On the Mercedes side, although they do hope Qin Miao can help Hamilton block Verstappen, that is not Qin Miao's main task. The team cannot issue orders for Qin Miao to sacrifice his own interests for Hamilton's benefit.
If such an order were given, not only would Qin Miao be dissatisfied, but Mercedes' fans and supporters would also be displeased with the team's management, and even the higher-ups might demand accountability.
So for now, the team lets the drivers run their own pace.
This is true for both Qin Miao and Hamilton.
After following Hamilton's pace for the pit stops, Verstappen still came out ahead of Hamilton, as Verstappen's early advantage was too significant.
Hamilton, relying on just one out-lap, couldn't reduce the gap much. Moreover, a mistake was made during Hamilton's tire change, resulting in a total time of 3.2 seconds.
This made it even harder to reduce the gap between Verstappen and Hamilton.
