How did I become an F1 driver?

After a final discussion with the team, Hamilton first pulled a slipstream for Qin Miao, and then Qin Miao pulled a slipstream for Hamilton.

This arrangement seems very reasonable, and neither of them suffers, but in fact Qin Miao still suffers a little bit compared to Hamilton.

After all, the track conditions for the driver who runs first are definitely not as good as those who run behind.

But there was nothing that could be done. Although Toto said that he would not interfere with the competition between himself and Hamilton, compared with Qin Miao, Mercedes subconsciously still favored Hamilton.

Qin Miao couldn't say anything about this, after all, he was new here.

And compared to Hamilton's contribution to the Mercedes-Benz team, Qin Miao doesn't think there is anything to be aggrieved about in this special treatment.

And after Toto's words, at least on the surface Qin Miao will not encounter uneven distribution of resources within the team. Qin Miao is already very satisfied with the current situation.

In the first flying lap of Q3, Hamilton did indeed create a wake for Qin Miao on the starting straight from T1 to T17. According to the team's estimation, this flying lap was just on this straight road, and Hamilton was able to give Qin Miao a slip. Miao saved 1 seconds.

Moreover, Qin Miao lived up to the wake that Hamilton pulled for him, and completed the flight circle without making any mistakes.

After crossing the line, Qin Miao's score was 1:16.111, temporarily ranking first.

At this time, Verstappen, who was second, had a time of only 1 minute, 16 seconds and 225 seconds.

Red Bull was naturally the first to discover Mercedes' tail-drawing tactics, but after looking at Perez, Red Bull's strategy team could not open the door.

Because the time left at this time is only enough for the drivers to continue running a flying lap on the track, it is impossible for Red Bull to sacrifice Verstappen for Perez's results at this time.

It is even more impossible to let Perez pull the wake of Verstappen for the sake of Verstappen's results.

In any grand prix, Red Bull's strategy team would dare to do this in such a situation, but today's game is in Mexico.

As Perez's home stadium, Red Bull would rather allow both Verstappen and Perez to not enjoy the wake provided by their teammates, and it is impossible to favor one party over the other to benefit one party.

So even if Red Bull discovered Mercedes' towing tactics, they couldn't do anything. This feeling is really like eating a fly, very disgusting.

They could only pinch their noses to recognize the mute.

On the last lap of Q3, Qin Miao created a wake for Hamilton.

It is worth mentioning that Hamilton's flying lap started relatively early, so after helping Hamilton clear the wake, Qin Miao still had enough time to go on the track and run another flying lap before the countdown ended.

However, thanks to Qin Miao's last lap of wake, Hamilton's last lap time entered the 1 minute and 15 seconds mark, reaching 1:15.981, successfully winning the pole position.

In Qin Miao's last flying lap, he made an obvious mistake in giving too much fuel in the second timing period. After the race, the rear wheel lost grip.

Although Qin Miao reacted quickly and immediately fought back to save the car, Qin Miao also lost the opportunity to refresh his own score in the last flying lap of Q3.

But the good news is that because there was no teammate to help him pull out the wake, Verstappen's performance in the last flying lap was not ideal.

When the clock was finally stopped in Q3, Verstappen, like Qin Miao, did not set a new fastest time. They both used the time they ran in the first flying lap of Q3 as their qualifying speed.

In the end, amidst the celebrations in the P room of the Mercedes team, Mercedes took the front row start on this track which is not their traditional strong point.

Hamilton won the pole position, Qin Miao was second, and the two Red Bull drivers, Verstappen Perez, started third and fourth in the second row.

Although everyone knows that the Rodriguez Brothers Circuit is too long on the straightaway, if the driver starting from pole position is not as fast as the driver starting third behind him, he will easily be sucked by the driver behind him. into the wake, causing his pole position to be threatened by the car behind him.

But no one at Mercedes gave up the fight for pole position for this reason.

They still can clearly distinguish which is more important.

Finally, the driver rankings after qualifying are as follows:

1: Hamilton

2: Qin Miao

3: Verstappen

4: Perez
5: Gasly
6: Sainz
7: Ricardo
8: Leclerc

9: Tsunoda

10: Norris
11: Vettel
12: Kimi
13: Russell
14: Giovinazzi
15: O'Connell

16: Alonso
17: Latifi
18: Mick

19: Ma Zeping
20: Stroll

However, at the start, drivers such as Russell, Tsunoda, Norris, Ocon, and Stroll all had new engines like Qin Miao in the previous race, so they were punished and were forced to start at the end of the team.

At the end of the season, basically all the drivers have used up the number of engines stipulated by the FIA, so at this time, everyone can only tighten their belts and accept the penalties imposed by the FIA.

After qualifying, Hamilton, Qin Miao and Verstappen naturally went for post-race interviews.

Qin Miao was relatively satisfied with his ranking, so he was relatively relaxed during the post-match interview. Hamilton also put his arm around Qin Miao's shoulders and thanked Qin Miao.

After all, in the wake of the last lap, Qin Miao really exited the corner from Hamilton and reached the braking point.

Without Qin Miao sparing no effort to pull up the wake for himself, Hamilton knew that he might not be able to break the 1:15 mark with his own speed.

After the interview was over, Qin Miao's day's work was also over.

I returned to the hotel, took a comfortable shower, and then went to bed without doing anything else.

The next day, Sunday, was the start of the main race in Mexico.

There were more fans attending today's race than on Friday and Saturday combined, a total of 36.

In the eyes of this group of people, the epidemic is as if it does not exist. What stands out is that one person plays music and dances after another.

Basically, all the stands that can be seen are full of fans. Where there are people standing, and where there are no people, fans gather in twos and threes.

After two days of the Grand Prix, Qin Miao had a vague hunch. He felt that these people supporting Perez might just be incidental. The real purpose of their coming to this Grand Prix was to attend a large party. Large-scale entertainment activities and the like.To put it simply, they are just a bunch of fun people.

The press conference before the race on Sunday and the driver parade before the race went well. Qin Miao also saw many compatriots here. Among the large group of fans wearing black Red Bull uniforms, he saw several people wearing white. It is also rare to see a fan wearing the Mercedes team uniform.

Qin Miao naturally took out his mobile phone, took a photo of them, and posted it directly on social media, thanking them for coming to the scene to support him, and saying that he would do his best.

This method was also taught to Qin Miao by the old man. It can increase the retention rate of fans and attract fans who like you to come to watch your race.

To be honest, compared to driving skills and car tuning knowledge, what Hamilton taught Qin Miao the most was how to manage his fans and how to have a good relationship with his fans.

Although some of them are not suitable for his own profession, at least what Hamilton teaches is indeed useful.

After all, so far, Qin Miao has seen Chinese fans cheering for him even at Red Bull's home stadium at the Red Bull Ring.

However, this is also the result of Qin Miao's own efforts, but Qin Miao cannot deny the role that Hamilton taught him this knowledge.

……

Soon, all the pre-race preparations were over, and Qin Miao returned to his familiar racing cockpit.

After all the pre-match preparations were completed, Reyes reached out and shook Qin Miao's hand before withdrawing.

"Come on for the game, we are waiting for your good news in Room P."

Qin Miao also stretched out his other hand and patted the back of Reyes' hand and said, "Don't worry, just watch my performance."

After chatting with Qin Miao, Reyes and the others withdrew from the track with their equipment.

As the two green lights came on, the two black Mercedes racing cars drove out of their grid.

Soon, the warm-up lap was over, and Qin Miao found that Hamilton was obviously frantically suppressing the distance between the drivers behind him before he stopped at his starting position.

Compared with Hamilton, Qin Miao was more calm. When Hamilton was still pressing the driver behind him and wanted to wait for him to enter the grid later, Qin Miao was the first to stop at his position.

Half a minute later, the drivers behind them stopped at their starting positions one after another.

Qin Miao was very relaxed at this time. There was no pressure to win the championship, and his points were in a safe position. It can be said that Qin Miao was the most relaxed driver in the whole game.

But Qin Miao soon regretted it...

As Stroll, who was ranked last, was well positioned on the starting grid, the chasing cars behind him were also in position.
As the green flag waved behind, the five red lights began to light up one by one.

Qin Miao began to instinctively increase the engine speed, staring at the indicator light in the distance.

"Five red lights... go out!"

"The main race of the Mexican Grand Prix begins!"

"Qin Miao's start was relatively average. He did not quickly shorten the gap between himself and the driver in front like he did in the previous grand prix!"

"Verstappen made a very good start and we could clearly see that Verstappen was catching up from behind."

"Can Hamilton hold his position?"

On the track, Verstappen actually had a better start than the two Mercedes drivers, but this advantage was not too big.

On a normal track, this advantage is basically negligible. It can also be said that Verstappen does not have any starting advantage.

But Rodriguez Brothers Circuit is different. The starting straight of this track is a bit too long.

The most direct impact of the long starting straight is that Verstappen has enough distance to absorb Hamilton's wake, and he can use his already not too big advantage to use the wake to increase it little by little.

But this is only for the top three drivers.

Because instead of looking at the first three drivers, if you look directly at Perez and Gasly behind Verstappen, you will find that not long after the start, the gap between these two people and the three drivers in front has been They were pulled apart to the extent that they could both enter the lanes of their respective positions.

So it's not that Qin Miao and Hamilton didn't get off to a good start, but that all three of them got off to a good start.

As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison. When the three of them all started well, at first glance, it was natural to feel that none of them had a good start.

Soon, as he continued to accelerate, Verstappen got closer and closer to the rear of Hamilton's car, but the position between Qin Miao and Hamilton did not change much.

After all, Qin Miao, like Hamilton, had no car in front of them to suck their wake.

Moreover, the engine performance of the two cars is almost the same. There is not much difference in air resistance and neither of them made mistakes at the start. It is unrealistic to quickly open the gap with other drivers at the start.

However, before reaching the braking point all the way, Verstappen completed the tap on the outside of Hamilton, and took advantage of the wake to form a parallel state with Hamilton before the braking point.

The main reason why Verstappen did not take the inside lane was because Qin Miao was on the inside lane at this time. Verstappen was just driving recklessly, and he was not stupid. Can he forcefully squeeze the gap between the two Mercedes drivers? Let’s not talk about getting in. What if we get a sandwich after squeezing in?
At the same time, Qin Miao was followed by Perez.

Although Perez did not start as fast as Qin Miao, relying on the advantage of the late wake flow, Perez still caught up with Qin Miao before the braking point and got behind Qin Miao's car.

Meanwhile, Perez also has a McLaren on the inside.

And we all know that Norris was sent to the rear of the team for changing the engine of the car, so the McLaren who appeared inside Perez at this time could only be Ricciardo.

Ricciardo also had a very good start in this race. It can even be said that his start was better than that of Hamilton, Verstappen, and Qin Miao.

Because of this, he, who started seventh on the grid, chased from the dirty side to fifth position without finishing the first straight. And based on his position at this time, he is likely to squeeze out the home driver in this game. Perez then moved to fourth.

However, the place where Ricciardo walks is the dirty side after all, and the Rodriguez Brothers Circuit is generally not used for racing. Only F1 and FE hold races here.

Therefore, the grip on the dirty side of this track and the grip on the driving line are two completely different concepts.

At this time, Ricciardo was still on the innermost side of the dirty side of the track, almost running onto the lawn.

But despite this, Ricciardo still wanted to try his famous stunt: late braking. (End of chapter)