How did I become an F1 driver?

In fact, what the audience prefers to watch is the interaction and slapstick between Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu in their daily lives, rather than the drivers' domination on the track.

After all, there are too many scenes of drivers racing on the track. As long as a season starts, you can always see them on the track three or two times a month.

As for the daily life of the drivers, the audience can only get a glimpse of it through the videos sent by the team or the driver's own social account.

Even the videos sent out may have been specially shot and edited.

What stands out about this kind of slapstick in the live broadcast is the reality.

It will also make the riders look more lifelike.

After the commotion, Qin Miao arrived at the team's home by a familiar route. After saying hello to his colleagues, the weekend work for the Bahrain Grand Prix officially began.

Because he had already changed into the team uniform in the hotel, Qin Miao didn't need to change any clothes. He picked up the helmet Qiu Meng designed for him for the new season and went downstairs.

Qin Miao's first activity in the morning was to be interviewed by the FIA, and he also needed to show the audience his helmet style this season during today's interview.

This year's helmet designed by Qiu Meng for Qin Miao is no longer mainly red like last year. This year's helmet is mainly white and decorated with blue and white porcelain fragments.

Qin Miao's helmet and Zhou Guanyu's helmet are actually similar to a certain extent, because both helmets have blue and white porcelain elements, but Zhou Guanyu's helmet has the Shanghai city silhouette as the background, and the head has a blue and white porcelain pattern. There is an orange banner in the middle.

But Qin Miao is different. Qin Miao's helmet is overall white, and then the front is a plain white color that gradually transitions to the back. The color of the helmet becomes more mottled toward the back. At the same time, blue and white porcelain fragments gradually appear, until the last part is blue. White and white blue and white porcelain.

Qin Miao's helmet has an overall design and also gives people a sense of speed.

Then the name of the sponsor and Qin Miao's driver number are displayed in fragments. To be honest, Qin Miao quite likes this design.

Although both helmets have blue and white porcelain elements, Qin Miao's helmet is one-piece, and all the elements form a whole.

Zhou Guanyu's helmet is composed of many different parts. Which of the two helmets is better can only be said to be a matter of opinion.

After completing the pre-race interview and introducing his helmet design ideas for this season, Qin Miao returned to the team and started his daily work every Grand Prix weekend.

First there is the driver meeting held every Grand Prix weekend, and at the beginning of the new season, all team drivers are photographed with their team cars.

The person who will lead the driver's meeting today is no longer Jean Todt from last year. The old man has stepped down, and the new person who takes over this position is the Emirati Mohammed bin Sulayem.

Mohammed bin Sulayem was a rally driver and won 14 FIA Middle East Rally Championships.

It can be said that he is not a layman in the racing industry, but for F1, Sulayem still has a lot to learn.

After coming up, the Middle Easterners naturally started to introduce themselves. Even compared to Todd, Sulayem's meeting process was a bit cumbersome.

There is quite a kind of saying that the principal said at the flag-raising ceremony every Monday when Qin Miao Middle School was studying: "I will say a few words."

But to put it bluntly, before Qin Miao fell asleep, Sulayem told the race, the track boundaries that the drivers most wanted to hear, as well as some new rules and precautions.

Generally speaking, there is not much difference from last year's Bahrain Grand Prix, and there are no changes to the track boundaries.

After the drivers' meeting, the drivers went to the paddock. At this time, the staff of each team had already pushed their cars to the track and were ready to take pictures.

After the pre-match preparation process was over, the normal practice process on Friday began.

In the two practice sessions on Friday, Qin Miao did not show enough strength and did not even complete a flying lap.

Hamilton quickly set new fastest lap times during practice sessions.

The reason for this situation is that, on the one hand, Qin Miao has been running for one season, and the team has a clear understanding of some of Qin Miao's habits and characteristics.

They found that Qin Miao's adaptability to racing cars was incredible. You gave him a brand new racing car, or some adjusted racing cars.

When a normal driver gets a car like this, a fast one will have to run four or five laps on the track before he can understand the characteristics of the car in medium-speed corners, high-speed corners, slow corners, straights, and braking points, and find the correct characteristics of the car. Or the appropriate way to operate.

But Qin Miao didn't need such a complicated process. He basically knew the car well as soon as he got in the car.

Hamilton is different. Although Hamilton's ability to adapt to racing is not weak, it cannot compare with Qin Miao.

Therefore, Qin Miao shouldered more testing tasks during the practice sessions, while Hamilton could start looking for suitable training earlier.

Don't think that Qin Miao will suffer in this way, because Qin Miao is responsible for more testing tasks, so the data obtained and the training of the car are more biased towards Qin Miao's driving habits.

This is just one point, because Qin Miao has more data and feedback on the track than Hamilton. In the future, the team will be more inclined to Qin Miao in upgrading and tuning the car.

Therefore, Qin Miao's results in the first and second practice were not outstanding, let alone compared with the first place driver, the time gap between him and Hamilton was only 0.7 seconds.

This time gap made the three five-star sports commentators who were commentating on this game have their eyes twitching. Isn’t it possible that Qin Miao will not adapt to the driving style of ground-effect racing this season?

But whether the specific facts are as feared by the three commentators will have to wait until the start of qualifying and the main race.

After the first day of work, Qin Miao came to the post-match interview booth while wiping his sweat.

The reporter saw Qin Miao and asked with a smile: "Qin Miao, how does it feel to return to the Grand Prix weekend after the winter break?"

Qin Miao smiled happily and said: "Of course it's great. I miss this feeling very much. You must know that the weekend of the Grand Prix is ​​always exciting. The exciting work, the chasing and pressure of the opponents, everything makes I feel excited."

"How is the car this season? It seems that your condition today is not very good. You have never had an eye-catching speed." The reporter mainly asked about Qin Miao's lap time in the two practice sessions, which was ranked 7th. Not to mention competing with his teammate Hamilton and No. 1 Leclerc.

Qin Miao organized his words a little before replying: "The car did encounter a lot of problems, but I believe the team can handle them well, and we have collected enough data today, and the current progress is quite impressive. I believe In the end, the team can give us a competitive car, and then we will see the final results.”

"Is there any obvious difference between the new season's car and last year's car? How do you feel about the new season's car driving?"

"Of course there is a big difference between the two. The most intuitive feeling I have about the cars under the new regulations is that due to the introduction of the ground effect floor, the overall cornering speed of the cars is faster than we imagined, and the mechanical grip of the cars is also better than ours. The imagination is stronger, the difference is that the top speed is slower."

……

Looking at Qin Miao's answer, on the Red Bull Racing side, Horner, Marco and Newey, the three absolute leaders of the Red Bull Racing Team, were in a conference room at this time. What was playing in front of them was after Qin Miao finished his second training session. interview screen.

"Is it true that the Mercedes-Benz team is in difficulty as Qin Miao said?" Marco asked the other two Red Bull executives while watching the video that had been played.

"To be honest, not necessarily." Newey shook his head and said, "I have also studied the aerodynamic shape design of Mercedes-Benz.

Mercedes' design actually reduces the overall projected area of ​​the car body to reduce airflow resistance when driving at high speeds.

To be honest, I was amazed when I first saw this design. After the launch of designs like Mercedes-Benz, I specially studied the aerodynamic rules. Designs like Mercedes-Benz did not violate the FIA's technical rules. I admire them very much. The engineer who proposed this idea, because it is really a bold and radical but effective design idea.

As for what Qin Miao said in the interview, I admit that this young man is indeed very talented, but you have not seen the scheming and experience he showed on the track, so his words are credible. The degree is not high, but I still want to believe that Mercedes can still put huge pressure on us on the track this season. "

At this time, Horner said: "Actually, that's not necessarily the case. I think everyone has not forgotten the good news that Honda's engine department brought us just last week, so I believe we don't have to worry about engine power issues this season. ”

Having said this, both Newey and Marco had smiles on their faces.

As for Mercedes, it can be said that Red Bull knows Mercedes better than Mercedes itself.

There was really no way to do it in the hybrid era. The aerodynamic field that Red Bull was best at couldn't play a decisive role in that era.

Because in the hybrid era, a brand new chassis can only improve the car by 0.5 seconds per lap, but a brand new engine can improve the car by one second or even 1.5 seconds per lap.

This is achieved when both components have the same capital investment.

Therefore, Mercedes relied on its own engine that was one season ahead of the paddock to kill everyone in the paddock.

Because of this, Red Bull even made a proposal to buy Mercedes-Benz engines, but Mercedes rejected it.

Mercedes is not stupid. What you showed during your reign at Red Bull was your terrifying aerodynamic design capabilities. Originally, I only had an engine advantage over you. Now if I let you get my engine, Do I want to play anymore?

Mercedes, such as Williams and Aston Martin McLaren, don't have so many concerns, because selling engines to these teams will not threaten their own status.

However, after the introduction of ground effect rules, the situation has changed a lot. Because the floor of the car in this era bears 60% of the downforce of the car, a new floor in this era can bring a great increase in speed to the car.

And because of the existence of dolphin jump, the output of the racing engine has a marginal effect. The closer to the limit of the racing chassis, the smaller the speed advantage the racing engine can give.

There is another shortcoming of the Red Bull Racing Team: the engine. Honda has also gradually promoted Red Bull.

This is why the two top executives of Red Bull laughed. That is, Red Bull basically has no shortcomings this season.

After laughing, Horner still said: "This season is indeed the time for us to show our design strength, but we cannot take it lightly. The strength of the two drivers Qin Miao and Hamilton in the Mercedes-Benz team cannot be underestimated either. .

What did Max say? Is there anything worth mentioning about the feedback on the car? "

"Max is still the same as before. He wants us to further improve the speed of the car. Although he is not young anymore, he is still as impatient as before." Horner said.

"But this is Max." Marco smiled, then looked at Qin Miao on the screen and said: "Continue to develop in-depth on the racing chassis according to our route. This is the most suitable era for our team... "

"I feel like the glory days of the team are coming back..."

……

On Saturday, during the third practice session, Qin Miao finally had time to start qualifying simulation and long-distance cruising tests.

After two practice sessions of adjustments, the overall speed of the car has been significantly improved, and the two drivers have also found the most comfortable tuning settings for themselves. However, there is still the same problem, the dolphin jump has been bothering the team and the car. .

And Bahrain is a track with many straights, so although the team has taken as much action as possible, dolphins will still appear in the cars at the end of the straights T1, T4, T11, and T14, which have the highest tail speeds. jump situation.

Although both Qin Miao and Hamilton put forward the need to solve the dolphin jump as soon as possible in the team's internal meeting.

The team also agreed wholeheartedly, and it’s not like the team hasn’t tried other solutions.

During the second practice, the team tried raising the height of the car's floor.

Sure enough, this move had an immediate effect. The car's dolphin jump was immediately alleviated, and the full potential of the Mercedes racing engine was able to be unleashed on the straights.

But this adjustment completely turned Mercedes' car into a muscle car. The original silky grip in medium and high-speed corners suddenly disappeared, and the loss of downforce was very serious. The overall speed of the car after this adjustment became even worse. slow.

So neither the team nor the driver will consider this option.

Obviously, at least in this game, the team was unable to completely eliminate the problem of dolphin jumping, but at least the team's engineers had different design ideas.

Therefore, in this race, the two Mercedes drivers had to endure the effects of dolphin jumping to participate in the race.

In the third practice stage, Qin Miao used five laps plus the data from the first and second practices to find the best tuning window for his car.

It is worth mentioning that due to the dolphin jump, Mercedes’ current tuning window is a bit strange. Last season’s tuning window allowed the driver to find a perfect balance between qualifying speed and race speed. But that won’t work this season, or you can find a tune-up that is biased towards qualifying. Under a light fuel load, the car will be faster and handle better.

Or find a tune-up that is more biased towards the main race. The car will be more stable over long distances and the overall speed will be faster.

It's not clear why Hamilton chose Qin Miao, but Qin Miao's choice of car training was biased towards race training.

After the third practice session, we took a short break and the game soon came to the qualifying stage.

It is worth mentioning that there were so many celebrities in the upstairs viewing area of ​​the Mercedes team and in the team’s P room that there were not even many real fans coming to these locations to watch the race.

What surprised Qin Miao the most was that fifteen minutes before the start of qualifying, when Qin Miao came to the team's P room for pre-race preparations, he saw many celebrities he knew.

The one that caught Qin Miao's attention the most was Liu Yifei.

After all, in the P room of the team, she looked a shade paler than everyone around her.

And as expected of a female star, her whole temperament is completely different from other people's.

In addition to Liu Yifei, Qin Miao also saw Jay Chou and Lin Zhiying. In addition to the three of them, there were still many people around them. They seemed to be celebrities, but Qin Miao basically didn't recognize any of them.

The main reason is that Qin Miao has had a computer at home since he was in junior high school. Since then, Qin Miao has basically relied solely on computers for entertainment, so he has never watched any TV series.

But after seeing these people, Qin Miao just nodded to them and didn't even have time to go over and say hello, because there would be a qualifying match later.

Even though the Mercedes team has always released cars slowly during qualifying, sometimes even very late, in fact the team has been observing the movements of other teams, so naturally it seems to be relatively slow. Sorry.

It is impossible for the team to be idle during this period.

After arriving at his position, Qin Miao had a handover with Reyes. After understanding the track conditions and wind speed, Qin Miao put on his helmet and Hans system and entered his car.

It is worth mentioning that the biggest change in qualifying in 2022 compared to 2021 is that the tires with the fastest lap in Q2 are not required to be used in the race.

Therefore, in the three qualifying sessions, all drivers can use soft tires to set lap times, and brand-new tires can also be used in the race.

It's also good news for Qin Miao that she doesn't have to be so stubborn at last.

Soon, the time came to qualifying Q1.

After the 15-minute countdown started, the drivers of all teams ran out of the P room in their pit area one after another.

It's just that on the Mercedes team's side, Hamilton and Qin Miao didn't go out immediately. They stayed in the team's P room until there were 1 minutes left before Q9 stopped the clock before they were released by the team.

It’s an old tradition of Mercedes-Benz.

At this time, the two Red Bull drivers had already occupied the first and second positions.

And it is worth mentioning that when Qin Miao and Hamilton were running warm-up laps on the track, Bottas, who had not touched a car for a year, got the lap on his second flying lap after returning to the car. The second position was passed by Perez and behind Verstappen.

Although Bottas did not stay in this position for too long before being squeezed out by the two Ferrari drivers, Bottas's performance as soon as he returned to the paddock is enough to show that Bottas is still young.

As for whether Bottas' outstanding performance will be like Qin Miao's last season, slapping Ferrari in the face...

That basically doesn't exist, because everyone knows the strength difference between Bottas and Hamilton, and Qin Miao won the world championship last season by stepping on the heads of his teammates Hamilton and Verstappen.

This world championship is enough to illustrate the horror of Qin Miao's personal strength.

At this time, the two Mercedes cars had just started their first flying lap.

With 1 minutes left before the end of Q6, the two Mercedes drivers crossed the finish line one after another.

Because Qin Miao went out before Hamilton, his result came out first, 1:32.317.

The defending champion's result ranked eighth, even behind Alonso.

And before the words were finished, Hamilton also crossed the finish line right behind Qin Miao. It was obvious that Hamilton was faster than Qin Miao, but Hamilton's result was only 1:32.085, which was slower than his former teammate Bottas. A full 0.248 seconds.

This result shocked everyone inside and outside the paddock. Even Red Bull looked at each other in surprise.

Although everyone was a little surprised after the results of the two Mercedes drivers came out, no one thought that such results were due to the Mercedes' car. After all, for so many years, Mercedes has always had an image of an old bastard in the paddock. Many people even thought that Mercedes was hiding its clumsiness again.

There are about 1 minutes left before the end of Q5. At this point, basically all teams have recalled their drivers to adjust the car condition.

The two Mercedes drivers took advantage of this clean time to run another flying lap, and they still used the old soft tires.

Hamilton failed to continue to set a new record, but because of his abnormal tire protection ability, Qin Miao set a new record in this lap. Qin Miao's lap time reached 1:31.987.

Just one place above his teammate Hamilton.

After completing this lap, although there were still more than three minutes before Q1 stopped the clock, both Mercedes drivers chose to return to the team's P room instead of coming out to run a new flying lap.

Although the results of the two Mercedes drivers were not good, at least they advanced to Q2 steadily.

Although domestic car fans are a little regretful that they did not see Qin Miao show his full strength, Qin Miao seems to be like this all the time, and they are somewhat used to it.

And besides Qin Miao, isn't there Zhou Guanyu on the track?

Compared with Mercedes, which was as steady as an old dog in the Q1 and Q2 stages of qualifying and seemed to be constipated without showing its full strength until the last moment, Zhou Guanyu's qualifying session was much less exciting? (End of chapter)