How did I become an F1 driver?

Chapter 276 Chapter 279: The team intervenes in mediation (6K, plus 420)

At this time, the director once again showed the live footage to Toto Wolfe, and at this time, Toto was no longer as calm and calm as before.

At this time, Toto held his chest with one hand and put the other hand on his forehead to knead it. He looked like he had a headache.

And this is indeed the case. Toto now really regrets why he promised Qin Miao not to interfere in the fight between him and Hamilton.

Even if we want to give Qin Miao such a promise, we should let Qin Miao stay in the team for one more year and observe him for a while.

Toto began to reflect on himself. At that time, he was still a little too eager to find a driver to support the Mercedes team in the next ten years.

……

An attack failed and both drivers' batteries needed to be replenished.

Therefore, it can be clearly seen from the broadcast footage that the rear indicators of both drivers are flashing red lights at this time, which means that both of them are charging their cars.

On lap 37, it was still the same position and the same people.

When Qin Miao came out of T17, she oversteering again, the rear wheel skidded slightly, and her speed dropped a lot.

It was the same choice again, placed in front of Hamilton.

Super or not?
At this time, many people felt that Hamilton should learn from the lesson he received from Qin Miao just now and stop overtaking this time. He should follow Qin Miao honestly and wait until he reaches the straightaway before taking action.

But at this time, if Hamilton did not overtake Qin Miao's car, he would have to step on the brakes or loosen the accelerator a lot.

On the racing track, a speed difference of 0.1 seconds can determine the outcome of a race or the battle for the podium.

Therefore, even though Hamilton knew that this was another flaw exposed by Qin Miao, Hamilton still chose to surpass Qin Miao.

Isn't it just defense? This time Hamilton already had a way to deal with Qin Miao's overtaking.

And just like the last time, Qin Miao's T18 took a wider exit route. With the wake provided by Hamilton and the blessing of DRS, Qin Miao was ready to take the lead on the inside again.

But this time Hamilton chose to change lanes with Qin Miao at the same time when Qin Miao had sucked enough slipstream from behind his car and was about to change lanes, just to prevent Qin Miao from getting his inside lane.

Qin Miao discovered that Hamilton changed defense lines earlier than last time, and roughly guessed that Hamilton didn't want to let the inside line out this time.

Qin Miao simply stopped grabbing the inside line. Instead, he counterattacked and took the shot from Hamilton's outside line.

Qin Miao's closing rate this time was somewhat inferior compared to the last time, so when passing the exit of the pit area, Qin Miao was just wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton.

When it came to the T2 braking point, Qin Miao did not completely surpass Hamilton.

At this time, Qin Miao's right rear wheel happened to be facing Hamilton's left front wheel, but Qin Miao knew that this advantage was not enough, so Qin Miao tried his best to squeeze Hamilton to the right side of the track.

When they came all the way to T2, Qin Miao and Hamilton's turn-in angles were not at the best turn-in point on the far left side of the track. Their positions were just in the middle of the track.

In the T2 position, Hamilton knew that he had a disadvantage, so he pulled a little further to the right and prepared to brake late, while Qin Miao was ready to cross the line.

But what no one, including Qin Miao, expected was that when Hamilton was about to brake late, for some reason, his right rear wheel locked up.

Pulling out a section of white smoke, it rushed straight towards the buffer zone of T2.

Qin Miao missed Hamilton's torpedo just because he was preparing to cross the line.

Fortunately, the buffer zone in T2 at the Sochi station was spacious enough. After Hamilton rushed out, he could regain control of the car in the buffer zone and return to the field through the escape channel.

Because of Hamilton's mistakes, Qin Miao kept his position. When Hamilton returned to the track, the time gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton came to 2 seconds.

Both of them can take a break, catch their breath, and recharge their cars.

Hamilton's mistake actually had little to do with his operation. The reason why he made such a mistake was purely because the track conditions at the time were not good enough.

Qin Miao deliberately pushed Hamilton toward the dirty side of the track when entering the corner. Hamilton had to brake late when he was running on the inside line, so he naturally applied the brakes to the limit.

Under braking, Hamilton's tire grip was at a critical value.

In this state, any pressure on Hamilton's tires would instantly destroy the balance of the tires at their limit.

On a normal driving line, because there are racing cars driving all the time, even if there is dust and pebbles on it, it will be blown to both sides of the track.

The dirty side is called the dirty side because there are more debris on the track that are difficult to detect with the naked eye.

Falling rubber pieces, small stones, and dust will all affect the balance of the car.

At that time, Hamilton hit a small stone, and the grip of the rear wheel was slightly lost. The result was that the rear wheel locked up.

This was actually something Qin Miao didn't expect. His purpose of squeezing Hamilton to the dirty side was just to put more rubber on Hamilton's tires, in order to slow down Hamilton's car.

But it turns out that the effect of this squeeze is much better than Qin Miao imagined.

But for the Mercedes-Benz team, the news is not very good.

At this time, the race has reached lap 38, and the time gap between Qin Miao and Norris in front of him has reached 10 seconds. This 4-second gap was caused by the two fights between Qin Miao and Hamilton. Norris remained silent. He pulled away silently without making a sound.

It can be said that if Qin Miao and Hamilton continue to fight, the two Mercedes drivers will really let Norris win the championship.

Although everyone at Mercedes knows what is the most correct thing to do at this time, including Qin Miao and Hamilton on the track at this time.

Both of them also knew that the most important thing for them to do at this time was to run the race normally, and first overtake Norris in front of them.

But Qin Miao really didn't want to give up the ranking that he had finally achieved.

Qin Miao also felt that it was impossible for Hamilton to let himself be in front of him without trying to surpass him.

After all, Hamilton is faster than Qin Miao.

Qin Miao has just experienced how frustrating it is to run behind someone who is slower than you and you have no way to surpass him.

Therefore, Qin Miao does not doubt Hamilton's determination to surpass himself.

The gap between the two Mercedes-Benz drivers and McLaren's Norris was getting wider and wider.

Just when everyone thought that Meiben might have to repeat the infighting they had in traditional arts many years ago because of Qin Miao's joining.

The team still intervened.

Toto’s voice reached the ears of the two drivers at the same time: “Okay, that’s enough.

We cannot lose the championship of this game. I hope you can distinguish the priority. "

"Qin Miao, your speed is more than 0.2 seconds slower than Hamilton in every lap. Let Hamilton pass and let him chase Norris in front. After you both pass Norris, Hamilton will return the position to you. Yes, when you two continue to pester the Fighting Team, they won’t interfere.”

Mercedes gave the two Mercedes drivers team instructions in an aboveboard and aboveboard manner.

After hearing the news, Qin Miao didn't feel much in his heart. After all, what Toto said was true. He was indeed not as fast as Hamilton, but his defensive ability was more outstanding than Hamilton's.

And Qin Miao also knew that it was not too difficult for him to defend Hamilton. When there was no obvious gap between the two tires, Qin Miao felt that he could still stop Hamilton for 10 laps or even longer.

But if they really blocked Hamilton for so long, the possibility of Qin Miao and Hamilton winning this game would be completely eliminated.

When Hamilton faced Toto's team instructions, he naturally breathed a sigh of relief.

After heaving a sigh of relief, Hamilton recalled Qin Miao's defense against him just now.

Then he took on Verstappen's perspective.

Now he finally understood why people inside and outside the paddock said that becoming Qin Miao's enemy was a headache.

Verstappen has said in interviews more than once that the driver he least wants to see in front of him on the track is Qin Miao.

That iron-clad defense, just the right amount of blocking and squeezing, and long-term layout capabilities.

It is no exaggeration to say that after one experience, Hamilton can say that Qin Miao is one of the drivers with the strongest defensive ability in the paddock today.

The reason for adding one is because Alonso's defense against Hamilton at the Hungaroring is a pain that Hamilton still doesn't want to think about at this time.

If compared, Hamilton still feels that Alonso's defensive ability is more incredible.

After all, Alonso's defense did cause Hamilton a lot of trouble, and even directly walked Qin Miao to win the championship.

However, no matter what, the fight between Qin Miao and Hamilton at least remained at a relatively restrained stage.

The two of them did not cause any substantial damage to each other, and they only lost a few laps.

After hearing Toto's team instructions, Qin Miao thought about it and finally let Hamilton go.

Indeed, as Toto said, it would not be beneficial for either of them to fight Hamilton. What we should really do now is to catch up with Norris in front, surpass Norris, and widen the gap between him and then decide between the two. The human champion belongs.

As for the possibility of Hamilton not giving his position back...

Qin Miao is not too worried about this.

After all, no matter what, Hamilton is a seven-time champion.

Although Qin Miao joined the Mercedes team and is the No. 2 driver of the Mercedes team, Qin Miao only has a few championship titles on his head.

Compared with Hamilton, Qin Miao can really only be regarded as a nobody.

So many of Hamilton's rights and wrongs on the field are only on the field. Competitive sports will inevitably be accompanied by controversy, which is inevitable.

But the matter of exchanging positions involves character aspects.

Hamilton is not stupid, and there is no way he would let anyone take advantage of this kind of thing.Since Qin Miao has made it clear in the team TR that he is giving up his position to Hamilton and letting him chase Norris.

No matter what the final result is, Hamilton will definitely return his position to Qin Miao.

If he doesn't pay it back, Hamilton's reputation will be ruined.

Qin Miao believes that Hamilton knows which one is more important, the championship in one race or the reputation he has built up over the years.

So he has no worries in this regard.

On lap 38, in the DRS area between T10 and T13, Qin Miao and Hamilton peacefully exchanged positions.

Even because it was a straight road, Qin Miao's speed loss was very small.

"This is the right thing to do. Although Hamilton is indeed faster than Qin Miao, Qin Miao is definitely not willing to hand over his position to Hamilton. With Qin Miao's defensive ability, when there is no performance gap in the car, Qin Miao really has Hamilton may be locked behind him. This situation is not good for anyone." He was worried that domestic fans would not be able to accept this instruction given by the team, so Brother Bing helped the Mercedes team explain it. Their intention in issuing this convoy order.

"That's right, what the team wants to see more than second and third place is definitely the two drivers taking home one or two, and No. 1 also gets more points than No. 2 and No. 3." Fei Ge So he said.

"In fact, both Qin Miao and Hamilton are faster than Norris, but it will take time for them to catch up with Norris. The Mercedes-Benz team's early stop can only be said to be the right time." Zhou Haoran said.

……

After Qin Miao and Hamilton withdrew their attention from each other, the time gap between Norris in front of them and them was still 12 seconds.

In the lap just after they exchanged positions, Qin Miao and Hamilton began to chase Norris in front.

So you can see that starting from this lap, starting with Hamilton, the two Mercedes began to quickly pursue Norris in front of them.

Qin Miao, on the other hand, has been hanging 0.8 seconds behind Hamilton. With this time gap, Qin Miao will not be too affected by the turbulence of Hamilton's car, and will not be thrown out of the DRS area by Hamilton.

On the same lap, Red Bull had made a pit stop strategy error, and Verstappen had been overtaken by Alonso behind him due to tire degradation.

It can be said that Verstappen's game is over, and he has gained back a lot of points after originally chasing them.

After today's game, Red Bull had a headache.

After finally catching up to one point behind Hamilton, he was pulled away again.

On the 40th lap, Hamilton came to a position 10 seconds behind Norris. Hamilton actually chased Norris for 2 seconds in one lap.

At the same time, the team reminded the two drivers: "It will rain lightly in about ten laps. If possible, go faster."

Qin Miao didn't answer. His current speed was basically the limit of what he could achieve.

Hamilton's answer was very simple: "Roger that."

On lap 42, the time gap between Hamilton and Norris came to 6 seconds, which is still 2 seconds per lap. To be honest, this close rate is really terrifying.

As for Qin Miao, Hamilton has already pulled him back by 1.5 seconds.

There was no way, after the team's order was given, Hamilton's speed increased by another section. On the 41st lap, Qin Miao could barely rely on the support of DRS power to keep up with Hamilton and prevent him from being thrown out of the DRS zone.

But on lap 42, after the ERS battery ran out, Hamilton ruthlessly threw Qin Miao out of the DRS area.

Qin Miao had no choice but to accept this.

On lap 44, Hamilton caught up to a position 2 seconds behind Norris.

When Norris knew how close Hamilton was to him, he really had the urge to curse.

How the hell does this pussy run so fast?What's burning in your Mercedes' engine isn't fuel, it's nuclear bombs, right?
From this lap onwards, Hamilton officially began to put pressure on Norris.

As for Qin Miao...

On lap 45, Hamilton slowed down because he was catching up with Norris, so Qin Miao caught up with Hamilton again.

But even if he catches up with Hamilton, there is not much Qin Miao can do at this time. He can only follow Hamilton and wait for Hamilton to overtake Norris in front of him.

Of course, as time goes by, Qin Miao will gradually start to question Hamilton, why does it take so long to overtake another car?Do you not want to surpass Norris and are you ready to give up your position?
But Qin Miao just thought about it this way.

After all, even Qin Miao couldn't complete the operation of overtaking Norris within two laps.

In the same lap, Hamilton caught up in the DRS area behind Norris.

And began to try his best to get closer to Norris in front of him.

However, Norris was so slow in the front. He spent most of the time maintaining the tire, and the battery was almost full.

As Hamilton came behind Norris, Norris began to release with all his strength.

Although sometimes the time gap between Norris and Hamilton is about 0.8 or 0.9 seconds.

But before the DRS detection point, Norris would suddenly release a wave of power, widening the time gap between the two to more than 1 second.

At this time, Hamilton will just miss the DRS monitoring point.

So much so that on the following straight, Hamilton was unable to use DRS to quickly approach Norris in front of him.

This can be considered an efficient defensive method.

For a period of time after that, Hamilton had been silently following Norris looking for opportunities.

But I just couldn't find a good offensive opportunity.

Norris's speed in this race was indeed a bit too fast, and his mind was also very clear. He handled many corner details even better than Hamilton.

As the number of fights and tests between Hamilton and Norris increased, Qin Miao gradually got closer to them.

Suddenly the top three riders actually started the DRS train in the front row.

On lap 46, drivers one after another told the team that they had found raindrops on the track.

At this time, the two Mercedes drivers were still trapped behind Norris.

To be honest, Qin Miao was a little anxious now.

Because there are only 8 laps left before the end of the race, what if Hamilton passes Norris late?
By then, even if he had gone through all the trouble to overturn Norris, he would not have had time to exchange positions with Hamilton. It would be embarrassing if his position was given to him, but he ended up in third place.

At the same time, the sky was getting darker and darker.

Of course, Qin Miao was just a little anxious. He was still able to bear his temper and did not say any inappropriate words in the team's TR.

As the broadcast camera turned, Brother Bing exclaimed: "Oh! It's raining!"

In the broadcast footage, the spectators sitting in the bleachers beside the track took out their raincoats from their backpacks and opened their umbrellas.

The weather conditions at this time were completely opposite to yesterday's qualifying stage.

Whoever enters the pit lane first to change to dry tires in qualifying will have an advantage, which can be seen from Russell starting in third place.

During the race, whoever goes to the pit area to change tires will be at a disadvantage.

As the rain gradually increased, Qin Miao, who could have had an excuse to comfort herself, could no longer sit still.

Hamilton was still following Norris and showed no sign of overtaking him.

Although Qin Miao himself has speed, he cannot surpass Hamilton when Hamilton has DRS.

And as it rains, Qin Miao's speed will drop faster.

Even in the rain, Qin Miao is confident that his lap time is faster than Norris.

But after it rained, Qin Miao couldn't confirm that he could surpass Norris.

After all, DRS will inevitably be turned off at the race meeting, and the traction of the car will also be reduced.

In short, at this point in the game, Qin Miao faced a lot of unfavorable situations.

However, Qin Miao and the others still have a huge advantage over other drivers.

After all, there is a 30-second gap between Qin Miao and Sainz behind him, so the three of them can stay outside the track longer.

The three drivers in front can wait for the other drivers to change to semi-wet tires and run a lap first to see how their lap times are before considering pitting.

Of course, Qin Miao knew that if she followed Hamilton obediently at this time, Hamilton might actually steal a chicken.

So after seeing the rain, Qin Miao wanted to enter the station as soon as possible.

So I asked the team staff in the team TR: "When can I stop and change tires?"

"Although it's raining now, we don't think the rain will be too heavy within two laps. Please continue to stay outside. If necessary, we will call you into the station in advance." Frankie paused for a while before answering. road.

Since the team said so, Qin Miao didn't say anything else and just continued to stay on the track and run laps.

On lap 47, the sky in Sochi continued to darken, visible raindrops fell on T5, and traces of rainwater could be seen on the track.

When T5 came out of the corner, Norris even ran off the track because of the rain at this location.

But fortunately, the buffer zone outside T5 was large enough, and Norris quickly returned after rushing out of the track.

(End of this chapter)