How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 946 373: Accident-Filled Qualifying Race

Alonso, whose starting speed has always been quite good, had an average start in today's race and was quickly caught up by Qin Miao from behind.Since Qin Miao had already overtaken Alonso, who was directly in front, it was natural that Vettel, who started on Qin Miao's right front, was also quickly surpassed by Qin Miao.

The heavy rain in this race seems not to be very friendly to the older drivers whose reaction speed is not as good as the youngsters.

Actually, after overtaking these two, Qin Miao could already say he was quite satisfied; after all, gaining two positions in the starting phase to reach ninth place was an unexpected surprise for Qin Miao.

Next, Qin Miao planned to utilize his long-distance speed advantage on the track to gradually chase down the drivers ahead.

However, when the cars reached T2, an accident occurred on the track.

In front of Bottas, Ricardo's right front wheel touched Sainz's left rear wheel when exiting the corner.

Although both drivers were using wet tires, the collision did not immediately bounce Sainz's car due to Ricardo hitting Sainz's left rear wheel.

But this sudden external force caused the rear wheel balance of Sainz's Ferrari, already at its grip limit while cornering, to instantly be lost.

Sainz made a 180° spin on the track.

The two faced each other as they dashed off the track.

During this process, Bottas behind even knocked into Ricardo a bit.

Moreover, unluckily, when rushing off the track, Sainz's rear was facing directly towards the gravel outside the track.

Realizing this, Sainz immediately tried to save himself; the instant the car stopped, he slammed on the accelerator, attempting to regain power.

Unfortunately, entering the gravel in reverse meant there was basically no need to attempt self-rescue; the car had completely stopped, and no matter how much Sainz pressed the accelerator, the rear wheels only spun helplessly, unable to provide any power to the car.

The race had just begun, yet Sainz's first home race of the year ended in such a dramatic fashion.

Therefore, Qin Miao, who started 11th, didn't even have time to enjoy overtaking two drivers, inexplicably soaring from 9th to 7th place.

Bottas, originally in 6th place, was unfortunately impacted because he was right behind Ricardo, especially during the collision; Bottas noticeably slowed down to avoid the two cars exiting the corner.

Hence, Magelsen and Qin Miao took advantage of this situation, each advancing a position.

Magelsen rose to 5th, Qin Miao to 6th.

What made Qin Miao even happier was that due to this accident, the top five drivers had already pulled far ahead.

But after the accident, the safety car was deployed.

This meant that the race positions would be compressed again, nullifying the advantage gained by the leading drivers.

During the safety car period, the race organizers also provided a replay of the accident.

The replay showed that after exiting the corner, Ricardo's direction was consistently turning left; however, he suddenly accelerated a bit too much, causing the car to exhibit a subtle understeer not easily noticeable.

Most people might not react to such a situation, but for seasoned drivers with car intuition, it's like setting off a firecracker next to your ear.

So once Ricardo realized, he immediately corrected it.

And it was due to this correction that Ricardo slightly turned his car to the right post-exit, resulting in the collision with Sainz which wouldn't have otherwise happened.

There was no doubt that Ricardo was fully responsible for the accident.