After confirming the condition of his tires, Qin Miao was confident he could hold off Verstappen for a few more laps.

Soon, lap 38, at the end of the second sector between T9 and T10 in the DRS zone, Verstappen launched a probing attack on Qin Miao.

It was called a DRS zone, but the length of this straight wasn't nearly enough for current F1 cars to fully unleash their potential and overtake.

The current F1 cars are too long and too wide. Unless the car in front takes a wide line out of T9, or there's a significant performance gap between the two cars, the rear car can only shorten the distance to the front car with the advantage gained in this DRS zone.

Verstappen knew this too, so he didn't make any substantial attack. He just deliberately nosed in on the inside line when entering the corner and made a not-so-late late braking.

Even though everyone knew this was merely a probing attack, when the target you're defending against makes such pressuring moves, the average driver would feel somewhat nervous, diverting more attention to the car behind to prevent being overtaken in unexpected places.

But Qin Miao's feeling was actually okay. Being a fortress of full defense capability, he naturally knew the exact meaning of Verstappen's moves. Knowing it was a feint, Qin Miao felt little pressure and didn't even make any defensive action.

Watching Qin Miao's steadfast driving style, Verstappen sighed inwardly.

If Toto hadn't been so resolute, and if Horner and Marco didn't have stereotypes about the Chinese, communicating more with Qin Miao to enhance mutual understanding, maybe having meals together, Qin Miao might be his teammate now.

Not only wouldn't he have to face this insurmountable wall of sighs, but he would also have a number two driver willing to support him, and Qin Miao would also help him constrain Hamilton.

A win-win-win situation.

Imagining that scene, Verstappen even got a thrill like reading a feel-good novel. But soon, Verstappen snapped back to reality, stopping the wandering thoughts.

Gathering his thoughts, he followed Qin Miao onto the main straight.

Verstappen ran the third sector rather conservatively, constantly staying tucked in Qin Miao's slipstream.

Upon entering the main straight, Verstappen suddenly began deploying ERS energy. After passing the DRS detection point, he opened the DRS naturally, continuing to stay in Qin Miao's slipstream.

Facing Verstappen's attack, Qin Miao couldn't possibly maintain his rhythm unchanged as he did when overtaken by Hamilton.

So Qin Miao began weaving.

Right now, they hadn't entered the braking zone yet, so weaving before entering it wasn't against the rules.

While weaving, Qin Miao didn't forget to constantly monitor the distance between Verstappen and his car, knowing Verstappen could pop up on either the inside or outside line anytime.

On one hand, he needed to avoid colliding with Verstappen when weaving; on the other hand, he had to avoid Verstappen poking out on the inside line.

Qin Miao knew T1 of the Catalonia circuit wasn't a heavy braking hairpin, making it very challenging to execute a crossover move here. As long as he held the inside line, Verstappen's attack would fail.

Verstappen knew this too, so while following the weaving Qin Miao, his car stayed relatively to the right.

Both cars were gradually closing at a speed of 5 km/h, finally, about 100 meters before the T1 braking point, the two cars were about to meet.

Whether by coincidence or Qin Miao's deliberate preparation, it was just as Qin Miao finished weaving left and was about to weave right.

Verstappen realized only close to the braking point that if he continued following Qin Miao's rhythm, he definitely wouldn't squeeze into Qin Miao's inside line when they met.

So Verstappen urgently increased the right turn angle, trying to squeeze into Qin Miao's inside before he closed the door.

Unfortunately, Qin Miao anticipated this.

With the excessive right turn angle, Verstappen's speed was affected, reducing the closing rate that was initially 5 km/h.

When Verstappen reappeared on the inside, he couldn't peek out as anticipated.

During that time, Qin Miao only left Verstappen a space through which he could see the track ahead, but not enough for his car to pass.

Seeing this, Verstappen realized his attack had failed. He didn't force his way in—there was still a long race ahead, with plenty of chances to overtake Qin Miao.

Verstappen simply moved back to the outside line. Although not as fast as when slipstreaming Qin Miao, he was gradually overtaking Qin Miao.

However, after losing the inside line, Verstappen's overtake was doomed to fail.

Past the braking point, Qin Miao braked while observing Verstappen's car position, taking as much track width as Verstappen allowed.

Maximizing his entry width.

Although it might seem like Qin Miao was forcing Verstappen forward, it was actually just a normal lane change during braking.

After all, Qin Miao was following Verstappen's rhythm.

Late braking, blocking Verstappen's optimal entry line, then, with his car's nose ahead at the apex, giving no track space for Verstappen to exit.

A textbook defensive maneuver.

If it were the old Verstappen encountering such defensive action from Qin Miao, he would have immediately started swearing on the team radio, but knowing Qin Miao's defensive tendencies, Verstappen mellowed out, silently slowing down his exit rhythm.

He couldn't afford to provoke Qin Miao, who might seem shy outwardly but was really willing to go one-for-one with him on track.

However, a blessing in disguise—because of Verstappen's voluntary back-off, the rhythm he lost from his failed overtake wasn't much. Exiting the corner, he was only 0.7 seconds behind Qin Miao, still within his DRS zone.

The winding segment of the first sector was Mercedes's advantage area, and even with Qin Miao's tire-saving run, Verstappen only closed the gap by 0.1 seconds.

After running through the DRS zone in the second sector, Verstappen gained another 0.2 seconds, staying 0.4 seconds behind Qin Miao.

Though Verstappen continued pressuring Qin Miao in this DRS zone, Qin Miao simply didn't care.

Lap 39 on the main straight.

Verstappen launched another attack on Qin Miao, this time sticking closer—just 0.2 seconds behind Qin Miao after the corner exit.

If seen from a wrong angle, you might even get the illusion that Verstappen's front wing was almost touching the rear diffuser of Qin Miao's car.

Verstappen could even feel the scorching exhaust gases from Qin Miao's car with the skin at the junction of his gloves and fireproof suit.

This time, Qin Miao didn't weave. Had the previous weaving maneuver not been considered dangerous driving, but its amplitude and frequency were high, receiving a warning from the race officials once.

But it's not like Qin Miao had no way to defend against Verstappen.

Laps 39 on the main straight, just into the DRS zone, Qin Miao kept a close eye on his mirrors, leaving a wide swath of track space on the inside line for Verstappen, waiting for him to pop out on the inside.

A quarter of the way down the main straight, Verstappen was only 0.1 seconds behind Qin Miao's rear and suddenly nosed out on the inside at that moment.

Attempting to catch Qin Miao off guard, Qin Miao, who was always watching Verstappen's car instead of the track, followed his rhythym the moment he planned to pop out on the inside.

This time, Qin Miao's reaction speed was much faster than when he started.

Anyway, since Verstappen didn't peek out in front of Qin Miao, and Qin Miao's first defensive move didn't yield any issues, his lane change in this attempt was beyond reproach.

What Verstappen didn't expect was Qin Miao's decisive reaction and synchronization in lane change, coupled with the gap between them being only 0.1 seconds.

So, unsurprisingly but inevitably, the two cars collided.

ps. Sorry, only four thousand today...

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