CHAPTER 556: CHAPTER 242: THE FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIX OF THE WORLD

Frankie replied: "Roger that, pit this lap. But if you want to chase more positions, soft tires might be a good choice.

With your tire management ability, soft tires should last a few more laps on the track."

Qin Miao considered the track’s characteristics, it was difficult to overtake, and soft tires wouldn’t last long. If too much time was wasted behind another driver, the race would basically be ruined, so he shook his head and said, "Just go with the medium tires, I still have a new set."

"Roger."

Just after Qin Miao finished talking with the team, Hamilton, who was in first place, was approaching the pit entry.

It’s unclear how Hamilton communicated with his race engineer, but upon reaching the pit entry, Hamilton did not choose to pit.

Other drivers, however, as Russell had mentioned earlier, all felt that they could pit for slick tires right after the out lap.

Therefore, viewers could see that apart from Hamilton, who drove past the pit entry without entering, all the drivers behind him, including Qin Miao, entered the pit.

The camera then switched to the grid position, and the spectators both at the venue and in front of their TVs saw a stunning image of the century.

Under normal circumstances, the grid would be filled, but now there were only two cars, one stationed at pole position with intermediate tires from Mercedes, and far behind it, a red Mercedes medical car.

Honestly, when Qin Miao watched the replay after returning home post-race, he genuinely felt a sense of bitter loneliness in this scene.

It’s hard to say what Hamilton was feeling when he realized that after lining up his car, all the drivers behind him, including his teammate, had pitted, leaving only himself on the starting grid.

But this iconic moment and the chaos during the start were enough to etch this race into F1 history.

A single race, two iconic scenes. As a participant in one of them, Qin Miao’s sense of involvement was fully heightened.

Soon, the five red lights went out, signaling the start of the race, and Hamilton alone took off from the grid.

Without a comparison, it was impossible to see the gap, so whether Hamilton’s start showed signs of being less than optimal due to the circumstances remained unknown.

Meanwhile, the other drivers began to leave the pits.

It is worth mentioning that because the Williams pit is positioned at the exit, after Russell changed his tires, the pit lane at the track exit was too congested for him to cut in.

This clever guy didn’t choose to wait at the spot where he finished changing his tires until the traffic cleared before merging; instead, he went down the outside of the pit lane and ended up alongside O’Kang.

When Hamilton started, Russell’s start speed was evidently faster than O’Kang’s.

So when the positioning appeared on the left, Russell, this clever guy, jumped from eighth to second.

Honestly, after hearing Russell’s maneuver through the team radio, Qin Miao couldn’t help but wonder why Mercedes wasn’t last in the constructor standings last season. If Mercedes had been last, he would’ve had the opportunity.

But quickly, Frankie calmly stated: "This guy will have to give that position back sooner or later."

Hearing this, Qin Miao felt balanced inside.

We’ll leave the chit-chat here for now.

During the pit stop and tire change, Russell moved forward six positions.

His teammate Latifi didn’t have Russell’s courage, but since Williams’ position was advantageous in this situation, he honestly chose to cut in, advancing two positions to fifth.

Qin Miao did not exploit this small advantage when released and, due to Mercedes’ pit entry position, couldn’t even if he wanted to. Thus, he was squeezed from eleventh to twelfth, with Ricardo moving into tenth.

The chaos during the start and the position changes were no less dramatic than the collisions during the starting phase.

Although Hamilton pulled a significant gap from the cars behind after the start, the time spent pitting during the race was different from that at the beginning.

Moreover, in this part of the track, Hamilton’s intermediate tire speed couldn’t match that of the cars behind with slick tires.

The difference between the two types of tires was at least two seconds per lap.

The commentators frantically discussed where Hamilton would drop after pitting.

They didn’t even notice that their priority, Qin Miao, overtook Mick in T2.

So they say, eat, sleep, overtake Mick.

This overtaking maneuver was quite unassuming.

When passing T2, Qin Miao pressured Mick on the inside and showed signs of braking late after pulling out.

Mick didn’t seem to know what he was thinking and didn’t defend when he saw Qin Miao opting for the inside attack line; instead, he moved to the outside to prepare for a wider line, attempting to cross back and overtake Qin Miao.

Seeing Mick’s move, Qin Miao slowly formed a question mark in his mind.

T2 is indeed a hairpin, and in this scenario, trying to rely on a crossover line to regain position on the subsequent straight isn’t impossible.