How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

During the time Qin Miao was in the pit, Perez was already accelerating hard, but, unfortunately, the time gap remained quite large, and the Mercedes tire change did not fail.

Meanwhile, everyone in the Red Bull team was hoping for Qin Miao to make a mistake on the track.

But, as it happened, the Mercedes tire change not only avoided any errors but was executed in two seconds, a speed Red Bull itself might not frequently achieve.

There it was, Qin Miao leading; completely unbeatable now.

On the track, after leading for two laps, Qin Miao’s lap time was revealed.

Just 0.3 seconds faster than Perez’s lap.

Meanwhile, Qin Miao’s lap time matched Verstappen’s.

This was actually not good news.

Because it showed that Red Bull’s car was still a super machine, with its 25-lap old hard tires on par with Qin Miao.

If it switched to medium tires, it was hard to imagine how much faster its lap time would be compared to Qin Miao.

The race rhythm on the track gradually settled into calm, with top drivers all running their pace without major position changes.

However, the drivers in the back were locked in intense battles, especially in contesting points positions.

After all, this season, the performance gap between teams was significant.

It’s fair to say the top ten spots were dominated by five teams with competitive cars; teams like Lynk & Co, Alfa Romeo, Williams, and McLaren found it quite difficult to score points in today’s race.

Seeking points naturally leads to fiercer battles.

After a period of relatively calm racing, as the race entered lap 39, Verstappen finally pitted to change tires.

During this time, Red Bull anticipated a red flag or safety car on the track.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Unfortunately, Red Bull did not get what it hoped for.

In the end, they followed their planned timeline to pit Verstappen.

At this time, the gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao closed slightly, with the time difference shrinking to 15 seconds.

Under the premise of flawless tire change, Verstappen would come out of the pit 5.5 seconds behind Qin Miao.

Compared to Mercedes technicians who serviced Qin Miao’s tire change,

Red Bull’s technicians bore the most pressure since the final baton was handed to them.

Though Verstappen’s position on the track wasn’t entirely contingent on their tire change, it was closely related.

If their tire change was as perfect as Mercedes’s tire change for Qin Miao, the gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao would further close, possibly coming out of the pit 4.1 seconds behind Qin Miao.

This would save Verstappen more pursuit time.

But if the tire change failed, even with a new set of soft tires that could run the remaining 18 laps, Verstappen would likely not catch up to Qin Miao.

Unfortunately for domestic viewers who felt disappointed, Red Bull’s tire change had no errors.

Though not as dazzling as the Mercedes tire change, 2.2 seconds for a tire change is an excellent 80-point performance.

To perform like this under pressure demonstrates Red Bull’s prowess.

When Verstappen reentered the track, he was 5.2 seconds behind Qin Miao.

Of course, that was just the prelude to today’s race; the competition viewers truly awaited hadn’t started yet.

As time passed, after two laps post-pit, reaching lap 41, Verstappen completed an effective lap on the track, with the lap time difference between him and Qin Miao revealed.

Verstappen’s lap was a full 0.8 seconds faster than Qin Miao’s.

Adding the 0.4 seconds gained from the lap leaving the pit, the time gap was now only 4 seconds.

Even the Mercedes strategy team wasn’t alone in astonishment; even Qin Miao himself was bewildered and startled by Verstappen’s pursuit speed—how could Pan be so fast?

But Qin Miao was just somewhat surprised, as what actually troubled other drivers about Qin Miao was not his lap speed but his tire preservation and defensive abilities.

Qin Miao was confident that even if Verstappen reached within DRS range behind him, he could lock Verstappen on the track, just as he did when entering F1.

Then, he would wear out the opponent’s tires until their speed wasn’t as fast as his.

On the other side, in the Red Bull team TR, Verstappen’s race engineer reminded him: "Max, maintain the current pace; we anticipate catching Qin Miao in 4 laps."

Notably, at this point, Verstappen was still running in a normal long-distance mode; if he pushed fully, he should be able to gain a second per lap on Qin Miao.

But this pace wouldn’t sustain for long, probably slowing down after 2-3 laps.

Countless lessons taught Red Bull that if too many tires were consumed in catching Qin Miao, the wear on the tires could be the very reason you couldn’t surpass Qin Miao once you were behind him.