How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

He knew that Qin Miao would make a move on him sooner or later, so Verstappen on the track wasn’t in a rush to overtake Magelsen in front of him. Instead, he intentionally controlled the distance between himself and Magelsen in the corners, so that he could catch Magelsen’s slipstream on the straights to fend off Qin Miao, who was ridiculously fast.

However, as the third lap ended and the DRS was activated, Verstappen found it hard to keep up with Magelsen.

It’s not that Magelsen was too fast, but rather too slow.

After all, the Haas car wasn’t a Williams; it couldn’t compare to teams like Red Bull and Mercedes that had a clear aerodynamic advantage in terms of straight-line speed.

With DRS activated, Verstappen’s Red Bull had a top speed 35 kilometers per hour faster than the Haas.

Even if Verstappen was 0.9 seconds behind Magelsen entering the DRS zone, the extremely long DRS zone on the Interlagos track allowed Verstappen to complete the overtake on Magelsen.

It’s not that Magelsen didn’t want to help Verstappen on the track. He also wanted to stay in the lead for a while longer. After all, apart from the likes of Qin Miao, Verstappen, Hamilton, and Leclerc, drivers from mid-lower tier teams rarely got the chance to lead the entire race. But the Haas car’s straight-line speed was too slow, and he couldn’t even defend against trailing cars like Williams’ Albon.

So on the 4th lap, Verstappen overtook Magelsen.

And on the 5th lap, Qin Miao also overtook Magelsen on the main straight’s DRS.

For Verstappen with medium tires, overtaking Magelsen was no pressure. So for Qin Miao, who was on soft tires, it was even easier. Qin Miao even had a high chance of overtaking Magelsen in the T8, T9, T10 corners.

But considering the points and car safety after the race, Qin Miao waited until the DRS zone to make his move.

Following this, Hamilton and the other drivers were also ruthless in overtaking Magelsen.

However, their overtaking positions were similar to Qin Miao’s, completing the overtaking on Magelsen more securely in the DRS zone.

After all, overtaking Magelsen wasn’t a difficult task for them, so there was no need to take risks just to overtake Magelsen.

After completing the overtake on Magelsen, Qin Miao gradually caught up with Pan’s pace.

Given today’s race was planned with tomorrow in mind, Verstappen was on medium tires.

So, without Magelsen’s interference, Qin Miao easily caught up with Verstappen.

However, Verstappen on the track was very eager to defend against Qin Miao.

It’s not hard to guess why Verstappen’s defense was so determined; it was nothing but a desire for the world championship.

Actually, Qin Miao could easily overtake Verstappen since his tires had a definite speed advantage.

But Qin Miao also considered his own world championship.

If he didn’t overtake Verstappen in today’s race and finished in second place, the point gap between him and Verstappen would only decrease from 40 to 39. The overall impact would be minimal.

But if there was a mistake in attacking Verstappen, causing him to retire or damage the car,

the points lost could be much more than just one point.

Of course, Qin Miao could try to overtake Verstappen on the track. Since Verstappen was on medium tires today, if Qin Miao overtook him, the trailing Hamilton and Leclerc on soft tires would likely attempt to attack Verstappen too.

Perhaps in their eyes, the only problem with this sprint race was that the race distance wasn’t long enough, with not enough laps to overtake Verstappen.

Initially, Qin Miao intended to play it safe, but he also encountered the same issue Verstappen faced when overtaking Magelsen: his car was much faster than the one in front.

Once in the DRS zone, Qin Miao’s straight-line speed was a full 20 kilometers per hour faster than Verstappen’s.

This was partly because Qin Miao had Verstappen’s slipstream and partly due to his tire advantage.

And with the gap between him and Verstappen being short, once they entered the main straight’s DRS zone, Qin Miao found a great opportunity to attack Verstappen.

Qin Miao had been a bit hesitant to take risks before clinching the championship, not because he’d lost his nerve over one world championship,

so when an opportunity presented itself, Qin Miao didn’t hesitate and decisively moved to Verstappen’s outside line.

Verstappen, who had always kept an eye on Qin Miao, relaxed slightly upon seeing Qin Miao on his outside line, as he had deliberately allowed Qin Miao this angle.

If Qin Miao wanted to forcibly cut into his inside line, Verstappen would feel more pressure.

Because Interlagos’ T1 is a left turn into a series of corners, whoever takes the inside line at T1 has a greater advantage whether on the offense or defense than those on the outside.

But this time, Qin Miao attacked only because he was fast enough, with such a significant advantage that he took the initiative to make his move.