Hamilton in second place was already side-by-side with O'Kang in first place, while Verstappen, leveraging his starting advantage, directly squeezed into the inside line of O'Kang and Hamilton.

Then Verstappen executed a signature late braking, forcefully squeezing into the inside line of both others as they entered T1.

Because there were cars on both sides, Hamilton slightly reduced his speed to avoid withdrawing from the race due to an accident on the track.

Hamilton also knew that the most important thing for the three championship contenders wasn't to gain a great position at the start but to protect their cars from an odd incident that could force a withdrawal.

Despite slowing down early, Hamilton still collided with the underside of O'Kang's car when decelerating, but fortunately, neither car suffered major damage, only shaving off a bit of O'Kang's car's underbody, sparking on the ground.

Due to the collision with Hamilton, O'Kang had to abandon his original line into the corner and chose the same line Verstappen used in the second start, cutting outside the track.

As a result, like Verstappen, O'Kang was in first place after exiting from that position off the track.

O'Kang was aware that this maneuver was against the rules, so after T3, he voluntarily gave the position back to Verstappen, but not to Hamilton.

Because when entering the corner, O'Kang's car was ahead of Hamilton's.

The reason is the same as Qin Miao's case.

Hamilton naturally began to protest on the team radio.

Unfortunately, this protest was destined to be as ineffective as Qin Miao's.

Unlike the thrilling exchanges between the top three drivers, Qin Miao's start stood out for its steadiness.

Qin Miao's start wasn't fast but not slow either, and he held the inside line entering the corner, giving Ricardo no chance behind him.

Therefore, after the start, Qin Miao steadily protected his current position, running in fourth.

A lap later, Hamilton overtook O'Kang on the main straight at the start.

O'Kang was quite excited when benefiting fully from the safety car and red flag, coming to the top.

After all, O'Kang felt, regardless of the scenario, starting from the top in this race was favorable, especially on a street circuit. As long as his speed was fast enough, even if the gap to the car behind was 0.5 seconds per lap, O'Kang thought he might have the chance and ability to defend.

However, in the face of real car performance and driver skill, these considerations were meaningless.

At the start, both Hamilton and Verstappen exerted immense pressure on O'Kang.

Verstappen at the front forced issues, while Hamilton easily overtook O'Kang a lap later, relying on the absolute performance of his car, making O'Kang realize the terrifying skill gap between himself and top drivers.

Of course, O'Kang could also blame Alpine's car for not matching up to Red Bull and Mercedes, which was indeed a fact.

In summary, when O'Kang saw Hamilton's car appearing in his rearview mirror, he was initially prepared to awaken the lion within him.

But seeing Hamilton's closing speed, he wisely abandoned this dangerous idea and chose to maintain his rhythm and continue forward, without making any defensive moves.

This could be considered an unimpeded overtaking.

In the 20th lap, in the same spot, Qin Miao also overtook O'Kang in the same manner.

Upon seeing Qin Miao's closing speed, O'Kang chose to do the same as when Hamilton overtook him, which was to make no moves, following his own line and allowing Qin Miao to pass him from the inside.

By the 21st lap, Qin Miao was back in third place.

However, Qin Miao still felt a sense of loss.

After all, O'Kang's speed was a bit slow, and once Qin Miao overtook O'Kang, the time gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton ahead was already 3 seconds, and it was even farther to Verstappen, at a full 4.5 seconds.

Keep in mind, this was only 4 laps into the race's restart.

But there was nothing to be done, it was part of the race.

Now, the best Qin Miao could do was, after overtaking O'Kang, to try to close in on the two in front during the remaining race. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

By the 22nd lap, Qin Miao noticed that his gap with Hamilton had shrunk from 3 seconds to 2.7 seconds.