Chapter 1529: You Need to Use Your Brain to Drive? (6K, Extra - 14/14)_3

“But if you choose to pit for a tire change now, you will almost inevitably fall behind Verstappen, and it will be difficult to chase after that.”

“Moreover, we’ve already missed the best pit window. After pitting, you’ll not only fall behind Verstappen but also Alonso.”

…

If Qin Miao pits to change to soft tires and falls behind Hamilton, even in the worst-case scenario, Qin Miao might still have a chance to chase Verstappen on the track, provided that Verstappen’s tire grip declines.

Another reason is that Qin Miao and Hamilton are not on the same pit strategy, and with Qin Miao’s speed on soft tires, overtaking Hamilton is not particularly difficult, so Hamilton on the track isn’t likely to put much effort into defending against Qin Miao.

But Alonso doesn’t care about how your set of tires perform; if he can make things difficult for you on the track, he certainly won’t make it easy for you.

If he can annoy you, he will.

So, after hearing Frankie’s words, Qin Miao abandoned the idea of a second stop and continued to hold on in the race.

Finally, as the dull race reached the 58th lap, with 12 laps remaining, Verstappen caught up to Qin Miao’s rear within the DRS zone.

That is to say, it took Verstappen 8 laps to catch up 10 seconds to Qin Miao.

Such speed is evident.

He glanced at the Red Bull car behind him through the rearview mirror.

Qin Miao knew that Verstappen had recently developed tactics specifically to counter him.

In several races, he had waited ages for Verstappen, who remained unmoved, and once he acted, he used absolute speed in the DRS zone to crush him.

During this time, Qin Miao would watch race videos in his spare time after races, wanting to know exactly how Verstappen did it.

Researching through practice always yields results, so Qin Miao discovered quite a few details.

First of all, Verstappen could withstand all his feigned weaknesses on the track, resisting the urge to exploit the openings he offered.

Honestly, Qin Miao once suspected that Verstappen had quit an addiction.

After all, from Verstappen’s first-person view, when Qin Miao presented these openings, even he found it hard to resist attacking.

And during this time, Verstappen was constantly charging his car, waiting until his car’s battery was fully charged and for an opportune time to formally launch an attack.

As a result, Verstappen often chose to attack in the longest DRS zone of the current track.

Likewise, in today’s race, the probability is… no, it’s certain that Verstappen will make his move in the first DRS zone of the third timing sector!

And reflecting upon Verstappen’s attacking methods, Qin Miao also had some insights into addressing such tactics.

Since you wouldn’t make a move before, when you enter the DRS zone behind me, I will slow down to preserve my tires and charge my car.

If you don’t overtake me, I’ll mimic your tactics.

Your RB19 may have high DRS efficiency, but you can’t accelerate faster than me!

Thus, the Red Bull strategy team discovered that after Verstappen entered the DRS zone behind Qin Miao, Qin Miao’s lap time was actually 0.3 seconds slower than his cruising speed.

And the Red Bull team immediately relayed this information to Verstappen, who also felt that Qin Miao’s lap speed seemed off when he was behind him.

Why is he so slow?

But Verstappen still chose to believe it was a smokescreen released by Qin Miao.

After all, Qin Miao’s lap time only decreased after I got behind him, so it can’t be a car issue.

Moreover, this season, last season, and even the season before last, Verstappen suffered from such tricks at the hands of Qin Miao, learning from experience, and Verstappen ate more than one loss.

In any case, Verstappen was resolute not to fall for it this time.

He glanced at his car’s battery level: 67%.

Quite a lot.

Following Qin Miao for another lap, then in the next lap before entering the third timing sector, he should be able to fully charge his car’s battery, just in time to make a move on Qin Miao in the first DRS zone of the third timing sector.

At this moment, Qin Miao didn’t know Verstappen’s car battery level, nor could he confirm exactly when Verstappen would strike in the DRS zone.

But it wasn’t a problem.

Qin Miao directly maxed out the output power of his car’s ERS, and in the 59th lap, briefly activated his ERS after exiting T10 in the third timing sector.

However, after noticing that Verstappen’s closing rate didn’t increase rapidly, Qin Miao decisively shut down his ERS.

Even though doing so would incur a battery loss, Qin Miao only lost about 20% of his battery power with this move.

Without using any ERS during the race, Qin Miao could regain this 20% in half a lap.

This could be considered an emergency measure.

Finally, in the 60th lap, Verstappen’s car battery was fully charged, ready to finally deal with the lingering concern of Qin Miao in the third timing sector and firmly establish his position as the Grand Prix winner.

Then after T10, Qin Miao, who was closely watching Verstappen’s car movements, noticed that Verstappen’s car acceleration after the corner had increased.

Seeing this, Qin Miao immediately realized that Verstappen was finally about to make his move on him.