How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

The commentators were midway through their commentary when the tone suddenly shifted, because Leclerc crashed at a position on the racing line, and since the clock had stopped, all drivers who hadn't completed their final flying lap were lined up behind Leclerc.

So, although Leclerc crashed on his final flying lap, he retained his pole position.

Soon, the yellow flag turned into a red flag, as there was truly no way to deal with Leclerc's car at its parked position.

And the impact of Leclerc's crash was more significant than just this. Firstly, aside from Qin Miao, no one made a valid flying lap in the final segment of Q3.

This means that, aside from Qin Miao, everyone's lap times were their initial banker laps from the start of Q3.

And everyone's lap times were not fast.

When the red flag came out, Q3 of qualifying ended immediately.

And the final qualifying positions were as follows:

P1: Leclerc

P2: Qin Miao

P3: Verstappen

P4: Sainz

P5: Norris

P6: Gasly

P7: Hamilton

P8: Vettel

P9: Perez

P10: Giovinazzi

P11: O'Kang

P12: Ricardo

P13: Stroll

P14: Kimi

P15: Russell

P16: Tsunoda

P17: Alonso

P18: Latifi

P19: Mazepin

P20: Mick

Due to the penalty, Qin Miao will ultimately start from the twelfth position, right behind Ricardo, in front of Stroll.

But let's set that aside; after qualifying, Qin Miao still needs to be interviewed. Regardless, he indeed secured the 2nd place in the qualifying session.

We all know there's usually some downtime before the post-race interviews, and during this downtime at the Monte Carlo track, the producer generally likes to insert slow-motion footage of drivers passing very close to the barriers at T15.

And Qin Miao's footage was the first to be shown.

In the footage, you could see Qin Miao's car right-front end plate almost scraping past the wall. Through slow-motion replay, you can clearly see the right-front end plate visibly shaking after the corner, which indicates the contact with the barrier.

The commentators did not hold back their praise, as there's no denying Qin Miao is the top domestic driver — if they don't praise him, there's no one else to praise.

Besides, looking at their notes, they want to praise Tsunoda but can't, only able to sourly remark online that Qin Miao just has a better car.

After Qin Miao's footage was shown, the program switched to the car stopped at the pit entrance, focusing on the right-front end plate of Qin Miao's car.

It's clear to see that the outer edge of Qin Miao's right-front end plate's aerodynamic wing has a scratch, indicating how extreme the corner entry was.

If Qin Miao had increased his entry angle by just 0.1°, he would have ended up like Leclerc.

Of course, the result of Qin Miao's extremity is that the entire front wing is completely scrapped, and the team will need to replace it for the main race.

Post-race interviews and the press conference afterward don't need much elaboration.

Drivers will simply explain their thoughts and actions on the track, what the team has done, and what preparations are made for tomorrow's main race.

The only talking point is that this is the first time since entering F1 that Qin Miao will start from within the midfield pack, and everyone is curious about how Qin Miao will perform on such a difficult-to-overtake track.

In the afternoon, the press conference concluded, and Qin Miao returned to the hotel to rest.

However, knowing the challenge he's facing tomorrow, Qin Miao started reviewing summaries of successful overtakes in recent Monaco races, which the team prepared for him.

After watching for over two hours, Qin Miao went to sleep.

The next morning, Qin Miao woke up, did some light exercises to awaken his body, and then headed early to the track.

Pre-race activities, including meeting with fans, were all in place. After all, for this Monaco Grand Prix, 40% of spectators were let in, so none of the usual routines were missed.

However, after the pre-race activities, at Qimeng's request, Qin Miao went to the entrance of the track.

At that time, the F2 race was ongoing, and typically outsiders are not allowed into the pit area. But since Qin Miao is an F1 driver, he didn't need any credentials, he could just show his face to enter the paddock.

Qimeng was cooling off in the VIP section above the Mercedes team while watching the broadcast, and Qin Miao, while talking to Qimeng on the phone, was walking towards the podium.

Since the F2 race hadn't ended yet, Qin Miao was somewhat puzzled and asked, "What's up? Can't you just explain it over the phone?"

Qimeng's voice was a bit playful: "Oh, stop asking so many questions, just wait over by the pit entrance.

Hey, hey, hey, I see you."

Qin Miao looked up and waved towards the VIP area at Mercedes, where Qimeng was smiling and watching him.

"Alright, go wait, I'm hanging up now."

Qin Miao nodded and put away his phone, then walked towards the pit entrance.

Then, on the way, Qin Miao was stopped by his old teammates from Prema.

Roxin was still as chubby, wearing black-framed glasses.

The others hadn't changed much over the year.

Seeing Qin Miao, the members of Prema were visibly happy. Although it was regrettable for them that Qin Miao didn't eventually drive for Ferrari, Qin Miao had contributed countless races that might seem dull to other spectators but were extremely exciting for Prema staff and fans.