How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 486 - 216: Listening in Reverse 2

Afterward, the three commentators all laughed knowingly.

There’s no need to elaborate on who this "sun" they are talking about is.

Actually, Qin Miao is quite envious of him, because unlike Tsunoda, Qin Miao lost the chance to break his personal best finish record in just his second career F1 Grand Prix.

However, no matter what, with a phenomenal rookie like Qin Miao in existence, attention given to drivers like Tsunoda will be significantly reduced. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Behind closed doors, they often grumble about Qin Miao.

But then again, in competitive sports, as long as you have enough strength, you can ignore many rules and rumors.

Many voices dissatisfied with you will also be suppressed.

The current Qin Miao is more or less in this state.

minutes later, after completing all the daily tasks in Genshin Impact and collecting some materials, Qin Miao received a reminder from Frankie, "Stop playing, the race is about to start."

After hearing this, Qin Miao obediently handed his phone and earphones to Barber, then stood up and stretched his body, did some simple warm-ups, and began to put on his gear.

After putting on all the gear, Qin Miao returned to his car, and shortly after, Frankie and others helped him restart the car.

With 7 minutes left before the race restart, Qin Miao routinely checked all the systems of his car.

At this time, Hamilton said over the team radio, "Everyone must know this season is a marathon, not a sprint, so we need to be measured."

After Hamilton finished speaking, his track engineer and Toto Wolff chimed in to express their agreement.

These words were meant not only for Hamilton himself but also for Red Bull to hear.

The purpose is partly to remind Red Bull that my attacks won’t be too extreme.

But those who know Hamilton well know that many times his words should be heard in reverse.

...

After a period of tense preparation, the countdown hit zero, and the FIA released all the cars.

Since it was the last lap, regardless of whether there were new soft tires available or not, or how worn out the soft tires were, all drivers switched to soft tires.

After exiting the pit lane, Qin Miao aggressively started to warm up his tires.

He used braking, acceleration, and left-right tire warming techniques, as Qin Miao didn’t need to worry about tire wear at this moment.

And knowing he would be starting at the front, the drivers behind him might not line up in their starting grids until a minute later, so Qin Miao aimed for overly high temperatures when warming his tires.

After finishing the warm-up lap, reaching the starting straight, and passing the DRS detection point, Qin Miao began to hold back.

Since F1 tires lose temperature rapidly if they stop moving, Qin Miao compressed his speed to 35 kilometers per hour and slowly moved it to his starting grid to ensure the tires had enough temperature after the start.

Because of this, about half a minute after Qin Miao had stopped, the other drivers gradually all stopped in their positions.

Qin Miao started on pole position on the right side of the track, behind him on the left was Red Bull’s Perez, then his teammate Hamilton, and behind Perez was Vettel.

After everyone had lined up, the medical car at the back was also ready.

There is no green flag after the red flag start, so as soon as the last car was in place, the five red lights began to turn on one by one.

Soon, amidst a series of beeps, all five red lights were lit.

The five red lights went out.

Qin Miao released the clutch as fast as he could, and the car launched.

After a successful start, Qin Miao immediately looked into his left rearview mirror.

And Qin Miao saw clearly that Pérez beside him had an unsatisfactory start, while Hamilton’s start was excellent, even better than Qin Miao’s.

Qin Miao’s start was moderate, without highlights but without mistakes either.

Soon, all drivers sped up, reaching T1.

The distance from the starting point to the T1 braking point was only about 180 meters, so everyone’s speed wasn’t very fast at this moment.

Qin Miao was still in the lead, while Pérez was parallel with Hamilton, and because of Hamilton’s excellent start, Hamilton, on the outside line, even surpassed Pérez a bit.

When everyone thought Hamilton would likely overtake Pérez on the outside line at T1, an accident happened.

Upon entering the braking point, Hamilton inadvertently touched the brake balance adjustment button.

If he adjusted the brake balance toward the rear, it wouldn’t matter too much since it mainly adjusts the tire load balance during braking toward the front or rear tires.

But in a heavy braking zone like Baku’s T1, shifting the brake balance to the rear would only result in a longer braking distance at most.

Unfortunately, when Hamilton made the adjustment, the brake balance shifted forward.

That means, when Hamilton braked, there was greater participation from the front tires, leading to consequences far more severe than adjusting the balance to the rear.

After one press on the brake pedal, Hamilton’s front two tires locked up completely.

Two locked tires left two streaks of smoke on the track, losing all steering capability and heading straight toward the rear of Qin Miao’s car.

Fortunately, there was still some distance between them, and just before Hamilton’s car was about to hit the rear of Qin Miao’s car, Qin Miao had already made it through the corner, narrowly avoiding the collision.

Even though Hamilton’s start was better than Qin Miao’s, there was still at least a car length between them, and it’s not a distance that could be easily covered by a good start alone.

Qin Miao had a regular start, not a faulty one.

Therefore, when Hamilton noticed Pérez’s poor start, his first thought was to overtake Pérez rather than any thoughts of Qin Miao, who had an ordinary start.

However, he was a bit impatient when passing Pérez.

But it’s understandable; after all, being blocked by Pérez after a pit stop for almost half a race would make anyone eager to overtake when the opportunity arises.

However, this uncontrollable impulse led to severe consequences on the track.

Due to the car’s inertia and the time needed for Hamilton to adjust the car’s settings back, by the time Hamilton rejoined the track, he was already in last place.

At this point, Qin Miao and Pérez had already reached T4 and began to push for the last two laps.

There wasn’t much to say about the last two laps.

Without tire anxiety, defending against Pérez was too easy for Qin Miao.

If anyone was the happiest about this race, it was undoubtedly Vettel.

He originally thought he would finish fourth, but in the end, Hamilton handed him a spot on the podium.

Unlike the joy of the top three drivers, a fierce battle ensued between fourth-place Gasly and fifth-place Leclerc, with sixth-place Norris closely watching from behind.

But unfortunately, Gasly’s defense was solid, so Leclerc ultimately couldn’t reach his dream fourth place in the last two laps.

Qin Miao was very relaxed on the last lap as Pérez accepted his fate and didn’t show any intention to attack on the final lap.

Therefore, Qin Miao had the leisure to check on Hamilton.

When not tense during cornering, Qin Miao asked, "Is Lewis okay?"

Frankie’s response was somewhat ambiguous, "He seems alright, Hamilton didn’t show any major emotional fluctuations."

Surprised by this answer, Qin Miao raised an eyebrow but, after ensuring Hamilton was okay, didn’t press further, as he still had a race to finish.

On the other side, in Hamilton’s team radio, Hamilton’s voice sounded, "I’m so sorry, guys."

However, due to the engine noise in the background, not much emotion could be discerned from his words.