How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 465 - 210: Dramatic Turns

If you have money, you can be bold.

Qin Miao’s flying lap performance was decent. Since he completed it early, he briefly occupied the first position. However, as drivers from other teams finished their Q1 flying laps one after another, Qin Miao’s position gradually slipped, eventually ranking sixth.

Regardless, Qin Miao’s performance was sufficient to advance to Q3. After all, his time was 0.3 seconds faster than the team’s anticipated Q3 cutoff.

After the P-room preparations were completed, Qin Miao was released by the team with 2 minutes and 15 seconds remaining until the Q2 timer stopped.

According to the team’s calculations, Qin Miao would have 19 seconds remaining by the time he crosses the line after tire warming and exiting the pit lane.

There was indeed a tight margin, but considering it’s Q2 now, there were fewer cars on the track, reducing the likelihood of traffic issues.

However, just as Qin Miao was set to complete his last flying lap in Q2 with a relaxed mindset using old tires, a red flag appeared yet again on the track.

The camera switched, showing a McLaren crashed head-on into the barrier.

This time, the crash did not occur at T15 but at the right-angle turn of T3.

The replay showed that it was McLaren’s driver Ricardo who experienced the accident. The problem appeared to be that Ricardo’s left front wheel locked when entering the turn. Because the front wheel lost grip, the car also lost steering ability, and with Ricardo entering the turn too quickly, it crashed head-on into the T3 barrier.

Now, with only a minute and a half left until the end of Q2, other drivers didn’t need to run since a minute and a half after the restart was insufficient for them to complete a lap and start their flying lap.

Therefore, the Q2 results were the final results based on all drivers’ first flying laps in Q2.

Qin Miao safely advanced, holding onto the sixth position.

In Q3, Qin Miao had two sets of new soft tires left. In this stage, Qin Miao would use only one set of soft tires, if possible, saving the other for the main race.

However, due to the special nature of today’s race, Qin Miao needed to help Hamilton with slipstreaming, so both Qin Miao and the team planned to use both sets of tires. Anyway, with Qin Miao’s tire management ability, it was unlikely for a red-yellow-red pit-stop strategy to unfold on the track.

As for the potential appearance of a safety car on the track... Qin Miao still had a few sets of used soft tires, which could be used for emergencies.

After deciding on Qin Miao’s subsequent pit-stop strategy, the team sent both Qin Miao and Hamilton out.

Since Qin Miao was providing slipstream for Hamilton on the first lap, he exited the pit lane first, with Hamilton following.

However, it seemed either coincidentally or intentionally, as Ferrari released their two drivers from the pit lane at the same time Mercedes released its cars.

Sainz happened to be positioned between Qin Miao and Hamilton.

It turned out to be a coincidence that once onto the track, Ferrari yielded and allowed Hamilton to pass.

Qin Miao and Hamilton completed two tire-warming laps before properly starting the slipstreaming.

After exiting T16, Qin Miao was the first to take off to start his flying lap, with Hamilton starting 3 seconds behind him.

According to the team’s calculations, this time gap allowed Hamilton to receive Qin Miao’s slipstream on the straight, but it was insufficient for Hamilton to encounter Qin Miao’s car’s turbulent air during the turns.

Notably, Ferrari’s two drivers managed to get behind Hamilton’s slipstream as Qin Miao and Hamilton ran their second tire-warming laps.

As a result, Ferrari’s Leclerc finished the first flying lap of Q3 in first place, beating Verstappen by 0.3 seconds.

Neither Qin Miao nor Mercedes took it seriously, knowing well that Q3 presented another flying lap opportunity to eventually knock Leclerc off the top position.

In the end, Mercedes’s towing strategy was only half-successful.

The gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton was too large; even though Hamilton caught Qin Miao’s slipstream in the final long straight section, he didn’t receive much, and the effect was limited. Consequently, when the first flying lap ended in Q3, Hamilton was just 0.2 seconds behind Leclerc, in second place.

Meanwhile, Qin Miao was sixth, ahead of Perez and behind Norris.

Between the two flying laps of Q3, there was a period for rest and adjustments. The two Red Bull drivers, due to tire preservation, didn’t join the first flying laps when other teams started in Q1 but waited for the window after other teams completed their runs.

The greatest advantage of this timing was having only the two Red Bull cars on the track, eliminating any traffic issues.

Sponsors were happy with this situation, as the track only featured the two Red Bull cars, leaving the live broadcast with no other choice but to focus its cameras on them.

At this time, Gasly stood out unexpectedly.

After completing his first flying lap, his first timed section showed purple. Even though the second timed section didn’t continue purple, his overall speed was still 0.02 seconds faster than Leclerc, who was temporarily the fastest.