CHAPTER 193: CHAPTER 123: LIKE CHOPPING VEGETABLES

"Did you get it?!"

Although Ticktum knew Qin Miao was strong, he really didn’t want to give up his position so easily.

So he made a defensive line change towards the inside.

Line changes in defense are allowed during the race, but you can’t snake.

This means that during defense, you can only make one line change, not multiple.

And when Ticktum changed lines, Qin Miao had already pulled out, making it impossible for him to switch to the inside when the opponent moved to the outside, forcing Qin Miao to head towards the dirty side of the track.

The so-called dirty side is actually a part of the track where race cars don’t often pass by. These areas have a lot of rubber marbles accumulated due to fewer cars going there during the race.

The car would bump a bit when driving over, and these bumps would affect the smoothness of engine power output to some extent, naturally reducing the speed of the car and decreasing grip.

But at this point, it was only the second lap of the race, so there weren’t many rubber marbles on the dirty side, and Qin Miao’s speed didn’t drop much.

Fortunately, the opponent only temporarily forced Qin Miao to the outside line, and didn’t actually push Qin Miao off the track.

F2’s penalties are quite strict, and if Ticktum really forced Qin Miao off, a five-second time penalty was very likely.

Moreover, Qin Miao’s tires were better than his, relatively faster, so before he could make any further moves, Qin Miao had already completed the overtake before entering T1.

However, because Qin Miao was forced to the outside line, his angle entering T1 wasn’t very good, having no choice but to brake early into the corner.

Even though the overtake was still completed, the three cars ahead had already pulled away by at least one second.

Nonetheless, Qin Miao’s performance left no room for criticism; in just one lap from the start, he jumped from eighth to fourth, gaining four positions in one lap.

This overtaking efficiency gave a sense that Qin Miao was driving a Mercedes while everyone else was driving an Alfa Romeo.

But Qin Miao had just started chasing the three cars in front, and as he entered T3, the race committee showed a yellow flag, which quickly turned into a safety car.

The scene shifted to a plume of white smoke at the T1 exit; upon closer inspection, it was a pink Force India car with an engine fire at the back. Although the engine’s auto extinguishing system activated, it was clear the car couldn’t make it back to Matthew’s pit entry on its own, so the race officials deployed the safety car.

The deployment of the safety car was definitely good news for Qin Miao because he wouldn’t have to continue chasing the three cars in front. Within the safety car queue, he could easily catch up to them.

Also, the wear on Qin Miao’s soft tires over these laps would be reduced. Initially, Qin Miao was worried that overtaking those drivers would cause the tire degradation to exceed his expectations, but now with the safety car out, Qin Miao had no such concerns.

From the second lap to the fourth lap, the safety car’s top lights turned off, indicating it was about to pit.

But less than half a minute after the safety car lights went off, a yellow flag appeared on the track again. DAMS team driver Gelael, following the safety car, went off track, and the broadcast didn’t show how he went off.

Qin Miao noticed the safety car lights turned off and was ready for another surge, but soon the lights on top of the car were on again.

Helplessly, Qin Miao followed the safety car for another lap.

At the end of the fifth lap, the safety car lights went off again, and the race was about to restart.

Unlike Qin Miao, who was confident and strong, Drogovich, positioned first, intentionally slowed the pace after the safety car withdrew.

Then he started accelerating on the straight leading into T9.

At this point, Qin Miao didn’t do anything in particular, just ran a normal lap.

Qin Miao at this time had essentially saved tires for three laps, and he no longer felt any urgency.

Qin Miao knew that with his strength and the set of soft tires on his car, chasing from eighth to first was not a problem; it was just that once in first place, tire wear might exceed his control.

No matter how he conserved tires, there was still a high chance they’d be insufficient in the last few laps.

That’s why Qin Miao rushed so aggressively in the previous lap to quickly complete his overtakes and take the lead to start conserving tires.

The longer he stayed behind, the more wear his tires would take.

But now things were different; with the safety car out, Qin Miao’s tires could last at least three more laps on the track, and he wouldn’t have to worry about the tires running out over the full race distance.

Thus, during this period, Qin Miao remained calm, waiting for the safety car to pit and DRS to be enabled.

Once DRS was enabled, Qin Miao didn’t even need to push too hard; under normal driving conditions, he could easily overtake the three in front using DRS and the acceleration advantage of the soft tires.

During laps six and seven, Qin Miao became relaxed, not attacking Alessi who was ahead. Instead, keeping a 0.4-second gap from Alessi’s car, exerting pressure on him.

Alessi at this point couldn’t help but feel infuriated because he couldn’t maintain a good lap time anymore.

Qin Miao, with a dominating performance in yesterday’s race, had proven his abilities in tire management and long-distance races to everyone in F2.

Today, with a stunning display of overtaking four cars in two laps, he once again demonstrated his offensive capabilities to everyone.