Chapter 1415 - 532: An Unexpectedly Eventful Start

Chapter 1415: Chapter 532: An Unexpectedly Eventful Start

Soon, as the countdown to the start of the race approached, Qin Miao also changed into his racing suit and headed to the team’s P room with his gear.

After a whole set of complex preparations, Qin Miao had parked his racing car on the track.

At this moment, all the drivers were making their final preparations before the race began.

Soon, with a reminder from the race official, Qin Miao and the other drivers got into their race cars.

Qin Miao leaned his head on the left headrest to fix it in place, then found a reference point on the track’s guard wall through the right rearview mirror of his car.

At the start, he planned to park the car at this position.

This position slightly touched the white line of the starting grid but did not exceed the starting position of the white line.

Once everything was ready, the tire warm-up lap began.

After the warm-up lap ended, Qin Miao drove the car to the fourth position on the starting grid.

He checked the reference point on the right side of the track.

Okay, no problem.

After confirming everything was set, Qin Miao began waiting for the drivers behind to park their cars.

During this time, Qin Miao kept himself busy by opening the telemetry data interface on his steering wheel, observing his car’s tire temperatures.

He estimated where he should brake when reaching the T1 braking point after the start.

As the last driver, Russell, parked his car in the grid, the five red lights began to light up one by one.

At this moment, someone might ask, what about Perez? Didn’t he fail to qualify? How come he didn’t even make it to the grid today?

In fact, for today’s race, Perez was going to start last no matter what, so the Red Bull team simply replaced a brand-new battery and electronic control for him before the race, which resulted in Perez being penalized to start from the pit lane.

Meanwhile, Bottas, after Alfa Romeo made adjustments to his suspension settings post-qualifying, was also penalized to start from the pit lane.

However, Perez is unlikely to have much interaction with Qin Miao in today’s race, so we’ll not dwell on it here.

Soon, as the five red lights lit up and then went out one by one.

"The 2023 Australian Grand Prix has officially started!"

At the moment the five red lights went out, Qin Miao released the clutch, and the car engine began fully delivering power to the tires.

With an excellent start, Qin Miao quickly closed in on his teammate Hamilton in front.

In today’s race, Verstappen’s start was average, without mistakes, but not fast either. Compared to Hamilton and Qin Miao, it was relatively slow.

Albert Park Circuit’s T1 is a right-hand turn, but the pole position driver starts on the left side of the track. So this is undoubtedly good news for Hamilton, who starts second on the inside line.

After the start, Hamilton relied on his faster start speed than Verstappen, as well as the car’s terrifying straight-line acceleration, to take the inside line before T1.

Upon entering T1, Hamilton didn’t yield, and Qin Miao, noticing that Hamilton and Verstappen blocked his optimal exit line, moved to the outside but got squeezed by Alonso, whose start wasn’t as good as his own.

Qin Miao’s inside line advantage and control ability just squeezed Alonso behind Hamilton and Verstappen. With Qin Miao also on the outside, Alonso ended up getting blocked by Qin Miao after a less than ideal start.

At the center of T1, Qin Miao and Hamilton completed their overtaking of the drivers in front.

Both moved up a position.

Seeing this spectacular start, everyone in the Mercedes team cheered and applauded the two drivers’ brilliant performance on the track.

Toto beamed upon witnessing this scene.

Only Toto probably knew how much bitterness lay behind his smile while clapping.

Seeing this scene, everyone in the Mercedes strategy group also smiled, although this smile didn’t last long.

Because by the time the race reached before T3, Qin Miao, relying on his car’s strong straight-line acceleration, forcefully inserted into Verstappen’s inside line at the T3 braking point.

At this time, Alonso, who had a bad start and got blocked at T1 by Qin Miao and Verstappen, had already joined his teammate Stroll.

The two Ferraris starting from the back had now caught up.

At T3, Qin Miao held Verstappen’s inside line.

When exiting the corner, Qin Miao’s line was very aggressive, constantly pressuring Verstappen on the outside.

Verstappen was directly pushed onto the curb by Qin Miao.

Being pushed onto the curb caused a moment of panic for Verstappen, as he didn’t want to be overtaken by Qin Miao so easily.

After all, there was a common understanding in the paddock that regaining a position after Qin Miao had overtaken was as difficult as reaching the sky.

So Verstappen wanted to leave the curb position quickly, but being too impatient, he overstepped on the gas, causing the car to skid slightly on the curb.