Chapter 190 - 122: Sprint Race

Words : 723 Updated : Sep 21st, 2025

Qin Miao will easily dominate all the F2 main race championships under these race rules. So the reverse grid sprint race was born. This time, after arriving at the track, Qin Miao still didn’t get a chance to catch up with Zhou Guanyu. Last time, it was because Zhou Guanyu was delayed and arrived late. This time, the distance between the two cars was too far. If Qin Miao ran over to chat with Zhou Guanyu before the race, he might be penalized by the FIA for missing the start. At the suggestion of Sui Wentao, Qin Miao once again sat in his racing car. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Sitting in the racing car again, Qin Miao was no longer as nervous as he was the first time yesterday. Today, there were still no spectators at the scene, only team staff, FIA officials, and Matthew. All spectators were watching today’s race through the broadcast. Meanwhile, in the Shanghai Five-Star Sports studio, the three hosts who witnessed Qin Miao win his career’s first F2 race yesterday were more excited than ever. Originally, F2 was just an incubator for F1 drivers to them, and the only thing worth paying attention to was Zhou Guanyu. But now it’s different. Now the F2 has not only the strong competitor Zhou Guanyu but also Qin Miao with absolute dominance. For them, F2 is now like an appetizer before the F1 season, something they can savor, often with some surprising elements. After the usual opening remarks, Zhou Haoran briefly explained the rules of the F2 sprint race to those unfamiliar with it. The sprint race is usually 140 kilometers long or runs for 45 minutes. Drivers can choose not to pit. The grid order for the sprint race is determined by the finishing order of the main race, with the top eight finishers starting in reverse order. The top 8 finishers in the sprint race earn points: 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, and 1. The driver who sets the fastest lap in the sprint race and finishes in the top ten gets an additional 2 points. After explaining the rules, the three commentators started discussing topics related to Qin Miao. At that time, Qin Miao had already chosen a new set of tires, so Zhou Haoran said, "Today, Qin Miao is using a set of brand new soft tires. He really intends to complete the entire race on soft tires!" Fei slapped his palm, "I said it during the qualifying session, Prema deliberately saved a set of soft tires so Qin Miao could run the entire sprint race on one set of soft tires." Bing retorted, "When you said that back then, you used a questioning tone. I remember clearly, you were also doubting Qin then!" Fei said, "At that time, I indeed lacked understanding of Qin Miao, but now isn’t he doing exactly what I speculated?" Qin Miao’s plan was decided long ago, to complete the entire 28 laps of the sprint race on one set of soft tires. Yesterday, with 42 laps of fuel, Qin Miao’s single set of soft tires lasted 29 laps and still had some life left. Today, Qin Miao’s car carried more fuel for overtaking, but it was still 10 laps less than yesterday, only 32 laps, making it at least 50 kg lighter than yesterday. With a lighter car, tire wear naturally reduces. After some calculations, the team set Qin Miao’s final goal for today as finishing fourth. Although Qin Miao can really endure on soft tires, he is not in the leading position, and overtaking will inevitably wear down the tires. Therefore, after analyzing various data and simulating with Ferrari’s simulator, the team concluded that the highest position Qin Miao could achieve with this strategy was fourth. Qin Miao was not confident about this, because when he chose this set of tires, he just wanted to catch up with a few more from the back row, and when the tires start to degrade, use his defensive skills to fend off the cars behind. Regardless of how this choice turns out, the five red lights above the grid are going out one by one as time passes, so the team’s staff have withdrawn from the track, and the warm-up lap of the sprint race officially begins.

Chapter 190 - 122: Sprint Race

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