How did I become an F1 driver?

Chapter 306 309: A blessing in disguise (6K, 714 more updates)

On Wednesday, Qin Miao went out for a walk.

Qin Miao has been to the Middle East before, whether it was during the F2 period or the opening Bahrain Grand Prix after entering F1.

At that time, Qin Miao still had some free time, so Qin Miao also went out for shopping and was quite familiar with the Middle East.

At least Qin Miao knew that when he went out, he would not be like participating in those European races. Even if he was fully armed, he would be easily recognized by the fans.

Facts have proved that Qin Miao's guess was not wrong. As long as he wore a mask and sunglasses, almost no one would recognize him when he walked on the streets of Qatar.

It's just that Qin Miao went back to the hotel half an hour later.

There is no way, the desert is full of nothing but sand.

After Qin Miao went out for a walk, he could shake off two ounces of sand from his shoes when he came back, and there was nothing worth seeing on the street.

So instead of eating sand outside, Qin Miao thought it would be better to go back to the hotel.

On Thursday, game week work begins.

As the last game of three consecutive back-to-back games, everyone is actually very tired at this time.

Not only because of three consecutive back-to-back races, but also because of the exhaustion accumulated from the twenty-one grands prix that have been run this season after the end of the season.

Franky and the others have not had a full day of rest in the past three weeks, and the longest rest period was only half a day.

The only thing that gives these workers a sense of comfort may be the bonus Toto paid to everyone after Mercedes won the team championship last week.

The amount of the bonus is kept secret from others, and it is impossible to share this kind of thing with others. After all, there is an old saying in China: Don't worry about scarcity, but worry about inequality.

It is worth mentioning that Qin Miao also received an extremely generous bonus, totaling 66 euros.

It is the same as Qin Miao’s driver number.

At that time, Qin Miao regretted why he didn't choose a major when registering his driver number.

There was no obvious difference between the work process on Thursday morning and Qin Miao's previous process.

I came to the paddock in the morning, walked the track, then went for an interview, then held a meet-and-greet event with local fans, and finally attended the pre-race press conference.

It is worth mentioning that before the pre-match press conference, the two team leaders of Red Bull and Mercedes accepted interviews with reporters at the same time.

Both team leaders made predictions about the rankings and points that the teams expected to obtain in this game, and then what the audience loved to see was that the leaders of the two teams started to blame each other directly through the media.

The smell of gunpowder is getting stronger and stronger.

At the beginning of practice on Friday, Qin Miao's hands were trembling a little on this unfamiliar yet familiar track.

This tremor comes from the excitement and trembling feeling of being able to challenge a track that I have never driven on.

After all the preparations before the game are completed, the first practice begins.

Before the start of the first practice, Frankie talked to Qin Miao about the characteristics of this track. Although the Russell International Circuit has a one-kilometer long straight, the car training prepared by the team for Qin Miao is still High downforce tuning.

After all, this track has many high-speed corners, and because it was designed for Moto GP, there are no clear low-speed corners. Basically all the corners are medium-high speed corners.

After evaluation, the team feels that high downforce tuning brings greater advantages to the car.

As soon as practice started, Qin Miao put on a new set of hard tires and drove his car onto the track.

The main purpose of this stage is to collect data and allow Qin Miao, who is driving on this track for the first time, to become more familiar with the track environment. If possible, the team will let Qin Miao run a few more qualifying simulations on hard tires.

Due to time constraints, qualifying and the race only started in the evening, and it would be completely dark by the time the race was over.

Therefore, there is a temperature difference of at least 10°C between the track temperature during qualifying and the race and the first and second practice sessions. Therefore, it is impossible to test the tire wear status under race conditions during the first and third practice sessions in the afternoon.

Therefore, the team mainly asks the drivers to complete some relatively simple but repetitive tasks in the first practice stage.

After an hour of practice, Qin Miao's fastest lap reached fifth place.

Although the team put new soft tires on Qin Miao in the final stage and allowed Qin Miao to run two flying laps on the track.

However, in the last two flying laps, Qin Miao was affected by the huge crosswind on the track.

So the final results were not so ideal.

But it doesn't matter.

Because the results and data from the second practice are the most important to the team.

As time came to the second practice, the sky gradually darkened, and without the direct sunlight, the surface temperature of the track began to drop rapidly, from 45℃ in the first practice to 31℃ before the start of the second practice.

And the wind at the scene also increased after entering the night.

However, the track conditions at this time are most suitable for tomorrow's qualifying and Sunday's race.

So this practice match is very important.

Soon, the second practice began.

This time, all teams released their cars from the P room before the countdown to Q2 ended.

Everyone knows that the second training is important, and they all want to get more data in the second training.

After the sun went down, Qin Miao took out all three types of tires, C3-C1, and tried a few laps.

The final result was not particularly gratifying, because the track had serious tire wear, especially the left front wheel of the car.

Therefore, most teams should choose to have their drivers stop twice during the race.

Finally, the second practice ended.

Qin Miao's ranking after the second practice was still in an inconspicuous position, sixth.

Compared with his teammate Hamilton, Qin Miao's ranking can even be said to be a bit ugly.

But regardless of the driver's ranking, Qin Miao's crew did get good data in the second practice, and has already begun to formulate Qin Miao's pit stop strategy in the main race.

After returning to the P room of the team and completing the post-race interview, Qin Miao's work for the day ended.

On Saturday, Qin Miao ran more casually in the third practice session in the afternoon because at this time he was helping the team test the settings of the aerodynamic components of the car.

Qin Miao's knowledge base on aerodynamics is not sufficient. The help he can provide to the team is limited to the team adjusting the settings of his car. Qin Miao drove the car on the track for a lap and told himself after he came back. What changes did this adjustment bring to the car? Are these changes good or bad for Qin Miao himself?

But that's enough.

That’s basically it for the third practice.

Finally, before qualifying started, the team came up with a final set of tuning settings.

Medium to high downforce, the cornering characteristics tend to be understeer, sacrificing a certain degree of cornering accuracy in exchange for faster cornering speed and acceleration performance.

It may not be the most suitable for this track, but it is definitely the most suitable for Qin Miao's personal driving style.

Soon, the time came to [-]pm local time on Saturday night.

It was completely dark at this time, and the temperature of the track dropped quickly.

There were many spectators at the scene today, and even Qin Miao had noticed since Friday that many foreigners were holding their country's national flag to support him on the sidelines.

This ratio is obviously higher than when he played in Europe.

Qin Miao always felt that these Middle Easterners had an inexplicable kindness towards him.

Although Qin Miao didn't know the reason, it didn't do any harm to Qin Miao.

Soon, as time passed, it was time to start qualifying.

Qin Miao had already put on his racing suit and was sitting in the cockpit of the racing car. Franky’s last words before qualifying were: “The track restrictions in this race are extremely strict, and there will be no mercy on penalties for crossing the line. Yes, you have to be extra careful. The tires can go up the road shoulder, but they cannot go beyond the road shoulder..."

Qin Miao regarded Franky's nagging as a pre-match pastime.

Soon, the 1-minute countdown to qualifying Q15 began.

Qin Miao naturally had no reason to run out immediately.

At this time, teams that have a probability of entering Q2 but are not very likely should be allowed to run a lap first and sweep away the dust and gravel on the track.

Qin Miao and the others will not go out until the track is clean enough.

This can be regarded as an unwritten rule, giving drivers from downstream teams a chance to run a flying lap on a track without obstructions.

Qin Miao only went out with 1 minutes left before the end of Q13.

Almost exactly 1 minutes before Q10 stopped the watch, I started running my first flight lap.

However, Qin Miao did not perform too well in this flying circle. After finishing the race, he was only in third place.

But the good news is that Qin Miao's Q1 result was only 0.01 seconds slower than Verstappen.

At least it shows that Qin Miao's racing training was good for this race.

In fact, after the first flying lap of Q1, Qin Miao had successfully entered Q1, but after returning to the team's P room to refuel, Qin Miao went on the track and ran another flying lap.

It’s just that Qin Miao was using old soft tires during this flying lap.

It’s not hard to guess what Qin Miao’s idea was for running this extra lap. He also wanted to take advantage of the qualifying period to get familiar with the track.

Never miss an opportunity to practice a lap.

In the end, Qin Miao successfully advanced to Q2 and ranked fifth.

The drivers eliminated in Q1 are: Kimi, Latifi, Giovinazzi, Mick Schumacher, Mazepin.

Q2 is coming soon.

Qin Miao used the old medium tires in the first lap. After this lap, Qin Miao's results can actually enter Q3, but Qin Miao does not want to start with this set of tires in the race tomorrow.

So in the last flying lap of Q2, Qin Miao changed to a new set of medium tires.

However, after replacing the new medium tires, Qin Miao's performance did not improve significantly. It was only 2 seconds faster than Qin Miao's Q0.3 first flight lap time.

In fact, this was Qin Miao's intention. During the Q2 flying lap, Qin Miao even deliberately slowed down in some corners where tire wear was relatively large.

Qin Miao's favorite thing is to stop once in a race where other drivers stop twice. Therefore, it becomes necessary to protect this set of tires starting from qualifying.

Finally, Q2 ended, and Qin Miao was stuck in an unsightly position to advance to Q3.

But it doesn’t matter, it’s Q2 after all.

On the other side, Hamilton and Verstappen still advanced to Q3 one or two.

In the end, the drivers eliminated in Q2 were: Perez, Stroll, Leclerc, Ricciardo, and Russell.

The reason why Perez appears on the elimination list is mainly because Perez did not run well in the first flying lap of Q2.

But when we arrived, neither Red Bull nor Perez showed any nervousness.

Because they all know that with the performance of their cars and Perez's ability, as long as they don't make too many mistakes on the last flying lap, entering Q3 is a sure thing.

But sometimes people are unlucky and their teeth are choked by cold water. When Perez started running on the last flying lap, he encountered a slow car in front of him, which directly caused him to miss the last flying lap.

Perez failed to cross the line before the clock stopped to start the final flying lap.

Because of this, Perez was eventually eliminated in Q2.

Of course, this is undoubtedly good news for Mercedes. At least there is no Red Bull blocking the front in tomorrow's race, and Qin Miao and Hamilton can also relax during the race.

Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that Qin Miao and Hamilton got into a fight on the track, and Verstappen came over to take advantage.

On the track, Q3 started to push forward with all his strength on the first flying lap of Q[-].

After finishing the race, Qin Miao's score swept away the previous haze and came directly to first place, with a score of 1:21.211.

Qin Miao finished this lap 0.1 seconds faster than his teammate Hamilton.

"Let me tell you! Qin Miao definitely has something to show in Q1 and Q2!" After Qin Miao finished running, the commentators of Five Star Sports were happy.

"Actually, it's not right to say that. Qin Miao's speed in those few laps should be his fastest laps. But it seems that his low ranking is mainly because he used old tires."

"Anyway, I think it doesn't matter what happens, as long as Qin Miao's performance in this game is beautiful enough."

……

On the field, after learning about Qin Miao's speed, Hamilton was a little surprised and asked in the team TR: "Why is Qin Miao's speed suddenly so fast?"

"Lewis, focus on the game."

After a short rest, the second flight lap of Q3 started, and this was also the last flight lap of this game.

Hamilton, who came out first, was the first to respond to his teammate Qin Miao, with a third-level purple of 1:20.827, which was 0.3 seconds faster than Qin Miao.

Looking at this result, and looking at what Hamilton said after seeing Qin Miao's speed, it is somewhat humorous.

Qin Miao started his last flying lap behind Hamilton.

However, Qin Miao had just finished his first timing segment when he saw a yellow flag on his steering wheel.

Although this yellow flag appeared in the third timing period, according to the rules, Qin Miao also needed to slow down.

In other words, Qin Miao's last flight circle was wasted because of this yellow flag.

But soon, the yellow flag was canceled. The yellow flag didn't last too long, just over a second, so Qin Miao felt that his speed loss was not too big.

So after the yellow flag was cancelled, Qin Miao started to accelerate again, preparing to continue to complete the lap.

However, not long after Qin Miao started to accelerate, the yellow flag that had been canceled for less than five seconds appeared again. This time, Qin Miao did not react immediately, because the yellow flag also appeared for one second and then turned into a green flag.

These two short-term yellow flags greatly affected Qin Miao's racing rhythm. In the second timing period alone, Qin Miao lost 0.3 seconds. In the last timing period, Qin Miao could not recover the lost time even if he tried his best.

So in the end, Qin Miao did not refresh his fastest result in Q3.

However, bad things sometimes always happen one after another, because Verstappen, who crossed the line behind Qin Miao, improved his lap time to 1:21.123 after crossing the line.

Because of this, Qin Miao was pushed to third place by Verstappen.

But from another dimension, third place is not much different from second place.

After the qualifying session, the atmosphere on the Red Bull team was a bit dull.

Because the time gap between Hamilton and Verstappen was a bit too big, it was beyond everyone's expectations at Red Bull before the race, a full 0.3 seconds.

Compared with last week's Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton's improvement in performance was a bit too sudden, catching everyone at Red Bull off guard.

At this critical moment in the championship, Hamilton's sudden improvement in car performance was a heavy blow to Red Bull Racing's internal motivation.

So when the qualifying session was over, when the director showed the camera to the Red Bull Racing team, we could see that no one on the Red Bull side was celebrating at all, and everyone had a bad look on their face.

On the contrary, it is Mercedes. Although it is a pity that he did not get the second place in qualifying, everyone also knows that Qin Miao's failure to get second place is not because of his lack of strength, but mainly because of Gasly's miscarriage. Qin Miao has one hand.

Therefore, in the post-race period, you can clearly see that the atmosphere among all Mercedes team staff is very relaxed, and you can see smiles on everyone's faces.

In Hamilton's team TR, you can also hear Hamilton's track engineer praising Hamilton.

Hamilton, as usual, was happy to express his gratitude to the team staff.

As for Qin Miao... After knowing that he only got third place in the end, Qin Miao could only sigh helplessly: "Time is also destiny."

But what Qin Miao didn't know was that while Mercedes was celebrating and full of confidence for Sunday's race, Toto called the FIA.

Before Toto left his seat, the screen in front of him showed the public telemetry data of Verstappen's car during the period when Gasly's puncture triggered the yellow flag.

It's basically just the throttle depth and braking strength.

Verstappen's telemetry data showed that during the yellow flag period, Verstappen didn't even slow down, he didn't even let go of the accelerator of his car.

……

In the end, most drivers stopped running on the last flying lap of Q3 because of these two yellow flags, and the drivers behind them were never able to refresh their own results.

The ranking of Q3 is thus determined.

1: Hamilton

2: Verstappen

3: Qin Miao

4: Gasly
  5: Alonso
  6: Norris
  7: Sainz
  8: Tsunoda

9: O'Connell

10: Vettel
  ……

After the qualifying session, Qin Miao was busy in the paddock for a long time. After completing the post-match work, he returned to the hotel.

Although Q3 in this qualifying match is a bit regretful, starting third in the race is even a better choice than second.

Because Frankie told Qin Miao that the driving lanes outside the Russell International Circuit were very dirty.

After all, it is a track built in the desert, and the wind is very strong. Basically, the dirty side of the track will be filled with sand and dust within ten minutes.

Moreover, before the start of the F1 race, this track has no back-up races, such as F2 and Porsche Carrera Cup. It only runs F1.

From this you can imagine how dirty the track is.

In other words, as long as Qin Miao starts slightly faster than Verstappen in the starting stage, Qin Miao can easily defeat Verstapan by taking advantage of his cleaner track inside.

But the next day, Qin Miao had just gotten up and came to the paddock from the hotel. While eating breakfast, she got some news that she didn't know whether it was good or bad.

That is, Mei Ben reported to the FIA ​​that Verstappen did not abide by the rules set by the FIA ​​during the race. After the yellow flag appeared on the last flying lap of Q3, Verstappen did not release the throttle to slow down, but continued to run on his own. flying circle.

Mercedes has requested the FIA ​​to investigate this matter.

After Red Bull learned that Mercedes had done this, it immediately launched a counterattack against Mercedes.

They also reported that Qin Miao had violated regulations at that stage yesterday. The yellow flag appeared twice. Qin Miao only released the accelerator and slowed down the first time, but did not do so the second time.

The race stewards who received this complaint were very upset because the drivers involved this time were Qin Miao and Verstappen, two championship drivers, and the penalties for them must be very cautious.

I heard that the three race stewards of the FIA ​​have been meeting together for a long time, but they have yet to come up with a result.

Qin Miao, who was still watching the scolding between Mercedes and Red Bull, found out inexplicably that he was also involved for some reason.

But Qin Miao at least knew that it was useless no matter how anxious he was at this time, he could just be normal. Even if he was really punished, there would still be Verstappen by his side.

So Qin Miao spent the next period of time resting in the lounge and preparing for the game.

Qin Miao received the notice just before lunch time. Both he and Verstappen had to receive retirement penalties at the start of the race.

However, Qin Miao received a lighter penalty because he slowed down once, and was given a three-place grid penalty, while Verstappen was penalized five places.

So in today's race, Qin Miao's starting position dropped from third to sixth, and Verstappen dropped from second to seventh.

Then Qin Miao felt a little sore in her balls. Why did she start on the dirty side instead of changing back and forth?
  The only thing that gives Qin Miao some comfort now is that Verstappen, the driver who poses the greatest threat to him, appears behind him.

Qin Miao still has a chance to maintain his advantage in the standings in this game.

But defending Verstappen is not what Qin Miao must do. In this game, chasing Hamilton as much as possible and narrowing the time gap between himself and Hamilton is what Qin Miao should focus on most.

(End of this chapter)