The driver in front of Qin Miao had changed to Verstappen, and at this mont, Verstappen was only 3.4 seconds away from Qin Miao.
anwhile, Hamilton caught up with Perez on lap 20 as well.
It's worth ntioning that the timing of Hamilton catching up to Perez was very poor for Perez, as Hamilton caught up with him right after T5.
It's well-known that after T5 cos the longest straight on the Yas Marina Circuit, and there's DRS assistance on this straight.
Most of the audience already had images in their minds of what would happen next.
And indeed, that was the case. Hamilton directly used the ERS and DRS of his car to forcefully overtake Perez on the outside line.
However, just as everyone on the Red Bull side thought the sky was about to collapse, Perez activated his hidden backup energy.
Even after Hamilton overtook Perez, he didn't continue along the inside line of the track but returned to the outside line of the track, looking for the optimal entry angle into the corner.
But as if Red Bull had specially upgraded the brakes of the car for this race, once Hamilton returned to the normal racing line, Perez forced his way into Hamilton's inside line with a late braking maneuver, a hallmark of Red Bull.
Sitting in the car, Hamilton saw a Red Bull appear suddenly to his left, and for a mont he felt like he was back at T6 during the start phase.
The sa corner, the sa Red Bull car, the sa way of entering the corner, only the driver inside the car was different.
Hamilton also used the sa thod Qin Miao used against O'Kang for cornering, taking a crossed line through T6 and T7.
After exiting T7, Hamilton utilized the advantage of the crossed line to overtake Perez, entering the next long straight.
Identical to Qin Miao's earlier maneuver, Perez slightly eased off the throttle before entering the second DRS detection point, so Hamilton crossed this DRS detection point before Perez. Thus in the subsequent long straight, Perez had DRS.
Then, as the audience watched, Perez, having activated DRS, caught Hamilton's slipstream and began to quickly close in on him.
Perez rapidly approached Hamilton and showed signs of being able to overtake.
After a strong pull in the slipstream, Perez prepared to make a move on the inside line. Naturally, Hamilton wasn't going to let Perez pass so easily, so he moved towards the inside line as well, intending to block Perez's path for an inside overtake.
But Perez wasn't playing around; even if he had to run over the paint on the outside of the track, he was determined to overtake Hamilton.
At this mont, Hamilton dared not make any drastic defensive moves, so seeing Perez already making a move on his inside, he could only reluctantly give up this defense.
The two then arrived at the braking point for T9.
T9 is not a heavy braking point, and although Hamilton's control over braking is top-notch, he couldn't force his way into the inside line using the brakes as Verstappen and Perez could, because there simply wasn't an entry angle for this corner.
So Perez defended against Hamilton's attack by twice using DRS to swap positions with Hamilton.
It shows that in F1, aside from the drivers' personal abilities, it's more about the team's developnt capabilities and the performance of the cars.
If you put top drivers like Hamilton or Qin Miao into a mid-tier team, they might easily outperform their teammates, but they won't be able to compete for race wins against the likes of rcedes and Red Bull. If they could even get one or two podiums, they'd count themselves lucky.
Just like O'Kang, who was overtaken by Qin Miao; without Tsunoda's help, he would have been overtaken by Qin Miao long ago in the DRS zone between T5 and T6.
Seeing this, the Red Bull team and the audience on-site were naturally thrilled. Both drivers are top-notch, and such a duel was very entertaining for the audience.
However, for genuine joy, it was the fans who liked Qin Miao and those who traveled from afar from his ho country who were the happiest.
This duel was not only exciting but crucially, Perez blocked Hamilton, helping Verstappen gain an advantage, and also aided Qin Miao.
After all, Hamilton was the sole driver on the track who could still pose a threat to Qin Miao's position as the driver's champion.
At this point, the fans' view of Red Bull no longer had the hostility and caution of the early season, now full of gentleness and encouragent.
Go, Perez!
On track, after these two long straights, the next section is the most challenging for overtaking on the entire Yas Marina Circuit, with no good overtaking spots until before T5.
Moreover, the entire third sector mainly consists of slow and low-speed corners.
During this third sector, Perez used all his strength to suppress Hamilton's speed.
Consequently, after the third sector, Verstappen closed a full four seconds on Hamilton.
One sector, four seconds!
Qin Miao was stunned by how lucky he was in this opportunity.
Hamilton began to complain over the team radio, filled with question marks in his head.
Why, what's the relationship between this race and Red Bull? Why are you so actively helping Verstappen to defend against ?
As long as Qin Miao finishes the race, the driver's championship for the season couldn't possibly go to Verstappen.
Naturally, Red Bull couldn't hear Hamilton's thoughts, and even if they could, they might just shrug it off with a chuckle.
Without overtaking you, Verstappen indeed has no chance of winning this race or the season's driver's championship. But if he overtakes you, at least there's a possibility.
This is a high-stakes gamble, my friend!
On the Red Bull side, when they saw Hamilton overtake Perez before the braking point at T6, most of the staff were already devastated.
Many even sat in their chairs, looking ashen-faced.
Not only did they likely miss out on the driver's championship, but even winning this race seed unlikely.
Quickly, they experienced a rollercoaster of emotions. Seeing Perez's performance lifted their spirits.
Perez and Hamilton arrived at the main straight together; even though Hamilton had the slipstream, he didn't have DRS, and his ERS was depleted after the previous two straights.
So on the main straight, Hamilton only attempted to pressure Perez, but once Perez held the inside line, Hamilton couldn't find any opportunity to overtake Perez on the main straight.
After the main straight and into the first sector, there weren't any good overtaking points, and Perez continued to suppress Hamilton's speed.
The two quickly reached T5 again.
When they arrived at this spot in the previous lap, the ti gap between Hamilton and Verstappen was 9 seconds.
But through Perez's efforts in one full lap, the ti gap between Verstappen and Hamilton was now only 1.1 seconds.
Perez, by himself, helped Verstappen reduce the gap to Hamilton by 7.9 seconds.
If Verstappen ends up defeating Hamilton to win this race, and Qin Miao retires due to an accident, leading to Verstappen winning the driver's championship this year, he would owe Perez big ti.
With Verstappen's arrival, Perez completed another major task in this race.
Due to his car's depleted battery, Perez couldn't defend against Hamilton's attacks in the coming DRS zone.
So Perez's speed dropped significantly.
Finally, before the braking point at T6, Perez was overtaken by Hamilton.
At this point, soone might ask, if this defensive strategy is so effective, why didn't Tsunoda from AlphaTauri use this tactic against Qin Miao?
W11: ?
Your AT02 wouldn't even qualify to sit at the sa table with my W11. I'd inevitably slap you down, rip your rear wing off, and kick open your fuel line.
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