Chapter 1366 - 513: The Grand Drama Unfolds (6K, Bonus Update 6/14)_3

Chapter 1366: Chapter 513: The Grand Drama Unfolds (6K, Bonus Update 6/14)_3

Thus, in the first start of the 2023 season, there were no positional changes among the top six drivers.

The upcoming T2 and T3 corners didn’t offer any overtaking points, but they smoothly arranged the congested car formation ahead.

Verstappen was still leading the way, and within three corners, he managed to pull away at least 0.4 seconds from Hamilton behind him.

Perez was also within 0.3 seconds of Hamilton after exiting the corner.

However, Qin Miao’s exit line on T1 was interfered with by Leclerc on the outside, so when exiting the corner, Qin Miao couldn’t start accelerating early, making the distance between Qin Miao and Perez quite large, about 0.4 seconds.

But no matter how you look at it, it’s better to have a slight disadvantage than to lose position.

Over on Leclerc’s side, he tried to fight Qin Miao for position in T2 but got squeezed off the track by Qin Miao, losing some speed. It was the only chance for Qin Miao to attack in this race, and it was missed.

At that moment, Leclerc felt a bit unfamiliar sitting in the car with Qin Miao.

Because Qin Miao’s defensive ability was fierce before, but while fierce, Qin Miao also played by the rules.

It’s a bit like a gangster who knows the law.

He’s ruthless, but he absolutely wouldn’t touch the boundaries.

For example, within the permissible range of the rules, he would defend to the limit, particularly hard; if you force your way in, he dares to squeeze you out.

But now, Qin Miao’s defense seems like he has broken some kind of limit.

He’s no longer the good gentleman; he’s started to touch the gray area.

That squeeze against Leclerc just now didn’t result in any positional loss, just missed a chance to attack Qin Miao, but that defensive squeeze was still suspected to be against the regulations.

At that instant, Leclerc felt a bit confused.

What the heck did Qin Miao go through during this winter break?

Just when everyone thought the race would go on track after the start.

The exciting scenes on the track began to unfold one after another.

In the first lap’s T4, Stroll wanted to defend against the attack from O’Kang behind him, so at T4’s braking point, he took the inside line.

But perhaps because all his attention was on O’Kang behind him, upon entering T4, Stroll’s braking point remained the normal line entry braking point.

However, this braking point was not suitable for Stroll now on the inside line, a bit too late.

Moreover, Stroll was on the inside line, which is not the regular racing line; there isn’t much rubber on the track, and the overall grip is not as good as on the racing line.

Thus, Stroll directly missed his braking point.

And unsurprisingly, the young master’s car couldn’t stop and rushed forward.

And the driver right in front of the young master was his teammate Alonso.

Then the young master directly torpedoed his mentor.

But fortunately, the impact force of this collision wasn’t serious, and Stroll kept turning right.

The collision occurred at Alonso’s right rear wheel and Stroll’s left front wing, strictly speaking, the left front wing of Stroll’s car hit something relatively soft.

Moreover, Martin’s car quality wasn’t like that of a certain green team, even after this collision, the front wing end plate of the young master’s car wasn’t much affected, and Brother Tou had only a slight correction of his steering wheel to stabilize the car after being torpedoed.

After being hit, Brother Tou didn’t say anything and continued driving.

Brother Tou actually has a temper, after all, think about it, being able to ridicule Honda’s engine as chicken skin and rabbit on Honda’s home turf in front of all Honda fans.

Who else would be cocky if not him?

Therefore, encountering such a situation, he would generally start ranting directly on the team TR, or at least make some sarcastic remarks.

But as he looked through the rear-view mirror, who was the fool who... oh, it was the young master, well that’s alright...

The young master hit it well, just the right amount, not too much and not too little, didn’t even cause any damage to the car, the key thing was that the young master was still competing despite being injured, and was able to avoid further loss in such extreme conditions, really remarkable!

After all, being 42, Brother Tou’s temper has mellowed quite a lot compared to before, and it wasn’t just once or twice that he was frustrated by teammates last season, Brother Tou has come to terms with these things over time.

On a positive note, at least the young master’s collision with him wasn’t intentional, unlike O’Kang who intended to make him disgusted.

The young master... just happened to be less skilled.

And on the F1 track, no matter how minor the collision, the impact on the car is significant.

Even though there was no car damage, this collision also disrupted the corner exit rhythm of both drivers.

Their positions both slipped two places, coming down to 9th and 10th.

Meanwhile, Lion O’Kang and substitute king Hockenheim both moved up two places.

Elsewhere, at the front of the track.

One lap later, Qin Miao had already reduced the time gap between him and Perez to 0.3 seconds; as soon as DRS opens, Qin Miao can attack.

Unlike Qin Miao, Hamilton looked at the receding car rear of Verstappen ahead, a big question mark popped up in his head.

Wasn’t it, dude.

If nothing unexpected happens, the race has just run one lap, right? The time gap between yo and Verstappen...

Why does it seem like a whole second???

And the broadcaster seemed to be aligned with Hamilton, as he was bewildered, the broadcaster displayed the time gaps between drivers on the left side of the broadcast screen.