How did I become an F1 driver?

Of course, this result is most likely what Team AS team leader Steiner wants to see.

After all, if a driver earns points, the super license fee for the next season will be paid to the FIA ​​according to the number of points earned.

The money paid to the FIA ​​is an additional budget expenditure for Haas.

Originally, Haas was not in the F1 industry. Haas is a machine tool company. They have a team in the paddock purely because Haas’s boss likes F1.

So the Haas team is actually just a big toy to this boss.

The reason why Steiner became the team leader of the Haas team was not because of his strong leadership ability, or because of his impressive research and development capabilities like Binotto.

His most important ability is actually to help the team save money.

But love will fade one day. As time goes by, Haas's boss' enthusiasm for F1 will inevitably begin to fade. In addition, Haas's performance has always been at the bottom.

Although the Haas boss has not publicly stated that he is planning to sell the team at this time, he is still looking forward to the upgrades next season that Steiner has said.

However, many people think that his expectations may be dashed, because judging from the crash pace of Mick and Mazepin this season, Haas will not have enough funds to allocate to the R&D department next season.

Let’s go a little further and get back to the topic.

After the rankings of the drivers' points standings are released, the team points standings naturally follow.

1: Mercedes: 739

2: Red Bull: 528

3: Ferrari: 284

4: McLaren: 232

5: Alpine: 127

6: Little Red Bull: 100

7: Aston Martin: 75

8: Williams: 13

9: Alfa Romeo: 9

10: Haas: 0

Not to mention the top two teams, Mercedes already confirmed this year's team championship in Brazil.

But Ferrari and McLaren, which everyone thought would be extremely competitive, ended all suspense early on.

Ferrari has completely confirmed its third position for the year.

On McLaren's side, due to the financial problems encountered by McLaren Corporation, the performance of the car has not improved significantly this season.

McLaren did have several highlight performances at the beginning and mid-season, and its ranking in the standings was also very impressive.

But since Norris missed the first podium of his career at the Russian Grand Prix, McLaren has been on a downward spiral until now.

Moreover, the financial situation of McLaren Corporation is still not improving at this time. It is foreseeable that not only this season, but also next season McLaren will continue to go downhill.

……

After the game, Qin Miao's work is not over.

It can even be said that after coming to the Middle East, Qin Miao's working hours will always be stretched very long.

From time to time, he needs to attend various parties and meet various local celebrities.

And while participating in the event, Qin Miao could tell from their tone of voice and their eyes that this was how the fans in the paddock looked at him.

Although such gatherings were a bit interesting at first, Qin Miao also met many rich people who were well-known in the world.

After all, these people look at you with admiration and joy, and will give you gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars as soon as you meet them. Anyone who sees them will have a good impression of them.

But it can get a bit boring after a while.

The only thing that can keep Qin Miao persisting is the ridiculously high appearance fee.

Yes, in addition to wages, drivers still have other ways to generate income. Among them, participating in various post-race activities is a very common income-generating activity.

This is also why drivers are very willing to appear in the camera, because your exposure will be higher, and more people will want to meet you and drag you over to support the event, so your income will naturally increase.

And Qin Miao's appearance fee for these gatherings in the Middle East is not low at all. The appearance fee for a banquet is 50 US dollars!

Qin Miao was dumbfounded when he knew the price. But after seeing Qin Miao's expression, the oil guys' faces were full of doubts.

That expression seemed to be asking Qin Miao, is 50 a lot?

Okay, you have oil and you are awesome.

Although Qin Miao had been to the Middle East when he was in F2, most of Qin Miao's attention at that time was on the competition. Even when he went out with Qiu Meng, he just felt that this place was very dry and the prices were a little expensive. , there are a little more luxury stores, and the people here are a little friendlier to the Chinese.

Other than that, Qin Miao didn't feel there was anything special about this place.

At that time, Qin Miao had no clear idea of ​​how rich these oil guys were.

Until now.

$50 is just pennies...

In short, after the race, Qin Miao neither returned to Monaco nor went to the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi to prepare for the race with his teammate Hamilton on the same day.

Instead, he made a million dollars in one night and obtained the contact information of several tribal princes.

And the signature made his hand numb.

But fortunately, the busy day is finally over.

On Monday, Qin Miao took a day of rest in the United Arab Emirates and took Zhou Guanyu to Abu Dhabi early the next morning.

The final two races of F2 this season are on the same schedule as F1.

They all raced first at the Jeddah Circuit in Saudi Arabia and then moved to the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Since we have to go to Abu Dhabi, we have to take a four-hour flight anyway. At least if we take Zhou Guanyu with us, we can have someone to talk to on the plane, so it won't be too boring.

Naturally, Zhou Guanyu readily agreed to Qin Miao's invitation.

On the one hand, Zhou Guanyu also knows that although Qin Miao is now 1 points ahead of his teammate Hamilton in the F13 driver standings, this lead is not stable.

Qin Miao would definitely be under pressure, and Zhou Guanyu felt that following Qin Miao during this period and making jokes with him would probably relieve his pressure.

And as I said before, it just happened to be on the way.

As for Zhou Guanyu himself, he still has one more race to run...

In fact, the pressure on Zhou Guanyu is much less than that on Qin Miao.

And compared to Qin Miao's F1 driver's championship, Zhou Guanyu's F2 driver's championship is really not that important.

Anyway, Zhou Guanyu is destined to enter F1 next season.

This is something that 99% of F2 drivers cannot do, which means that he has surpassed 99% of F2 drivers.

Having this position is the best interpretation of Zhou Guanyu's personal strength.

Compared with an F1 driver's seat, the F2 driver's championship is really not that important.

Therefore, Zhou Guanyu would not be too uncomfortable if he could not win the driver's championship, but it would be a pity at best.

But Qin Miao is different. Not everyone can win the F1 driver championship, and this is Qin Miao's first season. If Qin Miao wins it, then Qin Miao's influence in the entire racing world will be inestimable.

Even if Zhou Guanyu does nothing else, he can create a million-level V-number just by using Qin Miao's traffic.

What stands out about Emirates is that it is expensive, but the service is really good.

Moreover, the VIP room seems to have been specially renovated, and you can't hear the roar of the engines of the aircraft like the ordinary seats.

So this trip was really comfortable.

Although Barber told Qin Miao that the team had received many invitations to Qin Miao, neither the team nor Qin Miao would be busy with these at this time.

So after arriving at the hotel that the team had booked for Qin Miao, Qin Miao started practicing for the Yas Marina Circuit.

Last year's F2 did not race at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, but the Yas Marina Circuit is not a new track.

The F1 Grand Prix was held here last year.

Therefore, when Qin Miao is practicing in the hotel, he can also get data support about this track from the team's simulator department, and there will not be the embarrassing situation of not being able to find track data like those on new tracks.

Qin Miao never left the hotel door on the following Tuesday and Wednesday.

Franky and I have been staying in the hotel and practicing on the simulator.

In addition to fitness, eating and sleeping, Qin Miao spends all his time on the practice track.

After all, Verstappen and Hamilton raced at the Yas Marina Circuit last year, and Qin Miao has an inherent disadvantage compared to them.

At this time, it is natural to do everything possible to shorten the gap in proficiency of this track between yourself and the two.

On Thursday, Qin Miao went to the paddock to sign in and walked around the Yas Marina Circuit twice. After having lunch in the paddock, he was not prepared to stay in the paddock for a long time.

Neither Qin Miao nor Hamilton participated in the afternoon shooting, as did Verstappen from Red Bull next door.

All three drivers are trying every possible means to prepare for this race, in order to have a chance to fight back once the race really starts. In the last game, Qin Miao could endure it for so long, and then seize the almost impossible opportunity to win the championship. The two people who thought that their talents could not be worse than Qin Miao were naturally full of fighting spirit at this time.

It is worth mentioning that at noon on Thursday, when Qin Miao had lunch in the paddock and was about to return to the hotel to continue practicing, Reyes found Qin Miao and told Qin Miao some not-so-good news.

"Qin Miao, I have to tell you some bad news. The car's battery has failed again."

At that time, Qin Miao was about to go back to the hotel to continue running the simulator. Hearing Franky's words, he was stunned, and then asked with some anxiety: "I remember that the problem of the battery not being able to charge was solved on Tuesday. I also received an email from the team."

Reyes scratched his head and then said with some embarrassment: "Yes, at least that was the case at the time, but after shipping the car to Abu Dhabi, we conducted a routine experimental start, and then we discovered that the battery problem had returned. It started to go back and forth.”

"What exactly is the fault?" Qin Miao frowned.

"Sorry, we don't have enough time in a short period of time to check where the fault lies.

Although we have solved this problem after a whole morning of hard work, what we are worried about now is not this fault. What we are worried about now is that this fault will appear during the game.

After all, we don’t know the reason why the battery cannot be charged at this time. If the battery fails to charge again during the game, it will be a fatal blow to you. "

Qin Miao took a deep breath, then reached out and grabbed his hair.

Sure enough, the driver's championship or something like that is really not that easy to get.

The bumps and thorns on the road sometimes come so unexpectedly.

"Since you told me about this, I think the team should already have a corresponding solution, right?"

Frankie nodded, and then said: "The engineers on the team are now divided into two groups. One group believes that this week's race will continue to run with this engine. They believe that the problems found on the car are just the transportation process. Due to normal transportation losses, you will not encounter battery problems during normal competitions.

It’s just that not many people support this proposal, and most people think that you should replace it with a new set of power components now. "

Qin Miao rubbed his brow with a headache. Because of Qin Miao's skill characteristics, compared with other riders, Qin Miao still has a surplus in some parts, like MGU-K.

At this time, Qin Miao still had a set of MGU-K in his spare parts that had not been opened.

But Qin Miao, the MGU-H component, has exceeded the quantity limit.

If the entire engine power system is replaced at this time, Qin Miao will be punished.

Although if you just change the power system, there will not be too many penalty positions, but at this critical moment, any position is crucial to Qin Miao.

"If I replace the power system, how many positions will I be penalized at the start of the race?" After asking this question, Qin Miao's choice in this matter was already obvious, and he was going to directly replace it with a new one.

After all, in Qin Miao's view, it is better to accept a penalty that can predict and estimate losses than to put a time bomb in his car that will explode at an unknown time.

Moreover, Qin Miao is also confident in his overtaking ability. At the same time, Qin Miao also believes that Verstappen will not give up the opportunity to catch up with Hamilton during the race.

After all, Verstappen only has a slim chance of winning in this game, not that there is no possibility of winning at all.

Verstappen only needs to defeat Hamilton in the race and let Qin Miao finish outside eighth place.

I believe that by then the two Toro Rosso cars and the Big Toro Rosso car will probably not care about their rankings in this race. The three of them will appear directly in front of Qin Miao's car and try their best to block Qin Miao.

Even if they were shameless, three cars would drive the DRS train directly in front of Qin Miao.

It's a bit far off topic, but facing Verstappen's attack, Hamilton definitely needs to fight hard. After all, the points gap between him and Qin Miao is so big. If he wants to turn defeat into victory in this game and win the driver's championship of the year, You must win this game.

As for the fact that Qin Miao received so few points due to poor performance that Hamilton could win the championship as long as he finished second or third, Hamilton simply didn't consider it.

Just like Qin Miao believes that Hamilton and Verstappen can definitely threaten his performance and ranking, Hamilton does not think that with Qin Miao's personal ability, he will make such low-level mistakes in the game.

Unless something unexpected happened on the field, a powerful divine weapon could force Qin Miao out of the game.

But this is impossible no matter how you think about it.

All in all, the fight between the two drivers in front will definitely give Qin Miao enough time to pursue them.

Qin Miao is also confident that he can catch up with them before they fight, or before the winner is officially decided.

Qin Miao's goal in this game is very simple. He doesn't even need to win the championship, he just needs to finish in third place.

"There should be a ten-place grid penalty." Franky asked, "Have you made your decision?"

"Of course, it's just a matter of chasing a few positions ahead. I didn't show any mercy in Monaco back then, and Yas Marina is not a circuit that is difficult to overtake."

When Qin Miao said these words now, his tone was full of confidence and arrogance, but it was such confidence and arrogance that at such a time, Franky, who heard Qin Miao's words, was filled with hope.

"Understood, then I will go to work. We need to install the new engine power system before the start of practice on Friday and complete the debugging after installation."

"Thank you for your hard work. If you have any questions, tell me as soon as possible." Qin Miao responded to Franky with a smile.

But after Frankie left and Qin Miao got in the car back to the hotel, the smile on his face gradually disappeared and was replaced by a frown.

Although Qin Miao was not worried about whether he would be in the top three after the main event of this game, this sudden accident still cast a shadow on Qin Miao's heart.

But no matter what, these are what Qin Miao needs to face, and the top priority is to become familiar with the track and increase his familiarity with it.

Qin Miao had no control over whether any accidents occurred during the competition, but at least during the period before the start of the competition, Qin Miao had the ability and time to improve his familiarity with the track.

On Thursday afternoon, after returning to the hotel, Qin Miao stayed directly in the room where the simulator was installed.

Even dinner was eaten on the simulator, and Qin Miao didn't forget to study the video of last year's Yas Marina Circuit race during dinner.

After a lot of hard work, Qin Miao raised the proficiency of the Yas Marina Circuit in the system to 1300 before the start of Friday's practice session.

This kind of proficiency basically allows Qin Miao to have a very clear understanding of the details of the Yas Marina Circuit's height changes, corner angles, asphalt characteristics, road shoulder height, etc.

Strictly speaking, Qin Miao is now as familiar with this track as Hamilton and the others. The only thing Qin Miao lacks now is the driving experience on this track.

It's Friday in Abu Dhabi and the sun is shining brightly today, with a warm and relaxing wind blowing into the paddocks from the Persian Gulf to the north.

In the morning, Qin Miao, wearing a short-sleeved Mercedes uniform, walked into the paddock with headphones.

While walking on the road, Qin Miao also had a faint smile on his face.

In fact, Qin Miao's mood at this moment is not as relaxed as his face shows. It can even be said that Qin Miao is a little anxious now.

The last time this emotion appeared to Qin Miao was his first game in F2.

It can be seen that the position of the champion also made Qin Miao feel nervous involuntarily.

But because Qin Miao has grown up over the past year, he can easily ignore the media and the shots in the paddock. From the moment he got off the car in the parking lot, he has always maintained a posture that everyone will have a feeling after seeing him. A smile that feels like a spring breeze.

After entering the paddock, Qin Miao first went to the team house to have breakfast.

To be honest, Qin Miao is now somewhat accustomed to the food in Europe, and people in the team's logistics department have been secretly observing Qin Miao.

They looked at which dishes Qin Miao ate more and which ones he ate less during the meal.

If you eat more of what you like, they will prepare more of the same type of dish next time, and vice versa.

In the last game of the season, the team's chefs prepared Qin Miao's favorite food.

But Qin Miao, who was sitting at the dining table, looked at the food he usually liked to eat. After putting the food in his mouth, he felt that it tasted like chewing gum and had no intention of tasting it carefully.

After eating a few mouthfuls, filling his stomach a little, and adding some protein, Qin Miao turned around and went to the F2 station.

Because the first practice of F1 started in the afternoon, Qin Miao wanted to go to the paddock to watch the F2 preliminary race during the morning.

After Zhou Guanyu finishes running, listen to his feedback on this track.

This can more or less bring some reference to Qin Miao.

However, Qin Miao did not deliberately disturb Zhou Guanyu's practice. Instead, he waited for the F2 practice session to start before going to the podium of the UNI-Virtuosi Racin team.

The staff of UNI-VirtuosiRacin are also very familiar with Qin Miao.

And even without Zhou Guanyu's relationship, considering the speed and strength that Qin Miao showed in his first year in F1, Qin Miao wanted to watch the practice sessions of their team's drivers from the podium of the UNI-Virtuosi Racin team. Will not refuse.

At this time, someone will say that although F2 and F1 are both formula cars, they are not the same type of competition after all. It stands to reason that the racing data and driver feelings of these two competitions have no reference at all.

But this problem is not a problem at all for Qin Miao.

Originally, Qin Miao had driven both cars, and Qin Miao had a clear understanding of the characteristics and differences between the two cars.

After Zhou Guanyu's driving feedback on this track was given to Qin Miao, Qin Miao was indeed able to incorporate a certain feeling into his F1 car.

It's just that the effect may not be very good.

And now Qin Miao is somewhat anxious, so he deliberately wants to find something to do for himself and doesn't want to let himself be idle. (End of chapter)