Chapter 324: Chapter 164: Master of Defense
After two laps of battling, the gap between Hamilton and Qin Miao had reached 10 seconds, and it seemed likely to continue increasing.
Verstappen was beginning to grow impatient.
Although the wear rate between the medium and hard tires in Bahrain wasn’t vastly different, it wasn’t non-existent either. As time went on, Verstappen’s speed would continue to decrease, and the longer it took him to overtake Qin Miao, the smaller the chance of catching up to and overtaking Hamilton became.
After defending against Verstappen for two laps, Qin Miao had already figured out some of Verstappen’s attacking habits, giving him confidence for the third lap of defense.
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In the Mercedes pit, Toto, who had been full of worry, looked at Qin Miao’s data in front of him, with his mouth almost stretching from ear to ear.
Every now and then, he would chat a bit with Qin Miao’s race engineer, Frankie.
At this moment, Frankie was also full of surprise, as he had never seen Qin Miao’s defensive capabilities even during F2.
This was mainly because no one in F2 could force Qin Miao to showcase his defensive talents; being 0.5 seconds faster per lap than other drivers is no joke.
Now, it was also the first time Qin Miao displayed his defensive skills to the world.
Only now did the audience realize that Qin Miao’s greatest strength wasn’t his tire management, but his defensive ability.
Amateurs watch the excitement, experts see the essence.
To the average viewers, they only saw that Qin Miao held off Verstappen for two laps.
But those truly professional could see that Qin Miao was defending against Verstappen with ease.
This could be seen from Qin Miao’s defensive maneuvers.
Upon close observation, you’d notice that Qin Miao never needed to counter-steer for minor adjustments after accelerating out of corners.
From this alone, it was clear that while Qin Miao was under pressure, it wasn’t overwhelming, and his operations remained stable, without any deformation.
"I had already tried to overestimate Qin Miao as much as possible, but seeing his performance on the track now, I realize I still underestimated him." This was what Toto said after seeing Qin Miao effortlessly defend against Verstappen, who was averaging 1 second faster than him, in the third lap.
Qin Miao continued holding off Verstappen for a total of five laps.
Until lap 27, when Verstappen, using two laps of conserving, fully charged the battery of his car, and with the help of T1’s tailwind and DRS, plus using all the battery power, accelerated his car to a terrifying 340 km/h, forcefully overtaking Qin Miao three-quarters down the straight.
Qin Miao actually planned to defend against Verstappen, but seeing Verstappen’s closing speed, Qin Miao knew that against Verstappen’s terrifying top speed, no matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t hold off this attack.
So Qin Miao, contrary to his previous habit of fiercely defending Verstappen’s line, directly held his racing line steady, allowing Verstappen to pass by him.
Qin Miao’s staunch defense against Verstappen for five laps was considered as having completed the task given by the team, and no one could find fault with Qin Miao.
During those five laps, Hamilton had pulled a 17-second gap.
"... This time, it couldn’t be held," Fei said with a bit of sentiment as he watched Qin Miao being overtaken. "But, I must say, Qin Miao’s defensive ability is indeed quite strong."
Bing responded: "Indeed, Qin Miao’s defensive skill surprised everyone. The recent comparison given shows that Verstappen’s lap times were actually faster than Qin Miao’s, and Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit is relatively easier for overtaking. Yet, in such unfavorable conditions, he managed to defend against Verstappen for five laps."
"Qin Miao’s defensive performance has indeed given us all a surprise. I believe Mercedes will be very pleased after this race, and based on the strength Qin Miao has shown, his position in F1 is pretty much secured. Unless a better driver appears, it’s unlikely Mercedes will let Qin Miao go," Zhou Haoran added.
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On the track, Verstappen had just freed himself from Qin Miao’s defense. Despite the large time gap between himself and Hamilton ahead, Verstappen began to push forward with full effort.
And Qin Miao, having completed his task, and with the recent battle consuming quite a bit of his tires and fuel, now aimed to run long distances with a conservative tire strategy.
As for behind Qin Miao...
The fastest runner, Norris, was 25 seconds behind Qin Miao. Honestly speaking, they found looking at Qin Miao at this point was more daunting than Verstappen looking at Hamilton ahead.
After the tussle between Qin Miao and Verstappen ended, the broadcast, for the amusement of the crowd, switched the camera to the Ferrari command post.
The camera revealed Ferrari team principal Binotto’s distinctive poofy hair.
At this moment, Binotto was wearing a mask, making it hard for people to see his expression, though it was undoubtedly not a good one.
Though Qin Miao never publicly talked about why he left Ferrari to join Mercedes, there were insiders who knew. Now, everyone in the Iron Buddha Temple knew that Qin Miao left Ferrari because he wasn’t getting a drive.
Now, with the broadcast cutting to this scene, everyone in the know shared a knowing smile.
[Camera language]
[The director can’t speak, but he used camera work to show us a little joke]