Today’s race originally had 57 laps, but because Perez stopped on the track during the warm-up lap, there was an extra warm-up lap, which counted towards the race lap total. So the race only had 56 laps, and just then a safety car was deployed, taking up another 3 laps, leaving only 53 laps for the actual race.
On lap 3, in T10, the safety car’s lights went out, signaling that it would enter the pit lane at the end of the lap.
Qin Miao also started to work on warming up the tires, but after T12 decided to focus on closing the gap to Verstappen.
Because after T13 there was always the possibility that Verstappen would accelerate and restart the race.
The director switched the live broadcast cara to Qin Miao’s onboard cara, as he was in second place and had the best vantage point at the restart.
Qin Miao kept his car in third gear, eyes fixed on the Red Bull ahead, waiting for Verstappen to sprint.
To concentrate fully, Qin Miao even avoided swaying the car to warm the tires because, based on his own defense experience, accelerating during the opponent’s tire warming was key to a good start.
Verstappen ahead of Qin Miao was also warming up his tires while watching the rearview mirrors, aiming to catch Qin Miao’s timing. But Verstappen was surprised that the rookie in his first F1 season was so experienced, not giving him any clear opening.
Since that was the case, Verstappen could only continue to hold back, as long as he started before the finish line it would be fine.
Qin Miao’s approach maximized his reaction ti at the restart but caused his tires to cool, reducing grip.
Faced with these choices, there was generally no right or wrong; it depended on the driver’s judgnt at the ti.
As for Old Man behind Qin Miao, he was much more relaxed, warming his tires like Verstappen.
Additionally, Old Man frequently accelerated hard and then braked sharply, heating up his brake discs.
This was another thod of warming up the tires, transferring heat from the brake discs to the tires, albeit with lower efficiency than swaying but less tire wear.
Everyone was patient; Qin Miao didn’t sway, so Verstappen didn’t accelerate.
This situation continued until Verstappen was about 50 ters from the starting straight.
Suddenly, Qin Miao noticed the car ahead pulling away, with the Honda engine of the Red Bull roaring loudly.
Qin Miao’s body reacted faster than his mind, slamming the throttle to three-quarters from a slight press.
But Qin Miao’s tires were too cold; had they been five degrees warr, his start would have been perfect, but that was not the case.
Because the tires were too cold, Qin Miao’s throttle input was slightly excessive, causing two rotations of wheelspin at the rear.
Don’t be fooled; with F1 engines, two rotations of wheelspin hardly takes 0.1 seconds, yet this 0.1-second loss of grip is a significant mistake.
On track, Verstappen started pulling away from Qin Miao as soon as the race restarted, and Old Man behind Qin Miao was visibly closing the gap, completing maneuvers to draw level side-by-side before T1.
"Verstappen has started!"
"Qin Miao’s start wasn’t great; Hamilton is already side by side with him, and Leclerc behind them is raring to go."
Before T1, Qin Miao realized Hamilton was already side by side, and his car’s nose was well ahead.
Qin Miao considered letting him go since Leclerc was close behind, and if he tussled with Hamilton, Leclerc would have an opportunity to pounce.
Such a decision, causing friends pain and enemies joy, Qin Miao wouldn’t make such a move before there was any bad blood with Hamilton.
Thus, entering T1, Qin Miao left enough space for Hamilton, with both rcedes cars going side by side into the corner, effectively blocking all of Leclerc’s lines behind.
However, because both rcedes were side by side, they didn’t have the optimal line exiting the corner, so after T1 and out of T2, Verstappen at the front had already pulled a 0.3-second gap.
Sitting in the pit wall, Toto frowned at this scene.
"No, this cannot continue."
Toto turned to look at Qin Miao’s race engineer, Frankie.
Even though Toto didn’t say anything, Frankie knew what he ant from Toto’s words and gaze.
No matter what, in this year’s first opening race, the two rcedes drivers must not show any signs of infighting otherwise, Toto would issue team orders.
But on the track far away, Qin Miao seed to sense Toto’s thoughts. After exiting T3, seeing that Hamilton matched his exit speed and didn’t give any space, Qin Miao eased off the throttle slightly.
The following is T4, a high-speed heavy braking right-hander. Hamilton was on Qin Miao’s right, but despite the adjustnts, without DRS, Qin Miao’s speed was about 7 km/h faster than Hamilton’s. Still, the straight wasn’t long enough to open a sufficient gap.
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