How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 1183: Chapter 447: Gamblers Never Die a Good Death (Part 2)

"Virtual safety car in place, how are the track conditions?" Qin Miao asked immediately in the team radio after seeing the virtual safety car appear on the track.

Frankie knows exactly what Qin Miao is thinking right now, so he immediately replied, "To be honest, we don’t think the current track conditions are suitable for switching to dry tires. Let’s stay out; we’ll inform you the moment conditions improve."

Though Qin Miao felt a bit regretful, he said, "Copy that."

In fact, the team also felt that the current track conditions were quite suitable for using dry tires, as several corners already had racing lines formed.

After all, Qin Miao is currently in third place, and the team could not possibly gamble with Qin Miao’s third-place points, especially since the first place was held by his teammate, Hamilton.

Whether or not Qin Miao gains an advantage from this gamble, at most, he would only gain an extra second place.

Simply put, there’s a big chance of losing if they gamble, but no chance of losing if they don’t.

At least they can secure a third-place finish as a foundation, and when the track conditions improve and DRS opens, Qin Miao might have a chance to challenge for second place while staying stable.

On the 26th lap, when Qin Miao pushed the pressure level on Leclerc in front of him to [32%], a yellow flag suddenly appeared on the track.

The driver in trouble was Albon, who failed to brake at T8 and crashed into the track barrier.

Although the car’s four wheels were fine, the front wing was knocked off and left on the track.

After the accident, Albon reversed and drove out to return to the pits to fit a new front wing. His race could continue.

However, after returning to the pit garage, Williams fitted a new front wing on Albon’s car but did not let him continue the race.

Because at this moment, Albon had already been lapped by Stroll. Even if he completed the entire race, apart from increasing engine wear, Williams would not gain anything and would also risk further damage to Albon’s car.

Therefore, from an economic perspective and to avoid risks, the Williams team ultimately chose to retire Albon from the race.

Both drivers of the Williams team retired, and the team packed up early and left.

On the track ahead, Qin Miao, now in third place, looked at Leclerc’s pressure level of [32%] and was puzzled.

Logically, since he had been putting pressure on Leclerc for so many laps, Leclerc’s pressure level shouldn’t be rising so slowly. How did he suddenly become so resilient?

Has he been secretly training behind my back?

In any case, after the race, Qin Miao has to ask him, we’re friends, you can’t develop new abilities to beat me!

On the 28th lap, Alpine might have also decided to give up, feeling that no matter how the race went, they couldn’t achieve a decent result. So at the T23 exit, O’Kang’s car engine developed a problem, smoking and coming to a stop on the track.

The race again deployed a virtual safety car.

And Qin Miao was a bit anxious now because after running 28 laps, without DRS, he could only catch up to Leclerc but couldn’t find any opportunity to attack him. His opponent’s pace was just too fast this race.

The only good news was that Sainz was in poor form this race, trailing Perez by a full 10 seconds after 28 laps.

Ahead of Sainz, Perez was facing the same issue Qin Miao was. Much like Qin Miao, Perez’s car was quick but couldn’t find any opportunity to attack on the challenging-to-overtake Marina Bay track, only managing to trail behind Qin Miao.

Qin Miao could focus on defending against Perez, while giving full attention to lap times without issue.

Based on years of racing experience, Perez judged that throughout this race, he hadn’t exerted any substantial pressure on Qin Miao.

By the 32nd lap, all drivers were still using intermediate tires.

The difference was that after 30 laps, the tread on all intermediate tires was almost worn out, making the contact patches roughly equivalent to regular slick tires.

But now, the track surface was visibly drying.

All drivers and team strategy groups knew that now was the time to pit and switch to dry tires, but no one dared to gamble.

Because if they gambled and lost, it would mean losing points.

However, some teams are not afraid to take risks. Finally, on the 32nd lap, Alfa Romeo, the only team with a driver left on the track, decided to take the gamble.

Since Bottas was in 14th place, just four positions away from the points zone, it wasn’t impossible for Bottas to grab that point with his speed.

However, at this stage of the race, Bottas was a full 19 seconds behind Stroll, who was in the points zone. Unless something unexpected occurred, Bottas was already out of contention for the points.

So Alfa Romeo took a gamble by pitting Bottas this lap to switch to medium tires.

Since Pirelli provided the softest tire compounds, C5-C3, this week, all three tire types had similar operating temperatures, so the difference in using a hard tire at this point was negligible.

"Alfa Romeo is starting to make some changes!" Upon witnessing this, the three commentators from Five-Star Sports immediately perked up, their pitch higher.

"The tire change took 3.4 seconds, a bit slow, but normal for Alfa Romeo!"

After exiting the pit lane, Bottas unsurprisingly fell to the back, now 15th, with a 20-second gap to Magelsen ahead of him. The good news was that Bottas now had a clean window to push his flying laps.

Alfa Romeo’s only thought now was to undercut the 1-second gap to Tsunoda ahead. If possible, overtaking Mick in front of Tsunoda isn’t out of the question.

Bottas’s pit stop not only caught the attention of the entire audience and commentators but also became the focus for all team strategy groups on site.

Except for the already retired Williams and Alpine teams, every team was watching Bottas.

Bottas hadn’t attracted such attention for two years.

Because if Bottas’s lap times out of the pit lane were faster than those on intermediate tires, without a doubt, every team would immediately call their drivers into the pits to switch to dry tires.

But unfortunately, Alfa Romeo gambled and lost. Bottas’s lap times after exiting the pit lane were 1 second slower than before he changed tires.

As a result, Bottas naturally became the guinea pig for all teams, with his track performance serving as the reference standard for everyone.

This state didn’t last long. By the 33rd lap, Bottas was starting to clock purple sectors in the second timing zone, the part of the track with the least water, though his times in the other two zones were still slower than those of others on intermediate tires. At least this purple sector showed improving track conditions.

So on the 34th lap, Red Bull immediately pitted Gasly, who was in the points zone, to change tires.

As time went on, it was inevitable that track conditions would improve, so Red Bull’s move was more of an early investment rather than a gamble like Alfa Romeo’s.

On the 35th lap, Leclerc and the front-runners all chose to pit.

This time was indeed appropriate for pitting.

But there’s always one or two outliers on the track, and Qin Miao, who never preferred using rain tires, chose not to pit at this time, along with McLaren’s two drivers.