Chapter 1267 - 476: "Old Man’s Toy
After finishing the brief team TR, Qin Miao’s heart was still a bit stirred, and for a moment, Qin Miao didn’t know what to say.
Is this what a home game feels like...
He could only silently give thanks in his heart.
After this, the race had little to do with Qin Miao.
Because once Qin Miao took the lead, Verstappen knew he couldn’t catch up with Qin Miao, so he focused his attention on defending against Hamilton, trying to ensure he didn’t fall further behind.
But the advantage of soft tires over medium tires was so significant that Hamilton eventually overtook Verstappen on lap 10.
However, because of Verstappen’s defense, after Hamilton overtook Verstappen, there was already a 3-second gap between him and the leading Qin Miao.
And before this, there was a very interesting scene on the track.
Stroll, while defending against his teammate Vettel’s attack, forced Vettel onto the grass.
This obviously dangerous driving style did indeed defend against his teammate Vettel, but he inevitably received a 10-second penalty.
Vettel was emotionally stable about this, simply saying in the team TR: "OK..."
After all, with just one race left before his retirement, Vettel was more focused on enjoying the race.
To put it bluntly, Vettel had lost his original competitive spirit and could remain somewhat indifferent to his teammate’s driving style.
There weren’t so many emotional fluctuations.
Strictly speaking, Stroll’s mindset in the paddock is different from the other drivers’.
Most drivers are somewhat competing for their position in the paddock, but Stroll has the power of money.
As long as he wants, he can always have a place in F1’s paddock.
In the F1 paddock, everyone has a sense of crisis, to varying degrees, except for Stroll.
After all, the entire Aston Martin team belongs to his family.
So the young master’s mindset is different from other drivers; he is very relaxed, enjoying F1.
But at the same time, the young master is also very arrogant.
When dealing with drivers from other teams, the young master thinks if he can’t compete, so be it, given this season’s Aston Martin car performance isn’t great.
But when facing his teammate, the four-time champion who is retiring at the end of this season, the young master’s inherent arrogance is revealed.
You’re just a worker, you’ll retire soon, so why attack me at this point?
Old man, can’t you just stay behind me quietly?
Of course, this is just speculation; no one really knows what the young master was thinking at the time.
Next, the race regained its calm.
Qin Miao cruised at the front, and behind him, Hamilton, after naturally overtaking Verstappen, began attempting to attack his teammate Qin Miao.
Initially, Hamilton could indeed significantly shorten the gap between himself and Qin Miao, but as time went on, Qin Miao’s tire conservation advantage became apparent, and Hamilton’s speed gradually couldn’t match his teammate.
So in the later stages of the race, Qin Miao gradually widened the gap with Hamilton.
The sprint race finally ended.
Qin Miao won the sprint race and claimed eight points.
While Verstappen only finished third in this race, earning only six points.
After this race, the points gap between Qin Miao and Verstappen expanded to 42 points.
After the race, when Qin Miao parked the car at the pit lane entrance to celebrate with the team staff, Zhou Haoran held his data, explaining to the audience in the live stream: "After earning these eight points, if Qin Miao finishes above fifth in tomorrow’s main race, he can secure his second world championship title in advance, once again breaking all records for China and even all of Asia!"
"Despite creating countless historical records since entering F1, looking back at the achievements Qin Miao has made along this path is still deeply moving, especially considering how terrible the domestic racing training system is." Watching Qin Miao and the Mercedes team’s staff celebrate so calmly after winning the sprint race, Bing also said with great emotion.
Of course, a lot of interesting things happened on the track after the race ended.
First, Alonso gave his teammate O’Kang a last-lap kill.
Even though Alonso took down O’Kang, he didn’t earn any points for this race, but at least it was a breath of fresh air for him over his teammate O’Kang.
Moreover, after all the cars returned to the pit area and were waiting for inspection, O’Kang’s car caught fire.
In the post-race interview phase, Vettel shared this good news with his old buddy.
Getting this good news, Alonso had a satisfied smile on his face.
Compared to the normal post-race ceremony, Qin Miao’s podium celebration after the sprint race was greatly simplified.
The three winning drivers didn’t go on stage to receive their awards; instead, they went to the side of the track, completed a post-race interview, and then stepped onto a carpet marked with 1, 2, and 3, receiving medals on the carpet.
Although the medals are clearly not as prestigious as trophies, they won’t casually show off in front of guests at home like trophies do.