How did I become an F1 driver?

At this time, Qin Miao couldn't help but wonder, if he went to Ferrari and encountered the same situation, how would Ferrari's strategy team respond?

Although Ferrari's strategy team was a little stupid, it is estimated that after they put forward the idea, Ferrari's people did not think about how to weigh the pros and cons at this time, but how to maximize the benefits according to their own wishes?
However, Qin Miao didn't know which of these two approaches was better.

In the end, Qin Miao came out of the team’s P room with 1 minutes left in the countdown to Q13.

Because at this time, the driver who first came out to run the flying lap has completed his flying lap, and the track conditions have improved significantly as more and more cars pass by.

There are indeed drivers who have broken their own qualifying records during this period.

So there is no big problem for the team to let Qin Miao out at this time.

But the fuck is, there are always accidents on the track.

After Qin Miao came out of the maintenance area, he ran two warm-up laps. When he was preparing to run a flying lap, Perez, who had just finished the first timing section and started running flying laps behind Qin Miao, made a mistake.

He ran off the track at Turn 3 and plunged directly into the buffer zone to start the rally, then got stuck in the gravel and couldn't get out.

The place where Lao Pei parked his car was just outside the buffer zone and the car got stuck. The natural consequence was a red flag.

After all, the Australian Grand Prix is ​​managed by FOM, unlike Japan and Monaco in the past.

In situations like this where a crane is needed to enter, they will definitely raise a red flag.

After Perez's car was moved away, there were no more accidents after Q1.

The only thing that made Qin Miao feel a little upset was that the flying circle that felt best on him was broken.

But Qin Miao still achieved a good lap time in Q1.

This was mainly because in the later stages of Q1, all drivers were using one set of tires to keep running flying laps on the track, and no one got off.

Wait until the end of Q1 of qualifying.

In the end, Qin Miao advanced to Q2 with the third place.

The drivers eliminated in Q1 were: Piastri, Zhou Guanyu, Russell, Bottas, and Perez.

In today's race, Zhou Guanyu and Bottas were both eliminated in Q1, which really surprised many people.

But in the eyes of professionals, it is not surprising that Arrow was eliminated at this stage.

Although the Albert Park Circuit appears to have many bends, anyone who has driven on this track knows that it is actually a high-speed track. Even most of the bends require heavy braking, and it is also a track that requires frequent acceleration and deceleration.

This kind of curve is a naked torture for Arrow, which uses its own gearbox.

After all, in order to save money, Arrow developed a crappy gearbox that couldn't transfer the horsepower of the Ferrari engine to the tires very well.

It can be said that the Ferrari engine's high horsepower and speed advantages were destroyed by Arro's broken gearbox, but the Ferrari engine's short durability was fully inherited by the Arro team.

It can be seen that Arrow tied his own hands in order to save money and lost his greatest advantage, which is the horsepower of the Ferrari engine.

Humor Sobo.

Now the only thing Zhou Guanyu’s fans in China hope for is that after Audi takes over Sobo, it will be able to make improvements in this aspect.

Of course, to be realistic, it is a question whether Audi will eventually keep Zhou Guanyu.

Although in Teacher Bi's mouth, Audi is a group of naked clowns, but you can't resist the fact that these clowns really invested money.

The pace of the race in Q2 was similar to that of the second half of Q1. All drivers switched to soft tires and continued to lap the track.

After all, although the track temperature was gradually rising at this time, the humid air and the track that had just been converted from humidity still greatly reduced the wear of all racing car tires.

In such an environment, even if you don't change the tires, continuing to drive on the track will help improve your lap time.

In the end, Qin Miao finished the entire Q2 on a brand new set of soft tires. When it ended, Qin Miao also ranked eighth.

The drivers who were eliminated in Q2 were: Ocon, Tsunoda, Norris, Magnussen, and de Vries.

The two drivers of Lynk & Co were eliminated one after another.

So far this season, three qualifying races have been held, and Tsunoda has defeated his teammate De Vries in all three qualifying races.

On the other side of the ocean, the fans who were just surprised that Qin Miao advanced to Q2 for the third place were immediately relieved when they saw Qin Miao advance to Q3 for the eighth place.

[I was so scared, I thought Qin Miao was possessed by something evil]

【Misunderstanding resolved】

[Hey, this is just right]

……

Q3 began amid the jokes of car fans on the Internet.

After Q3, you can no longer laugh and joke.

Because at this time, the weak chickens have been selected,
The opponent's speed must have also increased.

Now, the starting position of tomorrow's race may only be determined by the details of one or two corners.

Therefore, all drivers who hope to compete for the pole position are concentrating on the final preparations.

After Qin Miao got on the track, he ran two warm-up laps. Only after raising the tire temperature did he start his first flying lap.

Qin Miao felt that this flying circle was similar to the one he ran in the third training stage, and his running method was also the same as in the third training stage.

However, because Qin Miao was more familiar with the track, his lap time was faster than the 1:17.4 in the third practice, reaching 1:16.980.

Directly landed first.

Of course, this first place did not last long. With the start of the last lap, Verstappen took advantage of the pressure from Qin Miao and burst out with his energy in the last lap, achieving a score of 1:16.699.

Rushed to the first place.

It has to be said that the Red Bull car is indeed strong this season, and Verstappen's driving skills are indeed impeccable, especially Verstappen's single lap ability.

His lap directly broke the fastest qualifying lap set by Leclerc here last season.

Qin Miao didn't even run in the last lap.

It’s not that Qin Miao gave up struggling, but mainly because Qin Miao was also stimulated by Verstappen in the last lap.

Therefore, Qin Miao's last flying circle was extremely extreme from the very beginning.

In fact, this was not the first time Qin Miao had driven on the track like this. If Qin Miao did not have the control over this driving style, he would not dare to drive like this.

But the shitty thing is that when Qin Miao was running like this today, he encountered a gust of wind at T3.

Originally, Qin Miao's car was at the limit of grip when entering the corner. Blown by the side wind, the four tires of the car broke through the grip limit on the spot, and rushed directly into the gravel buffer zone to run rally just like Perez in Q1.

The difference is that Perez rushed directly towards the gravel ground, while Qin Miao slid sideways into the gravel ground.

However, Qin Miao's ability to control the car is still better than Perez.

After sliding into the gravel, Qin Miao did not let go of the accelerator, but only gave a small amount of force, and at the same time slightly corrected the steering wheel to straighten his car.

In the end, he maintained the speed of his car and slowly drove out of the gravel ground without getting stuck in the gravel ground.

Although this mistake did not develop in the worst direction, Qin Miao's last flying lap in Q3 was completely over.

And because Qin Miao entered the gravel buffer zone at T3, a yellow flag appeared in the first timing section.

As a result, Hulkenberg, who started his last flying lap behind Qin Miao, was in trouble.

Hulkenberg had to slow down on his last flying lap because of the yellow flag in the first timing section, so he could not run normally on his last flying lap of the race.

However, this is unlikely to affect Hulkenberg's qualifying ranking.

Regardless of whether he ran the flying lap or not, Hulkenberg would have been tenth in qualifying.

Qin Miao was also a little annoyed.

Because from Qin Miao's own feeling, in the first two corners of the first timing section, Qin Miao's rhythm was still very good, and every corner was passed perfectly.

If there hadn't been that sidewind, he would most likely have been able to compete with Verstappen for pole position. At worst, he would have had no problem moving up one or two places in qualifying and competing for second place, but unfortunately, he was unlucky.

This is really just plain bad luck.

Therefore, on the way back to the track after qualifying, Qin Miao had nothing to do except complain to the team TR.

Finally, with the end of the Q3 countdown, the qualifying session for the Australian Grand Prix also came to an end.

The drivers' final qualifying standings are as follows:

1: Max Verstappen 1:16.699
2: Hamilton

3: Alonso
4: Qin Miao

5: Sainz
6: Stroll

7: Leclerc

8: Albon
9: Gasly
10: Hulkenberg

That’s right, because Qin Miao’s last flying lap result was cancelled, Alonso successfully stole Qin Miao’s chicken and got the third place in qualifying.

This is the first time that Alonso has entered the top three in qualifying this season, and the first time that he has entered the top three since returning to F1. Qin Miao was calm about this, after all, he still had a good bottom-line result. In the race, the old man would not sacrifice his speed to make way for Qin Miao, but if Qin Miao really caught up with Hamilton, Hamilton would not defend Qin Miao too hard.

However, all of this is just a rehearsal before the main race begins tomorrow, and no one can predict what will happen in the main race tomorrow.

After the qualifying race, Qin Miao parked his car in the post-race inspection area.

When Qin Miao got out of the car, he saw Leclerc, with a depressed and decadent face, walking towards him from the side of the Ferrari.

Looking at his teammate for next season, Qin Miao walked over, put his arm around his shoulders and joked, "What? Are you unhappy that I took the fourth place?"

Leclerc rolled his eyes at Qin Miao, and then explained helplessly: "I didn't run well in Q3 of qualifying because the team gave me a wrong weather forecast. I only ran one warm-up lap and then started the flying lap."

After hearing what Leclerc said, Qin Miao had roughly guessed what had happened.

No wonder Sainz and Leclerc did not perform well in today's qualifying race.

But it is normal that Leclerc did not run well in qualifying due to the team's reasons. Even if he is depressed, he should not be as depressed as Leclerc is now, with a hint of decadence.

Without waiting for Qin Miao to ask, Leclerc took the initiative to explain: "Then on the last lap of this qualifying race, I asked Sainz to help me pull the slipstream, and ended up with this result." After saying that, Leclerc put his hands on his hips helplessly.

Well, that makes sense.

It is not uncommon for teammates to help each other pull into the slipstream, but it is not common either.

In fact, when you ask your teammates to help you pull the slipstream, you owe them a favor.

This is true regardless of whether this teammate is the number two driver in your team or someone who is specifically responsible for doing odd jobs for you.

Favors are actually very precious, and most importantly, they need to be repaid.

So not only did Leclerc ruin a qualifying race today because of the Ferrari team's inaccurate weather forecast, he also wasted a favor from Sainz.

There is no such thing as a 7-day no-questions-asked return policy when it comes to favors. Once you've used it, it's your own fault. If you don't use it well, that's your own problem.

Qin Miao patted Leclerc's shoulder with some sympathy, but still asked with some doubt: "You should be used to it, this is Ferrari, the traditional supernatural power of the old Italian green, white and red tricolor flag."

Leclerc glanced at Qin Miao and said, "I'm already very depressed. What you should do now is not to ask questions, but to get out of here and stop bothering me."

Qin Miao shrugged: "Okay, then I wish you good luck."

Speaking of luck, Leclerc suddenly had an idea: "I've been a bit unlucky recently, let me pass on some bad luck to you!"

After saying that, he patted Qin Miao's back hard several times.

Qin Miao quickly slapped back and pushed Leclerc's hand away: "Damn it, you have to bear the bad luck yourself, don't pass it on to me!"

After Leclerc joked with Qin Miao, he felt a little better. He didn't care about Qin Miao's complaints, waved his hand and left.

Qin Miao seemed to have encountered something dirty. He slapped the place where Leclerc had just slapped. He decided that the first thing he would do after the qualifying race was not to return to the team home to review the game, but to take a shower, and if conditions allowed, to jump over a fire basin.

Leclerc has been too unlucky this season. It would be no fun if his bad luck were passed on to me.

After finishing all this, Qin Miao reinstalled his steering wheel back on his racing car, and then wore a helmet to complete the post-race weigh-in.

And today, it was the first time this season that Qin Miao went to the public interview area for a post-match interview after the qualifying round.

Qin Miao actually had nothing to be upset about the mistake he made in the last lap of today's qualifying race.

In response to the reporters' questions, Qin Miao simply said that he encountered a crosswind during his last flying lap. At that time, the car's tires had reached their grip limit. The sudden wind caused the car's tires to lose control, which eventually led to the current scene and situation.

But no matter what, starting fourth is an acceptable result for Qin Miao and the Mercedes team.

It's better than Perez of Red Bull Racing, right?

Saturday passed after Qin Miao's interview ended.

Qin Miao focused on his studies at night and did nothing, nor did he think about the baby who was going to be born this month.

Just concentrate on preparing for the last game before the spring break.

However, before going to bed on Saturday night, Qin Miao still prayed to all the evil spirits in the country that he could think of. Qin Miao's wish on every Saturday night of the Grand Prix was very simple, that is, God must not rain during the main race tomorrow.

Qin Miao didn't care whether the domestic gods could control Australia, but the Chinese people care about whether it is useful or not, so they just worship first.

Then when Sunday came, it really didn't rain.

Qin Miao, after getting up and looking at the weather outside the window, sighed silently: What good luck.

Although it is still possible to rain on Sunday, after all, the Albert Park Circuit is by the sea. People who live by the sea know the weather conditions at the seaside. Who knows when it will suddenly rain.

But at least according to the team's meteorological department's report, the possibility of rain during the race is very small.

Therefore, Qin Miao can use the pit stop strategy arranged before the race normally on the track.

Today's race has a total of 58 laps, and Qin Miao's pit stop strategy is to stop once on red and yellow laps.

In fact, under normal circumstances, with Qin Miao's ability to protect the fetus, it would be a bit difficult for him to finish the race with one stop.

But on a track that mainly relies on stopping, if Qin Miao wants to defeat Verstappen, he can only rely on the advantage in tires.

Otherwise, with the absolute speed of Red Bull Racing this season, Qin Miao might have finished second in the Australian Grand Prix early.

Mercedes also knew Qin Miao, so they had no objection to this pit stop strategy, but the strategy team began to help Qin Miao frantically calculate how he could drive on the track to minimize tire damage.

When Qin Miao arrived at the race track, Melbourne's Albert Park Circuit was really crowded with people.

After all, there is a new Australian driver in the paddock this season. Australian fans, who have not yet recovered from the frustration of Ricciardo being kicked out of McLaren, are naturally looking forward to this new driver. Therefore, tickets for the Australian Grand Prix were sold out early.

After Qin Miao arrived at the paddock, he began his exciting pre-race preparations.

After completing all the pre-race preparations, Qin Miao was ready to wait for the start of the race at the team’s home.

But Qin Miao had just returned to the team's home when Barber knocked on the door of Qin Miao's lounge.

When Qin Miao walked over, he saw two familiar faces standing next to Barber, Jay Chou and Kun Ling.

Qin Miao's eyes lit up: "Hey! Jay Chou! Sister Kunling, long time no see."

After greeting the two with a smile and hugging them, Qin Miao welcomed them into his lounge.

"I'm so sorry for the poor hospitality. I didn't expect you guys would be in Australia this week. You guys are so unkind that you didn't even tell me before you came."

Jay Chou curiously observed Qin Miao's new lounge and said, "Actually, I came here to watch the race today because I was invited by the McLaren team. There's still some time before the race starts, so I wanted to come and ask you for an autograph."

Qin Miao scratched his head a little embarrassedly.

Although Qin Miao doesn't like any celebrities, she still likes listening to songs, and it is undeniable that Jay Chou's songs are really good.

Even when Qin Miao was a child, he could still remember that the first song he heard through the old MP4 at home was Jay Chou's Blue and White Porcelain.

Therefore, Qin Miao still has a childhood filter for Jay Chou.

But it's such a wonderful feeling when someone tells you that he wants to ask you for your autograph.

It's very strange, but there is also a kind of inexplicable excitement and melancholy.

However, Qin Miao's inner emotions did not affect his actions, so Qin Miao got up and searched in his lounge before taking out a pair of gloves.

"This is the spare glove I usually use when I compete. Is it okay for me to sign on this?"

"Is this an appropriate gift?" Jay Chou was obviously knowledgeable and hesitated after seeing Qin Miao giving him gloves.

After all, technology is too advanced nowadays, and the drivers are all celebrities, so gloves can easily be stained with the drivers' fingerprints.

That’s why you often see drivers giving hats, clothes, and even helmets and car models to spectators, but no one gives them gloves.

But Qin Miao waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. I have never used this pair of gloves. They are just a carrier for my signature."

After saying that, Qin Miao took out the marker pen that was always available in the lounge, signed his name and the year, month and date on the gloves, and handed them to Kun Ling.

Kun Ling took the gloves handed to her by Qin Miao with great gratitude.

Then they sat down and chatted for a while.

I was quite happy during this period.

However, Jay Chou also knew that Qin Miao had a race today, and this period of time was the time for drivers to prepare for the race and rest. It was inappropriate for him to keep disturbing Qin Miao's rest. If it was magnified a little more, some extreme fans might think that Jay Chou was sent by McLaren to interfere with Qin Miao's race, although McLaren and Mercedes were not on the same level at all at this time.

But the haters don’t care whether your reasons are valid or not, they just want to hate you for the sake of hating you.

So Jay Chou just came over and said hello to Qin Miao, and left after sitting here for more than ten minutes.

But before leaving, Jay Chou and Kun Ling gave Qin Miao a gift together.

Of course, it cannot be said that it was given to Qin Miao. To be precise, it was given to Qin Miao's unborn daughter.

After all, Qiu Meng has been maintaining the relationships with these celebrity friends, and it is Qiu Meng who arranges the sending of gifts during festivals.

This is how Chinese favors are accumulated.

Therefore, after knowing that Qin Miao's child was about to be born, they sent him a jade longevity lock.

Qin Miao didn't really know much about these things, so the price was secondary. When Qin Miao received the gift, he only felt the kindness of Jay Chou and his wife.

Afterwards, as Jay Chou and the others left, Qin Miao returned to his normal pre-match preparations. (End of this chapter)