Chapter 1544 - 565: Dramatic Overtake – One Passes Two

Chapter 1544: Chapter 565: Dramatic Overtake – One Passes Two

Back on the outside line, Verstappen just happened to block Qin Miao.

And Perez also gained outside space, going into T1 from a better position.

In the end, Perez completed the overtake on his own teammate in T1.

This overtake from Perez could be seen as making up, to some extent, for his awful form over this recent period.

At the very least, after seeing Perez’s performance, that urge in Horner and Marco’s hearts to fire Perez on the spot eased a little.

Out on track,

When Qin Miao exited the corner he actually didn’t put much pressure on Verstappen, just followed behind him through the exit.

But Verstappen chose his teammate’s crossover line.

The Red Bull Ring isn’t like Villeneuve Circuit where crossover lines have no room to exist; there are plenty of places at the Red Bull Ring where you can run a crossover.

Even though there was no DRS at this moment, Verstappen was banking on the distance from T1 to the braking point of T3 being long enough.

He took a crossover line, trying to tuck into his teammate’s slipstream and get past before the braking point of T3.

Seeing this, Perez squeezed his teammate Verstappen on the inside at T2, almost forcing Verstappen onto the grass.

But Verstappen knew what he was doing. Since Perez was being that aggressive, he simply lifted off the throttle a bit and didn’t pile more pressure on Perez.

Perez didn’t actually force Verstappen fully onto the grass either; you could say both sides took a step back.

Next, the two of them continued forward, arriving at the braking point for T3.

Perez thought that after he’d put enough pressure on Verstappen, the latter would stamp the brake and effectively concede this attack, no longer posing a threat to him.

In fact, before the braking point of T3, the gap between Verstappen and Perez was about one car length.

Putting himself in Verstappen’s shoes, Perez didn’t feel that, with such a big gap, Verstappen had any chance to attack him.

So when Perez went into T3, he took the outside line with the optimal exit trajectory.

Then Verstappen on the inside simply overshot the T3 braking point and went for an absolutely on-the-limit late brake.

Qin Miao behind them sucked in a cold breath at the sight; luckily Verstappen managed to slow his car down.

That kind of stomp from Verstappen was really just a hair away from locking up the tyres and flying straight on.

Even though Verstappen did get the car slowed, the braking timing was a bit too late. Although he forced his way onto Perez’s inside before Perez turned in, he still had a brief loss of control at the apex of T3, even though he quickly wrestled the car back under control.

But his speed dropped a lot, and at the same time he wasn’t entering the corner from an ideal position.

Verstappen, however, wasn’t flustered, because his main rival Perez had already been forced out to the outside of the track.

Although Perez turned in earlier than Verstappen and had a wider entry line, with a car blocking his front, Perez was powerless even if he wanted to overtake Verstappen.

He couldn’t just drive straight into his own teammate’s car, could he?

And Verstappen, having gone this far, went all the way. After regaining grip mid-corner, he directly squeezed his teammate off the track.

But maybe because he was too absorbed in the fight, or maybe because from the start of the race up to now Qin Miao had never really put him under any pressure—so much so that Verstappen felt Qin Miao was almost transparent—he simply ignored the threat from Qin Miao.

Thanks to that, while Verstappen was locked in a dogfight with his teammate at T3, Qin Miao suddenly shot past on the right side of Verstappen’s car.

And by the time Verstappen reacted, Qin Miao had already completed the overtake on him.

In that moment, the W14’s acceleration was on full display, visibly opening up a 0.4-second gap to Verstappen in no time.

To be honest, even Qin Miao himself found it a bit unbelievable after he’d got past both of them.

Like he’d said before the race, Qin Miao hadn’t really planned on going head-to-head with Verstappen in a knife fight out on track this race.

But who could have expected that at T3, Verstappen would just shove Perez off the track, and right in front of him a huge gap would open up thanks to Verstappen’s antics.

Qin Miao naturally had no reason to waste this golden opportunity that Verstappen had presented; he straightened the car, floored the throttle, and pulled off a one-on-two overtake.

...

"Verstappen is giving absolutely nothing here, he’s shut the door on Perez."

"Whoa, whoa, Verstappen braked a bit late there, but luckily he held it—also because of that he’s blocked..."

"Qin Miao! Qin Miao has seized on Red Bull’s intra-team fight! Up the inside, a one-on-two overtake, beautiful!"

"A perfect opportunity, a perfect attacking window, perfect timing and execution!"

"That’s Qin Miao for you. I’d like to see who still dares say Qin Miao’s Rain Combat Ability isn’t good—look at that corner exit rhythm and speed, look at that knack for pouncing on chances. In the whole paddock, who else but him?"

Seeing Qin Miao complete the double overtake on Verstappen and Perez, the three commentators on Five-Star Sports went wild on the spot.

You can’t blame them for being so happy. As Qin Miao’s fans, they, like all the other fans, had originally thought that if Qin Miao could just hold on to finish P3 today, that would already be very good; they didn’t dare hope for more.