Originally, thanks to the opportunity given by Leclerc, when Qin Miao overtook Leclerc, he imdiately inherited the less than 2-second ti gap between Leclerc and Norris.
When Verstappen overtook Norris, it affected Norris's driving rhythm to so extent. Exiting T7, his speed wasn't fast, and Qin Miao took advantage of this opportunity.
This was only the 14th lap, yet Qin Miao had already gained 7 positions.
On average, that's one position every two laps.
The chase speed was as terrifying as ever.
Many dostic fans burst into cheers and celebration upon witnessing this scene. Although it was night in their country, many excitedly ran to the window to shout and vent their excitent after seeing Qin Miao's overtaking maneuver.
The complaints and warm regards these fans received are not ntioned here.
After reaching fifth place, Qin Miao wasn't sure what Verstappen's specific thoughts were, but he knew that Hamilton was definitely under maximum pressure at this mont.
Two more positions, just two more, and Hamilton would be out of the running for this season's driver's championship.
And Hamilton's problems didn't end there. Apart from needing to win this race, he also had to fend off attacks from Verstappen behind him.
Thus, the lap after Verstappen pitted, on the 15th lap, Hamilton also chose to pit.
The reason for Hamilton's pit stop was easy to guess: to mirror Red Bull's strategy. As long as I'm using the sa strategy as you, Verstappen, you can't beat tactically.
Anyway, I have such an advantage here that the ti spent pitting is negligible.
After Hamilton, like Verstappen, switched to hard tires, he ca out in second, behind Perez and ahead of Sainz.
And at this ti, the ti gap between Hamilton and Verstappen was still 5 seconds.
This ant that the lap Verstappen did after switching to hard tires wasn't faster than Hamilton's, and was even significantly slower.
However, at this point, everyone's attention was focused on Hamilton and Verstappen. Very few noticed that there was another Red Bull driver, Perez, 10 seconds ahead of Hamilton.
The race continued, and due to tire degradation, Qin Miao's speed slowed considerably. At this ti, he could only barely follow behind Verstappen, and unless Verstappen made a mistake, Qin Miao clearly could not find an opportunity to attack in the short term.
At lap 16, drivers using soft tires began pitting one after another.
This ti fra was the pit window for two-stop drivers.
By lap 17, after fully charging his car's battery and bringing his tires to an optimal temperature, Perez deliberately slowed down to let Hamilton catch up.
In the sa lap, Verstappen completed an overtaking maneuver on Sainz. Despite so minor setbacks and a strong resistance from Sainz, the huge performance gap between Red Bull and Ferrari ant Sainz could only watch helplessly as Verstappen, with DRS, pulled away.
By lap 19, Hamilton was 1.11 seconds behind Perez.
Initially, there was a 10-second gap between Perez and Hamilton, but after Perez slowed down, Hamilton caught up to him in just two laps.
Hamilton understood that such a fast closing rate on Perez was improbable unless Perez's car had blown an engine, or the tires had drastically degraded past their cliff point.
But neither of these seed likely. If Perez's engine had blown, he should retire imdiately instead of continuing to race on the track.
As for the tire cliff issue, it was simpler: if Perez's tires had hit the cliff, he would have pitted on the previous lap rather than staying on track and forcing it.
Thus, Perez's slowdown could only an one thing: he was intentionally slowing down to help Verstappen by holding up Hamilton.
However, Hamilton didn't think Perez could pose much of a threat. After all, Perez was on a set of soft tires that had already done 21 laps.
Your tire managent skills are impressive, Perez. Before Qin Miao entered the fray, Perez was indeed the best at managing tires.
But after witnessing Qin Miao's otherworldly tire managent, Perez's skills seed just average in comparison.
Therefore, Hamilton felt that even if Perez could hold him up for a bit, it wouldn't be for long. Once on the DRS straight, he could easily use the car's performance and tire advantage to overtake Perez on these straights.
On the sa lap, Qin Miao entered the DRS zone behind Sainz.
However, just as Qin Miao was preparing to attack, on lap 20, Sainz opted to pit for a tire change.
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