How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Lawson is one of the people who knows Qin Miao's current situation quite well.

So seeing Qin Miao come to see him, and even carrying something in his hand, Lawson vaguely guessed the purpose of Qin Miao's visit this time.

He invited Qin Miao to sit down, and before Lawson could say anything, Qin Miao first put down the gift and then took out the Ferrari car key given to him, placing it on Lawson's desk.

Seeing Qin Miao's actions, Lawson finally understood Qin Miao's purpose in seeking him out this time.

The other party was preparing to leave, and the next team was likely already found.

Sighing somewhat wistfully, "I anticipated our parting, but I didn't expect it to come so suddenly."

Qin Miao was also somewhat emotional, recalling vividly the scene when he was introduced into Ferrari by Lawson, and now in the blink of an eye, he was leaving: "Yes, I also thought I would stay at Ferrari for a long time, but who could predict the unpredictability of life."

Lawson asked curiously, "Have you decided which team to go to?"

Qin Miao smiled, "Mr. Lawson, you know I can't tell you."

Lawson didn't feel awkward, laughed it off, and accepted the gift Qin Miao brought over, but he didn't accept the key to the Ferrari 488. Instead, he pushed it back to Qin Miao: "I accept the gift because I was the one who introduced you to this path, and your talent in racing is indeed impressive, so I accept the gift with peace of mind.

However, the car has already been given away, and we can't take it back, so you should keep it with you."

Qin Miao shook his head, "It's too valuable."

Lawson spread his hands, "It's not that we don't want it back, but this car has already been modified by you and bears your mark. Even if we take it back, it's not convenient to send it to someone else. The only place it could go is to sit in a museum collecting dust, or to be thrown on a test track for people to drive for fun."

Qin Miao scratched his face awkwardly, not thinking much about it when he modified the 488 back then, just feeling that the 488's performance was not enough and it needed to be beefed up.

Unexpectedly, what was an accidental act at the time has now secured him a Ferrari 488.

"Then thank you." Qin Miao sincerely thanked him and took the key back.

Lawson's actions were actually planting a seed in Qin Miao's mind.

In the future, whenever Qin Miao sees this 488, he will remember that Ferrari gave him this car. And if, later on, Qin Miao doesn't want to stay in his current team and wants to try another team, and Ferrari happens to be short on people, there's a possibility he might fill the spot.

After chatting with Lawson for over twenty minutes, Qin Miao got up to say goodbye.

It was not early anymore, and Qin Miao had to leave Maranello...

...

Time entered the fast lane after Qin Miao joined Mercedes.

On Friday, August 14, 2020, the day the Spanish Grand Prix began.

At this time, although there were still Ferrari training camp logos on Qin Miao's clothes and car, his heart had already moved to Mercedes.

The morning practice session was uneventful, following the usual procedure to find his comfortable racing setup.

In the afternoon qualifying, Qin Miao got a setup that was about 80% compatible with his liking.

Not high, but basically sufficient.

Qin Miao worked according to his familiar rhythm: a new set of soft tires, two warm-up laps, a flying lap without any overtaking obstacles, finishing with a pole position time of 1:27.812.

Clock out, and call it a day!

By the end of the qualifying session, Ilott was 0.4 seconds slower than Qin Miao, finishing in second place.

Countless others had studied Qin Miao's qualifying and race footage numerous times.

Everyone wanted to understand why Qin Miao could be so much faster than other F2 drivers.

After analyzing frame by frame, they found that there was nothing special about Qin Miao; he simply had precise lines, perfectly timed throttle and braking, high stability, and completed a full race without a single mistake.

The F2 race stage of this Grand Prix was quite exciting, with the safety car coming out twice. The second time, the race committee forced the race to conclude on the final lap after the F2 time limit was reached.

And to fight for better positions in the last lap, the drivers in the rear field fought fiercely.

But all this had little to do with Qin Miao, as he had opened a 0.5-second gap from the second place just at the start.

Qin Miao, like in the previous races, let others run their race, while he ran his own.

In the end, Qin Miao started from pole position and returned with the championship, once again taking the full 27 points from the race.

Zhou Guanyu also performed well today, starting from third position. He fell behind considerably in the middle of the race but clawed back in the final lap to finish with a strong third place.

In this race, Qin Miao heeded Toto's advice, not giving Zhou Guanyu a slipstream or creating overtaking opportunities, just focusing on himself.

Zhou Guanyu's good performance was not only due to his own strength but also his adaptation to the high-speed track.

After this race, Qin Miao's total score reached 223, while Zhou Guanyu's total score also surpassed the 100 mark, reaching 101 points.

It is worth mentioning that the two Chinese drivers broke the 100-point mark one after the other this season, making them the first pair of Chinese drivers in F2 history to lead the F2 standings.