How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

At that time, Walker already had a rough guess of how much pressure Qin Miao would be under.

Just as Walker finished recording Toto's instructions and was about to leave, Toto suddenly said, "Oh, by the way, go handle the tasks with Bottas. Mainly keep his emotions stable to ensure he can perform normally in the remaining races this season."

Walker's originally calm expression suddenly turned into one of distress.

If Qin Miao joining Mercedes brought external issues like criticism and fan misunderstanding, the internal issue would be Bottas's emotional problem, followed by a Russell issue.

However, compared to Russell, Bottas's problem is a bit more serious, as he is a current driver and his presence affects Mercedes' points accumulation.

Seeing the expression on Walker's face, Toto chuckled, "Don't worry, Bottas's tasks are actually not hard to handle; he's been with Mercedes for four years.

I can tell that four years of being a number two driver have made him tired, as nobody wants someone constantly overshadowing them. He actually has thoughts of leaving Mercedes to experience being a number one driver in another team."

Although Walker's face was still full of doubt, he nodded, "Okay, I'll talk to him later."

After saying that, Walker left, leaving Toto alone with his arms crossed, sitting at his desk, staring at his computer monitor.

Displayed on the monitor were the telemetry data of Qin Miao from the recent few races that Qin Miao sent Toto...

Qin Miao knew that public opinion in the paddock was nearly in collapse, showing signs of being infamous forever.

However, Qin Miao's method of dealing with this was mature, just two words: don't care!

Also, because Qin Miao recently changed teams, he had a lot to deal with.

Like sorting out his belongings transferred from Maranello, he can't just keep them at Zhou Guanyu's house, right?

Even if Zhou Guanyu doesn't mind having a pile of clutter, Qin Miao would feel uneasy.

So, during this time, Qin Miao not only needed to find a house but also move.

The small issues that moving brought were even more numerous; Qin Miao and Qimeng spent their time handling these things.

Because Mercedes' factory is in the UK, it's expected that Qin Miao just like Zhou Guanyu would reside in the UK long-term.

This is actually a good thing; they can meet and visit each other occasionally.

After Qin Miao sorted out all these miscellaneous matters, it was already Thursday, August 27th.

Having just finished dealing with his affairs, Qin Miao didn't even have time to rest a day before heading straight to Belgium.

Belgium's Spa circuit is one of the racetracks Qin Miao is most proficient with, plus there was no rain during the entire race week, so the result of the qualifying race was set from the start.

1 minute, 57 seconds, and 111 milliseconds.

This was Qin Miao's qualifying result.

Second place was Tsunoda, third place was Mazepin.

Mid-season onwards, as everyone gradually became familiar with their cars, they began to exert themselves. Unfortunately, compared to Qin Miao, they were still mere ordinary drivers, and their results were mediocre.

During the main race phase, Qin Miao's tire choice changed a bit.

This race, Qin Miao wanted to maximize his points, so instead of using soft tires for the start as usual, he opted for hard tires, then pitted in the final laps under low fuel load to take the fastest lap.

The final result was that Qin Miao maximized his 27 race points.

Sprint points: +17.

After three races, Qin Miao's total points were: 46.

Because the background of this race was Qin Miao joining Mercedes, an astonishing development.

So the viewership of this F2 race was unusually high, the audience number doubled directly, and through TV broadcast, the viewership reached an unprecedented 150,000.

Fortunately, the hosts interviewing Qin Miao after winning the championship were FIA officials who didn't ask inappropriate questions to disrupt Qin Miao's mindset, only conventional questions.

"March of the Volunteers" played on the F2 top podium for the 16th time.

The F2 season is halfway through, but the top podium of F2 races hasn't played any other country's national anthem, whether in the main race or the sprint race, the award ceremonies only played "March of the Volunteers."

Those who have been following the F2 races can even hum the melody in their minds.

This counts as a form of cultural export.

After this race, about 20% of the audience who didn't understand Mercedes's actions seemed to have an epiphany, instantly understanding Mercedes's executives.

Strong, indeed strong.

What Qin Miao exhibits on the track with other F2 drivers is not on the same level.

And after the race, Qin Miao sent his trophy to Ferrari.

Although Qin Miao's contract with Ferrari F1 team was terminated, his contract with the Ferrari Driver Academy remained unchanged.

Though Ferrari F1 team and Ferrari Driver Academy belong to Ferrari, they essentially count as two different departments, just that exchanges and collaborations between these departments are more frequent.

So despite Qin Miao having terminated his contract with Ferrari F1, his Ferrari Driver Academy contract remained valid.

Only after this season ends, when Qin Miao's contract with Mercedes takes effect, will his academy contract end.

One interesting occurrence was that after the paddock began circulating news about Qin Miao leaving Ferrari for Mercedes next season, his previously dead-end relationship with Mick saw some easing.

After all, once Qin left Ferrari, there would be no direct conflict of interest between the two, allowing them to discuss racing topics during team meetings naturally.

After the Spa race, Qin Miao didn't stay in Belgium long.

Once the team meeting ended, Qin returned to Vicenza with the team.

The new Grand Prix would be held in Monza, Italy, and Vicenza is just a two-hour drive away from Monza, making it almost a home race for Qin and his team.

The race process doesn't need much elaboration; Qin Miao brought back another full score of 46 points.

However, as the races went on, Qin Miao felt more like an outsider.

After all, the entire race weekend offered limited space for Qin Miao to display his skills.

Once the race begins, it's about running laps as usual.

The only interesting part was when Qin Miao kept overtaking during the sprint race.

But even running the sprint, Qin felt it started to become a bit boring.

Because almost all those ahead of Qin wouldn't defend against him.

While they wouldn't drop speed to give up position like a slower car against a faster one, no one would actively defend against Qin's attacks.

There's no need.

Defending against Qin would drop their speed, and they wouldn't even succeed, so it's pointless to waste time on such meaningless matters.

Thus, Qin racing in F2 offered no challenges, spending the whole time running laps for track proficiency.

After this race, 80% of audience who felt curious or irritated by Qin recognized his skills and understood Toto's unusual decision for signing Qin.

A genius like this left outside would be a ticking bomb for Mercedes, as Mercedes couldn't determine whether Qin might join Red Bull or Ferrari someday and singlehandedly compensate for vehicle performance differences like Brother Tou, shocking Mercedes with a little genius impact.

Before stepping onto the podium, as the post-race interview began, Qin was prepared with his mental draft as he had been countless times before, waiting for the host's questions.

But the host started off saying, "Congratulations, Qin, you are the 2020 World Formula 2 Champion!"

"Ah?"