How did I become an F1 driver?

As mentioned before, the weather in Austin has been very good recently, and there is basically no possibility of rain.

So the sun is still shining brightly on the track today.

When Qin Miao appeared at the entrance of the paddock, the American fans who had come to the scene early to wait began to cheer.

Qin Miao naturally smiled and waved to the audience, which received even more enthusiastic cheers.

Soon, Qin Miao returned to the team home of Mercedes-Benz Racing Team.

The next series of processes will not be described in detail, because in the next three days, the weather conditions on the track will not be much different from those in the race.

Therefore, the workload in the three practice matches this week will be relatively less.

Qin Miao can also focus more on getting familiar with the track and pursue racing at the limit of this track.

During the first and second practice stages, the most troublesome problem Qin Miao and Hamilton discovered was that the tires on this track were wearing out very quickly today.

During the race, there is a high probability that drivers from all teams will adopt a two-stop pit stop strategy.

However, this does not include Qin Miao. After seeing that the tires of the car on the track were worn out today, Qin Miao was already preparing to run the entire race as soon as Huang Bai stopped.

The subsequent testing and tuning process will not be described in detail here.

In short, Qin Miao completed all his car debugging work during the United States Grand Prix on Friday.

Time soon came to Saturday.

During the third practice period, the two drivers of the Mercedes team did not run a few laps on the track. The two drivers only stayed on the track for half an hour on average. After that, they left work early. The rest of the time, the team directly Start replacing the racing engine in advance.

Time quickly came to qualifying.

There were no drivers working hard on the track in Q1 and Q2. It was just that some drivers went too far while pursuing the limit in the qualifying stage, rushed off the track and had their results revoked.

But after being a little more stable on the next lap, I can always achieve a speed that matches my current strength.

In the end, nothing too unexpected happened in the results of the first and second exercises.

On the Chinese driver's side, Qin Miao passed the Q2.Q3 closing line steadily at medium and low altitudes.

Zhou Guanyu also passed the closing line at ultra-low altitude.

He even squeezed out Stroll on the last flying lap and entered Q3.

Bottas also successfully advanced in the ninth position, just one place higher than his teammate Zhou Guanyu.

Now that Arrow Racing has become a regular in the points area, no one could have imagined that it would be such a scene on the track before the start of this season.

In the first flying lap of Q3, the flying lap window the team found for Qin Miao was not very good.

As a result, Qin Miao encountered traffic problems during the second timing period and was affected by Russell who ran back to the field at several high-speed corners after completing the flying lap in the first timing period.

Although Russell avoided Qin Miao at the time, in the driver meeting before the game, basically all the drivers agreed that when they were doing warm-up laps or exit laps, these few in the first timing period Continuous bends without slowing down.

The key is that Russell is the chairman of the driver committee, and this verbal agreement was proposed by him at the driver meeting before the race.

Now he blocked Qin Miao's flying circle on the track, which can only be described as abstract.

Also because of Russell's obstruction, Qin Miao's speed in the first timing segment was not as fast as the first segment in Q2 when Qin Miao ran a somewhat careless flying lap, and was 0.08 seconds slower than that flying lap.

However, Qin Miao still withstood the pressure caused by the accident in the first two timing periods. In the second timing period, the Mercedes-Benz car's comfort zone was strongly purple, and in the third timing period, it was green again. Finally, he was the first After the flying lap, Qin Miao briefly appeared at the top of the driver qualifying rankings.

After finishing the flying lap, Qin Miao was still running back to the field lap. It was reported to the team TR that Russell interfered with him on the track.

However, the competition did not impose a penalty on the opponent because this was just a verbal agreement between the drivers. Russell also gave way to the car at that position and did not maliciously block it.

The FIA's reasons were legitimate, and Qin Miao had no choice but to give up.

Qin Miao had just finished reacting. He was still ranked first on the ranking list, but Hamilton, who came from behind, knocked Qin Miao out of his position.

Although the old man did not paint purple in the three timing periods, the average parameters of the three timing periods combined were 0.1 seconds faster than Qin Miao.

While the two Mercedes drivers were fighting over each other in the qualifying stage, the two Ferrari cars also showed their strength.

Leclerc went directly to the third level of purple, with a result that was 0.2 seconds faster than Hamilton in second place, and strongly airborne into the first place.

Although Sainz was slightly slower than his teammate Leclerc, Sainz also moved into second place.

Qin Miao still felt a little pained when she saw Ferrari's speed.

Hasn't Ferrari been killed by TD039 this season? Why is the racing car so fast?

Obviously, no one can answer Qin Miao's doubts.

After returning to the team's P room to rest for a while, with 3 minutes left before the clock stopped in Q3, the drivers drove out of the pit area and started the last flying lap of the Q3 qualifying session of the United States Grand Prix.

To be honest, Qin Miao's flying lap feels quite good. Thanks to the large amount of time practicing and familiarization before the start of the game, coupled with the two practice sessions and the five flying laps in the qualifying stage, Qin Miao is very good at flying laps. The cornering skills of each corner of the Circuit of the Americas have long been familiar to me.

But there is still the same problem. Although the performance of Mercedes-Benz racing cars has improved, the main improvements in racing performance are still concentrated within a limited range.

At this time, the W13B solved the problem of excessive downforce at the rear of the W13 and optimized the wind resistance of the car. However, the performance of the car itself was too late because it was too late to find the correct route modification. Overall, the W13B is still more suitable for high-speed tracks. racing car.

But the Circuit of the Americas is a relatively balanced track, so on this track, neither Qin Miao nor Hamilton can bring out the characteristics of their cars.

On the contrary, Ferrari's car is particularly suitable for this track this season.

Therefore, although in the last flying lap of Q3, Qin Miao and Hamilton both set new fastest laps in the first flying lap of Q3, their speed was still not as good as Ferrari.

Not only are Qin Miao and Hamilton not as fast as Ferrari, Verstappen's lap time after completing the last flying lap of Q3 was also 0.09 seconds slower than Leclerc's second place.

After the final qualifying round, the rankings of the qualifying stage are as follows:

1: Sainz
2: Leclerc

3: Verstappen

4: Qin Miao

5: Hamilton

6: Perez
7: Norris
8: Alonso
9: Bottas
10: Zhou Guanyu
However, this is not the starting order for tomorrow's race. Among the drivers in front, Leclerc and Perez have received varying degrees of penalties due to the replacement of new power unit components.

So in the end, the starting order for the main race is as follows:
1: Sainz
2: Verstappen

3: Qin Miao

4: Hamilton

5: Norris
6: Alonso
7: Bottas
8: Zhou Guanyu
9: Albon
10: Russell
This is also the first time this season that Russell has started in the top ten.

After Williams experienced a slump at the beginning of the season this season, it can be regarded as finding the direction of research and development of its own car, which is to completely develop Williams' car in the direction of a muscle car, maximize the top speed of the car, and reduce wind resistance. to the minimum.

This approach makes Williams as slow as a tractor on certain tracks, such as the Hungaroring, which has many low- and medium-speed corners.

But at tracks like Monza with many high-speed corners, the Williams car is a nightmare for all the cars behind it.

Because of the terrifying tail speed and wind resistance of the Williams car on the straight, some cars with relatively low DRS efficiency even sucked in the wake of the car in front after turning on DRS. Until the end, the tail speed was not as fast as that of the Williams car without DRS.

Therefore, on some specific tracks, Williams can often produce some impressive results.

Today's qualifying session was also the first time Qin Miao defeated his teammate in the qualifying stage after Mercedes redesigned the racing concept.

At least this can prove that Qin Miao's absolute single-lap speed still has merit. At least he will not be unilaterally beaten by his teammate Hamilton in terms of single-lap speed.

After qualifying, Hamilton's overall state seemed a bit depressed.

But this is not because he lost to his teammate Qin Miao in qualifying. This season, he has lost to his teammate Qin Miao many times in qualifying, and Hamilton has long been used to it.

He really felt pressure because Hamilton realized that Qin Miao's lap time was faster than his because Qin Miao had been training these days while he was engaged in business activities.

It can be said that this is a result that any adult with basic judgment can see. If one person trains and the other plays, and the two people have the same talent, the person who has spent a long time training must be more capable than the other person. high.

Patting his head with some annoyance, Hamilton realized that after knowing that he was unlikely to participate in the world championship competition this season, his subconscious mind had become a little relaxed.

Moreover, since this season, he has rarely defeated his teammate Qin Miao on the track, which makes Hamilton subconsciously get used to the feeling of losing to his teammate.

However, there is an old saying in China: It is not too late to make up for the situation before it is too late.

Not to mention that Hamilton has no possibility of competing for the world championship this season, so as long as he can realize this, it will have no impact if he does it sooner or later. After qualifying, although both Qin Miao and Hamilton will start in the front row for tomorrow's race, they do not need to attend the post-race interviews and press conferences. After all, the top three are not The two of them, they just extended one position forward.

So after the race was over, the car was parked in the inspection area, and after completing the post-race weigh-in and post-race interview, the two returned to the team's P room.

At this time, Hamilton explained to his physical trainer Angela that his recent training plan would be more focused on on-track practice.

Although Hamilton recognizes Qin Miao's strength and has won the world championship after all, it's okay for Hamilton not to recognize it.

But after all, I have 7 world championship titles on my head, and I have defeated more than one powerful teammate. Forget it this season, but next season, the competitiveness of Mercedes-Benz Racing will almost be restored. There is no way that I will lose to Qin. Miao, when the time comes, Qin Miao will be crowned the eighth world champion and become the only eight-time champion in F1. It will also be a beautiful thing.

Qin Miao didn't think as much as Hamilton did now. After today's qualifying session, Qin Miao just felt that the overall balance of the car was good, but it was a little too understeer, but there was nothing he could do about it. In order to recover Certain sacrifices are necessary for competitiveness.

After returning to the P room of the team, Qin Miao completed the handover process of all subsequent work tasks today.

After that, it's natural to get off work. If Qin Miao wants to, he can also go to the paddock next to the track to participate in fan meetings and autograph signing activities during this time.

But Qin Miao didn't go, which wouldn't be a surprise.

In the team lounge, I watched the video of Sainz’s fastest lap in the game, and then looked at Leclerc’s video.

In today's qualifying session, Sainz rarely defeated his teammate Leclerc on the track.

Qin Miao didn't have the chance to ask Leclerc what happened. The time difference between the two on the track was only 0.05 seconds. From the on-board video of the two, Qin Miao couldn't see the difference in their lap times. What an obvious difference. At the same time, Qin Miao couldn't get the data on the Ferrari.

Qin Miao could only think that it was Leclerc's own problem, either because of carelessness or because of a mistake.

While Qin Miao was studying his opponent, there was a knock on the door of Qin Miao's lounge.

Qin Miao opened the door and saw Frankie standing outside the door, holding a tablet in his hand.

Taking the tablet from Franky's hand, Qin Miao asked: "How is the racing status?"

French shrugged and said: "The condition is definitely better than we estimated. It will definitely be no problem to finish this week's United States Grand Prix, but aside from the wear and tear of the car, the performance of the car's engine is at least 15% less than the brand-new engine." The charging efficiency of MGU-H has also dropped significantly. It is only about 70% of the charging efficiency of MGU-H under normal conditions. Are you sure you don’t want to replace it with a new one?”

"I know, I know, but isn't it better for us to replace the engine parts with new ones as late as possible?" Qin Miao said as he signed his name on the inspection form displayed on the tablet in his hand: "Although I He is still in the lead in the standings, and the points gap between him and Verstappen has even widened. However, there is an old saying in China: A person who travels a hundred miles is half a mile, and no one knows whether it will happen before the season is over. If something unexpected happens, it's like Hamilton said during the season with Rosberg that some people didn't want him to win the driver's championship that year, although this was just Hamilton's family opinion.

But...who can say for sure? "

After taking the computer that Qin Miao returned, Franky nodded and said: "I admire you for still having such a strong sense of crisis after achieving your current achievements. However, in any case, the performance of your car may not be as good as tomorrow's race. It won’t be as strong as you think.”

"Now that you've made your decision, we're off work. It's almost curfew time."

Qin Miao nodded: "I understand, then I wish you good night in advance."

"Me too, I hope your competition goes well tomorrow." Franky said goodbye to Qin Miao.

Looking at the other party's leaving figure, Qin Miao let out a long sigh, then returned to the team home, reviewed the qualifying car videos of Leclerc and Sainz, and then took Barber to pack himself up. stuff back to the hotel.

There was nothing to say all night, and Qin Miao got up early the next morning.

Sunday was a nice sunny day, perfect for racing.

After completing his daily training in the morning, Qin Miao came to the paddock.

Today's main game is only held in the afternoon, so the time in the morning is mainly for rest and various pre-game preparations.

However, the pre-race driver parade before the start of the race is quite American.

One by one, the drivers are like pigs waiting for testing being sent to the assembly line. One by one, they enter the channels made of people, and then enter the track through these channels. During this process, there will also be a host. Talk to you and ask you questions.

Both sides of the aisle were filled with cheerleaders wearing shorts and midriff-baring tank tops, holding colorful balls.

Although Qin Miao seemed to be at ease during the whole process, she also greeted the fans at the scene enthusiastically.

But Qin Miao is really not used to this kind of pre-match appearance process.

However, after a relatively embarrassing opening, Qin Miao and the old man got into a classic car with a rear bucket and started the driver parade before the race.

During this process, while waving hello to the audience, Qin Miao complained to Hamilton next to him: "Americans have really weird habits. I basically can't hear anything during interviews. I can only predict what the host will say." Something."

Hamilton smiled nonchalantly and said, "This is the United States. When you come here, you have to respect their local culture and customs. Just get used to it."

"Besides, don't you think those cheerleaders dancing around you have great bodies?"

Qin Miao recalled for a moment, and the only things that appeared in his mind were those Ni brothers.

"I am an Asian, and we may have different tastes in aesthetics."

"44 people came today, setting a historical record for F1. You'd better be respectful."

……

After the pre-race driver parade was over, Qin Miao and Hamilton returned to the team home and changed into racing suits.

Then comes the playing of the national anthem and the final preparations before the game.

Time soon came to the final preparation stage before the start of the race, and Qin Miao also parked his car in third place.

To be honest, Qin Miao feels that his starting position is not very good, and he is even willing to exchange starting positions with Hamilton if possible.

The Circuit of the Americas in Austin is a counter-clockwise track. The driver in pole position starts on the far right side of the track, but T1 is another left turn with heavy braking.

As a result, the starting stage was not very friendly to Qin Miao, who was ranked third.

Because T1 of Circuit of the Americas is the highest point of the entire track, with a vertical height of 30 meters, it is also a high left-turn downhill curve.

Therefore, the effect of the starting stage is extremely important. If the start is not good, Qin Miao may not even be able to defend Hamilton's attack behind him, let alone attacking Verstappen and Sainz in front of him.

After all, the old man's strength has now returned to its peak, and he is really a big threat to himself.

So in the preparation stage, Qin Miao was thinking about how he should defend Hamilton's offense while sitting in the car.

This week, the official pit stop strategy is two stops.

They are yellow, white, yellow, and yellow, white, and white.

Qin Miao did not plan to use soft tires in the race this week, so Qin Miao used all the soft tires in practice and qualifying.

That left two sets of medium tires and one set of hard tires.

The reason why all the soft tires were used up was mainly during the testing process of the practice session. Even with Qin Miao's ability to protect tires, he would not be able to last long using soft tires on the American circuit.

Qin Miao could only last ten laps on this track at most.

Although these 10 laps may seem like a lot, this is data obtained from driving with minimal tire loss at the expense of speed.

For other drivers, a set of soft tires can only last about 5 laps on the track, even if it is a tire protection.

If you push it with all your strength, it will probably be gone in 3 laps.

Of course, this data will have an error of ±1 lap depending on the amount of oil on the car.

F1's tires are not each of the five types of tires that are more durable than the last one.

This depends more on the air temperature on the day of the race and the thickness of the asphalt on the track.

For example, in some competitions where the track temperature is relatively low, the medium tire may be faster than the hard tire and at the same time have better durability than the hard tire.

Today's Circuit of the Americas reverses this principle.

In short, for today's race, Qin Miao's pit stop strategy is temporarily set to stop at yellow and white. If there is any accident on the track, he will make real-time adjustments according to the accident on the track.

Soon, all drivers completed their warm-up laps before the start of the race.

He parked his car at his starting position.

The pursuit car behind is in position, the green flag is waving, and the race is about to begin.

Five red lights come on.

Go out!

Game start!
The engines of the 19 racing cars on the track began to roar.

Verstappen, who started on the inside, started very well. He had completely surpassed Sainz in front of him before the braking point of T1, and Verstappen still occupied the inside of the track at this time. He didn't even It was necessary to squeeze Sainz from the outside, and purely relying on his excellent start, he completely surpassed Sainz before the braking point of T1, and took the best entry and exit lines in T1. (End of chapter)