How did I become an F1 driver?

Chapter 286 Chapter 289: Austin Qualifying (6K, plus update 1120)

"Nice!"

After the goal was scored, all the Mercedes staff who were watching the game and the marketing department staff who recorded the video applauded and cheered for Hamilton.

Hamilton even clenched his fists and celebrated happily.

Qin Miao clapped unexpectedly. The ball was thrown accurately.

After a brief celebration, Hamilton came over with a smile and gave Qin Miao a high-five.

However, this ball seemed to have exhausted all Hamilton's luck. Hamilton's next three goals all hit the frame.

In the end, only a somewhat embarrassing score of one out of five shots was left.

But Hamilton is not surprised by this. After all, he really can't play basketball, so he is lucky to get one.

After Hamilton finished, it was Qin Miao's turn.

Qin Miao had played basketball for a while when he was studying, but his skills can only be said to be more about participation.

Therefore, Qin Miao only had a game and entertainment mentality towards this activity.

But when Qin Miao really touched the basketball, stood at the free throw line, dribbled the ball twice like Hamilton, and then shot away.

"Shh!"

Hollow into the net.

The moment the basketball hit the net, the crowd of onlookers erupted in the same applause and whistles as when Hamilton made the shot just now.

Qin Miao, on the other hand, was a little dazed. He really threw this ball randomly and scored without expecting it.

After celebrating with Hamilton, he came back to stand and the second ball was in Qin Miao's hands.

After a simple dribble, Qin Miao made some adjustments and raised the basketball above his head. This time he threw the ball honestly according to his own habits.

"Shh!"

Hollow into the net again.

The cheers grew louder.

Qin Miao was even more confused. Is my basketball talent so good?When you were studying, you also played basketball in physical education class?But at that time, I didn’t seem to have hit a few free throw line shots, right?Most shots from the three-point line are made without touching the three-point line...

Is it because I didn’t have enough strength when I was a child?
Third ball.

"Shh!"

Fourth ball.

"Shh!"

After throwing it here, Qin Miao felt happy, and even thought the sound of the basketball passing through the net was quite pleasant.

But Hamilton and other Mercedes staff have big question marks on their heads.

I asked you to come to an event, but I didn't ask you to come to play in the gym. Why are you driving like this?Go play in the NBA!
What?How much money can you make playing in the NBA without driving?

That's fine.

On the fifth goal, Qin Miao finally missed the net again. Qin Miao has stayed abroad for so long, and he still understands a little bit about the world.

Your teammates made 5 of 1 shots, and you made 5 of 5 shots. This is outrageous.

Although this is just an entertainment game, if you really do this, your teammates' faces will definitely not look good.

Therefore, Qin Miao threw the last ball very casually, which of course could not be seen from the outside.

The basketball drew a beautiful arc and then hit the backboard with a bang, then bounced to the outermost basket and flew away.

5 out of 4 shots was considered a good result, and as soon as Qin Miao's result came out, it was obvious who the winner of this game was.

Hamilton came to Qin Miao with some confusion. While shaking hands with Qin Miao, he asked curiously: "Have you practiced before? Why are you so skilled?"

Qin Miao smiled and spread his hands: "No kidding, I haven't really practiced basketball before. I can perform like this today probably just because of good luck. Of course, I don't rule out the possibility that I am very talented in basketball."

Hamilton has known Qin Miao for so long, but he has never seen Qin Miao tell any lies in front of him, so after Hamilton thought about it for a while, he agreed with Qin Miao's statement.

Then he said jokingly: "It seems that the American basketball world has lost a top shooter like Curry."

"No, no, no, no, I'm self-aware. I can't compare with those geniuses." Qin Miao waved her hand quickly.

After arriving here, the first stage of this small event came to an end, and Qin Miao won.

After all, this is a video for fans, so there is no punishment.

The second stage is to shoot three-pointers.

Hamilton, who couldn't even make a shot from the free throw line, didn't do much better when it came to three-pointers, still making 5 of 1 shots.

Seeing this, Qin Miao continued to let loose, so the next few goals were thrown casually.

In the end, he made 5 of 2 shots, which was a little bit of relief for Hamilton.

The third stage is all about dribbling.

After reaching this stage, Qin Miao's novice nature was fully exposed. At first glance, it seemed that he was not very good at dribbling and could not master the basic skills well.

Of course, Hamilton didn't hesitate to give in too much. Let these two compete in dribbling, and it would really be for the audience to watch novices pecking each other.

However, Qin Miao's shooting skills are enough to bring a big surprise to Mercedes fans who like to play basketball.

After the event, Qin Miao and the others experienced several entertainment activities that are very common among American car fans, such as throwing Frisbees and baseball.

After this event, all Qin Miao's marketing activities on Thursday ended.

In fact, there was a sponsor dinner for Mercedes-Benz in the evening, but Qin Miao didn't go directly. The people who went this time were Hamilton, Toto, and Bottas.

After such a long period of intensive marketing, although Qin Miao didn't mention that he wanted to take a rest, Toto still took the initiative to reduce Qin Miao's burden.

Friday, the day when the first and second training starts.

Although Qin Miao will receive a penalty in the US race, there is not no good news.

That is, after coming to the United States, it finally stopped raining during the three days of the race and practice.

And the average track temperature is around 50 degrees Celsius, which is extremely suitable for competition.

In other words, Qin Miao can go full throttle and chase the driver in front of him without any scruples during the race on Sunday.

One practice.

Because he was not familiar with the American circuit, Qin Miao did not run as fast as he should during the entire practice, and his fastest result was only ranked sixth.

Qin Miao spent the entire first practice getting familiar with the track and running long-distance tests.

The team is used to Qin Miao's slow start in practice sessions.

Although due to Qin Miao's slow start, the team could not spend all three practice sessions on improving Qin Miao's single lap speed.

But this is what rookie drivers do when facing a track they are unfamiliar with. Teams like Williams, Haas, and Alfa Romeo are relatively familiar with this.

Mercedes is not used to it just because they have never brought such a new F1 driver.

As the defending champion team, the drivers who join the Mercedes team are generally those who have already achieved certain results in the paddock.

And it is impossible for these drivers to make the same problems that rookie drivers like Qin Miao often make.

Of course, despite this, Qin Miao was always able to quickly become familiar with this track and achieved results that satisfied the team in the next few practice sessions.

At the end of the final practice session, Hamilton was first, Verstappen second, Leclerc third, and Qin Miao sixth.

After a short break at halftime, Franky also chatted with Qin Miao about what he didn't do well enough in this practice session and needed to improve and adjust in the next practice session.

It is worth mentioning that in this game, when Barber went to Hamilton's assistant to ask for Hamilton's racing data, the other party politely refused.

In other words, Qin Miao had to set up and debug his car by himself and his team for this competition.

Qin Miao was a little surprised when he got the news, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with Hamilton's approach, let alone any negative emotions. He felt that Hamilton suddenly stopped giving him data because Hamilton was stingy, looking down on himself or something else.

Hamilton shares his data for free as a courtesy, but not as a duty.

There is a saying that has been circulating in China for a long time: if you rely on everyone to run, the mountain will fall if you rely on it.

It is better to rely on yourself than to rely on anyone.

On the contrary, Barber and Franky were a little aggrieved.

Qin Miao also gave them a few words of advice.

Second practice.

In the second training stage, Qin Miao already has a clear understanding of his car and is familiar with the track.

Even compared to other tracks that Qin Miao has never run on, it is easier for Qin Miao to become familiar with the American circuit.

After all, the Circuit of the Americas is actually a suture of other circuits, and you can see many shadows of other circuits here.

Among them, what impressed Qin Miao the most were the continuous bends like those in Silverstone.

So in the second practice stage, with the familiarity gained from the first practice, Qin Miao started his fastest lap test.

During the second practice, other riders began to test long distances, so at the end of the second practice, Qin Miao actually went directly to the first place.

However, if Qin Miao's results are compared with Hamilton's in first practice, Qin Miao is only less than 0.1 seconds faster than Hamilton.

So if Hamilton is asked to run a flying lap at this time, Hamilton will most likely be faster than Qin Miao.

So Qin Miao doesn't think this second practice champion has anything to be proud of.

Friday, three practices.

In this game, a person stood up that surprised everyone. At the end of the third practice, the person who won the first place was actually Perez, and the second place was not one of the three championship drivers, but Sainz.

Verstappen, Hamilton and Qin Miao, the three championship drivers, ranked third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Of course, it is unknown whether these three people deliberately did not use all their strength during the third training stage.

In short, at the end of the three practices, the rankings of these three people did not reach the position expected by the audience.

After a few hours of rest, qualifying begins.

During the break, the team completed the replacement of Qin Miao's engine parts.In the qualifying stage, despite being punished to start at the end of the team, Qin Miao still got on the track.

Although Qin Miao's racing car is equipped with a brand new engine and gearbox at this time, the team has no way to guarantee that there will be no problems with Qin Miao's power unit.

Therefore, in the Q1 stage, the team wanted to test the stability of Qin Miao's power unit and let Qin Miao run through the running-in period of this engine.

After the running-in period, check the engine again. If there is no problem, you don’t have to worry about Qin Miao’s engine stalling halfway through the race.

After replacing the new engine, Qin Miao's speed has been significantly improved.

After Q1, Qin Miao advanced directly to Q2 in first place. Hamilton and Verstappen, Qin Miao's two main competitors, were ranked behind Qin Miao.

Q2, because Qin Miao was not the only one to have a new engine in this race. In addition to him, Vettel, Alonso and Russell also chose to replace a complete set of power units.

And these drivers who have replaced the new engines have also entered Q2, so in order to be further ahead when starting the race tomorrow, Qin Miao still ran two flying laps in the Q2 stage.

With Qin Miao's strength and Mercedes' car, Qin Miao naturally entered Q3 easily.

In the end, the drivers eliminated in Q2 were: Ocon, Vettel, Giovinazzi, Alonso, and Russell.

After all the drivers who received penalty penalties with Qin Miao were eliminated in the Q2 stage, Qin Miao did not continue running in Q3.

As soon as Q3 started, the on-site director showed the camera to the P room of the Mercedes team, and the camera happened to be focused on Qin Miao's No. 66 car.

Qin Miao just got out of the car at this time. You must know that this is just the beginning of Q3.

"Qin Miao got off the car right away?" Li Bao, today's female commentator, asked somewhat unexpectedly: "Do you need to go to the toilet?"

Because the United States Grand Prix is ​​held at a time that is too underworld for domestic audiences, qualifying starts at 5 a.m.

Due to their age, the two commentators, Fei Ge and Bing Ge, really don't have the energy to stay up late to commentate on the game, so today's qualifying match and tomorrow's main stage will be handled by the three commentators Li Bao, Zhou Haoran, and Wang Yang.

After hearing Li Bao's question, Zhou Haoran explained: "Qin Miao should be preparing to retire. After all, Qin Miao replaced a complete set of power units and gearbox components in this game. No matter what result he gets, he will eventually be Penalty to start at the end of the team.”

Wang Yang also echoed: "Yes, if there are penalties, even if Qin Miao finally gets the pole position in Q3, Qin Miao will eventually be punished to start at the end of the team, so instead of running another Q3, it is better to confirm the engine and There was no problem with the gearbox, and after ranking higher than the three drivers who were also sent to the rear of the team with penalties, they gave up qualifying in Q3 to save a little more engine.

After all, when I watched the pre-match interview, Qin Miao said that if nothing else happens, this will be the last time he replaces engine parts this season.

You definitely need to protect your engine as much as possible to survive until the last race. "

After losing Qin Miao, the Q3 qualifying competition did not lose half of its excitement. The battle between Hamilton and Verstappen was still exciting.

In the Q3 stage, the lap times of these two people in qualifying can be said to be faster than the other one after you sing and I come on stage.

But in the end, it was Verstappen who was better, and this was probably also due to Newey, who returned from injury.

It is also possible that the Circuit of the Americas is not suitable for a muscle car like Mercedes.

Finally, after the clock was stopped in Q3, the rankings of the qualifying drivers were as follows:
1: Verstappen

2: Hamilton

3: Perez
4: Leclerc

5: Sainz
6: Ricardo
7: Norris
8: Gasly
9: Tsunoda

10: Qin Miao

11: O'Connell

12: Vettel
13: Giovinazzi
14: Alonso
15: Russell
16: Stroll

17: Latifi
18: Kimi
19: Mick

20: Ma Zeping
However, the final ranking in qualifying does not represent the starting order for this race.

The starting positions of the drivers in tomorrow’s race are as follows:

(The Austin circuit is a counter-clockwise track, but the starting position is from the pole position to the right.)
First row: Hamilton, Verstappen.

Second row: Leclerc, Perez.

Third row: Ricciardo, Sainz.

Fourth row: Gasly, Norris.

Fifth row: Okuyasu, Tsunoda.

Sixth row: Stroll, Giovinazzi.

Seventh row: Kimi, Latifi.

Eighth row: Ma Zeping, Mick.

Ninth row: Vettel, Qin Miao.

Row [-]: Russell, Alonso.

Qin Miao started from No. 17, second to last row.

Although this starting position is still not very good, it is much better than the team's previous prediction of starting from the back of the team.

At least Qin Miao had three fewer goals to surpass.

However, after qualifying, Qin Miao also discovered a problem, that is, Austin has been in a high temperature state for the past few days.

Both practice and qualifying showed that the soft tires were not adapted to the conditions on this track.

The tire formula given by Pirelli for this race is C2-C4.

However, due to temperature and track characteristics, soft tires are extremely prone to overheating in Austin. Once overheated, graining will occur, and then the tires will wear excessively.

Therefore, even Qin Miao does not intend to use soft tires to create miracles in this race.

It's not that Qin Miao doesn't want to, or that Qin Miao doesn't have the ability. The main reason is that the soft tires really can't hold up for too many laps, especially when Qin Miao needs to drive fiercely and constantly surpass the driver in front of him.

Therefore, after Saturday's qualifying session, the team developed two tire strategies for Qin Miao on Sunday, one with yellow and white stopping, and the other with white and yellow stopping.

The two pit stop strategies are different in their own way. Huang Bai Yi Stop is a very conventional pit stop strategy.

Qin Miao can run a long stop with yellow tires and use other drivers' pit stops to try to overcut them.

You can also rely on the performance of the car and Qin Miao's offensive ability to surpass the drivers in front of you on the track.

Under this pit stop strategy, the team's strategy team had little room to play. It was equivalent to leaving the entire race in the hands of driver Qin Miao, allowing him to control the direction and outcome of the race.

Another pit stop strategy is to stop at white and yellow.

This strategy gives the team a lot of room to operate. They can arrange different pit stops for Qin Miao based on the situation on the field at this time.

Of course, this pit stop strategy also requires Qin Miao to run a long stop.

After Qin Miao saw the two race tactics prepared for him by the team at the meeting, he chose the first one after thinking for a while.

Yellow and white stopped.

Conventional tactics may not be anything eye-catching, but at least they are safer and less risky than those fancy tactics.

After determining the tactics and tire strategies to be used on Sunday, Qin Miao finished his day's work and returned to his hotel leisurely.

Qin Miao had a good sleep.

I don’t know why, but maybe it’s a habit he learned from F2. Qin Miao doesn’t fall asleep because of too much anxiety the night before the start of the race.

But Leclerc has such troubles.

Before the race started on Sunday, while participating in the driver parade, Qin Miao heard complaints from Leclerc next to him.

"To be honest, in the past few game weeks, I have trouble sleeping on Sundays. I always have to roll in bed until early in the morning before I can fall asleep."

Qin Miao smiled and waved to the audience on the sidelines, and replied: "Don't look at those things before going to bed. Another five kilometers, I guarantee you will sleep like a pig."

"Shut up, I really didn't watch anything at night. I went back to the hotel, took a shower and went to bed, but I just lay on the bed tossing and turning and couldn't fall asleep." Although Leclerc was very distressed at the moment, after all, he was facing During the session with the audience, he did not show it and even still had a smile on his face, and he still faced the audience with a smile.

Qin Miao thought for a while: "Unfortunately, I have never experienced this feeling like yours, so I can't give you any help.

But I have a more radical idea. "

Leclerc asked curiously: "What do you think?"

"Find a stick and hit yourself on the head with it before going to bed. It should help." Qin Miao also made a gesture of hitting himself on the head with the stick.

"Go away, do this to yourself, it's already a question whether I can get up and continue running the next morning." Leclerc scolded with a smile.

"Then there's nothing I can do." Qin Miao spread his hands.

Leclerc also had a troubled expression on his face.

"But all joking aside, if it really doesn't work, you can find a famous Chinese medicine doctor. Drinking some Chinese medicine can relieve your symptoms. Of course, you have to find a better Chinese medicine doctor."

"Is there any Chinese medicine here in the United States? I'll go check it out after the game."

"I don't know." Qin Miao's face was full of innocence: "I only know that the traditional Chinese medicine in our country has a strong ability to regulate the human body, but my body is in great shape and it tastes great. Since I was a child, apart from vaccinations, I have never been to the hospital to see a doctor.”

Leclerc: (▼ヘ▼#)
Looking at Leclerc's somewhat angry face, Qin Miao suddenly remembered that she had to ask him for a photo.

But this was the drivers' parade after all. Strictly speaking, Qin Miao was still at work, so Qin Miao didn't take out his phone and took a photo with Leclerc.

Instead, when the driver parade was over, Qin Miao found Leclerc who was about to leave, put his arm around his shoulder and took a group photo with his mobile phone under Leclerc's confused expression.

"What are you doing?"

It’s not like Leclerc has never been taken for a photo. It can even be said that it’s common for F1 drivers to have fans want to take photos with you.

But Leclerc never expected that one day his good friend would come over and put his arm around his shoulders, taking a photo with him like a fan.

If you do this to someone you don't know, Leclerc will accept it.

The key person who did this was Qin Miao. Looking at Qin Miao's face, Leclerc felt awkward no matter how he thought about it.

"It's useful, don't worry about it." Qin Miao replied without looking up while looking down to see if the photo on her phone was clear.

Leclerc was very angry: "You asked me to take a photo without my consent. Strictly speaking, you have violated my portrait rights. I didn't sue you for infringing my portrait rights, which is enough to give you face. Now you actually Still treating me like this?

I give you a chance to reword it! "

"I'm sorry, I was wrong, I'll try again next time!"

Qin Miao admitted her mistake very sincerely, but refused to change it.

(End of this chapter)