How did I become an F1 driver?

"Hey, hey, hey, take the gift first." Toto handed the square box in his hand to Qin Miao.

Qin Miao took the box and held it lightly.

"What is it?" Qin Miao asked curiously.

"Wouldn't you know if you open it and take a look?"

Qin Miao thought about it and shook his head: "Qiu Meng and I have agreed that we will not open any gifts for Qin Muchu. We will put all the gifts she receives in a room that belongs to her. When she grows up and has basic judgment, let her open them herself."

After hearing Qin Miao's way of dealing with children's gifts, Toto raised his eyebrows in surprise. To be honest, this method is indeed quite creative.

However, for elderly people like Toto, arranging gifts for their children in this way is indeed a bit too avant-garde.

"I just don't understand what you young people are thinking, but I just hope you are happy."

Qin Miao smiled and said, "Anyway, thank you for the gift, boss. I'm sure the kid will like it very much. If nothing else, I'll go to the simulator department. I'm a little curious about how much the performance of the car can be improved this week."

"Well, I look forward to your performance this Grand Prix weekend."

Looking at Qin Miao's back as he left excitedly, Toto sighed.

What a great young man! He is talented, capable, hardworking, and passionate about racing.

What on earth was Ferrari thinking?

Why can you give so much?
But that's it?
If you want to poach someone, go poach Verstappen. Why are you thinking about my Qin Miao?
Get sick!
FK Ferrari!
FK Wasser!
……

Next week's race is in Azerbaijan, a street race, and the Baku circuit in Azerbaijan has the longest straights of the entire season.

There is no doubt that the track layout of the Baku circuit is particularly suitable for Mercedes' W14, and this is also the race in which the performance gap between Mercedes and Red Bull is the smallest.

As long as there are no accidents in this race, with the performance of the Mercedes-Benz car and Qin Miao's ability, it is not too difficult to widen the points gap between Qin Miao and Verstappen again. Of course, the premise is that the Red Bull team does not take advantage of these three weeks to bring any more incredible upgrades in this Grand Prix.

However, given Newey's ability, it is unlikely that he will not bring some incredible upgrades.

When Qin Miao went to the team's simulator department, he tested this track.

To be honest, after entering the simulator and running a few laps, Qin Miao did not feel any changes in the racing simulator, either in appearance or operating feel.

Of course, it is best not to change the operating feel of the simulator, after all, it is based on the real driving feel.

However, after the run, when Qin Miao looked at his telemetry data, he saw the difference.

The simulator data after the upgrade seems to be richer and more comprehensive. It even has a playback function from the perspective of the car's four tires, so you can see whether the four wheels of your car are out of the white line.

Finally, Qin Miao realized that this upgrade mainly optimized the internal operating logic of the simulator, making the calculation speed faster.

Of course, what really surprised Qin Miao was the terrifying tail speed brought about by the upgrade and the W14's low downforce kit.

The Baku circuit in Azerbaijan itself is a track with very high speeds on the straights, and almost all teams use medium and low downforce rear wings on this track.

It is not uncommon for cars to reach 345 on this track at the end of the straight.

When Qin Miao was in the simulator, he used a more extreme qualifying race setting. If it weren't for the race regulations, Qin Miao would probably have asked the simulator department to adjust his tail wing to be flat.

Downforce is entirely provided by mechanical downforce and ground effect floor.

It was because of this extreme setting that Qin Miao ran at a final speed of 352 kilometers per hour on the straight.

Although it can't be compared with the 16 Mexican Grand Prix.

The cars back then were much lighter than today’s ground effect cars, and Mexico is also a famously high altitude track.

The high altitude means that the air density on the track is low, which naturally means that the air resistance brought to the car will be smaller. In addition, the weather and temperature on the day of the race are particularly suitable for racing.

In addition, the wind direction in Mexico City that day happened to be blowing in a straight line.

It can be said that with the right time, right place and right people, the drivers of each team marked a final speed of more than 355 kilometers at the end of the straight.

Perez also set the fastest car speed record in F2016 history at his home Grand Prix, the Mexican Grand Prix in 1: 370 kilometers per hour.

This is a horrific record that has never been seen before and will probably be hard to surpass.

In addition to the advantages mentioned above, Perez also had the DRS and wake flow provided by the car in front, which eventually led to such an incredible final speed.

It is basically impossible to replicate that operation in today's ground effect racing cars.

After all, the air resistance of ground effect racing cars is basically the largest in all F1 races.

At the same time, there is also the issue of increased car weight.

Coupled with the continuous upgrading and optimization of the engine and the increase in battery weight.

All of these significantly increase the overall weight of the car.

Naturally, it will also affect the acceleration of the car.

Of course, the racing car will not be able to take advantage of its acceleration.

But with so many disadvantages, it is incredible that Qin Miao can drive this car at 352 kilometers per hour.

A colleague from the simulator department who was helping Qin Miao check the data thought there was something wrong with the simulator after seeing Qin Miao's tail speed.

Looking closely, it was amazing that Qin Miao had really run out at this incredible speed.

However, on the day of the race, the car's final speed may not be that fast.

Because no one knows what the weather will be like on race day, and whether the horsepower of the car's power unit will be worn out during the race, resulting in a decrease in horsepower.

However, after Qin Miao's final speed was reported, everyone in the Mercedes team was cheered up.

Because such results mean that the upgrades they brought this week were useful.

For the next period of time, Qin Miao returned to his daily work life, commuting between the family car team and the factory every day.

However, because he has a daughter, Qin Miao has more than an hour less time to play games every night. Every night after returning home, Qin Miao will make a video call home after dinner to see his daughter.

Time flies, and soon it is Thursday.

This week is Grand Prix weekend and the Grand Prix will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan is quite far from the UK, so Qin Miao took a flight on Wednesday afternoon and arrived in Azerbaijan at night. After a day's rest, it was Thursday and he started his work. During this time, the news that Qin Miao had a daughter spread throughout the paddock.

When Qin Miao went to the paddock to attend the pre-race drivers' meeting and press conference on Thursday, almost everyone who recognized Qin Miao on the way to the paddock would greet him and congratulate him.

After returning to the team house and putting down his things, Qin Miao went to attend the pre-race team meeting and found that the old man had arrived earlier than him.

After seeing Qin Miao, Hamilton stood up from his seat with a smile and handed Qin Miao the gift he had prepared for Qin Miao's child.

After all these years abroad, Qin Miao knew that he couldn't be polite to foreigners, but he still scratched his head and asked, "Didn't you give a gift already? A lifetime of pocket money can be said to be a gift that accompanies a child throughout his life. I can't think of a better gift than this. Why do you still want to give it?"
"To each his own. That's the gift of having her. It's the gift I give to apologize for not being able to meet her when she was just born."

Seeing that the old man insisted, Qin Miao did not refuse and accepted the gift.

"Thank you, Lewis."

After Qin Miao accepted the gift, Hamilton returned to his seat with his arms folded across his chest. He then looked at Qin Miao curiously and asked, "What does it feel like to have a child?"

Looking at the curiosity and expectation in Hamilton's eyes, Qin Miao roughly guessed why Hamilton asked him this question.

After all, Hamilton is 16 years older than himself, but Hamilton has neither married nor had children.

What about me? My child has already been born.

The old man must have felt a little emotional when he looked at himself.

Of course, this may just be the old man's curiosity. After all, it is well known that F1 drivers are very strong inside and will not have any mental fluctuations because of such a small thing.

Scratching his head, Qin Miao replied in distress: "How should I describe it to you...

It's like you have a cute girlfriend who you never have to worry about breaking up with, and who will stick with you for a long time."

Qin Miao tried his best to translate his inner thoughts into English based on his understanding of Hamilton and then relayed them to Hamilton.

The old man was also confused, but he nodded reluctantly.

Although it was a bit abstract, the old man still understood what Qin Miao meant.

"It should feel pretty good," said the old man.

"It shouldn't be too difficult for you to have a daughter, right?" Qin Miao asked curiously, "Why haven't you gotten married yet?"

Hamilton shook his head: "It's really not a difficult thing. As for getting married...

I really don't have extra time to deal with these things, and to be honest, I'm not mentally prepared for another person suddenly appearing in my life.

I don't feel like I have enough time to spend with my wife and kids in my current life.

In my opinion, it is a dereliction of duty for a father to fail to provide adequate companionship to his children during their growth process.”

Qin Miao:?
Click me?
But Hamilton also added: "Of course, this is just my subjective opinion. People are different from each other. My training method may not be a good thing for me and my children.

Who can say for sure? "

Qin Miao glanced at Hamilton calmly, and then did not continue to discuss this topic in depth, but instead shifted the topic to the upgrade of the car for this Grand Prix weekend.

"Have you ever run the upgraded car on a simulator? How does it feel?"

"To be honest, I feel that the feedback from the car on the simulator is a bit too understeer. Now when I drive this car, I feel like I am driving a traditional American muscle car. It is undeniable that the acceleration ability and the improvement in top speed of the W14 really surprised me, but this car is now driving more and more like a brick."

Qin Miao cracked his lips: "That's true, but at least on a track like Baku, the car's straight-line speed and stability are still worth looking forward to, isn't it?"

"I hope so..."

……

After chatting for a while, the morning pre-match meeting began.

Toto didn't come today, so the people in charge of the meeting were the two drivers' track engineers and Rosie Waite, head of Mercedes' strategy group.

The main content of the meeting was for the team to convey to the two drivers some precautions for sprint qualifying under the new rules, as well as the race process.

At the same time, the race strategies of the two drivers in the qualifying stage on Friday were also arranged.

After all, the starting straight of the Baku circuit is particularly long, which makes it very suitable for trailing teammates on this track.

Before the race, the Mercedes team decided to let the two drivers pull each other in the tail flow during the race.

It's not even just Mercedes, almost all the teams have mentioned helping each other to pull the slipstream before the start of this Grand Prix weekend.

Then according to the arrangement of the team strategy group, Hamilton will help Qin Miao pull the slipstream in the first flying lap of Q3, and then Qin Miao will help Hamilton pull the slipstream in the last flying lap of Q1.

Qin Miao had no objection to this. With his stability and reading ability, he could always run the last flying lap at all times.

Such is the calmness and confidence of a two-time world champion.

But in comparison, Qin Miao, who started his flying circle first, suffered a little disadvantage.

After all, no one knows whether Qin Miao will encounter traffic problems on the track in the lap after Hamilton helped Qin Miao pull the slipstream, or whether he will make mistakes and fail to achieve the guaranteed result.

But everything had already been decided at the drivers' meeting before the race and there was no way to change it.

However, seeing that Wette did not even consult or discuss with himself and Hamilton, he just made the decision which was disadvantageous to Qin Miao.

Qin Miao suddenly realized that the news that he was about to leave Mercedes-Benz had probably already started to spread within Mercedes-Benz. Even if it hadn't, at least there was talk of it.

Of course, it is not ruled out that this is just a simple coincidence.

However, Qin Miao prefers to believe the former, and Qin Miao also realizes that he needs to prepare himself mentally in advance.

In addition to this, something was said at the pre-match meeting that made both Qin Miao and Hamilton laugh and cry.

That is the FIA ​​regulation. Starting from today's race, all the team's technicians are not allowed to climb up the track guardrail to celebrate for the winning driver after the race.

Because the FIA ​​thinks it is dangerous.

"Stupid."

“Stupid!”

This is the simplest and most direct evaluation given by the double champion and seven-time champion to the rule formulated by the FIA. (End of this chapter)