How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 597 - 256: The World Pauses in Yellow and White, No Racing in the Rain Grand Prix

On the other side, Hamilton simply unplugged the water pipe and got out of his car to use the toilet.

Afterwards, all the drivers and team staff were waiting for the rain to stop.

This wait lasted about 20 minutes.

Even though the rain was still heavy, the race organizers knew they couldn't keep all the cars waiting on the track anymore.

So the organizers decided to withdraw all the staff and let the safety car lead all the cars for two laps to assess the situation.

If the rain was too heavy and normal racing couldn't continue, the organizers would lead all the drivers into the pit area with the safety car and then display the red flag in the pit area, waiting for the race to restart.

Under the guidance of the safety car, as the drivers drove out of their starting positions, spectators could see that all drivers were using full wet tires for this race.

Considering the current track conditions, intermediate tires couldn't provide any grip for the cars.

Notably, when Qin Miao followed his teammate Hamilton out of T1, due to the excessive water on the ground, the rear wheel traction of Qin Miao's car was even inferior to the inertia of the car's tail at corner entry.

Fortunately, as soon as Qin Miao noticed the incorrect posture of his car, he chose counter-steering and lightly applied some throttle.

If they were using slick tires, an F1 car could never drift on the track. However, Qin Miao was on full wet tires, and with water on the track and his exquisite racing control skills.

So Qin Miao completed T1 with a textbook drift through the corner.

Truth be told, Qin Miao's cornering posture was quite graceful.

Initially, the spectators sitting in the T1 section were a bit annoyed because the T1 stands were facing the wind; it was not only cold, but rain also splashed onto their faces.

But it was from this position that they witnessed Qin Miao's drift through T1, so after Qin Miao's car passed the corner, the site quieted down for a moment before erupting into loud cheers.

Putting other matters aside, just Qin Miao's single drift through this corner made the tickets for all the spectators in the T1 corner worth it.

Although for F1 drivers, drifting through corners might only be useful in WRC events, which mainly run on non-paved surfaces.

But really, on the F1 track, drifting through a corner is very slow, and it also poses a considerable challenge to tire wear.

But drifting through a corner is very cool, okay!

The director quickly broadcast the onboard footage of Qin Miao drifting through the corner.

"Whoa, whoa, careful, careful, did Qin Miao's car slip?" Fei was initially surprised, but as Qin Miao smoothly drifted through the corner, Fei changed his tone: "Beautiful! Qin Miao really has the skills, this rescue maneuver is awesome."

"That was a tail-slide, sliding right through the corner," Bing commented.

Zhou Haoran also remarked: "It's very difficult for F1 cars to drift; only under these track conditions might you see drivers drifting through corners."

Qin Miao's drift was caught in Hamilton's peripheral vision. As he exited the corner, he watched Qin Miao's car slide horizontally across the track.

Even though Qin Miao managed to regain control of his car eventually, Hamilton still asked worriedly on the team radio: "What happened to Qin Miao?"

...

And as for Qin Miao? Despite how stylish the corner maneuver looked, the loss of rear axle grip gave him a cold sweat.

So much so that after successfully regaining control and returning to the pack, he felt a chill down his back, and his hands and feet were slightly numb.

"I'm fine, just lost rear wheel traction," Qin Miao said over the team radio even before Frankie could ask.

Frankie didn't say much; Qin Miao knew more about the car and the rules and taboos than he did, so after confirming that the drift wasn't due to a mechanical issue, he advised over the radio: "Be careful driving in the slippery rain."

"Okay, I will be careful," Qin Miao replied, and he adopted a more cautious driving style later.

Just like Qin Miao, Toto Wolff also broke into a cold sweat.

He had been watching the live broadcast of the two drivers racing on the track on his monitors.

When Qin Miao's car skidded entering the corner, Toto noticed immediately.

This scene involuntarily reminded him of Norris yesterday and Perez during today's test session.

Both drivers crashed out due to heavy rain, losing control and ultimately hitting walls.

Luckily, Qin Miao eventually stabilized his car and even performed a beautiful drift for the audience.

After witnessing this, Toto adjusted his posture to calm his nerves.

With this interlude over, the race continued.

For some time afterwards, all the drivers on track reported back to their teams about one thing: the rain fog on the track was too thick, and besides Verstappen, no one else could see the road ahead clearly.

It should be noted that this fog was present even under the safety car's guidance; if they really started racing, the fog would be even heavier.