How did I become an F1 driver?

Chapter 440 Chapter 443: The new W13
To be honest, this is the first time Qin Miao has driven an F1 car from such a long time ago, but compared to the W1, what Qin Miao wants to drive is actually a F09 car with a pure internal combustion engine of the V8, V10 or V12 era.

It's a pity that the appearance of the racing cars of that era is still not in line with the aesthetics of car fans of this era.

Most of his favorites are old fans, but Qin Miao's current fans are mainly fans who are new to F1, so Qin Miao really has no chance to try out his previous racing performance at such an event.

But what really surprised Qin Miao was that when Qin Miao put on the Mercedes racing suit and helmet and came out of the lounge backstage, the fans who had been waiting for a long time saw Qin Miao. After Miao, there was an immediate burst of cheers that made Qin Miao, a experienced driver, look a little sideways.

Then...

"Qin Miao!"

"Qin Miao!"

"Qin Miao!"

……

Amidst the cheers of the fans at the scene, everyone's voices gradually converged together, shouting Qin Miao's most familiar name in the language he is most familiar with.

On the one hand, such castration increases the service life of the engine and allows for more activities. On the other hand, it reduces the difficulty of operation.

On the contrary, Hamilton is very accustomed to such cheers. He seems to be very relaxed and does not feel any pressure or nervousness.

Hamilton was stunned and said: "This is just Singapore, you have such a strong appeal, I really can't imagine how many people will support you at the scene if the Chinese Grand Prix is ​​restarted."

After being stunned for a while, Qin Miao could clearly see the faces of the surrounding fans in the dim light, as well as what they were holding, the clothes they were wearing, the hats they were wearing, and the flags they were waving in their hands.

But it was just an accident, not as shocking as Qin Miao's.

After all, he was here to participate in an event, and it was impossible for Qin Miao to just stand here and chat with Hamilton.

The already noisy crowd suddenly burst into even louder cheers after seeing Qin Miao's action.

So the audience at the scene saw Qin Miao standing there for a while and then waving to the audience on both sides of the street.

But these things that were so familiar to Qin Miao made Qin Miao feel a little crazy for a while.

While Qin Miao was still dazed, a hand suddenly put his hand on Qin Miao's shoulder. Hamilton came to the position side by side with Qin Miao. He looked at the cheering fans with a surprised look on his face.

At this moment, Qin Miao deeply realized what playing at home is.

Not only because these cheers are not directed at him, but also because as a seven-time champion and an F1 driver who has been racing at his home court since entering F1, he has long been able to handle the support of the home crowd calmly. That’s it.

They were holding the five-star red flag that Qin Miao was most familiar with, and they were wearing Mercedes uniforms. They wore Qin Miao No. 66, which looked a lot like Ferrari in red, but it was a Mercedes hat. They were waving nothing but five stars. In addition to the red flag, there is also the black three-pointed star flag of the Mercedes team.

F1 cars are beasts in the literal sense. In order to prevent the driver from losing control of the car, the team still needs to take insurance measures.

After waving hello to the audience, Qin Miao got into the W08 used by Mercedes for performances under the guidance of the staff.

And this level of castration is hard to see.

But because there were so many people cheering, and they were all directed at Qin Miao, Qin Miao couldn't even hear any sound for a while.

After all, the place where the event is held is a street or other non-track paved road.

"To be honest, if it were before, I wouldn't be able to give you an exact answer myself, but now... I think it will be even more fanatical than this..." Qin Miao said.

After all, it is a car used for performance, so the engine in this car is not the full-power engine used in competitions. At this time, the engine in the car is restricted, reducing its power by 200 horsepower.

Listening to the eardrum-stirring shouts, I looked at the enthusiastic expressions on the faces of the fans around me, as well as their familiar skin colors.

As for Qin Miao, he got into the racing car surrounded by the cheers of the audience.

And when Qin Miao got into the racing car, even with a helmet on, Qin Miao could still clearly hear the cheers of the surrounding audience.

Seriously, if the organizer had used water horses for the protective wall around today's event, instead of cement piers and iron rods.

At the same time, a row of staff in security uniforms were posted around the protective wall to maintain order. Otherwise, judging from the fanaticism of the audience, they would have rushed in long ago.

Next, Qin Miao naturally performed a stunt show for the car fans on these three specially planned Z-shaped streets.

Drawing donuts, accelerating hard, and using specially-made tires that don't have that strong grip to drift along the car, it looks cool, but apart from being cool, there is no speed at all.

Always in fifteen minutes, Qin Miao and Hamilton gave the fans a good selection of driving skills.

But Qin Miao and Hamilton also knew that the audience was not there to see them drive, but to see the drivers.

So after the performance, the two had a cordial interaction with the audience.

"Qin Miao! Come on for the game! We believe in you!"

"Qin Miao, look here, look here!"

"Come on! Qin Miao, I believe you can win the world championship this year!"

"Qin Miao, I want to give birth to a monkey for you!"

"Qin Miao, I executed you in COD this week! I have the video!"

When Qin Miao was signing autographs and interacting with the lucky spectators at the scene, the fans surrounding him would always shout something to Qin Miao, which could be used to express their excitement after seeing Qin Miao.

Either cheer for Qin Miao, or encourage Qin Miao, saying that he will always support Qin Miao.

But the human species often has its own special diversity.

So when Qin Miao was signing autographs for the fans at the scene, one of the fans shouted directly.

Qin Miao, who could have subconsciously blocked the cheers and encouragements, was stunned when she heard these words. Then she looked at the person who shouted to her and made a husky pointing expression.

"I remember you!"

The man became happy after seeing Qin Miao's expression.

Qin Miao can also understand the mentality of these car fans after seeing him. It can even be said that as long as he attracts his attention and responds to the other party, the other party will be happy for two months after returning home because of his reply. Even after a long time, you can brag about it to the wine table or to your close friends.

Maybe saying this will make Qin Miao's fans a little humble, but before Qin Miao became an F1 driver, he himself was an F1 fan, and before that, Qin Miao also ran in F2 for a period of time.

Although he was already a driver at that time, he was still an ordinary person mentally. He would still get excited when meeting F1 drivers and want to attract their attention.

So Qin Miao can understand the mentality of these car fans at this time.

After working among the fans for more than ten minutes, Qin Miao and Hamilton finally took the microphone to thank the fans who came to the scene and asked them to look forward to Sunday's race.

After an event, Qin Miao naturally received applause and cheers from all the audience, including Hamilton.

After this event is over, Qin Miao's work for Thursday is all over.

Saying goodbye to the audience, Qin Miao returned to the hotel.

After arriving at the hotel, Qin Miao washed up, talked to her mother and Qiu Meng, then turned back to the room to play on the computer for a while to relax, and then lay on the bed to get ready for sleep.

Modern people cannot go to sleep immediately after lying on the bed, so Qin Miao still took out his mobile phone and looked at it.

Then Qin Miao naturally saw on his mobile phone that the audience at the scene was posting the video of his road show everywhere.

Although most of the people Qin Miao saw at the scene shouted to him in Chinese when they saw him, Qin Miao really thought that most of them were locals from Singapore.

But in fact, most of the people who took the video were Chinese.

Qin Miao was moved by this and could only sigh that domestic car fans are really rich now.

Time soon came to Friday, the day when the first and second practice began.

When he came to the track, Qin Miao really felt the "enthusiasm" of the Marina Bay Circuit for the drivers.

Although it is already evening, the Marina Bay Circuit is still a bit sweltering.

Even if he wasn't wearing the racing suit outside, just wearing the sweat-absorbing, fire-proof and high-temperature inner layer, Qin Miao felt a little stuffy, and he started to sweat after a while.

Not to mention the feeling of putting on a racing suit and sitting in the cockpit of a racing car with the engine started during the first practice period.

It really feels like being in a sauna.

But when you go to the sauna, at least you don't wear so many clothes, and the sweat on your body can be discharged. But even if Qin Miao sweats now, the sweat will only be absorbed by his sweat-absorbent innerwear. .

After the engine of this kind of racing car is started, there is a continuous heat source behind you sending heat waves to you. Qin Miao couldn't help but say: "Today's racing car is a little too warm."

Frankie did not expect that Qin Miao was still in the mood to joke at this time, and responded with a smile: "It is indeed a bit hot now, but I believe this situation will be greatly relieved after you get on the track."

Qin Miao: "Of course, it's just a high temperature of about 60 degrees Celsius. I can do it!"

……

Chatter aside, before coming to Singapore, Qin Miao had undergone high-temperature training.

In the past three weeks, in addition to resting and working in the team, almost every morning Qin Miao would wear a racing suit in the team's specially designed sauna while enjoying the sultry air of about 60° while driving on the simulator. .

There is a saying, this feeling is highlighted by two words, sour and refreshing.

After two hours of practice, Qin Miao would sweat a lot due to the temperature even if there was not too much G-force pressure on her body.

After one exercise, Qin Miao will lose two kilograms of water.

However, with such a long preparation time, Qin Miao is now somewhat accustomed to the feeling of sitting in a stuffy racing car.

Soon, it was time for practice.

Marina Bay Circuit is almost a brand new track for all teams, mainly because it has entered a new era of ground effects and the characteristics of racing cars have changed a lot.

On the other hand, the Marina Bay Circuit this Grand Prix weekend has been re-paved with asphalt, so that no one knows the current grip of this track before running on the track.

Both Qin Miao and Hamilton need to re-adapt and understand this track.

When the curtain lifted and the passage to the track appeared in front of Qin Miao, Qin Miao saw the FIA ​​official camera that could move around the paddock hanging above the door of the P room of the Mercedes team.

On both sides of the door of Room P were FIA ​​official specially invited reporters holding cameras.

They were all filming Mercedes' upgraded racing cars.

Qin Miao didn't wave or say hello to them. Now Qin Miao has entered working mode. All he has to do now is go to the track to test the upgrade effect of the car.

Having said that, there is a consensus within the Mercedes team that today’s race cannot fully demonstrate the characteristics and performance of the W13B.

After all, the Marina Bay Circuit is a street race, and this track has the most right-angle corners in the entire calendar, even accounting for 50% of the total number of corners on the entire track.

What the car looks like here is more about its mechanical grip rather than its aerodynamic efficiency.

Although according to the team's simulator, Mercedes' modification did little to improve the overall speed of the car. It mainly changed the characteristics and center of gravity of the car.

The car's behavior changes from oversteer to understeer when entering and exiting corners.

Everything is unknown now. What Qin Miao needs to do now is to become familiar with the car and test its various performances.

After Qin Miao drove his car onto the track, he immediately felt the difference. The steering wheel of the car is now a little heavier, and it feels a bit like the W12 from last season.

After Qin Miao drove onto the track, there was no change in the acceleration and braking of the car.

After all, the engine and gearbox have not changed, only the aerodynamic shape of the car has changed. The overall resistance of the car may be slightly smaller, but the impact of this resistance on the acceleration of the car can be said to be minimal.

Speaking of which, Qin Miao also thinks that the people at Mercedes-Benz are awesome for making such a wide range of modifications, but the weight of the W13B is not heavier than that of the W13, and is even 13 kg lighter than the W1, although it is still not touching. It has reached the minimum weight limit stipulated by the FIA, but in terms of vehicle weight alone, the overall lap speed of the car is much faster than the single lap of the W13B.

PS. Parents, there is a double monthly pass event at the end of the month. If you still have monthly passes, give me some!

(End of this chapter)