Chapter 1283 - 482: The Unlucky Ones (Part 2)
After the post-race interview ended, Qin Miao walked to the podium’s rest area at the Interlagos Circuit of the Brazilian Grand Prix with his helmet and hat amidst the cheers of the on-site audience.
Watching Qin Miao walk away amidst the cheering, the slightly calmed-down Three commentators from Five-Star Sports sat back in their seats.
Looking at Qin Miao’s back, Bing couldn’t help but sigh, "I remember it was in 2019 when I found out through Weibo that there was another Chinese driver in F2. At that time, I wasn’t really paying attention to Qin Miao. I watched F2 mainly for Zhou Guanyu, but Qin Miao conquered me completely on his first day of racing, and since then, I’ve been hooked.
After all, seeing your country’s driver compete against those young talented drivers on the track and have a single lap advantage of over 0.4 seconds is indeed something to be happy about.
Back then, I thought Qin Miao was an absolute genius, and entering F1 was just a matter of time."
At this point, Bing exhaled heavily, "But back then, I couldn’t imagine that Qin Miao would enter F1 and win two world championships in two years. The second world championship was won even when the Mercedes team’s competitiveness had substantially declined. It was then that I realized I had been underestimating him since I first got to know Qin Miao."
Fei consoled, "There’s nothing you could do about it. Before Qin Miao appeared, could you have imagined that one day a Chinese F1 driver would emerge and display such extraordinary talent, contending fiercely with top drivers in his first year in F1? Many drivers even despised his defensive skills. If someone had told you this, who would have believed it?"
...
On the track, after Qin Miao returned to the team’s pit room, he saw his teammate and Verstappen watching the replay on the screen in the lounge.
Qin Miao also leaned over for a look; it was precisely the incident between Leclerc and Norris.
Seeing Leclerc, Qin Miao clicked his tongue, thinking that Si really has bad luck to encounter such an incident.
Although Leclerc is indeed handsome and talented, his team choices are questionable, and his luck is rated E.
Shaking his head, Qin Miao went to tidy up his own things.
Later, reminded by the on-site staff, Qin Miao went to a private room, where there was a single sofa covered with a red velvet carpet.
The edge of the sofa was embroidered with a gold trim.
Clearly, this is the spot reserved exclusively for the world champion driver each season.
Under the staff’s guidance, Qin Miao put on his champion hat and sat in this designated spot.
To be honest, sitting on this sofa didn’t feel much different from last season.
Moreover, this place is merely symbolic.
After sitting for a while, shooting a video and a few photos, and watching the clips prepared for him on the screen to the right, this segment of the post-race routine ended.
Soon, Qin Miao came out of the room and joined Hamilton and the others on the post-race podium.
Next up was naturally the post-race ceremony.
When Qin Miao came out from the back lounge, he saw the podium area filled with spectators jumping and cheering for him, genuinely overjoyed.
As Qin Miao walked to the second-place podium position, he waved to them.
Soon, today’s race winner, Verstappen, walked out from backstage.
Although Verstappen wore his signature smile at this moment, Qin Miao strongly felt that Panzi was still quite disappointed inside.
However, Qin Miao didn’t focus too much on Panzi’s state, as soon the organizers began the post-race procedures.
The Dutch national anthem soon echoed through the venue.
Honestly, never in any Grand Prix has Qin Miao found the Dutch national anthem so melodious and familiar.
After the anthem segment ended, Qin Miao and the others took turns receiving their trophies.
Since the Brazilian Grand Prix is sponsored by Heineken, the post-race trophy was shaped like a Heineken star.
Subsequently, local Brazilian officials came to present the awards, and after receiving his trophy, it was time to spray champagne in celebration.
At this moment, the four people on the podium were clearly divided into two groups.
On one side were Qin Miao and Hamilton, the two Mercedes drivers, celebrating together; on the other side were Verstappen and his track engineer celebrating together.
After the celebration, the other three departed, while Qin Miao, being the world champion today, still had a special post-race interview to attend.
This was an exclusive interview reserved for the world champion, and the interviewer remained unchanged, though the venue shifted to above the podium.
This interview mainly focused on Qin Miao’s future plans and next season’s outlook. Qin Miao’s answers were still standard, but infused with more emotion.
After the post-race interview, he thanked the audience for coming to watch the race, marking the conclusion of Qin Miao’s race today.
When Qin Miao was about to leave, someone at the scene, unknown first, started chanting Qin Miao’s name with a noticeable rhythm.
This chant seemed to spread contagiously, and soon all the spectators were rhythmically calling out Qin Miao’s name.
Having stayed in the circuit for so long, Qin Miao’s name was pronounced accurately by many foreign spectators without a noticeable accent.
Therefore, the audience’s chant didn’t appear awkward at all.
At this moment, Qin Miao was truly grateful for the support of Brazilian fans, and at the same time, he looked forward even more to the Chinese Grand Prix.
Unfortunately, now the FIA has confirmed the Chinese Grand Prix’s cancellation for the next season.
The good news is that due to the absence of the Chinese Grand Prix, there’s a direct one-month break between April and May.
FIA hastily moved the Azerbaijan Grand Prix up by a week to reduce the long one-month break to three weeks.
Coincidentally, that period is likely to be Qimeng’s due date, so Qin Miao can go home to accompany his wife during childbirth.
Nevertheless, with the race progressing to this point, the Brazilian Grand Prix has officially ended, and both Qin Miao and the Mercedes team achieved their desired results.
After the race, the director, as usual, displayed the driver rankings and scores following the conclusion of this race.
P1: Verstappen +26 (fastest lap)
P2: Qin Miao +18
P3: Hamilton +15
P4: Sainz +12
P5: Leclerc +10
P6: Alonso +8
P7: Perez +6
P8: O’Kang +4
P9: Bottas +2
P10: Stroll +1
It is worth mentioning that Zhou Guanyu, in today’s race, made it from the back of the track to 11th place, but after reaching 11th, there wasn’t enough time or pace for Zhou Guanyu to continue attacking Stroll ahead.
Sometimes Qin Miao also feels that Zhou Guanyu is like a weaker clone of Leclerc, the difference being Zhou Guanyu never got a chance at Ferrari, while the similarity lies in both being equally unlucky, often trapped in pits dug by their teams.
Verstappen clinched the race victory and secured the fastest lap in the late race with soft tires. Nevertheless, this fastest lap point seems rather trivial.
This point plays no role in determining the ultimate world champion but instead requires Verstappen to pay the FIA extra money.