CHAPTER 533: CHAPTER 231: 51G (6K, BONUS UPDATE 13/19)_4

It’s worth mentioning that when exiting T4, Hamilton deliberately took a wider line. This means that on the straight after T5, Hamilton naturally had a faster exit speed than Verstappen, plus he had Verstappen’s slipstream advantage.

Clearly, after being blocked by Verstappen for a full 17 laps in yesterday’s sprint race, Hamilton realized that if he didn’t overtake Verstappen during the race, running behind would be extremely frustrating.

Therefore, as soon as the race started, Hamilton gave it his all, aiming to win it in one decisive move.

Verstappen naturally wasn’t willing to let Hamilton benefit from his slipstream.

So just as Hamilton got close, Verstappen changed lanes to hold the inside line, and at this moment, Hamilton was just on Verstappen’s outside, making his plan to draw in a big slipstream and move to the inside completely blocked by Verstappen.

Hamilton could only go all out with Mercedes’ unparalleled straight-line speed in the paddock to try to overtake Verstappen before entering T6.

But if he didn’t pass Verstappen before entering T6, given the nature of this long left turn, Verstappen would definitely squeeze Hamilton off the track.

In the end, although before entering T6, Hamilton managed to get his left rear wheel aligned with Verstappen’s left front wheel, and although Hamilton tried his best to squeeze Verstappen’s entry space and angle towards the inside.

Yet after entering the corner, Verstappen relied on Red Bull’s terrifying cornering speed in medium to high-speed curves to forcibly extricate himself from this huge disadvantage.

At this point, Qin Miao didn’t even have the spectator perspective.

Because after the start and throughout the entire first sector, Qin Miao had already opened up a gap of over 1.3 seconds behind him.

Just as Hamilton and Verstappen were entering T6, Qin Miao was already out of T7 and preparing to accelerate.

In the subsequent T6, T7, and T8 corners, Hamilton again relied on Mercedes’ powerful and terrifying straight-line speed to stick to Verstappen’s slipstream.

Then on the long straight between T8 and T9, Hamilton directly took Verstappen’s slipstream and began rapidly closing the gap.

During this process, Verstappen even made a defensive move like painting a dragon, but Mercedes’ car was too fast in straights, so even though blocked by Red Bull a bit, before lifting off for the corner, Hamilton was still side by side with Verstappen and held the inside line for this high-speed corner T9.

At this moment, both cars had reached a speed of around 310 kilometers per hour, extremely fast, and were both entering the corner.

Both cars were in a balanced state, with the numerous power units pressing over 2 tons of downforce onto the F1 cars.

During the cornering process, Hamilton took the middle line of the track, not cutting into the apex of the inside line.

After all, if he goes wide, Verstappen’s entry line couldn’t be too good, and he might not only have to lift off but even tap the brakes during exit and cornering.

This would allow Hamilton to overtake Verstappen before the end of the first lap, avenging the sprint race grudge.

Then he could pursue his teammate Qin Miao in the subsequent race.

However, Verstappen did not lay off the throttle or brake as Hamilton expected. Like Hamilton, Verstappen just lifted off briefly, then re-accelerated after the apex.

And as in the two previous wheel-to-wheel battles at the start of this race, Verstappen still chose not to yield.

Perhaps due to his character, or perhaps the two previous duels before this race made Verstappen feel Hamilton wasn’t as determined this time.

In any case, to the shock of all spectators, Verstappen’s right rear wheel and Hamilton’s left front wheel had a slight scrape.