Chapter 1212: Chapter 458: Who Is the Real Number One Driver at Mercedes?
This attack failed. Qin Miao did not expect Hamilton to resist so fiercely. Although he left enough room on the outside line for himself and didn’t push him out, in essence, it was still a deadlock.
This failed attack naturally affected Qin Miao’s cornering rhythm.
Comparing Hamilton’s original position, Qin Miao now has a 0.2-second speed loss.
"Qin Miao! It’s really a pity that this attack failed. Hamilton kept blocking Qin Miao’s inside line and didn’t give him any good overtaking opportunities," Fei explained regretfully as Qin Miao attacked.
After T1 and T2 come several corners of the Suzuka Circuit, T3, T4, T5, T6, and T7, which do not offer any overtaking opportunities.
However, these corners allow Qin Miao, with his tire advantage over Hamilton, to quickly close the time gap between them.
While Qin Miao was silently executing his strategy.
On the other side, Hamilton began to feel his palms sweat a little.
The air temperature at today’s Japan Grand Prix was only 20 degrees Celsius. After the rain, the air temperature on the track was only 14-18 degrees Celsius.
Even though the driver’s monocoque would get warmer from the engine’s heat radiation, it would only increase by about 30 degrees Celsius.
This is a very comfortable temperature for drivers, yet even in such comfort, Hamilton was sweating...
Of course, Hamilton thought Qin Miao’s speed was so fast because he used his incomprehensible tire conservation skill to close the time gap with him.
Hamilton still held some hope, knowing as any driver would, that Qin Miao’s current driving style was extremely taxing on the tires.
It was unlikely Qin Miao could maintain this driving style until the end of the race.
Clearly, Hamilton guessed correctly, but only half of it.
In the following corners T8, T9, and T10, Qin Miao likewise did not find a good opportunity.
However, within these corners, Qin Miao managed to get within 0.5 seconds behind Hamilton. With such a small time gap, Qin Miao could put maximum pressure on Hamilton and react quickly if Hamilton made forced errors.
The next corner, the T11 hairpin, was where Qin Miao launched his second probing attack.
Hamilton took the outside line there, while Qin Miao was ready to forcefully slip into the inside line.
Since the "Princess" retired, it’s rare to see scenes of in-team battling between Mercedes drivers on the track. After Rosberg left, Mercedes didn’t pair Hamilton with aggressive second drivers but rather with Bottas, who neither has the ambition nor ability to covet Hamilton’s position.
But things are different now.
So, the live broadcast camera never left the two Mercedes drivers.
"Qin Miao found another opportunity, let’s see if this attack will be effective," Bing and the others rallied their spirits.
After all, they were getting on in years, and the Japan Grand Prix, despite being scheduled at a civilized hour, had kept the three commentators in their seats for over three hours. Zhou Haoran was okay, but the other two veterans were really feeling the strain.
"Alright, Hamilton enters on the outside. Qin Miao on the inside, is there a chance?"
"Oh, Qin Miao’s braking position is a bit too far forward and he slightly overshoots, Hamilton takes the crossover line, and Qin Miao’s attack fails again."
"But judging from Qin Miao’s two attacks, Qin Miao’s tires have a significant speed advantage over Hamilton’s right now. The race isn’t over, and Qin Miao still has opportunities!"
Actually, before launching this attack, Qin Miao knew the chances of failure were high.
After all, the best time gap for attacking on the inside of this hairpin is about 0.2 seconds from Hamilton.
At that moment, Qin Miao was a bit too far from Hamilton.
This attack was part of Qin Miao’s strategy to wear down Hamilton’s tires and increase the pressure on Hamilton.
After this attack, Hamilton’s pressure level rose to 44%.
Throughout the entire second timing segment, Qin Miao didn’t find an opportunity to attack Hamilton ahead.
In fact, there aren’t any overtaking points in the entire second timing segment.
The T16 in the third timing segment is considered a good overtaking point, at least for Qin Miao, but Hamilton guarded the middle line, giving Qin Miao no inside late braking chance.
As this lap concluded, there were 2 minutes left until the end of the race.
At the current race pace, there should be three laps remaining before the race ends.
On the third-to-last lap, Qin Miao did not attempt to attack Hamilton again. He stayed obediently behind Hamilton, charging his car’s battery.
But in reality, Qin Miao’s lap speed was on par with Hamilton’s at this point. So even while charging, Hamilton didn’t know and was constantly monitoring Qin Miao’s car position.
On the second-to-last lap, Qin Miao still showed no signs of moving at the best overtaking point T1. Qin Miao’s MGU-K and MGU-H components today were all old. The charging efficiency was a bit slow, and by the end of the lap, Qin Miao’s car battery had only charged to 40%. Although this level is quite substantial, it doesn’t have the power to deliver a knockout blow.
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