How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

...

Qin Miao arrived at the entrance of the Mercedes team home, and many Mercedes staff greeted him warmly after seeing him.

Feeling the change in people's attitudes towards him, Qin Miao was full of emotion.

It wasn't like this during Bahrain. Although the Mercedes team staff would also actively greet him then, they were more curious about Qin Miao and obliged by their own etiquette requirements.

But now they were much more sincere when greeting Qin Miao, and he could see their recognition of him in their eyes.

Entering the team home, today wasn't a workday after all. Although there were people, these staff were busy with preliminary work and equipment maintenance, simply speaking, the logistics staff were ensuring that there wouldn't be any problems with the equipment during the upcoming Grand Prix weekend.

Qin Miao didn't disturb them and went to his lounge to change his clothes.

When Qin Miao went downstairs, he saw Hamilton and Angela walking in from the entrance.

"Good afternoon." Qin Miao greeted them from afar upon seeing them.

"You came so early?" Hamilton came over, smiled, shook hands with Qin Miao, and hugged him with a laugh.

Qin Miao smiled and said, "Honestly, after Imola, I fell in love with standing on the top podium and having everyone listen to me sing the national anthem. To let you all hear it a few more times, I think I should work harder."

"Definitely, that feeling is very special, and it's easy to become addictive." Hamilton nodded, laughing, but soon he changed the subject, saying, "But with me around, your chances of standing in that position won't be too frequent."

Their relationship was quite good at this point, and such jokes were acceptable, so nobody thought much of it.

Qin Miao rolled his eyes, "We have an old saying in our country: the waves behind drive the waves ahead. I believe there will be that day."

Hamilton naturally didn't know the meaning behind Qin Miao's words, and China's 5000 years of cultural depth aren't easily understood. Even native Chinese who grew up here find it difficult to grasp the meanings behind some phrases.

"Enough chit-chat, I won't disturb you anymore. I'll walk two laps on the track to familiarize myself since it's my first time at Portimao." Qin Miao waved and prepared to leave.

However, Hamilton stopped Qin Miao and said, "Wait for me a moment, let's go together. I wanted to check if the track has been refurbished, and if you have any questions, I can guide you."

Having a seven-time champion by his side ready to answer questions at any time, of course, Qin Miao was delighted. After waiting for five or six minutes in the lounge area downstairs of the team home, Hamilton changed out of his outfit and into a Mercedes team short-sleeve T-shirt, wearing a hat for sun protection.

"Let's go."

The two walked through the pit lane into the track.

Portimao track was added to the calendar last year due to a shortage of tracks, and even Hamilton had only raced on it once, so this time he accompanied Qin Miao to deepen his understanding of the track.

After getting on the track, Qin Miao walked to the driving line and squatted down to feel the asphalt on the driving line with his fingers, sensing the roughness of the asphalt surface.

It's clearly old asphalt that's been used for a long time, which is quite friendly to tires.

Seeing Qin Miao's actions, Hamilton also squatted down beside him.

"This asphalt is clearly old and the track has operated for a long time, but why do I see last year's race footage where the usual strategy is two pit stops?" Qin Miao picked up a piece of asphalt that broke off at the edge of the track and asked Hamilton.

Hamilton explained, "This track has many bends, most of which are medium-fast bends, so they are very harsh on tire wear. Even though the asphalt is tire-friendly, the two tires on the left side of the car wear out quickly."

Qin Miao knew about this as the simulator showed him feedback. But he naively thought it was due to the track asphalt at that time; now it seems it wasn't.

Getting up, Qin Miao discarded the piece of asphalt and continued to walk along the starting path of the track.

...

Compared to other tracks, the Portimao track is relatively short. So Qin Miao and Hamilton walked a lap together, joking along the way, occasionally squatting to observe the curbs or the grip situation on the curb paint. When they returned to the pit area, more than an hour had passed.

During this time, Qin Miao saw other drivers walking the track, like Latifi and Perez.

But they were drivers with their own teams, not like Qin Miao and Hamilton, two Mercedes drivers walking together, followed only by their physical trainers.

After walking the track, Qin Miao was ready to head back to the team home to study the data he had just recorded on the track.

However, Hamilton stopped Qin Miao from returning to the team home, and under Qin Miao's watch, Hamilton pushed out two black scooters from the vehicle's P room.

These were the kind of two-wheel scooters Qin Miao typically used for commuting between his home and the factory.

These things accelerate quickly, have a long range, and don't take up much space – just a bit slow in top speed. But for a short-distance commuting tool, low top speed isn't a particularly fatal flaw.

A scooter with a 30-kilometer range running a lap on the track isn't difficult. Hamilton mainly wanted Qin Miao to experience the driving line of the track ahead of time and feel the bumps while driving, and he could tell Qin Miao on the scooter where the grip is weaker.

The two spent 20 minutes riding the scooters for a lap.

After getting off the track, today's work was basically over.

Hamilton went off looking for Angela on the scooter first, while Qin Miao was ready to head back to the team home, where Barber awaited.

As Qin Miao rode the scooter into Mercedes team's P room, then through the P room into the staff corridor behind the P room, he met Norris wearing McLaren's iconic yellow team uniform.

At the start of the new season, Norris felt a lot of pressure because his new teammate, Ricardo, was very strong, with a solid fan base and having won six Grand Prix titles.

Though Norris himself stayed at McLaren for three years, he hadn't won a single Grand Prix title. In front of such a strong teammate, Norris felt pressured.

Everyone knows in the F1 field, your biggest enemy is always your teammate.

However, after two races, Norris's pressure vanished because he defeated his teammate in both races.

Whether Norris was more adaptable to McLaren's racing car than Ricardo, or for other reasons, after these two races, it was clear to everyone that Norris was stronger than Ricardo.

So at this moment, Norris appeared very relaxed, and his entire spirit was in great shape.

And when he saw Qin Miao, he even went over directly to stop Qin Miao.

"Qin! Hold on!"

After he managed to stop Qin Miao, he looked at Qin Miao's scooter as if he were looking at a big toy and curiously asked, "Where did you get this? It looks quite interesting, let me borrow it to play."