At this mont, an option was presented to the rcedes team strategy staff, with Verstappen behind Qin Miao having pitted, should Qin Miao pit as well?
They only had one lap to consider this issue and make a decision before Qin Miao pitted the next lap.
The good news is that Qin Miao, due to the ti advantage created before pitting, faced the choice more calmly, whether it be for the rcedes team or Qin Miao himself.
After all, even if he pits, Qin Miao would still have a ti advantage over Verstappen once he cos out.
The rcedes team actually leaned more towards having Qin Miao pit for a tire change.
Despite Qin Miao's current tires being in good condition, with the most worn right front tire just starting to show signs of the tread being smoothed out, the team still felt it would be safer for Qin Miao to pit for a tire change.
However, Qin Miao, being the driver, sotis feels the car's handling better than the team's judgnt, so the team consulted Qin Miao's intention.
"Do you want to co in?"
Qin Miao felt he could finish the race directly, but he truly wasn't sure whether he should pit.
So Qin Miao spoke honestly: "If the regulations don't require pitting once during rainy conditions, I feel I could finish the race on these tires.
But if you want to pit now, I won't refuse."
Frankie, upon hearing Qin Miao's words, knew Qin Miao wanted them to help him make the decision, so Frankie quickly had a brief conversation with the team strategy staff, received their response, and then said over the team TR: "Okay, BOX, pit next lap."
"Okay."
On lap 38, Qin Miao chose to pit, swapping for brand new interdiate tires.
After coming out, Qin Miao was positioned behind Leclerc and ahead of Verstappen.
After all, Qin Miao and Verstappen pitted one after another, and no matter how extraordinary Verstappen was, he couldn't catch up the 5-second gap to Qin Miao in a single out lap.
Perez helped Verstappen block Hamilton behind him, also aiding Qin Miao.
But Red Bull had to act because Verstappen was too slow today.
After Qin Miao ca out, he was 6 seconds behind Leclerc ahead and 4.5 seconds ahead of Verstappen behind, in a relatively comfortable position.
Now Qin Miao needed to study whether Leclerc ahead of him would choose to pit, and if Leclerc wanted to finish the race on his current interdiate tires, how Qin Miao could overtake him.
Qin Miao had guaranteed lap ti speed in rainy conditions, but his overtaking ability was indeed diocre, and he didn't dare to guarantee he could definitely overtake Leclerc ahead.
Of course, with twenty laps remaining until the end of the race, if Leclerc really didn't pit, Qin Miao still had plenty of ti and opportunities to attempt overtaking Leclerc.
It's worth ntioning that in the sa lap Qin Miao pitted, Vettel also chose to pit.
However, unlike other drivers who pitted for interdiate tires, Vettel changed to slick tires after pitting.
So it was foreseeable that as Vettel ca out of the pit lane, he began to slide all over.
Despite several corners on the track having developed racing lines, contrary to the Martin Team's expectations, although there were racing lines on the track, using slick tires resulted in Vettel's car sliding with no grip at all on the racing line.
Of course, for the Martin Team, this was just a gamble.
But they lost the gamble.
However, the failed gamble by the Martin Team sounded the alarm for all other teams that the current track conditions did not allow them to use slick tires.
Many teams, like the Martin Team, upon seeing the obvious racing lines on the track and wanting to have their drivers pit for slick tires, quickly dismissed their unrealistic thoughts.
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