How did I become an F1 driver?

The old man nodded and watched Qin Miao leave.

After Qin Miao left, Hamilton sighed, folded his arms and leaned on the sofa in his lounge.

For Hamilton, Qin Miao's departure is undoubtedly great good news.

It's not just because Hamilton is missing a teammate on the track who can suppress him in all aspects and also won two world championships over him.

It also gave Hamilton more chips.

Because for Mercedes, they have lost the future of the team.

You have to know that Qin Miao is still just a young man and he still has great potential for growth.

Therefore, if Qin Miao continues to stay in Megan, Mercedes will not have to worry about the driver's strength in the next five years at least.

But now it’s no longer possible, Mercedes has lost their future.

Mercedes' original driver lineup was a double world champion lineup. Now that they have lost one champion driver, they cannot afford the loss of another one.

Therefore, when starting contract negotiations with Hamilton, Mercedes will definitely be more inclined to find ways to keep Hamilton.

So Qin Miao was helping his teammates invisibly.

For this reason, the old man now has complicated feelings towards Qin Miao. He is both a friend and an enemy. He is angry at Qin Miao's performance in the two years since he entered the F1 arena, but he also admires him very much.

After all, it is rare for a young person to achieve such results in the arena.

The most important thing is that the old man now has another feeling towards Qin Miao, that is, there is an inexplicable sense of gratitude.

In short, the old man discovered that since Qin Miao joined Mercedes-Benz, his attitude and emotions towards Qin Miao have been changing.

And as time goes by, it becomes more and more complicated.

Now even the old man himself doesn’t know what impression and feeling he has towards Qin Miao.

However, one thing is certain: Qin Miao's departure is not only bad news for Mercedes, but also good news for the two drivers and even all the drivers and teams in the paddock.

The reason why all drivers and teams in the paddock can get a share of the pie is mainly because Mercedes now has a vacant driver seat, and Ferrari has kicked out Sainz, who is not as strong as Leclerc but is also considered strong.

So even though the media and the public's attention are focused on Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Qin Miao at this time, other drivers and teams in the paddock are also ready to move.

……

After Qin Miao came out of the team's home, he started riding a scooter on the track.

The weather was actually pretty good from Monday to Wednesday of this Grand Prix weekend, with sunshine on Tuesday, but there were showers in Monaco from Thursday to Sunday.

Although this is normal seaside weather, it is not very good for the drivers who are about to compete.

Fortunately, it didn't rain when Qin Miao was walking on the track.

When Qin Miao returned to the team's P room after finishing the race, he basically didn't remember anything.

After all, there are no changes to this track compared to last season except for the asphalt.

At this point, Qin Miao’s work on Thursday was all finished.

After completing these tasks, Qin Miao attended the team's post-race meeting and then returned to the Monaco Palace.

Soon, it was the next day, Friday, the day when the first and second training sessions began.

There were still showers today, but it did not rain during the first and second practices.

There was no rain residue on the track, so the two practice sessions went relatively smoothly.

During the first practice session, the two Mercedes drivers did not encounter any accidents on the track. Qin Miao ran a practice lap normally with neutral tires, and then made sure that all the aerodynamic components of the car were still the same as last season, and all were adjusted in the direction of maximum downforce.

During the second practice session, Qin Miao and the old man were still mediocre in the practice session, and their results at the end of the second practice session were also mediocre.

But despite this, the two of them completed all the tasks assigned to them by the team during the practice session in a calm manner.

And completed most of the tuning for the car.

Things were uneventful for Mercedes, but a lot of fun happened on the track.

Perhaps because he knew that his seat for next season was lost, or perhaps for other reasons, Sainz ran the qualifying simulation in the last 17 minutes of the second practice session and his right tire slightly scraped the guardrail at the swimming pool curve.

But it is obvious that Ferrari has not developed a front suspension as strong as Mercedes-Benz. After the right front wheel of Sainz's Ferrari car rubbed the guardrail, the steering rod broke on the spot.

The right front wheel lost control, and with half of its traction reduced, the Ferrari's car crashed head-on into the back wall of the track, and the race committee put out a red flag.

To be honest, this is indeed a corner where mistakes can easily occur. After all, almost all drivers will try to get their right front wheel as close to the corner as possible in this position.

But it was clear that Sainz was too close to the corner.

It is also worth mentioning that the location where Sainz hit the wall and the reason for his retirement were exactly the same as the location where Leclerc hit the wall and retired on the last lap of Q21 of the 3 qualifying race.

Is Ferrari weak at swimming pool turns?

All in all, everything was in good order at Mercedes-Benz on Friday, and everyone completed their work for the day smoothly. After the two practice sessions, everyone packed up and returned to the hotel provided by the team to rest comfortably.

Ferrari started working overtime again.

It is worth mentioning that Ferrari’s chairman Elkann also came to the paddock today.

Qin Miao even saw the other person when he passed by the door of the Ferrari team's P room after get off work.

Although Qin Miao had met the other party, the two had actually very little communication before that. They only met and chatted with each other at the FIA ​​year-end awards ceremony last year.

These are really just two sentences in the literal sense.

Qin Miao knew that the other party was the main decision maker who offered him that incredible contract.

Vaselti reported and he nodded in agreement to the signature.

It was he and Vasseur who pulled him into Ferrari.

Therefore, Qin Miao is naturally grateful to his boss.

It's hard not to feel grateful to someone who gives you money and power.

But at this time, Qin Miao was still a Mercedes-Benz employee after all, so Qin Miao just nodded slightly at the other party and did not express anything further.

The other party smiled and raised the glass in his hand to Qin Miao, toasting him.

On the way out of the paddock, Qin Miao couldn't help but wonder, if he won the race, what would be the mentality of Elkann, who poached him from Mercedes-Benz?
-
7234
I guess you will feel proud? After all, the person you value is indeed worthy of your attention and efforts.

But what if Leclerc got the pole position in this race and he won the championship by stepping on the opponent's position?

I guess the emotions are complicated, right?
However, after thinking about this, Qin Miao recalled Leclerc's performance in the two practice sessions today.

Although Leclerc ranked high in both practice sessions, the fastest lap in these two practice sessions was always that of Red Bull.

So it is foreseeable that it is basically impossible for Leclerc to get pole position on such a track.

As for Mercedes-Benz...

It is undeniable that the competitiveness of Mercedes-Benz cars this season is indeed considerable, but the characteristics of the W14 are too distinct. Given the track characteristics of the W14, no matter how well the two Mercedes drivers perform in flying laps, it is impossible for them to get pole position in Monaco.

After all, this track requires too much downforce and grip from the car.

Qin Miao originally thought that Friday had passed just like that, but when he crossed the track and returned to his room in the Monaco Palace, the waiter of the Monaco Palace invited Qin Miao to have dinner in the palace restaurant.

In fact, Qin Miao had already eaten at Mercedes-Benz's team house before. After all, Mercedes-Benz had prepared a chef for Qin Miao.

However, facing the invitation from the Monaco royal family, Qin Miao had no reason to refuse.

Originally, Qin Miao thought that the royal family of Monaco might have invited him to dinner out of curiosity, wanting to find out about him and Ferrari. However, after Qin Miao went there, they really were just eating and didn't talk about anything at the dinner table.

This was just an ordinary family dinner. Although the dishes were rich, Qin Miao did not eat too much because he was really not hungry.

After dinner, Qin Miao thought that was the end of it, but unexpectedly, Albert II and Prince Jacques still took Qin Miao to the beach of the Monaco Palace.

Qin Miao knew that the big event was about to happen, in which the royal family of Monaco had called him over.

Just as Qin Miao had expected at the beginning, Albert II and Prince Jacques asked Qin Miao a lot of questions about Ferrari after he came over.

After having an in-depth chat with the father and son, Qin Miao realized that these two people were actually Ferrari fans.

The father and son were originally those Ferrari fans who were most upset about Ferrari letting them go, and therefore they were also their own fans.

Now that Qin Miao has returned to Ferrari, it is truly the Chinese New Year for these car fans.

For Ferrari, the news that Qin Miao returned to Ferrari was a bit like suddenly meeting your first love when you were middle-aged. Like you, she was not married. After a brief reminiscing, they both realized that the other had feelings for them and quickly confirmed the relationship.

In short: open the door to Shuang's mother, and you will be happy at home.

So, Albert II was very happy with this conversation, as was Prince Jacques the Younger.

As a fan of Qin Miao, after knowing that Qin Miao was going to join his favorite racing team, he was in a state of excitement for a long time.

But Qin Miao still had a game tomorrow, so not long after, Qin Miao was ready to say goodbye and go back to rest. Before leaving, Albert II stuffed a key into Qin Miao's hand.

"This is the key to your room. From now on, that room belongs exclusively to you. You can live in that room at any time. The Monaco Palace will always be open to you. You have the permanent right to use that room."

"This is actually an apology. After all, Monaco has promised all guests staying in Monaco that we will protect your privacy and security in Monaco, but you know, the location of your home has been exposed, which is our negligence.

This key is our apology to you. It is a small gift from us. I hope you can accept it."

Qin Miao looked at the key in his hand with a wry smile.

It is undeniably a great honor.

If Leclerc knew about this, he would probably want to come to his house and steal the key.

But the annoying thing is that Qin Miao has no use for this thing.

Qin Miao came to stay in the Monaco Palace for a few days partly out of curiosity, and partly because his home was indeed blocked by fans, and the traffic in Monaco was extremely congested during the Grand Prix, so he stayed in the Monaco Palace for convenience. After all, the Monaco Palace is only 100 meters away from the track, which is very convenient for walking to and from get off work.

Therefore, Qin Miao will definitely look for a house in Monaco again before the start of next season.

However, people do make mistakes in some ways. Since the other party said so, Qin Miao did not refuse the kindness of the Monaco royal family and accepted the key.

What? Qin Miao accepted it mainly because he wanted to show off the key to Leclerc?

shallow!

Is Qin Miao such a short-sighted person?

In addition to showing off in front of Leclerc, he also wanted to show off in front of Norris, Hamilton, and Zhou Guanyu!

Of course this is just a joke. After spending a long time with them, Qin Miao has a basic understanding of the values ​​of the Monaco royal family.

These people grew up in luxury and truly treat money as if it were nothing.

Even more than money, they value the other party's status and ability more.

Therefore, strictly speaking, giving yourself a room as a gift is not only an expression of apology, but also a manifestation of the other party's recognition of you.

But Qin Miao always felt something was wrong...

However, Qin Miao also knew that even if he got this house, he would most likely not live here permanently. At most, he would come here to stay for two days when he was free.

Nothing unexpected happened after Friday, and the day ended uneventfully.

Saturday, the start of practice and qualifying.

There is not much to say about today's third practice. The Monte Carlo circuit for the Monaco Grand Prix is ​​indeed complex, but it is also simple, after all, the track is very short.

Qin Miao had completed all his work for this Grand Prix weekend, such as collecting data, tuning the car, and familiarizing himself with braking points, with 30 minutes left on the clock in the third practice session.

After completing this work, Qin Miao wanted to go off work, but Franky and Toto put Qin Miao back into the car, asked him to change into a set of old neutral tires, and then ran a long-distance test on the track for nearly twenty minutes.

That's right, Qin Miao, you have indeed completed all your work. Continuing to race will only cause more wear and tear on the power unit of the car, and you will not get any more data benefits.

But F1 is a commercial alliance after all, and everyone wants to make money.

Although you, Qin Miao, will leave Mercedes next season, your huge commercial value and the huge development potential of the country behind you are still there.

Even though not many people watch the practice matches, sponsors still have demand for them, so Qin Miao, just go up there and get as many shots as you can.

In the end, Qin Miao was forced to work overtime for more than 6 minutes, and only got off the car and left work early when there were still minutes left before the race.

Just as Qin Miao climbed out of the car, an accident occurred on the track.

In the last five minutes of the third practice, the old man lost control and climbed onto the wall at T5.

Mercedes' golden left front could not withstand Monaco's wall which had no buffer at all.

Like Sainz yesterday, Hamilton's steering rod was broken on the spot due to the collision.

Unlike Sainz yesterday, Sainz was driving too fast and slightly touched the wall guard car's steering rod, causing it to break.

But the old man crashed heavily into the guardrail of the track. However, despite this, only one steering rod of Hamilton's car was broken. From this, it can be judged that the front suspension of the Mercedes-Benz car is indeed stiffer than that of ordinary cars.

At the same time, Sainz made a mistake yesterday and retired from the race due to hitting the wall. The car was lifted up and the bottom plate was exposed to other teams.

No one in the Mercedes team could have imagined that while they were still gloating over Ferrari's misfortune yesterday, today it would be Mercedes' turn to suffer this mess.

Elliot watched Hamilton's car being lifted up by Matthew, and sucked his back teeth with some toothache.

"unlucky."

……

The Mercedes car was hoisted up for everyone to admire, and it must have been a feast for the eyes of the aerodynamic designers of other teams.

However, when I compared the floor of their Mercedes-Benz with my own floor, I found that the floor of Mercedes-Benz had basically no texture compared to my own. Most of the design was concentrated in the vortex generator area at the edge of the floor and the entrance of the Venturi channel.

Now the designers of these teams are scratching their heads. The Mercedes-Benz chassis is of no use to them...

Even Ferrari's floorpan is more instructive than Mercedes'.

After the third training session, Qin Miao didn't even make it into the top ten.

Because Qin Miao only used a set of old soft tires to run a qualifying simulation during the entire third practice session, Qin Miao also encountered a slow car during the process, and his result was directly stuck by 0.7 seconds.

Apart from this flying circle, Qin Miao has been running long-distance tests, and his results are naturally not particularly good.

After the third training session, Qin Miao took a cold shower.

It was already hot in Monaco in May, and coupled with the high temperature environment in the racing car, Qin Miao relaxed his muscles in advance in order to make himself more comfortable during the qualifying round.

After the break, qualifying began.

The qualifying race in Monaco is obviously more important than the qualifying races at other tracks.

After all, with the length and width of current racing cars, Monte Carlo’s overtaking difficulty is the highest of all tracks on the calendar.

As long as there is no red flag or rain during the race, your qualifying position will be equivalent to your final finishing position in the race.

On the track, after the start of Q1, Qin Miao still followed his usual racing rhythm. After running a pretty good flying lap result in Q1, he did not try again.

After all, the traffic conditions in Q1 were too bad, and Qin Miao's fastest flying lap in Q1 was 1:12.717.

Since he could already secure entry into Q2, the team did not force Qin Miao to run.

After all, if there is a traffic problem in Q1 and the car behind is blocked, if the situation is serious, the driver may be penalized three positions in the race.

There is no need to take these unnecessary risks.

However, during this process, there were some unexpected events that were welcomed by everyone, at least by Mercedes-Benz.

Because in the 1th minute of Q11, Perez, who was preparing to run his second flying lap, made a mistake in T1 and hit the wall.

The car crashed hard into the guardrail outside T1.

Although the overall structure of the car appears to be intact, in fact almost all parts on the left half of the car have been damaged to varying degrees.

For example, the front nose, front suspension, rear suspension, side boxes, gearbox, and rear wing.

With such serious damage, Perez's car naturally stopped on the track, and the qualifying session was temporarily terminated and the red flag was raised.

After all, the tires of Perez's car were damaged at this time, so even though the Matthew passage was 20 meters behind Perez's car, Matthews had no way to push Perez's car off the track.

Then there was the scene that raised the blood pressure of everyone at Red Bull, with Perez's car also being hoisted.

In a Grand Prix, the top four teams in the constructors' standings were hung up and their skirts exposed, and now only Aston Martin is missing.

At that time, Qin Miao had already left the car and was preparing to follow Leclerc's method to go to the toilet to relieve the pressure. He actually saw with his own eyes several bigwigs from the team's design department pick up their mobile phones and run to the broadcast screen to take a lot of photos of the bottom of the Red Bull car.

After Elliott got the photo of the Red Bull racing car's bottom plate, he ran down from the second-floor control desk, holding up his mobile phone to make a call while running towards Mercedes' team home, ready to contact the team headquarters in Brackley.

He was still shouting: "Analysis, I want to analyze the Red Bull racing car floor! Get started immediately, and call back those on vacation!"

And he wasn't the only one. The heads of the design departments at Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin all went crazy because of such a direct photo of the chassis of the Red Bull racing car.

The professional photographers of the major racing teams also went crazy at this time. They picked up their expensive cameras and ran towards the Red Bull racing car that was being slowly lifted by a crane.

As professional photographers, they knew very well that if they took a high-definition video of the bottom plate of the Red Bull racing car and sent it to their corresponding team, this photo could provide them with at least $2 in income.

You know, although at this time in the team standings, the points gap between Mercedes and Red Bull is only 12 points, it seems that this points gap is not big, but in fact the performance of Red Bull is obviously stronger than that of Mercedes.

The reason why Mercedes can keep up with Red Bull in the standings and not be left too far behind is purely because Mercedes is now going to extremes. The pure acceleration ability and straight-line speed give Mercedes a unique advantage on some specific tracks.

At this time, Mercedes is like a student with serious imbalance in subjects, but Red Bull is a hexagonal warrior who is strong in all aspects.

Therefore, compared to Ferrari and Mercedes, many designs of Red Bull racing cars are of great reference value.

Especially the car floor which is not visible under normal conditions. (End of this chapter)