How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Qin Miao looked at the Red Bull racing car in front of him, truly grinding his teeth with hatred.

Damn it, he had been a bit careless in this race.

After all, in the four races this season, Qin Miao hadn’t been overtaken by anyone on the track. Verstappen had been defended so miserably, and since Qin Miao’s defensive ability is acknowledged as the strongest in the paddock, he had become somewhat inflated.

Seeing Verstappen catching up behind him but not launching an attack, Qin Miao subconsciously thought Verstappen knew the strength gap between them and had given up attacking him in this race.

Damn it, who would’ve thought this guy was saving up electricity! He hadn’t done this before!

"Oh, Qin Miao didn’t defend against Verstappen!" Bing saw Qin Miao get overtaken and visibly felt a bit dejected.

However, Zhou Haoran explained: "At the spot where Verstappen overtook, even if Qin Miao took the inside line, he couldn’t defend it. Red Bull’s tail speed is too fast after opening DRS this season, and Verstappen was using medium tires. It’s normal that Qin Miao couldn’t defend, especially since he was using a set of old hard tires."

"It’s indeed a bit regretful. If the Miami Circuit didn’t have that long straight between T16 and T17, Qin Miao might have been able to withstand the pressure brought by Verstappen."

Not only the three commentators from Five-Star Sports thought so, but even the strategy team in the Mercedes pits believed that after Verstappen’s overtake, Qin Miao’s chances of competing for the championship in this race were zero.

But Qin Miao himself hadn’t given up yet.

After all, there were still 9 laps to go until the end of the race.

Verstappen’s set of medium tires wouldn’t face much trouble running the remaining 9 laps under light fuel conditions, but in the later stages of the race, the durability issue of medium tires compared to hard tires would certainly show, inevitably slowing down Verstappen’s speed.

By then, there was a significant chance for him to catch up to Verstappen and put pressure on him.

Maybe even overtake him.

Don’t say it; really don’t say it.

Qin Miao’s judgment was indeed correct.

By lap 50, the speed difference between Qin Miao and Verstappen started to noticeably shrink.

After overtaking Qin Miao, Verstappen pulled away at a rate of 0.5 seconds per lap, but after three laps on lap 51, Verstappen only pulled away by 0.3 seconds.

The time gap between them was 1.9 seconds.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

By lap 53, there was no longer a speed difference between the two.

In this lap, both posted a lap time of 1:30.889.

At this point, the time gap between Qin Miao and Verstappen stayed fixed at 2.2 seconds.

2.2 seconds with the race still having four laps to go.

Qin Miao really had a chance to overtake Verstappen.

Though the chances were very slim, it wasn’t completely impossible.

However, Qin Miao instead sighed, feeling it was unlikely he could overtake Verstappen.

Of course, Qin Miao’s tires had enough margin, and his battery still had 40% remaining, maintaining the capability to attack Verstappen. So unless the finish line was upon them, Qin Miao would continue trying to attack Verstappen.

But by lap 54, Qin Miao only caught up to Verstappen by 0.2 seconds.

In the next three laps, Qin Miao only chased into the DRS zone behind Verstappen without applying any substantial pressure at the last moments.

Facts proved that even though Verstappen’s tire grip decreased faster than Qin Miao’s, Red Bull’s performance advantage was undeniable, not something Qin Miao could easily exploit.

Finally, amidst the celebratory shouts from the Red Bull pits, Verstappen crossed the finish line first, closely followed by Qin Miao, who finished second.

For the audience on site and fans who only look at the race results without understanding the complex reasons and processes, this race seemed like Qin Miao failing to defend against Verstappen’s final stage attack. Despite a chase in the latter stages, it was too late, resulting in a missed chance for the championship.

Thus, after the race ended, many Mercedes fans on the internet began their reckoning against Qin Miao.

They didn’t care that he was a two-time world champion, nor about the vast differences in car performance in this race.

In their eyes, Qin Miao didn’t show any defensive maneuvers on the track, simply letting Verstappen overtake him.

He became the greatest sinner.

Then they directly vented their anger on Qin Miao’s social media accounts.

But it’s no big deal; after all, Qin Miao doesn’t look at them.

Of course, there were still some seasoned viewers who watched races closely and used F1TV to view driver telemetry data, realizing Qin Miao’s runner-up position was actually due to circumstances beyond his control.

After all, it was clear to everyone that Qin Miao’s lap times were consistently stable on the track, never showing significant drop-offs, and when Verstappen caught up, Qin Miao’s lap speeds even increased slightly.

But from start to finish, Verstappen’s lap times were over 0.3 seconds faster than Qin Miao’s.

Thus, the loss in this race couldn’t be blamed on Qin Miao.

Though Mercedes’ car performance this season was robust enough to rank second among the 10 teams in the paddock, it was still second, with a noticeable gap to the top-performing Red Bull.