As for the reason... the tires overheated and degraded.

At the same time, after Perez was overtaken by Sainz, Qin Miao also started to accelerate again.

Moreover, Qin Miao was not at all worried that Sainz, who was behind him, would pose a threat to his position.

Mainly because Sainz was using medium tires at this time. He’s not Qin Miao, and although it is possible for Sainz to finish the race on these medium tires, his speed will definitely drop significantly towards the end.

The only way to avoid this situation is to pit and change tires.

In any case, Sainz posed no threat to Qin Miao’s position at this time.

Sure enough, on lap 43, Sainz pitted and changed to another set of medium tires, and when he came out of the pit lane, Sainz fell behind O’Kang.

Now Sainz’s only advantage is this new set of medium tires.

Ferrari is counting on Sainz having Qin Miao-like aggressive capabilities, using this ability to climb more positions.

Of course, even if he chases, there’s a 25-second gap between Alonso and Perez, and there are only 10 laps left in the race. No matter how strong Ferrari’s car performance is, and how extraordinary Sainz’s medium tires’ grip is, he can’t catch up by 2.5 seconds per lap, especially with other drivers ahead blocking him.

So ever since Ferrari decided to pit Sainz, his position was destined to be fifth.

In fact, judging by Sainz’s tire degradation rate, even if he didn’t pit, he would still only get fifth.

Before the race ended, there was a small episode on the track. Zhou Guanyu, running in tenth, encountered mechanical failure on lap 49.

He had to retire reluctantly at the Matthew entrance with 4 laps remaining.

In this race, Zhou Guanyu could have steadily scored points, but unfortunately, this unexpected result shocked his fans.

Of course, Zhou Guanyu inside the car maintained an emotional balance.

After all, this season he has encountered such incidents more than once or twice.

There was some comfort for Zhou Guanyu, knowing he wasn’t the only one having bad luck in this race.

Apart from him, both Leclerc and Qin Miao also had misfortunes.

Qin Miao incurred a 5-second penalty, and to ensure Perez didn’t close within 5 seconds from behind, he deliberately used high-temperature exhaust to damage Perez’s tires directly.

As a result, Qin Miao missed the best time to attack his teammate Hamilton.

By the time Qin Miao had a chance, even if he overtook his teammate Hamilton, Hamilton would still manage to keep the gap under 5 seconds to finish the race.

Realizing this, Qin Miao simply decided not to attack his teammate but to honestly complete the race behind Hamilton.

Leclerc was worse than Zhou Guanyu; he retired while leading. Comparatively, losing some points wasn’t a big deal for Zhou Guanyu. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Finally, Verstappen led the field after Leclerc retired, ultimately winning the race, while Mercedes drivers took second and third.

The scoring and rankings for other drivers are as follows:

P1: Verstappen +25

P2: Hamilton +18

P3: Qin Miao +14

P4: Perez +12

P5: Sainz +11 (fastest lap)

P6: Alonso +8

P7: Norris +6

P8: O’Kang +4

P9: Ricardo +2

P10: Stroll +1

There’s not much to elaborate on Sainz’s fastest lap in the race, as no one else pitted for new tires during the latter stages.

Gaining the fastest lap using a new set of medium tires late in the race is almost expected.

Meanwhile, Stroll should really thank the Alfa Romeo team mechanics for their bad car; without their help, he would probably have ended up as the gatekeeper of the points zone for this race.

The drivers’ standings after this race are as follows:

1: Qin Miao.199

2: Verstappen.181

3: Leclerc.156

4: Perez.150

5: Sainz.105

6: Hamilton.95

7: Norris.58

8: O’Kang.54

9: Bottas.38

10: Alonso.23

11: Magelsen.19

12: Zhou Guanyu.19

13: Gasly.15

14: Vettel.14

15: Ricardo.14

16: Tsunoda.9

17: Mick.6

18: Stroll.2

19: Albon.1

The team standings are as follows:

1: Red Bull: 351

2: Mercedes: 337

3: Ferrari: 284

4: Alpine: 89

5: McLaren: 72

6: Alfa Romeo: 64

7: Haas: 25

8: Toro Rosso: 24

9: Aston Martin: 17

10: Williams: 1

After the race, the gap between Mercedes and Red Bull widened. The 25 points for winning were significant, and along with Perez’s 12 points for finishing, the gap inevitably widened.

After the race, Qin Miao felt a bit dejected. Strictly speaking, he performed well today, though not having a better starting position than Hamilton due to his teammate’s exceptional qualifying.

However, during the latter stage, Qin Miao had a chance to reclaim second from Hamilton.

But unfortunately, luck was against Qin Miao in this race.

The team delayed him by 3 seconds during a tire change, and he incurred a 5-second penalty for unsafe release, otherwise, Qin Miao might indeed have snatched second from Hamilton.