How did I become an F1 driver?

Chapter 289 Chapter 292: Qin Miao weak DRS train (6K, additional update 1220)

But the premise of all this is that Qin Miao has to catch up with Norris in front of him.

Because of the gap in vehicle performance and the obstruction of Qin Miao by the two Toro Rosso cars before the start of the race.

After Qin Miao overtook Stroll and Vettel pitted, the driver in front of Qin Miao became Norris, and at this time Norris was a full 14 seconds away from Qin Miao.

With this time gap, it's not that Qin Miao didn't have the confidence to catch up. After all, Qin Miao was driving a Mercedes.

Although the performance advantage of Mercedes-Benz over Red Bull is no longer so obvious, on some inappropriate tracks, Mercedes-Benz cannot even beat Red Bull.

But compared to McLaren, Mercedes-Benz still has obvious advantages.

The only concern may be that Qin Miao's tires may not be in good condition after catching up.

But now these things are all left to the team to consider, so Qin Miao just went through them in his mind and stopped thinking about them in depth.

Just run at your own pace.

After Qin Miao got rid of the two Aston Martins, he ran another lap. The director gave the time gap between Qin Miao and Norris in front of him, as well as the close rate between the two.

Data Display.

Qin Miao's speed was 0.7 seconds faster than Norris.

From this point of view, it is inevitable for Qin Miao to catch up with Norris in this game. The only question now is how many laps it will take for Qin Miao to catch up with Norris, and after catching up with Norris, will Qin Miao still have enough energy to pursue? Sainz and Ricciardo in front of Norris.

On lap No. 20, the time gap between Qin Miao and Norris shrank from 14 seconds at the beginning to 11 seconds.

In the No. 20 lap alone, Qin Miao chased Norris for two seconds.

This was mainly because Qin Miao discharged the power for one lap, so the speed was relatively fast. Norris also encountered Ma Zeping's slow car on the track, and his speed was affected to a certain extent.

No. 20 After three laps, Qin Miao caught up with Norris in 8.6 seconds.

25 laps, 6.5 seconds.

29 laps, 1.5 seconds.

The closing rate between Qin Miao and Norris became faster and faster. Qin Miao chased Norris for 12.5 seconds in ten laps.

Although it seems that this close rate is very outrageous, it is actually Qin Miao who took advantage of the tire consumption.

And this advantage grows over time.

On the one hand, Qin Miao pitted two laps later than Norris, and with Qin Miao's ability to protect tires, when he and Norris were compared horizontally, Qin Miao's tires became more and more advantageous as they ran.

On the other hand, because of his systematic skills, Qin Miao's tire wear is the least in the paddock, so this is another advantage.

However, Qin Miao also knew that no matter how good Norris's relationship with him was in private, he would not show any mercy to him in a real confrontation like this on the field.

Even if Norris knows that he is not his opponent on the field, there is no competitive relationship between the two.

But Qin Miao knows Norris well, and he will definitely not let himself go when faced with him, and will definitely try to fight with him.

Although Qin Miao didn't know what the inner motivation of Norris was for doing this, based on Qin Miao's understanding of Norris, he was sure that the other party would do this.

On lap No. 30, Qin Miao came to the DRS area behind Norris.

But what Qin Miao didn't expect was that Norris didn't defend him.

In the DRS zone of T11-T12, Norris ran his own rhythm normally without taking any defensive lines.

When Qin Miao overtook Norris, he just took a sip of Norris's wake, then took the inside line and entered the corner alongside Norris at the braking point. After exiting the corner, Qin Miao relied on the stronger tire grip of Qin Miao's car to pull away. Norris.

When exiting the corner, Qin Miao turned her head and glanced at Norris in surprise.

It's just that Norris didn't look at Qin Miao at this time, but continued to run at his own pace.

Qin Miao was really curious. Did Norris change his gender?Why don't you guard against me?

But soon, as the race reached lap No. 30, Qin Miao knew the reason, and Norris behind him pitted directly.

In fact, Norris is almost reaching the pit stop window designated by the team.

Norris felt that he was going to pit in the next lap anyway, and there was no need to cause trouble for Qin Miao at this time, so he simply let Qin Miao go without affecting his own rhythm.

If Qin Miao can pass him, let him pass him. If he can't pass him, he will not take the initiative to let Qin Miao pass.

In addition to Norris, Ricciardo in front of Norris also chose to pit.

The two McLaren cars pitted, but because there was a 10-second time gap between the two drivers, the two drivers pitting at the same time did not affect their tire changing rhythm.

After the two McLaren drivers came out, they both fell behind Qin Miao. Qin Miao also took advantage of the situation to reach fifth place. Perez was 8 seconds ahead.

Facing 8 seconds of clean air, Qin Miao naturally began to push forward with all his strength.

However, Qin Miao had just started to increase his speed when Franky's voice came from the TR: "Qin Miao, how do you feel about the current condition of the racing tires?"

At this time, Qin Miao happened to be passing T3, T4, T5, three corners that were very similar to Silverstone. With the lateral G force pressing on him, Qin Miao couldn't spare the energy to talk, so he left T19 without turning. After talking, Qin Miao replied: "Not bad."

"Okay, our speed is very good. If possible, try to protect your tires. We want to extend this stint and put you on new tires then."

After Qin Miao heard the team's arrangements, his mind was filled with questions.

He didn't know why the team arranged it this way.

But as mentioned before, since the two-stop tactic was used, Qin Miao didn't need to think about anything else, he just had to trust the team's judgment.

So Qin Miao said without thinking: "Copy that."

I didn’t ask why or when I would pull in.

It can be understood that Qin Miao has lost his mind at this time. Now Qin Miao only thinks about running the race and running the race faster!

After the team confirmed that Qin Miao had received it, the team's simulator and data model also began to formulate a new pit stop strategy for Qin Miao based on Qin Miao's race and practice data.

No. 30 Three laps later, Qin Miao caught up with Leclerc, who was fourth in front of him.

Even though Qin Miao's ranking at this time was very impressive, it only took 33 laps to catch up from the bottom of the team to fifth place.

But at this time, the time gap between Leclerc and Perez in front of him is 11 seconds, while the time gap between Perez and Verstappen in front of him is 21 seconds, and the time gap between Verstappen and Hamilton, who has not yet pitted, is ahead. 15 seconds.

Although Qin Miao was less than 2 seconds away from Leclerc, Leclerc had already completed two stops at this time, while Qin Miao had only made one stop.

Including the time when Qin Miao pitted, the time gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton, who was first, was almost 1 minute.

Of course, Hamilton did not enter the pit at this time. Like Qin Miao, he only entered the pit once.

……

Because he needed to protect his tires, Qin Miao had no intention of taking action even if he caught up with Leclerc in front of him.

After all, Qin Miao's car is wearing a set of hard tires that have already been run for [-] laps, while Leclerc is wearing a set of new hard tires that have just been raced.

Even if Leclerc's set of hard tires did not reach the appropriate working temperature in a short period of time, Qin Miao was not confident that he could surpass Leclerc with this set of already worn-out tires.

So Qin Miao chose to follow Leclerc honestly. If possible, he would suck in the wake and prepare to attack Leclerc with DRS. If not, he would follow him honestly and wait for the team to give him a warning. Instructions to make your own pit stop.

And Leclerc is going crazy with joy right now.

There are not many opportunities to block Qin Miao behind him, and today is the time!
Just block my lane while playing the simulator, right?You were the only one who gave me the nickname Defensive Master, right?Your name is Qin Miao, right?
Today I will let you taste what it feels like to be locked up!
What?Bullying others with the advantage of tires?
Then you asked Qin Miao to stop and change tires, I didn't stop him.

Qin Miao did try to attack Leclerc. After all, his tires only lacked grip when exiting and entering corners. The role of tires in straight-line acceleration was not that important.

So Qin Miao still tried to attack in the DRS area, but as long as Leclerc stood on the inside in advance, Qin Miao had nothing to do.

Regardless of whether it was exiting a corner or crossing a line, Qin Miao was unable to overtake due to the grip of his tires.

Instead, several fights between Qin Miao and Leclerc caused Qin Miao's tires to consume more.

The team immediately reminded Qin Miao, and Qin Miao finally became honest.

When Leclerc saw that Qin Miao had no intention of continuing to attack, the pressure on him was reduced, and most of his energy was naturally focused on his own speed.

However, at this time, the 11-second time gap between Leclerc and Perez in front of him is not so easy to chase.

Leclerc didn't think about getting on the podium in this race. In his opinion, staying in fourth place would be good.

On lap 39, Qin Miao's tires were worn close to the limit, and his speed gradually began to fail to keep up with Leclerc.

But the good news is that the time gap between Qin Miao and Ricciardo behind him has been widening, and now the time gap between the two is 16 seconds.

In other words, if Qin Miao pits, he will not lose too many positions, and because he is wearing neutral tires, Qin Miao will be faster than the driver in front.

On lap No. 40, Qin Miao finally heard the sound of nature: "Box, Qin Miao, box."

"Roger that!"

At this time, the director also released the chat between Qin Miao and the team.

As soon as the screen turned, the audience saw Qin Miao driving into the maintenance area.

Although the Mercedes team asked Qin Miao to wait for their pit stop notification, Red Bull speculated that Mercedes wanted to put Qin Miao on medium tires.

After all, it was too early to change to soft tires at that time, and it was too late to change to hard tires. Only medium tires were barely suitable.But after seeing the medium tire in the hand of the Mercedes technician, Red Bull also started to get nervous.

With Qin Miao's offensive ability, he might be able to gain a few more positions in this game. If he catches up to a podium position, it would be troublesome...

"Qin Miao actually changed into yellow tires this time?!" Even Zhou Haoran, the commentator, was surprised when he saw the tire in the hand of the Mercedes tire changer.

Wang Yang said: "Qin Miao has already run 26 laps on the white tires in this race. Since Mercedes chose to let Qin Miao run such a long stop on the white tires, it probably wanted Qin Miao to rely on one in the later stages of the race. Use yellow tires to do more things."

Li Bao asked with some worry: "There are still sixteen laps to go before the end of the race. Qin Miao's set of yellow tires is used to chase the driver in front. Can his set of yellow tires last until the end of the race?"

"This is indeed a worrying issue." Wang Yang also nodded and began to worry about Qin Miao.

On the contrary, Zhou Haoran crossed his arms and said more confidently than the Mercedes team's strategy team: "Actually, you don't have to worry about this. Qin Miao's tire protection ability is not weaker than his defensive ability at all. I have seen Qin Miao enter the car. Lap record since F1.

Compared with other drivers, Qin Miao's lap speed was the slowest, even slower than Perez's.

This also means that Qin Miao's tires wear out slower than other drivers.

So if nothing unexpected happens, the next period of time will be the time for Qin Miao to pursue the pursuit with all his strength. "

When changing the tire, the team gave Qin Miao a little strength. When changing the tire, the tire changer of the left front wheel made a tire change error. After removing the old tire, the new tire was not installed immediately.

Take it off a little and then install it to install the tire in place.

This mistake brought Qin Miao a tire change of 3.4 seconds.

Of course, this is just a little bit more intense. After Qin Miao came out, he did not fall behind Norris, but was 4 seconds in front of Norris.

This is the same position as estimated by the team strategy team. The only difference is that the original time gap of 2 seconds with Sainz has become 3 seconds.

Of course, Qin Miao took the team's mistake very seriously, as long as he did not lose his position. As long as there were no other drivers blocking him, such as time, he could easily recover.

On the No. 40 lap, Qin Miao spent one lap to raise his medium tires to the appropriate working temperature and shorten the gap between himself and Sainz.

At this time, the time gap between him and Sainz was 1.4 seconds.

After crossing the finish line of the No. 40 lap, Qin Miao began to attack Sainz in front of him.

Sainz became more motivated when he discovered that Qin Miao was pitting and falling behind him.

However, he found that Qin Miao came behind him, but unlike other drivers, he did not slow down to charge the battery and prepare to deal with Qin Miao's attack.

Instead, he continued to speed up and began to chase Ricardo in front of him.

Sainz knew that Qin Miao not only had newer tires than him, but also used medium tires. With the name Qin Miao, Sainz did not feel that he had any chance of winning under normal defense.

Therefore, we can only adopt some other defensive methods, such as the DRS train that is hated by all mid-range riders.

At this time, Sainz was only 1.5 seconds away from Ricciardo in front of him.

On the second lap of No. 40, Qin Miao had already caught up to the DRS area behind Sainz, but looking at Ricciardo in front of Sainz, Qin Miao scratched his teeth in pain.

MD, it’s the DRS train again!
It was already late in the game, and Qin Miao could not choose to undercut like the DRS train he encountered with Toro Rosso.

So facing another DRS train, all Qin Miao could do at this time was to overtake it.

After taking a look at the power of his battery, Qin Miao asked in the team TR: "How is the fuel condition of my car?"

"The temperature is normal. There is about 1.7 turns left. You can do whatever you want." Franky naturally saw Qin Miao's predicament at this time, so he gave Qin Miao the information he wanted to know most at this time.

After getting the answer he wanted, Qin Miao knew where his limit was.

After three laps of No. 40, Qin Miao’s battery reached 90%.

Although it has not reached 100%, Qin Miao feels that this is enough.

Medium tires are enough to make up for this 10% battery deficit.

After crossing the finish line, Qin Miao began to quickly approach Sainz.

However, Qin Miao did not try to go all out on the straightaway.

Because compared with the DRS section between T11 and T12, the DRS area on the main straight is not long enough.

Therefore, most of Qin Miao's power was used to follow Sainz in the first and second timing periods and not be too far away from him.

And Sainz naturally found that the distance between Qin Miao and himself was a little too close.

Sainz knew very well that Qin Miao was probably preparing to attack him in this lap.

Judging from Qin Miao's tires and the performance of the Mercedes car, Qin Miao really might surpass himself and Ricciardo in front of him in the DRS zone of the second time period.

Naturally, Sainz couldn't have surrendered, otherwise he wouldn't have discovered Qin Miao appearing behind him and started desperately chasing Ricciardo in front of him. They formed a DRS train with Ricciardo to defend Qin Miao behind him.

Therefore, from the moment T9 exits the corner to the middle of T11, Sainz takes a defensive line, and Ricciardo in front also discovers the threat behind him. After noticing Sainz's movements, he actually slows down. own speed.

Obviously he wants to continue to provide DRS and wake to Sainz.

Ricciardo did not have a particularly good time after switching to McLaren. This race was one of the few races this season in which he could outrun his teammate Norris.

So facing Qin Miao behind him, Ricardo didn't want to give up his position so simply.

In this way, they just blocked Qin Miao's two exit routes.

Faced with this situation, all Qin Miao could think of was crossed lines.

And that's not to mention, when it came to the braking point, Sainz, who was taking the inside lane, deliberately braked early.

When Qin Miao came to the outside line and was about to cross the line, he found that Sainz's Ferrari was still lying across the corner, and blocked his exit route of the cross line. Kado has already begun to accelerate out of the corner.

There was no way, Qin Miao could only walk on the normal traffic lane since he couldn't walk on the intersection.

However, because Qin Miao was walking on a cross line, he wasted a lot of time and was about 0.3 seconds slower after exiting the corner.

It must be said in this wave that Sainz predicted Qin Miao's thoughts.

Qin Miao didn't expect that Sainz still had such a strong desire to defend himself even now.

On the other side, Sainz's exit from the corner was also affected to a certain extent by his deliberately slowed down speed. However, the distance he walked was shorter than Qin Miao after all, so Sainz was still in front of Qin Miao after exiting the corner. .

Then, because Sainz had the advantage of line rights, T11 began to suppress Qin Miao's exit line when exiting the corner.

Qin Miao also knew that the track was not his own at this time. Seeing Sainz approaching, he had no choice but to drive off the track.

Therefore, by the time Qin Miao returned to the track again, Sainz was already far away.

However, Qin Miao did not give up. The three ways to increase the speed of the car were full fuel mode, ERS, and DRS.

After all, I didn't let go of the accelerator when I ran out of the track. I was pulled away by Sainz just because the outside of the track was dirty after I ran out of the track and there was not enough grip, so I didn't pick up the speed quickly.

But after Qin Miao returned to the track, Qin Miao could barely absorb a little of Sainz's wake, coupled with the performance blessing of the Mercedes car.

Qin Miao immediately stopped the growing distance between himself and Sainz.

Then he began to shorten the time gap between himself and Sainz visibly.

It is worth mentioning that because of the deliberate deceleration to block Qin Miao's crossing line, even though Ricciardo also slowed down his own pace, Sainz was still pulled away by Ricciardo.

Therefore, the original time gap of less than 1 second between Sainz and Ricciardo in front of him became 1.6 seconds. Sainz could still absorb Ricciardo's wake, but the effect was very limited.

In addition, because he had to defend Qin Miao, the power consumed could not be replenished at this time.

Therefore, Sainz's acceleration is much slower than Qin Miao.

In the end, Qin Miao took the lead from the outside about two-thirds of the way down the DRS straight, and finally used the sheer speed of the car to overtake Sainz before the braking point.

At this time, Sainz, who was defending inside, was ready to repeat his old trick and apply a late brake to block Qin Miao's exit route.

But Qin Miao also raised his alert level for Sainz at this time, deliberately avoiding Sainz, and waited for Sainz to brake late and pass him, then the small cross line was gone.

Sainz could only watch helplessly as Qin Miao's car arrived first, and finally sighed as he looked at the charging light flashing on the butt of Qin Miao's car.

In fact, if Sainz had routed normally and relied on the help provided by Ricardo DRS, Sainz would not have been defeated by Qin Miao so quickly. However, when facing Qin Miao's attack, Sainz Still a little too eager.

He wants to prove to all the Ferrari fans who doubt him that he is no worse than Qin Miao.

Let's talk about it. Putting aside the Ferrari seats and the cat meat issue, Qin Miao really doesn't have any objections to Sainz.

Moreover, it has been so long since the Ferrari seat matter. Qin Miao is not a grudge-holder. He has a good life at Mercedes-Benz.

It can even be said that when Qin Miao outperformed Leclerc and Sainz in the first grand prix of his career, all his negative views and resentments towards Ferrari disappeared.

After all, you can't say no to someone who pushes you towards a better future.

Now it seems that Sainz himself can't let go of this matter.

Also a possibility.

One day in the future, Sainz will indeed prove to all Ferrari fans that he is no worse than Qin Miao, a freshman, and that he is worthy of the Ferrari driver's seat, as he wishes.

But not today!

(End of this chapter)