Chapter 325: Chapter 164: Master of Defense
[Immediate Takedown]
[Prime Accusation]
[Bi Hai is indeed skilled at recognizing and utilizing talents]
[This director is really cheeky]
[To be honest, I can’t understand why Ferrari didn’t use such a great driver like Qin Miao, but went for someone like Sainz instead]
[How can the flowers at home compare to the wild ones?]
[Wofa Ethanol]
...
"Well done, Qin Miao, we now have more tactical options. We need to pit on lap 46 to switch to soft tires and try to chase down Verstappen during this period, got it?"
Hearing the team’s TR, Qin Miao was momentarily stunned, then responded with a bit of excitement: "Okay, I’ll do my best."
Actually, Qin Miao’s strategy at this time was still to complete the race on his current set of hard tires. Neither the team nor Qin Miao had plans to pit again to change to soft tires.
And this TR was actually a bluff, putting pressure on Red Bull.
Qin Miao was somewhat excited because it was his first time deceiving, and this feeling of doing something tricky was quite special for him.
Upon hearing the Mercedes TR, the Red Bull strategy team started calculating frantically, and Horner rubbed his temples, pondering Mercedes’ tactical intentions.
Unable to come up with a good strategy in a short time, Horner momentarily spaced out, remembering the call he once made to Qin Miao’s manager back when Qin Miao was still in F2.
If he had persisted a bit back then, would the current scene be Qin Miao defending against Verstappen for five laps, allowing Hamilton to pull away and leaving this headache for him and his strategy team? Instead of Qin Miao defending against Hamilton for five laps, letting Verstappen pull away, causing trouble for Mercedes?
But this was just an unrealistic thought Horner quickly discarded, as he refocused on the current situation on the track.
In the subsequent race, the camera no longer focused on the top three drivers.
Qin Miao’s race returned to his familiar winter testing rhythm.
Ultimately, Red Bull decided not to make any moves, letting Verstappen attempt to chase Hamilton.
On lap 34, Hamilton pitted, and at this point, Verstappen was over 7 seconds away from Hamilton, but his pace was also dwindling, and he was likely to pit for new tires soon.
However, Hamilton’s hard tires still had enough grip, but Mercedes preemptively predicted Red Bull’s strategy, pitting earlier than expected.
You want to climb over the wall? I’ll just raise the wall for you.
Besides, pitting Hamilton at this moment not only avoided lapping slower cars ahead but also provided a clean airspace for better lap times.
Seeing Mercedes’ move, Red Bull’s strategy team was genuinely frustrated, with many strategy staff almost having a mental breakdown from all the calculations.
If Qin Miao were in Red Bull’s strategy team, he might have thrown in the towel by now, thinking, are you here to race or play "The Art of War"? How can you have so many tricks up your sleeve?
At this point, Qin Miao was just about 5 seconds ahead of Hamilton.
Verstappen’s current set of medium tires had run for 16 laps, but still had enough grip, with pace not much different from Hamilton’s new hard tires.
By lap 39, Hamilton was within a second behind Qin Miao.
Qin Miao reciprocated Hamilton’s earlier gesture. When he was faster, Hamilton didn’t block him, and now that Hamilton was faster, Qin Miao didn’t wait for Toto’s instructions and yielded the racing line to Hamilton.
He let Hamilton overtake with DRS.
Seeing this, commentator Bing remarked, "At the start of the race, Hamilton gave room to Qin Miao, and now Qin Miao is returning the favor by blocking for him and then letting him pass.
If Hamilton doesn’t treat Qin Miao to a good meal after this race, it just wouldn’t be right."
ps. I haven’t calculated the extra updates recently. I’ll count the extra updates for recent votes and rewards after paying off these 27 Chapters.