How did I become an F1 driver?

Soon, as the drivers at the back of the track stopped their cars at the starting grid, the final battle of the 2023 season was about to begin.

Although Qin Miao was prepared to run a long stint on hard tires in today's race, after knowing that Verstappen would start on neutral tires in this race, the team finally chose to let Qin Miao choose the same pit stop strategy as Verstappen based on the team's AI simulation. Therefore, Qin Miao and Verstappen started on neutral tires in this race.

Soon, the five red lights went out and the race began.

Verstappen had an excellent start, overtaking Hamilton, who braked late on the inside line, by half a car body before the braking point of T1.

Qin Miao also had an excellent start on the outside, and was side by side with Hamilton on the outside before the braking point of T1.

But Qin Miao did not forget the instructions given to him by the team.

So even though Qin Miao's start in today's race was as good as ever, Qin Miao was still prepared to observe Hamilton's condition on the track. If Hamilton intended to give way, Qin Miao would definitely not hesitate and would try to attack Hamilton from the outside.

However, after finding that he could not overtake Verstappen at the start, Hamilton had no intention of giving up his track position to Qin Miao.

So even though the advantage is huge, Qin Miao is also confident that he can overtake from the outside, but he needs to take some risks in the process.

So for safety reasons, Qin Miao gave up the attack.

Therefore, after the start, there was no change in ranking among the top three drivers.

This situation is basically the same as what many commentators predicted before the game started.

In the early stages of this race, there was basically no tension between the drivers.

Verstappen quickly widened the time gap with Hamilton behind him on this track, while Qin Miao was also in third place.

In the last race of the season, there was not much fighting spirit among the drivers at the back.

They are all racing to protect the car.

Although there were some overtaking, everyone basically stopped at the limit.

After all, no team is willing to take money out of the budget cap to repair the car in the last race of the season.

So the race seemed relatively dull from the beginning, with drivers all running at their own pace on the track.

However, Qin Miao's ability to protect the fetus is still there.

On the 10th lap, as the neutral tires of Hamilton's car began to fail, Qin Miao, who had been 1.3 seconds behind Hamilton, finally got the chance to attack Hamilton.

If it was just a normal Grand Prix weekend, seeing Qin Miao catching up from behind, Hamilton would definitely find a way to have a thrilling fight with the young man.

However, knowing that Qin Miao was competing for his third world championship and would not be his teammate next season, the old man was somewhat careless in defending against Qin Miao's attack.

Therefore, Qin Miao overtook Hamilton on the inside line at the T12 braking point on the 6th lap.

In fact, when it came to the second DRS area of ​​this lap, that is, before the braking point of T9, Hamilton relied on DRS to catch up to 0.1 second behind Qin Miao.

Qin Miao went to the inside defense, but Hamilton had no intention of attacking and just let Qin Miao go.

It’s not that the old man has lost his fighting spirit, but because the old man understands Qin Miao.

He knew that Qin Miao's tires were in much better condition than his own racing car's tires.

Although he could rely on late braking on the inside line to overtake Qin Miao and regain the position.

But in the next lap, Qin Miao, who had the advantage of tires, would definitely not attack himself before T6. Instead, he relied on the first section of DRS to narrow the time gap between himself and himself as much as possible, and finally overtook himself before T9.

After that, I had no way to deal with Qin Miao.

After being overtaken by Qin Miao, it was basically impossible for him to catch up with Qin Miao due to the tire gap.

So in the end the old man gave up defending.

There's no need to flutter around in Qin Miao's hands.

Not only wasting my own time, but also wasting Qin Miao's time, this was a thankless task, especially since it was the last game of the season. Whether out of emotional or rational considerations, it was inappropriate to do so.

Of course, Qin Miao discovered from the rearview mirror that Hamilton was not planning to force his way into the inside to attack him, but instead went to the outside to enter the corner at a normal angle. Qin Miao also knew that the old man was going to let him go directly.

So regardless of whether Hamilton could see it or not, Qin Miao stretched out his hand and gestured in Hamilton's direction before entering the corner, as a greeting and expression of gratitude.

But this scene made Toto, the Mercedes team staff and the VIPs in the team's P room, who were behind the camera, see their blood pressure remain high.

Although the lateral G-forces that F1 drivers endure when cornering are far less than the 7G or 8G experienced by fighter pilots.

It is even more impossible to pull 12G without losing vision in a short period of time like Anton Xingchaoman.

However, when Qin Miao's car passed the high-speed corner at T9, his entire body was subjected to lateral G-forces exceeding 5G.

Originally, this was not a difficult task for the drivers. After all, on many tracks, when the speed is high, it is not uncommon to generate 6G just by turning.

But at that time, drivers usually held the steering wheel with both hands and tried their best to control the beast under them.

But Qin Miao was driving with one hand at this time.

Of course, despite driving with one hand, Qin Miao's control over his car was not compromised at all. The car entered and exited corners precisely, as if it was flawless and program-designed.

Qin Miao also put his hands back on the steering wheel before entering the turn.

All I can say is that Qin Miao is indeed a man of great skill and courage.

"Okay, we saw that Qin Miao and Hamilton had exchanged positions on the track, and Qin Miao came in second."

"Yes, there are 46 laps left in the race. Qin Miao doesn't have to do anything. He just needs to keep his pace steady and finish the race to defend his title."

Although the commentators of Five Star Sports spoke steadily, it was not difficult to hear their nervousness from their tone.

To be honest, among all the people who hope Qin Miao will win the championship, the person who is least nervous is actually Qin Miao himself.

After all, the car was under his control, and this was the third time Qin Miao had experienced this situation. Naturally, Qin Miao would be more stable than many people imagined.

After overtaking Hamilton, Hamilton pitted on the 15th lap.

It was almost time for the pit stop, and most of the drivers had completed their stops within the last four laps, including Verstappen.

But since we have already said that this is the majority of drivers, there will naturally be exceptions.

The exception is Qin Miao.

Although Qin Miao's tires were under heavy load at the beginning of the race, Qin Miao's neutral tires were in good condition throughout.

In addition, during the pre-race simulation, everyone knew that there was a high probability of a two-stop race, so the team formulated a one-stop strategy for Qin Miao.

Although the team's strategy group does not want Qin Miao to compete with Verstappen for the championship on the track, because fighting comes with risks, if it is possible, they certainly won't mind letting Qin Miao complete his last Grand Prix in Mercedes more satisfactorily.

So they chose a pit stop strategy that was very different from that of other drivers.

Of course, before formulating this strategy, Mercedes-Benz's strategy team communicated with Qin Miao in advance.

Because Qin Miao stopped, Verstappen would definitely catch up with Qin Miao again in the later stages of the race.

At that time, if Qin Miao wants to defend Verstappen, he can do so, but the prerequisite is that Qin Miao needs to ensure the safety and integrity of his own car and must not get carried away.

Qin Miao was naturally very clear about the situation he would encounter once he stopped, and he had an idea of ​​it in his mind.

On the 24th lap, Qin Miao stopped in the pit and after coming out of the maintenance area he was only 3.1 seconds behind Hamilton.

In comparison, Sainz, who also used neutral tires and also lasted 24 laps on the track, was 1.4 seconds slower than Qin Miao on a single lap before pitting.

This shows that Qin Miao still has plenty of tire time left. If the pit stop window with the shortest time calculated by the team had not arrived, Qin Miao would have to run two more laps on the track.

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After completing his last pit stop in the Mercedes team, Reyes, under pressure from Qin Miao's pre-race threats, gave Qin Miao a 2.1-second tire change.

This was also Qin Miao's last pit stop in the Mercedes-Benz team. From now on, Qin Miao would most likely not park his car in the Mercedes-Benz team's P room again.

Except for the situation of Xiao Han back then.

Coming out of the maintenance area, Qin Miao's lap speed was 0.2 seconds faster than the old man.

This is the lap time Qin Miao achieved when he was doing his best to protect the tire. If Qin Miao did not protect the tire, his advantage would be even greater.

Next, there was another long cruise.

To be honest, many fans who were expecting a bloody fight between Qin Miao and Verstappen on the track never expected that the last race of the 2023 season would be so dull.

On the 39th lap, Qin Miao surpassed the old man and came second again.

This time when Qin Miao overtook Hamilton, he basically left Hamilton no choice. When he caught up with Hamilton, Qin Miao had a single lap speed advantage of nearly 0.5 seconds over Hamilton.

With such a terrifying tire speed advantage, overtaking was very easy. He relied on the tire advantage to get close to Hamilton on the curve, and then used the DRS tailslide to overtake Hamilton on the straight. Even Qin Miao's ERS was useless to protect the tire.

Of course, the old man had basically no intention of resisting at the time. He just ran at his normal pace on the outside line, leaving the empty door in the inside and allowing Qin Miao to overtake from the inside.

After being overtaken by Qin Miao, Hamilton chose to pit to change tires.

Verstappen also made his pit stop on the next lap.

The timing of Verstappen's second stop in the maintenance area is very important.

Because if Verstappen pitted early, he would fall behind Hamilton.

Although Qin Miao's terrifying stability allowed him to maintain a good speed at this point in the race, there was no abnormality in the condition of the car and the driver, and no accidents occurred in the early stages of the race.

Red Bull also feels deep down that Verstappen has no chance of winning the world championship.

But after a whole year of hard work, Red Bull is now like a drowning man, clinging to anything it encounters like a lifeline.

Therefore, if Verstappen had pitted according to the normal pit window, he would have fallen behind Hamilton.

Red Bull is worried that after Verstappen falls behind Hamilton, Mercedes will issue team orders for Hamilton to help Qin Miao block Verstappen's race rhythm on the track, just like when Qin Miao helped Hamilton block Verstappen on the track in his first year in F1.

Although such a scene is undoubtedly a precious memory for Mercedes fans that they will reminisce for many years.

But Red Bull is unwilling to play the sad background role in Mercedes' story.

So Verstappen waited until Hamilton entered the pit to change tires before entering the pit to change tires.

Because of this waiting period, after coming out of the maintenance area, the time gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao reached 15 seconds.

At this time, there were only 17 laps left to the end of the race.

The good news is that Verstappen's tires are 29 laps newer than Qin Miao's tires.

No matter how amazing your ability to keep the fetus is, Qin Miao, you cannot rely on your own skills to violate the laws of physics when racing on the track.

Therefore, the wear and tear of Qin Miao's tires is inevitable.

But the bad news is that after Verstappen came out of the pit area and ran his first normal lap, he set the fastest lap of the race.

But the gap between Verstappen and Qin Miao was only 0.7 seconds.

It does sound like a lot, and in a regular Grand Prix race, it would almost be an overwhelming speed advantage.

It is basically equivalent to the current lap speed gap between Ferrari and Williams.

A stray dog ​​on the roadside was kicked to death by someone casually.

However, with 17 laps left in the race and a 15-second time gap, the pursuit efficiency was a bit insufficient.

On the track, Verstappen came out of the maintenance area and asked, "How far am I from Qin Miao?"

Verstappen's track engineer said calmly: "You are 15.7 seconds behind Qin Miao."

If it was Verstappen in the past, he would probably ask in confusion after encountering this situation on the track: "How did he do that?"

But now Verstappen didn't even respond after knowing the time gap. All he thought about was how to catch up with this position on the track.

"We believe in you, you can do it." Horner also joined Verstappen's team TR at this time and gave Verstappen encouragement.

Verstappen said nothing, but increased his lap time.

The two stops of Huang, Bai and Bai gave Verstappen enough tire reserve. From now on, Verstappen can run at full speed until the end of the race without worrying about the wear of his tires.

Just like in the first half of this season, Verstappen on the track began to chase Qin Miao frantically again.

Qin Miao continued at his own pace.

If the picture of the two people on the track at this moment were to be matched with a background music, the one played by Qin Miao would be "Tea Brewed by Grandpa" and the one played by Pan Zi would be "Deja vu".

Of course, if you don't know what song this is specifically, then this song has another more well-known name: "Catching Shrimp Households". (End of this chapter)