Chapter 1528: Do You Need Brains to Drive? (6K, Extra Update 14/14)

Other drivers, to prevent being undercut, also responded with pit stops to change tires in the next lap.

This included Zhou Guanyu.

During the pit stop for a tire change, Zhou Guanyu himself had no operational issues, but Alfa Romeo’s tire change crew performed steadily, taking 6.34 seconds.

The reason was that the mechanic for the right rear wheel had to fit the bolt three times before tightening Zhou Guanyu’s right rear wheel.

Due to the tire change crew’s courageous performance, Zhou Guanyu came out of the pit lane directly at the rear, with a time gap of 5 seconds from Magelsen, who was second to last.

The advantage gained from the safety car pit stop, thanks to Russell, was completely lost now.

This might just be what they call the conservation of energy.

At this moment, it was almost time for the leading group of drivers to make their pit stops.

In Verstappen’s team radio, the Red Bull strategy team was also calculating when Verstappen should pit.

The reason for starting this discussion now, instead of letting Verstappen run further, was mainly because Verstappen’s tire condition was no longer good.

Now Verstappen’s lap speed could barely match Qin Miao’s, but if Verstappen were to stay on the track for another seven or eight laps, it was believed that the one lapping a second faster than the competitor might turn into Qin Miao.

In fact, Red Bull had also considered letting Verstappen, like Qin Miao, run the entire race on a set of hard tires, but simple calculations showed that this was somewhat too demanding on Verstappen.

Even though his tire conservation ability was not bad, it was indeed a notch below the exceptional Qin Miao.

So this plan was ultimately abandoned.

After deliberation, Verstappen pitted on lap 40, with a time gap of 10 seconds from Qin Miao before pitting.

In these few laps, Qin Miao had shortened the time gap with Verstappen, and Red Bull’s decision to call Verstappen to pit was also decisive, preventing him from losing more time on the track.

The normal pit time at Villeneuve Circuit was 22 seconds.

Under virtual safety car and safety car conditions, the time was less, but there was no safety car on the track now.

When Verstappen came out from the pit lane with medium tires, he inevitably fell behind Qin Miao.

At this moment, Red Bull’s intention was clear, which was to let Verstappen break through Qin Miao’s defense on the track as usual, after all, it wasn’t Verstappen’s first time doing this, and the Red Bull team was very confident in Verstappen’s attacking ability.

And as Verstappen came out of the pit lane, he landed just 12 seconds behind Qin Miao.

At this time, Red Bull’s strategy team didn’t forget to remind Verstappen.

“Max, we estimate Qin Miao should still have enough tire margin, his lap speed has been slowly increasing, very steadily, we need to quickly catch up to him, pressuring and overtaking him. The longer we stay behind him, the worse it is for us.”

“I’ll overtake him!” Verstappen’s reply was very brief, and after coming out of the pit lane, his first lap was already 1.3 seconds faster than Qin Miao’s.

At this time, the time gap between the two was reduced to 10.7 seconds.

The race then fell into a lull, with everyone’s position basically at the level their car and ability allowed, except for the drivers behind Albert…

As a result, almost no overtakes were shown on the track, and everyone was cruising.

Qin Miao, while protecting his tires, constantly kept an eye on the distance between Verstappen and himself behind.

But considering the remaining 20 laps until the finish, and Verstappen being less than 10 seconds behind, Qin Miao was somewhat unsure.

Damn, this race Pan seems a bit too strong.

At this rate, I might end up second again in this race.

Sigh, why did I say again?

Forget it, the immediate priority is to quickly find a way to fend off Verstappen’s attack.

During this time, as Qin Miao was furiously brainstorming on the track for strategies, Russell retired.

The reason was the earlier collision.

Although Russell’s car did not show more faults in a short time, the car indeed had some damage internally.

However, these damages were latent and did not expose themselves immediately.

But as the car components worked on the track for some time, various problems were exposed.

To be honest, the working environment of an F1 car on the track is really harsh, for both the car and the driver.

So Williams eventually called Russell back to the pit lane to avoid further losses.

It’s worth mentioning that, ever since Qin Miao announced his joining Ferrari next season, many voices within the paddock suggested that Russell would replace Qin Miao after he left Mercedes.

But judging from Russell’s recent performances, he has even been outperformed by Albon.

Perhaps the presence of Qin Miao has somehow dented Russell’s confidence.

The subsequent races saw Albon continue to drive aggressively on the track, while Qin Miao discussed with the team strategy group about the possibility of himself making a second stop to switch to soft tires.

Frankie ultimately expressed regret: “If you stay on the track, you might still have a chance based on your own ability to attempt to defend against Verstappen approaching, maybe even successfully defend a Grand Prix title from Verstappen.”