Chapter 1412 - 531: A Not-So-Smooth Opening

Chapter 1412: Chapter 531: A Not-So-Smooth Opening

Because Qin Miao was more familiar with this track, Qin Miao’s lap time was faster than the 1:17.4 achieved in the third practice, reaching 1:16.980.

Immediate jump to first place.

Of course, this first place didn’t last long. As the final flying lap began, Verstappen, spurred on by the pressure from Qin Miao, unleashed his inner potential and clocked a 1:16.699.

Rushing to first.

It must be said, the Red Bull cars are indeed powerful this season, and Verstappen’s driving skills are truly flawless, especially his single lap ability.

This lap broke the fastest qualifying lap from last season achieved by Leclerc here.

And Qin Miao simply didn’t run the final lap.

It’s not that Qin Miao gave up struggling, but mainly because at the end, Qin Miao was also stimulated by Verstappen.

This is why Qin Miao ran the final flying lap at the absolute limit from the start.

Actually, Qin Miao wasn’t driving like this for the first time; even if Qin Miao didn’t have control over this driving style, he wouldn’t dare to run like this.

But the cursed thing is, today when Qin Miao ran like this, he encountered a gust of wind at T3.

Originally, Qin Miao’s car was at the limit of grip while entering the turn, and this side wind blew, instantly breaking the grip limit of all four tires and sent him sliding into the gravel buffer zone like Perez in Q1.

The difference is, Perez went straight into the gravel, while Qin Miao slid sideways into it.

Nonetheless, Qin Miao’s control over the car was slightly better than Perez’s.

After sliding into the gravel, Qin Miao never let off the throttle; he merely applied a tiny bit and lightly corrected to straighten his car.

He ultimately maintained the speed of his car and drove it out of the gravel, without getting stuck inside.

Despite this mistake not turning into the worst-case scenario, Qin Miao’s final flying lap in Q3 was completely over.

Moreover, because Qin Miao entered the gravel buffer zone at T3, a yellow flag appeared in the first-time section.

This caused bad luck for Hockenberg, who started his final flying lap behind Qin Miao.

Due to the yellow flag in the first-time section, Hockenberg had to slow down, meaning his final flying lap couldn’t be run properly.

But this likely wouldn’t affect Hockenberg’s qualifying ranking.

Whether running this flying lap or not, Hockenberg is the tenth in qualifying.

And Qin Miao was also a bit frustrated.

From Qin Miao’s own feeling, the pace on the first two corners of the first-time section was quite good, and each corner was passed perfectly.

If it weren’t for that side wind, it’s likely he would have contended for pole position against Verstappen. At worst, he could raise his qualifying position by one or two positions, maybe reach second, but alas, luck wasn’t in his favor.

It was just bad luck.

Thus, on the way back to the track after qualifying ended, there wasn’t much Qin Miao could do except complain to the team in team radio.

Ultimately, with the countdown for Q3 ending, the Australian Grand Prix qualifying also finished.

The final qualifying positions for the drivers were:

1: Verstappen 1:16.699

2: Hamilton

3: Alonso

4: Qin Miao

5: Sainz

6: Stroll

7: Leclerc

8: Albon

9: Gasly

10: Hockenberg

Indeed, because Qin Miao’s final flying lap was canceled, Alonso successfully snatched third place in qualifying from Qin Miao.

This is also Alonso’s first time entering the top three during this season’s qualifying stage, and his first time since returning to F1.

Qin Miao’s emotions were stable, after all, he still had a decent fallback result. During the main race, the Old Man wouldn’t sacrifice his speed to give way to Qin Miao, but if Qin Miao truly caught up to Hamilton, Hamilton probably wouldn’t defend against Qin Miao too aggressively either.

But all this is merely a prelude before the main race tomorrow; nobody can say for sure what might happen during the main race phase.

After qualifying ended, Qin Miao parked his car in the post-race inspection area.

Getting out of the car, Qin Miao saw the dejected Leclerc walking over from beside the Ferrari car towards him.

Seeing his teammate for next season, Qin Miao walked over and put an arm around his shoulder, jokingly saying: "What’s the matter? Unhappy that I took the fourth place?"

Leclerc glared at Qin Miao, then reluctantly explained: "I didn’t perform well in Q3 qualifying because of the team’s wrong weather forecast. I started the flying lap after just one warm-up lap."

Hearing Leclerc say this, Qin Miao roughly guessed what happened.

No wonder Sainz and Leclerc’s qualifying times were not good today.

But it’s quite normal for Leclerc’s qualifying not to go well due to the team’s reasons. Even feeling frustrated shouldn’t be as dejected as Leclerc appears now.

Not waiting for Qin Miao to ask, Leclerc proactively explained: "Then during my last lap in qualifying, Sainz helped me by pulling ahead to create a slipstream, and the result was this kind of performance." After saying this, Leclerc helplessly put his hands on his hips.