How did I become an F1 driver?

What Toto didn't know was that Ferrari had also started to prepare at this time.

And this time it is no longer Binotto who wants Qin Miao. Teacher Binotto is leaving, and he is now unable to decide on personnel appointments for the Ferrari team.

It was the decision of Ferrari's chairman John Elkann that Qin Miao wanted to join Ferrari this time.

This is also Ferrari's tradition, that is, senior management exceeds their authority to command subordinates.

However, because this was John Alkan's decision, the people below him basically did not make any concessions when it came to execution, because if the matter was not done well, they might really be fired.

Then Ferrari learned that Mercedes was building a school for Qin Miao's future children.

Ferrari heard this and said, let’s build it too! We even teach in Chinese!
Of course, Ferrari did this secretly and few people knew about it.

In short, Ferrari really wants Qin Miao now.

Because Qin Miao's incredible tire-protecting ability can really make up for the disadvantage of insufficient racing performance to a certain extent.

Another reason is that many people in the Iron Buddha Temple sighed and lamented when they saw Qin Miao.

These two drivers' championships should have belonged to Ferrari!
……

In the paddock, after chatting with Toto for a while, the two turned their attention back to the track.

Soon it was time for Hamilton's first pit stop.

In fact, Qin Miao is quite interested in the team's tire changing process. Qin Miao used to watch it on TV. After entering F2 and F1, Qin Miao watched it while sitting in the car. He has never seen the team's tire changing from any other perspective.

So before Hamilton entered the pit, Qin Miao curiously approached the door of the team's P room.

Then I saw a tire change in 2.7 seconds.

The speed of tire changing this time is actually the average level of the Mercedes team. After all, Mercedes' tire changing has always been slow this season.

This is mainly because Mercedes has not optimized the tire changing process and tire bolts and pneumatic cannons enough, and the team has not had time to address this problem.

But just when everyone thought Hamilton might lose his current position because of this 2.7-second tire change, Verstappen entered the pit to change tires.

Verstappen took a total of 3.4 seconds to pit and change tires.

Now, Verstappen, who was still entangled with Hamilton, completely lost all chances to attack Hamilton on the track.

Pan Zi himself is not a person with a good temper. He was already very angry because of the entanglement with Hamilton on the track. This time, the team change not only did not give him any help, but also held him back. After being let down, he naturally cursed in the team's TR.

Although Red Bull Racing did not make any mistakes when changing tires this time, strictly speaking, the speed of changing tires was just a little slow.

On the other hand, Qin Miao also saw the specific process of pit stop and tire change, and then put himself in the situation...

Ok……

Can't play it.

After satisfying his curiosity, Qin Miao naturally returned to the team's P room and continued to watch the last Grand Prix left in the 2022 season.

At this time on the track, the situation has become that Hamilton is leading in the front, Verstappen is chasing desperately from behind, and Leclerc is getting closer and closer to the two.

As for Perez...

In this race, although Master Pei and Qin Miao were in good condition after the accident on the track, on the way to the front, basically everyone along the way was trying their best to block Perez's progress.

In this race, it was not difficult for Perez to get back to the front row after Qin Miao retired, but it was particularly difficult to grab a podium among Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc.

Not to mention he also had a 10-second penalty.

But it seemed as if God was making things difficult for Mercedes. One driver had already retired from today's race due to a car accident. However, with two laps left to the end of the race, Hamilton's car had a hydraulic system failure.

The brakes began to fail intermittently.

This kind of failure is extremely fatal, so Hamilton had no choice but to retire.

The Mercedes team, which had no problems with its car throughout the season, lost two drivers at a crucial moment in the fight for the team championship this year.

Although even if Hamilton's car finished the race without any problems, Mercedes would not have won this year's constructors' championship, it would be a bit ridiculous to end the season in such a scene.

After learning that Hamilton had also retired, the happiest driver on the track was undoubtedly Perez.

Even after Hamilton retired, Perez's attack on Sainz in front of him was much less intense.

After all, he finally retained his fourth place in the Driver of the Year title.

On the other side, the Red Bull team was also cheering, because although they missed this year's driver's world championship, they could still win this year's team's world championship if both Mercedes drivers retired.

Hamilton's mentality was actually very calm after he retired from the race.

Because the race was in the middle and late stages, Hamilton was overtaken by Verstappen on the 45th lap, and then Verstappen quickly opened up a gap of 3 seconds between Hamilton.

Originally, Hamilton would not have won the race today. Without this honor, there is no difference between second and twentieth in the eyes of the seven-time champion.

So it doesn’t matter to Hamilton whether to retire or not at this moment.

The only thing Hamilton felt a little regretful about at this moment was that he could not draw donuts on the track to celebrate for Vettel when he retired.

What no one expected was that in today's race, Mercedes and Red Bull fought each other on the track, but Ferrari was the one who benefited from it.

Leclerc finished second in today's race and brought back 18 points for the team.

Hamilton returned to the team's P room before the race ended. When he got out of the car, Qin Miao came to Hamilton's side and patted his teammate on the shoulder.

Hamilton turned around and found that the person who patted his shoulder was Qin Miao, so he hugged Qin Miao.

Just when Qin Miao was stunned, he heard Hamilton's voice coming out through his helmet in a dull voice: "Congratulations, Qin Miao, you did perform better than me this season, but it may not be the case next season. You have to be prepared to challenge me on the track again."

Qin Miao's mouth twitched. He had been suppressing Hamilton on the track for two seasons. Didn't Hamilton realize that he was actually stronger than him?
However, Hamilton's words at this time at least proved that Hamilton was not depressed because of his retirement in the last two laps of today's race.

It may also be because the old man hid it too well, and Qin Miao didn't notice it for a while.

It is possible that Hamilton is secretly dropping pearls under his helmet right now.

"I thought that after you withdrew from today's game, there would be some... you know."

Hamilton smiled and spread his hands: "To be honest, I do feel a little regretful now, but things have come to this point, and no matter how regretful I am, it will not change the final result. Now I just want to prove myself on the track again next year."

Qin Miao didn't say anything more about this matter. He just nodded and said, "Then wish us good luck."

Now the race is almost over, and there is actually nothing interesting to see in the last race of this year for the Mercedes team.

Normally, after the regular game is over, the team will start to evacuate and pack up the team supplies to be loaded onto trucks for transportation to the next game venue.

But today is different, because the season has ended, and the next period of time is winter testing, which happens to be held in Abu Dhabi, so even if Mercedes' 2022 season ends early, everyone does not need to pack up.

The main purpose of this winter test is to allow new drivers from other teams to familiarize themselves with the cars of their new teams, to coordinate with the newcomers on the upcoming race process, and to test the new Pirelli tire formula for 2023.

After leaving the team's P room, Qin Miao went to participate in the post-race interview after the last race of the year.

The reporter who was responsible for interviewing Qin Miao was still the one who had a good relationship with the Mercedes team.

Qin Miao was already quite familiar with the other party, and they greeted each other with a smile after meeting.

Although both of them felt it was a pity that the Mercedes team did not win the championship in the end, from the perspective of Qin Miao or the reporter, this incident would not affect their mood at the moment.

"Congratulations, Qin Miao. You are the world champion of the 2022 season. You have once again created new history on the track. This time, the history no longer belongs to your hometown, but to the history of the Formula One World Championship. You have won two world championships in just two years of entering F1. Just hearing this achievement makes people's scalps numb."

“Thank you, but all I have achieved is inseparable from the help of the team staff on the track. Without them, I would not have achieved what I have today.”

"How do you evaluate your 2022 season?"

Qin Miao thought for a moment and said, "Let's settle down. In the early stage of this season, we were obviously inferior to Red Bull and Ferrari in speed, but we didn't give up at that time. We kept close to Ferrari and Red Bull in points. The stability of the car was always very high, and there were no serious accidents in the race. Therefore, we were not left behind by Ferrari and Red Bull in points. It may be because of the sedimentation and accumulation in the early stage that we were able to compete with Verstappen for the world championship in the later stage of the season."

"The 2022 season is over. Do you have anything to say to the fans who have supported you this year?"

"Thank you all for your continued support of me and the team. I really appreciate your efforts for me. Love you all."

"Okay, thank you for coming to the interview. Finally, congratulations again on winning the world championship. Have a nice vacation."

"Thank you, and have a nice holiday too."

Qin Miao left after the interview.

It’s interesting to note that in the post-match interview, the reporter basically didn’t ask Qin Miao any questions about today’s game.

Maybe he didn't want to mention Qin Miao's sad things.

But Qin Miao didn't care.

After the interview, Qin Miao felt relieved because most of his work in the paddock for the 2022 season had been completed.

Apart from a winter break test, Qin Miao will not have any mandatory requirements for his work in the paddock.

He also didn't need to participate in cooperation with suppliers during this period. After all, Qin Miao's contract itself had clear clauses in this regard.

It is obvious that Qin Miao feels more pressure this season than last season, so Qin Miao has no intention of continuing to work in the short term. He just wants to take a break for a while.

When Qin Miao finished the post-race interview and returned to the team's P room, he just happened to see Jay Chou and others coming out of the team's P room.

He walked over with a smile and shook hands with Jay Chou. After exchanging some greetings, Jay Chou and his companions left.

Jay Chou and his friends were originally invited by Abu Dhabi officials, and they just happened to come and join in the fun by watching the game.

Although they felt a little regretful when they saw Qin Miao withdraw from the competition, Qin Miao had already won this year's world championship after all, and withdrawing from the last game would not have any impact on his performance this year. The only regret was that they could not see Qin Miao dominating the competition today.

But at least as a car fan, coming to the scene today was worthwhile, after all, I talked a lot with Qin Miao.

After completing the post-race interview and returning to the team's P room, Franky and his team also took over Qin Miao's damaged car.

Qin Miao's car was not disassembled for repair at this time, because of the team's tradition. After the last race of each season, no matter what the results of today's race were, everyone in the team had to draw a perfect end to the season, and naturally a group photo was needed.

The damage to the bottom plate of Qin Miao's car is only part of it, so when taking a group photo, placing Qin Miao's car on the left side of the team's P room can cover up the defect of Qin Miao's damaged bottom plate on the right side. After taking this group photo of the 2022 season, Qin Miao's car will be pulled back for repairs.

After all, Qin Miao's car will be needed in the post-season test two days later, so it must be repaired at this time.

The good news for the Mercedes team is that the damage to Qin Miao's car is not too serious and the cost of the damage is not included in the team's budget cap.

However, before taking the photo, Qin Miao heard the Dutch national anthem being played from the podium on the track. If he guessed correctly, it was already the post-race podium session.

This is indeed the case. The Red Bull team won a big victory in today's race. Verstappen and Perez won the first and third place respectively, while Leclerc won the second place.

At the same time, Perez won the best driver voted by the audience in today's race, because Perez fell to the last place at the beginning of the race, and chased all the way to the third place in the end, which was indeed not easy. (End of this chapter)