Chapter 1238 - 466: An Unhappy Victory
Of course, also because Qin Miao’s maneuver caught Hamilton by surprise, Hamilton continued to brake late into the corner, giving Qin Miao an opportunity to brake early and slip into the inside line.
And just like that, Qin Miao changed lanes while braking, letting Hamilton pass before forcefully inserting himself into Hamilton’s inside line.
But even though Qin Miao forced his way in, he lost quite a bit of time by braking early. When both of them entered T12 side by side, Qin Miao was still behind Hamilton, who also had the right of way.
However, the Old Man still left Qin Miao some space for exiting the turn.
It’s not that Hamilton was being magnanimous; he could remain calm when facing Qin Miao’s attack, and even had the temperament to leave more room for Qin Miao on the exit.
It’s simply because if Hamilton defended too aggressively against Qin Miao, he worried Qin Miao might just crash into him, which could result in damage to both cars.
From Hamilton’s perspective, whether Qin Miao’s car gets damaged doesn’t matter, but it would be bad news if his own car got damaged.
As Toto said, this season the Mercedes team can’t afford the loss from major car accidents.
If there is damage and it’s quite serious, the team has no budget left this season to make new spare parts for you.
If the W13B can’t be driven because of damage, then Hamilton or Qin Miao would have to go back to using the W13, which Hamilton wishes he could burn with fire.
Plus, since T13 is a right-hand corner, even if Qin Miao got the inside line at T12 and exited side by side with him, his advantageous position at T13 would allow him to reclaim the position.
In that case, his Grand Prix victory would be secure.
Thus, Hamilton appeared quite lenient towards Qin Miao’s attack line and his forceful insertion into the inside line.
This is the composure of a seven-time champion.
And Qin Miao is aware of this, but he has to try. His car’s ERS suddenly malfunctioned. He wouldn’t choose to attack at a point where success seems unlikely and could disrupt his attack rhythm unless he was out of options. If he doesn’t act now, the United States Grand Prix victory would truly have nothing to do with him.
So, after slipping through Hamilton’s gap, Qin Miao began to exit the corner, while Hamilton blocked Qin Miao’s inside line.
The two then approached T13 one after the other; Qin Miao on the outside braked late, and Hamilton on the inside also braked late.
Hamilton exited the corner normally, while Qin Miao went for the switchback, but unfortunately, the straight between T13 and T14 is even shorter than the stretch between T13 and T12. Even with the switchback, Qin Miao didn’t have enough distance to allow his car to fully accelerate.
Ultimately, Qin Miao didn’t manage to break through Hamilton’s defense, returning the position to Hamilton before T14.
The other staff members of the Mercedes team naturally saw this scene, but the atmosphere within the team was rather peculiar; some people looked dejected, while others wanted to laugh but dared not do so loudly.
Toto was also standing with his arms crossed, deep in thought.
Another one-two finish further proved to all the earlier doubters of Mercedes’ strength and the team’s competitive resurgence.
However, Toto still had concerns in his heart.
Would the hard-won harmonious relationship between the two drivers revert to last season’s state, where they wouldn’t even speak to each other after such a race confrontation?
Although the poor relationship between the two drivers doesn’t greatly affect the team’s overall results, from Toto’s personal perspective, he surely prefers to see a more harmonious relationship between the two Mercedes drivers on the track.
Meanwhile, at Five-Star Sports, the three commentators sighed helplessly while watching.
Taking a deep breath, as Apple CEO Cook waved the checkered flag, Hamilton and Qin Miao crossed the finish line one after the other. Fei commented, "It’s a pity that Qin Miao fell just short of overtaking Hamilton in the final DRS zone of today’s race, missing a chance for a triple crown, but we still have to congratulate Hamilton on winning the United States Grand Prix."
"Meanwhile, Qin Miao’s performance in this race wasn’t poor either; he at least further widened the point gap between him and Verstappen on the driver’s leaderboard."
"And if it weren’t for Mercedes’ tire change blunder, the victory in this race should have been Qin Miao’s too."
"We can only say that today’s United States Grand Prix is somewhat regretful and unfortunate for Qin Miao."
On the track, after Hamilton and Qin Miao crossed the finish line one after another, the Mercedes team’s paddock was naturally filled with laughter and cheer, and Hamilton also celebrated with his track engineer through the team radio. From Hamilton’s voice, you could even hear a slight choke from the seven-time champion.
After all, having been overshadowed by a teammate for a year and having no form throughout this year, finally having a race to prove himself, anyone with normal emotion would find it hard to contain their excitement.
And as for Qin Miao: "P2, Qin Miao, we finished today’s race at P2, a good run."
Actually, Qin Miao wanted to directly tell Frankie that if it weren’t for his car’s ERS malfunctioning, today’s race victory should have been his.