Although the segment of the TR seemed like it was just instructing Qin Miao to speed up, in reality, the team hoped Qin Miao could attack Verstappen during Hamilton’s pit stop, providing a more favorable condition for Hamilton’s undercut.
The original strategy set for Qin Miao by the team was a standard red and white single stop, then steadily completing the entire race.
However, Qin Miao’s current performance was unexpectedly good, a lot faster than predicted, so the team’s strategy group decided to increase the intensity for Qin Miao.
Initially running with tire conservation over a long distance, Qin Miao, although puzzled, began to accelerate after receiving the team’s instructions.
By lap 14, Qin Miao had erased the 0.9-second gap between him and Verstappen, entering Verstappen’s DRS zone.
Of course, this sudden burst came at a cost; Qin Miao’s ERS energy was completely depleted, and his tire wear per lap equalled four laps of normal driving.
Nevertheless, from now on, Qin Miao also had to start pressuring Verstappen. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs NoveI~Fire.net
By lap 16, calculations indicated that Hamilton, after pitting earlier, had overtaken his teammate Qin Miao, and in the broadcast’s prediction, Hamilton was already 0.5 seconds behind Verstappen, and Hamilton still had a speed advantage over Verstappen. If this state continued, Hamilton would complete the undercut on Verstappen.
Not to mention, Qin Miao was now 0.7 seconds behind Verstappen, and the two had started a battle of offense and defense.
However, most of Qin Miao’s attacks were probing ones; they were threatening, but with normal defense, it wasn’t too difficult to hold him off.
But as long as there was defense, Verstappen couldn’t take the normal racing line, and not taking the normal racing line would undoubtedly slow Verstappen down.
Once Hamilton undercuts Verstappen, the gap between the two cars would widen.
In lap 16, Verstappen once again defended against Qin Miao by blocking the inside line and late braking into the T1 corner, squeezing Qin Miao’s line. However, after this defense, Verstappen asked in his team’s TR, "What should I do? Has he stopped? Why does his soft tire still have grip?"
While the broadcast showed the entanglement between Qin Miao and Verstappen, there was also an estimation at the bottom of the screen of how much gap there would be between Verstappen and Hamilton after Verstappen’s pit stop.
At this time, the data showed that after Verstappen pitted, he would fall two seconds behind Hamilton, meaning Hamilton had already completed the undercut on Verstappen.
Soon, the TR from the Red Bull team said, "OK, Max, hold on, we are studying, try to defend."
Upon hearing the Red Bull TR, the three commentators joked, "Mercedes indeed increased their aggression this year with a new driver; a soft tire for 16 laps can still chase a 16-lap old medium tire, forcing Verstappen to ask his team what to do."
Fei curiously asked, "Is Qin Miao the first driver to force Verstappen to ask his team what to do?"
Zhou Haoran answered, "Indeed, he is the first."
By lap 18, Qin Miao received instructions from his team’s TR: "box, box."
Even though he knew he needed to pit this lap, Qin Miao did not give up the pressure on Verstappen, even going side by side with Verstappen into the T10 and T11 DRS zones. However, no matter how well Qin Miao conserved tires, with nearly twenty laps of wear and not saving tires while chasing Verstappen, his tire wear had reached 50%, leaving little grip left.
Finally, after T13, Qin Miao entered the pit lane, while Verstappen breathed a sigh of relief.
Damn, are today’s new drivers all this fierce? With the 66 car number covered, I almost thought it was Hamilton pressuring me from behind.