How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 478 - 213: The Terrifying Verstappen
With a smile on his face, Toto discreetly reached for two pieces of paper from the drawer beneath his desk to wipe the sweat from his palms.
Qin Miao forced his way into Verstappen’s inside line, and Toto was shocked when he saw it, especially when Qin Miao’s right rear wheel grazed a Rolex advertisement sign, sending fragments flying; Toto had mentally prepared himself to comfort Qin Miao after a potential mistake and retirement from the tussle.
But surprisingly, Qin Miao was bold enough to squeeze in.
Fortunately, no accident occurred in the end. Although Toto could afford repairs, seeing a potential race-winning driver retire wouldn’t sit well with anyone.
More than that, Toto worried about Qin Miao getting injured on the track.
Although Mercedes still had Bottas as backup, after taking him down, the relationship between Bottas and Mercedes had hit a low point, and Toto couldn’t expect him to help Hamilton much.
If Bottas were to come on, he’d definitely aim to showcase his skills, hoping to secure a better contract with the next team.
Ultimately, Qin Miao overtook Verstappen at T3 with a late braking maneuver.
As the thrilling offense and defense concluded, the broadcast switched back to the track.
The track showed many scattered white foam pieces, and the two connected Rolex advertisement signs on the side had visible scrape marks, with the ROLEX part under the crown scraped off by the tires.
Even though the advertisement signs on the F1 track were stripped by Qin Miao, Rolex people laughed at the sight, thinking this wasn’t just damaged ads—this was first-rate advertising!
After overtaking Verstappen at T3 and passing T4, Qin Miao entered Sector 2, which lacked suitable overtaking spots, so once he confirmed Verstappen couldn’t overtake him, he relaxed slightly.
When squeezing through the gap with Verstappen, Qin Miao had heard a collision sound from the rear wheels, so once he had a moment, he asked via TR, "Is there any problem with my left rear tire?"
After celebrating, Frankie and the team were aware of the tire scraping against the barriers, and they were more concerned about the car’s condition than Qin Miao, so even before he asked, they were already checking sensor data from his car’s tires.
Fortunately, there were no problems with Qin Miao’s car tires.
Frankie replied relaxedly, "That was a beautiful overtake, no worries, the tires are in perfect condition."
Hearing Frankie’s words, Qin Miao breathed a sigh of relief and then began planning how to deal with Verstappen’s attack on the next straight start.
Having been overtaken by Qin Miao once, Verstappen’s pace was a bit disrupted, so he did not immediately launch an attack on Qin Miao.
Verstappen had experienced Qin Miao’s defense capabilities, so even though he had the ability to attack Qin Miao right away, he chose not to, instead staying behind Qin Miao in the DRS zone to charge his car.
After so many rounds of battling with Qin Miao, Verstappen knew well.
The best and safest way to comfortably overtake Qin Miao is to rely on sheer speed advantage before entering the braking point of the next turn, just like when Qin Miao exited the pit lane earlier.
Moreover, since the race still had a long way to go, Verstappen had the patience to wait for an opportunity.
The wait lasted until lap twenty-two.
Originally trailing Qin Miao by about 0.7 seconds, Verstappen suddenly closed the gap in Sector 2.
After exiting T15 in Sector 2, he was only 0.5 seconds behind Qin Miao.
Exiting T16 and entering Sector 3, Verstappen began to unleash the full performance of his car.
Seeing this, Qin Miao felt no desire to defend against Verstappen because his car, with slipstream and DRS enabled, was just too fast.
