How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

After confirming the damage to his car, Qin Miao was ready to return to the team’s pit room.

The current location wasn’t great, and the desert environment outside wasn’t comfortable. It was much more pleasant to enjoy the air conditioning in the team’s pit room.

Though this was Qin Miao’s first retirement in the entire 2022 season, regardless of the previous season, his time in F2, or the pre-race driver meetings before each Grand Prix,

the organizers and FIA staff always reminded the drivers where to stop their cars and how to leave the track in case of a malfunction.

So at this moment, Qin Miao didn’t feel lost.

At this time, Verstappen and Hamilton were passing by Qin Miao under the guidance of the virtual safety car.

Without thinking twice, Qin Miao gave Hamilton a thumbs-up.

Hamilton naturally saw his teammate’s gesture, but sitting in the race car, there wasn’t much he could do, so he simply waved in Qin Miao’s direction.

Seeing Hamilton’s action, Qin Miao didn’t linger on the track for long and helped Matthew push his car off the track.

What Qin Miao didn’t know was that a trackside photographer captured this moment.

The photo perfectly included Qin Miao’s car, his action, and Hamilton on the track.

This photo had an inexplicable sense of the fate of new and old generations transitioning.

It’s said that the Mercedes team eventually bought this photo from the photographer for 150,000 euros, and it ultimately became Toto’s computer desktop.

After Qin Miao left the track, there was a Matthew waiting for him with a scooter.

Qin Miao walked over and asked, "Can this take me to the team’s pit room?"

The person nodded and gave Qin Miao a thumbs-up.

Receiving a satisfactory answer, Qin Miao sat on the back seat of the scooter and buckled the visor of his helmet.

On the way back, Qin Miao waved and greeted the fans on site.

Being this year’s world champion, during the safety car period, the broadcast also included many aerial tracking shots of Qin Miao’s journey back to the team’s pit room.

"Though it’s a shame to retire from today’s race," commentator Bing said, watching Qin Miao interacting with on-site spectators, "at least today’s retirement doesn’t seem to weigh heavily on Qin Miao psychologically. His mindset appears quite stable from his current demeanor."

On the other hand, Fei said somewhat reluctantly, "But after Qin Miao’s retirement today, we’ll have to wait almost four months before seeing him race in F1 again."

Listening to this, Zhou Haoran, standing nearby, also said, "Indeed, we have to endure an entire winter break."

Fei added, "Honestly, I never had this feeling during previous winter breaks. It was just a regular holiday for us. But ever since Qin Miao shone on the track, I count the days during both summer and winter breaks."

Upon hearing Fei’s remarks, the other two commentators chuckled, "After all, with Qin Miao competing, he gives us hope, and our expectations for him never go unmet. Who wouldn’t enjoy races with such a driver on the track?"

"The only flaw might be that once you start watching Qin Miao’s races, you get hooked and can’t quit easily."

From the commentators’ dialogue, it’s clear that while everyone felt a sense of regret for Qin Miao’s retirement, like Qin Miao, they weren’t upset by it. Instead, the bigger disappointment was not having any races to watch during the winter break.

On Qin Miao’s return to the team’s pit room, the Mercedes team had come to terms with his retirement.

If Hamilton had defeated Verstappen, and Verstappen’s car had issues leading to a retirement, Mercedes might still have had a shot at winning the race.

However, Perez dealt the final blow to the Mercedes team’s hopes.

After driving back to the pit with a blown tire, the team replaced Perez’s tires and front wing. Upon exiting the pit, Perez’s speed didn’t decrease despite the incident, but rather improved.

From the moment Perez exited the pit, Mercedes completely lost the possibility of competing for the constructors’ world championship in this race.

But you can’t blame the two Mercedes drivers for this.

The unfavorable start of the season was entirely due to the Mercedes team’s development department’s own doing.

The fact that they even had a shot at the constructors’ championship was primarily due to Qin Miao’s individual capability, single-handedly carrying the Mercedes team to this position.

Losing the constructor’s championship was the result of the Mercedes team’s own decisions.

When Qin Miao returned to the team’s pit room, although everyone’s expressions weren’t bright, they continued to diligently perform their duties.

As Qin Miao entered the pit room, almost everyone turned to look at him.

On the way back, Qin Miao internally reviewed his collision with Perez.

With the Yas Bay Marina track’s layout already etched in his mind, Qin Miao could even create a three-dimensional model of the track and cars in his head during this review.