How did I become an F1 driver?

Chapter 223 Chapter 221: Paul Ricard (6K, 919 more updates)

After all, when Qin Miao pulled him to run on the track, it was just like what Qin Miao said when this guest asked Qin Miao, he had no reservations.

In all corners, Qin Miao ran according to the limit of the AMG GT beneath him.

Even if an F1 driver is driving a car that is not too fast compared to an F1 car, it will still be very scary when he gets off the track.

Because Qin Miao is pursuing the limit, many times from his perspective, Qin Miao's driving looks like an out-of-control beast, rushing directly towards the outside of the track, or the protective wall, or the buffer zone.

Then Qin Miao stabilized him at the critical moment, or pulled him back again.

This dual physical and mental stimulation made Qin Miao's first guest deeply feel the horror and excitement of the sport of racing.

While he was in a daze while sitting on the racing car, Qin Miao took off his helmet and revealed his face.

Seeing that there was no reaction from the other party, Qin Miao took the initiative to reach out and said: "Thank you for your support of the Mercedes-Benz Petronas F1 Team. I hope you can come and ride in my car next time."

The man came back to his senses after hearing Qin Miao's words. After shaking Qin Miao's hand, he turned around and began to unfasten his seat belt. Although he saw Qin Miao's face when he shook hands with Qin Miao just now, At this moment, he was still addicted to the pleasure of speeding on the track and didn't notice anything unusual.

Qin Miao was a little surprised, but he was not in a hurry. After retracting his hand, he folded his hands freely on the helmet and waited to see when he could react.

The other party had just unbuckled his seat belt and was about to open the door and get out of the car, when he suddenly paused.

Then he suddenly turned his head and looked at Qin Miao.

After seeing Qin Miao's face clearly, there was an obvious pause in his whole body, and then he asked with three points of surprise, five points of disbelief, and two points of surprise: "Are you...Qin Miao?"

It is worth mentioning that those fans or F1 viewers in the past usually called Qin Miao after seeing him: Qin.

After all, according to the habits of foreigners, they usually call people by their last name. Only those with particularly good relationships will call people by their first name. And unless you are introducing someone to others, you will not normally call someone by their last name. They were all called out by their first names.

But as Qin Miao's performance in F1 got better and better, and his influence became higher and higher, people began to call Qin Miao according to the name of Qin Miao's hometown, which is the domestic custom of naming Qin Miao by his full name. .

It can be seen that in many cases, face is not given to you by others, but earned by yourself through your own strength.

Faced with the VIP's exclamation, Qin Miao smiled and nodded: "If nothing else happens, this should be my name."

"Oh my god!" When the other party saw Qin Miao nodding, he put his head in his hands. He was a little excited and couldn't help himself: "I can't believe it was you who took me to experience the track for the first time. Oh My God."

Qin Miao smiled and shrugged: "Then I should thank you. I didn't vomit in the car for the first time, and I didn't vomit on my body."

"If I had known it was you in advance, I might have vomited before I even got in the car because I was too nervous." Although the other party was very excited when he saw that the person sitting next to him was Qin Miao, he still made a joke.

"Then it seems I have to say thank you." Qin Miao also smiled and joked.

"No, no, no." The other party waved his hand quickly.

But then he asked excitedly: "Qin Miao, can I shake your hand again? It didn't feel very real just now."

Naturally, Qin Miao had no reason to refuse. He extended his hand to shake hands with the fans, took a photo with them, and signed his name in Chinese on the chest of his Mercedes uniform.

Then the other party left reluctantly.

However, before the other party left, Qin Miao still asked him for the right to make the scene into a video and release it. After all, Qin Miao still had a publicity task.

The other party also readily agreed.

This is not a good thing in Western countries. Portrait rights are easily infringed upon. If you use the other party’s appearance without their consent, the other party will really be able to sue you.

But this was just because he was Qin Miao's first guest, so Qin Miao said more words.

Qin Miao, the subsequent guest, simply stopped asking because the team's media department would take the initiative to ask.

After sending the other party away, Qin Miao put on the helmet again and started business again.

After entertaining three guests in a row, Qin Miao was ready to pick up the last guest and leave work.

And the last one is finally a girl.

The other person looks very young. Considering that foreigners are generally older than they appear, this person should be underage or just coming of age.

And those who can spend money to participate in this event are basically rich people, so Qin Miao thinks that the other party may be a rich lady in Europe.

But the identity of the other party has nothing to do with Qin Miao.

After making sure that the other party's seat belt was fastened, Qin Miao started his last lap.

Qin Miao's last customer didn't say much, but she clenched her fists nervously throughout the whole process, tightly clasping the place on the car where she could fix her body.

You could tell I was really nervous.

However, Qin Miao didn't mean to show mercy at all. Wherever the limit of the car was, he would push it as far as he could.

then……

This girl made Qin Miao vomit.

This was the first time Qin Miao had vomited today.

Fortunately, she also had a certain degree of subjective initiative. When she felt that she was about to die, she snatched the garbage bags from the car.

Seeing this, Qin Miao didn't push the car too far in the subsequent corners, and honestly brought the car back to the maintenance area.

Even though this girl was vomited by Qin Miao, after Qin Miao took off her helmet, her eyes really lit up when she saw that the person taking her off the track was Qin Miao.

Although it was a bit painful when the other party asked for dozens of photos and autographs, Qin Miao finally completed all her tasks and retired successfully.

These recorded materials will be handed over to the people in the Meiben media department for processing, and these have little to do with Qin Miao.

Soon, Qin Miao returned to the team home and changed into racing clothes, preparing to participate in the third practice.

However, there is a saying. The Paul Ricard track can be ranked in the top three among all the tracks that Qin Miao dislikes. The first one is naturally Monaco.

The main reason why I dislike the Paul Ricard Circuit so much is that there are too few references on this track, and the stacking of blue and red on the track is even a bit misleading.

But after all, he is an F1 driver, so he still has some resistance in this regard.

And after reaching 1000 track proficiency, Qin Miao can even reversely mirror the outline of the track in his mind.

So although the color of the track was misleading, Qin Miao basically didn't miss a spot during the practice session.

In the third training stage, Qin Miao finally completed all the team's test tasks.

At the end of the final three practices, Qin Miao ranked third.

After looking at the preliminary rounds, the game then came to the qualifying stage.

However, there was an accident at the beginning of qualifying.

Less than a minute after the start of Q1, Tsunoda Yuki hit the wall, and the first red flag of Q1 was dispatched on the spot.

Fortunately, neither of the Mercedes drivers came out at this time, and there was no tire damage.

About half a minute before the end of the first practice, Mick Schumacher rushed off the track again, triggering a yellow flag, which then turned into a red flag.

Fortunately, Qin Miao and Hamilton had already completed an effective Q1 result at this time. The only unlucky guy was Stroll, who ended the race without even running the last flying lap.

Qin Miao also successfully advanced by ranking seventh on his first flight lap.

Because there is not enough time, Q1 will not restart.

Q2, Qin Miao's race was different from the past. When Q2 came out, Qin Miao did not continue to use soft tires, but put on a new set of medium tires like other drivers.

It's not that Qin Miao's ability to protect tires is gone, but that the team's strategy team wants Qin Miao to change his tactics and run on medium tires to see the effect.

And the tire formula given by Pirelli at the Paul Ricard Circuit this week is C4-C2, which are the three tires in the middle.

When Qin Miao was testing, the soft tires were indeed very fast on this track, but they also wore out very quickly, beyond imagination.

So much so that with Qin Miao's ability to protect tires, he couldn't use soft tires to make a red and yellow stop at the Paul Ricard Circuit. A red and white stop is feasible, but according to calculations, the speed of doing so is not very high. Would be ideal.

And if he does this, Qin Miao will inevitably encounter the situation of being timid during the game.

Just like Baku in the last race, I had to slow down to protect my tires in the late stages.

If it weren't for Verstappen's mistake and Qin Miao's mistake in that race, he would have taken home the runner-up spot.

According to the team's simulation, if Qin Miao starts with yellow tires and then pits for white tires after a stop, his lap time may be about two seconds slower than the overall time of a red and yellow stop.

But based on Qin Miao's ability to protect her pregnancy and the offensive and defensive abilities Qin Miao showed in the last two games, he may be able to show more on the court.

Even if he encounters the same situation as the last race in Baku again, Qin Miao does not have to worry about running out of tires and can only slow down to protect the tires.

At least Qin Miao had enough tires for him to race on the track throughout the entire race.

Of course, these are just the team's calculations, a set of tactics laid out for Qin Miao.

Qin Miao actually has other tactics to choose from, but Qin Miao really doesn't know much about tactics, and as a driver, he doesn't receive much information from his perspective on the track. Qin Miao mainly listened to the tactics assigned to him by the team.

Therefore, Qin Miao used medium tires on the first flying lap of Q2.

And it wasn’t just Qin Miao, almost all the drivers put on medium tires in the first flying lap of Q2.

Qin Miao's first flying lap was very good. After finishing the race, he came behind Hamilton, and his lap time was only 0.11 seconds slower than his teammate.After this result, Qin Miao stopped going out for the purpose of protecting the tires. Moreover, with Qin Miao's result, it was almost half a second beyond the Q3 cut-off line. It was basically a result that would ensure a safe entry into Q3.

With Qin Miao's level of laziness, he would definitely not run away again.

In the end, Qin Miao advanced in fifth place after the clock was stopped in Q2.

Q3.

Because of the special conditions in the practice session of this Grand Prix, Qin Miao used a lot less tires in the practice session. Even if Qin Miao drove two new sets of tires in Q3, he still had a new set of soft tires in the race. use.

Therefore, Qin Miao and his crew members were the only crew in the paddock that did not have tire anxiety.

After a short rest, Qin Miao started his Q3 flight circle.

However, Qin Miao was not the first to come out and fly in Q3. The first driver to go on the track and start the flying lap was Verstappen, followed by Perez.

Qin Miao was behind the two Red Bull drivers, and behind him was Hamilton.

The four drivers from the two major teams started their flying laps almost one after another.

After the final Hamilton crossed the line, the results of the four drivers that the audience was most concerned about were revealed.

Verstappen was first, Hamilton second, Qin Miao third and Perez fourth.

After a short break, Qin Miao was released to run the second flying lap with 3 minutes left before the end of the game.

In the end, Qin Miao's flying lap results were in line with the team's and most people's expectations for Qin Miao's speed.

Third level green, final time 1 minute 30 seconds 3.

Normally, this result is very good, but there was an abnormality in today's qualifying. Verstappen didn't know how to run. The second and third time periods of Q3 were both purple, and the final result was a direct breakthrough. 1 minute and 30 seconds came to the terrifying 1 minute, 29 seconds and 9 seconds.

In the end, Hamilton and Qin Miao could only finish behind Verstappen.

After the final qualifying session, Verstappen was first, Hamilton second, Qin Miao third and Perez fourth.

It can be seen from this ranking that after the start of the race, Verstappen will need to face the pressure brought by the joint encirclement and suppression of the two Mercedes cars.

His teammate Perez could not provide him with any support at this time.

After the qualifying session, the director showed the camera to Mercedes' team P room.

Although Toto in the P room of the team did not see the two drivers starting from the front row that he most wanted to see, the two drivers starting second and third was within his expectation.

So after seeing this scene, Toto heartily applauded his two favorite generals.

The Red Bull Racing P room on the other side is happier.

From the perspective of fairy tales, Mercedes is the dragon, and Red Bull is the brave man who challenges the dragon.

So after defeating an opponent who was stronger than him, everyone in the P room of the Red Bull Racing Team was jubilant.

The spectators at the scene also gave Verstappen warm applause when he parked his car and waved to them as he got out of the car.

After a while, Qin Miao and Hamilton also brought their cars back to the starting grid position on the track.

After Qin Miao got out of the car, the scene immediately erupted with cheers similar to those he might as well give in when Verstappen waved just now. He turned his head and saw that the audience was cheering and applauding him.

Qin Miao also smiled and waved to them.

It is worth mentioning that although there were not many spectators in this game, Qin Miao still saw domestic fans holding national flags at the scene.

As the saying goes, domestic audiences are like street kids, and they can be seen everywhere in the world.

After seeing them, Qin Miao naturally smiled and waved to them. No matter what, being able to come to the scene to support him was a sign of affection, and he had to show an attitude.

The host of the subsequent post-race interview asked Qin Miao: After running so many races and winning two races, when will Qin Miao get the first pole position in his career?
Faced with this problem, Qin Miao was also helpless. He was really trying his best, but Verstappen and Hamilton were a bit unbelievable in terms of their abilities in qualifying.

Qin Miao's ranking ability of 91 points can barely keep up with their pace. If he wants to surpass them, he will have to work hard on his ranking ability for a period of time before he can possibly surpass these two.

Therefore, if I want to grab the pole position from them at this stage, in addition to strengthening my single lap speed, I also need to wait for an opportunity where these two people make mistakes.

However, for Qin Miao as a rookie and as Mercedes' second driver, Qin Miao's results and performance at this stage are absolutely perfect.

After conveying his meaning with a smile, Qin Miao's interview session ended.

After the interview, Qin Miao returned to the team to tidy up and then started fan activities.

Although only 30% of the spectators were allowed in on Friday, even though the number is small, they are still spectators. That is the basis of F1, a business league, so if there is no emergency, you still have to interact with fans after the game.

However, when it comes to facing fans, Qin Miao has gone from being embarrassed and at a loss at the beginning to now feeling comfortable and relaxed.

Now it doesn't take Qin Miao too much energy to meet and interact with fans.

Work ends faster on Saturday than on Thursday and Friday. After all, tomorrow is the main competition. If you work too late today, it will have a serious impact on the players' competitive status on the second day.

Qin Miao returned to the hotel at around seven o'clock in the evening.

Under Barber's supervision, I ate a delicious dinner and then went to bed.

When it comes to eating, Qin Miao has a talent that makes Hamilton envious to the point of falling apart.

That is, Qin Miao never has to worry about being overweight.

F1 drivers will strictly control their weight before each grand prix. They will not let their weight fall below the FIA's requirements, nor will they let their weight exceed the team's requirements.

This value is generally kept within one kilogram.

Therefore, many riders spend time losing or gaining weight before the start of the race due to weight issues.

Qin Miao has never had this problem. He is basically not very fat and loses weight very slowly. He can eat whatever he wants without any restrictions.

It was also an accident that Hamilton was in the team's lounge when he was about to talk to Qin Miao about plans for media activities. Hamilton opened the door and saw Qin Miao eating fiercely.

Then Hamilton knew that Qin Miao could eat whatever he wanted without getting fat, and Hamilton's eyes turned red on the spot.

……

The next day is the main game.

Qin Miao came to the track very early. After all, there were pre-race activities before the start of the race.

Such as driver parades and some meetings with team VIPs.

After all, there are spectators entering the venue today, and F1 has implemented the business philosophy that the spectators are God throughout its entire event.

So even though the audience that came to the scene today was only half of the previous years, all the processes were not missing.

After all these miscellaneous things were completed, Qin Miao went to the P room of the team to start preparations before the game.

Tsunoda started in the pit area during today's race, so there were only 19 cars on the track at the start.

However, Tsunoda still completed the pre-race preparations on the track.

Qin Miao and the Mercedes-Benz staff were all familiar with the subsequent process.

Soon, all the staff evacuated and the tire warm-up lap began.

It is worth mentioning that during the Azerbaijan race, two cars retired due to punctures, and Pirelli's business in the Netherlands suffered a devastating blow because of Verstappen's kick. For this race Pirelli increased the pressure on the rear tires of all drivers.

Because high tire pressure means that the tire is hard and the contact area with the ground is small. Correspondingly, the grip and wear will be smaller, and it is less likely to have a flat tire while running like in the last game. .

After returning from the warm-up lap, the five red lights lit up one by one and the race began.

Both Qin Miao and Hamilton had a good start, but no one was faster than the other. Verstappen also had a good start.

Therefore, the distance between the three of them did not get closer or wider after starting.

However, Red Bull's Perez was very slow after the start. At least for the top three drivers, he was visibly pulled away after the start. Even Sainz behind him completed the wheel with him after the start. Opposite wheels side by side.

But Wofa gave up on car research and development for this season early after all, and like Haas, invested most of his resources in car research and development after the new regulations are implemented next season.

So Perez finally secured his position.

Just when everyone thought the starting stage of the race was about to end, Verstappen, who started from pole position, had an accident.

When he came out of the T1 turn, the car inexplicably pushed forward and went off the track at Turn 1.

Naturally, it was impossible for Hamilton to give up this overwhelming wealth and directly take the leading position in his hands.

After Qin Miao found out, he also wanted to take advantage, but after all, Qin Miao was still far away from Verstappen, and Qin Miao's exit speed was not as fast as Hamilton's due to the turbulence, so he naturally wanted to It’s also harder to catch Verstappen.

When Qin Miao was about to overtake, Verstappen accidentally got stuck in front of Qin Miao.

However, as strong as Verstappen, it still takes some time to rush out of the track, return to the track and find his normal driving rhythm on the track, so Qin Miao continued to take turns on the subsequent tracks, and finally won T7 The overtaking of Verstappen was completed on this straight road between the T8 and T[-].

At this point, the Mercedes-Benz two-car team made a dream start. The original starting order of second and third was reduced to first and second.

(End of this chapter)