Chapter 1532: Absolute Racing Performance Suppression (2)

When the team said this to Verstappen, he immediately let go of that unrealistic fantasy.

Looking at the familiar Mercedes car in front of him, Verstappen gritted his teeth.

Damn Qin Miao, I’m going to overtake you to death!

Verstappen directly abandoned the tactics he had developed this season and began a conventional attack.

Qin Miao saw this and laughed.

It’s been a while!

I’ve been waiting for your conventional attack methods!

I’ll block you off!

Once the pace of attack and defense returned to Qin Miao’s comfort zone, Verstappen felt the same frustration as Albon, O’Kang, and Stroll behind him.

Overtaking? Not even a bit.

During the multi-corner sector of the first timing section, the closest Verstappen could get was 0.1 seconds behind Qin Miao’s rear.

If he wanted to, Verstappen could even crash into Qin Miao’s rear.

But once they entered the straight DRS zone where overtaking was possible.

Even with DRS open, Verstappen could barely draw alongside Qin Miao on the outside, perhaps overtaking slightly, but Qin Miao would always reclaim the track position before the apex with precise late braking, giving Verstappen three choices: get pushed off the track, return to his original position, or crash into me and receive a penalty while losing Super License points.

What else could Verstappen do? He could only choose the second option.

The Villeneuve Circuit didn’t offer a crossing line option for Verstappen.

What?

T10 seems you can take a crossing line?

That’s a damn 108° hairpin turn, you can’t take a crossing line there.

Other circuits usually have a large-angle corner ending a DRS zone before entering a long straight, where crossing lines might be possible.

But the Villeneuve Circuit is abstract; the end of DRS zones is followed by zigzag turns.

The braking points of all three DRS zones are like this.

Therefore, after considering the possibility of a crossing line, Verstappen thought about the layout of the Villeneuve Circuit, and there was never a moment when he hated a track as much as now.

No, it’s not just hate now; it’s loathing.

However, Verstappen is still Verstappen. After a brief moment of confusion, he thought a bit more and really came up with a highly feasible method.

He could see the indicator light on Qin Miao’s rear, knowing when Qin Miao was charging his battery, but Qin didn’t see mine!

Sometimes you have to admire these top drivers who can secure big contracts in F1.

A normal driver, having run a 60-plus lap race inside a highly heated monocoque, constantly facing lateral and longitudinal G-forces pressing on their body, while still having to control the steering wheel forcefully and stay aware of what’s happening on the track.

In such harsh conditions, Verstappen’s mind could still efficiently analyze the track’s environment and come up with a solution to the current predicament.

Such people are generally considered—Superman.

At this point, Verstappen’s idea was simple: continue to charge his car normally and use the car’s raw power to exploit the gaps Qin Miao left.

This not only puts enough pressure but also gives himself an ERS advantage.

The tire wear might be slightly higher, but for Verstappen, who wants to overtake Qin Miao on the straight, this tire consumption is acceptable.

Verstappen just doesn’t believe that Qin Miao, in regular defense, wouldn’t use ERS.

And Qin Miao indeed didn’t consider this.

It’s not that Qin Miao lacked the mind; like Verstappen, his thinking is very sharp during a race.

It’s mainly because Verstappen is too pressuring, and with the RB19 being fast, if Qin Miao wants to maintain his position, he must fully concentrate on defense.

As for the slight drop in Verstappen’s attacking pressure, Qin Miao just assumed Verstappen’s car was low on ERS power or tires were excessively worn.

He didn’t think much more.

Finally, on lap 67, Verstappen fully recharged his car, and the time gap between him and Qin Miao was maintained at 0.3 seconds.

Verstappen had a feeling that his tires were near their cliff point, and if not for the car’s performance advantage, his lap times should be on par with Qin Miao’s.

This attack might just be his only opportunity for this race.

If he overtakes Qin Miao, he’ll be the race winner. If not, it’s second place.

Regardless of whether Verstappen wants it, he has no choice.

So, after exiting T10, Verstappen finally made his move.

Qin Miao had no idea at this point that Verstappen had recharged his car, and Qin Miao’s car only had 47% power remaining.

This reserve was deliberately kept by Qin Miao to handle sudden situations amidst Verstappen’s pressure.

But under Verstappen’s deceit, Qin Miao had no awareness that danger was imminent.

On the track, after the exit, Verstappen did not immediately open his ERS. Instead, he waited until he was in Qin Miao’s slipstream after exiting the fake T11 corner, and only then did he open the ERS in the DRS zone.

RB19’s acceleration suddenly surged, and always watching the rearview mirror for Verstappen’s movements, Qin Miao detected something awry as soon as Verstappen’s car began accelerating.

Verstappen’s closing rate was unreasonably fast.

Even without knowing what was up with Verstappen’s car, Qin Miao felt he needed to fully respond now, so he quickly adjusted the ERS mode button on his steering wheel to full power release and activated ERS.

Despite Qin Miao completing this entire operation in less than a second.

But in an F1 race, sometimes 0.1 seconds can determine the outcome of a race, let alone a whole second.

But you can’t say Qin Miao activated his ERS mode slowly because to switch to full power release mode, he not only had to rotate the ERS mode ratchet with his thumb but also press the ERS mode button. After toggling the ratchet, Qin Miao’s ERS would be off and needed manual restart.

Achieving such speed is already impressive.

And because of Verstappen’s shameless sneak attack (Ma Baoguo’s voice), Qin Miao found Verstappen’s outside closing rate abnormally fast, reaching side by side with him midway through the DRS zone.

Although after Qin Miao activated ERS, Verstappen’s overtaking speed slowed down.

In fact, in the mid-section, the relative speed between Qin Miao and Verstappen paused for a moment.

But Qin Miao’s ERS was only at 47%.

This little power can’t sustain long usage.

As a result, at 600 meters before the T13 braking point, Qin Miao’s car ran out of power, and Verstappen suddenly surged forward.

And before the T13 braking point, Verstappen completely overtook Qin Miao.

And the moment Verstappen entirely cleared Qin Miao, he switched to the inside line, blocking Qin Miao’s late braking reverse path on the inside.

Cutting off Qin Miao’s final opportunity to fight back.

Qin Miao, with quick reflexes, went to the outside when Verstappen took the inside to block him.

Both of them braked at very extreme points.

After all, it was a fight for the race championship; neither could afford to slack off.

Both even braked to the point of wheel lock at this position.

However, the outside disadvantage for Qin Miao was too great, and Verstappen’s mechanical grip was significantly better than Qin Miao’s, pulling ahead by half a car length in T13 and T14 zigzag turns.

Moreover, because Verstappen was behind Qin Miao before the DRS detection point, once they reached the main straight DRS zone, Verstappen quickly pulled away.

Watching the retreating RB19 with its rear indicator light flashing while charging, Qin Miao sighed helplessly and asked over the team radio: “Has the FIA ever considered putting a charging indicator light at the front of the car?”