CHAPTER 560: CHAPTER 243: THE CHASE

At that moment, Russell felt a sense of being NTR’d.

Clearly, he was here first!

And previously, Russell had never found an opportunity to duel with Qin Miao.

After all, strictly speaking, the gap between the cars driven by Russell and Qin Miao was too large, making it very difficult for the two to have a chance to compete.

But now, due to the chaos at the start, Russell finally found his opportunity.

Today, no matter what, Russell couldn’t allow Qin Miao to overtake him so easily.

If possible, Russell didn’t even mind a bit of racing contact while defending against Qin Miao.

However, what Russell didn’t expect was that by the 18th lap, when Qin Miao was 0.4 seconds behind him in the DRS zone, he was completely overtaken by Qin Miao before the braking point at T1 with absolute speed advantage from the DRS.

On the contrary, Russell’s attempt to block the inside line looked like he was voluntarily giving up the position to Qin Miao.

Seeing this, many domestic fans felt for a moment that Russell was someone who understood the situation, and their affection for Russell increased significantly.

...

On the same lap after passing Russell, Hamilton also overtook Mick Schumacher in front of him.

At this time, Verstappen, who was in tenth place, clearly couldn’t catch up with Ricardo in ninth place, and if nothing unexpected happened, after Hamilton caught up, Verstappen would drop to eleventh.

In this way, Red Bull’s original plan to have Verstappen score a few points might be in vain.

Just not sure if Red Bull would choose to retire Verstappen after realizing they couldn’t score points.

Meanwhile, after overtaking Russell, Qin Miao began to pursue Alonso ahead, but truth be told, after Qin Miao had been pushing his tires to the limit for several laps earlier, the tire wear was getting high and the temperature was also a bit high.

Far beyond Qin Miao’s pre-race test average, now Qin Miao’s tire grip wasn’t much different from Alonso’s.

Though confident Qin Miao was in overtaking Alonso ahead, it would certainly be difficult.

So Qin Miao asked on TR: "If I pit, where will I come back out? Is there a clear space?"

Frankie, who had been helping Qin Miao calculate the gaps after saying fifty, immediately answered when Qin Miao asked: "If you pit now, you would come out about 4 seconds ahead of Kimi, with more than 12 seconds of clear air ahead."

Hearing this, Qin Miao already had a plan in mind.

Continue to push the tires and try to take down Alonso before pitting.

However, on Alonso, Qin Miao again felt like punching cotton, a feeling reminiscent of when he was up against Kimi.

And now Qin Miao’s skills were on cooldown, unable to throw a skill at Alonso, so he just had to wait for the right time to pit.

As the 19th lap approached the pit entrance, Qin Miao received a notification from Frankie: "Push hard!"

Qin Miao didn’t respond, and after pushing hard for a lap, chose to pit on the 20th lap.

However, what Qin Miao didn’t expect was that as he entered the pit lane and was approaching the team’s tire change area, out of the corner of his eye in the rearview mirror, he saw another Mercedes turning in from the pit entrance behind him.

Qin Miao was taken aback, was Hamilton also choosing to pit at this time?

Like him, Hamilton should also have a long stretch of clear air after pitting.

"Mercedes is going for a double pit strategy?" Bing was surprised upon seeing both Mercedes enter the pit.

Fei didn’t find Mercedes’ actions questionable: "It’s quite normal, Qin Miao and Hamilton both find overtaking difficult, so undercutting becomes their best option.

And their positions are spaced out enough to not affect each other’s pit stop speed."

Zhou Haoran also nodded, but said: "Qin Miao has opted for a new set of hard tires. Considering Qin Miao’s tire management skills, he should be looking to finish the race on this set like Kimi just after his penalty."

Bing curiously asked: "And Hamilton?"

"Hamilton is also on hard tires," Zhou Haoran replied: "But Hamilton’s tire management isn’t as strong as Qin Miao’s, so Hamilton might still have to pit again, whereas Qin Miao will certainly finish the race on this set."

Skillfully, Qin Miao parked his car at the tire change spot, and with the sound of pneumatic wrenches, four brand new tires were fitted onto Qin Miao’s car.

As Qin Miao drove out after the tire change, the bottom right corner showed a time of 2.6 seconds.

This result is decent for mid-to-lower teams but for a championship-contending team like Mercedes or Red Bull, it’s just average.

As Qin Miao had left for just three seconds, Hamilton also arrived, and during this time, Mercedes had already prepared spare tires for Hamilton, executing a seamless tire change as soon as the Old Man stopped.

After Hamilton’s tire change and exit, the bottom right corner showed a time of 2.1 seconds.

Seeing this difference, the expressions of the three commentators from Five-Star Sports were complex.

Some more radical domestic fans began cursing outright.