How did I become an F1 driver?

For today's game, the tire formulas given by Pirelli are C4-C3, three types of tires with medium hardness.

Meanwhile, the air temperature in the paddock today was 31 degrees Celsius and the track temperature was 60 degrees Celsius.

In fact, strictly speaking, today's track temperature is a bit too high, and it is not a simple matter for the driver to control the tire temperature.

The camera turned and the scene was on the track.

Like other drivers, Qin Miao used medium tires at the beginning.

During the practice test, the number of laps used by a normal driver on this track may only be 9 laps.

This kind of durability is really too little for a 53-lap race, and even Qin Miao can only last 13 laps on soft tires with light oil. Qin Miao can probably set the tire for 17 laps.

The team actually still wants Qin Miao to continue running in races with differentiated tires.

However, if the hard tire is used to start, even if Qin Miao runs freely throughout the entire race, Qin Miao's single lap speed is not as fast as the medium tire that is closed.

But Qin Miao's hard tires can run 50 laps on the track without much slowdown.

Therefore, it would be too wasteful for Qin Miao to use hard tires at the beginning.

So after a period of meetings, the strategy team arranged a tactic for Qin Miao to stop at yellow and red, but Qin Miao, who was using medium tires, had to stay on the track for at least 36 laps.

The longer he persists, the higher the durability of the tires Qin Miao can use after switching to soft tires.

This is basically Qin Miao's comfort zone, and there is no psychological burden when the team arranges it.

Soon, the tire warm-up lap began.

To be honest, when running the tire warm-up lap, Qin Miao saw the butt of teammate Hamilton's car appearing in front of him, and Qin Miao was a little uncomfortable for a while.

After all, Hamilton has been ahead of himself only a handful of times this season.

The only thing Qin Miao is looking forward to now is that Hamilton's performance in the race is not as incredible as his performance in qualifying.

Soon, the warm-up lap was over and all the drivers parked their cars in their proper parking spots.

Qin Miao also calmed down and stopped thinking about things that had nothing to do with the current game.

Soon, five red lights came on, five red lights went out, and the game started.

Leclerc had a good start in today's race and held on to his starting position firmly after the start.

Verstappen's starting speed in today's race is actually okay, but compared with Leclerc, Verstappen's start today is a bit like a wrong start.

On the other side, Perez's starting speed was not very fast, but Hamilton and Qin Miao behind him started very well.

Before entering T1, both Leclerc and Verstappen held their positions, but Perez was taken away from the third position by Hamilton, who started much faster than him.

Qin Miao's starting speed is actually faster than Perez, and even Qin Miao's starting speed is a little faster than Hamilton.

However, the length of the straight after the start was limited, and Qin Miao's angle into the corner was blocked by his teammates Hamilton and Perez. In the end, Qin Miao did not get a better position after the start and was still in fifth place.

After a few corners, the car was straightened out, and Leclerc began to slowly open up the time gap with Verstappen behind him, while Verstappen quickly opened up the time gap with Hamilton.

Before DRS was turned on, Qin Miao could barely keep up with Perez in front of him.

However, when Qin Miao followed Perez, Alonso, the old comrade behind Qin Miao, was very dishonest. From time to time, he appeared in some places that posed a certain threat to Qin Miao. However, given the time gap between Alonso and Qin Miao, , Alonso simply couldn't attack Qin Miao's position and put pressure on Qin Miao.

Of course, Qin Miao can do these operations, and he even plays them better than Alonso, but looking at the old comrades behind him who are eager to try, Qin Miao is somewhat murmuring in his heart.

What if the veteran DRS opens and then sucks in a big wake of its own, and then takes advantage of the fact that I don't pay attention and makes a late brake on the inside, I guess I won't have a good way to defend.

Therefore, Qin Miao had no choice but to devote part of his energy to staring at Alonso behind him during the next game.

However, the performance gap of the car itself lies here after all, so when the time came to the third lap, after the race meeting turned on DRS, Qin Miao withdrew his attention from Alonso.

Because at this time the time gap between Qin Miao and Alonso has reached 2 seconds.

Alonso looked at Qin Miao, who was unmoved by his actions and had not even walked through the defensive line. He could only sigh helplessly in his heart. Qin Miao's defensive IQ and mentality are indeed Not like a young man his age.

On the fourth lap, the time gap between Hamilton and Verstappen had reached 2 seconds.

The time difference of 0.5 seconds in one lap made everyone in the Mercedes team feel helpless.

Qin Miao followed Perez in front of him, but now Qin Miao also encountered a headache.

Although he now entered the DRS area behind Perez, Perez also followed Hamilton, and followed him 0.5 seconds behind Hamilton. Perez could not overtake Hamilton in front of him in a short period of time. And Qin Miao also had no way to attack Perez on the track because Perez had Hamilton's DRS.

And judging from the current situation on the track, the current situation will not change much in a short period of time.

Fortunately, this state of affairs did not last long.

Hamilton's defensive ability is also considered top-notch in the paddock. He never lost position or gave up inside during the period when Perez attacked him. Hamilton defended Perez until the fifth lap.

Because he had been following Hamilton for a long time, and the temperature was a bit high today, the tires of Perez's car inevitably overheated.

On the one hand, it's because Perez is too close to Hamilton in front. The air intake of the car sucks the high-temperature gases discharged from Hamilton's engine. At the same time, Perez's tires on the straights also need to suck Hamilton's tires. The wake cannot absorb the cold air on the track, because there is a vacuum zone behind Hamilton's car in front, which evacuates all the air.

Although in this case, the resistance to Perez's car will be reduced, the acceleration ability and the tail speed will be faster than the Mercedes in front.

But at the same time, Perez's Red Bull car is the equivalent of an athlete holding his breath for the final sprint.

You can't hold on for long.

For this reason, Red Bull informed Perez on lap 6: "Come on, the tire temperature of the car is a bit too high. If possible, open a little distance from Hamilton to cool down the tires and wait for the next opportunity to attack. "

Although he was a little reluctant and even a little afraid of the No. 66 Mercedes behind him, Perez finally listened to the team's opinions. It’s okay not to listen, because at this time, Perez’s tire treads have begun to show obvious graining, and he also feels that it is a little difficult to enter and exit corners. If the tires of the car are not cooled down, Perez will be in trouble in this game. It is very likely that the tire will blow out directly.

Qin Miao no longer had this worry, because when running on the straight, Qin Miao would take the initiative to try to attack and put pressure on Perez, so Qin Miao's car still sucked in the cold air.

Now Perez finally took the initiative to give up the DRS in front of him, giving Qin Miao the opportunity to attack and pick up the miss.

Two laps later, on the 8th lap, Qin Miao finally caught Perez's slipstream when exiting the corner at the back of the straightaway, and braked late on the inside before the T1 braking point to complete his overtaking of Perez.

Without differentiated tires, Qin Miao's overtaking was indeed much more difficult than normal.

In fact, Qin Miao was already 0.5 seconds behind Perez on the seventh lap, but the DRS area between T7 and T8 was too much of an advantage for Red Bull.

Those corners are mainly medium and low speed corners, and in these corners, the Red Bull car's grip and cornering speed are significantly faster than the Mercedes car.

So in the end, Qin Miao still had to rely on the mechanical grip of the T15, which is purely based on the car's aerodynamic effect, rather than relying on the aerodynamic effect of the car's large-angle corners to complete the overtaking of Perez with some difficulty.

After surpassing Perez, Qin Miao ranked third.

At this time, Qin Miao was already 4 seconds behind his teammates.

But no matter what, Qin Miao now finally has enough time to run a long distance, and there is still 4 seconds of clean air ahead.

In the subsequent races, Qin Miao began to shorten the time gap with Hamilton in front of him at a speed of 0.2 seconds per lap.

But compared with Leclerc and Verstappen, Qin Miao was gradually pulled away by the two.

On lap 16, Qin Miao came to the position 2 seconds behind Hamilton.

The time gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton is now shortening by 0.3 seconds per lap.

Hamilton's medium tires began to fail, while Qin Miao's medium tires began to fail slower than all the drivers on the scene.

But at this moment, Verstappen, who had been following Leclerc but had never found any opportunity to attack Leclerc, finally couldn't stand it anymore and chose to pit early.

In fact, at this time, the time difference between Hamilton and Verstappen was only 8 seconds, and the maintenance area of ​​the Paul Ricard Circuit was relatively long. Without the tire changer making a tire change error, he had to stop and change tires. The total time required may be as high as 22 seconds.

So after Verstappen came out of the pits, he fell to seventh, behind Norris, and there was not much clean air in front of him, because 1.7 seconds ahead of him was Norris, and Verstappen had to pass Norris in front. There are only 4 seconds of clean air to run.

So at this point, Leclerc started his lead.

But just when all the fans focused their attention on other places on the track, they began to silently ponder whether Verstappen could undercut Leclerc.

Lap 18.

The yellow flag suddenly lit up in the third timing period.

At this point in time, except for Leclerc, no other driver entered the third timing period.

Soon, the director cut the screen to Leclerc's car screen.

What appeared in front of the audience was a wall of tires, and at the same time, there was a Ferrari racing car with the entire front of the car inserted into the wall.

Five seconds later, the safety car was dispatched.

After the safety car came out, the drivers who had not yet pitted were in trouble.

That’s it for free pit stops.

On the other side, Verstappen, who had just pitted for two laps, was shocked when he saw the yellow flag displayed on his steering wheel. Then he broke out in a cold sweat after seeing the safety car.

Because he knew that behind him at this time were Hamilton and Qin Miao, and they would definitely enter the pit area to change tires at this time.

If they take advantage of this safety car and get stuck in front of them after coming out, then there is no need to think about it. They will have to face Qin Miao's damn defense again in this game. A DRS train composed of two Mercedes drivers.

And at this point in time, everyone must have changed to hard tires for the entire next race. In the later stages of the race, they must be in extreme pain.

I have to face the annoying taillights of the Mercedes racing car again.

Unknowingly, Qin Miao's one-and-a-half-year career has caused many drivers from big teams to have headaches when they see the rear diffuser of a Mercedes car.

However, the Red Bull Racing team's reminder was soon passed to Verstappen through the team TR: "Max, according to our calculations, after the safety car, Hamilton is likely to appear in front of you, and Qin Miao is likely to appear behind you."

Although there may be one more Hamilton in front, Verstappen still feels a little uncomfortable.

But at least, the person who appeared in front of him was not that pervert Qin Miao, which gave Verstappen some psychological comfort.

Now it was Qin Miao's turn to feel a little uncomfortable, because at this time he was only 2 seconds away from Hamilton.

If two cars enter the pit, you will have to wait behind Hamilton for a period of time while Hamilton changes tires. During this time, Perez behind you can go in and change tires in advance...

Soon, all the drivers from all the teams chose to pit for tire changes.

Hamilton put on hard tires after pitting. At this time, there are still 35 laps left before the end of the race. Counting the laps with the safety car, the final time for the race to restart should be lap 20. By then, the distance will be There were only 33 laps left at the end of the race.

Most drivers can finish this race by sticking to the track on hard tires.

So there is no problem in changing to hard tires at this time.

But Qin Miao was a little helpless.

Because at this time, he could only stop for hard tires. Changing to medium tires meant that Qin Miao needed to stop again. The soft tires would not be able to complete the remaining 33 laps, and the hard tires were not suitable for Qin Miao. Some say it's too wasteful.

But Qin Miao had no choice. (End of chapter)