Before the audience could savor the thrilling exchange between the two top drivers over these three laps, another Mercedes silently approached Verstappen's Red Bull from behind.

"Qin Miao! It's Qin Miao! He's catching up too!" Fei's sharp eyes immediately noticed Qin Miao's position after the duel ended.

Initially, he intended just to remark on the gap between Qin Miao and the two drivers, but upon seeing Qin Miao's performance, he realized Qin Miao was less than a second behind Verstappen.

[What the hell!]

[Qin Miao!]

[Rise up, I've seen Qin Miao starting to attack Verstappen.]

[Is this calculated by Mercedes too?]

[When did he catch up?]

[???]

...

Just as the commentators and audience were bewildered, in the car, Verstappen, having just been overtaken by Hamilton, hadn't even had time to feel dejected before suddenly realizing another Mercedes was behind him.

After seeing this Mercedes, Verstappen was momentarily dazed, with a strange illusion that the car behind wasn't Qin Miao's #66 Mercedes W12, but #44 instead.

Yet Qin Miao's red helmet was glaringly obvious to Verstappen.

This damn wall of lament is what it is.

If it weren't for Qin Miao blocking him for those few laps earlier, Hamilton wouldn't have caught up with Verstappen so quickly now, and the race would still be unpredictable.

But what puzzled Verstappen endlessly was why the wall of lament he had painstakingly climbed suddenly switched to targeting him.

Yet Qin Miao wouldn't give Verstappen more time to ponder the reasons.

Once he deployed his skill, Qin Miao started putting pressure on Verstappen.

Lap 59, T7, T8, just out of the corner, in such a spot not suitable for overtaking, Qin Miao began probing on the inside line, continuously putting pressure on Verstappen.

As Qin Miao applied pressure, Verstappen's stress level increased by 1%.

Qin Miao remembered that Verstappen's pressure level didn't rise so quickly before, so it was likely Hamilton's overtaking brought significant psychological pressure to Verstappen, making him a bit unstable now.

Not wasting much time, Qin Miao completed the overtaking of Verstappen on lap 61 down the main straight using DRS.

Actually, when exiting the corner, Qin Miao was still following the tire-conserving line, but after the exit, he had DRS and unused ERS.

As for Verstappen, having just finished a battle with Hamilton, his tires were already overheated and worn, and the ERS battery was drained during the fight, leaving him with few options.

He started drawing a dragon in a small range on the defensive racing line, similar to how Qin Miao defended against him.

After spotting Verstappen's move, Qin Miao stopped using his slipstream; with his relatively faster speed than Verstappen, a straight-line pull-off was enough.

Realizing Qin Miao's intent, Verstappen didn't make any further moves, as the relative speed gap was too large; against absolute speed, skill offered nearly no help.

Ultimately, Qin Miao didn't use up half of his ERS charge and finished overtaking Verstappen before the braking point at T1.

Seeing the familiar taillights of the car ahead, Verstappen knew he likely wouldn't sleep well after the race; his dreams were likely to be filled with the taillights of Qin Miao's Mercedes.

Actually, this race can't be blamed on Verstappen's driving; it was mainly due to Red Bull's strategy team opting for safety.

If Verstappen had pitted alongside Hamilton for a set of mediums with just two or three laps, he could have landed at least second after passing Qin Miao.

With the set that overtook Qin Miao and defended against Hamilton for three laps, whose grip was already at the limit, Verstappen could only watch as Qin Miao gradually widened the gap.

Suddenly, Verstappen asked on TR, "How long has Qin been using this set of mediums? Why does it still have such strong grip?"

Verstappen's question puzzled his track engineer, who then looked at the display showing the status and speed of all cars given by the FIA. The number after Qin Miao's yellow medium tires made his eyebrows jump: 53 laps.

If chatting online, seeing Qin Miao's tire usage laps, he would surely post several question marks to express his confusion, shock, puzzlement, and bewilderment.

It's not that your tire-conserving ability is strong, nor can I accept you running over fifty laps on mediums; but why does your grip remain even stronger than Verstappen's after running for so long?

Why?

This isn't scientific!

Is Qin Miao actually using hard tires disguised as yellow on the outside?

Soon, Verstappen's TR communication with the team was released, and everyone discovered that Qin Miao hadn't pitted again after Tsunoda retired.

The three commentators discussed this issue.

"Something's off, how can Qin Miao run on this set of mediums for so long?"

"I recall he only pitted once when Tsunoda retired, and didn't pit again for the rest of the race, right?"

"When did Pirelli's tires become so durable?"

[The Pirelli special blend appears]

[Pirelli should really thank Qin Miao; what great promotional material]

[True Pirelli]

[Investigate intensively!]

[Ridiculous, running mediums as hard tires, and still being able to overtake after running so long]

[Youngsters these days make too much fuss; watch Qin Miao's F2 races and you will know his tire-conserving ability has always been outrageous]

...

The durability of Qin Miao's tires amazed those off the track.

And Qin Miao was a bit troubled at this time since Verstappen kept probing him with tentative attacks.

Although Qin Miao overtook him taking advantage of Verstappen's high tire wear, overheating, and depleted ERS battery timing.

But Verstappen, after all, is a genius driver who can contend with Hamilton driving a Mars Rover while he is in a Red Bull.

Once the tire temperature dropped and the ERS charged for two laps, naturally, Verstappen would fight back for second place.

However, the good news was that Verstappen's tire condition was far worse than Qin Miao's.

Even with the Honda engine's support, Verstappen's limit was merely keeping up with Qin Miao, occasionally peeking in the DRS zone.

But due to tire wear issues, Verstappen lacked grip, often braking early to prevent his tires from locking or missing the braking point.

Facing Verstappen's approaching tactics, Qin Miao couldn't judge whether he intended a real attack or mere pressure.

Therefore, the pressure was even greater.

Ultimately the result was positive; after defending for two laps, Verstappen's tires were done for, entering the cliff.

The lap times quickly slowed, each lap trailing Qin Miao by roughly a second, and this decay rate continued to increase rapidly.

Admittedly, with less than three laps remaining, Leclerc, fourth, trailed Verstappen by 22 seconds, so even if the tires hit the cliff, Verstappen didn't need to worry about losing position.

Nonetheless, the original secure second turned into third, surely dampening the spirits of Verstappen and Red Bull.

The two Mercedes drivers managed to open up a gap of over four seconds on the trailing car on the final lap, leaving no suspense regarding the race's outcome.

As the two drivers crossed the finish line one after another, the camera didn't show the Mercedes crew ready to cheer wildly by the railing, but rather focused on Toto in the Mercedes team's P room.

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