How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 503 - 222: Red Bull’s Resolve 2

Lap 25, Qin Miao was called in by the team for a tire change.

However, to everyone’s surprise, Qin Miao changed to a set of soft tires after entering.

Qin Miao became the only driver in the race to use soft tires during the main stage.

The main reason was that after Qin Miao had run for so long, the team calculated based on Qin Miao’s tire wear curve and found that a yellow-red-yellow two-stop strategy was feasible.

In fact, the yellow-red-yellow two-stop speed was even faster than a one-stop, the only issue being failing to overtake the drivers ahead after a pit stop, being blocked, thus causing the tires to miss the optimal operating window.

However, judging from Qin Miao’s recent performance in the past two races, the team chose to trust Qin Miao.

They also believed Qin Miao could take on the responsibility.

After Perez stopped, the team asked Qin Miao briefly, and since Qin Miao didn’t have a strong opinion on the team’s strategy, he went along with the team’s idea to stop for a tire change.

Then came the moment when the audience saw Qin Miao’s yellow to red tire swap.

Upon witnessing this, the commentator directly asserted, "Qin Miao is going for a two-stop strategy in this race!"

After coming out, Qin Miao fell to a position 7 seconds behind Verstappen.

Then, everyone looked at Qin Miao as if he were a monster, beginning to chase Verstappen and Hamilton at a pace of 1.6 seconds per lap.

The tire was good, the car setup was perfect, no dirty air, and this was just Qin Miao’s normal driving speed.

Now the only concern was how many laps this set of soft tires could sustain.

Right in lap 29, after 4 laps, Qin Miao was 0.5 seconds behind Verstappen.

Verstappen indeed felt a bit disgusted seeing Qin Miao appearing behind him.

Why the hell are you here again?

Yet Qin Miao didn’t give Verstappen much time to think, overtaking him in just one lap, while Verstappen was pressuring Hamilton.

Moreover, Qin Miao overtook Verstappen not in the DRS zone, but in the long curve at T11, using his car’s stronger tire grip and mechanical grip to overtake on the outside.

Qin Miao’s pure overtaking relying on the car’s grip advantage left Verstappen speechless.

Looking at Qin Miao overtaking from the outside, Verstappen still somewhat unwillingly asked the team on the TR, "How many laps has Qin Miao used these tires? Why is there still such strong grip now?"

Red Bull was bewildered too; normally the grip of medium tires starts to cliff at lap 18, yet Qin Miao ran 25 laps and was only slightly slower than the new hard tires of other drivers.

Now he has switched to soft tires, normally with only five to six laps of durability at Paul Ricard, yet Qin Miao’s tire lifespan is always a mystery, no one knows how many more laps than normal drivers he can run.

Knowing his teammate isn’t on the same strategy, after Qin Miao overtook Verstappen and came behind Hamilton, Hamilton chose to let Qin Miao pass when passing through the DRS zone on the main straight.

With the DRS, overtaking Hamilton, neither lost any speed.

Then Qin Miao ran four more laps to lap 33, and during these laps, his speed wasn’t as fast as when chasing Verstappen, but still a second faster per lap.

After these laps, Qin Miao felt his soft tires couldn’t hold out anymore, nearing the cliff point, so he pitted on this lap.

Actually, on Verstappen’s side, after realizing he couldn’t use the same tires to surpass Hamilton, he had the idea of pitting to try flipping Hamilton on old medium tires.

But Qin Miao was right there as a variable, if Verstappen pitted, Qin Miao would follow suit, Qin Miao would then surely block Verstappen.

However, if not pitting, the likelihood of Verstappen overtaking Hamilton would decrease over time.

In situations requiring change, Red Bull always leaned towards riskier yet more rewarding race strategies.

Red Bull, unlike Mercedes, didn’t have the team and driver championships, they were challengers.

So rather than a slow death, they clearly preferred to fight in the final stages.

Thus, as Qin Miao opted to pit, Red Bull made the same choice, letting Verstappen pit.

After pitting, Qin Miao changed to a set of medium tires that had run five laps, while Verstappen’s had run seven laps.

But these lap counts were from practice sessions, differing from the lap counts at the beginning of the race regarding tire wear levels.

Because at the start of the race, tire wear is greater due to the cars being filled with fuel, resulting in heavier weight and consequently more tire wear.

Now, both cars had burnt off about half of their fuel, making them lighter with less load.

Thus, the actual wear-represented laps for Qin Miao’s five-lap tires were just a bit over two laps, and Verstappen’s four laps.

The time they could be sustained on the track naturally became longer.

Coming out, Qin Miao began chasing the two drivers ahead, while Verstappen kept trailing behind Qin Miao, seeking opportunities.

Lap 35, Qin Miao overtook Perez.

Perez initially wanted to defend against Qin Miao’s attack, but on the Paul Ricard circuit, overtaking was fairly easy, let alone Qin Miao was on fresh mediums while Perez was on old hards.

Thus, overtaking Perez for Qin Miao was just a matter of the DRS.

After overtaking Perez, Qin Miao started to chase Hamilton, who was 13 seconds ahead, with 18 laps left in the race.

Qin Miao’s speed in chasing Hamilton was 1.9 seconds per lap, and Verstappen’s was 0.2 seconds per lap chasing Qin Miao.

Of course, their chasing speed couldn’t remain this fast; this track had relatively high tire wear, so the gap would narrow as the race progressed.

But Red Bull and Mercedes were willing to pit to change tires; they had calculated beforehand that the medium tires would still be faster than Hamilton’s hard tires by the race’s end.

With Qin Miao’s defensive ability, Verstappen’s 0.2 seconds per lap chase speed posed no defensive pressure.

Yet after tasting victory, Qin Miao’s heart began to desire climbing on the top podium again.

And Hamilton, of course, was pressuring the team in the TR, wanting Qin Miao to help him defend against Verstappen.

No matter their off-track relations, on-track Hamilton wouldn’t be sentimental; only winners or losers exist here.

If Qin Miao were replaced with Bottas, there’d be no need for Hamilton to remind the team; they’d proactively ask Bottas to do so.

But this was Qin Miao, younger than Hamilton but not significantly weaker, and having higher growth potential.

Though no one inside Mercedes had said so, Toto knew clearly Qin Miao was the assurance of Mercedes’ future competitiveness post Hamilton’s retirement.

Hence the team wouldn’t convey such team orders to Qin Miao then.

But they couldn’t refuse Hamilton’s request outright in front of him, so they comforted Hamilton in the TR, advising him not to overthink and maintain his pace.

laps passed to lap 49.

Qin Miao finally entered Hamilton’s DRS zone from behind, while Verstappen was in Qin Miao’s DRS zone from behind.

Verstappen himself knew that although overtaking Qin Miao wasn’t impossible, it would waste much time on the way chasing Hamilton.

Besides, seeing Qin Miao, he intended to chase Hamilton too, so Verstappen simply followed behind Qin Miao preserving his tires, planning to attack after Qin Miao caught Hamilton, thereby protecting his tires and avoiding wasting time and tires battling Qin Miao on track.

And now was the moment Verstappen prepared to make his move.