How did I become an F1 driver?

Qin Miao originally thought that Ben Sulayem would most likely look for him after the Japanese Grand Prix, but he didn't expect it to be delayed until now.

But since they had already agreed on it, there was no way Qin Miao would refuse.

So after saying hello to Barber, he went alone to find Ben Sulayem for the banquet.

In fact, the main demands of both parties in this meeting were completed as soon as they met.

Because when they met, Ben Sulayem greeted Qin Miao with a smile and then immediately admitted his mistake and apologized.

"Qin Miao, you know, the International Automobile Federation did not handle the driver's punishment properly. The regulations were not clear enough, so they made some unfair judgments against you. As the president of the FIA, I personally apologize to you. I'm sorry."

After saying this, the other party bowed to Qin Miao.

Although foreigners may not understand this, as soon as Ben Sulayem made any unusual movement, Qin Miao turned sideways and hurriedly helped him up.

"Understanding is the key. I know the FIA ​​is not God. As such a large organization, it is impossible for all people to have the same ideas and thoughts. There will always be some mistakes. As a driver, I know that we need to trust and support each other with the FIA ​​in order to go on for a long time."

After they finished speaking, both sides smiled at each other, and everything was said without words.

The two of them enjoyed the rest of the meal very much.

After all, the original conflict between the two has disappeared.

As a Saudi Arabian, Qatar is also half of Ben Sulayem's home ground, and the taste of the Arab kebab restaurant he chose also met Qin Miao's expectations.

The two did not talk about what was happening in the paddock during the meal. They just ate and drank normally, and then talked about other drivers and some things that happened in the paddock that Qin Miao didn't know about.

After both the guests and hosts had a great time, Qin Miao bid farewell to the FIA ​​President.

After this meal, Qin Miao reconciled with the FIA.

But Qin Miao is not going to stop his community service.

On the one hand, Qin Miao is a man of his words (except when he's with Leclerc and his gang of bastards, when he talks nonsense). On the other hand, he has been doing community service for so long, so a few more days won't make a difference.

As for Qin Miao and Lao Si's protests...

During the press conference on Thursday, Qin Miao and Leclerc appeared in the reporters' cameras.

Of course, the reporters were not surprised by this scene.

After all, during the award ceremony at the Japanese station, what Qin Miao and Ben Sulayem said when they hugged each other was translated to the majority of fans by fans who knew lip reading.

Although it was difficult to judge what Qin Miao said due to the angle, at least Ben Sulayem said he wanted to treat Qin Miao to a meal, and Qin Miao did not show any intention of refusing at that time.

But that was just speculation after all. After more than a week of waiting, car fans finally saw what they wanted to see.

After the interview began, the reporters immediately asked Qin Miao a question: "Qin Miao, have you reconciled with the FIA ​​now?"

Qin Miao looked at the curious reporters in the audience helplessly, picked up the microphone and said, "That's not right. I met with Ben Sulayem some time ago. During the meeting, Ben Sulayem and I exchanged opinions and suggestions on jointly promoting the sustainable development strategy in the F1 paddock. After that, we reached a consensus and decided to unswervingly implement the sustainable development path currently formulated by the FIA. In the future..."

Reporters:? ? ?
Of course, although Qin Miao spoke in an official tone directly at the press conference, the reporters on the scene were a little at a loss.

But at least they were able to extract some useful information from Qin Miao's nonsense.

As the reporters had guessed, Qin Miao had indeed reached a settlement with the FIA.

It is highly likely that Qin Miao and Ben Sulayem reached some agreement after that meal.

However, seeing that Qin Miao didn't want to say more, the reporters didn't continue to ask. After all, for them, knowing that Qin Miao had reached a settlement with the FIA ​​was enough for them to compile a lot of news material.

After the pre-race press conference, Qin Miao still walked the track.

After all, the last time I came to this track to race was two years ago.

Qin Miao didn't know whether there had been any changes to the asphalt shoulders and driving lanes of the track during this period.

Qin Miao simply touched the asphalt with his hand, felt the roughness of the asphalt, and found no change. He then began to focus his attention on the shoulder of the track.

After all, replacing things like asphalt is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive. Of course, the cost is nothing to the princes of the Middle East.

But it is very easy to replace the shoulder of the road.

Qin Miao's idea was not wrong, because the organizer of the track did replace the curb with a new one, and what surprised Qin Miao was that the new curb had a pretty good grip and was very smooth. During the race, the cars could press onto these curbs to gain more speed.

Of course, while walking on the track, Qin Miao also discovered a problem.

Although it is already October, the local temperature is still very high.

Logically speaking, Qatar’s latitude is the same as that of Guangzhou in China, and the climate should be the same as well.

Although the local temperature in Qatar cannot be said to be cool, it is definitely not too hot.

However, the actual local temperature in Qatar was as high as 35 degrees, and Qin Miao was sweating just by walking around the track.

Of course, the organizers of the Qatar Grand Prix also took into account the local climate. The main race was held at night, which is naturally much cooler than during the day.

Besides that, this Grand Prix weekend is a sprint race weekend.

So after finishing the race, Qin Miao immediately returned to the team’s home and started practicing.

Soon it was Friday.

First practice and qualifying phase.

Because this Grand Prix is ​​a sprint race weekend, the Mercedes team did not give Qin Miao much time to tune the car. Qin Miao slightly optimized the tuning of his car based on his simulator tuning.

In fact, Qin Miao himself had no idea how the training would go after it was completed.

Nowadays, on Grand Prix weekends, Qin Miao and other drivers feel like they are opening a blind box as soon as they reach the sprint race.

Because there is only one practice session, you have no idea whether the settings you find in this practice session are the best settings for your car on this track. You also have to find an opportunity to verify whether your judgment is correct during qualifying or sprint qualifying.

Soon, it was time for qualifying.

It was not evening when the qualifying session just started, and it was not completely dark yet.

The qualifying and race of the Qatar Grand Prix, like other Grand Prix held in the Middle East, started before dark, and then the sky gradually darkened during the race, and finally became completely dark. At the beginning of the qualifying, Qin Miao and the old man used old neutral tires.

It's not that the two of them were performing for Mercedes fans on the track, it's simply that the environment in Qatar is too harsh.

Although there was a warm-up race between the practice and qualifying sessions, the local sandstorm in Qatar was really too strong. I didn't go to the track for just over an hour, and when I came back, I saw that the originally clean driving lines on the track had been covered with a layer of yellow sand.

Therefore, Qin Miao and the old man used old neutral tires to run a long-distance test and cleaned the track by the way.

What else can you do? Do your first flying lap on a track full of yellow sand? But even if you really do it on a dirty track, you won't get a very good result, and you will waste a set of soft tires.

Under Qin Miao's personal example, Mercedes-Benz has somewhat started a frugal trend, and tires will not be wasted if it is possible.

By the time of the second flying circle, the two of them, one in third place and the other in ninth place, easily advanced to Q2.

As for who is third and who is ninth? Is there any need to guess?

In Q1, because the mid- and lower-tier teams were laying the foundation, the weaknesses of the major teams due to their unfamiliarity with the track were not exposed.

However, when the race reached Q2, these weaknesses gradually became apparent, and drivers who should have easily advanced to Q3 were eliminated one after another in Q2.

For example, Sainz and Perez.

This problem occurred because these two people were not familiar with the racing track.

I guess it’s because I didn’t find the right track for tuning.

The two Mercedes drivers were fourth and sixth.

The two of them are always so thrilling and yet so stable.

Then Q3.

The customer teams that had been timid in qualifying finally showed their fangs in Q3.

In the last flying lap of Q3, Piastri and Norris squeezed out two-time world champion Qin Miao and seven-time world champion Hamilton and moved up to second and third place.

Just when Qin Miao and the old man had already accepted the result and had no choice but to admit that the McLaren car was better than the W14 on this track with more medium and high-speed turns.

The FIA ​​disqualified the results of the two McLaren drivers because they both exceeded the track limits on their final flying lap.
Qin Miao and the old man dramatically became the second and third.

While the two McLaren drivers were still being interviewed, Qin Miao and the old man were brought in front of the camera.

Piastri was informed halfway through the interview that his score was cancelled, and he left the interview camera in embarrassment.

As mentioned before, the kerbs on this Grand Prix weekend are accessible.
But this also poses certain hidden dangers, because due to insufficient practice time and frequency, you don't know which corners you can push to the limit, and which corners you push to the limit too much and easily slide off the track.

This can be considered as a traditional skill of the princes in the Middle East, they love to show off.

After watching several races, the princes all agreed that the sprint race could attract more fans and spectators, so the first official race of the Qatar Grand Prix did not choose to use the more stable conventional Grand Prix competition method, but started with a sprint race.

Naturally, some F1 drivers who do not have outstanding learning abilities will not have a full understanding of this track in such a short time.

Under such circumstances, accidents are more likely to occur when racing on the track.

It was also because of these accidents that the embarrassing scenes in the broadcast footage were created.

Qin Miao and the old man went on stage in a daze and got second and third place.

When they heard the news, Qin Miao and the old man looked at each other in bewilderment, but a higher ranking was a good thing anyway, so after being confused for a while, they felt relieved.

Accepted it all with a smile.

The rankings for this qualifying match are as follows:

1: Max Verstappen (1:23.778)

2: Qin Miao

3: Hamilton

4: Alonso
5: Leclerc

6: Piastri
7: Gasly
8: O'Connell

9: Bottas
10: Norris
From the rankings in the qualifying stage of this race, it can be seen that being able to get a good ranking even with insufficient preparation depends not only on the performance of the car, but more on the driver's own racing experience and driving ability.

Not to mention the top three, these three have the potential to be world champions. As long as you give them a competitive racing car, they can give you a world championship in return.

The main thing to look at is the leader. The fact that he can beat the fourth one in this game is the best proof.

However, in the race stage, after a sprint qualifying and sprint race familiarization, other drivers will definitely gradually master the skills of this track. By then, Qin Miao dare not imagine how many times the Aston Martin, whose car will no longer be competitive, will be overtaken on the track.

However, the main races are on Sunday, so what Qin Miao and his team need to consider next is the sprint qualifying and sprint race on Saturday.

After a qualifying race, Qin Miao also discovered some minor problems with this tuning when driving at the limit. Before curfew, Qin Miao re-optimized the tuning settings he was currently using and planned to use them in tomorrow's race.

The next day, Saturday, was the sprint qualifying and sprint race.

During the sprint qualifying stage, both Qin Miao and the old man reached SQ3 very smoothly.

But in a competition, there are always some unexpected things happening on the track, and even someone as stable as Qin Miao is no exception.

In the first flying lap of SQ3, Qin Miao's first and second timing segments were both purple, but the third segment was a little too wide at T1. Although Qin Miao controlled the car back, because he pushed too hastily, all four wheels of Qin Miao went out of the white line.

As a result, Qin Miao’s results were directly cancelled.

If it were a novice like Ye Yifei, he would definitely be a little nervous after the result of the first flying lap was cancelled. In serious cases, it might even affect his mentality in the next competition, leading to poor performance.

But an old veteran like Qin Miao doesn't have such worries. After the first flying circle ended and he returned to the team's P room, Qin Miao could even chat and laugh with Franky and the others in the team's TR.

In the last flying circle, Qin Miao also proved to the world why Ferrari would spend such a huge price to poach him.

Qin Miao directly reached the third purple stage, running more aggressively than his first flying lap, but he did not make any mistakes and finally successfully reached the pole position. (End of this chapter)