54. Overtaking show
"There was an accident between Sainz and Verstappen, and as soon as the front wheel-to-wheel of the Copse corner came out of the Copse corner, he started spinning into the gravel ground. Even took Alonso with him. Marcus explained to Liu Hongyu in TR about the accident that caused the safety car to come out.
It didn't take long for the virtual safety car to be upgraded to a physical safety car. After a few laps in the safety car of Aston Martin, on lap 25, the safety roof lights went out and the race resumed.
Hamilton pressed the accelerator pedal to the bottom and began to accelerate, Liu Hongyu started at a pretty good pace, and George Russell behind couldn't steal a position at the start as expected. He overtook McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo before heading into Turn 18.
On the starting straight, Kimi, who had finished running the first stint on soft tires and switched to neutral tires during the pit stop, knew that he couldn't prevent Liu Hongyu, so he gave way to the racing line and let Liu Hongyu pass.
After moving up to fourth place, Liu Hongyu accelerated and began to chase Pérez in front of him.
"Pérez's tire temperature is very low."
After following a lap, Liu Hongyu grabbed the flaw that Perez couldn't get out of the corner after passing the 5th corner, opened the DRS and ate it raw, and Pérez couldn't do anything about him when he saw this.
Relying on newer, stronger soft tyres, Liu Hongyu chased Leclerc and Hamilton, who were fighting in front of him, after two laps.
Coming to Turns 16 & 17, Hamilton took the inside line and Leclerc wheel-to-wheel after being overtaken by Leclerc in an attempt to overtake the red prancing horse. Leclerc didn't give in and Hamilton was almost forced off the track by Leclerc as he passed Turn 17.
Seeing this, Liu Hongyu in the back accelerated and took the inside line to overtake the two drivers on the shoulder of the running road, and then quickly let the engine start to run at full power, lest the two of them catch up with the advantage of DRS and wake.
"Polishing it, and then undercut them with new tires."
After pushing a few laps and continuously refreshing the fastest lap in the field, Liu Hongyu received instructions from the team.
Liu Hongyu made a pit stop again, and this time the team was not confused, but the tire change time was a little... It's hard to put into words.
After 5.8 seconds to change to the new soft tyres, Liu Hongyu immediately drove out of the pit area.
"So... Liu only has one set of soft tires left to use..."
Looking at Liu Hongyu's set of soft tires with red stripes on the broadcast screen, Croft speculated that Pagani's move must have been to bet that there would be an accident on the field after a while.
After leaving the pit lane, Liu Hongyu dropped to 11th place. Except for Zhou Guanyu, who is using soft tires, the rest are drivers who use medium tires.
Using soft tyres with stronger grip, Liu Hongyu began to chase the car in front of him.
On lap 39, Liu Hongyu passed Bottas head-on on the Grand Straight. On lap 40, he relied on the straights to overtake Zhou Guanyu and Norris in front of the Copse corner.
The next few laps are basically a lap of one child. Oh, except for lap 43.
At the end of lap 43, Pérez's neutral tyre failed badly and Liu Hongyu had chased him before the Copse corner.
“Box box.” Red Bull decided to pit and change tyres for Pérez after thinking about it.
But what happened later proved Red Bull's luck... It's a bit of a bad thing.
Pérez pitted and dropped to 10th place, but just as he warmed up his car's soft tyres as he came out of the pit, Bottas in front of him suddenly slowed down and smoke was coming out of the car's rear.
As Bottas pulled to the edge of the track and pulled out the cockpit, the race also showed off the yellow flag and physical safety car.
“Noooo!”
Seeing this, Christian Horner, the Red Bull leader in front of the Red Bull P wall, also knew in his heart that Pérez was definitely a loss for this pit stop. The car in front of it can be said to have made a free pit stop for nothing, especially Hamilton and Leclerc, Pérez's rivals.
“Box now box. Box in this lap.” Pagani gave the two drivers the order to make a pit stop.
Before receiving the order to enter the station, Marcus motioned in the TR for him to start grinding tires and chase the three remaining rovers in front of him. And now, the chance to fight for the podium has come.
After the pit stop, Liu Hongyu only dropped one position, and Ricardo, who pit two laps earlier with soft tires, picked up a big bargain and rose directly to fourth place. But it's a bit hard to say whether it will be surpassed by Liu Hongyu and Kimi in the back.
"Daniel, don't wear up too much tire durability when defending Liu if you can. That kid is hard to guard, so you might as well go and let Kimi go. And Pérez behind Kimi is expected to try to attack him as well. McLaren's team engineer said to Ricciardo in TR.
After lifting the Alfa Romeo belonging to Bottas off the field, the safety roof lights went off and the race resumed on lap 49.
After the press, Leclerc wanted to interfere with Hamilton's starting acceleration rhythm behind him, but Hamilton didn't take this at all, and after passing the inside line at Turn 1, he stuck the line and overtook Leclerc to move up to first place.
Looking to the rear, Ricardo symbolically defended Liu Hongyu on the starting straight and then let him go directly. Seeing this, Liu Hongyu directly smiled at this position and began to chase Russell, who was in third place in front of him.
But... It seems that Liu Hongyu doesn't have to squeeze the performance of the car to the limit to catch up with Leclerc and Russell in front.
Russell caught up with Leclerc and kept trying to attack, and the two engaged in a grappling fight. Hamilton seized the opportunity and ran away without a trace, heading for his second race of the year. Liu Hongyu caught up with Russell and Leclerc on lap 51.
On the starting straight, Russell overtook Leclerc in a frontal wheel-to-wheel. The latter looked at the "Silver Arrow" Mercedes, which was already stronger than Ferrari in terms of overall performance in dry conditions, and had no choice but to let him go.
It didn't take long for him to be attacked by Liu Hongyu behind him.
On lap 53, the race entered the final two laps. Liu Hongyu opened the DRS after passing Turn 5 and went inside to try to overtake Leclerc. Before entering the corner, he could jam the line to avoid Leclerc and Hamilton taking an early brake to cross the line and pass him again.
The good times didn't last long, and after continuous corners, Leclerc relied on the DRS advantage to directly tap on the big straight to overtake Liu Hongyu, and Liu Hongyu saw this and took a breath of wake and began to follow the car.
At the start of the final lap, Liu Hongyu did not immediately choose to tap on the starting straight to try to overtake. Just follow Leclerc close and wait for the opportunity. Coming to the big straight again, Liu Hongyu pulled his head and directly ate Leclerc. Leclerc directly governed him the way he did it.
After passing Turn 8, Leclerc took the outside line and Liu Hongyu started to wheel-to-wheel, but because Liu Hongyu stubbornly held the inside line, Leclerc failed to overtake.
After successive corners, Leclerc relied on a better exit from the corner, and directly surpassed Liu Hongyu after entering the big straight with the advantage of DRS. Liu Hongyu didn't panic, and waited after him for the last chance.
After allowing the engine to start running beyond the original maximum power, Liu Hongyu crossed two consecutive lines in Turns 16 & 17 directly to Leclerc's left, and when entering Turn 18, neither of them gave way. But Liu Hongyu's exit from the corner was better. After leaving Turn 18, it was clear that they were in the lead.
After crossing the finish line half a car ahead of Leclerc, Liu Hongyu finished third in the Silverstone Grand Prix. As for the unlucky Leclerc...
Liu Hongyu: "Lekou, the fourth is still the fourth after all, you are the fourth forever, understand?" ”