How did I become an F1 driver?

Of course, Hamilton didn't take this flying circle seriously.

Although not all top drivers like to slack off in Q1 and Q2 like Qin Miao, no good person will exert all his strength to run a flying lap in Q1.

At the end of Q1, Qin Miao and Hamilton both advanced to Q2, Hamilton was 1st and Qin Miao was 11th.

At the same time, Zhou Guanyu also advanced to Q13 in 2th position.

In the gap between Q1 and Q2, Qin Miao returned to the team's P room, but he did not wait in the car for the start of Q2 as usual, nor did he follow his good friend Leclerc's example of going to the toilet during the qualifying break. Instead, he got out of the car and came to the opposite side of Hamilton.

“Lewis, you can pull a little further out after T7. I will try not turning on DRS in Q2. This way your wake effect should be better. We can see if the speed can be faster than now. Then we can decide which wake tactic we will use in Q3.”

Although Hamilton was a little surprised that Qin Miao would come to him to say this at this time, he also felt that what Qin Miao said made sense. He reached out and shook hands with Qin Miao and thanked him, "Okay, by the way, thank you Qin Miao."

Qin Miao nodded.

It’s just that Qin Miao was wearing a helmet at this time. What others didn’t know was that Qin Miao had a smile on his face.

After all, this was a great opportunity for Qin Miao to leave no evidence and make Hamilton owe him a favor. There was no reason for him to miss it.

Back in the car, time quickly came to Q2.

The competition process of Q2 was the same as that of Q1. Qin Miao ran the first flying lap a little carelessly and his final result was 1:24.912.

This result is actually a bit unsafe, after all, the official FIA Q3 cut-off line is 1:25.100.

But neither the team nor Qin Miao wanted to continue running on the track.

It’s not that they don’t care, but it’s been almost a year, and everyone has a clearer understanding of the speed of other teams’ cars. The Mercedes team doesn’t think that Qin Miao will be eliminated with this result.

Moreover, it is not uncommon for Qin Miao's qualifying Q2 result to be worse than this, and he has never been eliminated this season, has he?

In the second flying lap of Q2, Qin Miao continued to help Hamilton pull the slipstream.

This time, Hamilton's speed on the straight in the second DRS zone had reached 2 kilometers per hour. He even managed to perform the long-awaited dolphin jump.

The result of Hamilton's flying lap was naturally very gratifying, 1:24.194.

Once again took first place.

While getting first place, Hamilton also had a trick up his sleeve.

Hamilton predicted that he could achieve this result even without Qin Miao pulling in the slipstream.

Of course, this result was obtained from the corners, but if Qin Miao had pulled the slipstream, he should have been able to get under 23 seconds per lap.

After Q2 ended, when the two returned to the team's P room, they learned that Qin Miao's improved slipstream tactics did increase Hamilton's tail speed by 5 kilometers per hour.

As for Zhou Guanyu, although his debut season in his professional career was not as impressive as that of his compatriot Qin Miao, Zhou Guanyu also delivered a satisfactory performance on the track that made everyone in the Arrow team very satisfied.

Although Zhou Guanyu once again stopped before the Q3 closing line in this competition and was eliminated in eleventh place.

Of course, this is the limit of Arrow racing, not Zhou Guanyu's limit.

Therefore, Zhou Guanyu was given the nickname Zhou Shiyilang by domestic car fans.

Of course, this title does not have much derogatory meaning, it is mostly neutral and positive.

After all, old car fans are very clear about what the Arrow team is like. Zhou Guanyu can drive a car that Kimi, who has never shown his personality, would even curse at, and he can get such a result. Domestic car fans are already very satisfied.

As time went by, Q3 began.

There will be no traffic problems in Q3 and Q1 in the Q2 stage. Drivers who advance to Q3 basically leave the team's P room in an orderly manner under the team's arrangement.

Qin Miao in Q3 could not slack off, and he would not slack off at the most important time of Q3. However, because he had agreed to the team's request before, Qin Miao helped Hamilton pull the wake on the first flying lap.

After the first flying lap, Hamilton's lap time came to 1:24.019.

Although he did not break the 23-second mark, Hamilton was satisfied with the result of his flying lap, at least it met his own expectations.

And this was only the first flying lap, the track conditions were not at their best.

If it was the second lap, with the results and feel of the first lap as a basis, Hamilton would be confident that he could directly break the 1 minute and 23 second mark.

On the other hand, Qin Miao had just come out of the maintenance area when he was helping Hamilton with the slipstream. After all, he couldn't delay his flying laps just to help Hamilton, right?

So after pulling the wake, Qin Miao also started his own flying circle.

During this process, when Qin Miao ran to the DRS zone between T7 and T9, Hamilton, who was doing a cooling lap, also happened to reach the DRS zone between T7 and T9.

This was definitely not arranged by the team, it can only be said to be a pure coincidence.

This is the advantage of the starting straight not being a DRS zone. The two drivers can help each other pull the slipstream without affecting their own qualifying.

Therefore, although this was not something that the Mercedes team had discussed in advance, after discovering that Qin Miao was approaching Hamilton at high speed from behind, the Mercedes team immediately reminded Hamilton through the team TR.

Hamilton agreed without hesitation after knowing that Qin Miao was behind him and that he could also help Qin Miao with the slipstream.

So after Qin Miao came out of turn T7, he found his teammate in front of him who was accelerating at the same pace as him.

I sighed. It's not my birthday or any particularly memorable anniversary. Why did these people give me a surprise?
However, Qin Miao did not waste the slipstream that his teammate helped to pull, and he kept a good rhythm when exiting the corner and caught up with Hamilton.

But after all, Hamilton's decision to help Qin Miao pull the slipstream was a bit hasty, and the position chosen by Hamilton was not very good.

So much so that Qin Miao caught up with Hamilton before reaching the braking point of T9.

Although the two did not communicate at this time, Qin Miao believed that Hamilton was always looking at the rearview mirror during the process.

So Qin Miao did not release his hand on the accelerator and continued to accelerate at full speed.

Hamilton did not disappoint Qin Miao's trust. When Qin Miao's car was about to hit Hamilton's car, Hamilton quickly turned to the left to avoid Qin Miao.

Therefore, even though Hamilton started the towing tactic a little late this time, the wake effect Hamilton gave to Qin Miao was not much different, and he used an extreme dodge to make up for the losses caused by the early mistakes.

Qin Miao did not make any mistakes in the several turns in the later period. After all, he was the world champion, and Qin Miao was very relaxed at that time. If he made mistakes under such circumstances, Qin Miao would not have won two world championships.

After completing this somewhat unexpected and surprising flying lap, Qin Miao's single lap time reached 1:24.055.

Qin Miao's result was a little slower than Hamilton's, but it was still a very good result, and he is currently ranked second. When Qin Miao returned to the team's P room to rest after the race, everyone in the team looked very relaxed.

The same was true for Qin Miao. Qin Miao even felt that he had just found the feeling. If he could go back to the track and run the last flying lap, even without Hamilton's help, he could still refresh his lap time.

The time interval between the first and second flying circles of Q3 was very short, so Qin Miao did not rest for too long before the last flying circle of Q3 began.

At Franky's command, Qin Miao drove his car out of the team's P room and started his last flying circle.

Before Qin Miao, Hamilton also left the team's P room.

In this last flying lap, the two were still pulling each other's slipstream on the track. This time, Qin Miao helped Hamilton first, and then Hamilton helped Qin Miao.

In fact, when helping his teammates to pull the slipstream, Qin Miao would suffer a little loss.

Although acceleration on a straight road causes little wear on the tires, it is an objective fact that tire wear occurs under this driving style.

However, with Qin Miao's ability to protect the fetus, this consumption is still within an acceptable range.

In the end, the two Mercedes drivers completed their flying laps one after another, and Hamilton's result successfully broke through 23 seconds, reaching 1:23.989.

Qin Miao's result also broke 23 seconds, reaching 1:23.990.

Compared with his teammate Hamilton, Qin Miao was only 0.001 second slower.

Many Qin Miao fans who pay close attention to F1 race data couldn't help but wonder after seeing Qin Miao's results, if Qin Miao had not helped Hamilton to pull the slipstream before the start of today's race, would Qin Miao have gotten the pole position with a lap time 0.001 second more than Hamilton?
That’s right, after achieving results that made the strategy teams and drivers of other teams feel helpless, Hamilton and Qin Miao have already come first and second in the rankings.

After completing this flying lap, Qin Miao started the return lap, while also closely monitoring the performance of other drivers who might threaten his position.

The first to cross the finish line was Perez.

Qin Miao dared to guarantee that Hamilton was now absolutely concentrating on Perez's performance.

Perez crossed the finish line with a time of 1:24.052.

Didn't make it to 23 seconds.

Qin Miao didn't feel surprised after seeing this.

Hamilton clenched his fist and said "yes" without opening the team TR.

But Hamilton's happiness did not last long, because behind Perez was Verstappen, and Verstappen was a little bit faster in this race.

After crossing the finish line, Verstappen's time was 1:23.824.

Faster than Qin Miao and Hamilton, this is the result Verstappen achieved without his teammates pulling him in the slipstream.

As expected, Verstappen took pole position in qualifying.

Hamilton and Qin Miao ranked second and third respectively.

However, after receiving this news, the two Mercedes drivers just felt a little regretful and did not feel very depressed.

After all, on the one hand, Qin Miao has already won the world championship, and he doesn't care so much about the result of the last game. Hamilton's main competitor in today's race is Perez. Although he will still pay attention to Verstappen's results, his attention will be limited.

Although the two drivers on the track said they were emotionally stable after seeing the results of today's qualifying session, everyone in the Mercedes team's P room was a little nervous.

If the Mercedes team wants to win the team championship again this year, they must have a driver who wins today's race during the race.

However, they lost the pole position in the qualifying round, which was not a good sign for the Mercedes team.

But now that things have come to this, Mercedes has no good solution.

Moreover, before the start of today's race, the Mercedes team's internal prediction for the fastest lap time in the qualifying phase would only be 1 minute 23 seconds.

Verstappen's result of 1 minute 23 seconds really convinced everyone in the Mercedes team.

Finally, the starting order for tomorrow's race is as follows:
1: Verstappen

2: Hamilton

3: Qin Miao

4: Perez
5: Leclerc

6: Sainz
7: Norris
8: O'Connell

9: Vettel
10: Ricardo
After the race, Qin Miao returned to the team's P room and held a post-race meeting with the team staff. He completed all his work for the day.

After today's qualifying round ended, Qin Miao did not review today's ranking in his lounge as usual.

Instead, he went directly to the team's P room and invited Jay Chou and others to visit the team's P room and the team's home. Afterwards, they had a meal together in the cafeteria of the team's home. Both hosts and guests were very happy, and Jay Chou and others left.

Qin Miao drove back to the hotel with Barber.

Silent all night.

The next day, Sunday, is the last game of the 2022 season.

It was also Vettel's retirement ceremony.

However, this event was not very grand. During the national anthem before the race, the drivers lined up in two rows to welcome the veteran and four-time champion Vettel.

It was such a simple ceremony, Vettel basically shook hands and hugged every driver.

This naturally includes Qin Miao.

To be honest, Qin Miao and Vettel are not very familiar with each other. They basically have no interactions in private, and they only chat for a few words when they meet at the pre-race press conference.

But the relationship between the two is good.

When Vettel and Qin Miao were hugging, Qin Miao heard Vettel say in his ear: "I am looking forward to your future performance, come on kid."

Although Qin Miao was very surprised, he nodded and responded: "Thank you, but just like my teammate Hamilton said in the pre-race interview this week, I also look forward to the day when you return to the track." (End of this chapter)