How did I become an F1 driver?

Although Russell tried his best to save the car after landing, the car still lost control on the track.

Although the car was finally brought under control.

But the reason why Russell was able to control it was that the kinetic energy of the car was absorbed by the impact after it hit the rear wall.

The collision also caused damage to the front nose of the car and a blowout of the right rear tire.

As the successor of Latifi, Russell's collision successfully brought out the safety car.

The four drivers in the front row were just behind the entrance to the maintenance area at this time.

If Russell had brought out the safety car a little later, Verstappen would have missed this almost perfect pit stop window.

But amid Verstappen's curses, he finally caught up with the safety car and successfully pitted to change tires.

As for why Verstappen was cursing even though he had the opportunity to change tires for free?

That's because after the safety car appears, the time gap between him and Qin Miao that he had worked so hard to open up will be made up again.

Verstappen's efforts in the first 12 laps were in vain.

I just don’t know if the old man will regret letting Qin Miao go so easily.

After knowing that the safety car appeared on the track, Qin Miao felt somewhat regretful. He should have changed to soft tires when starting!
My soft tire can obviously be used as a neutral tire! Why do I want to stop once?

Of course, at this point, all Qin Miao could do was complain a little and then obediently return to the maintenance area to change tires.

This time, the team's two cars pitted, which was very comfortable for Qin Miao, because he didn't have to worry about losing his position.

As for the old man, before entering the station, he tried his best to increase the distance between himself and Qin Miao.

He was really afraid that when both cars entered the pit, he would be undercut by Alonso behind him.

Fortunately, this pit stop was safe.

It took Qin Miao 2.3 seconds to change to hard tires. Just after he walked out of the tire changing position, Hamilton took over seamlessly.

It took 2.1 seconds to change to hard tires, which was 0.2 seconds faster than Qin Miao.

I guess it was because Qin Miao was practicing in the front that everyone got used to changing tires.

All in all, the two drivers of the Mercedes team did not fail during the tire changing stage. After returning to the track, the time gap between Qin Miao and Verstappen, which had made Qin Miao feel a little desperate, was returned to zero.

No matter what Verstappen thought, Qin Miao had never felt so familiar with seeing the rear of a Red Bull car in front of his own car in any race.

In addition, there were many eye-catching and cool operations on the track.

First of all, Ferrari directly gave up the benefit of the safety car pit stop. Both drivers did not stop to change tires and continued to use neutral tires on the track.

After the race, many fans were impressed that the Ferrari team’s strategy team finally had a useful race.

In addition to the two Ferrari drivers, Perez, Magnussen and Bottas also gave up pit stops.

As a result, they moved up a lot of places.

Zhou Guanyu also took advantage of the safety car to move up from 19th to 14th, five places falling out of nowhere.

The three people who entered the pit to change tires before the safety car appeared fell directly to the end of the team.

To be honest, these three people have no place to cry.

On lap 16, the safety car withdrew and the race was about to restart.

Qin Miao had been keeping an eye on Verstappen from the very beginning.

Just wait until the race restarts and beat Verstappen on the track as soon as possible.

Then Pan Zi didn't start accelerating until he exited the T14 corner, and the starting straight was short and there was no DRS, so Qin Miao really couldn't catch up with Verstappen.

After Verstappen arrived at T1 and T2, the RB19's terrifying cornering speed was fully revealed, and it left Qin Miao behind by 0.8 seconds in the two corners.

Qin Miao was stunned by what he saw.

That’s too much, brother!
The game then proceeded normally.

Verstappen continued to widen the time gap between himself and the drivers behind him.

The gap is almost 1 second per lap.

The Red Bull team's strategy group directly judged that Qin Miao would most likely not stop to change tires in the second half of the race. With Qin Miao's ability to protect tires, he could finish the entire race on a set of hard tires.

Verstappen, who definitely needs to make a second stop to change tires, needs to try to create a pit window between himself and Qin Miao.

Because this will give Verstappen more options.

If there was no pit stop window, with the characteristics of the Villeneuve Circuit and the W14 as well as Qin Miao's incredible defensive ability, as long as Verstappen fell behind Qin Miao, it would be difficult to overtake Qin Miao, although not impossible.

As for if a pit stop window is really opened, Verstappen will be much more relaxed. He does not need to face Qin Miao's defense. He can just finish the race at full speed after coming out of the maintenance area.

Verstappen's execution was also very good. When the race reached 32 laps, the time gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao had been widened to 12 seconds.

This time difference looks really scary, because it means that the Red Bull car driven by Verstappen was actually running slowly the whole time.

Now Red Bull has truly shown its strength to all the fans and FIA staff who are paying attention to this race, and has allowed everyone to see how big the performance gap is between Red Bull cars and those of other teams.

At the same time, on lap 32, Hulkenberg entered the pit to change tires.

In order to avoid being undercut, other drivers also pitted to change tires in the next lap.

This includes Zhou Guanyu.

When entering the pit to change tires, Zhou Guanyu himself had no problems with the operation, but the tire changer of the Arrow team performed steadily and took 6.34 seconds.

The reason was that the right rear tire changer took three attempts to tighten the bolts of Zhou Guanyu's right rear wheel.

Thanks to the heroic performance of the team's tire changer, Zhou Guanyu fell directly to the end of the team after coming out of the maintenance area, and there was a time gap of 5 seconds between him and Magrusen, who was second to last.

The advantage originally gained from the safety car pit stop provided by Russell is now gone.

This may be the so-called conservation of energy.

At this time, it was almost time for the drivers in the front group to enter the pit.

In Verstappen's team TR, Red Bull Racing's strategy group was also calculating when Verstappen should pit.

The reason why we have to start the discussion at this time instead of letting Verstappen run further is mainly because Verstappen's tires are no longer in good condition.

Verstappen's lap time can only barely be on par with Qin Miao's now, but I believe that if Verstappen is allowed to run another seven or eight laps on the track, Qin Miao may become the person who is one second faster than his opponent in every lap.

In fact, Red Bull also considered letting Verstappen follow Qin Miao's example and run the entire race on a set of hard tires on the track, but after a simple calculation, it was found that doing so would be too difficult for Verstappen.

Although his ability to protect the fetus is not bad, it is still inferior to that of the pervert Qin Miao.

So this plan was eventually abandoned.

After final discussion, Verstappen pitted on the 40th lap. Before the pit, the time gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao was 10 seconds.

In these few laps, Qin Miao still shortened the time gap with Verstappen. Red Bull was decisive in asking Verstappen to pit, so as to prevent Verstappen from losing more time on the track.

A normal pit stop at the Villeneuve Circuit takes 22 seconds.

The time taken is even shorter under virtual safety car and safety car conditions, but there is no safety car on the track at this time.

When Verstappen came out of the pit area after changing to neutral tires, he inevitably fell behind Qin Miao.

At this time, Red Bull's idea was very clear, which was to let Verstappen break through Qin Miao's defense on the track as usual. After all, this was not the first time Verstappen had done this, and the Red Bull team still believed in Verstappen's offensive ability.

After Verstappen came out of the maintenance area, he was exactly 12 seconds behind Qin Miao.

At this time, Red Bull's strategy team did not forget to remind Verstappen.

"Max, we estimate that Qin Miao should have enough tires left. His lap speed has been slowly increasing and is very stable. We need to catch up with him as soon as possible to put pressure on him and overtake him. The longer we are behind him, the more disadvantageous it will be for us."

"I will overtake him!" Verstappen's reply was brief, and after coming out of the maintenance area, Verstappen's first lap was 1 seconds faster than Qin Miao.

At this time, the time gap between the two was shortened to 10.7 seconds.

The race then fell into silence. Everyone’s position was basically within the range of their own cars and abilities, except for the driver behind Alpi…

Therefore, there were almost no overtaking shots on the track at this time, and everyone was just cruising.

Qin Miao protected his tires while keeping an eye on the distance between himself and Verstappen behind him.

However, looking at the 20 laps left to the end of the race and the time gap between Verstappen and himself was less than 10 seconds, Qin Miao felt a little unsure for a moment.

Damn, Pan Zi seemed a little too strong in this match.

If this continues, I might get second place in this competition.

Oh, why should I say it again?
Forget it, never mind. The top priority now is to find a way to stop Verstappen's attack.

Just when Qin Miao was thinking wildly and actively seeking change on the track, Russell withdrew from the competition.

The reason was the collision just now.

Although Russell's car did not have any more problems in the short term, there was actually some damage inside the car.

However, these damages are hidden and not exposed immediately.

However, after the car's components had been working on the track for a period of time, various problems emerged.

After all, to be honest, the working environment on the F1 track is really bad, both for the car and the driver.

So Williams finally recalled Russell to the pits to avoid further losses. It is worth mentioning that since Qin Miao officially announced that he would join Ferrari next season, many people in the paddock have said that after Qin Miao leaves Mercedes, his position will be taken over by Russell.

But judging from Russell's performance in recent times, he is even worse than Albon.

Perhaps it was because Qin Miao's existence had undermined Russell's self-confidence to some extent.

In the subsequent races, Albon continued to drive hard on the track, while Qin Miao discussed with the team's strategy group whether it was possible to make a second stop and change to soft tires.

Finally, Franchi said helplessly: "If you continue to stay on the track, you may still be able to rely on your own ability to try to defend against Verstappen who is catching up, and maybe you can really prevent the next Grand Prix champion from Verstappen."

"But if you choose to pit for a change of tires at this time, you will almost certainly fall behind Verstappen, and it will be difficult to catch up after that."

"And now we have missed the best pit stop window, and after the pit stop you will not only fall behind Verstappen, but also behind Alonso."

……

If Qin Miao enters the pit and changes to soft tires and falls behind Hamilton, even if we take a step back, Qin Miao may still be able to chase Verstappen on the track, provided that Verstappen's tires no longer have enough grip.

Another reason is that Qin Miao and Hamilton did not have the same pit stop strategy, and with Qin Miao's soft tire speed, it was not particularly difficult to overtake Hamilton, so Hamilton on the track was unlikely to put much effort into defending Qin Miao.

But Alonso doesn't care about the quality of your tires. If he can cause you trouble on the track, he will never let you have an easy time.

I'll disgust you as much as I can.

So after hearing what Franky said, Qin Miao gave up the idea of ​​a second stop and continued to stay on the track.

Finally, when the boring race reached the 58th lap and there were 12 laps left to the end of the race, Verstappen caught up with Qin Miao in the DRS zone.

In other words, Verstappen caught up with Qin Miao by 8 seconds in 10 laps.

The speed is obvious.

He glanced at the Red Bull racing car behind him through the rearview mirror.

Qin Miao knew that Verstappen had recently developed a strategy to deal with him.

In several races, I waited for a long time but Verstappen remained motionless. Once he started, he used the power of thunder and crushed me with absolute speed in the DRS zone.

During this period, Qin Miao would watch the race videos in his spare time after the race. He also wanted to know how Verstappen did it.

Practice makes perfect and research will always produce results, so Qin Miao also discovered a lot of details.

The first is that Verstappen can withstand all his weaknesses on the track and resist taking advantage of the flaws he has exposed.

To be honest, Qin Miao once suspected that Verstappen had quit drugs.

After all, from Verstappen's first-hand perspective, when Qin Miao revealed these flaws, it was difficult for him to resist attacking.

During this time, Verstappen has been charging his car until it is fully charged and he will wait for a suitable opportunity before launching a formal attack.

Therefore, Verstappen's attacking position is generally chosen in the longest DRS area on the current track.

By the same token, in today's race, when Verstappen attacks himself, there is a high probability... No, not a high probability, Verstappen will definitely attack himself in the first DRS zone of the third timing period!

When reviewing Verstappen's offensive methods, Qin Miao also had some ideas for solving the problem when facing Verstappen's offensive method.

Since you didn't attack me before, after you entered the DRS area behind me, I slowed down to protect the tire while charging my car.

If you don't overtake me, I will learn your tactics.

It’s true that your RB19’s DRS is efficient, but your acceleration is not as fast as mine!
Therefore, Red Bull's strategy team discovered that after Verstappen caught up with Qin Miao in the DRS zone, Qin Miao's lap time was 0.3 seconds slower than when he was cruising.

The Red Bull Racing team immediately told Verstappen the news. Verstappen came behind Qin Miao and felt that there was something wrong with Qin Miao's lap speed.

Why so slow?
But Verstappen was always willing to believe that this was a smokescreen released by Qin Miao.

After all, Qin Miao's lap speed only dropped after I came behind him, so it was impossible that there was some problem with the car.

Moreover, Verstappen suffered the same kind of loss at the hands of Qin Miao this season, last season, and even the season before last. Every failure makes one wiser, and Verstappen has suffered more than one failure.

No matter what, Verstappen is determined not to be fooled at this time.

Take a look at the battery level of your car at this moment: 67%.

Quite a lot.

After following Qin Miao for one lap, he could almost fully charge his car battery before entering the third timing section in the next lap, so he could attack Qin Miao in the first DRS zone of the third timing section.

At this time, Qin Miao did not know the current power level of Verstappen's car, and had no way to confirm when Verstappen would take action in the DRS area.

But that's not a problem.

Qin Miao directly maximized the output power of his racing car's ERS. On the 59th lap, he briefly turned on his ERS after exiting the T10 corner in the third timing section.

However, after discovering that Verstappen's closing rate was not increasing rapidly, Qin Miao decisively turned off his ERS.

Although doing so will cause a loss of battery power, Qin Miao only lost about 20% of the power this time.

Without using any ERS during the race, Qin Miao can charge this 20% of the power in half a lap.

This can also be considered an emergency measure.

Finally, on the 60th lap, Verstappen's car was fully charged, and he was ready to completely solve Qin Miao's worries in the third timing period and completely establish his position as the champion of this race.

Then after leaving T10, Qin Miao, who had been keeping a close eye on Verstappen's car, found that Verstappen's car accelerated faster after exiting the corner.

Seeing this, Qin Miao immediately realized that Verstappen was finally going to take action against him.

The finger that was ready to turn off ERS was removed from the ERS button. Qin Miao stepped on the accelerator and felt the stronger acceleration brought by the car than ever before. At the same time, he stared at his rearview mirror with his peripheral vision, observing the movements of Verstappen's car.

On the track, Verstappen, who had originally turned on ERS and DRS with full confidence, gradually lost the smile on his face as time went on.

Because he found that after the RB19 was fully fired up, the rate of closing between it and the W14 was not as fast as he thought.

Even when just coming out of the corner, the W14 had clearly opened up a distance between itself and the opponent.

But the good news is that I am still constantly shortening the distance between me and Qin Miao.

But Qin Miao on the other side had a completely different feeling.

Originally, for Qin Miao personally, using this method to defend Verstappen was just a last-ditch struggle in another sense, and he didn't think that this defensive method could curb Verstappen.

After all, the RB19 not only has its own slipstream, but also ERS and DRS.

The final speed under triple acceleration is really incredible.

But now after seeing the real test on the track, Qin Miao found that the acceleration of his W14 was not as slow as he had imagined compared with the RB19.

Qin Miao quickly realized that he still had a chance of survival!
You know, when Qin Miao was defending Verstappen on the track, the most troublesome problem was that he couldn't get side by side with Verstappen before the braking point.

Normally, Verstappen's car would have completely surpassed himself before the braking point.

At this time, all I could do was sigh in despair as I watched Verstappen's car go away.

But now it seems like there is really a way forward!
On the track, Verstappen's car quickly pulled ahead of Qin Miao on the outside.

As for the inside line... Qin Miao wouldn't let him go.

Verstappen also moved to the inside, and after shaking Qin Miao to the inside, he shot from the outside.

If he insisted on taking the inside line, Verstappen estimated that he would be blocked by Qin Miao from beginning to end, and in the end he would have to go to the outside line.

I don’t even know why, but Verstappen sometimes feels that he and Qin Miao have some telepathic connection.

He knew that when he attacked Qin Miao, the inside of the track was the last bottom line for this defensive master.

You can overtake me, but you can't overtake me from the inside of the track.

Back to the topic.

At this time, the two drivers were moving side by side on the track, but from the broadcast perspective from beginning to end, it could be seen that Verstappen's acceleration was faster than Qin Miao.

Of course, if you insist, Qin Miao is not slow either.

Soon, both of them reached extremely incredible speeds in this DRS area.

Qin Miao is still fully outputting ERS even after the weight of the car has been reduced. The Mercedes-Benz W14 power unit is fully outputting and fully exerting its total horsepower advantage of 1000 horsepower.

He was not too far behind in acceleration and was able to keep Qin Miao inside Verstappen before reaching the braking point of T13.

Although Qin Miao's front wheel reached Verstappen's engine position at this time, Qin Miao relied on the extreme late braking on the inside line to block Verstappen's inside line before entering T13.

Forcing Verstappen to brake.

It also prevented Verstappen's attack.

Who is Qin Miao? A recognized defensive master.

Verstappen overtook Qin Miao several times on the track, but the entire car had already completely overtaken Qin Miao before the braking point. In this situation, no matter how strong Qin Miao's defensive ability was, he had no room to play.

But this time Qin Miao entered Verstappen's inside line, so there is no need to elaborate on the final result of this offense and defense.

Qin Miao easily defended Verstappen.

"cao!"

After defending Verstappen, Qin Miao also swore, which was rare during the race, although Qin Miao did not turn on the team TR when he did so.

But to be honest, this sudden feeling of surprise really made Qin Miao unable to stop.

This is why Qin Miao likes racing. There are always surprises waiting for you on the track. After completing something that is basically impossible to accomplish, you will feel the adrenaline rush. (End of this chapter)