How did I become an F1 driver?

Someone from Mercedes-AMG's high-performance racing department found Qin Miao.

To be honest, when Qin Miao answered the call, he really couldn't remember who the other party was for a moment.

So after chatting for a while, Qin Miao finally realized the other party's identity.

The other party is the head of AMG's high-performance racing department.

"Is there anything you can do for me?" Qin Miao asked curiously. He had quite a few interactions with Mercedes-AMG's high-performance racing department. On the one hand, if the other party released a new high-performance vehicle, Qin Miao and Hamilton would be the first invitees to the new car launch conference.

If the two of them don't go, they will look for other people, or the head of the AMG department will go on stage to introduce it himself.

There are two world champions in the company, and this high-end resource must be utilized.

On the other hand, they are responsible for finding vehicles for Qin Miao and Hamilton for every Grand Prix weekend.

After all, although he was quite familiar with the people in AMG's high-performance racing department, Qin Miao was basically only familiar with the handover personnel of the team. Qin Miao had only met the head of the other department at Mercedes-Benz's annual meeting and had spoken a sentence or two to him. To be honest, he was not that familiar with him.

That's why Qin Miao was so surprised when he received the call from the other party this time.

The person on the other end of the phone smiled and said, "It's like this. The AMG ONE we made specifically for you is now ready for delivery. You can come directly to the factory in Brackley to pick it up when you are free."

Qin Miao was stunned: "So soon? I remember that they said that the official delivery will not start until next year?"

"Haha, that's the normal scheduled customer delivery time. After all, you and Hamilton are our drivers and one of the spokespersons for the AMG ONE series. Your cars will definitely be delivered earlier than normal customers."

Qin Miao nodded thoughtfully. This was normal.

As for privileges, Qin Miao has long been accustomed to it.

Not to mention after winning the world championship, even from the day Qin Miao entered F2 from F1, Qin Miao felt some hidden privileges in himself.

However, the privileges at that time were limited to the paddock. For example, you could enter many team reception rooms without saying hello, and you could also experience many entertainment activities on your own, even without paying.

Another experience is becoming the F1 world champion.

After winning the world championship, Qin Miao's privileges are no longer limited to inside and outside the paddock. Qin Miao's privileges have spread to outside the paddock to a certain extent.

Many racing-related occasions will give Qin Miao the green light.

But I won’t list them all here.

In short, Qin Miao understood what the other party said, and was also a little excited.

Qin Miao has tested the AMG ONE. This car is actually equipped with a Mercedes-Benz V6 1.6V F1 hybrid engine, and many of its components are consistent with the functions inside his current W13B.

Although the engine power is certainly limited, it is only about 1/4 of a normal F5 racing engine.

After all, if full power is released, an engine can only run about 2500 kilometers at most.

After limiting the engine power, the engine life is directly extended to 12000 kilometers.

The only loss is that the car's final acceleration is not as fast as F1.

Although the engine life is still not long after limiting the engine power, for a super sports car that can be called a work of art, the engine life is already very long, and no truly wealthy person would use a super sports car as a daily means of transportation or shopping.

No matter how rich you are, you can't afford to be treated like this.

So strictly speaking, the AMG ONE can also be considered a formula car, at least it has the soul of a formula car.

There are not many opportunities to see and drive a Formula One racing car that can be legally driven on the road. Qin Miao is naturally looking forward to this car that belongs to him alone.

Most importantly, who can resist driving an F1 car legally on the road?

But at the same time, Qin Miao asked curiously, "It's my custom model, right?"

"Yes, and some of our own ideas are incorporated into the design of the car. I believe you will definitely like it when the time comes." The other party said confidently.

"To be honest, I didn't expect the car to be delivered so soon, but I'm afraid I don't have time to pick it up this week. This week is back-to-back races, and I'm in Mexico next week, so I can't leave at all."

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen your F1 race schedule, but it's not a big deal. If you are free, you can contact us at any time. We can deliver your car to any corner of Europe within 12 hours."

"Then I'll contact you when the time comes. I can just call this number, right?" Qin Miao asked with some anticipation.

Men are all like this. When they know that a big toy they have been looking forward to for a long time is about to get their hands, they can't help but feel excited.

"Yes."

"Thank you."

"By the way, I have another question. Has Lewis's car been delivered?" This was completely Qin Miao's sudden curiosity, so he asked casually.

The other party did not hide anything and said directly: "Lewis' car was originally ready to be delivered, but recently he has added a lot of modification suggestions for the AMG ONE, so the delivery time has been delayed. We have prepared the car for you first."

Qin Miao nodded, thanked the other party, and hung up the phone.

After this incident, all of Qin Miao's work in the US Grand Prix paddock came to an end.

However, Qin Miao did not rest. He flew to Mexico City on the night the game ended.

Qin Miao had mentioned earlier when chatting with someone that the US Grand Prix and the Mexican Grand Prix are back-to-back, and the distance between the United States and Europe is a bit too long, so Qin Miao went directly to Mexico after the US Grand Prix.

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez is the highest track in the entire F1 calendar.

Although the altitude of 2240 meters basically does not make any physical difference to a normal person, it is difficult to detect the thinness of oxygen without careful feeling.

However, the soaring altitude means that the air density is not as great as that of low-altitude tracks.

This will have a huge impact on F1 cars, which are extremely sensitive to air.

High altitude will have many unexpected effects on the overall aerodynamics, heat dissipation efficiency and heat conversion rate of the racing car.

Under such track conditions, using the maximum downforce tuning setting may only result in the downforce of a low-altitude track under medium-to-high downforce tuning.

In addition to the car, the condition of the driver will also be greatly affected under such altitude conditions. Given the terrifying physical fitness of F1 drivers, at an altitude of 2240 meters, their physical sensation is no different from that of a normal low-altitude race area, but the huge physical consumption brought by long-term competition and the slow oxygen replenishment will definitely cause many unexpected negative effects on the driver's body.

Therefore, most drivers went to Mexico as soon as the US Grand Prix ended, naturally to adapt to the local high altitude.

Qin Miao is no exception.

And because of the United States' lack of morality, Mexico is not a peaceful place either.

Local character groups often engage in heated exchanges with local sheriff's departments.

Although security has been increased across Mexico during the F1 Grand Prix, local characteristics cannot be eliminated by simply taking precautions.

In addition, Mercedes and Red Bull are fighting fiercely in the team standings this season. It is possible that there are some local fans with "special" identities and backgrounds in Mexico who dislike Qin Miao or Hamilton and want the Red Bull team where Perez is located to be crowned the team champion of the 2022 season in advance, which will give the two Mercedes drivers a brain hole.

So during this Grand Prix weekend, the Maybachs driven by Qin Miao and Hamilton were not driven by the two drivers themselves, but by bodyguards. At the same time, the windows were replaced with black one-way opaque windows, and the entire car was bulletproof.

Hotels are no longer those sponsored by the sponsor, but rather those that are as close to the track as possible.

Maximize the protection of the lives of the two drivers.

Compared to Qin Miao and Hamilton who were facing a formidable enemy, the drivers of other teams were slightly better, but the number of bodyguards also increased significantly.

We are all rich people, there is no need to risk our lives to run a competition.

After landing quietly in Mexico, Qin Miao returned to the hotel immediately.

Qin Miao ran a race in Mexico last season. During this year, there were no major changes to the track layout in Mexico, so Qin Miao's understanding of the track is not outdated.

Therefore, after arriving in Mexico, Qin Miao focused his main energy on training his physical fitness and adapting to the local climate and altitude.

As a result, the time Qin Miao spent familiarizing himself with the track was significantly reduced.

But overall, Qin Miao's life has been quite comfortable since he came to Mexico.

Although I am exhausted as a dead dog every day, it is very fulfilling.

However, this very pleasant practice time for Qin Miao did not last too long, only three days.

On Thursday, Qin Miao began his intense and exciting preparations before the game.

The Grand Prix of this race week is also one of the most watched races by fans in the 2022 season. After all, the winner of today's race will determine whether Qin Miao can be crowned the world champion of the 2022 season two races in advance.

At the same time, this week's competition is also very tense for the team.

Because of the three practice sessions in this competition week, only the first and third practice sessions can actually play their due role.

During the second practice session, the Pirelli tires for the 2023 season will be tested. During the test, the team is not allowed to make changes to the car's tuning, nor is it allowed to turn on the car's DRS.

In this way, the only data obtained from the second practice session is the tire data.

In short, it is the data of 20 racing cars on the track helping Pirelli run next year's tires.

While these data are useful for teams and drivers in the long run, they are completely useless for this season's Mexican Grand Prix.

Therefore, this Grand Prix weekend, all teams and drivers only have two practice sessions to find settings and get familiar with the tires and track.

Add to that the high altitude of the Rodriguez Brothers Circuit and it all becomes difficult and cumbersome.

In addition to these problems, Qin Miao also encountered another problem, that is, the MGU-K and MGU-H that limited Qin Miao's performance in the last game were finally replaced.

The two generator sets in Qin Miao's engine have actually exceeded their rated service life, and even exceeded it in the last US Grand Prix.

The reason why it is still in use is that when the team technicians checked it, they found that this equipment did not have any problems that would endanger driving safety. The only disadvantage may be that the efficiency of charging the racing battery is reduced.

Compared with the penalty for replacing a new set, this loss in charging efficiency is obviously still within the acceptable range for the fleet.

But at this week's Mexican Grand Prix, Qin Miao does not plan to continue using this system, regardless of whether there are any problems with it.

In the last game, the reduced charging efficiency of these two things made Qin Miao very disgusted.

Qin Miao wanted to change into a new one no matter what.

Even if Qin Miao had no such idea, the team was actually preparing to replace a new set of parts.

The team's idea is similar to Qin Miao's own. On the other hand, the team also knows that Qin Miao's set of parts will probably not last until the end of this season.

Among the three races left in this season, Mexico is one of the best tracks for overtaking.

I may not get many points from this race if I accept the penalty, but I can still get some points. It is better than not getting any points if the car system fails and I have to retire during the race, right?

Moreover, Qin Miao only needed to be penalized for replacing MGU-K and MGU-H in this game, and there were not many positions, only ten.

It's not a direct penalty of starting at the end of the team, which is completely acceptable to the team.

The most important point is that Qin Miao has an incredible ability to protect his tires, so the team can completely formulate a pit stop strategy on the track with only one stop during the yellow and red phases.

Although the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is not a track that easily triggers the safety car, the team can still look forward to the appearance of the safety car on the track.

Even if he was really unlucky and didn't wait for the safety car to appear on the track, Mercedes could let Qin Miao go through a normal late pit stop procedure and he wouldn't lose anything.

So this race weekend, Qin Miao started his fourth MGU-K and MGU-H, and also started his second energy storage device, which is the battery.

Two sets of batteries can be used in one season.

The aerodynamic efficiency of Mercedes' cars this season is not very high, and the engine horsepower has not made significant progress compared to other manufacturers. However, Mercedes has made incredible progress in both the engine cooling system and the durability of engine components this season.

The best proof of this is that so far, neither Qin Miao nor Hamilton has retired from the race due to engine failure on the track this season.

Of course, this is a bit too absolute. Although the reasonable structure of engine components plays a big role here, the long-term care and maintenance of technicians are also an important part of achieving all this.

No one can live without the other. (End of this chapter)