How did I become an F1 driver?

Chapter 173 171: Imola race starts (6K, plus 2829)

A group of people chatted and waited in the car home for about 10 minutes before Hamilton arrived late.

However, F1 drivers are relatively busy. It is normal for Hamilton to be absent from team meetings frequently, while it is a special case for Qin Miao, who is basically not late for team meetings.

Of course, it is also possible that Qin Miao attended few team meetings during his career, so there was no chance of being late.

Although being late is unavoidable, the team staff can understand, but after seeing the team staff, Hamilton still slightly bowed slightly embarrassed to express his apology to the Mercedes team staff.

After sitting down, today's team meeting begins.

The content of the meeting was today's tire strategy and the choice of the team's new tactics in rainy weather. At the same time, Toto also emphasized the preparations that are completely different from those in dry land.

Although the meeting was very important, it didn't last long, it ended in 10 minutes, and Qin Miao and Hamilton mainly acted as listeners. The main participants of this meeting were actually the technicians and engineers of the team.

They need to complete the set-up and preparation of the car after the meeting and before the race starts.

After the meeting, Qin Miao left the car home with the task assigned to him by the team.

The red and yellow stops originally arranged for Qin Miao will not be used at the moment, but the team considers that the rain today is not too heavy, and according to the weather forecast, the rain on the track will change after the car runs about 20 laps. Small, and the stagnant water is almost exhausted due to the long-term driving of the car, so Qin Miao can arrange a green-white-stop tactic at that time.

Of course, when it rains, the plan will basically fail to keep up with the changes, so Qin Miao will have to adapt to what tire strategy he will adopt.

Came to the team's P room with ease. At this time, the staff of the team had no idea, because no one knew how to use Qin Miao's current car tuning effect on this track, and whether the car tuning was still suitable for Qin Miao after changing the tires. Miao's driving habits, without testing, these things became unknown, which made everyone nervous.

After coming to his racing car, Qin Miao began to prepare before entering the racing car. He simply stretched and moved his limbs. Afterwards, Qin Miao put on the equipment, propped up the flip-flops and lay down in the racing car.

Qin Miao lay down inside the monocoque, and during the time when the seat belt was installed, Reyes, Qin Miao's chief technician, handed over Qin Miao's steering wheel.

After Qin Miao installed her seat belt, she took over the steering wheel. Reyes explained, "Just now your steering wheel was taken to the logistics department to upgrade the internal system. The stability of the system has been tested in the engineering department for a while. , No problems were found, and now I just let you take it to the field to test the stability."

While taking the steering wheel from Reyes, Qin Miao asked curiously, "Has Hamilton's system been upgraded like mine?"

"Uh...no, his steering wheel just optimized its shape." After Reyes finished speaking, he was afraid that Qin Miao would get emotional and hurriedly added: "Of course, our steering wheel also has an optimized shape, and the button may be touched by mistake. sex as low as possible."

Qin Miao is not disgusted with the system upgrade of his steering wheel. After all, he also knows that updating the system must have fixed some fatal system bugs and optimized the response sequence and response time of some programs. Overall, it is beneficial.

But now Qin Miao suddenly doesn't like the identity of the No. 2 driver.

Although the stability of the steering wheel system must have been tested thousands of times in the factory, it is the first time to use it on the field after all. Will there be any problems on the field?

Qin Miao, who has become a guinea pig for testing the stability of the steering wheel system, feels somewhat uncomfortable.

It's really not a good feeling that the No. 2 driver has to do this kind of dirty work, tiring work and risky work, even though I am driving a Mercedes at this time.

However, Qin Miao did not show it. Driving is paid for, and it is also a career she loves. Maybe Qin Miao is a bit lazy in daily life, but Qin Miao is quite rational when working.

Pull off the quick release on the rear of the steering wheel to reveal the steel ball and buckle underneath, and then snap it into your racing car after aligning it.

Then he waited for the steering wheel system to turn on, adjusted the button test program inside the steering wheel, looked at the interface in front of him and pressed all the buttons on the steering wheel once, and only after confirming that no buttons were malfunctioning did Qin Miao switch the steering wheel to normal mode.

After confirming the settings of his car for the last time, Qin Miao said in the TR: "I'm ready, I can go out at any time."

Reyes confirmed that Qin Miao's equipment had been inspected, and the technicians of Qin Miao's car team also confirmed that Qin Miao's car was ready, and then Reyes released Qin Miao.

It is worth mentioning that because of the rain, the angle of the front wing of Qin Miao's car was adjusted again, which fully pulled the front downforce of Qin Miao's car.

He drove all the way to his grid. After Qin Miao filled it out, he was jacked up by the team's technicians, and the four tires were wrapped with thermal blankets.

After waiting on the track for about 10 minutes, Qin Miao also took time to put buffs on his car during this time. After buffing, it was not long before the race was about to start.

The team staff withdrew from the track one minute before the tire warm-up lap was about to start.

It is worth mentioning that when the staff of this team left with the car's thermal blanket and equipment, the track at the rear wheel of the car in the grid was dry, which was completely different from the surrounding ground. different difference.

If you touch it with your hands at this time, you will feel a burst of heat.

Basically, there are such marks where every car is parked. In fact, the team deliberately heats up this area, so that when the car stops here, it will have stronger tire grip.

Today is just because of the rain, so it seems a little obvious. In fact, there will be such operations in normal games without rain.

These staff took their own equipment and lined up on both sides of the track. As the Rolex timer reached 3:[-] pm local time in Imola, two green lights came on and the tire warm-up lap officially started.

As Hamilton drove his car out of the grid, Qin Miao's heart rate began to increase involuntarily.

To be honest, Qin Miao also started from the second position in Bahrain. Although he was nervous at that time, he was more excited than nervous. Now Qin Miao is really nervous, worried that he will not perform well. Okay, or something like an accident on the track.

And the main reason for Qin Miao's nervousness is no need to guess, it is because of the rain today.

After running a tire warm-up lap with Hamilton all the way to the starting straight, Qin Miao had warmed up his tires as much as possible before starting, but after all, there was rain on the track, so Qin Miao's tires barely reached the working level. temperature.

Then Qin Miao's car slowly stopped on the grid.

After Qin Miao parked, not all the cars in the car array had already parked at their grid positions, and during this period of time waiting for other cars to enter their predetermined positions, Franky reminded him in TR Qin Miao: "It's raining today. Although we are using semi-wet tires, the temperature drop of the semi-wet tires has exceeded our expectations. Be careful at the start and try to avoid accidents."

There is also an interface on Qin Miao’s car to see the working temperature of her 4 tires, but it needs to be adjusted to see it. But at this moment, Qin Miao is a little nervous, and her expression is also tense, so even though she heard Fu Lan Qi was a little worried that the temperature of the tires would not meet expectations, but he didn't spare extra thoughts to take a look, but stared at the five red lights above.

After 20 seconds, the medical vehicle behind stopped and the green flag waved.

The five red lights that were originally dark began to light up one by one.

When the first red light came on, Qin Miao, like all the drivers, stepped on the accelerator and kept the engine speed, and pressed his fingers on the clutch button to the pre-activated position.

This time there was rain on the track, so Qin Miao only stepped on 1/5 of the accelerator depth this time, and the engine speed was only kept at 7400RPM. If it was higher, the starting grip would not be enough.

Soon, all five red lights came on. At this moment, Qin Miao's heart rate soared to 160, and his eyes were fixed on the five red lights above him.

"Five red lights off!"

Qin Miao suddenly pressed the clutch button on the steering wheel, and instantly the power of the engine was transmitted to Qin Miao's two rear wheels through the clutch.

Qin Miao got off to a smooth start, and so did his teammates.

Both Hamilton and Qin Miao started fairly well, but as the saying goes, they are afraid of comparison.

Compared with Qin Miao and Hamilton in front, the speed of the two Red Bull behind the two Mercedes is obviously much faster.

After the start, Qin Miao found that he and Hamilton were neither separated nor drawn, so he knew that his start was not bad, and the rear wheels did not spin or anything.

However, after the start, Qin Miao, who gradually deepened the accelerator pedal, saw through the rearview mirror that the two Red Bulls behind were rapidly approaching himself and Hamilton.

Even on his own side, Verstappen is extremely fast. He started 4th and has already completed wheel-to-wheel side by side with his teammate Perez in a short distance of 200 meters. About to start attacking himself and Hamilton.

At this moment, there is basically no extra time for Qin Miao to weigh the pros and cons. After realizing that the two Red Bulls were approaching quickly, Qin Miao directly pasted Hamilton's position slightly, compressing the space between himself and Hamilton that was originally enough for a car to pass through. It is not enough for a car to pass.

During this period of time, Hamilton found that he and Qin Miao didn't start very well, and after Red Bull started well, he directly held his position inside and didn't hide when he saw Qin Miao approaching. He leaned towards Qin Miao again, seemingly giving up his position on the left, but if Perez behind Hamilton wanted to overtake from the left, the two wheels on Perez's left would definitely hit the grass.

At that time, the car will definitely lose control.

Although there was no communication before the race, the small cooperation between Qin Miao and Hamilton directly sealed the advantage brought by Perez's excellent start.

At this time, someone wants to say, doesn't Verstappen on the other side still have room to overtake from the right?

But you know, Qin Miao is side by side with Hamilton at this time, and it seems that there is indeed a position on the outside for Verstappen to insert.

But as long as Verstappen really inserts this seemingly accessible gap, Verstappen will definitely suffer a big loss when he comes to the two combined corners of T2 and T3.

Because as long as Qin Miao brakes late when entering the corner, Verstappen can only honestly go to the escape channel and press on the grass, or be directly bounced by the yellow speed bump at the center of the bend.

And Verstappen also knew this, so after seeing the formation of Qin Miao and Hamilton, he knew that T2, the best corner for overtaking, had no chance to improve his ranking. Although it was a pity, the race was still For a long time, Verstappen will be able to stabilize his mentality and is not in a hurry for this moment.

Instead, Verstappen focused on his teammate Perez.

He needs to get a relatively good position before the official attack starts to pass Qin Miao as soon as possible to launch an attack on Hamilton.

……

After T2T3T4, Qin Miao didn't make any fuss, and he didn't deliberately let Hamilton go. The two cars were side by side all the way until T4 exited the corner. Because Qin Miao's exit angle was not as good as Hamilton's, so after exiting the corner, Hamilton He quickly opened the distance between him and Qin Miao.

Then Qin Miao became stupid.

It was okay when we were side by side with Hamilton just now. Although there were raindrops on the goggles of Qin Miao's helmet, these raindrops basically did not affect Qin Miao.

Moreover, Qin Miao's goggles have a layer of hydrophobic layer, water stains will not remain on Qin Miao's goggles
But now behind the rear of Hamilton's car, the water mist raised by the racing car at high speed directly made Qin Miao's field of vision blank. Miao provides a certain reference.

After realizing that he could not see the road ahead, Qin Miao subconsciously let go of the accelerator with his right foot.

Because anyone who suddenly can't see things in front clearly when driving at high speed must release the accelerator and brake to ensure their own safety.

But the professionalism of being a racing driver made Qin Miao step back on the gas pedal of the car.

Fortunately, there is a gap between shifting gears at this moment, and Qin Miao's slightly loose accelerator does not have much impact on its speed, and Verstappen behind Qin Miao can't help Qin Miao in the next corner. Attack.

In the rainy state, the Imola track is suitable for attacking only T2.

However, after stepping on the accelerator, Qin Miao looked at Hamilton's red rear taillights flashing in the white mist ahead, and his scalp felt a little numb.

When it rains, many of Qin Miao's good braking points can no longer be used, and he can only use the scenery around the track as a reference point to judge the timing of braking, and because of the lack of grip, Qin Miao's braking point has to be backwards. At the same time, you have to find a reference to judge your current position.

Although Qin Miao had a brief panic and loss of rhythm, Qin Miao quickly stabilized her mentality.

After all, his proficiency in this track is really quite high. Even if the scene in front of him was completely blocked by the rain curtain raised by the tail of the Hamilton car, Qin Miao still relied on his familiarity with this track to be able to Drive normally.

Then the car drove all the way to T11. Qin Miao felt relieved that after all, it was still raining and the track was full of water. Except for Hamilton, Verstappen who was following behind him could not see the road in front of him. Qin Miao Miao couldn't even see where Verstappen was from the water mist raised by his rear wheel.

But before Qin Miao could relax a bit, a yellow flag appeared on the track.

When the director cut the camera, the audience saw a Williams on the straight between T15-T16, which had damaged its front wing and right front wheel suspension, and stopped on the grass beside the track. .

The one who made a mistake was naturally our great director Latifi.

Also because there was no exit from the safety zone at the location where Latifi crashed, and it was very close to the track, the race will convert the yellow flag into a safety car after a brief yellow flag.

During the safety car, the race will also broadcast what happened in less than half a lap just now.

In fact, before the accident, Latifi had already rushed out of the track once in T13, and when he came back, he was right in front of Ma Zeping.

The key point is that Ma Zeping was driving normally at the moment, and Latifi forcibly merged without looking at the cars behind him. As a result, Ma Zeping had no extra space to evade when Ma Zeping realized it.

Then Latifi's right rear wheel hit Ma Zeping's left front wheel, and Latifi's car balance was destroyed and he lost control and hit the wall on the spot.

The main cause of the accident was Latifi, which is not in dispute.

And there is good news for the drivers, because with the lead of the safety car, the water on the track will be drained a lot.

Qin Miao originally thought that the race would be over after cleaning up the debris and cars that Latifi knocked out on the track, and was ready to watch Hamilton's time to crush the car. Suddenly, a voice came from the team's TR: "Qin Miao , the safety car will continue, Mick Schumacher just crashed too, and now the track is full of debris."

Qin Miao: Huh?

The director quickly gave Mick a shot, and after seeing Mick's shot, Brother Fei exclaimed: "Ah? Mick! This is under the leadership of the safety car, how could he crash?"

After seeing Mick's performance in this game, Brother Bing let out a long sigh and then stabbed Mick: "They are also newcomers who just joined F1. Compared with Qin Miao and Kakuda, these two Haas are somewhat different. Maverick."

"It can't be blamed on them. Haas's car is difficult to drive this year. It's still raining today, and Qin Miao puts pressure on them on the field. It's normal for them to make mistakes."

While the three commentators were chatting, the on-site director also switched to the scene of why Mick made a mistake just now.

I saw that after passing the exit of the safety zone, under the leadership of the safety car, Mick had a large tire wear, and then oversteered during a tire wear, and the grip of the rear wheel was lost. Mick subconsciously counterattacked to save However, Mick did not correct his steering wheel in time after the counterattack, causing the entire car to crash directly into the parapet behind the exit of the maintenance area.

Fortunately, when Mick hit the wall, the front nose hit the wall, and only Mick's front nose was damaged, and the car could continue to run.

After seeing this scene, Zhou Haoran even exclaimed: "I seem to have seen Grosjean on the field!"

But after this collision, the game basically has nothing to do with Mick. Originally, Haas's car was in a state of driving children this season. In their position, they scored points themselves. The hope is very slim, and now I have to go back and change the front nose after a collision. Although Mick can still run in this game, he has basically been sentenced to death in advance.

Because of Mick's collision, there was a lot of debris on the track, so the safety car took a few more laps.

The safety car went all the way to lap 6, and it took 21.3 seconds to replace the front wing after Mick hit it.

Unlike Latifi's collision which was due to human factors, this time Mick was pure dishonesty.

The good news is that after running these 6 laps, the track has indeed become a little dry, but the bad news is that the sky is still not beautiful, and the light rain has been falling.

The overhead lights of the safety car went out at T17, reminding the drivers behind it that the race would soon resume.

After receiving the news, Qin Miao and Hamilton also began to grind the tires to heat up the tires.

And after Qin Miao ran such a lap on the field, he had a basic mental preparation for the rain fight, so he was not as panicked as when he started.

Hamilton still pressed the car a little bit, and he started to speed up suddenly after passing T19.

After the safety car withdrew, Qin Miao kept staring at the rear of Hamilton's car, and as Hamilton accelerated, Qin Miao quickly followed.

After Qin Miao successfully started, he turned his attention to the rearview mirror. Qin Miao knew that although he and his teammate Hamilton were in a competitive relationship, the biggest threat to him at this time was Verstappen behind him.

And Verstappen is also known as a genius. His speed at the second start was obviously faster than Qin Miao's, and when Qin Miao looked over from his left rearview mirror, Verstappen's racing car froze. It flashed past and went to Qin Miao's right.

After seeing this scene, Qin Miao subconsciously turned to the right, trying to defend Verstappen.

But Qin Miao's position just shifted, and Verstappen's car appeared on the right side of Qin Miao's car again.

When Qin Miao realized that there was no car in the right rearview mirror, and turned back to look at the left rearview mirror, Qin Miao saw Verstappen's front in the white mist raised by the racing tires. The wing has come to its rear wheel position.

Qin Miao could no longer block Verstappen's route by changing the route.

(End of this chapter)