How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

So after reviewing the return journey, Qin Miao realized that his behavior at the time was indeed a bit too impulsive.

After all, he was ahead of Perez, and the W13B is known for its fast acceleration.

After pushing Perez onto the concrete outside the track, his acceleration would inevitably be affected, while Qin Miao could benefit from the slipstream of Hamilton in front.

Even though the straight between T1 and T2 isn’t very long, with Qin Miao’s ability, maintaining the pressure from Perez behind at this position wasn’t an impossible task.

Although Perez’s refusal to yield was also a reason for this collision, if Qin Miao hadn’t pushed Perez so tightly, the accident might not have occurred, and he could still be fighting for the team’s world championship on the track at this moment.

But with things as they are, Qin Miao could do nothing but review it in his mind and lament what a pity it was.

After returning to the team’s P room and greeting his colleagues, Qin Miao stood in front of Toto and said, "I’m sorry, Toto, I was a bit too impulsive on the track."

Toto glanced at Qin Miao, but the reproach Qin Miao expected didn’t come out.

Toto hadn’t thought of blaming Qin Miao for anything.

What lesson can you teach the season’s world champion in the last race of the season?

Even if Qin Miao had wrecked the W13B in this race, Toto would have praised Qin Miao for his aesthetic and imaginative crash and applauded vigorously from the side.

Undeniably, from a team owner’s perspective, Qin Miao’s actions on the track were indeed a bit impulsive and emotional, and, not to put it nicely, a bit presumptuous and naive at the time.

But without Qin Miao, with the state of the Mercedes team’s car at the beginning of the season, not to mention keeping the suspense of the team championship until the last race, it might even have been difficult for the Mercedes team to compete with Ferrari for second place this season.

Patting Qin Miao on the arm, Toto consoled him, saying, "It’s not your fault, this is mainly Perez’s responsibility, and we’ll appeal to the FIA."

"Also, here’s some good news for you, the penalty result for Perez after this incident has already come out during your return. Perez has been penalized a total of 10 seconds, had 2 points deducted from his Super License, and a fine of 100,000 Euros." After comforting Qin Miao, Toto informed him of the penalty Perez received.

This penalty was just right, not completely ruining Perez’s race, and also giving an explanation to the Mercedes team.

While they were talking, Reyes brought Qin Miao a stool and placed it beside Toto.

Probably only Qin Miao and Hamilton, the two Mercedes team drivers, had this kind of treatment. Normally, even if a Mercedes team’s reserve driver could stand behind Toto and catch a bit of the team leader’s broadcast camera time, they could only stand obediently behind Toto while Qin Miao and Hamilton could sit beside Toto.

Actually, there was only one monitor in front of Toto, and what was displayed on it was just the broadcast images provided to the on-site audience by the FIA, nothing special.

Looking at the screen in front of Toto, Qin Miao suddenly felt a bit dazed.

Qin Miao no longer remembered the last time he watched a live F1 race broadcast.

Since entering F2, Qin Miao hadn’t been watching broadcast visuals but rather recordings and onboard footage specially prepared by the team for drivers.

This applied to both F2 and F1.

This also caused Qin Miao to find the screen in front of him somewhat novel.

Meanwhile, on the track, Hamilton and Verstappen were fiercely battling.

And the duel between the two drivers in the final race of the 2022 season was extremely intense.

The W13B is famous for its straight-line speed, so in the two DRS zones, Hamilton often closed in on Verstappen quickly and completed an overtake before the T9 braking point.

But the Red Bull car had exceptionally high DRS efficiency. With DRS and Hamilton’s slipstream, Verstappen’s Red Bull car’s top speed was astonishing.

Because of their respective characteristics, in the subsequent race, the two continually overtook each other on the track, and because of their mutual entanglement, they didn’t pull away from the much slower Leclerc, though Leclerc still couldn’t close the 3-second gap behind them.

We can only say that Ferrari is preparing early for 2023.

However, just as Qin Miao was engrossed in watching the offense and defense on the track and judging if he were Hamilton how he should defend and attack, noticing Hamilton’s defensive maneuvers that weren’t perfect, he was suddenly startled by Toto’s question, "Have you thought of a name for the child yet?"

Qin Miao was taken aback.

Huh?

Are you talking to me?

Then Qin Miao realized that with the current volume of Toto’s voice, only he, sitting next to Toto, could hear him clearly, so unless there was an unexpected situation, Toto was indeed speaking to him.

After taking his gaze away from the screen in front of him, Qin Miao saw Toto looking at him.

Qin Miao’s mouth twitched.

Lately, Qin Miao had been concentrating all his attention on the track, and he really had forgotten to think of a name for his child.

However, it seemed like his parents had already found a fortune teller at home to think of several names in advance, but none had been finalized yet.