How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 811 - 327: Pan’s Signature Defensive Move_2

Despite Alonso's decent speed in the starting phase, the car's performance restrained this veteran's prowess, with Alonso attempting an inside maneuver before T1, but considering safety, Alonso ultimately failed to overtake Yuki Tsunoda ahead.

Aside from the two drivers around Qin Miao, the performance of the two front-row starters in the opening phase was somewhat surprising.

Even if Verstappen wins the final race of this competition, he might not necessarily win this year's driver championship, but if Verstappen doesn't strive for it, miracles will never happen.

Opportunities are always reserved for the prepared.

Thus, in this race, Verstappen is still giving it his all, which aligns with the consistent character he has shown.

However, whether Verstappen's rhythm was affected by his disadvantage on the scoreboard or by some other reason, his starting phase was directly poor, even slower than Norris behind him.

Yet, Hamilton had the best start in this race, his speed even faster than Qin Miao.

Thus, viewers could see through the broadcast that Hamilton completely overtook Verstappen ahead left at a distance of 100 meters from the T1 braking point.

The competition for the championship seemed to have ended before it even began.

...

Hamilton's lead benefited from Verstappen providing an opportunity, otherwise, if Verstappen started with his normal rhythm, even if Hamilton's start was faster, he might have had to engage in a fierce braking duel at T1 with Verstappen to determine the final outcome of the race.

Of course, due to Verstappen's mistake and Hamilton's terrifying start speed, such a scenario didn't occur, and Hamilton directly took the lead right after the start.

After gaining the lead advantage, Hamilton wasn't thinking much, besides occasionally glancing at the rearview mirror to check the distance between himself and Verstappen.

He was praying to all the deities he knew, unknowns, the believed, and the unbelieved while racing, hoping Qin Miao wouldn't catch up to Verstappen from behind and obtain third place later in the race.

The start didn't witness any accidents or similar issues, everyone had a relatively smooth start, but this start was catastrophic for Red Bull, who already had low morale because of Verstappen's seemingly slim chances of winning the championship.

The only consolation for Red Bull was that Perez managed to move up a position after the start, reaching third place, and in this race, Perez might collaborate with Verstappen on pit-stop strategy.

But at this moment, everything is uncertain; we'll have to wait for the race to continue to reveal the reality.

Of course, Qin Miao wasn't in a hurry to attack Alonso ahead after the start.

Even though Alonso's speed was considerably slower than his, with Qin Miao's acceleration evidently quicker after some corners and exits.

Qin Miao knew his primary goal in this race wasn't to chase Hamilton and snatch the championship from him, but rather to secure third place.

In Qin Miao's view, third place genuinely wasn't difficult; to obtain it, he just needed to protect his car and complete the race at a normal speed.

On the track, while everyone thought Hamilton would proceed normally in the race, even if Verstappen attacks Hamilton, it should be when the DRS opens and utilizes the soft tire advantage for assault.

Hamilton and Verstappen's first exchange began in this race.

Not even a lap after starting, Verstappen followed Hamilton from T1 to T5.

After exiting T5, relying on his soft tire's exit advantage, Verstappen didn't fall behind Hamilton by much, despite Hamilton's Mercedes car boasting stronger engine performance and exit speed, but Verstappen relied on his set of soft tires, didn't get left behind by Hamilton, and drew in on Hamilton's slipstream.

Then, on Yas Marina's longest straight, Verstappen started shortening the time gap with Hamilton in the middle of the straight.

Subsequently, both approached the T1 braking point, Verstappen even edged in on the inside line, but at the normal braking point position, Verstappen had not yet attempted an inside maneuver on Hamilton.

Knowing the distance between himself and Verstappen, Hamilton didn't defend against Verstappen, so he maintained a normal entry line.

But Verstappen suddenly brake late, forcefully entering Hamilton's inside line.

Not that big of a deal, this counts as a normal offensive-and-defensive maneuver, and soft tires indeed have an advantage over medium tires in braking. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Soft tires offer better braking point, braking timing, and braking efficiency than medium tires.

Hamilton was still at an advantage, after all, if this continued, Hamilton had line rights, worst case; the two cars would be in parallel entering the corner, then at T7, he'd regain position using the inside advantage.

But forcing into Hamilton's inside line, Verstappen showed no intention of yielding and performed a classic maneuver of squeezing the opponent off the track after exiting the corner.

This was orchestrated back at the T6 corner's apex, after crossing the apex, Verstappen didn't take the ideal exit line but rather squeezed Hamilton, pushing him toward the outside of the track.

If it had been Hamilton in the past encountering such a situation, squeezed off track by the opponent, he might not have thought of a good solution.

However, after several on-track battles with Verstappen, Hamilton learned a bit from Verstappen.

Thus, squeezed off track by Verstappen, Hamilton immediately stopped racing within the normal track, cutting the corner, skipping a T7, and returning to the track.

In doing so, Hamilton ran one less corner than Verstappen, upon returning to the track, Hamilton's speed naturally surpassed Verstappen entering the corner on a normal line.

When the broadcast once again focused on Hamilton, he had overtaken Verstappen by at least five car lengths.

Judging by Hamilton's actions, he showed no intention of giving the position back to Verstappen behind.

Upon seeing Hamilton's move, Verstappen naturally complained first on the team radio, "He cut the corner!"

Red Bull immediately reassured Verstappen, "Don't worry, we'll communicate with FIA and race stewards about this, you focus on your race, leave the rest to us."

Hamilton wasn't outdone, during the team radio immediately after returning to the track he stated, "Verstappen pushed me off the track!"

After a brief discussion with the team, Hamilton's race engineer replied, "We don't think there's anything wrong with what you did."

In this corner-cutting dispute, each party had its reasons, so the decision on how to penalize Hamilton's corner-cutting was up to the race stewards.

On the track, after rejoining, the time gap between Hamilton and Verstappen had extended to 2.4 seconds, but Hamilton knew he had at least gained a one-second advantage, so he slightly reduced his speed, controlled the gap between himself and Verstappen to 1.4 seconds.

Meanwhile, as everyone's attention was on Verstappen and Hamilton, discussing who was primarily at fault and how FIA would punish the two drivers, Qin Miao silently overtook Alonso ahead at the same location.