How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 907 - 358: Guiding Rather Than Blocking (Part 2)

However, the audience didn't think so. In their eyes, Qin Miao was still the genius driver with the best defensive skills on the circuit.

Then, to everyone's surprise, Perez charged his battery for a lap behind Qin Miao, and on the eleventh lap's start/finish straight, using DRS and ERS, Perez overtook Qin Miao before the braking point at T1.

Although Qin Miao tried to create a hurdle in front of Perez, even taking the center line on the straight when Perez was pursuing him, giving Perez a choice: either stay on the racing line and let me brake late, or go on the dirty side and have no speed out of the corner.

But in the face of an absolute speed difference, these tricks were useless. Perez even overtook Qin Miao before the braking point and calmly brought his car back to the racing line, exiting the corner smoothly.

Actually, Qin Miao still wanted to struggle a bit, planning to use a crossover line in T2 and T3 to leverage the corner exit speed and the DRS zone between T3 and T4 to regain the position.

However, Qin Miao applied the throttle position out of the corner almost 5 meters later than Perez.

Despite having DRS, Perez was faster out of the corner and gave no chance for Qin Miao to catch up before the braking point at T4.

So Qin Miao could only watch helplessly as Perez overtook him and sped away.

Against the absolute speed difference, Qin Miao's resistance seemed a bit laughable.

"Qin Miao tried, but we can see he couldn't keep his position."

"This isn't really Qin Miao's fault. It's obvious from this race that both Mercedes drivers lack speed, likely due to the car's lack of competitiveness this season."

…

Qin Miao's position fell back to sixth. Qin Miao had a feeling that unless something unexpected happened, he could only manage to beat his teammate Hamilton to finish fifth in this race—the top four positions were just a dream.

But just when Qin Miao thought Perez would easily overtake Hamilton as he did with him, Hamilton unexpectedly chose to pit for a new set of hard tires.

After changing to the hard tires, Hamilton rejoined the track and encountered Zhou Guanyu, who had moved up to twelfth position.

And because Hamilton's hard tires hadn't reached the optimal operating temperature, Zhou Guanyu overtook him.

Yes, in front of everyone, Zhou Guanyu overtook Hamilton.

He was on fire.

In the next half lap, Zhou Guanyu used his tire advantage to gradually widen the gap with Hamilton.

However, the gap wasn't too big before Hamilton reclaimed the position on the straight in the 13th lap.

Although the glory was short-lived, this scene was a pleasant surprise for many fans at home hoping for Zhou Guanyu to have a brilliant performance in his debut.

And being overtaken back by Hamilton had nothing to do with Zhou Guanyu anymore, despite many internal issues that Mercedes needed to resolve for the season.

But no matter what, Mercedes is the reigning champion team, and the gap with Alfa Romeo isn't small.

After that, the drivers on the track went into cruise mode.

The pit window opened on the 15th lap.

Verstappen in front of Qin Miao was the first to pit, followed by Sainz, who mirrored Verstappen's pace into the pits.

Ferrari's strategy for this race was simple: have Sainz aim for the top two and help Leclerc hold off Verstappen.

With the two drivers ahead of Qin Miao pitting, Qin Miao moved up to third place.

On the 16th lap, Leclerc and Perez in front also chose to pit.

Ferrari's idea was straightforward; Leclerc was in good form from the start, and compared to Red Bull, Ferrari had a speed advantage.

So at this point, Ferrari didn't overthink it and just mirrored Kakashi: they would pit alongside Verstappen on the next lap after he did.

Although this approach wasn't novel, at least it avoided making strategic mistakes in the pits.

With all the front-runners pitting, Qin Miao moved into first place.

Leading the entire field for the first time in the 2022 season happened this way; frankly, it wasn't what Qin Miao hoped for.

Yet everyone knew Qin Miao's first place was temporary; the real test was how long his set of medium tires could last.

Because Qin Miao was in the lead, the broadcast's focus moved away from him.

The cameras focused on Verstappen and Leclerc.

After exiting the pit, Verstappen erased a 2-second gap with Leclerc, leading to an on-track battle.

Twice on the track, Verstappen overtook Leclerc at T1 using DRS, only for Leclerc to reclaim his position at T4 using slipstream and DRS after exiting T3.

Just like Qin Miao's immediate response to Perez's attack and overtake, except Qin Miao couldn't execute this maneuver due to performance differences.

But Leclerc did.

The two battled for three laps, with Verstappen attacking at T1 on the third lap. Despite knowing that even if he overtook Leclerc at T1, Leclerc would reclaim it, he went ahead without hesitation.

Then he locked up at T1, scrubbing his right front tire into a flat spot.

This attack was over.

"One cannot deny the thrill of Ferrari and Red Bull's duels, but watching this, then looking at Qin Miao on mediums still on track, I feel a sense of déjà vu."

Xia laughed, "Last season, Qin Miao really embodied the saying 'the fisher benefits when the snipe and the clam are at odds,' using his tire conservation skills to offset his pit windows from Hamilton and Verstappen, his main rivals.

Even though Hamilton and Verstappen knew that continuing to fight on track would only benefit Qin Miao, they refused to back down due to their personalities."

"That familiar feeling is back!"

But soon, the race reached the 26th lap, and the team called Qin Miao back to the pits.

Qin Miao had maintained a decent pace, proving to the fans his tire conservation was intact—it was just the car that was lacking.

The pit stop took 2.7 seconds, which was decent.

After putting on the new hard tires, Qin Miao rejoined the track behind Hamilton and ahead of Magelsen.

In other words, Qin Miao's pit stop and tire change didn't lose him much position, effectively earning a free set of fresh tires over 12 laps.

Other drivers still needed to pit again, so Qin Miao's 12-lap tire advantage would eventually have to be returned.

But given Qin Miao's frightening tire management skills, there was a real chance he could achieve a good result in this race.

Regarding Mercedes, they had long calculated where Qin Miao would be after exiting the pits.

So his position was not a surprise when he rejoined.

As for whether Qin Miao could achieve a good result using his exceptional tire management?

The truth is everyone at Mercedes only dared to hope slightly without any real expectations due to the performance gap to the leading four cars.

Qin Miao's tires were the same as Hamilton's, but Qin Miao's were 12 laps fresher, so after warming the tires, Qin Miao quickly began closing the gap to Hamilton.

However, Mercedes certainly didn't want their drivers to clash on track.

The strategic team knew their personalities; Hamilton wouldn't yield and Qin Miao, with such an advantage, wouldn't willingly stay behind Hamilton and let him block.

Mercedes promptly pitted Hamilton for a tire change on the 27th lap.