How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Although the ostracism and suppression never came to the surface, behind the scenes it was everywhere.

It’s like, if you don’t know how to play palace politics, then inside Ferrari’s junior program you basically can’t go very far.

In that sense they’re even a bit like the French.

The one who feels this most deeply is actually Qin Miao, who spent the shortest time at Ferrari; the only difference from Zhou Guanyu is that Qin Miao has the system, so his personal ability stands out just that little bit more.

He can completely ignore all that suppression and ostracism; you could even say Qin Miao used his own ability to squeeze out everyone in Ferrari’s junior program, and in the end he squeezed out Ferrari itself.

Quite a few Iron Buddha Temple fans are still hung up on Qin Miao leaving.

And as for Ferrari letting Qin Miao go, Toto has always been deeply grateful to Ferrari for that.

"What’s done is done, there’s no point brooding over it. I just hope that after Bi gets taken down he can end up somewhere good." Qin Miao said.

Zhou Guanyu asked curiously, "I remember you and Binotto had a pretty good relationship. Back then it seemed like he was the one who pushed the hardest to get you into Ferrari. Now that Binotto’s left, doesn’t your Mercedes team have any thoughts about this big gun on the engine design side?"

Qin Miao scratched his head. "How would I know? The team never told me to go reach out to Bi or anything. And as a team principal, Bi has a garden leave clause—at least within a year there’s no way he can work for another F1 team."

"True." Zhou Guanyu nodded, and talking about departures made him fold his arms behind his head and flop straight down on the sofa in Qin Miao’s lounge. A bit sentimental, he said, "Next year a lot of people won’t be around anymore~"

Qin Miao smacked Zhou Guanyu’s feet away. "Take your damn shoes off."

"Oh, oh."

Then Qin Miao shook his head and said, "If you’re not strong enough, there’s nothing you can do. Even if your background reaches the heavens and your elders have piled up a mountain of favors, it’s useless. F1 isn’t a favor-based society, it’s a commercial alliance. No matter how big your elders’ favors are, there’s always a day they’re used up."

"By the way, Mercedes seems to have signed Mick, right?" Zhou Guanyu asked curiously.

"Yeah." Qin Miao nodded and explained, "Dove went to AlphaTauri, right? Once Dove left, the team didn’t have a suitable, experienced test driver anymore. And Mick had just been booted out, so they signed him up."

Zhou Guanyu shook his head in admiration. "As expected of Mercedes, even their test driver has to be an F1 racer. Loaded as hell."

Qin Miao spread his hands. "It’s more because Michael Schumacher served at Mercedes for a while. Toto and his side still have some ties, so when he saw Mick out of a job—and we just happened to need a test driver—he just casually called him over, I guess."

At this point Qin Miao paused for a moment, then said, "Honestly, Mick’s personality isn’t really suited to the current F1 paddock. His ability is pretty average to begin with, maybe even a bit weaker than you. Add in that soft personality, doesn’t fight, doesn’t grab—he’s way too easy to get rolled in F1."

"Zhou Guanyu asked with some confusion, ’Are you really that familiar with him? You know him this well?’"

Qin Miao rolled his eyes speechlessly. "When I was in F2 he was my teammate."

A brief look of shock flashed across Zhou Guanyu’s face, then he suddenly slapped his forehead. "Damn, how did I forget that!"

Then Zhou Guanyu went on the offensive first. "I feel like that’s on you. Back in F2 you were way too dazzling. You could say every eye in the F2 paddock was locked onto you. Who the hell was paying attention to who your teammate was!"

"Don’t act all modest after taking the win." Qin Miao gave Zhou Guanyu a sidelong look. "Back then in the whole F2 season only two people ever took race wins. One was me, the other was you. The entire 2020 season, there wasn’t a single other country’s anthem played on the F2 top step."

Zhou Guanyu mimicked Qin Miao and spread his hands. "The trophies aren’t in my hands. How are you going to prove I ever won?"

Qin Miao: "..."

As for the driver replacing Mick Schumacher in the Haas seat, that’s not hard to guess—it’s another driver coming back to work after retirement, the German driver Hockenheim, a.k.a. the Hulk, king of super subs, strongest stand‑in in history.

After all, in the few races he’s subbed in, he helped the respective teams score points; his results are even better than De Vries’s.

Shows this veteran from the ’85 generation has kept himself in great shape all along.

The question is whether Vettel, who’s set to retire after this week’s race, will have any chance of returning to the track.

Forget the fans—even Qin Miao really hopes the four‑time champ will have a day when he comes back.

The two just kept chatting like that. Somehow, when these two get together they always have something to talk about, never get distracted by other stuff, and can instantly spin off into new topics from whatever they’re on.

Once they’d talked their fill, it was already mealtime.

After that, Zhou Guanyu righteously freeloaded a meal at the Mercedes canteen, then left the Mercedes team cafeteria feeling both satisfied and a bit miserable.

Satisfied because the food really was good today; miserable because the food Mercedes prepared for Qin Miao was basically pure high sugar and high calories.

So to make sure he doesn’t go over the weight limit in tomorrow’s practice, Zhou Guanyu will definitely have to put in an extra training session tonight after he gets back.

And extra training is painful for every F1 driver.

Qin Miao, on the other hand, had absolutely no such worries. Back at the hotel he took a shower, video‑called his wife for a bit, then went to sleep.

The next day, even though his afternoon practice session would be driven by the team’s young driver Antonelli, Qin Miao still had plenty of commercial commitments, so his Friday wake‑up time was the same as usual.

Once he got to the paddock, Qin Miao started getting busy, but when FP1 rolled around he was off the hook.

Originally that slot was reserved for Qin Miao to run practice, and since that time was freed up today the team didn’t schedule anything else for him. Which suited Qin Miao just fine.

As for Yas Marina, Qin Miao’s pretty familiar with it. He raced here last year, and it was already the modified layout.

Qin Miao really likes this track, not just because it’s where he took the first world title of his career, but also because over 75% of the lap is spent at full throttle. It’s a very comfortable circuit to drive.

Pretty much every driver loves tracks that flow smoothly and don’t have a bunch of slow corners.

Monte Carlo: ???

Thanks to the system, Qin Miao’s understanding of this track is also extremely deep. More importantly, he’s already wrapped up the world championship this season, so he’s gotten a bit lazy.

I’ve been racing all year—can’t I enjoy myself a little?

Strike up the band, keep the dance going!

So during FP1, Qin Miao spent over an hour in the team lounge playing on his PC.

Still Civilization. To be fair, this game is seriously addictive—once you start you just can’t stop.

But after all, Qin Miao is here to work, not to game, and before long it was time for FP2 in the evening.

In FP1, Antonelli did manage to gather some useful data for the team, but as an F2 driver his unfamiliarity with F1 machinery is an objective fact. So his practice run was mainly about getting used to the F1 car, padding his F1 mileage; the data he collected was quite limited.

But with Qin Miao’s ability, a single FP2 session was enough for him to tick off all the tasks he needed to complete, and with five minutes still left on the clock he’d already locked in the setup he’d use for tomorrow’s qualifying.

Honestly, this speed left Antonelli—who was standing next to Toto watching after FP1—completely dumbfounded.

Is this what world champion ability looks like? When he drove Qin Miao’s car, it felt like he was sitting in an ultra‑sensitive beast—one wrong move and the car would snap, he had to be utterly focused, one mistake and it might spin.

But why does the car turn into a docile kitty in Qin Miao’s hands, letting him knead it round or flatten it as he likes, gentle as anything?

Not only did he collect all the data the team needed in a single practice session, he even nailed down his setup?

What kind of monster is this supposed to be?