How did I become an F1 driver?

Chapter 234 Chapter 232: Verstappen retires (6K, plus 1419)

Although this kind of scratch may only leave a trace at a slow speed, but in a high-speed corner with a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour, the overall balance of the car has reached an extremely delicate state.

In such a state, if a slightly unstable factor intervenes, the result will be that the car loses control instantly.

And that's what Verstappen's car is like.

The car lost control the moment it was hit by Hamilton. The car spun around in a circle, and the right rear wheel that encountered the collision completely fell off. The car body quickly rushed through the cement ground behind T9 and into the gravel buffer zone, and then leaned against it. The centripetal force when entering the corner continues to rotate, and the car remains parallel to the tire wall just when it is about to hit the tire wall.

Then in a huge burst of smoke and dust, Verstappen hit the buffer wall made of tires with terrifying kinetic energy.

Quiet.

In the moments after Verstappen crashed, there was a moment of silence inside and outside the paddock.

Then there was a huge noise.

On the podium of the Red Bull Racing Team, Horner began to sweat on his face. As a practitioner in the racing industry, Horner knew how much inertia this impact had.

And soon the data from the car's sensors confirmed Horner's worries. In the impact just now, Verstappen and his car suffered an impact of 51 G.

If a normal person receives such a large impact, they will basically be broken into pieces.

And even if the driver is wrapped in a monocoque and countless high-tech protective equipment, there is no guarantee that the driver in the car is 100% safe.

After Verstappen crashed, his track engineer calmly shouted in his TR: "Max, are you okay?"

"Max, can you hear me?"

At this time, Verstappen hadn't replied yet, and seeing that Verstappen hadn't spoken yet, everyone at the Red Bull Racing team felt a chill in their hearts.

An unpleasant feeling crept into everyone's heart.

But just when they were about to despair, Verstappen's somewhat painful groan came out through TR: "Uh...ah...drink..."

Although it can be heard from the voice that Verstappen's condition is not very good at this time, everyone at Red Bull breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Verstappen's voice. After all, the drivers' TR is average. It will not be turned on. Only after the driver presses the TR button will the team hear the driver's voice.

So hearing Verstappen's voice at this time means that he still has the strength to press the button and his mind is clear, which in disguise means that Verstappen's condition at this time should not be too bad.

At the same time, a yellow flag appeared on the track, which soon turned into a red flag.

During this process, Qin Miao didn't even know what was happening.

The screen was shown to Verstappen. Although the director did not show Verstappen the camera at this time, when Matthew came to Verstappen's side, he could see that Verstappen's head was still moving. .

And as Matthew approached, the medical vehicle also came to Verstappen.

The reason why the medical car arrived so quickly is because it was always following the drivers in the initial stage. After the first lap, the medical car would return to the FIA ​​garage and be on standby.

At this time, Qin Miao knew exactly what happened on the track through the team TR.

To be honest, it was really surprising.

Although these two people have fought each other on the track more than once or twice, in Qin Miao's impression, these two people are considered to be the kind of drivers with strong enough skills. It stands to reason that when they are fighting, they have their hearts in mind. They should all be measured and not make the scene too ugly.

But why did it happen so easily?

The good news is that after Verstappen calmed down in the car for a while, he climbed out of the car on his own initiative. The doctor who rushed out of the medical car immediately began to ask about Verstappen's status to confirm that he had no internal bleeding. class of questions.

Although Verstappen said he was not injured, the FIA ​​still dispatched an ambulance.

Before entering the ambulance, Verstappen waved to the spectators to reassure them that he was fine.

The other drivers also returned to the pit area at this time.

At this time, the maintenance area was crowded, and all team staff came to the cars of their own team drivers with support equipment from their team's P room.

After Qin Miao got out of the car, he found that the person behind him had changed from Hamilton to Leclerc.

It should be that after Hamilton and Verstappen collided, his rhythm was lost again. Le Laosi picked up a big mistake and got this position. In terms of Ferrari's characteristics, they are indeed quite suitable for the Silverstone track. , but after all, the research and development has been stopped, so naturally it cannot compare with Mercedes in terms of speed.

So Qin Miao knew that, if possible, he would need to help Le Laosi defend Hamilton after the game resumed. Otherwise, he would have to use up more of Hamilton's tires.

After having an idea in his mind, Qin Miao stopped paying too much attention to Le Laosi. The two were friends off the field, but on the track Le Laosi was just a tool.

Taking off his helmet and hood, Qin Miao took the water handed over by Barber and asked, "What's going on?"

Barber explained: "Hamilton and Verstappen collided when entering the Copse corner. Verstappen hit the wall, but there was no big problem with Hamilton's car. I can't explain the other details. , you can go directly to the team podium to watch the replay."

Anyway, nothing happened. After hearing Barber's suggestion, Qin Miao simply handed over his equipment to Barber, and took out a cooling ice vest from the multi-functional backpack carried behind Barber. He put it on himself, and then went to the command podium of the Mercedes team.

After saying hello to Franky, Franky brought up the scene just now for Qin Miao.

After watching it, from the perspective of a driver, Qin Miao felt that both of them had problems in this wave.

Hamilton, who had no line rights, did not leave any space for Verstappen and chose to squeeze inside in an attempt to push Verstappen outwards.

And Verstappen was also very stubborn. He didn't pay attention to Hamilton behind him after exiting the corner, and started to apply the gas after passing the apex of the corner.

In the end, the two men's disagreement led to this serious track accident.

During this time, Red Bull engineers also came to Verstappen's paralyzed car on the track and began to assess the extent of the damage.

He is also responsible for the collection and confidentiality of racing car bodies.

After determining the course of the crash and knowing that Verstappen was fine, Qin Miao left it alone.

Although this collision was really dangerous, if there was a slight deviation, Verstappen might not be able to do anything and get out of the car on his own like just now.

But to be selfish, the race must continue, so Verstappen's retirement is actually good news for Qin Miao.

After patting Franky on the shoulder and saying hello to other Mercedes staff who were also on the podium, Qin Miao went to the P room of the team.

Although there is a lot of data in the podium, there is also a lot of data in the P room, which is also air-conditioned and does not occupy the seats of other staff members. The most important thing is that my wife is in the P room of the team.

When Qin Miao returned to the P room of the team, he saw Qiu Meng sitting in the same position where Qin Miao usually sat waiting for the start of the game, with a team-specific noise-canceling headset on his head.

After seeing Qin Miao come back, Qiu Meng didn't show any surprise on her face. Instead, she waited for Qin Miao to come to her before asking curiously: "Brother, based on your understanding, how should the FIA ​​punish this time?" Car accident?"

Although it was not appropriate for the two of them to talk about this matter in the current situation, Qiu Meng used Chinese when she asked Qin Miao, and it was the dialect of their hometown, so she did not have to worry about being overheard. .

Even though many foreigners can understand and speak Chinese now, there are basically no people in the racing industry who can speak and understand Chinese, not to mention that these two people still speak Hunan dialect with ten miles of different pronunciation. .

“I don’t know, but if I were the race steward, the accident on the first lap of the race was a normal track accident and there would be no penalty.

But from the perspective of a driver, I wish I could have given Hamilton a 20-second penalty and had to pass through the pit lane. "Qin Miao leaned on the cabinet next to Qiu Meng.

Qiu Meng smiled helplessly: "I see you, you really want to send Hamilton out of the race."

Qin Miao didn't pretend to be anything. After Qiu Meng said this, Qin Miao nodded and admitted frankly: "Yes, I have thought about it too, but it is obviously unrealistic."

"Don't think so much, run at your own pace and try to win back the championship." Qiu Meng raised her fist to encourage.

Qin Miao nodded, and then asked curiously: "Where is Toto?"

Qiu Meng said: "Hamilton went out immediately after the collision with Verstappen. He should have gone to find FIA officials for operation. After all, there is quite a lot of room for adjustment in the penalties for this matter."

Qin Miao nodded after hearing this, and then chatted with Qiu Meng while waiting for the game to restart.

It took about half an hour to get a notification from the tournament that the game would restart at 45:[-] pm.

At this time Toto also returned to the P room of the Mercedes team.

Toto first chatted with Hamilton to calm him down, and then found Qin Miao.

Qin Miao originally thought that Toto was looking for him to allow him to give way to Hamilton during the race. He might even want to block Leclerc and let Hamilton catch up, but Toto reached out and patted Qin Miao. Miao's arm then said: "In the race later, run at your own pace. I don't want you two to have the same accident on the track."

Toto's words were somewhat meaningful, but Qin Miao didn't understand them.

So Qin Miao only understood the superficial meaning of Toto's words, that is, Toto did not want to see himself and Hamilton retire, or someone retired due to a car fight, so Qin Miao was sure of it. Said: "Don't worry, my defense is measured."

After Toto heard Qin Miao's words, he smiled and encouraged Qin Miao. After that, the time was almost up, and Qin Miao returned to his racing car.

Although the game has not restarted yet, it is not long before the start of the game.The 5-minute countdown in the lower right corner of the screen has started.

The countdown reaches zero during the long wait.

The indicator light in front of Qin Miao turned green, and Qin Miao drove his car onto the track behind the safety car.

After a simple exit lap under the safety car and then a tire warm-up lap, Qin Miao slowly stopped at his starting position. This was his second pole position start in the race today.

After parking, Qin Miao started waiting again.

This time there was no green flag behind the restart. After the last car parked at its spot, the five red lights started to light up one by one.

"The five red lights go out and the game restarts!"

"Let's see how Qin Miao starts this time."

"Leclerc started very well, much faster than Qin Miao. After starting, he started to prepare inside to suppress Qin Miao."

"Can Qin Miao hold her position at Turn [-]?"

“Beautiful, Qin Miao kept her position, and the rankings of the top three drivers did not change much after the start.”

……

On the race track, Qin Miao found after starting that he was not as good as Leclerc, but Ferrari's car was still a little behind after all, so he fell behind briefly at the start and quickly regained his position.

Hamilton behind him may have considered that his lap speed is faster than that of Leclerc and Qin Miao, and the dangerous scene just now is still in front of him, so Hamilton's start was relatively smooth, and he did not try when exiting T1. Brake late to grab position or something.

After all, with DRS, he has the confidence to surpass the two people in front of him. Without Verstappen, there is no need to rush.

In the first period after that, there was no change in the rankings of the top three riders.

Leclerc's car was not good and he couldn't catch up with Qin Miao, while Hamilton chose to keep a low profile and tolerate the killing.

Seeing this, Qin Miao prepared to keep the gap between himself and Leclerc slightly more than one second.

Against Verstappen, Qin Miao did not dare to ask the general to control the gap so small. But against Ferrari, Qin Miao was confident that while giving Ferrari DRS, he would not let the opponent surpass him, and the opponent would have to eat his own in the corners. Dirty airflow.

In fact, Qin Miao now has two options. The first is to use his speed from the beginning and push forward with all his strength while there is no dirty airflow in front of him, regardless of the life or death of Leclerc behind him.

After this choice, Leclerc may be overtaken by Hamilton within five laps, and then spend the rest of the time chasing Qin Miao.

Of course, it is also possible that without the dirty airflow created by Qin Miao in front of Leclerc, it would be much easier to defend Hamilton.

The second option is what Qin Miao is choosing now, to suppress speed and use dirty airflow to control the speed of all the riders behind him.

Then he relied on his terrifying tire protection and defensive abilities to guard Leclerc and Hamilton.

As long as Leclerc defends Hamilton long enough, Hamilton's tires will suffer extensive wear and degradation due to constant attacks. This will make it easier for Qin Miao to defend Hamilton.

After these two options are presented, it is self-evident which one to choose.

After all, the first option was uncontrollable, while Qin Miao had a certain amount of room for manipulation in the second option. Rather than trusting in luck, Qin Miao preferred to believe in his own ability, so he chose the second option.

On the fourth lap, there was no change in ranking among the top riders.

On the fifth lap, after the top drivers passed T4, the competition gave the penalty result for the collision between Hamilton and Verstappen.

Hamilton was given a ten-second penalty and wasn't even allowed to pass through the pit lane.

Of course, this choice of the race committee should have taken into account that this was the first lap of the race. The collision between Hamilton and Verstappen can only be regarded as a normal track accident, but Verstappen has retired, so Red Bull needs to be With one explanation, Hamilton was given a 10-second penalty.

Of course, Toto's operation also played a certain role in this process, but the specific conversation between Toto and the tournament stewards during this process is unknown.

However, this was only a judgment made after Qin Miao, who was leading the race, heard French's punishment announcement about Hamilton and the fact that Toto disappeared for a period of time.

Qin Miao wasn't sure whether that was the case.

Qin Miao has been controlling his speed since then.

On the sixth lap, DRS is turned on.

Leclerc also obviously saw Qin Miao's intention. He took a wider exit line at T4 and wanted to use the next DRS to challenge Qin Miao's position.

After all, no one has lost his temper. It's familiar. I'm sure I won't accept it when you, Qin Miao, use me as a spearman to attack your teammates.

It's a pity that Qin Miao's 100-point defensive attribute has set up a wall of sighs in front of all those who want to attack Qin Miao, even though Leclerc is extremely fast with the full release of ERS and the blessing of rich mode and DRS.

But the gap of about one second cannot be smoothed out by a period of DRS.

After passing the first DRS zone on the track, Leclerc could only catch up to 0.4 seconds behind Qin Miao.

And in the next three combinations of T6, T7 and T8, Qin Miao relied on his car's advantage in low-speed corners and slightly more tire consumption to widen the gap between himself and Leclerc to 0.7 seconds.

Although Leclerc can catch Qin Miao's wake in the next full throttle area.

But Mercedes' acceleration and speed on the straight were much faster than Ferrari's, so Leclerc didn't even find a chance to put pressure behind Qin Miao.

Moreover, due to excessive consumption of ERS power, Leclerc was slapped on the head once by Hamilton behind him after exiting T14.

But fortunately, T15 is a high-speed corner that does not slow down, so it is not too difficult for Leclerc to defend.

After trying a failed attack, Leclerc also gave up the idea of ​​continuing to attack Qin Miao.

There is no way, the speed gap between Mercedes and Ferrari is too big, and as Qin Miao's friend, Leclerc clearly knows how incredible Qin Miao's defensive ability is.

When the two were playing on the simulator, unless Qin Miao let off steam, Leclerc really had not succeeded in overtaking Qin Miao.

And he also had to focus on defending Hamilton behind him, so the attack just now was the first and only time Leclerc was willful in this game.

However, Leclerc's attack can be regarded as a reminder to Qin Miao. Although Ferrari has started this season, Leclerc is still a bit of a threat.

So on the eighth lap, Qin Miao controlled the gap between himself and Leclerc to about 1.5 seconds.

With this gap, Leclerc will also be affected by the turbulence caused by the rear of Qin Miao's car, which will affect his single lap speed, but he will not be able to absorb Qin Miao's wake, which is the safest way.

It's just that the gap is relatively large, and Leclerc's speed will be a little less due to turbulence.

On the ninth lap, Hamilton saved up enough power and prepared to overtake Leclerc in this lap.

After all, he still had a ten-second penalty. If he had been following Leclerc, Hamilton might even have fallen directly behind Stroll after completing the ten-second penalty after pitting.

So now Hamilton needs to speed up.

It's just that Leclerc made sure that he no longer had any illusions about Qin Miao's position in this game. Instead, he tried his best to keep his current position and has been guarding Hamilton behind him.

Now that Leclerc saw that Hamilton had the idea of ​​​​taking action against him, ERS, who had been charging since the lap after trying to attack Qin Miao, also played a key role at this moment.

Hamilton was unable to catch up to the DRS area behind Leclerc for a while.

The two began to get entangled with each other from then on, and they became a little bored for a while. Instead, the only highlight of the game became Perez.

Only eleven laps into the race, Perez started from No. 19 to [-]th, and was about to head towards the points area.

Audiences from other countries will be somewhat dissatisfied when they see this race. After all, except for the scene where Verstappen rushed out of the track just now, there is nothing interesting or eye-catching on this track.

However, the domestic audience didn't think so. Seeing Qin Miao leading the race from the beginning, everyone was as happy as if they were celebrating the New Year.

Of course, some viewers who don't know much about F1, or are just getting started, are a little worried when they see that Qin Miao has never widened the gap with Leclerc, and the time has always been maintained at about 1.5 seconds.

The veteran knows that Qin Miao is fighting against a bull on the other side of the mountain. It seems that he is slowing down to defend Leclerc, but in fact he is defending Hamilton.

In the second timing period on lap No. 15, Leclerc suddenly reported that the engine of his car had stalled for a moment. Although he quickly repaired it himself, his speed dropped a lot.

The original two-second gap with Hamilton was shortened to just over one second in a short period of time.

Qin Miao, who was experiencing the feeling of healthy racing in F2, suddenly found that after passing T14, he could no longer see the red color in the rearview mirror. He glanced at the ranking data on the steering wheel and found out. Leclerc lost speed.

(End of this chapter)