Chapter 1551 - 567: Demonic Wind (6K, Extra Update 4/5)

Chapter 1551: Chapter 567: Demonic Wind (6K, Extra Update 4/5)

Before the full-course yellow flag appeared, Qin Miao noticed a yellow flag on the track, and it was already the 14th lap.

So Qin Miao didn’t even communicate with the team and directly entered the pitstop.

The Red Bull Ring track has a rule.

That is, if you need to pit and change tires in this Grand Prix, you have to stay inside the white line before entering the pit lane at T9.

So if you miss the white line, you can’t pit in this lap.

As Qin Miao moved inside the white line to prepare for the pitstop, Verstappen had already exited T10.

Qin Miao’s pit entry naturally drew everyone’s attention because, for a championship-contending driver, Qin Miao’s pit timing indeed seemed a bit too early.

"Hey? Qin Miao’s pit entry is a bit decisive!" Bing said, rubbing his chin. "But isn’t pitting at this time a bit too early for Qin Miao? There are still 51 laps until the end of the race."

"Let’s see, what tires Qin Miao switches to. Knowing Qin Miao’s tire choice will give us a rough idea of Mercedes’ pitstop strategy."

In the pit lane, not only were the Mercedes team members watching Qin Miao after his pit stop, but even Red Bull and Ferrari were constantly monitoring Qin Miao’s actions.

They also couldn’t understand why Qin Miao pitted at this time.

Even if Qin Miao has strong tire management skills, there are still 57 laps until the end of the race. Can Qin Miao’s hard tires last 57 laps?

Assuming Qin Miao’s hard tires can’t last 57 laps, Red Bull suspects that Qin Miao might have a two-stop strategy, and they are somewhat anticipating Qin Miao’s second stop.

As Qin Miao entered the pit lane, the Mercedes tire changers also rushed out of the garage with tires and their equipment, ready and waiting in their positions.

At this moment, the Red Bull staff finally saw clearly the color of the tires Mercedes was preparing to put on Qin Miao’s car.

Hard tires.

Although at this time switching Qin Miao to hard tires, logically, indicates that Mercedes is likely preparing for a two-stop strategy for Qin Miao on the track.

Even Red Bull hopes so, because there’s no way Pirelli’s C3 could last 57 laps at the Red Bull Ring.

If it could really last that long, Pirelli wouldn’t have the nickname "Unreliable-elli."

But Red Bull feels that Qin Miao might only have this one pit stop in this race...

...

Three hours earlier.

In the Mercedes team’s meeting room.

Looking at the durability report of Qin Miao’s hard tires, the entire Mercedes strategy group was having a headache.

They were now stuck in an awkward dead-end.

The best way to have Qin Miao suppress Verstappen on the track is to let Qin Miao complete the race with only one pit stop.

But now they were facing significant difficulties.

"Even for you, a set of soft tires can only last 10 laps at most, and there’s no scenario in the race where soft tires can be applied.

So a red-hard one-stop and a red-yellow one-stop are out of the question! So don’t even consider it," Frankie said.

Qin Miao nodded.

"But your hard tire data..."

The reason the Mercedes people were hesitant is that according to their data, Qin Miao’s hard tires could last 56 laps on track.

Yes, you read it right. In practice sessions, Qin Miao did several long-distance tests on hard tires, and the results showed that Qin Miao could run 56 laps on a set of hard tires without a significant drop in lap times.

The lap time difference between Qin Miao’s first and last lap on these hard tires might only be about 0.5 seconds.

"I know, if it’s a yellow-hard one-stop, it’s a waste of tires." Qin Miao said suddenly after thinking for a moment, "What about a hard-red one-stop?"

Frankie shook his head: "It’s not going to work. Even if you try your best to conserve the tires throughout, at most you can only last about 66, 67 laps on the track. Your lap times will drop rapidly in the later part of the race, and in the last few laps, Verstappen could catch up by 2 seconds per lap. If you’re defending against Verstappen at that time, the consequences..."

After saying this, Frankie added: "Also, the hard tires aren’t favorable for your starting."

Qin Miao shrugged helplessly: "So I have to push hard from start to finish again?"

Frankie nodded, holding the tactical board: "I’m afraid so."

Qin Miao looked at his race engineer and asked: "What if a yellow flag or safety car appears early?"

Frankie thought for a moment: "If such a situation arises, just pit directly. Anyway, our garage is close to the pit lane entrance, and we will have enough reaction time when you pit. At that time, we will definitely install hard tires on your car immediately."

Back to now.

This was the reason Qin Miao pitted at this time.

The total pitstop time for Qin Miao was 2.5 seconds.

Compared to the normal pitstop speed, Qin Miao’s tire change seemed a bit slow this time.

However, sometimes comparisons can be disheartening; teams compare as well. Mercedes’ tire change this time might be 0.2 or 0.1 seconds slower than their usual pace, but compared to Alfa Romeo, it was incredibly fast.

You should know that when Zhou Guanyu pitted on the 8th lap, Alfa Romeo gave him a 5.3-second tire change.

Qin Miao’s tire change took twice as much time and was even 0.3 seconds longer.

After changing tires, Qin Miao emerged from the pit lane without losing much position, still in second place.

After all, as soon as Qin Miao pitted, the yellow flag from the second and third timing sectors turned into a full-course yellow.