Chapter 1550 - 566: Just Enough

Chapter 1550: Chapter 566: Just Enough

"Somewhat, I guess." Qin Miao recalled the recent duel on the track with Leclerc.

Leclerc was more straightforward: "F**k! Why deploy the safety car? What the hell happened!"

...

You can’t blame Leclerc for being emotional at this moment.

At this point, Leclerc feels a bit like taking a shower and suddenly the water stops, leaving half the shampoo still in his hair.

Of course, besides missing the chance to completely overtake Qin Miao on the track, Leclerc also missed the opportunity to continue battling with Qin Miao.

After all, before today, Leclerc basically hadn’t had the chance to grapple with Qin Miao on the track.

Even wanting to experience Qin Miao’s defensive skills mostly happened in the team’s simulator.

Though the entire wave had his nerves on edge, with his brain and every organ on high alert.

Nonetheless, it’s undeniable Leclerc hadn’t felt that surge of adrenaline on the track for a long time.

It’s just a pity this phase didn’t last particularly long; Leclerc was still somewhat unsatisfied.

Part of it is because Leclerc knows with Qin Miao’s speed, missing this attacking chance means it’s highly likely he won’t be able to compete for the runner-up position this race.

The engineers from both teams explained to them why the safety car was deployed on the track.

This was because at the start, Tsunoda and O’Kang collided on the track,

Tsunoda’s car debris fell on the track, requiring a safety car to clear it.

This safety car situation really screwed Leclerc over.

But for Qin Miao, it’s a win-win scenario.

On one hand, his duel with Leclerc led to Verstappen pulling ahead by nearly two seconds, but this gap vanished entirely due to the safety car.

On the other hand, the safety car also erased any chances Leclerc had to compete with him.

What? That’s not a win-win?

Could it be Qin Miao won twice?

The safety car stayed out until lap 4 before withdrawing.

After restarting, Verstappen naturally aimed to quickly widen the gap with Qin Miao.

Qin Miao followed behind Verstappen seeking opportunities.

Unfortunately, the RB19 Martian car’s characteristics were fully revealed at this moment, quickly leaving Qin Miao behind.

Meanwhile, Leclerc behind Qin Miao had no chance to make a move either, as he got entangled by Hamilton on the second lap after the restart.

After 3 laps, the race reached lap 7, at which point DRS was enabled.

The gap between Leclerc and Qin Miao expanded to 1.7 seconds, while the gap between Qin Miao and Verstappen widened to 2.4 seconds.

On the second lap after DRS was enabled, Hamilton used the DRS in the main straight to complete an inner-line overtake of Leclerc.

The W14 Martian car’s distinctive qualities were fully exposed at this moment.

From then on, Qin Miao and Hamilton, the two Mercedes drivers, began to feel somewhat lost on the track.

Their lap speeds were actually identical now; maybe Qin Miao’s lap speed was a few hundredths of a second faster than Old Man’s, but this small gap hardly affected their positions.

Meanwhile, having been overtaken by Hamilton, Leclerc was left behind because of his car’s depleted battery, gradually widening the gap due to the car’s performance differences.

Shortly, both returned to the most common scenario at the start of the season – drivers cruising alone in their positions.

Of course, Verstappen’s situation was somewhat unusual; he couldn’t cruise.

He couldn’t even manage tire conservation in his position because if he ran slower, Qin Miao with the one-stop strategy would likely undercut him.

Once undercut by Qin Miao, regaining position on the track would be tough.

However, a turning point soon emerged on the track, as the yellow flag was suddenly waved.

Hockenheim stopped his car in the buffer zone due to engine failure, and though he maneuvered the car off the track, it triggered yellow flags for the second and third timing sectors.

Soon this section’s yellow flag escalated to a full-course yellow flag.

At this point, Qin Miao shattered rumors of "not overtaking at the start stage", achieving the rare feat of overtaking two drivers in one lap at the start.

ps. Godfathers, it’s the end of the month, give me some monthly votes, will you?