At this mont, Toto had already stood up from his seat, hands poised to celebrate, and the expression on his face made it clear he was in a very good mood.
The last two rcedes cars crossed the finish line of the Catalonia circuit, one after the other, with fireworks bursting alongside the cars across the track.
These fireworks were both for the race’s champion, Hamilton, and for Qin Miao, who snatched second place from Verstappen.
This race concluded with a one-two finish for rcedes, which was a complete victory for the team.
After the two cars crossed the line, Toto raised his hands high and shouted along with the rest of the rcedes staff, and then began to nod and clap vigorously for the performance of the two drivers today.
After focusing on Toto, the live cara shifted to the two rcedes drivers.
At this ti, Hamilton also slowed down his car’s pace to align with Qin Miao’s car, and the two began a parade lap together.
anwhile, they didn’t forget to wave and greet the few spectators present at the scene.
During this process, both were naturally communicating with the race engineers on the team radio.
"Hahaha, well done Qin Miao, your performance today was absolutely fantastic!" Frankie did not hold back his praise at this mont.
It’s not that Frankie didn’t say such things before; it’s just that when Qin Miao was in F2, winning championships in every race beca routine and pressure-free, and congratulatory words from Frankie were already said so much that Qin Miao got tired of hearing them.
But F1 is obviously different, with a terrifying increase in preparation requirents, race difficulty, and opponent quality.
Even though the final ranking was only one place ahead of expectations, Qin Miao went through countless challenges and obstacles, so both Qin Miao and Frankie, and their team mbers, knew how hard-earned this second place was.
"Thank you, whew, this race was really tough and thrilling, but thankfully we got through it. I appreciate the car you prepared for , it was very comfortable to drive, well-tuned, thank you..."
But just as Qin Miao finished speaking, an unexpected incident happened on the track.
Qin Miao’s car suffered a tire blowout; the right rear tire, which collided with Verstappen, suddenly burst with a pop.
Though there weren’t any flying debris, the entire rim of the right rear tire was exposed, and the tattered tire casing was flung about by the rim.
In fact, Qin Miao had felt that his right rear tire wasn’t in a good state before the blowout.
This feeling ca about around the ti he crossed the finish line. At the ti, Qin Miao didn’t pay much attention, thinking the race was about to end, and even if there was an issue, it wouldn’t be too big to make it back to the pit.
But in reality, the tire couldn’t hold up until Qin Miao reached the pit.
When everyone saw Qin Miao’s tire blowout while he was on his cool-down lap, both the three comntators in China and the rcedes staff felt a jolt of panic.
But realizing the race had already ended, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
They were sowhat grateful the tire blew after the race; if it had happened with two laps to go...
The thought of that scenario gave everyone shivers, not daring to imagine further...
Upon realizing his tire blew out, Qin Miao quickly retracted his hand and controlled his car, reducing speed.
In reality, an F1 car can still run on three tires; after all, Hamilton managed to win in Britain last year after a blowout.
But since the race had ended, the team quickly asked after noticing Qin Miao’s tire had blown: "Qin Miao, are you okay? Are there any other problems with the car?"
Once Qin Miao stabilized the car, he replied, "No other issues, just the rear tire blew, probably caused by that collision with Verstappen."
Frankie said, "Okay, Qin Miao, you don’t need to bring the car back. Driving it back might damage the car’s floor and rear suspension, so find a place to park the car and take the safety car back."
Although rcedes is wealthy, an F1 car’s floor is not cheap, starting at 800,000 US dollars, not to ntion the rear suspension. Forcing Qin Miao to drive the car back could damage these parts, leading to losses potentially exceeding 1 million US dollars.
Qin Miao had no objection to the team’s instructions, "Okay, received."
Fortunately, Qin Miao and Hamilton had just reached Turn 3, so the way back to the pit wasn’t too far.
So under the waving yellow flag from Matthew on site, Qin Miao parked his car at the right side of the track after exiting Turn 3.
On one hand, this location wasn’t on the racing line of cars exiting the corner, so it was unlikely to be hit by other cars; on the other hand, there was a marshal access point nearby, making it easier for the marshals to handle the car.
However, just as Qin Miao got out of the car and was about to wait by the track’s grass for the safety car, Hamilton’s car stopped in front of Qin Miao’s car.
Qin Miao was montarily unsure of what Hamilton was up to, but since Hamilton stopped right in front of him, Qin Miao curiously walked over.
When Qin Miao opened his helt visor and approached, he heard Hamilton’s sowhat muffled voice: "Are you okay?"
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