How did I become an F1 driver?

It can be said that during this period when the Mercedes-Benz team is intensively developing and improving the car, the team is willing to spare two hours to celebrate Qin Miao's birthday, which really shows that the Mercedes-Benz team attaches great importance to Qin Miao.

The team staff also felt a lot better because they had a little extra rest time amid the tension.

At least the tense nerves could relax for a moment.

After a brief celebration, it was almost time to get off work. The team also gave all the staff a rare day off today, so they could take advantage of Qin Miao and have a night's rest.

Qin Miao originally wanted to invite his colleagues from the team out for a meal in the evening, but as soon as he proposed it, he was unanimously rejected by these people.

It's hard to have a night's rest. They don't want to socialize or anything like that. At this time, everyone wants to go back to their own homes and sleep comfortably.

After saying goodbye to the rest of the team, Qin Miao returned home with the gifts they gave him.

After arriving home, Qiu Meng was already preparing dinner.

Qin Miao was a little surprised, but it seemed natural that there was also a birthday cake on the dining table at home.

Presumably even without the reminder from his colleagues in the team, Qin Miao would have known from Qiu Meng that today was his birthday after returning home.

In contrast, when Qiu Meng celebrated her birthday on February 2nd, Qin Miao simply forgot about this girl's birthday. If Qin Miao's mother hadn't called to remind Qin Miao, Qiu Meng's birthday would have passed Qin Miao's birthday. Miao didn’t even know.

"Daughter-in-law, I'm back."

"Happy birthday! Give me a kiss~"

……

Thanks to the joint efforts of the two Mercedes drivers, after a month of adjustments, the overall appearance of the car when it came to Bahrain for testing had changed a lot from that in Barcelona.

A new floor was installed on the car, but the overall structure of the sidepods did not change. There were a few more reinforcing ribs on the outer edge of the floor.

Of course, in addition to these changes that are easy to see, there are also obvious changes in some places that are not easy to find. The biggest point is that the opening at the outlet of the Venturi channel on the bottom plate is larger. This design can more efficiently The airflow is directed to create vortices at the edges of the floor to seal the floor of the car, allowing the dolphin jump to appear later on the car.

In addition, the bottom of the bottom plate has also been changed, and the connection position of the stiffeners has also been changed. The purpose is also to delay the occurrence of dolphin jump.

The last thing that has undergone a more obvious change is the front nose wing.

There is a gap in the fins on the inner side of the front nose. The purpose is to allow the airflow at the entrance of the Venturi channel to enter the interior of the Venturi channel more smoothly. In this way, the airflow out of the Venturi channel outlet will be larger, thus providing better protection for the floor. The tightness will naturally cause the dolphin to jump out later.

This month, most of the team's upgrades have focused on slowing down the car's dolphin jump timing.

The Bahrain winter test in the past few days is the time to test the effects of these upgrades.

On the first day of winter testing, everyone within the team came to Bahrain with confidence. In the next half month, all teams will stay in Bahrain.

Because six days after the Bahrain winter test ends, the Bahrain Grand Prix, the opening game of the 6 season, will begin.

At that time, the scene that all Chinese fans have been looking forward to all winter will appear in front of them, that is, two Chinese F1 drivers will appear in the F1 paddock.

Domestic car fans can enjoy not only Qin Miao as the main course, but also Zhou Guanyu as the side dish.

And it is worth mentioning that during the Barcelona test last month, Zhou Guanyu was sometimes faster than his teammate Bottas.

Therefore, despite the fact that Zhou Guanyu is not as fast as Bottas most of the time, domestic fans are still full of confidence in Zhou Guanyu and full of expectations.

At least judging from Zhou Guanyu's current state and adaptability to F1 cars, domestic fans are now looking forward to Zhou Guanyu having a good performance in his subsequent F1 career.

Of course, this is also because of Qin Miao's presence, which made fans subconsciously raise their expectations for Zhou Guanyu.

In fact, normally speaking, with Zhou Guanyu's current ability and the performance of Arrow Racing's car, their primary goal is to become a regular in the points area.

……

"No kidding, I really feel like I'm a little stressed right now."

At seven o'clock in the morning, Zhou Guanyu and Qin Miao were sitting together in the rest area in front of the Mercedes-Benz team's home in the paddock, eating breakfast. Not far away on the other side were Barber and Zhou Guanyu's assistant Simmons. I was also having breakfast.

The reason why Zhou Guanyu had to go to the Mercedes team for breakfast was mainly because of Qin Miao's presence. Mercedes specially assigned a chef who was very good at Chinese food to Qin Miao.

In order to eat something good, Zhou Guanyu came over to eat.

Qin Miao took a bite of the fried dough stick: "How stressed are you? Although your current strength cannot be said to be comparable to Norris, it is definitely better than the Haas duo, right? You are a first-year student, even if you don't run well in the opening game, you will at most Let’s just say something to the outside world: If you don’t adapt to the pace of F1, run a few races, and once the speed picks up, you’ll be fine.”

Zhou Guanyu shook his head and said: "Actually, it's not the case. I don't have any pressure at all in terms of speed. It can even be said that I am very confident in terms of speed."

"Then where does your stress come from?"

"Domestic fans." Zhou Guanyu said calmly.

Qin Miao raised his eyebrows: "What does it have to do with them?"

"Don't you know how many car fans there are in China now? If nothing else, I have 60 Weibo fans without doing anything.

This is 60 people, which is more than the combined population of some small European countries. I am now afraid that if I do not perform well on the track, I will let them down. "

Having said this, Qin Miao scratched his face in embarrassment, because strictly speaking, there are certain reasons why there are so many car fans in China and himself.

As I have said countless times before, most people in China are actually championship fans. After knowing that you have won the F1 world championship, the number of fans and car fans has increased like a nuclear explosion.

According to statistics, after Qin Miao won the F1 world championship, the total number of domestic fans increased by 60%. This shows how many champion fans there are.

But Qin Miao has never encountered the problems Zhou Guanyu is currently facing.

Because Qin Miao's mentality has always been very good, whether it was when he first entered F1 or now that Qin Miao is the defending champion, Qin Miao's mentality has always been relatively stable.

Therefore, Qin Miao has no way to empathize with Zhou Guanyu now.

But when my friends complain to me, I can't just say nothing and just grin and have fun or eat with my mouth open, right?

So Qin Miao thought for a while and comforted her: "There's nothing we can do about it. There are indeed a lot of people in our country, but your more than 60 is actually pretty good. Look at me, Weibo has never bought any fans. Now it has more than 700 million fans.

If I put you in my position, wouldn't you make these 700 million fans sleepless and sleepless? "

"Can't you make some constructive suggestions? It's fun to make sarcastic remarks here, right?" Zhou Guanyu complained.

Suddenly, Qin Miao had an idea: "Don't say it, don't say it, I have a plan."

"But it doesn't matter?"

Qin Miao snapped her fingers: "Cancel your Weibo account."

After finishing speaking, Qin Miao clapped his hands and said excitedly: "This way you won't have any fans. It will be over once and for all, saving time and worry."

"You think you are very humorous?" Zhou Guanyu looked at Qin Miao like a dead person.

"Then what do you want to do? This is your fate, just accept it."

"Bad luck." Zhou Guanyu complained, and then finished the porridge in front of him in a few mouthfuls.

Qin Miao didn't care about Zhou Guanyu's complaints. After eating the noodles, he stood up and said, "It's almost time. I'm busy."

"it is good.

By the way, I just took the time to watch the episode of the Amazing Race documentary that Netflix filmed specifically for you. It was really cool. It made my blood boil. The process of winning the championship was also full of ups and downs, but you and Hamilton really have a great relationship. Such a serious conflict? "

After hearing Zhou Guanyu's words, Qin Miao rolled her eyes.

He couldn't help but silently greet Netflix again, believing that Hamilton had the same thoughts as him when he heard others mention this matter.

Zhou Guanyu was talking about the F1 documentary "Speed ​​to Survive" which greatly increased the audience of F1 in the United States.

The most famous representative may be the beautiful English of Haas team leader Steiner in the documentary.

This year, Qin Miao is the first world champion to come out of the racing desert of China. Naturally, he has received a lot of attention. Therefore, in the Netflix documentary, there is a special episode about Qin Miao's victory. s story.

It’s hard to say elsewhere, but in China, the number of views of this episode reached 50 million in just three days.

Because this episode completely portrays Qin Miao as an absolute protagonist, and then he fights monsters and upgrades all the way to become a world champion.

There is quite a feeling of reading a refreshing article. There is a saying that the shooting is indeed good, but it is somewhat lacking in authenticity.

Because Netflix directly shaped Hamilton into Qin Miao's biggest opponent.

Therefore, at best this is an F1 documentary, but at worst this is actually a TV series adapted from reality.

Some people who don’t know the truth are also led by Netflix to think that the relationship between Qin Miao and Hamilton is not very good.

There was a lot of discussion about this matter on the Internet.

Qin Miao also felt quite speechless about this. Therefore, he did not watch this documentary that belonged to him.

"fake."

After saying that, Qin Miao went to Mercedes' team home.

……

Bahrain's pre-season testing, like Barcelona's, lasts three days. The Mercedes team is still the team that gets the most attention in the paddock, and there is no other team.

On the one hand, it is because of the radical zero-sidepod design of the Mercedes team, and on the other hand, because compared with Barcelona, ​​the appearance of the Mercedes car has changed a lot during the Bahrain testing period.

Therefore, almost everyone is curious about what kind of performance improvement Mercedes' upgrade will bring to the racing car.

Even teams such as Ferrari and Red Bull, which have an obvious competitive relationship with Mercedes-Benz, the people in the analysis department have not had a good rest in the past few days.

There has always been discussion about how much improvement Mercedes' zero-sidepod design can bring to racing cars, and what characteristics this design has, and whether it will cause trouble for its own team on the track.

It is worth mentioning that no one thinks that Mercedes’ design is aimless. They all think that with Mercedes’ technical capabilities, they definitely have their own reasons for designing this zero-side box.

And they will definitely not be able to discuss anything in the end. After all, they can only get the appearance of a Mercedes racing car and do not have complete CFD data. If they themselves have the same design, it will have certain reference significance, but Mercedes and all The team took a very different path.

On the first day of testing, Qin Miao did feel that the dolphin jump of the racing car had improved after a month of hard work, but it was only slightly relieved. It should still jump when driving at high speed.

It does not slow down because of the stronger sealing and stronger rigidity of the bottom plate.

Hamilton on the other side was in the same situation, jumping non-stop.

In addition, the car on the track could not replicate the speed of the car on the simulator. Everyone in the team even began to wonder whether the simulator was broken or whether there was some data corruption.

Of course, when encountering difficulties, we find ways to solve them, so the team quickly regrouped and began to test the cause of the problem and try to find a solution.

Despite this, most of the staff of the Mercedes-Benz team are still full of confidence in this design. After all, in the racing industry, an upgrade is made to address a flaw, but after the upgrade is completed, it does not have the desired effect. Not uncommon.

All described themselves as emotionally stable.

Everyone in the team also tried their best to collect racing data during the three days of testing in Bahrain.

Of course, the team cannot only do this one thing. In addition to collecting data to solve the dolphin jumping problem, the team is also looking for other problems with the car and planning the tuning window for the car. In short, during this period, whether it is Qin Whether Miao is Hamilton or a senior executive of the Mercedes team, almost everyone's brains are running at high speed all the time.

And after three days, the results obtained by Mercedes-Benz are quite satisfactory.

At least on the third day, the team has confirmed that there are basically no hidden dangers in the car that have not yet been resolved. At least in terms of the stability of the car when driving, Mercedes-Benz can confidently pat its chest and praise everyone. I guarantee that my racing car will not have any problems when traveling at high speeds.

As for speed, because everyone is collecting data to adjust the state of the car, no matter whether it is Mercedes or Red Bull Ferrari, they have not really shown their full strength on the track.

Therefore, the Mercedes team has no way to use the results of other teams as a reference, but at least compared to the Mercedes that came to Bahrain on the first day, the lap speed of the car was at least 1 seconds higher.

For the Mercedes-Benz team, this improvement is very considerable, so although the dolphin jump has been like a dark cloud plaguing everyone at the Mercedes-Benz team during this period, no one will think about it for the next Bahrain Grand Prix. I feel that Mercedes' car will not be competitive.

Of course, that's what it says, but before the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Mercedes team is still using the data it has obtained to upgrade and improve the performance of the car.

Qin Miao did not go anywhere else during this period and was also working in the paddock in Bahrain.

Soon the time came to March 3th.

Although the performance of racing cars is very important to F1 drivers, the place where F1 drivers truly reflect their self-worth is actually their commercial value.

Not to mention Hamilton, his 7 world championships coupled with his status as the darling of the fashion circle are enough to bring his commercial value to a peak. It can be said that Hamilton at this time is the driver with the highest commercial value in the entire paddock. And there is no one.

Ranked below Hamilton is Qin Miao.

That's right, two of the most commercially valuable drivers in the entire paddock are racing at Mercedes.

It’s not difficult to guess why Qin Miao’s commercial value is so high. Backed by China, the world’s second largest economy, Qin Miao’s commercial value is completely supported by the country behind him and the country’s car fans.

Therefore, it is impossible for the two drivers to spend all their time developing and researching new racing cars. Naturally, they need to spend time to realize their commercial value and maintain their image in front of fans. Even if the drivers themselves do not want to do this, the team There are also sponsors.

Even Hamilton started working in this area on the 15th, while Qin Miao only started working in this area on the 16th because he basically had no personal sponsors.

On the 16th and 17th, the two days before the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Qin Miao also rarely took a break from the heavy team work.

I started recording videos, participating in events, and doing shows.

In the midst of the busy schedule, the time came to Friday, March 2022, 3.

Today is the opening race of the F1 World Grand Prix and the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix practice session.

Because it was the opening game, the local tourism bureau of Bahrain invited many celebrities from all over the world to watch the game.

There are also many domestic celebrities, and even some celebrities who were not invited came to watch the game at their own expense.

After getting up in the morning, Qin Miao tidied herself up, put on the team uniform and took Barber to the paddock with her.

When he arrived outside the paddock, Qin Miao naturally saw many car fans.

It is worth mentioning that many domestic fans who are relatively wealthy or have achieved financial freedom have expressed on various social media that they want to chase Qin Miao and watch all his games in the 2022 season.

At the entrance to the paddock on Friday, Qin Miao saw the shadow of many Chinese fans.

What? How do you tell if he is a Chinese car fan?

Mercedes team uniform, Qin Miao's red Mercedes team hat that only he would wear. Regardless of skin color, as long as the fans who see this kind of outfit in the paddock, nine out of ten are Qin Miao's. fan.

Qin Miao has always been more enthusiastic when facing his fans.

So when he saw these people at the entrance, they were waving to him and calling his name, and Qin Miao also smiled and greeted them.

Qin Miao even wanted to go over and chat with them for a while, take a photo or something, but after Barber's reminder, Qin Miao could only wave to them and reluctantly left.

Because the flow of people at the entrance is relatively large, but we cannot block the fans and strictly screen the people who come in, because this will seriously affect the work efficiency of other team staff.

So the FIA ​​chose to let fans in, but there are regulations. Drivers cannot stop when they see fans at the entrance of the paddock. They have to go in after saying hello at most, and they cannot affect the normal passage of other team staff. The meeting between fans and drivers is actually There is a special channel, so you can sign autographs, shake hands, and take photos.

When he came to the paddock and looked at the bustling crowd, Qin Miao suddenly felt nostalgic.

The only pity is that many familiar faces can no longer be seen, such as Vettel, Giovinazzi, and Ferrari.

Because Mercedes won the constructor championship again last season, the Mercedes team's team position this season is still at the front of the pit area and at the entrance to the pit area.

So Qin Miao and Barber walked through the entire maintenance area together.

Qin Miao vaguely remembered that when he first joined Meiben last season, some people might have cast curious glances at him, but the situation at that time was not like it is now:

"Qin Miao, good morning, you are in good spirits."

"Morning! Qin Miao."

"Look who's here, our world champion."

"Good morning, world champion."

……

Basically, people who are slightly familiar with Qin Miao will greet Qin Miao with a smile after seeing him.

Even if he is not familiar with her, he will have a friendly smile on his face when he looks at Qin Miao.

When Qin Miao passed by the gate of Arrow Racing Team, he happened to see Zhou Guanyu being interviewed by reporters at the gate of Arrow Racing Team.

Qin Miao had long been accustomed to this kind of interview, but at this time Zhou Guanyu looked a little nervous.

Qin Miao thought for a while, said hello to Barber, and then Qin Miao sneaked around to the blind spot in Zhou Guanyu's field of vision.

Behind Zhou Guanyu were the other members of the Arrow Racing Team. When they saw Qin Miao coming over, they were about to greet Qin Miao when they saw Qin Miao making a silent gesture to them. Seeing this, they did not want to cause trouble, so they simply Shut up and wait for the show to happen.

Then they saw Qin Miao sneak up behind Zhou Guanyu. Just when Zhou Guanyu was wondering why the photographer in front of him suddenly raised the camera lens and aimed at the right side of his face, Zhou Guanyu was suddenly hit hard on the shoulder. Take a shot.

Zhou Guanyu, who was in a nervous state, was shocked on the spot.

Qin Miao, who knew what would happen if Zhou Guanyu found out that she was joking with him, scared Zhou Guanyu and ran away with a smile, leaving Zhou Guanyu cursing on the spot.

The interaction between the two was recorded by the camera at the scene.

What Qin Miao didn't know was that this was actually a live broadcast...

【Real leather...】

[If you have a good relationship, do whatever you want]

[I was so happy that Zhou Guanyu was almost scared to death]

[Qin Miao's move of scaring people and then running away is so skillful, it can be seen that this is not the first time he has done this]

[Leclerc: I have a say in this matter]

[Have you ever been scared by Qin Miao during the interview with Lock&Button? 】

[No, it’s just that Leclerc is more vindictive, and after being frightened, he found an opportunity to return it] (End of this chapter)