How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 1068 - 409: Ferrari: My Luck Has Turned?

And then came a wave of wild joy, because this was still the start phase, basically all the cars were bunched together. If Qin Miao flew off at this moment, then there was a high chance he’d drop to the very back.By then, no matter how insane Qin Miao’s tire-saving ability was, this race wouldn’t be able to put him under any pressure at all.

But just as Sainz was secretly delighted, constantly fantasizing about the beautiful track situation he was about to enjoy, a scene that made his jaw drop appeared.

He saw Qin Miao, late-braking on the inside, actually manage to slow his car down, the car didn’t lose control at all, the tires didn’t even lock up.

Then Qin Miao turned in ahead of his own car and, on exit, directly squeezed him off the track.

On Sainz’s side, although he was shocked by Qin Miao’s completely unscientific braking, the key point was that Sainz hadn’t heard anything about Mercedes upgrading their braking system recently.

The most crucial thing was, Qin Miao’s braking point was still on Sainz’s inside line, and that spot wasn’t the racing line. The grip and cleanliness of the track there weren’t as good as on Sainz’s outside, and the angle at which Qin Miao hit the brakes also didn’t look right.

Even if you’re on softs, you still shouldn’t be able to stomp out such an absurd braking move.

Anyway, no matter how hard Sainz racked his brain, there was just no way that braking point of Qin Miao’s could possibly bring that Mercedes to a stop.

But the impossible, Qin Miao just went and did it.

Of course, even though he’d been squeezed into the escape road off the track, Sainz never lifted.

This season, Ferrari’s straight-line speed was the best in the paddock, so by the time Sainz rejoined the track, even though he was already half a car length behind Qin Miao, at least he was still side by side with Qin Miao.

He still had a chance to take the position back before T1.

And so a Mercedes and a Ferrari, side by side, charged toward T3 through the orange smoke the Austrian crowd had just set off.

It’s just that Sainz somewhat underestimated the upgrades Mercedes brought at Silverstone and the softs on Qin Miao’s car. After optimizing the floor’s intake structure and the airflow management inside the floor, the current W13 had far less drag generated by the floor overall.

Although at T3, because it was a left-hander, Qin Miao’s slight advantage in track position over Sainz shrank back to side by side, and Sainz’s late-phase acceleration was getting stronger and stronger.

But at least before the braking zone into T3, Sainz still hadn’t fully cleared Qin Miao; Qin Miao was still alongside on the outside.

To be honest, at this point Sainz already had a really bad feeling.

And very soon, Sainz’s premonition came true.

Qin Miao once again went for a late brake on the inside. Sainz had already braked at his own limit braking point, yet Qin Miao’s braking point was still ahead of Sainz’s.

Sainz just couldn’t figure it out. Sure, T1 and T2 could give the tires a bit of temperature, but over such a short distance it can’t be that much. How the hell did this bastard Qin manage to slow the car down from such an extreme distance?

Why the hell?!

And in fact, Qin Miao really did rely on his own inputs to get it stopped.

It’s just that his technique was extremely on the limit, after all T1 and T3 were both heavy braking zones.

Qin Miao had shifted his brake bias all the way toward the front axle.

Someone might say, that kind of braking makes it highly likely the front wheels will lock.

So during the braking phase, Qin Miao dynamically shifted the brake bias back toward the rear.

In other words, the front wheels only handled the most critical part of the braking. During that period, thanks to the heat radiation from the brake discs, you could also get the tires up to temperature.

And Qin Miao adjusted the bias rearwards at the very instant before the fronts were about to lock, so throughout the entire process the front tires participated very efficiently in braking.

At the same time, the rear wheels of Qin Miao’s car were constantly providing braking force as well.

That minimized the car’s braking distance as much as possible.

Of course, the key reason was still that Qin Miao was on softs. The braking distance on softs was definitely shorter than on mediums.

At the same time, once the car reached the apex, the front tires no longer had such a strong braking force, making turn-in much easier.

There are drivers who know this technique.

You could even say this is the best way to handle the braking phase into a corner.

The only downside is that it’s complicated, because F1 cars don’t have electronic control systems, so throughout this process the changes in brake bias have to be done entirely by hand.

You need to use your hand to turn the brake bias knob on the steering wheel.

Bear in mind, during braking the driver’s neck can experience an instantaneous load of up to 4G.

In that situation, not only do you have to keep a clear head, your hands also have to carry out such delicate inputs, so the error rate for this kind of technique is terrifyingly high.

That’s why this way of taking corners isn’t widespread; even those who know it won’t usually do it.

Because it’s just too hard, and even if you pull it off, the time gain through one corner might only be 0.1–0.2 seconds.

But if you mess it up during the process, the consequences are going off the track, or locking up the tires.