How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

But even with such an excellent start, Qin Miao didn’t significantly shorten the time gap with Verstappen and Hamilton ahead, only slowly approaching the two.

Interestingly, among the top three drivers, Verstappen’s start was surprisingly the worst.

Seeing this, Qin Miao realized that although these two rivals started slower than him today, they weren’t too far off.

Therefore, the start speeds of the top three drivers were quite intriguing, the closer to the rear, the faster the start.

Clearly, Hamilton’s inside line start was faster than Verstappen’s, giving him an absolute advantage in the upcoming battles.

Verstappen himself is a highly competitive driver, and although winning the world championship this season is out of the question, he still has the possibility to help Red Bull secure the Constructors’ Championship.

Therefore, at the start phase, Verstappen, realizing his disadvantage, didn’t want to just give away his leading position.

Upon noticing Hamilton gradually closing in, he immediately switched to the inside line of the track, prepared to block all of Hamilton’s late braking opportunities on the inside.

And now, Qin Miao was happy, because initially, Verstappen would have blocked his cornering line, and since there was a car ahead blocking him, he inevitably had to brake earlier, otherwise it would be difficult to stop.

Now without Verstappen, Qin Miao could take a more normal cornering line.

But just as Qin Miao was secretly pleased and was habitually glancing at the rearview mirror to prepare for the outer line, he was startled to see a Red Bull car behind him on the right through the mirror.

The opponent was very close, at a distance easily subjected to attack.

Qin Miao was stunned and then realized it was Perez!

How is it Perez???

Throughout the season, Qin Miao hardly ever suffered a loss during the start phase.

Among the drivers who started around him, few could start faster.

And today, Qin Miao’s start condition was relatively favorable.

But how did he come up here?

This entire season, Perez has never posed a threat at the start, so what’s going on today? Did he get pumped up?

Seeing Perez close enough in the rearview mirror, Qin Miao knew that for this T1 corner, he couldn’t take the normal outer line.

If he took the outer line now, Perez would be sure to slip into the inside line.

Qin Miao could only take the inside line, coinciding with his front left wheel just covering his teammate Hamilton’s rear right wheel.

At this point, the inside line of T1 was completely sealed against Perez’s threading attempts. By starting faster than the two Mercedes drivers and his own teammate, Perez had no choice but to take the outer line.

Then the audience watching the final race of the 2022 F1 season live and on television excitedly noticed.

The two Mercedes and two Red Bull cars on the track divided into two different camps began their tussle into the corner.

The four cars formed a staircase formation into the corner.

What do F1 race fans want to see? Isn’t it the thrilling and fierce close combat between drivers?

And in this final race, such intense scenes unfolded on the track right from the start.

After noticing Perez had started faster than him today, Qin Miao no longer had the leisure to focus on Hamilton and Verstappen ahead.

His attention was entirely on Perez behind him.

Qin Miao, being a defensive master, upon discovering Perez’s attack intention and shifting his focus to him, almost instantly thought of how to defend against Perez’s threatening attack.

He blocked the inside line and left the outside line for Perez.

However, besides having Perez behind him, Qin Miao also had Hamilton and Verstappen ahead, who were fiercely battling.

Their fight was fiercer than Qin Miao had anticipated.

Verstappen noticed Hamilton’s movements first and immediately reached the inside line.

Meanwhile, Hamilton was also shifting towards the inside line.

During this process, both drivers inevitably used part of their tire traction for changing lines.

As a result, Qin Miao gradually caught up with his teammate Hamilton’s pace.

And by the time Verstappen and Hamilton reached the braking point, both naturally needed to return to the outer line to seek a wider line for the corner.

But when heading to the outer line, Hamilton noticed his teammate Qin Miao was already stuck on the outer line, and Qin Miao had Perez behind him, braking late at the braking point.

This left Verstappen at the front without a good angle to enter the corner, as Hamilton blocked his outer line.

So if nothing unexpected happens, due to mutual interference among the drivers, it’s likely that there won’t be any positional changes among the top four drivers in this start.

Although Verstappen had a tough time entering the corner this time, his car was ahead, so there was no obstacle once he exited the corner, enabling him to start accelerating directly.

Meanwhile, when Hamilton and Qin Miao exit the corner, they need to pay attention to the positions of the cars behind, ensuring they don’t collide when changing lanes to the outer line.

As for Perez... he needs to worry about whether Qin Miao will push him off the track.

Although the outside of Yas Bay Marina Circuit is not grass but a concrete surface.

However, the asphalt on non-driving lines inherently lacks the grip of driving lines, let alone the concrete surface off the track.

But surprisingly to Qin Miao, Perez’s start speed was incredibly fast; he was on the outer line but hadn’t been left behind, still closely following at the rear right wheel when entering the corner.

As he was almost out of the corner, with Perez still stuck on the outside line, Qin Miao smirked slightly, "Buddy, now I have track position, I’m ahead, and what you should do is recognize your situation instead of squeezing into a gap you can’t control!"

So after exiting the corner, Qin Miao directly switched to the outer line of the track and began compressing Perez’s outer line space.

Now Qin Miao gave Perez two choices: either be pushed off the track or proactively slow down and obediently move back, waiting for another opportunity.

But surprisingly, even astonishingly to Qin Miao, Perez didn’t choose either option given, instead opting for a third, placing the knife to his own throat.

After exiting the corner, he didn’t slow down but proactively wedged his left front wheel just in front of Qin Miao’s right rear wheel.

Having participated in two years of F1 competition, Qin Miao saw Perez’s tires in this position and instantly felt a chill run down his spine.

He knew too well what would happen if his right rear wheel and Perez’s left front wheel collided under such conditions.

Countless samples on the field have confirmed the outcome after a collision.

He would be 100% catapulted by Perez.

But feeling a chill at the same time, Qin Miao was more puzzled.

How dare Perez do this? Isn’t this damn violation?

Though puzzled, Qin Miao quickly adjusted his mindset.

FIA rules clearly state that if Perez collided with him at this moment, Perez would be fully responsible, and he was merely driving normally.

But with someone holding a knife to his throat, Qin Miao was ultimately a bit annoyed, so as he exited the corner, he directly squeezed towards Perez on the outside.

The main reason for Qin Miao’s lane change this time was indeed to force Perez’s car entirely onto the concrete outside the track, which would slowly decelerate due to reduced grip and debris on the track.

But whether it was because Perez didn’t react, or didn’t notice, or he noticed but simply refused to evade.

This time, during Qin Miao’s compression towards the outside, Perez showed no reaction, blatantly unmoved.

Then...

"Crack."

The sound of carbon fiber shattering transmitted through the car’s vibration into Qin Miao’s ears.