How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Therefore, although it wasn’t pre-discussed within the Mercedes team, after realizing Qin Miao was rapidly approaching behind Hamilton, the Mercedes team immediately informed Hamilton via team TR.

Hamilton, knowing Qin Miao was behind him and that he could help Qin Miao by giving him some slipstream, agreed without hesitation.

Hence, right after T7’s exit, Qin Miao noticed his teammate ahead accelerating at the same pace as himself.

He clicked his tongue, thinking it wasn’t his birthday or any particularly memorable anniversary, so why were they giving him such a surprise?

Nevertheless, Qin Miao didn’t waste the slipstream his teammate was providing and kept in a great exit rhythm, sticking closely to Hamilton.

However, since Hamilton’s decision to give Qin Miao a slipstream was somewhat hasty, the position Hamilton chose wasn’t optimal.

As a result, Qin Miao caught up with Hamilton before reaching the braking zone at T9.

Although they weren’t communicating at this time, Qin Miao believed Hamilton was watching the rearview mirror throughout the process.

Therefore, Qin Miao didn’t ease off the throttle and continued to accelerate fully.

Hamilton didn’t let Qin Miao down either. As Qin Miao’s car was about to collide with Hamilton’s, Hamilton urgently steered left to avoid Qin Miao.

Therefore, despite the fact that Hamilton’s start for this towing tactic was a bit late, the slipstream effect he gave Qin Miao wasn’t that bad, as he used an extreme evasive maneuver to compensate for the early mistake.

And in the later turns, Qin Miao didn’t make any mistakes. After all, he’s the world champion, and given how relaxed Qin Miao was, if mistakes would occur under such conditions, Qin Miao wouldn’t have won the world championship twice.

After completing this surprise and delightful lap, Qin Miao’s lap time came in at 1:24.055.

Qin Miao’s time was slightly slower than Hamilton’s, but it was still a very good result, currently placing him second.

After running the lap, as Qin Miao returned to the team’s P room to rest, everyone was wearing a relaxed expression.

Qin Miao felt the same, even thinking he had just found his rhythm. If he could go back on track for the final flying lap, he could improve his lap time even without Hamilton’s help.

The time interval between the first and second flying laps in Q3 was very short, so Qin Miao didn’t have much time to rest before it was time for the last flying lap in Q3 to begin.

Upon Frankie’s command, Qin Miao drove his car out of the P room, commencing his final flying lap.

Before Qin Miao, Hamilton had also left the team’s P room.

In this last flying lap, both still mutually gave each other slipstream on the track; this time, Qin Miao helped Hamilton first, and then Hamilton helped Qin Miao.

Actually, in such circumstances of helping each other with slipstream, Qin Miao was at a slight disadvantage.

Acceleration on the straight might have little tire wear, but under this driving style, tire wear was also an objective fact.

However, with Qin Miao’s tire preservation ability, this consumption was still within an acceptable range.

Eventually, both Mercedes drivers completed their flying laps consecutively, with Hamilton successfully breaking into the 23 seconds mark, reaching 1:23.989.

And Qin Miao also broke into the 23 seconds mark, clocking a 1:23.990.

Compared to his teammate Hamilton, Qin Miao was just 0.001 seconds slower.

Seeing Qin Miao’s time, many F1 fanatics couldn’t help but wonder if Qin Miao hadn’t helped Hamilton with the slipstream today, would he have been faster than Hamilton by 0.001 seconds and taken pole position?

Indeed, with times that made other teams’ strategists and drivers feel helpless, Hamilton and Qin Miao were now first and second on the leaderboard.

After completing this flying lap, Qin Miao began his in-lap, closely monitoring the times of other drivers who might threaten his position.

The first to cross the line was Perez.

Qin Miao was confident that Hamilton was now intensely focused on Perez’s time.

After crossing the line, Perez’s time was 1:24.052.

He didn’t break into the 23 seconds.

Upon seeing this, Qin Miao didn’t feel surprised.

On the other hand, Hamilton, without opening the team TR, let out a fierce "yes" with a fist pump.

However, Hamilton’s joy didn’t last long, as Verstappen was right behind Perez, and Verstappen’s pace in this race was slightly faster.

After crossing the line, Verstappen’s time was 1:23.824.

Faster than both Qin Miao and Hamilton, and these were the results without a teammate’s slipstream.

Unsurprisingly, Verstappen took pole position for the qualifying session.

Hamilton and Qin Miao took second and third respectively.

However, after getting this news, the two Mercedes drivers felt only a bit of regret and not much disappointment.

After all, Qin Miao had already won the world championship and didn’t care much about the result of the last race, while Hamilton’s main competitor today was Perez, so even though they still watched Verstappen’s performance, the attention given was limited.

While the two drivers on the track expressed their stable emotions after seeing today’s qualifying results, everyone in the Mercedes team’s P room was a bit tense.

If Mercedes wanted to reclaim the constructors’ championship this year, they must have a driver take the race win in the main race tomorrow.

Yet, losing pole position in the qualifying stage wasn’t a good sign for Mercedes.

However, with things as they are, there wasn’t much Mercedes could do.

Moreover, before the race started today, Mercedes’ internal predictions for the fastest lap time in the qualifying phase were only 1:23.9.

Verstappen’s 1:23.8 time won everyone at Mercedes’ respect.

Ultimately, the starting grid for tomorrow’s main race is as follows:

1: Verstappen

2: Hamilton

3: Qin Miao

4: Perez

5: Leclerc

6: Sainz

7: Norris

8: O’Kang

9: Vettel

10: Ricardo

After the race, returning to the P room for a post-race meeting with the staff, Qin Miao completed all his tasks for the day.

After this qualifying session, Qin Miao didn’t review today’s session in his rest room as he usually did.

Instead, he went straight to Mercedes’ P room, inviting Zhou and others to tour the P room and the team home, followed by a meal in the team home cafeteria. Zhou and the others left after a pleasant time.

Qin Miao then drove back to the hotel with Barber.

A night passed without a word.

The next day, Sunday, the final race of the 2022 season.

It was also Vettel’s retirement ceremony.

The event wasn’t overly grand; it was simply during the national anthem segment before the race start, where drivers lined up in two rows to welcome the veteran four-time champion Vettel’s entry.

In this simple ceremony, Vettel basically gave a handshake and hug to every driver.

Of course, this included Qin Miao.

Honestly, Qin Miao wasn’t too familiar with Vettel. Their private interactions were minimal, and they only chatted occasionally if they met at a pre-race press conference.

However, their relationship was quite amicable.

When Vettel hugged Qin Miao, Qin Miao heard Vettel whisper in his ear, "I look forward to your future performances, keep going kid."

Despite his surprise, Qin Miao nodded in response, saying, "Thank you, but as my teammate Hamilton said in his interview this week, I look forward to the day you return to the track."