How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

We'll put aside Qimeng preparing dinner at the hotel and focus on the qualifying session on the track.

The rain in the afternoon is heavier compared to the morning, and the data Qin Miao gathered while walking the track was all under dry conditions - now half of the notes are useless.

Because of the rain, Qin Miao didn't know what kind of result he could achieve in this qualifying session.

Since he was unsure, Qin Miao wanted to do a flying lap with minimal interference to ensure a solid base result.

Seizing the opportunity, as soon as the team rolled the car onto the track, Qin Miao didn't allow Sui Wentao and the others to do the final checks on his car, directly driving into the pit exit position and starting to queue up in the rain.

Because Qin Miao was so quick, skipping even the basic checks, he unsurprisingly lined up in front.

Ten minutes later, at the signal from the race officials, the qualifying countdown began.

Qin Miao also learned through the team's TR that the race was about to start.

With the pit lane's green light on, Qin Miao took the lead, driving out of the pits.

...

With 25 minutes and 30 seconds left until the end of qualifying, Qin Miao completed his first flying lap without any mistakes, but he didn't push to the limit, clocking a lap time of 1:57.495, temporarily placing first.

Right after Qin Miao finished this lap, a Red Bull junior team car got stuck in the gravel.

Unable to free itself, and considering the car's position was a distance away from Matthew's entrance, along with the ongoing rain, for safety reasons, the race officials brought out the red flag.

Once the car stuck in the gravel was dealt with, the race continued.

On his second outing, Qin Miao didn't have the favorable conditions of his first flying lap; Mick was right in front of him, and the spray from Mick's car made it impossible for Qin Miao to see the road ahead clearly.

The heavy rain did affect Qin Miao's condition; on his second flying lap when he began pushing his car to the limit.

Exiting the low-speed T2 corner, Qin Miao accelerated a bit too abruptly, causing the car to fishtail.

Fortunately, Qin Miao's control over the car was extraordinary - as soon as the rear grip was lost, he corrected it immediately, recovering the car in an extreme state.

Due to the suspension and weight of formula cars, it's hard for them to drift on the track, so once Qin Miao recovered the car, its posture immediately returned to normal.

Naturally, after this mistake, Qin Miao's lap time on this flying lap was voided.

The brief loss of rear downforce didn't affect Qin Miao's tire condition, and after running two more warm-up laps, Qin Miao continued with a flying lap.

Not knowing what might happen on the continually raining track, Qin Miao couldn't achieve a good lap time and finish early; he had to stay on track, waiting for better conditions to set a satisfactory lap.

Thankfully, rain tires are more durable than slicks; an F2 set of soft tires might lose grip after just two or three flying laps, while rain tires could last at least five flying laps.

With fifteen minutes remaining in the session, Qin Miao once again set a pole position time in the rain, knocking Tsunoda's time off, recording a 1:51.091.

At this point, Qin Miao's time was at least 0.5 seconds faster than Tsunoda's, but given the rainy environment, no one could predict when the rain would stop, which would result in dramatically improved lap times.

As Qin Miao completed another warm-up lap and prepared for another push before the end of the session, a yellow flag appeared unexpectedly; Red Bull junior team's Daruwala drove another F2 Red Bull car into the runoff area and got stuck.

With it clear that Daruwala couldn't drive out of his own accord, the race officials showed the red flag, ending the remaining four minutes - the rainfall meant drivers couldn't get their tires to optimal working temperature within four minutes anyway.

And Qin Miao? Missing the last chance for a flying lap, once again he narrowly missed pole position, qualifying third instead.

First and second were Zhou Guanyu's teammate Ilott and Zhou Guanyu himself, respectively.

Looking at the details, this was the second time in qualifying that Qin Miao fell to Zhou Guanyu...

There's not much to say - the heavens targeted Qin Miao in qualifying with a bout of rain, hindering his ability to perform normally.

This left Qin Miao quite depressed and also started to sow doubt among the Ferrari higher-ups.

Qin Miao is indeed very strong in normal races; even saying he has the strength to dominate F2 is not an exaggeration.

But now, in these past few rain races, Qin Miao has completely exposed his weaknesses.

While Qin Miao still had some competitiveness in wet conditions and was able to secure front-row starting positions in qualifying,

one must know that the competitive pressure in F2 isn't as high as in F1 - Qin Miao maintaining his position in a rainy F2 race is because these F2 drivers aren't that strong yet and have a long way to go.

Comparing Qin Miao's dry condition performance to his wet performance, it is clear to see Qin Miao's weakness in rain racing.

Although such a driver would still be eagerly sought after by lower F1 teams, for Ferrari, which is committed to fighting for the championship, such a driver is not suitable.

Ferrari allows their No. 2 driver not to have obvious strengths, but they certainly don't allow pronounced weaknesses like Qin Miao's.

Though Ferrari is currently weaker, this does not affect their executives' desire for an F1 championship.

Therefore, after this qualifying session, the Ferrari higher-ups, who had initially held Qin Miao in high regard, began to become skeptical, and they resumed their recruitment efforts for other drivers.

Qin Miao was unaware of this; after weighing in post-session, with his spirits not too high, he returned to the team with regret.

After a brief internal team meeting, Qin Miao went home to rest.

The next day, Qin Miao's mood brightened like the weather.

Although clouds still drifted overhead, the meteorological chart showed a low probability of rain during the F2 race.

With that being the case, Qin Miao brought out his classic red-yellow strategy.

At the start, Qin Miao immediately took Zhou Guanyu and his teammate and pulled away from the chasing cars by at least 0.4 seconds per lap; although a safety car closed the gap between Qin Miao and the cars behind, anyone who watched the two F2 races knows that once Qin Miao takes the lead in a race, predicting the race winner becomes meaningless.

An hour later, Qin Miao, who switched to new hard tires seven laps earlier, crossed the finish line at full throttle, setting his fastest lap and winning the FIA Formula 2 Championship round in Hungary.

For Qin Miao, as long as it doesn't rain, the race victory is never in question.

No matter the platform, every commentator covering the race conveyed their sincere congratulations to Qin Miao, this incredibly talented young driver.

Quickly, the broadcast aired the team TR after Qin Miao's victory.

Frankie's voice was the first to be heard: "P1, Qin Miao, we are P1, congratulations on winning another race!"

Everyone could hear the excitement in Frankie's voice.

And Qin Miao?

"Copy that..."

That's it.

Consistent with Qin Miao's usual style.

Whether you say he's indifferent to honor and disgrace, or that he likes to show off quietly,

the fact is, amidst everyone's astonishment, Qin Miao calmly accepted his victory.

Without uttering a word of celebration, as if he wasn't the champion.

The two commentators from Five-Star Sports evaluated Qin Miao's performance in this race: "He completely outclassed everyone, nothing more needs to be said."

"While others are racing, Qin Miao is doing a winter test."

"I really worry whether Qin Miao might just doze off during a race because he's bored…"

"Give Qin Miao a sunny day, and he can return you a win from eighth on the grid."