How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 910 - 359: Opportunity from the Heavens

Though this safety car also offered Qin Miao a free pit stop.

But it's the same problem, the car's performance can't keep up, and the safety car has equalized everyone's tire advantage.

Of course, you can't not take advantage of this safety car; after all, everyone has used it to change to new tires, and if Qin Miao doesn't, it would be like wasting a set of tires for nothing.

So Qin Miao also pitted and swapped to a new set of soft tires, as there were only 10 laps remaining, a new set of soft tires was definitely enough.

Fans who know a bit about racing felt some disappointment and frustration seeing this safety car, questioning how things took such a bad turn.

The only good news for Qin Miao's fans was due to his personality, apart from Qin Miao, all drivers on track were using tires that had gone through qualifying laps.

Qin Miao was using a brand new set of soft tires.

But this advantage wasn't too significant.

Then the safety car began leading all drivers to cruise, the car lineup recompressed, slow cars freed.

As Qin Miao looked at Hamilton appearing behind him, he felt a bit of a headache.

The advantage was gone...

Soon the Old Man was likely to start attacking him.

Lap 50, the safety car lights went out, the race was about to restart, and there were 7 laps until the finish.

Qin Miao quickly reined in his inner frustration and began observing Hamilton behind him, planning his defensive moves, preparing to defend against Hamilton.

After the corner at T14, Leclerc accelerated sharply, and Sainz kept up well behind him, while Verstappen had some error.

Behind Sainz, Perez and Verstappen, due to their positions, hardly had the chance to contend for Sainz's position.

So, after the start, reaching T1, the positions of the leading drivers didn't change much.

As for Qin Miao, once he noticed the car ahead accelerating, he focused on Hamilton behind him, ignoring those in front.

However, after a few corners, Qin Miao found that Hamilton behind him showed no clear intention to attack, or rather, at that moment, Hamilton couldn't attack Qin Miao.

The speed couldn't match.

After all, Qin Miao was using a new set of soft tires, while Hamilton's set had gone through a qualifying flying lap, so the grip difference was substantial.

By lap 52, the time gap between Qin Miao and Perez ahead had expanded to 1.5 seconds.

Hamilton behind didn't give Qin Miao any pressure, and Qin Miao began cruising again.

What? Wasn't Verstappen ahead of Qin Miao? How did it become Perez?

Perez on the main straight in lap 51 gave his position to Verstappen, showcasing the hierarchy of the second driver.

By lap 53, Verstappen started attacking Sainz ahead.

There's no denying this season Ferrari's car performance was indeed stronger than Red Bull's, but clearly, Sainz at that moment lacked Leclerc's strength and couldn't slowly but steadily widen the time gap to Verstappen.

It's just that Sainz was indeed slower than Verstappen, but thanks to the car advantage, not by much. Verstappen would need to find opportunities in the DRS zone to overtake Sainz.

But unexpectedly, by lap 54, Sainz, who hadn't been fast, suddenly began widening the time gap to Verstappen.

Almost as if there was some problem with Verstappen's car.

Then in lap 55, Verstappen's car speed reduced significantly, and he was overtaken by Perez, Qin Miao, and Hamilton from behind.

Now it was clear, Verstappen's car had a problem!

"What happened? Can I do anything to compensate?" Verstappen desperately asked in the team radio.

"Sorry Max, our telemetry data doesn't show any major problem, we probably need to retire." The team's response to Verstappen was cold and ruthless.

The only good news was, at this moment Verstappen was just at the pit entrance, so he didn't need to stop on track and could directly drive the car back to the pits.

Red Bull fans witnessing this scene naturally lamented loudly.

Meanwhile, Mercedes and Ferrari fans, especially Ferrari's, rejoiced, and the scene was lively.

Qin Miao, perplexed, just picked up fourth place.

And in the same lap, Qin Miao also noticed that Perez's speed ahead was slowing down.

Red Bull seemed to have identified issues with engine performance in their Honda-powered cars and instructed Perez to reduce power to protect the engine.

Hence, by lap 55, Qin Miao closed to 0.9 seconds behind Perez.

Lap 57, the final lap.

Qin Miao coming out of the corner on the main straight further closed to 0.5 seconds behind Perez.

Perez immediately started weaving defensively, and Qin Miao matched with slipstream weaving right behind Perez, their weaving paths identical.

"Qin Miao! Is there a chance? Can you catch Perez's slipstream?" Bing started sweating in his palms witnessing this moment.