Chapter 1096: Chapter 418: Portraits of the Multitude

Of course, this wasn’t the most unlucky thing Qin Miao encountered in today’s race.

After Hamilton pitted, his tire change took 3.1 seconds.

A bit slow, but acceptable, whereas after Qin Miao pitted, the tire change took 5.2 seconds.

Sitting in the car, Qin Miao was dumbfounded upon seeing this.

But he held back, knowing that even if he wanted to curse, the tire crew wouldn’t hear him now.

Twice changing tires somewhat flustered the Mercedes team’s tire crew, which led to the crew not properly securing Qin Miao’s right rear tire, and the bolt wasn’t tightened immediately.

Only after taking it out and reinserting it the second time was the bolt tightened.

This directly caused Qin Miao, who already wasn’t in a good position, to be overcut by Perez in the pit lane.

Watching Perez leave early with new hard tires, Qin Miao finally couldn’t hold back and cursed inside his helmet.

Facing such a situation, anyone would find it hard to remain calm. Qin Miao just cursed a bit in his helmet to vent, without turning on the team radio.

Moreover, doubling up in the pits always comes with some risks, which Qin Miao could only helplessly understand.

Yet, this wasn’t all for Qin Miao today. After finally changing the tires, both Qin Miao and the team members surely hoped he’d leave the pit lane immediately.

So when the car was released, they didn’t notice the car coming from behind, forcing Zhou Guanyu, who was about to pit for a tire change, to stop.

Zhou Guanyu, initially happily entering the pits, suddenly found his path blocked by a Mercedes at the entrance of the Mercedes pit bay.

Zhou instinctively hit the brakes first, then accelerated after Qin Miao entered the pit lane path.

During this process, Zhou was about to curse but held back upon realizing it was Qin Miao ahead.

He begrudgingly complained in the team radio: "How does Mercedes release cars in this race?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Qin Miao’s release already involved a dangerous exit, and if Alfa Romeo appealed, he’d face at least a five-second penalty.

Of course, the FIA hasn’t yet given the final penalty notice.

When Qin Miao exited the pit lane, he returned to his familiar fifth place.

Not only was Qin Miao overcut by Perez in the pit lane, but even Alonso behind him sneakily gained a position.

Undeniably, Qin Miao was indeed very unlucky in this race, but compared to his friend Leclerc, Qin Miao’s misfortune wasn’t too bad; at least he didn’t retire due to bizarre luck.

After all the other teams’ drivers pitted once, the director replayed Leclerc’s accident.

Leclerc’s accident happened at T11, a 180° hairpin turn.

During the replay, Leclerc’s car showed significant understeer entering T11.

Before entering T12, the right turn was too sharp, causing loss of rear wheel grip, first resulting in rear instability, then affecting the whole car, and eventually spinning on the track before crashing head-on into the tire wall at the pit entry.

The Ferrari and Mercedes fans in the stands showed two contrasting emotions.

One was grinning uncontrollably, while the other wore a helpless expression, taking off their Ferrari cap and angrily punching the barrier.

Soon, the race director released the team radio after Leclerc’s crash.

"Are you okay?"

Immediately following a crash, one should report their physical state to the team, reassuring them before handling the car incident. Yet, Leclerc responded angrily, "I’ve got the damn Austria problem again!!!"

In the final laps of the Austrian Grand Prix, Leclerc’s throttle wouldn’t come back fully. Even after releasing the pedal, there remained about 20% throttle input.

From Leclerc’s words, it’s clear he faced the same issue as the previous race.

The difference being the Red Bull Ring is a high-speed track with only heavy braking at T1 and T3. Most corners are medium-fast, where continuous throttle output doesn’t pose much trouble as long as he took slightly wider lines, allowing him to finish the race.

But the Paul Ricard track is different, laden with many slow corners, making it impossible for Leclerc to persist despite the car issues as he did before.

With Leclerc’s explanation, all this made sense.

After all, Leclerc is a seasoned F1 driver, and during this process, he wasn’t pressured by other drivers behind him—in such circumstances, there’s no reason for such a rookie mistake.

And the truth proved the car malfunction had nothing to do with Leclerc himself.

Ferrari’s team radio reverberated with Leclerc’s heavy breathing.