How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 790 - 320: Dawn of Victory

Next, Verstappen was more focused on defeating Hamilton; at the very least, he needed to secure second place in this race.

So, when Qin Miao looked in the rearview mirror, he noticed that the behavior of these two people was particularly strange.

After Qin Miao entered T27, Verstappen noticed that Hamilton still hadn't overtaken him before the DRS detection point, and then suddenly hit the brakes hard.

Verstappen knew that F1 drivers have very quick reaction times, so he believed that even if Hamilton didn't want to overtake before the DRS detection point, he would still attempt to steer away.

At that moment, as long as Hamilton's car nose was ahead of his, Verstappen would have fulfilled the team's request to let Hamilton pass.

As for reclaiming that position by accelerating past Hamilton during the moment of his surprise or cursing in the cockpit, well, that would be due to his own skills.

Regarding the potential controversies that may arise from this tactic...

F1 is a place where the victors are celebrated, and the losers are forgotten. People cheer for the birth of a new world champion and don't focus on the wrongdoings of that champion throughout the season.

Even if someone remembers the incident, as long as the driver continues winning, no one will spread it around.

On Hamilton's side, after noticing Verstappen's move, he remained the same as before.

Even though he was worried as Qin Miao sped away, he understood.

If he passed the DRS detection point faster than Verstappen, after exiting T27, Verstappen would reclaim the position he handed back.

In doing so, Verstappen would waste even more of Hamilton's time.

Thus, Hamilton, just like the previous lap, had no choice but to slow down like Verstappen.

Naturally, while Hamilton was decelerating, Verstappen's sudden hard brake indeed startled him.

However, Hamilton didn't react as quickly as Verstappen anticipated to dodge him.

After all, at that moment, part of Hamilton's attention was still on Qin Miao's car ahead.

Hamilton knew he was faster than Qin Miao in this race, so even if the laps remaining were few and Qin Miao was leading, Hamilton still believed he could overtake Qin Miao and reclaim the championship he felt was rightfully his.

Therefore, Hamilton reacted a bit slowly to Verstappen's sudden brake, and when he turned the wheel left, the right front wing of Hamilton's car collided with Verstappen's left rear tire.

Verstappen was shaken, losing rear-wheel grip, but being Verstappen, he quickly countered with a micro-adjustment to stabilize the nearly out-of-control car.

Fortunately, the collision wasn't too severe. Hamilton only broke his left endplate and the rest of the front wing was largely intact, while Verstappen's rear tire wasn't cut by debris.

Upon feeling the vibration and hearing the sound of carbon fiber cracking, Verstappen knew he'd collided with Hamilton, making his heart skip a beat.

It wasn't concern about his car losing control, but about possible penalties from the FIA.

But Verstappen thought: a collision is a collision; things couldn't get worse than they are now, at least Hamilton has already passed...

Thinking of this, Verstappen glanced in his left rearview mirror.

After colliding with him, Hamilton unexpectedly stopped on the track, not intending to pass Verstappen and reach the DRS detection point ahead.

Alright, so that's how you play it, huh?

Seeing Hamilton refusing to overtake even after the collision, Verstappen simply ignored him and accelerated away.

Hamilton, upon seeing this, also accelerated to follow Verstappen.

This collision was actually beyond Hamilton's expectations. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

So when Hamilton restarted, his rhythm was off, and he didn't catch Verstappen's slipstream at the DRS detection point.

By the time Hamilton regained his race rhythm, the gap between him and Verstappen had expanded to 2 seconds.

This collision reignited the recently resolved tension between Mercedes and Red Bull over the FIA's penalties.

Toto, upon witnessing the scene, furiously cursed with several F-words and, possibly unable to contain his anger, smashed his headset on the spot.

Several laps later, on lap 42, in a similar manner at the same location, Verstappen still didn't yield the racing line.

His way of letting Hamilton pass was merely slowing on the proper racing line, leaving the inside for Hamilton to overtake.

By then, Hamilton knew he couldn't keep entangling with Verstappen because the gap between him and Qin Miao had already increased to 3.2 seconds.