Chapter 1380 - 519: Tricycle Wins the Championship

Chapter 1380: Chapter 519: Tricycle Wins the Championship

At that moment, Qin Miao was already relatively stationary with Verstappen before the braking point.

It’s worth noting that the RB19 was using DRS at the time, showing just how terrifying the top speed on the straight of the Mercedes W14 was this season.

Of course, the full release of ERS also contributed.

Then Qin Miao naturally braked late while getting as close as possible to Verstappen on the outside line. Qin Miao didn’t expect Verstappen to also change lanes towards the inside where he was.

And then, unexpectedly, the unexpected happened.

At the time, because Qin Miao braked later, even later than the also late-braking Verstappen, Qin Miao’s right front wheel directly surpassed Verstappen’s left rear wheel.

As the two cars got closer, Qin Miao’s right front wheel slotted into the right side of Verstappen’s floorboard.

With further approach, Qin Miao’s wheel directly pressed onto Verstappen’s floorboard, and under the enormous aerodynamic downforce, Qin Miao’s right front wheel crushed the edge of Verstappen’s floorboard right then and there.

Actually, at that time, Qin Miao’s right front wheel was still in good condition, at most just a few cuts from the carbon fiber debris of Verstappen’s car floor, but it could still barely last until Qin Miao finished the race without a blowout.

But after hearing the sound of carbon fiber breaking, the scene of the collision with Perez in the last race of last season flashed before Qin Miao’s eyes.

Qin Miao’s PTSD was triggered instantly.

As a result, Qin Miao instinctively eased off the accelerator and slightly tapped the brake with only about ten pounds of force.

And then, not surprisingly, Verstappen’s left rear wheel hit Qin Miao’s right front wheel.

At the point where the two tires touched, a puff of white smoke shot up instantly, and Verstappen took off on the spot.

Fortunately, both of them had decelerated while cornering, so Verstappen didn’t get too high in the air, not even as high as Qin Miao did in the last race of the 2022 season.

Qin Miao didn’t fare much better, as the tire already damaged by hitting Verstappen’s floorboard completely fulfilled its historic mission after taking on the sudden extra pressure from Verstappen’s car and burst on the spot.

The situation of mutually assured destruction thus emerged.

...

Actually, if it were under normal circumstances, both drivers would have been able to notice the other moving closer.

But in today’s race, Qin Miao and Verstappen moved towards each other’s positions simultaneously, and because of their duel, they were already quite close.

Moreover, with the limited cockpit view the two had, they relied more on instinct for positional judgment, which eventually caused this accident.

In fact, because this collision was mutual, neither of them reacted immediately when they collided.

When both drivers realized they had been hit, their first thought was: With Qin Miao’s/Verstappen’s skill, how could they have collided?

At least in this regard, their perceptions were remarkably similar.

...

"Crashed?!"

"Qin Miao? How is Qin Miao’s car?"

"Blown tire! Qin Miao’s car has a blown tire!" Zhou Haoran shouted as he watched the trail of sparks coming from under Qin Miao’s car.

"It’s over, it’s over, Qin Miao could have won the championship!"

"Wait a moment! Qin Miao! Qin Miao hasn’t given up, he’s still going!" Bing yelled: "Qin Miao is recreating his teammate Hamilton’s famous scene at the 2020 British Grand Prix, continuing to run on just three wheels!"

"What about Verstappen? How is Verstappen?"

Seeing Qin Miao persist on the track, the three commentators from Five-Star Sports immediately shifted from worrying about Qin Miao’s retirement to worrying that Verstappen’s speed wasn’t affected, allowing him to overtake Qin Miao with his blowout.

At this moment, they weren’t in the mood to focus on whose fault the accident primarily was; they were all watching this unfold.

After all, Turn 11 at Sakhir Circuit is a high-speed corner, and Bahrain is a desert country that often experiences sandstorms.

So, neither grass nor gravel is suitable for the buffer zones outside the track.

Thus, the buffer zone outside Turn 11 is entirely concrete and extends all the way to the big straight between Turns 13 and 14.

As a result, after Verstappen was launched by Qin Miao and landed, he bounced once more.

The car’s overall balance and grip were a joke in the face of tires that were already lacking durability.

So Verstappen spun around twice in the buffer zone outside the track before stopping.

Fortunately, both Qin Miao and Verstappen were in a decelerating state at the time.

Verstappen didn’t fly too high, and after landing, his speed continued to decrease and didn’t reach the buffer zone’s wall before he regained control of the car.

Once Verstappen’s car stopped, he instinctively shifted to first gear and started on the spot, chasing after Qin Miao.

After all, while in the air, Verstappen had clearly seen out of the corner of his eye that Qin Miao’s right front tire had blown out, with the wheel hub striking sparks on the asphalt as it sped forward.

And upon landing, Verstappen did not notice any damage to his car, knowing he still had a chance to catch up to Qin Miao and take back the segment championship of today’s race.

So upon landing, Verstappen didn’t even complain to the team over the radio.