How did I become an F1 driver?

Most importantly, as a driver who was temporarily pulled in to help out and only ran one practice session, Ye Yifei perfectly completed all the tasks assigned to him by the Lynk & Co team, finished the race smoothly, received good exposure, and the car did not suffer any more damage during the Grand Prix weekend.

After this race, not only Lynk & Co’s human resources department, but other teams that had ideas about the huge Chinese market also turned their attention to Ye Yifei.

It can even be said that Ye Yifei’s biggest gain from this Grand Prix weekend was not the F1 racing experience he gained, nor was it that he participated in an F1 Grand Prix.

Rather, it was his performance in F1 that made many people remember him, which paved the way for him to join the F1 paddock in the future.

Of course, these are things for the future.

Finally, the ranking and scores of the drivers after the game are as follows:

P1: Verstappen +26 (fastest lap)
P2: Qin Miao +18
P3: Hamilton +15
P4: Alonso +12
P5: Gasly +10
P6: Perez +8
P7: Sainz +6
P8: Norris +4
P9: Albon +2
P10: Piastri +1
After this race, there are still no changes in the driver's standings and the team's standings, so I won't go into details here.

After the race, post-race interviews and a host of other trivial matters, Qin Miao left the Dutch paddock.

After all, the Netherlands is the home ground of his main opponent, and Qin Miao is more or less unwelcome here.

The word Qin Miao heard most throughout the Grand Prix weekend was FUCK.

Qin Miao originally liked the Zandvoort track very much. After all, this track is one of the most distinctive tracks in the F1 calendar. But because of Verstappen and the Dutch fans, Qin Miao also had some prejudices of his own towards this track.

So after the game he left the Netherlands and went directly to Italy.

The Dutch Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix are back-to-back races, so there is no problem leaving early.

Now Italy has become half of Qin Miao's home ground after Qin Miao announced that he would join Ferrari next season.

After arriving in Italy, Qin Miao did not flirt with anyone from Ferrari. It was already decided that he would join Ferrari. After a year, he would have plenty of time to flirt with people from Ferrari. There was no need to rush.

Focusing on the track of this Grand Prix weekend, Monza is a track with an extremely obvious feature, that is, high speed.

Basically, Monza is the track with the lowest aerodynamic requirements in the entire F1 calendar.

It just so happens that the W14 car's characteristics are acceleration and tail speed.

In this way, the W14 can fully display its acceleration and tail speed characteristics.

This is also the game in the entire 23rd season where W14 is most likely to crush RB19.

At the same time, Mercedes-Benz naturally brought a low-downforce aerodynamic kit.

……

On Wednesday afternoon, in the RV camp, Qin Miao opened the door after hearing a knock on the door.

After opening the door, I saw Ye Yifei standing at the door.

Qin Miao tilted his head towards him and said, "Come in, you're here quite early."

Ye Yifei smiled shyly and stepped into Qin Miao's RV.

The layout of Qin Miao's RV is no different from that of other drivers. After all, it was built for Qin Miao by the Mercedes-Benz team. Although Qin Miao has been using it all the time, the frequency of use is actually not very high, so Qin Miao did not get any private customized services for this car.

But Qin Miao was the only one in his RV at this time, so Ye Yifei asked curiously: "Are you the only one here?"

Qin Miao nodded and said, “I’m the only one here today.

Normally my physical trainer would live here, but he is Italian and his hometown is Milan, so he went back home to live. ”

Ye Yifei nodded and sat down on the sofa in the living room under Qin Miao's guidance.

Qin Miao poured him a glass of water and sat down next to Ye Yifei: "How do you feel? F1 is not easy to drive."

Hearing Qin Miao's question, Ye Yifei smiled bitterly: "It is indeed difficult to drive, especially since I don't have enough time to practice F1 racing.

The two rain events during last week’s race almost gave me a heart attack, but luckily I didn’t make any major mistakes.”

"Then I should congratulate you. At least you didn't encounter any accidents under such great pressure and successfully completed your competition."

After taking a sip of water to moisten his throat, Qin Miao asked, "Now that I have come into contact with F1 racing, do you feel that there is a big difference compared to the prototype car of the endurance race?"

Ye Yifei recalled the different feelings of driving the two cars, and then said with emotion: "Don't tell me, I didn't feel anything at the beginning, it's just driving.

But now that I think about it carefully, the difference is still quite big.

When I drove an F3 before, I thought the driving experience of an F1 would not be much different from that of an F3. But after I actually drove it myself, I realized that an F1 car is not something that anyone can drive. "

“Although the prototype car is also a racing car and the internal temperature is not low, it at least has a cooling system. If it is really too hot, you can open the helmet visor to allow your skin to directly contact the wind blown out by the vehicle's internal cooling system. If it really doesn't work, you can also put on ice clothing or even open the window. There is always a way to optimize comfort.

But F1 cars don’t have any of these. During the race last week, when it wasn’t raining, I felt like my whole body was soaked by my own sweat. If it hadn’t been for the rain in the middle and late stages of the race, and I hadn’t gotten off the car to rest for a while during the red flag period, I really don’t think I could have survived.”

"After the game, I had to rely on others to help me get out of the car. I was so tired."

Qin Miao listened to Ye Yifei's story with a smile. After he finished speaking, Qin Miao picked up his cup, took a sip and said, "I got through this. Strengthen your physical training, run more races and you will find..."

Seeing Qin Miao smiling but not saying anything, Ye Yifei quickly answered, "Are you used to it?"

Qin Miao smiled and shook his head: "No... there are more tiring and more difficult competitions waiting for you."

Ye Yifei: ...

"Hahaha, just a little joke."

Qin Miao waved his hand, and then asked curiously: "By the way, I remember you said that Lynk & Co only rented it to you for one Grand Prix weekend. Is the lease expired now?"

Ye Yifei smiled unkindly after hearing Qin Miao's question: "Actually, I am a very kind person, but I have never been like this week, hoping that someone's injury will heal more slowly, or even better, directly... ahem."

Qin Miao raised his eyebrows and waited for what was to come.

Ye Yifei said: "Ricardo's fractured palm is actually quite serious, just like what we say in China, it takes 100 days to heal a broken bone.

He didn't recover that quickly, and my performance in the Netherlands last weekend was recognized by Lynk & Co.'s top management. With the support of Geely, my lease was extended for another two race weekends. I guess I will continue to replace Ricciardo until he comes back."

Qin Miao raised his eyebrows: "Good news!

But will your main job, the endurance race, be delayed?"

Ye Yifei explained: "In fact, there are no competitions recently, and even if there are competitions, it's okay to turn down one. After all, for endurance racers, experience in F1 is a plus."

Qin Miao smiled and nodded. He was sincerely happy for Ye Yifei.

"Where are we going to eat later?" Seeing that it was almost time for dinner, Ye Yifei asked curiously.

He still has some dietary restrictions, so if he wants to go out to eat, he'd better tell Qin Miao about his dietary restrictions first to avoid embarrassment.

"Go out to eat? No." Qin Miao explained, "When that beast comes over, I'll cook."

"Ah?" Ye Yifei was stunned at first. Who is that beast?

Then he quickly realized that there were only two people in the paddock who had a good relationship with Qin Miao, and it was probably one of them.

After all, the relationship between him and Qin Miao had not reached that point at this time, so Ye Yifei did not discuss this matter in depth, but focused on the second half of the sentence in the group chat.

Then he slapped his forehead and said, "Oh, now I remember, there was a rumor going around in the paddock that your cooking was really delicious. So this isn't a rumor?"

Qin Miao shook his head helplessly and said, "I actually hope this is just a rumor, so that those grandsons won't pester me to cook for them."

As soon as he finished speaking, the fingerprint door lock of Qin Miao's RV made a sound indicating that the fingerprint verification had passed.

With a click, the door opened and Zhou Guanyu walked in carrying a bag of vegetables.

After entering the door, Zhou Guanyu first smiled at Ye Yifei, then looked at Qin Miao and scolded: "Didn't you see the guests coming? Don't you even come over to help me carry some."

Qin Miao rolled his eyes and ignored Zhou Guanyu, instead he said to Ye Yifei: "Zhou Guanyu, you should know him. You two have both been in Renault's youth training, so you should be quite familiar with each other, right?"

Seeing that Qin Miao was unmoved, Ye Yifei took the initiative to stand up and take the bag from Zhou Guanyu.

"Oh, no need." Zhou Guanyu stopped Ye Yifei and said, "Yifei, just go and sit down. I was just joking with that bastard Qin Miao."

Ye Yifei looked at Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu with some surprise: "You two are really as close as the rumors in the paddock say..."

At this moment, Ye Yifei had a feeling as if he had met his idol, and the idol gradually became like the image he had in his mind.

"Good? I have never been so crazy about hoping that Zhou Guanyu would be killed as soon as possible as I am now." Qin Miao cursed.

After hearing Qin Miao's words, Ye Yifei hurriedly looked at Zhou Guanyu, but what surprised Ye Yifei was that Zhou Guanyu, who had just put the dishes in the kitchen of the RV, seemed completely unmoved by Qin Miao's insults and curses.

Zhou Guanyu has gotten used to it.

If the two of them don't swear at each other when they meet one day, both sides may feel a little uncomfortable.

After coming out, he sat down in the space next to Qin Miao. Feeling a bit crowded, he kicked Qin Miao and said, "Move out a little."

Qin Miao rolled his eyes speechlessly, but still moved a little further out to make some room for Zhou Guanyu.

"Yifei and I only knew each other. We met a few times at Renault's youth training meetings, but we were in different racing categories at the time," Zhou Guanyu explained. "I was driving F2 and Yifei was racing F3. When I entered F1, Yifei went to race at Le Mans. Unfortunately, our careers basically missed each other."

After hearing Zhou Guanyu's explanation, Ye Yifei, who was standing by, also nodded to Qin Miao.

“It’s okay. With the speed you’ve shown in F1, as long as you seize the opportunities in the remaining few races, Lynk & Co will most likely keep you.

In this way, your and Zhou Guanyu's careers finally have an intersection.

But if you put it that way, the one who will be uncomfortable then is..." At this point, Qin Miao looked at Zhou Guanyu with a playful look.

Because Zhou Guanyu and A Luo signed a contract until next year, even though Lynk & Co has ideas about Zhou Guanyu, it is impossible for Lynk & Co to directly buy out the driver's contract before the contract expires, like Mercedes did when it poached Qin Miao.

On the one hand, buying out an F1 driver's contract is much more expensive than buying out a youth driver's contract.

On the other hand, doing so is likely to offend people.

Besides, if the person who bought out the car was Qin Miao, Lynk & Co might have to swallow its anger and force Qin Miao to come over no matter how much it cost.

After all, you bought him. Even if you are a second-tier team, Qin Miao may be able to bring you one or two race championships with his pure personal ability.

But Zhou Guanyu is at most a good second driver. Even for the Lynk & Co team, Zhou Guanyu's appeal to them lies more in his nationality than in his ability.

Now we have Ye Yifei, and Ye Yifei's performance in F1 is also pretty good. As long as Ye Yifei's performance in the remaining two races is not bad, it is a foregone conclusion that he will enter F1 next year.

Zhou Guanyu shrugged nonchalantly: "In the past, I might have been a little anxious when I encountered this situation, but now... Lynk & Co will definitely not refuse to have two Chinese drivers in their team."

Qin Miao:......

Ye Yifei: ...

Qin Miao looked at Zhou Guanyu with some pity.

I guess the only thing this kid can do now is to be stubborn.

"What are you looking at me for?"

Seeing Qin Miao's eyes full of pity, Zhou Guanyu rolled his eyes and took out his cell phone.

After flipping through the chat history, he handed the phone to Qin Miao.

The person on the other end of the chat was very familiar to Qin Miao, He Qiang, the de facto person in charge of the Lynk & Co team.

Then the chat record showed: [If possible, we naturally hope that both drivers of the team are Chinese drivers]

[I also look forward to the day when your contract with A-Ro ends and you join Lynk & Co.] (End of this chapter)