176: Coronation of the new king
Verstappen had to go to the outside when he was blocked by Leclerc on the inside, and it was okay to brake late to fight into the corner or to brake early to grab the crossing line.
And Verstappen felt that Leclerc's exit from the corner was not so smooth, and his speed was affected by the bad exit of the corner.
Verstappen felt he had a good chance of overtaking Leclerc on the lap, even though he knew he had a Hamilton behind him and that Hamilton was already very close to him.
But Verstappen, who has fought with Leclerc for so many laps, is more or less on top at this time, Verstappen can't take care of Hamilton behind him, he is thinking more about overtaking Leclerc in front of him as soon as possible, and all the pressure on Hamilton behind him will naturally be transferred to Leclerc after overtaking Leclerc.
We can't blame Verstappen for ignoring his head, obviously his lap time is faster than the other party, but the feeling of not being able to surpass it is very aggrieved, plus there is a main competitor behind him, Hamilton is constantly pressing on himself, and no one can deal with it calmly.
And Leclerc gradually got used to Verstappen's offensive rhythm behind him at this time, and he also vaguely felt that Qin Miao in front of him had been driving the car in a tire-preserving way, as if he was still in Verstappen's attacks on himself several times, helping him block Verstappen's line.
Of course, these are just Leclerc's guesses, and he doesn't think anyone can be so wicked, and at the same time defend himself, he can also help himself defend Verstappen behind him.
Leclerc braked at the T2 brake point while looking in the rearview mirror to the right, staring at Verstappen's car, estimating the distance between himself and the opposing car.
Verstappen was the same, estimating the distance between himself and Leclerc in front of him, while controlling his car's brakes in detail.
Entering the corner, Leclerc braked late, and Verstappen saw Leclerc's deceleration rate and knew that he couldn't rely on late braking to grab the right to the line, so he was ready to take a cross line.
Leclerc was sure that Verstappen had left the threat zone on his right after entering the corner with him, so he was naturally ready to enter the corner to cut the center of T3 as soon as possible.
In a hidden corner that the two of them didn't notice, a red-topped and silver-backed black Mercedes car suddenly forced its way into the inside of both cars, and the car grazed the inside of Leclerc's tires and overtook them at the center of the T2 corner.
And the person who completed this whole set of operations is naturally Hamilton, who missed the opportunity to compete for the championship because of a mistake.
He had already chased Leclerc and Verstappen in this lap, and he also had the blessing of DRS.
Originally, Hamilton wanted to find an opportunity to take care of these two people slowly, but he didn't expect these two people to give them such a chance, and they just exposed a small gap to himself on the inside.
If you were to put it aside, no one would dare to drill into it like Hamilton when he saw a crack directly, because if the car is not well controlled, it will cause big problems.
If you deflect to the left, the car will be bounced off by the shoulder in the center, and anything can happen to the car.
If it deviates to the right, the tire will inevitably hit Leclerc's tire directly, and the grip of the F1 tire will be considered light when taking off on the spot.
Therefore, the more average drivers do not dare to dive directly into it like Hamilton when they see such an opportunity, and they may have to miss such an opportunity.
And the seven crowns are the seven crowns, and he can grasp it whenever he has the opportunity.
And Qin Miao not only completed the task assigned to him by the team, but also exceeded the task.
Hamilton had overtaken two cars at once, even though the room was quiet because there were no spectators, and there was no cheering.
But all the viewers who saw the commentary of the game and the audience in front of the TV were going crazy at this moment.
"Oh my God! Hamilton! β
"Huh? Hamilton 1 Super 2! He found a great opportunity! β
"The two Meiben came to the first and second positions!"
"Oops, Verstappen is careless!"
"How can Hamilton surpass such a small position?"
Compared with the commentators who have to organize the language more or less, the reaction of netizens to Hamilton's operation is much simpler and crisper:
[Huh? γ
[Awesome! γ
γit!γ γ
[Seven crowns! γ
[Seven crowns? Cupping! γ
[I'm super! Chinese! γ
[Lewis Hamilton]
[How dare he]
[I really let him chase it back]
Hamilton came to second with a stitch, and followed Qin Miao's rhythm and went out from T4.
After confirming that there would be no more position changes on the field for a short period of time, the director once again gave the live camera to Toto.
At this time, the P room of the Meiben team has become a sea of joy, and the staff are either cheering with their hands high or applauding vigorously, everyone is happy, even Toto, the leader of the Meiben team.
Toto was smiling and chatting with James Alison, the CTO of Mercedes next to him.
Toto, who is usually moody, now has a bright smile on his face.
On the field, Qin Miao was very surprised when he found that Hamilton had come behind him, and at this time it was only fifty-three laps, and there were still ten laps before the end of the race.
Why did the old man go from sixth to second in just six laps? Did Toto add something to Hamilton's car during the red flag? Running so fast, why didn't you add some to me?
Of course, despite thinking so, Qin Miao, who knew that after his task was completed, began to discharge and accelerate as soon as possible.
Although he completed the task assigned by the team according to the instructions of the team, Qin Miao, the champion who could finally get it, didn't want to just let it out.
And Qin Miao didn't know very well, Hamilton, as a person who had experienced it firsthand, naturally knew why he was able to chase after the four positions in such a short period of time.
The car in front of him was slower than Hamilton thought, and because the car in front was slow enough, Hamilton could find some better overtaking opportunities more calmly.
And after seeing Qin Miao in front of him, Hamilton also knew why these cars were so slow.
But Hamilton couldn't understand why Qin Miao was able to press so many cars with the power of one person and not be overtaken, just like Qin Miao couldn't understand why he could run so fast.
Of course, it is not difficult to solve this doubt, and after the game, you can directly ask Qin Miao/Hamilton to ask for the data of this game.
At the same time, Hamilton also decided to talk to Toto after the game, Qin Miao couldn't let go of such a good seedling.
The convoy order given during the red flag was really a bit too bastard, and Toto had to give an explanation for it, even if Qin Miao completed this order.
On lap 55, Verstappen finally broke free from Leclerc's entanglement in T2 on this lap and moved to third place.
Leclerc tried his best to defend Verstappen for a lap and was already at his limit, and in T2 on this lap, Leclerc really couldn't shake off Verstappen, who had DRS, and let him overtake him on the big straight.
And after being overtaken, Leclerc also felt that Verstappen could only fight back and forth with himself in the first lap of so many laps, not that Verstappen's car was damaged or his condition declined, it was purely because there was a Qin Miao in front of him who was pressing, Qin Miao used his terrifying defensive sense of smell to help him defend Verstappen for a while.
Speaking of this, Leclerc felt from the bottom of his heart that Qin Miao's defensive ability and talent were terrifying.
And Verstappen, who overtook Leclerc, was naturally at full speed, wanting to catch up with the two Mercedes in front of him before the end of the race.
But in the period just now, Qin Miao didn't deliberately press the car, and Hamilton also broke free and began to do his lap time smoothly, at this time the two Mercedes had pulled away from Verstappen, who had just broken free from Leclerc's entanglement, for more than 4 seconds.
While it's not impossible to chase four seconds over the course of eight laps, Mercedes is a little bit better than Red Bull, who are now playing back and forth with Mercedes because of the individual ability of Verstappen.
Now that the two Mercedes are free of constraints, they can do lap times on the track without worries, and it will be a tough challenge for Verstappen to catch up during this time.
Of course, this is only for the teams and the drivers.
For viewers and broadcasters, the picture at this time is what they want to see, although they fought all the way to the end of the game, but the suspense of this game still did not land, and the game still had to watch.
On Qin Miao's side, two laps later, Hamilton also came to the DRS area behind Qin Miao.
It's just that Hamilton also knew who helped him win his current position, so he didn't make a move on Qin Miao, he just slowed down his pace a little, and followed Qin Miao while protecting the tires and preparing to finish the race at the current ranking.
And Qin Miao also obviously felt that Hamilton's speed was faster than his own, but Qin Miao said that he would not give up his position if he said anything, if Hamilton was ready to attack him, Qin Miao would not mind letting him understand what level of defensive ability 100 points was.
Although he is the No. 2 driver, he is not a fool, and his buddy's hard work to pull you up is already considered benevolent, and it is impossible to give you his first place.
Toto, too, seemed to have thought of this, so after seeing the situation on the field, he didn't give the team instructions again, but just waited quietly in the garage for the end of the race.
On lap 59, there were four laps left until the end of the race.
At this time, the gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton remained within 1 second, and Verstappen had already chased 2 seconds in four laps, and he was only 1 second away from catching up with Qin Miao and Hamilton in front of him in the DRS zone.
Qin Miao looked at Hamilton behind him with some concern, adjusted the temperature of his tires and looked at them, and estimated the wear and tear of the tires by himself.
After that, Qin Miao's driving also began to become more aggressive, and he did not protect the tire and did not control the use of ERS.
Although this is not the first time that Qin Miao has been chased by Verstappen from behind his buttocks, but this time is different, when Qin Miao was chased by Verstappen before, Qin Miao knew that he couldn't prevent Verstappen, at most he delayed him, so Qin Miao's mentality at that time was in a relatively relaxed state, not nervous, and even more excited and excited, because it was the first time that Qin Miao had the opportunity to engage in close-range dogfights with a driver like Verstappen.
But this time was different, Qin Miao knew that it was possible to prevent Verstappen.
And if he really defends Verstappen, he will be rewarded with the first race championship of his career, and this is only the second F1 Grand Prix that Qin Miao has participated in.
After winning the championship of this sub-station, Qin Miao will definitely break countless records.
On top of that, he will become the first driver in Chinese history to win a Grand Prix in Formula 1.
If there is no hope, then Qin Miao can still stabilize his mentality, but now that he sees hope, Qin Miao inevitably begins to desire, and he can't help but get nervous.
However, what Qin Miao didn't expect was that the last few laps of this race had nothing to do with him.
Because after Qin Miao accelerated, Hamilton still maintained his rhythm until Verstappen came behind him.
The seven-time champion helped Qin Miao become the No. 2 driver in the next race, guarding Verstappen for two laps.
And when he crossed the line after two laps, the old man still retained his second place.
Although the last two laps of the director gave all the cameras to the battle between Hamilton and Verstappen, everyone knows that the real protagonist of this race is actually Qin Miao, a young driver who won the championship in the second F1 Grand Prix of his career.
On lap 63, Qin Miao drove his car through T18 at high speed, and the angles of exit and entry were very conservative, which showed that Qin Miao really cared about the results of this race.
After T19, when he looked at the checkered flag waving on the command platform, Qin Miao felt a surge of emotion surging in his heart.
A hard week, countless tests in the factory before the competition, countless simulations, countless meetings.
Walking the track in advance, the debugging of the car, assembly, meetings, interviews, exercises, anxiety, irritability, everything was compressed to the limit when Qin Miao saw the checkered flag waving in the distance.
Looking at the team staff who had rushed to the side of the track guardrail, hanging on the guardrail and shouting at themselves and waving their fists, Qin Miao could clearly call out the names of all of them, and even clearly see the expressions on their faces.
At this moment, Qin Miao felt that time had slowed down, and a strange electricity surged through his whole body, as if he had just come out of the bathhouse after taking a bath, and his whole body was relaxed.
As the Mercedes V6 hybrid engine roared across the finish line, the new king was crowned, and the prelude to a new era slowly kicked off.
(End of chapter)