How did I become an F1 driver?

Chapter 273 Chapter 276: Norris’ Desire

Qin Miao had already told the team before the start of Q1 that he wanted to change to dry tires and race on the track.

But the team refused at the time.

And the facts proved that Qin Miao's choice was the right one.

Mercedes-Benz Racing Team cheated Qin Miao again.

Making mistakes is not terrible. What is terrible is that someone told you the correct answer and you still made a mistake. The key is that you also tricked the person who knew the correct answer.

That's pretty embarrassing.

Qin Miao drove his car back to the inspection area in silence.

When getting off the car, Qin Miao saw Hamilton's car. At this time, Qin Miao didn't know that Hamilton had not made the top three in Q3, so Qin Miao was a little surprised after seeing Hamilton's car.

But just as he encountered an unexpected situation, Hamilton may also have encountered an unexpected situation like himself.

So Qin Miao didn't struggle with this matter, but started thinking.

He obviously has the ability, but for one reason or another he is unable to fully utilize his ability and does not achieve good results. If it were Hamilton, what would he do?

While thinking about it, Qin Miao took his helmet and gloves to weigh himself.

The final rankings of Sochi qualifying Q3 are as follows:
1: Norris
2: Sainz
3: Russell
4: Hamilton

5: Ricardo
6: Qin Miao

7: Alonso
8: Stroll

9: Perez
10: O'Connell

It is worth mentioning that Qin Miao and Hamilton's fourth and sixth results in this race were achieved by running on semi-wet tires.

After completing the post-race weigh-in and participating in the post-race interview, Qin Miao returned to the team's P room after finishing her work.

At this time Toto had left the P room of the team and went to the team home.

When Qin Miao came back, he only saw tournament director Ron Meadows but not Toto.

But it didn't take long for Mercedes' strategic director James Vincent to find Qin Miao.

He immediately explained to Qin Miao why the team did not let him stop for tire changes immediately.

In fact, the team's reasons are legitimate.

After all, for Mercedes, the risk of changing to dry-terrain tires from the beginning of the Q3 is too great.

If you change to dry tires at this time, you will only be able to run one flying lap at most, because just like the problem Qin Miao encountered earlier, if you want soft tires to run a flying lap at a suitable working temperature, it will take at least 6 Minutes of preparation time.

After completing an all-out flying lap, Qin Miao had to return to the P room of the team to change new tires, which took another 6 minutes.

A Q3 is only 10 minutes in total. If the soft tire run is not done well, or the results are cancelled, Qin Miao will have to start from tenth in the race tomorrow.

Although no one at Mercedes-Benz doubts Qin Miao's stability, why take risks when there is clearly a way to achieve a good result steadily?

And Russell's appearance was not only unexpected by Mercedes, most of the teams in the paddock did not expect that Russell would suddenly intervene. Alonso, Stroll, Perez and others were not the same as Qin. Like Miao, didn’t he even run the last flying lap?

Otherwise, Big Eye can show off his power in the third place?

Although Qin Miao was a little angry, he really didn't think this was the team's problem. After all, he had a choice at the beginning, and the team asked Qin Miao to run a valid lap on semi-wet tires first. Also agree.

The reason why Qin Miao was angry this time was because his luck was really bad.

Vincent's explanation now gave both parties a step up the ladder, and Qin Miao took advantage of it.

This thing is over.

At this time, Hamilton also returned with his physical trainer Angela.

Qin Miao said hello to the old man, and after meeting Hamilton, Vincent also confessed to Qin Miao and went to find Hamilton.

Sometimes the strategy director of a team is quite humble. Once there is a problem with the team's strategy, he has to put out fires everywhere.

When apologizing to others, he is as humble as a grandson.

Shaking his head to eliminate these distracting thoughts from his mind, Qin Miao packed up his things and held a post-race meeting with Toto, Hamilton and the management staff of the two-man team after the qualifying session.

After that, today's work is completely over.

After returning to the hotel, Qin Miao didn't even look at her phone. She took a shower, lay on the bed with Qiu Meng and chatted for a while before going to bed.

Sunday, the day of the race.

Unlike the meteorological department's report on Friday night, there was no rain in the sky after Qin Miao got up, not even any raindrops.

It's just that the sky is a little gloomy.

This is also good news.

Qin Miao arrived at the paddock in the morning and attended the regular meeting. He didn't take any rest after that and went directly to the team's meteorological department.

Qin Miao mainly went over to see their weather forecast for today.

Qin Miao was quite satisfied with the final result. The meteorological department's report stated:
There is a high probability that there will be two light rains during the period before the start of the game, but these two rains will occur in the morning, and the rain will not be too heavy or last long.

Although the rainwater drainage capacity of the Sochi track is relatively poor, the two rains occurred relatively long before the start of the race, so there is no need to worry about the track being wet during the race.

As long as there is no delay in the main race, the probability of rain in the entire main race is very low.

Of course, in addition, the track temperature will not be too high during the entire race, so there will be a problem of the tires heating up slowly.

However, this problem has little impact on Mercedes' racing cars.

When the Mercedes car is on the track, the tire load is relatively large, so the tire wear during the race will be more serious than that of other cars. Naturally, the tires will heat up more easily.

It can even be said that Mercedes' racing characteristics are particularly suitable for tracks with relatively low temperatures.

This is why Mercedes' cars have always performed very well in Sochi.

After getting the information he wanted, Qin Miao left the team's meteorological department with satisfaction.

When coming out of the meteorological department's office, Qin Miao met Norris in the paddock.Because the two play games together from time to time, the relationship between the two is heating up quickly.

So after seeing Qin Miao, Norris, who was in a good mood, took the initiative to say hello to Qin Miao: "Hi, Qin Miao!"

"Lando, how are you today?" Qin Miao came to Norris with a smile and shook hands with him.

"It's pretty good. Although I was too excited last night and couldn't sleep, I feel like I'm in pretty good shape today, and I have a hunch that this game should be the first race win in my career."

Qin Miao raised his eyebrows, and then said with a smile: "Then I will have to congratulate you properly. You have to express your gratitude after winning the game today."

"Of course, if I really win the championship, call Charles and Zhou Guanyu, and I will take you back to England to see the world." Norris promised, patting his chest.

However, seeing Norris's self-confidence, Qin Miao still advised him from the perspective of a friend: "There will always be opportunities, but I feel that Lando, you are a little too excited. You need to calm down." OK."

Norris was stunned for a moment, then said with a smile: "Thank you, Qin Miao, really, but I am sober now, and my condition has never been so good.

I also understand your concern for me, but you have never experienced this feeling of mine, and you cannot empathize with me at this time.

I entered F1 two years earlier than you. This year is already my third year in F1. However, for such a long time, despite my reputation as a genius, I have not won even one race championship. "

Norris paused here: "Now that I have won the first pole position of my career and have the opportunity to challenge for the first championship of my career, it is normal for me to be a little uncontrollably excited. The phenomenon."

Qin Miao looked at Norris carefully.

Comparing what Norris said to himself, it seemed that this person really didn't feel like he had lost his mind except being a little too excited.

Although there was still some doubt in his heart, since Norris had already said so, Qin Miao couldn't say anything more.

"In this case, it seems that I am worried too much. But the ugly thing is ahead. Although I started in sixth place, I will not give up the opportunity to chase you and Hamilton. Don't cry if you are overtaken by me when the time comes. nose."

"Ha, it's impossible. Just wait. I will definitely win the championship today!"

After a brief chat, Norris left.

Qin Miao looked at the back of the other party who felt a little excited even as he walked, and was still a little worried in his heart.

I hope Norris won’t have any accidents in today’s game.

As for the champion...

It was not an accident that I was passed on the field.

……

At noon, after having lunch and taking a short break, Qin Miao and the Meiben staff became busy.

There was no time to rest until the game was about to start.

Finally, after completing all the pre-race preparations, Qin Miao returned to his familiar cockpit.

Although Qin Miao was mentally and physically exhausted from the three consecutive races half a month ago, Qin Miao really started to miss sitting in the car and waiting for the start after not returning to the car for two weeks.

At this time, all drivers have completed the pre-race process of listening to the Russian national anthem and swearing to abide by the F1 competition regulations.

There were quite a few spectators present today, and the grandstand area opposite Room P was packed with people. A five-star red flag was hung under the grandstand on one side of Qin Miao's starting position.

Qin Miao was making final preparations in his racing car, but when he saw the national flag hanging in the stands, when Qin Miao got into the racing car and entered the state of integration between man and car, he always felt that there was always someone behind him to support him. Feelings of oneself.

Although this feeling will be thrown out of Qin Miao's mind once the game starts, this feeling before the game can effectively alleviate Qin Miao's anxiety during the beginning of the game.

And Qin Miao is more confident.

It is worth mentioning that if Hamilton wins today's game, it will be his 99th career Grand Prix victory.

As long as Hamilton wins one more time this season, Hamilton can reach the historic [-]th career race championship.

Regardless of things like historical status, as long as he can achieve the achievement of winning 100 races, Hamilton will definitely be regarded as the No. 1 in F1 history in terms of statistics.

Therefore, Hamilton, who started ahead of his teammates today, went all out in this game.

Soon, the race meeting gave a notice, all staff on both sides of the track evacuated, and the warm-up lap began.

Qin Miao also used medium tires in this race. The main reason is that it is too difficult for soft tires to heat up on this track, and this track is very long. If kept at a suitable working temperature, Qin Miao's tires will wear out. The speed will be a little too fast.

So in the end, after careful consideration, Qin Miao adopted the strategy of Huang and Bai stopping.

The advantage is that because the temperature is relatively low, the heat dissipation problem of the racing engine is easy to solve, so the team added two more laps of fuel to Qin Miao, so Qin Miao can treat every lap as a qualifying race and push forward with all his strength.

The old man's tactics were much more normal than Qin Miao's, which was a regular yellow and white stop, and he pursued Norris in front of him as much as possible.

Soon, the warm-up lap was completed and the drivers returned to their respective grids.

During the last period, Qin Miao received a TR from the team: "According to the meteorological department's report, it may rain in the last ten laps of the race, but it won't be too heavy. We will remind you then. .”

"Received, but after knowing the news, I began to regret using these medium tires."

"I know what you mean, but the cost-effectiveness of using hard tires is not high, and the rain won't be too heavy."

"All right……"

After a brief communication with the team, Verstappen at the back also stopped where he should.

After adjusting the car's system to the starting mode and releasing all the ERS power, Qin Miao looked at Alonso in his rearview mirror, then at Ricciardo on his left front, and his teammate Hamilton directly in front of him.

In fact, many races over the years have proven to everyone that starting from the dirty side of the Sochi track is very disadvantageous. The track grip here is not as strong as the side of the normal driving lane.

Moreover, what follows immediately after the start is a false right turn, which is a huge disadvantage for the driver on the inside.

So even though he was very confident in his starting speed, Qin Miao couldn't help but take a closer look at his two main opponents, and silently simulated in his mind what might happen after starting, and how he should seize the opportunity. How to avoid danger.

Finally, as the medical vehicle responsible for the pursuit was in place, the green flag waved from behind, and the five red lights began to light up one by one.

Qin Miao moved his hands a little, and then began to increase the engine speed, staring at the indicator light in the distance.

"One, two, three, four, five... five red lights go out!"

"Game start."

(End of this chapter)