How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

But after noticing that Qin Miao’s starting speed was much faster than his own, Zhou Guanyu realized that he couldn’t hold Qin Miao on this starting straight of the track.

This guy is just too fast.

Since he couldn’t maintain his current position, he might as well do a favor and let Qin Miao go, considering it a gift for teaching his future protégé.

As for whether it’s appropriate to give this gift to his birth father... that’s not important. In any case, Zhou only knew that on the track, Qin Miao owed him a favor.

Other drivers starting in the back or mid-pack had to brake or lift off the throttle to avoid cars in front at the start stage.

However, because of Zhou Guanyu’s indulgence, Qin Miao didn’t even touch the brake pedal from the start all the way to the T1 braking point in today’s race.

And it’s important to know that T1 is a right turn, and Qin Miao, on the inside, naturally had an advantage in such a corner.

However, Qin Miao didn’t adopt late braking to forcefully grab the position in T1.

On one hand, entering the corner, Alonso and O’Kang were side by side with him.

In a three-wide situation, late braking still carries risks.

And the Frenchman indeed had some deep knowledge and talent in infighting, so Qin Miao feared that playing with late braking here might easily get him involved in a scuffle between the two.

Another point is that the start straight of the Rodriguez track is particularly long, and during this process, Qin Miao didn’t have enough corners to heat his tires, so besides the rear wheels providing power, Qin Miao’s two front wheels didn’t have much temperature or grip.

Also, because the race just started, the brake pads on all four of Qin Miao’s tires hadn’t reached the optimal working temperature.

If Qin Miao didn’t want to go off-track, he had to brake honestly at the most suitable position.

So throughout the starting phase, Qin Miao only moved up two positions thanks to Zhou Guanyu’s generosity.

Just like Qin Miao thought at the start of the race: Ricardo?

What kind of small fry is he?

After the start, Zhou Guanyu looked at Qin Miao appearing in front of him, feeling relatively calm, but on the other side, Ricardo... he almost lost his composure.

Usually cheerful and sunny, Ricardo couldn’t even muster a smile this time, and directly complained on the team radio: "Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu make perfect ’teammates,’ they’re so in sync."

Besides Ricardo and the Australian spectators, the domestic fans were thrilled to see this scene.

"Qin Miao with a beautiful start, Zhou Guanyu even made room for Qin Miao, although such behavior is not encouraged in the race, he accomplished Qin Miao! Qin Miao started twelfth and moved up to tenth; Qin Miao has to treat Zhou Guanyu to a meal after this race no matter what!"

"Honestly, before this race started, I was really looking forward to seeing the battle between Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu on the track," Zhou Haoran said regrettably.

Bing smiled and said, "Even if Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu fought on track, it would only be a matter of time before Qin Miao overtook Zhou Guanyu due to the speed of Qin Miao’s car. Letting Qin Miao pass reduces tire wear for himself and accomplishes Qin Miao as well; Zhou Guanyu’s choice is not problematic."

Aside from Qin Miao, among the championship-contending drivers, Verstappen made no mistakes at the start. Hamilton’s start was as good as Verstappen’s, but Verstappen didn’t give Hamilton any chance to attack, firmly holding his position.

Seeing that his attack after the start was fruitless, Hamilton shifted his main focus to Perez behind him, so the top three positions remained unchanged at the start phase.

The race in the subsequent laps was relatively calm, and this calmness continued until DRS activation.