How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Zhou Haoran said, "After Qin Miao comes out of the pit this time, he should be about three seconds ahead of Verstappen."

"That’s right, Qin Miao has a large margin at this moment, and I believe that with such a generous amount of time, the Mercedes tire change crew will feel much less pressure, and the likelihood of a tire change error is greatly reduced," Bing said with a smile.

The three commentators from Five-Star Sports were full of confidence at this time, frantically praising Qin Miao in the studio.

However, one of the main characters of today’s race, Qin Miao, was actually somewhat nervous inside. It’s not a matter of distrust; it’s just the final crucial moment, and Qin Miao couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious.

So when Qin Miao drove his car into the pit and activated the speed limiter, he said over the team radio, "Guys, I’ve fought hard for this time, don’t stress too much about the tire change, I trust you."

After Qin Miao finished speaking, he reached the pit crew’s tire change area.

Countless practices have made Qin Miao overly familiar with this position, and he easily and accurately parked his car in the most ideal spot.

Although he verbally reassured the tire changers not to feel too pressured, Qin Miao parked in the most familiar, habitual, and comfortable tire change spot for the pit crew.

Before Qin Miao’s car even came to a complete stop, the front and rear jack technicians already had their jacks set under Qin Miao’s race car.

As soon as Qin Miao’s car came to a complete stop, the next moment, the car was lifted on the spot.

Instantly, the sound of the tire change air guns erupted.

Four severely worn soft tires were removed, and four brand-new, even reflective medium tires were mounted on the race car.

Tightening the bolts, the four tire changers almost simultaneously raised their air guns to indicate the tires were secured.

Then Qin Miao’s car was lowered, and the front and rear jack technicians immediately withdrew, completing the tire change flawlessly.

From the moment Qin Miao entered the pit area, the live director had the camera fixed on Qin Miao.

After all, Qin Miao is the defending champion of this season, and everyone is well aware of how crucial this tire change is.

Almost the moment Qin Miao’s car was lowered, the bottom right corner displayed the time used for the tire change: 2.1 seconds.

This should be considered one of the best tire changes by the Mercedes team this season.

"Beautiful!" After this tire change was completed, the three commentators from Five-Star Sports, who had been eagerly waiting, immediately clenched their fists and cheered.

Fei and Bing, seeing this scene, stood up and cheered even more loudly.

It’s hard to imagine such passionate cheers coming from three people whose average age has already reached 38.

"Well done, guys!" As Qin Miao was released from the pit, he couldn’t forget to thank the pit crew over the team radio as he accelerated out of the pit position.

The pit crew, naturally satisfied with the speed of this tire change, began celebrating with smiles after Qin Miao’s car drove away.

Then Qin Miao returned to the track, and at that time, Verstappen was 3.3 seconds behind Qin Miao.

Seeing Qin Miao appearing at what could be considered the edge of his vision, only visible at the end of the straightaway, Verstappen felt a bit desperate.

At this moment, Verstappen even considered giving up the fight for the world championship with Qin Miao, especially considering he couldn’t even meet the conditions to win the race at the moment.

In the time that followed, the only thing that gave Verstappen a bit of solace was that Qin Miao’s lap times weren’t faster than his own.

That’s right, during the race phase, the lap times of the Mercedes cars were slower than those of the Red Bull team on the Interlagos track in Brazil.

It wasn’t apparent earlier in the race, mainly because Verstappen and Hamilton were entangled.

It’s just that the Mercedes cars weren’t much slower, about 0.2 seconds per lap.

The main reason is the car’s design and its adaptability to the track, causing the performance gap between the two cars.

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact disadvantages of the Red Bull car since that’s their trade secret, and they wouldn’t share it with Qin Miao, but the DRS efficiency of the Red Bull car is indeed uniquely high.

It’s even fair to say the DRS efficiency of the Red Bull car is higher than that of Mercedes’s W13B.

The reason the W13B is fast on the straights is because its overall drag is less than that of the Red Bull car, and with the DRS open, of course, it’s even more powerful.

And so, on particular circuits, like today’s track, starting from T13, Qin Miao and Hamilton’s car tires begin to cool down.

Ultimately, by the time they reach the T1 braking point, the tires are often out of their optimal working temperature.

This 0.2 second time difference is mainly apparent in the first sector’s three consecutive corners.

That’s why Verstappen could continually narrow the time gap with Qin Miao on the track.

It’s just that the rate was slow.

But for Verstappen, he couldn’t be more satisfied with the closing rate between him and Qin Miao.

Now Verstappen no longer considers the possibility of a world championship; he just wants to win this race. In simple terms, Verstappen knows he’s bound to lose, but even in losing, he wants to do so while standing tall.

Yet, now, all Verstappen can think about is catching up to Qin Miao, completely ignoring the Hamilton lurking behind him, constantly watching with eager eyes.

Not to mention, even if Verstappen catches up to Qin Miao, how he would overtake Qin Miao, with his defense as formidable as the proverbial "Wall of Despair"...

In the subsequent race, the positions of the four front runners remained relatively stable.

Despite the noticeable gap reduction between Verstappen and Qin Miao, no one could complete an overtake on the track.

Instead, the mid-pack drivers were frequently swapping positions.

However, what disappointed both domestic fans and Alfa Romeo fans was that Zhou Guanyu’s performance was noticeably off today. While his teammate Bottas moved up to the fifth position, Zhou Guanyu lingered around 15th place.

This starkly contrasted with his excellent performances towards the end of the season.

When some expressed dissatisfaction with Zhou Guanyu’s lackluster performance, they overlooked one fact: Zhou Guanyu is essentially still just a rookie driver in his first year. On tracks where he raced F2, he showed impressive competitiveness, but at Interlagos, which Zhou Guanyu had never raced on before, combined with the challenge of a sprint race, his naturally slow start and the limitation of just two practice sessions were fully exposed. Unfamiliarity with the track made slow times almost inevitable.

Nevertheless, the abilities and speed Zhou Guanyu displayed throughout the season also proved his value to the Alfa Romeo team.

So, a quiet performance in one race wouldn’t affect Zhou Guanyu’s position within the Alfa Romeo team.

On lap 44, after several failed attempts to overtake Verstappen, Hamilton finally tried the overtaking tactics often used by Verstappen and Qin Miao, charging his car’s battery to over 80% and then using it all in one go on a long straightaway.

Finally, on lap 44, Hamilton completed his overtake on Verstappen.

The ambitious Verstappen, overtaken by Hamilton, instead became calm, yet whether it was an illusion or not, Verstappen felt a tingling on his scalp, as if he had missed something very important to him forever.

However, Verstappen didn’t give up on the race; he continued to push hard and found himself back in Hamilton’s DRS zone on the next lap.