How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

During the F1 practice session, Qimeng didn't need to run up to the spectator stands above the Paddock Club; with Qin Miao leading her, she could openly enter Ferrari's Paddock Club.

However, she could only stay in the VIP area of the Paddock Club, as she was not staff and her presence could disrupt other people's work during internal meetings. Qin Miao, on the other hand, could sit directly beside the racing engineers and watch Vettel's car data with them.

He could even get close to Vettel's car when Vettel was tuning it.

Vettel didn't mind Qin Miao being there. Once he chose a car setting, there would be a brief downtime when the technicians started adjusting his car.

During this downtime, Vettel might even ask Qin Miao if he understood the reasons for his adjustments.

If Qin Miao answered correctly, Vettel would generously praise him.

And if Qin Miao answered incorrectly, Vettel would patiently explain his reasons for the settings, demonstrating remarkable tolerance for a junior like Qin Miao.

But during this period, Qin Miao recalled the fear of being called upon by teachers to answer questions back in high school.

Even though he knew Vettel was doing this to mentor him and show optimism and encouragement for the new generation of drivers, this feeling reminiscent of school days made Qin Miao, who grew up in exam-oriented education, feel deeply afraid.

Luckily, it was only during the second practice session, and Vettel was busy. He took advantage of spare moments to teach Qin Miao, but most of the time he was focused on his own work, testing on track.

Qin Miao lingered in Ferrari's Paddock Club until the practice session ended.

During this time, Qin Miao indeed noticed many details that couldn't be seen in the VIP area, such as drivers' driving curve graphs, vehicle status data feedback, driver onboard cameras, and ways to tune F1 cars.

These things were enlightening for Qin Miao, though they were just data and tables; applying these to the track allowed Qin Miao to understand Vettel's general driving style on the circuit.

After the second practice session ended, Qin Miao's work was also finished. He prepared to sneak back to the hotel with Qimeng without saying goodbye to Binotto.

It wasn't impolite; Qin Miao simply feared Binotto might drag him into Ferrari's post-practice meeting.

As he turned to leave Ferrari's Paddock Club and reached the path behind it, he happened to run into Vettel, who was heading towards the Paddock Club after weighing in.

Fortunately, Vettel merely shook hands and greeted Qin Miao, smiled and nodded at Qimeng, and then turned and entered Ferrari's Paddock Club to continue his closing work.

In Europe, it's common to greet familiar women with a cheek kiss. By now, the relationship between Qin Miao and Vettel was rather amicable, but Vettel knew Qin Miao and Qimeng were Chinese, where cheek kissing isn't popular, so he greeted Qimeng with a normal smile and nod or handshake.

This shows Vettel is genuinely cultured and attentive.

During the time watching the second practice session at Ferrari, Qin Miao also greeted Leclerc; though they knew each other early, their relationship wasn't as close as with Vettel, to be honest.

Mainly because there were fewer chances for communication and collaboration between them, and also because when Qin Miao first met Leclerc, he was just an ordinary person.

Yet within a mere year, Qin Miao transformed from an ordinary person into the most talented rising star in F2, leaving Leclerc momentarily uncertain about Qin Miao's approach.

However, the impression Qin Miao gave him when they played simulator games together was still vivid—that passion for cars and driving was something Leclerc still remembered, so it's no surprise Qin Miao developed so quickly.

After sneaking out, Qin Miao returned to the hotel, exhaled deeply, and took out his phone; it was time to indulge in some compliments from fans.

After easily securing pole position in the qualifying session, many must have seen it, right? How would they appraise him?

...

Young people, although Qin Miao was a bit socially anxious, it doesn't mean he didn't care about others' opinions of him, especially in things he was proud of and confident about.

However, amidst today's heap of praise-filled words, Qin Miao still harvested some negative emotions.

At this point, some might say, "Why don't you just ignore those negative comments?"

But those negative comments stood out like tall individuals among a crowd of short ones, so conspicuous that it's hard to ignore them.

"Qin Miao is just dominating in F2; I'll say this season's F2 had no genuinely talented drivers. The real talents like Leclerc and Russell went to F1 long ago; Qin Miao is just a tall figure among short ones."

Quite a few trolls replied under this comment, with similar sentiment, gripping the idea that without strong competitors in F2, Qin Miao had the room to outshine in the races.

For those who don't understand racing, this might seem reasonable because during F2 races, Qin Miao would widen the gap with the cars behind, making the other drivers appear weak.