How did I become an F1 driver?

The drivers eliminated in Q2 were:
Zhou Guanyu, Bottas, Tsunoda, Albon, Russell.

After losing the head start advantage of last season's lighter cars than all other teams, Arrow was thrown right back into the mix.

But despite this, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse, and Bottas and Zhou Guanyu still maintained their qualifying results of 11th and 12th in the opening race of this year.

There is still a possibility of competing for points in the main race.

After that it was Lynk & Co’s Tsunoda, Albon and Russell.

After Q2 ends, take a short break and Q3 begins.

In the first round of flying circles, Qin Miao was still the first to be released.

It was already Q3, so there was no need for Qin Miao to hide anything. All the experience and insights accumulated from the three practice sessions and two qualifying sessions in the past two days were used by Qin Miao in the first flying lap of Q3.

Qin Miao ran very steadily throughout the entire flying circle, without any mistakes, and his line tracking was textbook-like.

If you don't look carefully, you would really think that Qin Miao was running exactly according to the driving lines drawn after measuring the Sakhir circuit one to one.

Qin Miao's running style naturally pushed the W14's conventional performance to its limit.

Finally, to the expectation of all Qin Miao's fans, Qin Miao crossed the finish line with a time of 1:30.000.

It just happens to be a round number, 1:30.000, not a cent more or less.

Coincidentally, Leclerc's time after his first flying lap was exactly 1:30.000.

But because Qin Miao was the first driver to run a flying lap, Qin Miao ranked ahead of Leclerc on the leaderboard.

Not long after Qin Miao and Leclerc crossed the finish line, Qin Miao's teammate Hamilton also crossed the finish line of the first flying lap.

After crossing the line, Hamilton's time directly exceeded 29 seconds.

Although Hamilton's result was only 1:29.998, it was only 0.002 seconds faster than Qin Miao and Leclerc.

But everyone who has worked in the racing industry knows that the difference between 1:29 and 1:30 is a bit like the difference between Diamond and Master.

It seems that there is only one rank difference, or even just one or two points, but in fact the strength gap is huge.

Of course, Qin Miao's performance still has room for improvement. Qin Miao just needs to drive the car more to the limit on the track, be less conventional, and be more aggressive in some positions.

However, after completing the first flying lap and returning to the team's P room to rest, Qin Miao still looked at Hamilton's GPS and telemetry data.

Qin Miao also wanted to know why Hamilton was faster than him.

Then the final result Qin Miao got was that Hamilton's line and cornering method were the same as his own, but Hamilton's line was more extreme than his own.

Hamilton's result was achieved by running the first lap of Q3 as the last lap of Q3.

Qin Miao could only sigh at Hamilton's recklessness. After all, if Hamilton had made the slightest mistake during this process, he would have run off the track and his results would have been cancelled by the FIA.

After a brief review, Qin Miao felt relatively relaxed, because he could also run the same way as Hamilton, so there was nothing surprising.

Then Qin Miao prepared to see how much slower Verstappen and Leclerc were than him.

Then Qin Miao was stunned.

Leclerc is indeed slower than Qin Miao.

Ferrari has just changed its leader and now has a lot of internal mess to deal with, so naturally it doesn't have more energy to invest in research and development.

Replacing the new team leader will inevitably cause unrest in the team. In addition, Vasseur also needs to familiarize himself with Ferrari's operating procedures. The performance of Ferrari cars will remain stagnant for a long time.

As the saying goes, when dealing with foreign affairs, you must first settle within.

Vasseur will certainly have to sort out Ferrari's internal affairs first before he can focus on improving the performance of the car.

So expect Ferrari's performance improvement to come in the middle of the season or next year.

It was normal for Leclerc to be slow, but what surprised Qin Miao was that at this time in the driver rankings, Hamilton was not first, not even second, but third.

And I am the fourth.

Ranking at this time:
Verstappen: 1:29.897
Perez: +0.1
Hamilton +0.001
Qin Miao+0.103
……

Qin Miao was wondering why Frankie, who usually praises himself after crossing the finish line, didn't say anything today. What the hell is the reason?
At this moment, Qin Miao, who had been filled with Mercedes-Benz's "significant improvement in racing performance" since the winter test, suddenly became a little nervous.

Damn, Red Bull can’t have been throwing smoke bombs for so long, right?

Are they stronger?
For some reason, Qin Miao suddenly became a little nervous. Don’t tell me that Red Bull has developed something new during this winter break.

Suddenly, Qin Miao recalled Verstappen's post-race interview after yesterday's practice session.

At that time, this bastard seemed to have said: Red Bull's car has no possibility of challenging Mercedes-Benz in the short term.

Is this what Verstappen meant by saying that he has no chance of challenging Mercedes?
Brother, you threw 0.1 away for me?

Although he felt that his feelings were betrayed, Qin Miao did not give up on himself. This is not Monaco, and qualifying does not represent everything.

Even if I don't beat Verstappen in qualifying, isn't there still the race tomorrow?
This was the last flying circle of Q3, so Qin Miao began to pursue his limits.

Even at turns like T1, T5, T6, and T7, Qin Miao basically rode at the extreme position of the road shoulder to turn.

If you bite a little more on the curb, you will be pushed away by the curb and lose your grip.

T14 Qin Miao also took a wider route, almost beyond the track's entry line, in order to accelerate in advance so that he could fully bring out the performance of Qin Miao's W14 on the starting straight with DRS.

In fact, under normal circumstances, there is no need for Qin Miao to drive so hard, because even someone as stable as Qin Miao could make mistakes even when driving like he is dancing on the edge of a knife.

The difference between Qin Miao and other drivers may be that the probability of making mistakes is slightly lower.

But there is no way, Verstappen and Red Bull together gave Mercedes a slap in the face, which opened their eyes.

They also began to learn to hide their shortcomings.

It wasn't just Qin Miao who was trying to push himself to the limit on the track. Hamilton, who came out from behind Qin Miao, was also trying to push himself for his life on the track.

Moreover, the old man's line was even more extreme than Qin Miao's. The old man was really jumping back and forth on the edge of the FIA's penalty rules.

It's the kind of situation where if the FIA ​​staff were a little more serious, Hamilton's results would be confiscated.

But the achievement of the seven-time champion, plus the fact that Hamilton only managed to achieve a time of 1:29.811 after crossing the finish line and did not get the pole position for this race, the FIA ​​did not investigate further.

Qin Miao's result was naturally slightly worse than Hamilton, who was almost risking his life on the track. When he finally crossed the finish line, Qin Miao's result was only 1:29.888.

Although he also broke the 30-second mark and was even 0.112 seconds faster than his first round of flying laps, Qin Miao's result still did not surpass his teammate Hamilton, so naturally he had no way to compete for the pole position in the Bahrain qualifying round.

而今天这场比赛排位赛圈速最快的车手不出意外的是维斯塔潘，Q3最后一圈跑完之后，维斯塔潘的成绩为：1:29.708。维斯塔潘的这个成绩比第2名的汉密尔顿快了足足0.103秒，比秦淼快了0.2。

To be honest, this result not only puzzled Qin Miao and the Mercedes team, but basically everyone who saw the time difference was surprised.

But qualifying is over and the result will not change.

The final ranking and results of the first qualifying race in 2023 are as follows:
1: Max Verstappen 1:29.708
2: Hamilton

3: Perez
4: Qin Miao

5: Leclerc

6: Sainz
7: Alonso
8: Stroll

9: O'Connell

10: Hulkenberg

Of course, in addition to Red Bull, Aston Martin also surprised the audience in today's race.

After introducing the top driver, Aston Martin, whose team ranking last season was even lower than Alfa Romeo, suddenly rose, and both drivers made it into Q3.

Stroll even had injuries.

This indeed surprised many people. After all, many spectators who like to watch the excitement like to watch the sudden rise of such ordinary car teams.

In addition, the Aston Martin team has a leader, and his status as a two-time world champion makes the rise of Aston Martin now feel like a hero returning to the top.

These are all scenes that everyone loves to watch.

Naturally, the Aston Martin Racing team received a lot of extra attention.

But now the director obviously has different ideas.

After qualifying, the drivers return to the pit area.

The director immediately turned the broadcast camera to Toto and Horner.

At this time, the expressions of the two team leaders were obviously different.

Although Toto was not as emotional as before and did not smash the headphones directly, it can be seen from his frowning brows and the fact that he kept saying something through the headphones on his head that Toto is a little anxious now and is eager to know why there is such a big performance gap between him and the Red Bull car.

On the other side, Horner looked completely different from Toto Wolff. The wrinkles on his face were wrinkled together with laughter, and he was happily chatting with Marco next to him.

He looked calm and composed, watching the changing situation on the field.

As for Newey? After qualifying, the aerodynamic master was fired.

Many people think that Newey is very similar to two-time world champion Qin Miao. Both of them are very casual and have the capital to be casual.

Back to topic.

Because he didn't make the top three in the qualifying round, Qin Miao didn't need to go to the track to accept post-race interviews after the race.

After parking the car in the vehicle inspection area, Qin Miao got out to weigh it.

As for only getting fourth place today, Qin Miao didn't think there was anything to regret. On the one hand, things had come to this point and there was no point in regretting.

On the other hand, Qin Miao has indeed done everything he can on the track. As for pushing his car to the limit like Hamilton, Qin Miao does not think he needs to be so tense in the first race of the season.

Of course, the most important thing is that Qin Miao has full confidence in his long-distance speed and ability to protect the fetus.

Just like what Vasseur said in the post-race interview: victory in qualifying is not victory in the race.

Even if Qin Miao did not run well in qualifying, he could still gain a huge speed advantage in the race by relying on differentiated tire strategies.

After the race and post-race interview, Qin Miao returned to the team's P room without even changing his clothes.

Qin Miao was really curious about why Verstappen's lap time was so fast.

After reviewing the situation, Qin Miao had a general understanding.

Red Bull Racing's main advantages this season are obvious. On the one hand, they have found the most suitable car tuning for Bahrain, and on the other hand, Verstappen's driving skills are indeed at the pinnacle.

In addition, the DRS efficiency of the Red Bull racing car is so high that Qin Miao cannot understand it.

The combined effect of many factors makes Verstappen so fast.

But what Mercedes cannot understand the most is the DRS efficiency of RB19.

Mercedes has made special optimizations to the W14's straight-line acceleration and final straight-line speed, and has therefore naturally optimized the speed advantage gained after DRS is turned on.

But according to the Mercedes team, the DRS efficiency of the Red Bull RB19 is even higher than that of the W14.

After seeing this data, Mercedes' team aerodynamics director Jarrod Murphy once suspected that the DRS button of Red Bull RB19 was connected to a turbocharger or something illegal like nitrogen.

There is no reason! Why can you, Red Bull, increase the speed by more than 30 kilometers by using a DRS?
If you are a newbie who knows nothing about aerodynamics, or an ordinary car fan, after seeing this data, the most you can say is "awesome".

But as Mercedes' aerodynamics director, all the professional knowledge Jarrod Murphy has learned tells him that this data is fucking abnormal.

……

It can only be said that Red Bull has really encountered the most suitable era for them. With Newey in charge, they have brought the characteristics and advantages of their team to the fullest in terms of aerodynamics.

Strictly speaking, Mercedes' loss in today's qualifying race was not unfair.

Qin Miao finally got the result he wanted.

Shaking his head, Qin Miao said to Frankie beside him: "Last year's results have made us a little inflated. We were a little too optimistic at the beginning of the season."

Franky shook his head and said, "This is not a bad thing. At least at the beginning of the season, all the technicians of the team, including the staff of the team factory, were very enthusiastic about their work. The development cycle of many parts was shorter than expected. It can only be said that this is a double-edged sword."

When we got to this point, the global broadcast had been disconnected from the scene, and the following scenes could only be seen by the spectators at the stadium and the staff of other teams.

At this time, the director on the scene was more unrestrained.

He played the video of Toto recorded before the qualifying round started directly on the live broadcast screen.

At that time, Baldy's face was full of confident smile.

Then it quickly switched to Toto's sour face after the qualifying race.

The contrast is very obvious.

Full of joy. (End of this chapter)