Chapter 1373 - 516: One Old Man Unhappy, One Old Man Happy

Chapter 1373: Chapter 516: One Old Man Unhappy, One Old Man Happy

Verstappen had a lot to consider, focusing on the extreme challenge of catching up with Qin Miao quickly while also managing his tire wear.

He couldn’t afford to catch up to Qin Miao only to lose grip from his tires.

Fuel consumption was another concern for Verstappen.

However, for Verstappen, these issues were not difficult to handle.

After all, he is Verstappen—someone who managed to contend with Hamilton during Mercedes’ dominant period and had the capability to compete with Qin Miao for the championship while keeping Qin Miao at bay for nearly a season.

Not to mention, this season Red Bull’s car clearly showed signs of recovery, achieving extreme levels in both speed and balance.

Aside from feeling immense pressure, Verstappen was also very confident in winning this race.

The broadcast team cleverly placed speed charts of Qin Miao and Verstappen side by side along with comparison graphs, allowing viewers to see the shrinking gap between them in real-time.

In the following laps, all main camera attention was focused on Verstappen and Qin Miao.

Everyone watched anxiously.

Lap 38: Time gap between them was 17.8 seconds. Verstappen gained 1.2 seconds on Qin Miao this lap.

Lap 39: Time gap was 16.8 seconds. Gained 1 second.

Lap 40: Time gap was 15.5 seconds. Gained 1.3 seconds.

Lap 41: Time gap was 14.8 seconds. Gained 0.7 seconds.

Perhaps Ferrari felt it was unfair for all the camera focus to be on Red Bull and Mercedes.

As a storied team, it was time for them to show their sponsors’ presence on the track.

Thus, Ferrari began to stir things up.

Lap 41: Leclerc, who was consistently in 5th place, suddenly slowed down. Then he decelerated on the straight section after T13 and eventually came to a halt at the Matthew entrance.

Clearly, Leclerc’s car had an issue.

Team radio communication revealed that the stop was likely due to an issue with Leclerc’s car’s electronic control system.

Moreover, worth noting is that before the race started, Ferrari preventively replaced Leclerc’s car’s electronic controls just in case.

This showed they had discovered an issue with Leclerc’s electronics during practice and qualifying sessions.

Lacking a quick fix for this issue, they cautiously opted to replace the electronic control set.

Yet on the track, the electronic issues resurfaced and Leclerc retired.

Forty-one laps wasted.

Vassel’s first race as Ferrari’s team principal started on a bad note.

The playful old French man known for his antics in the paddock couldn’t smile anymore, his face was grim.

Still, there was good news for Ferrari—they at least identified the electronic control issue.

Only the trial-and-error cost for finding out the problem was a bit high.

Lap 42: Time gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao was 14.1 seconds. Gained 0.7 seconds.

Lap 45: Time gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao was 10.8 seconds.

During these three laps, Verstappen gained 3.3 seconds on Qin Miao, averaging a gain of 1.1 seconds per lap.

The primary reason for the large gain was Qin Miao’s issue.

Even with a strong heart and defense skills considered nearly unrivaled, Qin Miao couldn’t help but feel anxious with Verstappen persistently gaining about a second per lap from behind.

Add to that Qin Miao had no real reference points in front of him other than slower cars to lap.

Thus, Qin Miao unconsciously slightly increased his speed.

Resulting in Qin Miao’s tire depletion being higher than anticipated.

Mercedes could only remind Qin Miao through team radio communications.

And begrudgingly Qin Miao slowed down, allowing Verstappen to once again boost his closing rate, which had dropped below one second, back above one second.

On the same lap, Ferrari began revealing this season’s issue with insufficient tire durability.

Though Sainz’s speed drop wasn’t substantial, compared to Aston Martin’s car, which became faster as the fuel load diminished, Ferrari’s weaknesses became apparent.

Alonso swiftly overtook Sainz this lap.

The old man couldn’t help but feel a bit resentful towards his old team.

With Ferrari’s number 1 driver gone, the old man could only beat a number 2 driver for a bit of excitement.

After overtaking Sainz, Alonso jubilantly shouted: "Yes! Bye bye!"

The remainder of the race had no surprises. Aside from a few drivers in the midfield group, most drivers maintained gaps of at least 3 seconds or more from the cars ahead and behind.

But drivers in the midfield group didn’t have much recourse against the cars in front of them.

So the broadcast shifted focus back to Qin Miao and Verstappen.

Under pressure from team radio communications, Qin Miao’s speed continued to slow while Verstappen’s pursuit accelerated.

Lap 46: Time gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao was 9.8 seconds.

Lap 47: Time gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao was 8.6 seconds. Gained 1.2 seconds.

Lap 48: Time gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao was 7.4 seconds. Gained 1.2 seconds.

Lap 49: Time gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao was 6.2 seconds. Gained 1.2 seconds.

However, by the 49th lap, Verstappen’s tires began to show signs of struggle.

Since leaving the pit, Verstappen hadn’t planned on conserving his tires and had been relentlessly pursuing Qin Miao ahead.