How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 1340: Chapter 504: Win One Round and Sleep

After Zhou Guanyu exited the corner, he kept checking his rearview mirror and noticed Qin Miao’s exit. Zhou Guanyu inexplicably felt a bit of a headache.

Damn, how does this guy dare to do that? Is he really not afraid of flying off the track!

And just in that one corner, the nearly two-second gap between Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu was shortened by 0.2 seconds.

It’s important to note that with normal sports cars, lap times don’t shorten as quickly as they do with F1 cars.

Because these cars are slower compared to F1, and for F1 drivers, slower cars mean easier handling but also lower performance limits.

This is why Zhou Guanyu dares to bold with a 488 versus Qin Miao on the track.

On one hand, Zhou Guanyu isn’t worried about losing control of the car, and on the other hand, he believes both he and Qin Miao are limited to the same level, giving him a chance to beat Qin Miao.

Then Zhou Guanyu got taught a lesson by Qin Miao about why he’s a double world champion, unlike Leclerc, Verstappen, or Hamilton.

But after all, it was just a fun race, and Qin Miao wouldn’t just knock Zhou Guanyu out directly, especially without DRS, overtaking with normal sports cars is indeed quite challenging.

Plus, after a few laps, Zhou Guanyu became roughly acquainted with the 488GTB’s operation and probed the car’s limits.

Following Zhou Guanyu later on was easy for Qin Miao, but because of the power restrictions of his 488GTB, even with Zhou Guanyu breaking the wind in front, he couldn’t find an opening to attack Zhou Guanyu on the straight.

Even if he did find an opening, Zhou Guanyu’s defense forced Qin Miao to attempt an outside line attack.

Yet, Zhou Guanyu always managed to perfectly block Qin Miao’s position.

Since it wasn’t a real race, and Qin Miao quite enjoyed this feeling, he would abandon the attack once he felt unable to overtake.

Thus, with ongoing offense and defense, testing each other, the two of them circled around Shanghai for nearly 12 laps.

During these 12 laps, communication between them noticeably reduced, with most exchanges related to what they were doing.

Such as:

Zhou Guanyu: "Where was your braking point just now?"

Qin Miao: "160 meters, I feel the brakes have some heat fade, braked 10 meters late."

Zhou Guanyu: "Okay."

...

Qin Miao: "Just now, what was your speed at the end of the straight? Damn, drafting seemed useless."

Zhou Guanyu: "Around 301, racing Shanghai’s main straight feels great!"

...

Of course, at last, Qin Miao defended his honor as a double world champion.

After playing enough, as their brakes and tires started to exhibit heat fade by the 13th lap, Qin Miao realized he couldn’t rely on late braking to attack Zhou Guanyu at the end of the straight due to the power gap between their cars, so he could only attempt maneuvering around Zhou Guanyu in corner exits and entries.

Qin Miao eventually made his move on Zhou Guanyu at corners T7 and T8.

And he seized upon one of Zhou Guanyu’s mistakes.

At T6, Zhou Guanyu experienced some understeer entering the corner, didn’t eat enough of the apex, impacting his exit speed.

As a result, after exiting the corner, Qin Miao followed closely, almost touching Zhou Guanyu’s rear.

Then exiting T6, entering T7, Qin Miao first feigned a move to the outside line.

Zhou Guanyu wasn’t fooled, so Qin Miao changed lines a second time, feigning towards the inside line, Zhou Guanyu took the bait this time, moving inside, straying slightly from the best entry and exit line.

Then Qin Miao seized this fleeting opportunity to move outside of Zhou Guanyu.

T7 is a left turn, and Qin Miao, who moved outside, used Zhou Guanyu’s accumulated experience from his exit mistake and almost exhausted it in this corner.

Even so, Qin Miao managed to stay close to Zhou Guanyu without being entirely left behind, maintaining his position behind Zhou Guanyu.

Then they reached T8, now entering Qin Miao’s advantageous section, because T8 is a right turn.

Qin Miao moved from outside to inside.

This had no technical challenge, executing the maneuver while squeezing Zhou Guanyu off his optimal entry line.

Originally, Zhou Guanyu already struggled with poor tire grip from inadequate temperature, finding the optimal line difficult.

Now that Qin Miao squeezed him, the line he could have driven normally required reduced speed.

By the time they reached T9, Qin Miao switched back to the outside, but before reaching T9’s braking point, Qin Miao had already completely overtaken Zhou Guanyu.

Watching the round tail lights of the 488GTB ahead, Zhou Guanyu eased off the throttle.

Although due to the team’s research capabilities and financial resources, Zhou Guanyu hadn’t battled Qin Miao on track.

But countless simulator practices, endless racing game grind, and the visibly disappointed post-race expressions of other top F1 drivers, along with various overwhelming newspaper reports, had ingrained the understanding in every F1 driver’s mind, Qin Miao’s defense was unbeatable.

At least, so far, no one could break through Qin Miao’s defense.

Unless your car’s lap speed is one second faster than Qin Miao’s, otherwise, behind him, don’t expect to advance further.

"Held him for 12 laps, not bad!" said Zhou Guanyu over the intercom after Qin Miao overtook him.

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