How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 1147: Chapter 434: I Want to Submit a Party Membership Application! (Part 2)

As the race entered lap 56, the safety car was deployed.

Qin Miao and Verstappen immediately entered the pit lane to change to new soft tires.

As for what Zhou Haoran mentioned, about the safety car leading the drivers through the pit lane...

The teams anticipated this situation, but there was the issue that the safety car would bunch up the drivers.

If Qin Miao followed the safety car for another lap, waiting for the safety car to lead the drivers around the track once before passing through the pit lane while Matthew removed Bottas’ car, the cars would be bunched up together.

Under these circumstances, if Qin Miao pitted to change tires, he could lose more than one or two positions, and might even get a penalty for unsafe release.

A five-second penalty would be considered light.

Moreover, without a slow car between Qin Miao and Verstappen to buffer, it was impossible for Qin Miao to wait until then to pit for tires.

Thus, Qin Miao and Verstappen pitted for tires one after the other.

Qin Miao switched to new soft tires, while Verstappen, having no new soft tires left, switched to another set of worn soft tires.

Because of Qin Miao’s presence, this was Verstappen’s third pit stop.

In any case, the sudden safety car eased the pressure on Qin Miao and allowed him to switch to a new set of soft tires.

However, since both drivers pitted and due to the earlier virtual safety car, the gap between the drivers behind and the two of them was reduced, so when they exited the pit lane, both were overtaken by Hamilton.

Qin Miao dropped to second, Verstappen to third.

Seeing two Mercedes ahead of him, Verstappen couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding.

Simultaneously, Qin Miao and Hamilton thought of the same strategy.

DRS Train!

The safety car continued until lap 60, as Bottas’ car was harder to clear than expected.

From the time Bottas’ car came to a stop on the track to when it was cleared and the safety car withdrew, it took four laps.

With 12 laps remaining, Qin Miao had a brand new set of soft tires, allowing him to fully utilize their potential without conserving.

However, Qin Miao would likely use most of the tire’s durability defending against Verstappen behind him.

Before the race restarted, the team linked Qin Miao’s and Hamilton’s team radios together.

Though during the race, the drivers’ team radios were independent, the communication could be interconnected, a feature rarely used.

Today was the perfect time to use this function.

As Hamilton prepared to restart after the safety car withdrew, he informed Qin Miao over the team radio: "3.2.1, go!"

The two Mercedes accelerated simultaneously, their coordination as if piloting a mecha in the Pacific Rim, immediately pulling ahead of the Red Bull car behind.

Red Bull had already listened in on the Mercedes drivers’ team radio but were unable to relay the communication to Verstappen promptly.

Instantly, the two Mercedes cars opened a 0.5-second gap to Verstappen.

Verstappen hadn’t expected the Mercedes to accelerate from such a tricky position, and their synchronization was particularly high.

Hamilton and Qin Miao began accelerating suddenly at the DRS detection point at T13.

Verstappen was surprised, but the safety car had been out for so many laps that his DRS battery was fully charged. freewebnovёl.ƈom

Additionally, Verstappen was in a state of full concentration, so even if his initial reaction wasn’t as quick as Qin Miao’s, he could catch up to the Mercedes’ speed once he reacted.

Meanwhile, the Red Bull car’s low drag made it the fastest in the field in terms of straight-line acceleration and top speed.

Despite losing out initially on track, almost falling out of the DRS zone at the start,

Red Bull fought back, and by lap 62, Verstappen caught up to Qin Miao’s DRS zone.

Even before the DRS was activated, after exiting T13, Verstappen was in a position to threaten Qin Miao.

Of course, Qin Miao noticed Verstappen’s movements.

However, Qin Miao wasn’t in a rush. Despite having his lap times compromised by teammate Hamilton ahead, which prevented him from maintaining his gap to Verstappen,

it was a blessing in disguise.

From Qin Miao’s perspective, teammate Hamilton was his best defensive tool.

Meanwhile, after T13 and entering T14, Verstappen was only 0.4 seconds behind Qin Miao, making it obvious that at such a gap, Verstappen was poised to attack Qin Miao.

Even those with some racing knowledge understood that Qin Miao might not be able to defend against Verstappen’s attack.