Chapter 1490 - 543: Martin: Ferrari’s Shenanigans? Now It’s My Turn!

Chapter 1490: Chapter 543: Martin: Ferrari’s Shenanigans? Now It’s My Turn!

Qin Miao couldn’t help but think this way, after the news that he was going to Ferrari next season was revealed, his treatment within the team had indeed fallen.

And suspicion is like a crack; once there is a gap, it keeps widening.

However, after weighing the pros and cons, Qin Miao still chose to follow the team’s arrangements.

After all, compared to betting on Hamilton’s mistakes in a low-probability event, sticking too closely to Hamilton and resulting in tire change delays, the possibility of being overtaken by Leclerc is greater.

The rain on the track began to pour as the race reached lap 54.

The single-lap speeds of Bottas and Stroll, who pitted the previous lap, weren’t as fast as expected, so no driver chose to pit for a tire change at this time.

Even Verstappen started complaining that the track was slippery as hell.

Qin Miao also felt like he was ice skating more and more.

But everyone was still stubbornly staying on the track.

After all, pitting in Monaco is extremely important.

During the hairpin turn on lap 54, Qin Miao truly felt like he was ice skating. The originally dry track surface had been completely soaked by the rain. The only difference from a rainy day is that there was no standing water on the track.

At the T8 exit, Qin Miao performed a brief drift on the track.

But fortunately, Qin Miao managed to stabilize and successfully entered the tunnel.

And it was after Qin Miao entered the tunnel that Frankie finally informed Qin Miao via the team’s TR: "The lap speed of the intermediate tires is now faster than the hard tires. Pit this lap for a tire change."

Upon hearing Frankie, Qin Miao, who had been skating on the track for quite a while, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He finally got through this tortuous period.

Prior to this, Alonso, who was in second place, also opted to pit for a tire change.

Now the track conditions are indeed unsuitable for using dry tires, and Brother Tou was maintaining his lead over Hamilton under pressure, having endured on the track for 54 laps with a set of hard tires that couldn’t last any longer.

So the broadcast screen’s bottom right corner indicated that Alonso’s track engineer said BOX to Alonso.

However, to the surprise of the drivers behind, Verstappen did not choose to pit this lap.

He continued to persevere on the track using medium tires.

However, no one would be surprised if Verstappen didn’t pit, considering the time gap between him and Alonso had widened to 12 seconds. With such a large time gap, even if he pitted a lap later, there wouldn’t be any significant loss.

He had the liberty to risk it.

On the left side of the broadcast screen, Verstappen didn’t pit, but Alonso did, and the three commentators of Five-Star Sports were all amazed.

Fei directly commented: "Verstappen didn’t pit; if Alonso pits a lap early, Alonso will gain a huge advantage!"

Just as he finished speaking, everyone thought Martin would call Alonso in to pit and change to a set of intermediate tires.

In the small broadcast window on the left, Martin changed Alonso’s tires to a set of mediums in 2.4 seconds.

Seeing the two yellow lines on Alonso’s car wheels in that small broadcast window, Five-Star Sports commentators thought they were mistaken or there was a glitch in the broadcast video.

The three commentators continued to deny their judgment according to their habitual commentary style, assuming Aston Martin had given Alonso intermediate tires.

"Did Martin give Alonso yellow tires or what?"

"Intermediate tires, intermediate tires, it should be intermediate tires."

"Yeah, Martin wouldn’t give Alonso dry tires at this moment!"

"Are they green?"

"The monitor probably has color distortion..."

...

Just when the three commentators were unsure.

Alonso’s car exited the pits, and the broadcast view beside the track immediately captured Alonso’s car.

Then, as Alonso exited the pits, the broadcast video beside the track shot Alonso’s car from behind, revealing that Alonso had indeed changed to medium tires.

"Ah? They’re yellow tires!"

"What’s going on?"

"What’s Martin thinking?"

"Why change Alonso to yellow tires at this time?"

Five-Star Sports commentators were stunned, while the other side’s bullet chat exploded.

[I don’t understand]

[Martin is too bold, changing to yellow tires on a rainy day]

[Martin is wise]

[’Huge Advantage’]

[’Color Distortion’]

[Another iconic scene from Five-Star Commentary]

[Ruined]

[As a fan of Brother Tou, I don’t understand Martin’s tire choice]

[Martin is confused!]

[Today’s race from Martin echoes Ferrari’s legacy]

...

On the other side, although Mercedes knew immediately about Martin’s outrageous tire change decision.

Frankie didn’t inform Qin Miao about what’s happening on the track, as it couldn’t affect Qin Miao’s pit stop for a tire change.

"Mercedes opted for a double stop, let’s see how the tire change speed is."

On the track, Hamilton was the first to enter the tire change position, the change time was 2.4 seconds, with excellent speed.

Because Qin Miao had slightly opened the distance with Hamilton before coming in to change tires, Qin Miao didn’t have to wait behind Hamilton for Old Man to drive away before stopping in the tire change position. Qin Miao stopped at the tire change position just behind Hamilton’s heels, neither of them delayed.

The car stopped, Qin Miao nervously looked at his rearview mirror, through the shadows in the mirror, he could barely see the Ferrari car behind also pitting for a tire change.