Chapter 1271 - 477: Equally Lacking in Skill
And Ricardo...
Let’s just say he made a mistake, and luck was not on his side.
Putting aside the cause of this accident, after all, it wasn’t really related to Qin Miao.
In terms of the results of this accident, it was beneficial for Qin Miao.
Because this accident triggered the safety car, and under the guidance of the safety car, the wear on Qin Miao’s soft tires could be effectively reduced. Although Qin Miao would still pit at the calculated team point for a tire change, this process allowed him to slightly increase his tire consumption.
Due to the need to clear two cars and the considerable debris left on the track after the collision, the safety car period lasted for 6 laps, and the race only restarted on the 7th lap.
Soon, the race resumed.
Because the following car rules were changed, after the safety car restart, drivers couldn’t really take the opportunity to attack the cars in front.
At that time, Verstappen had quite a few complaints about the rule modification.
After the restart, Qin Miao and Hamilton naturally started cruising, while Verstappen behind them followed closely, always ready to seize an opportunity to attack.
But Qin Miao wasn’t going to give Verstappen that kind of opportunity.
Seeing that at T1, Verstappen was about to launch an attack on Hamilton, but Hamilton wasn’t made of clay either, he precisely blocked the inside line and braked late.
In fact, when Verstappen entered T1, he had already drawn parallel with Hamilton, but Hamilton took advantage of the inside line to brake late, and during the transition from T1 to T2, he overtook again.
Verstappen actually still wanted to use his inside line advantage to attempt an attack in T2.
But as Verstappen glanced sideways at Hamilton beside him during the race, he also noticed ahead, the red-edged Qin Miao’s Mercedes at the flip flop’s edge.
Ultimately, Verstappen gave up the chance to attack Qin Miao.
The race was still long, but Verstappen knew that if he didn’t give up this attack, there would be a risk of colliding with Hamilton, and today’s main rival wasn’t Hamilton, but Qin Miao in front of Hamilton.
If there was a collision and no car damage, fine, but should there be any damage, or say both his and Hamilton’s cars lost control, then today’s chances of winning the race would no longer be associated with Verstappen.
Verstappen would naturally miss all the opportunities to crown as the 2022 world champion, and Verstappen didn’t want to easily give up this hard-earned opportunity.
So Verstappen chose patience.
And after the drivers in front controlled their emotions, a small clash occurred among the drivers behind.
At T6, Norris, on the inside line, went over the curb, causing his car to understeer, and his left front wheel hit Leclerc’s left rear wheel on the outside line.
After losing control and spinning, Leclerc spun two times before directly crashing into the trackside wall. This impact was actually severe; during the collision, Leclerc’s car’s rear wheels even lifted off the ground.
Just when everyone thought there might be a safety car, Leclerc amazingly restarted his car and returned to the track.
When the broadcast camera cut to Leclerc, it only showed Leclerc’s car had lost its entire front wing, leaving just a nose cone. However, the four suspensions and other internal systems were undamaged and could still drive on the track.
No one expected that Ferrari’s craftsmanship could one day reach the strength level of Mercedes.
Of course, although Leclerc didn’t retire due to this accident, the damaged front wing meant Leclerc had to pit for repairs.
After exiting the pit lane, Leclerc would definitely drop to the back of the pack.
And without a doubt, Norris was fully responsible for this accident, receiving a 5-second penalty from the race officials and a 2-point deduction on his Super License.
It’s not the maximum penalty, but it’s not light either.
Also, since Leclerc’s accident didn’t trigger a safety car, the race wasn’t affected, and Leclerc entered the pit for a new front wing on the second lap.
After exiting the pits, Leclerc dropped to the back in eighteenth position.
At this point, Leclerc was only 42.7 seconds behind Qin Miao.
The time difference between him and his rival for the third place in the 2022 driver standings, Perez, was 38 seconds.
Clearly, after this race, Leclerc was very likely to lose his third place in the driver standings.
Subsequently, Qin Miao returned to his most comfortable race state, consistently maintaining a time gap of less than a second with Hamilton, on one hand stabilizing Hamilton, continuously feeding him the hot airstream expelled by his car, and on the other hand utilizing Hamilton to hold back Verstappen behind him, preventing Verstappen from finding an opportunity to overtake Hamilton.
Consequently, a DRS train quickly formed with the leading group at the front of the track.
Only, this train had just three cars: Qin Miao, Hamilton, and Verstappen.
Sainz, in third place, was dropped out of the DRS zone by the tenth lap and was now being troubled by Perez, and judging by the form Perez was showing, Sainz wouldn’t hold out for long.