Chapter 317: Chapter 162: Safety Car (Part 2)
There’s no choice but to swallow this silent loss.
At this point, some people might be wondering, since Qin Miao just briefly slowed the car while being in second, why is it said that Verstappen lost out?
This brings us to F1’s heated tires. These tires only have sufficient grip when operating at the right temperature.
The FIA rules dictate that the F1 start only commences once all cars are in their starting grid positions.
There is at least a 30-second gap from when the pole position driver stops in their grid position to when the last driver does.
This 30-second timeframe is enough for the tires to cool significantly.
The team instructed Qin Miao and Hamilton to slow down to ensure they stopped in their grid positions later than Verstappen, giving their tires better grip than Verstappen’s.
However, unexpectedly, right after they finished this small crafty move and parked in their grid positions, news came through the TR of Red Bull’s No. 2 driver Perez stopping between T12 and T13.
Although Perez eventually restarted his car, since he stopped on the track during the starting preparation phase, he was penalized to start from the pit lane.
And the warm-up lap had to be run again.
After all, Perez took some time to restart his car, during which all the cars’ tires had cooled significantly.
Soon, Perez returned to the pit exit, while Qin Miao and the others completed another warm-up lap.
Upon returning, since Verstappen was already prepared for it, Qin Miao and Hamilton didn’t employ the earlier little tactic.
During the warm-up lap, they warmed their tires normally to ensure they were at optimum working temperature for the starting straight.
When Qin Miao parked his car in the grid, his car’s nose was slightly aligned toward the outside line of T1, which meant it was angled slightly to the left.
This was because Qin Miao’s side was the dirty side, where grip wasn’t as good as Hamilton and Verstappen’s side, so Qin Miao intended to quickly steer to the other side after starting.
Pre-adjusting his car’s angle could also ensure that Qin Miao wouldn’t need to adjust his steering during the start and wouldn’t worry about losing traction.
After parking his car in the grid, he waited for about half a minute before the other drivers gradually parked their cars in the grid.
Soon, the starting lights came on.
Qin Miao adjusted his car’s gear to neutral, then pressed 1/5 of the throttle, maintaining the engine at around 11,000 RPM, while his right hand rested on the clutch button on his steering wheel, pre-loading it slightly.
Mercedes’ clutch button had a special design with two-stage press travel, much like a gun trigger.
The first stage was the pre-start state, which could be pressed normally, but once pressed to a certain extent, some resistance was felt — this was the second stage. A bit more pressure, and the car would start.
The force setting was exquisite, making accidental touches unlikely, but the reaction speed after pressing was quick.
A $350,000 steering wheel, with the primary funding spent on adapting to the driver’s hand shape, was mainly invested in these little thoughtful designs making it more comfortable for racers to use.
Soon, all five red lights illuminated.
Qin Miao gripped the steering wheel firmly, his eyes locked onto the five red lights through his visor.
The five red lights went out; the race began.
As the red lights extinguished, Qin Miao pressed the clutch button on his steering wheel. The clutch and engine gears instantly engaged, and powerful traction immediately ran through the clutch, transmitting to Qin Miao’s rear wheels.
The rear wheels then spun at the edge of the ground’s extreme grip, propelling the car forward rapidly.
In that instant, Qin Miao’s body endured a thrust of 2.4 Gs.
After completing these maneuvers, Qin Miao instinctively deepened the throttle while glancing at Verstappen on his left and activating the ERS overtake mode on his car.
"The five red lights are out! The 2021 F1 Grand Prix has begun!"
"Hamilton’s start was spectacular, immediately going wheel-to-wheel with his teammate Qin Miao right after the start!"
"But the upcoming T1 is a right turn, can Qin Miao hold the inside line and keep his position?"
On the track, Qin Miao knew right after the start that his launch was average — not great, but not terrible either.
Moreover, today’s wind was an east wind, blowing with quite some speed, directly against the starting straight.
This meant both Qin Miao and Verstappen faced more resistance during the start compared to those behind them, so their starting speed wasn’t very fast.
After entering T1, due to the track’s width and Qin Miao’s firm hold on the inside line, Hamilton gave up this offensive to have a faster exit speed in T2.
"Entering T1, Hamilton gives up this attack. Qin Miao temporarily holds his position."
"Although Qin Miao’s start wasn’t as good as Hamilton’s, he held his position with good defense and positioning. So far, the starting and race order of the top four drivers hasn’t changed."
A few seconds later, Verstappen approached T4, ready to enter the corner, with Qin Miao and Hamilton closely following.
At this moment, at the back of the pack, suddenly a cloud of dust rose.
In the director’s footage, a white figure suddenly shot out from the car pack.
"Crash! It looks like there’s been a serious crash!"
"I see it. Is it a white car? Is it Haas or the little Red Bull?"
As the commentators exclaimed, the race displayed a yellow flag.
But currently, only a yellow flag was shown for the first sector, so the race continued.
All Qin Miao could do was to try to keep up with Verstappen’s pace ahead, maintaining a gap of less than a second to prevent him from pulling away.
Meanwhile, Hamilton behind Qin Miao felt challenged as Leclerc in fourth had approached him, looking poised to attack.
However, after defending and facing two attacks from Leclerc, Hamilton finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Due to the recent crash, the race changed the yellow flag to a safety car.
Qin Miao barely chased for half a lap before having to stop.
Slowing down and trailing behind Verstappen, Qin Miao curiously asked on the TR, "What happened?"
Frankie promptly replied, "Mazepin just ran off the track..."
Since Qin Miao rose to F1 in the same season as Mazepin, he concernedly asked, "Did he crash with someone?"
"Don’t know, the race officials are still investigating. I’ll update you as soon as there’s a result."
A moment later, while Qin Miao was sauntering left and right, he received a reply from Frankie through the TR, "Mazepin made a mistake at T3 and ran off the track."
After being stunned for a moment, Qin Miao realized that Frankie meant Mazepin made a personal mistake and went off track.
Thinking of this, Qin Miao unconsciously said, "6."
"What?"
"Nothing."
Once Qin Miao finished speaking, he realized his TR was still on.
As luck would have it, during the safety car period, there wasn’t much the broadcaster could show the audience.
It was usually just the team’s TR or the cars snaking left and right to heat their tires.
Qin Miao’s segment was rather interesting, so the director aired it.
At first, Qin Miao was speaking in English, so the three Five-Star Sports commentators quietly waited for Qin Miao’s team TR to end, curious about what Qin Miao would say to his crew members.
Until Qin Miao’s last word in Chinese, "6," came out, all three commentators couldn’t help but laugh.
After the laugh, Zhou Haoran explained, "The gist is that Qin Miao asked the team why the yellow flag was shown, the team said it was because Mazepin had an accident, then Qin Miao asked if Mazepin crashed with someone. The team said he made a personal mistake. I think I don’t need to translate Qin Miao’s last response..."