How did I become an F1 driver?

Chapter 259 Chapter 260: Dutch Grand Prix Main Race
It is worth mentioning that because of Latifi's collision, Norris was knocked directly to No. 13 and ultimately missed Q3.

When someone comes down, someone will come up. Giovinazzi picked up the wallet that Norris dropped and successfully advanced to Q3.

Q2 also marked a comma in the collision between the two Williams drivers.

Qin Miao also completed his first effective flying lap before Russell blew the horn of the crash. At that time, Qin Miao still ran the same set of old soft tires used in Q1, so after Q2 stopped the clock, , Qin Miao made the eighth thrilling promotion.

However, because of this, Qin Miao's tire reserve became a reserve of new tires, one white, one yellow, and two red, as well as a set of soft tires that had run two outing laps, but had not run a flying lap.

There were not so many surprises in the Q3 stage, and because there were nearly half the cars on the track, the team was more casual when placing cars.

Throughout Q3, Qin Miao's performance was very stable, but this is Verstappen's home court after all. Verstappen is obviously more familiar with the track, and has practiced more times and time than Qin Miao and the others. Qin Miao's performance is very stable. Miao's speed is still much slower than his, but the speed gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton is not big.

When the first flying lap of Q3 was completed, Qin Miao was in third place, with only 0.1 seconds behind Hamilton.

After the last flying lap of Q3, Qin Miao was still in third place.

The final ranking after the end of Q3 is as follows:
Pole position: Verstappen

2: Hamilton

3: Qin Miao

4: Gasly
5: Leclerc

6: Sainz
7: Giovinazzi
8: O'Connell

9: Alonso
10: Ricardo
……

"It's too fast, I can't catch up, I really can't catch up." Qin Miao's voice sounded in the TR of the Mercedes-Benz team, with a bit of helplessness.

Before Frankie could speak, Toto comforted Qin Miao and said, "Don't be frustrated Qin Miao. This is Verstappen's home court. It's an unexpected surprise that you beat him at his home court."

Of course Toto didn't tell Qin Miao that Verstappen's fastest lap was even run without DRS.

The post-race interview session was naturally Verstappen's happiest time. When he was being interviewed, the whole venue was filled with cheers and whistles, and orange smoke was constantly rising from the stands beside the track.

This is a unique way of celebration for Dutch fans and Verstappen fans. Qin Miao has already seen such a scene at the Red Bull Ring. Really, the orange smoke can float along the wind to the race track. On the road.

So while waiting for Verstappen's interview to end, Qin Miao looked at the smoke floating on the track like a scenery.

Soon Verstappen's interview ended and it was Hamilton's turn in second place.

After it was Hamilton's turn, the audience was not so polite. Although the host clearly told the audience not to boo Hamilton when he was waiting for Hamilton to be interviewed. They needed to give the seven-time champion the respect he deserved. But when Hamilton was interviewed, At that time, the scene was still full of boos and noises.

For a while, Hamilton couldn't hear the questions asked by the host, and the host couldn't hear what Hamilton said.

But after all, Hamilton has been in this industry for so long, and he knows very well what kind of piss-poor the fans at the scene are, so when Hamilton was interviewed, he was full of desire for survival, and his words were full of thoughts about the Dutch fans at the scene and Zandvoort. Praise for the track.

It was also because of Hamilton's words that his follow-up interview was able to proceed normally. The audience was still very considerate of the last two questions and did not continue to yell.

Hamilton reciprocated the favor and did not forget to wave to the audience when he left. So when Hamilton ended the interview and left, the audience also gave him applause and cheers.

When Hamilton left the interview position and Qin Miao went to be interviewed, Hamilton patted Qin Miao's arm.

When Qin Miao looked over, Hamilton gave Qin Miao a look.

Qin Miao nodded knowingly.

Hamilton's meaning is obvious: Little brother, big brother has already set an example for you. If you want to be interviewed at your opponent's home court without being embarrassed by the audience, then learn what brother did just now and praise the people in the audience first. Be a fan of the car, say something casually, and then accept the interview normally.

After all, one wears ten thousand clothes and flatters one's ass.

Qin Miao really understood.

So when Qin Miao was interviewed, he also followed Hamilton's instructions and praised the audience, saying that the audience was enthusiastic, the track had a strong atmosphere, and the track was fun.

Therefore, when Qin Miao was interviewed, the audience was just like Hamilton when he was interviewed. They basically did not make too much noise for Qin Miao. After Qin Miao's interview ended, they also gave Qin Miao applause.

Naturally, the cheers and applause received by Qin Miao and Hamilton after the interview ended were not half as loud as the cheers received by Verstappen alone.

After returning to the backstage and sorting out his equipment, Qin Miao went to the post-match interview area with Hamilton and participated in the post-match press conference.

Qin Miao and Hamilton are already familiar with this.

However, the local media in the Netherlands focused more on Verstappen, and Qin Miao and Hamilton were also happy to relax.

After that, Qin Miao had no work, so he went back to the hotel to sleep and see what the online audience thought of Qin Miao's current performance on the field.

It is worth mentioning that Qin Miao has really fed the appetite of domestic fans. Now he performed normally in qualifying and finally got third place. Domestic fans are not very satisfied.

[Why is it only third? 】

[The gap between me and Hamilton in qualifying is only 0.15 seconds. If I had passed a corner better, I might have been second]

【Playing with the original god】

[Didn’t Qin Miao’s cell phone be confiscated by Toto? 】

[Don’t Qin Miao also have a Switch? 】

[It seems that it was also confiscated by Toto]

[It’s so miserable] [I think of the mobile phone that was confiscated by the teacher when I was studying]

[Why is the building crooked again?Now we are discussing Qin Miao’s poor qualifying results]

[Don’t be so harsh on Qin Miao. After all, he is only in the first grade. He is already very good at driving the same car as Hamilton without being pulled too far, okay?]

[That is, your tastes have been spoiled by Qin Miao. Why didn’t you say this when there were no Chinese drivers in the past?]

……

After having fun for a while, Qin Miao put away her mobile phone and went to sleep.

The next day, Qin Miao got up early. When he came to the paddock, he found that there were more spectators at the scene, and none of the spectators who arrived at the scene wore a mask on their face, as if the new coronavirus did not exist, but Kimi was diagnosed with the new coronavirus. And absence is an indisputable fact.

I can only say that he is indeed a foreigner, and he has always run wildly on the road of seeking death.

It is worth mentioning that there were a total of 36 spectators at this week's Grand Prix, and at least half of these people were wearing orange vests.

I won’t go into details about the preparation before the race. Mercedes has arranged different tactics for the two drivers in this week’s race.

Hamilton is preparing for two stops on red, yellow and yellow, but Qin Miao's tactics are different. The team is preparing for him to stop on yellow and red.

According to the team's simulation, this tactic will not affect Qin Miao's overall lap speed, but can also help Hamilton block Verstappen.

If Qin Miao's long-distance speed in this race is really fast enough, Qin Miao's overtaking ability can eventually compete for the championship podium in this race.

Although the team has clearly determined the responsibilities and positions of the two drivers, Hamilton is the No. [-] driver and Qin Miao is the No. [-] driver.

But Mercedes still reserves the possibility for Qin Miao to challenge Hamilton.

So in the pre-race preparations before the start of the race, almost everyone was analyzing what the different tire choices of the two Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Qin Miao meant in this race, and what kind of impact their choices would have on Verstappen. trouble.

During the driver parade before the game, the host asked Qin Miao directly in front of the audience: "Does Mercedes have any tactical preparations specifically for Red Bull in this game?"

Faced with this problem, Qin Miao could only start practicing Tai Chi.

And when Qin Miao, like all other drivers, comes to the track and completes the steps of listening to the Dutch national anthem before the start of the race, and returns to his car to wait for the start of the race, everything will gradually become clear.

After 10 minutes, all team staff withdrew from the track. As the time on the Rolex watch directly above the track reached the prescribed time, all drivers immediately drove out of their parking positions and began the warm-up lap of the Dutch station. .

As soon as the warm-up lap began, orange smoke lit up in the grandstand area of ​​the spectators, who began to support Verstappen.

But one thing is that during the race, the smoke from the audience is good for the drivers, because the drivers can determine the wind direction and wind force on the track based on the direction of the smoke in the hands of the audience.

It is worth mentioning that in this race, Perez simply changed to a new set of engine parts and started from the pit lane with white tires because his starting position was not very good.

The driver who suffers the same fate as Perez, and is even worse than Perez, is Latifi. After crashing during the qualifying stage, he repaired the car with the help of the team staff, but during the race stage, he could only get help from the team. Started in room P.

Soon, the tire warm-up lap was over, and all 18 cars were parked on the starting grid. The medical vehicle was also in place behind. As the green flag waved, the five red lights began to light up one by one.

……

"The five red lights go out, the race begins!" Fei Ge's excited voice reached the ears of all domestic fans who were watching the race.

"Verstappen had a good start and widened the gap with Hamilton from the beginning. Where is Qin Miao?"

"Qin Miao's speed is very fast. He is already parallel to Hamilton! It's hard to believe that Qin Miao, who started with yellow tires, started faster than Hamilton and Verstappen, who started with red tires."

Although Qin Miao started very fast, even faster than Verstappen and Hamilton, he was blocked by Verstappen in front and Hamilton on the right.

There is grass on the right again, and Qin Miao risks losing control if he goes to the right, so until entering T1, Qin Miao has no way to improve his position. He can only get stuck behind Verstappen, wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton. Enter T1.

After entering T1, Verstappen took a defensive route, which happened to be in front of Hamilton, while Qin Miao just had a normal driving route into the corner.

However, because he started faster than Verstappen and was blocked, Qin Miao relaxed the accelerator a little in order to prevent a collision at the beginning. Because of that kick of the accelerator, Qin Miao was not fast enough at the moment, even though Verstappen was blocked. Stapan made way for himself to attack, but Qin Miao couldn't seize this opportunity.

However, in the turning corner of T1, Qin Miao took a high-angle intersection, and Gasly behind Qin Miao also entered the corner not as fast as Mercedes, so he created a certain gap for Qin Miao. Even the two Ferraris behind him were blocked by Gasly.

And this wave of Little Red Bulls are very obviously suspected of collaborating with the enemy.

Of course, although Qin Miao had a sufficient speed advantage over Hamilton after exiting the corner, T1 quickly took a large left turn after exiting the corner, and Qin Miao completely lost his ability to overtake Hamilton at the beginning. Chance.

"Oh, what a pity. Qin Miao made a great start this time, but was blocked by Verstappen and Hamilton, so he could only slow down."

"If Qin Miao's qualifying speed is faster, starting from second place, Qin Miao will definitely win the first place with this excellent start." Zhou Haoran also said with regret: "After getting the first place, Qin Miao will definitely win the first place." With his long-distance ability, tire protection ability and defensive ability, Qin Miao has a high probability of bringing home another championship for Mercedes at the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands."

"Yes, it is indeed a pity, but the race has just started, and Qin Miao is still using yellow tires. I believe the team has arranged different pit stop strategies for Qin Miao. We should continue to look forward to Qin Miao's performance in this race. ." Brother Bing concluded.

……

After passing T3, the positions of the top four drivers have been determined, but the Ferrari and Alpine teammates behind are competing for the starting position, and between the four drivers of these two teams, there is an Alpine driver. Giovinazzi of Rome.

However, Arrow's car was still a bit weak after all. After a few corners, the two Alpines that were still behind him had already overtaken him, and Giovinazzi was overtaken by too many cars at once, and also There was no suitable driving lane for him to walk, and his condition fluctuated.

There was even a collision with Alonso. Fortunately, neither of their cars suffered any damage. However, this collision caused Giovinas to lose his rhythm. Ricciardo behind Giovinas picked up a ball. wallet.

Giovinazzi also had a disastrous start. He started seventh and lost three positions before completing a lap, falling to tenth.

(End of this chapter)