Chapter 1372 - 515: The Power of Pirelli’s Real Daddy_2

Chapter 1372: Chapter 515: The Power of Pirelli’s Real Daddy_2

After the jokes, the three commentators refocused their attention on the racetrack.

At this moment, Qin Miao was in excellent form, catching up to Leclerc by the 26th lap.

However, just when Qin Miao thought Leclerc might put up some resistance, Qin Miao noticed that Leclerc didn’t even defend against him.

In the DRS zone, he caught up to Leclerc. Leclerc directly went for the inside line defense at the braking point, while Qin Miao relied on his car’s performance and DRS to burst past Leclerc’s Ferrari on the outside line.

Clearly, Leclerc on the track wasn’t even thinking of defending against Qin Miao. After all, the traits of the Mercedes car this season were no secret. Seeing the closing gap between himself and Qin Miao, coupled with their past battles in simulated races and previous Grands Prix, Leclerc knew he couldn’t fend off Qin Miao’s attack.

So he simply chose not to defend against Qin Miao.

Although Leclerc indeed wanted to find an opportunity to have a fierce battle with Qin Miao on the track.

But clearly, now wasn’t the time.

Moreover, apart from these personal relations, Leclerc realized that forcibly defending against Qin Miao wouldn’t bring any benefit.

On one hand, getting tangled with Qin Miao would inevitably slow his race pace. On the other, it would interfere with Qin Miao’s tire management.

This behavior is generally called: laborious and unrewarding, mutually harmful.

So Qin Miao didn’t even break his race rhythm and directly surpassed Leclerc in the DRS zone between T3 and T4.

Leclerc followed closely, suddenly releasing ERS energy, allowing him to stay within one second of Qin Miao for two DRS zones.

While he fiercely caught a tailwind wave, he used DRS twice.

Eventually, when Qin Miao pushed Leclerc out of the DRS zone, the time gap between Leclerc and Sainz, which was over 3 seconds, was directly dragged to 4.9 seconds.

Sainz wasn’t doing well.

Bro, we have fair competition within the Ferrari team!

Why are you, Old Man, meddling?

Sitting in the car, Sainz had reason to suspect that Qin Miao was doing it entirely on purpose, deliberately dragging Leclerc so far away!

Dude, it’s been three seasons, haven’t you forgotten?

Always taking the chance to step on me whenever possible.

As for Qin Miao, he actually didn’t have any intentions against Sainz.

Letting Leclerc enjoy some DRS and tailwind was purely because Qin Miao was managing his tires, truly not driving that fast.

And even if he really harbored resentment against Sainz due to that incident, two years later, after winning two world championships at Mercedes, even the pettiest person would have let go of the grudge.

In such a state, Qin Miao would even be grateful to Sainz. Without him, Qin Miao couldn’t have gone to Mercedes. Staying at Ferrari, it’s highly likely Qin Miao would have sunk like those talented drivers stuck at Ferrari, having only a name but no honors.

Leclerc: ?

Who are you talking about?

So, it really is just a coincidence. The one truly holding a grudge is Sainz himself.

On the 32nd lap, teams in the middle-lower positions began opening their pit windows.

It’s worth mentioning, Zhou Guanyu, in tenth place, was actually instructed by the team strategy group to pit later.

But Zhou Guanyu refused.

Zhou Guanyu ultimately chose his original pit strategy, switching to soft tires.

This was the first time Zhou Guanyu, in his two years in F1, proactively rejected the team strategy group’s pit strategy.

The reason Zhou Guanyu is so assertive now is partly because, in his first season, he proved his strength to everyone.

Another reason is because there is now the Lynk & Co team in the field, which acts as Zhou Guanyu’s backup plan. Even if the Alfa Romeo team decides not to keep Zhou Guanyu after his contract expires for various reasons, with his current strength, Zhou Guanyu doesn’t need to worry about losing his job.

Moreover, Zhou Guanyu’s current strength and Lynk & Co’s current car performance match up well.

Perhaps if he went to Lynk & Co, he could even become their number one driver.

Nationality advantage allows you to do as you please.

Lynk & Co: Actually, I want Qin...

Shut up!

Lynk & Co: Oh...

...

Additionally, after staying with Alfa Romeo for a year, Zhou Guanyu has his own judgments on the team’s strategy group. Those guys are just a bunch of drunkards and idiots. Following their pit strategy will most likely not lead to a mistake, a smaller chance of harming oneself, and an even smaller chance of ruining oneself.

As for scoring through close combat strategy? If they had that ability, would they still be at Alfa Romeo?

They’d have long been poached by Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari.

While Vassel was around, it was alright, as there was someone to keep them in check. Even if they had such blinding ideas, there was no ground for implementation. If Vassel felt the pit strategy was inappropriate, he’d veto it.

But Bravi is completely an outsider.

Let him handle administration, that’s fine.

But having him manage a team, from research, operations to internal personnel changes, pit strategy selection, and driver communication?

Using a phrase that all laborers now detest, it’s the classic case of an outsider leading insiders.

Yet Zhou Guanyu’s strong choice today did save him.

Though these are future matters.

On the thirty-seventh lap, all drivers completed their pit stops. Today’s race had hardly anyone stirring up trouble during the second stop.

Everyone smoothly passed through the pits.

As Verstappen switched to hard tires during his pit stop on the thirty-seventh lap, he emerged 19 seconds behind Qin Miao.

Once again, Qin Miao effortlessly took the lead.

Meanwhile, Qin Miao’s teammate Hamilton was quite fast today, but against a Mars rover driving Verstappen and Pirelli’s favorite child Qin Miao, Old Man could only settle for third.

Furthermore, the time gap between Hamilton and the second-placed Verstappen was 8 seconds, which already meant Hamilton was entirely out of contention for today’s race grand prix win.

Nevertheless, it couldn’t be concluded yet whether 19 seconds would be enough for Qin Miao to complete the upcoming race because the tire condition of Qin Miao would inevitably worsen over time.

The only good news is that as time goes on, the fuel inside Qin Miao’s car will decrease.

After running a lap out of the pits, everyone saw Verstappen’s pace.

Lap times were 1.2 seconds faster than Qin Miao, who was constantly in tire management mode.

At this point, there are still twenty-one laps left until the end of the race.

This means Verstappen will catch up to Qin Miao with five laps to go.

But this needs to consider variables. After all, the grip of Qin Miao’s tires will degrade linearly, and Verstappen’s tire grip will naturally degrade linearly too.

Due to Qin Miao’s tire management ability, it’s even possible that in the last few laps, Qin Miao’s tire grip might be stronger than Verstappen’s.

Many viewers watching the F1 race for the first time might already feel a bit sleepy at this point.

After all, Qin Miao and Verstappen are so far apart, it really doesn’t seem interesting.

But the veteran viewers are excited. This chase scenario, although not as thrilling as wheel-to-wheel combat, is still captivating for old race fans.

Although it’s not as exciting as Verstappen chasing Hamilton in a three-wheeled vehicle.

In a race where everyone has two stops, Qin Miao’s one-stop strategy against Verstappen’s two-stop strategy indeed has highlights.

The veteran race fans also want to see if these two drivers will make a mistake under high pressure.

Since both of them, regardless of who, now bear enormous pressure.

One mistake would directly ruin their chance of contending for the grand prix win.

The invisible pressure on both is the greatest.

Strictly speaking, Qin Miao’s pressure is slightly less.

Since Qin Miao is currently ahead of Verstappen, as the race progresses, Verstappen might get closer. The advantage of Qin Miao getting prolonged by fewer pit stops will gradually be eaten away by Verstappen behind him, adding pressure and urgency.

But after all, Qin Miao is in the lead, and mentally, he’s relatively more relaxed than Verstappen, plus Qin Miao’s current state doesn’t demand much on his driving.

Qin Miao doesn’t need to pursue extremes, he just needs to protect his tires and make it to the finish.