Even the entire Ferrari team noticed something was amiss.
In Sainz’s first Grand Prix after joining Ferrari, he only managed to finish eighth. Although his position matched his qualifying result, the problem isn’t performing poorly; it’s when someone else performs better than you.
The Ferrari rebel Qin Miao achieved P2 in the qualifying stage of his very first F1 Grand Prix.
Although he finished third in the actual race, one position down from his qualifying, no one can deny the terrifying talent and incredible defensive abilities this young Chinese driver displayed in motorsport.
Then comparing Mercedes drivers with Ferrari drivers...
Ferrari got criticized even more fiercely.
And now, Sainz, looking at Qin Miao, couldn’t even muster a bit of disdain in his heart. Who would dare to look down on a driver with twice the points you have?
However, because his own performance wasn’t as good as his teammate Leclerc, nor as good as the newcomer Qin Miao, Sainz also faced considerable public pressure.
But all this was irrelevant to this race.
After Qin Miao confirmed he couldn’t catch up with Hamilton and Sainz behind posed no threat, he also started long-distance cruising mode.
After Verstappen exited the pit, he fell to sixth place, right behind Norris. With new medium tires, he would definitely pit again later, just not sure which tires he would use.
On lap twenty-two, the pit window opened and Sainz was the first to enter the pit to change tires.
Ferrari kept it straightforward; total time was 2.2 seconds, and the pit lane time was 25 seconds.
Upon seeing the changes in position, Qin Miao, always staying within five seconds behind Hamilton, curiously asked in TR: "How’s my tire wear looking?"
Frankie responded: "Tire condition is better than expected, but we suggest you protect your tires as much as possible. We’re studying the feasibility of Plan C."
There actually wasn’t a Plan C; it was just another code name. To Qin Miao, an internal member of the Mercedes team, Frankie’s words roughly meant: "Run conservatively, don’t worry about Verstappen undercutting you, we’re looking into a one-stop yellow-red strategy."
Qin Miao was a bit surprised, were his tire conditions really that good today?
"Copy that." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel•fire.net
The race continued, and after the pit window opened, drivers started to pit one after another.
However, those in the leading group did not choose to pit. Notably, as the tires wore out, the time gap between Hamilton and Qin Miao, originally widened to five seconds, was slowly shortening.
By lap 34, the gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton decreased to 3.6 seconds and kept reducing.
Meanwhile, Qin Miao’s driving style hadn’t changed, maintaining ERS charge around 50%, ready to handle sudden situations at any time.
Behind him, Perez had already been distanced by 16 seconds and posed no threat to the two Mercedes drivers.
On lap 37, Hamilton eventually chose to pit for new tires due to tire wear.
Qin Miao naturally took the lead.
On the track, Qin Miao found the long-lost pure joy of driving he felt during his time in F2.
And in a short period, Qin Miao once again entered the ethereal state of Man and Car Unity.
He drove on the track in the way that was most comfortable for him.
Automatically, after entering this state, Qin Miao’s speed significantly increased, and with a set of medium tires that had been used for 38 laps, he clocked the fastest lap.
Just as everyone in Mercedes thought Qin Miao might once again have a shot at the championship throne in this race, on lap 40, Qin Miao felt a noticeable jolt when entering the third sector.
After this jolt, the car lost power, and speed began to decrease markedly.
Even though the engine was still running, Qin Miao pressing the accelerator would get a response, and there were no abnormal engine RPM readings, the engine power couldn’t transfer to the tires.
After losing power, Qin Miao’s car naturally went into coaster mode, and he immediately questioned in the team TR: "Damn! No power on the engine? No power, what happened? Frankie, what’s going on?"
Upon hearing Qin Miao’s TR, the team immediately started checking the data on Qin Miao’s car.
Frankie quickly replied: "It should be a mechanical failure, we’re sorry Qin Miao, we might have to retire."
Although at the first sign of trouble, Qin Miao roughly guessed the specific issue with his car.
But knowing about his own System Skills, Qin Miao was reluctant to believe his car would let him down on the track, especially since he felt nothing unusual sitting in the car before the race started, and he applied buffs to the car before the race began.
There shouldn’t be any issues!
But Frankie’s words were like a cold bucket of water, pouring directly over Qin Miao’s head, making him shiver all over.
At this moment, the broadcaster also noticed the oddity with Qin Miao’s car and aimed the live camera at its position.