How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

The five red lights light up one after another.

Qin Miao's car had a minor upgrade in Monaco, specifically a modification to the clutch trigger mechanism.

The clutch release method was changed to a release style.

This means that after Qin Miao presses the clutch button, the clutch doesn't lock the engine's driveshaft to deliver power to the tires. Instead, it waits until the clutch button is pressed again to release and then provides power.

Although this starting method is somewhat counterintuitive, tests by the team showed that this start is on average about 0.05 seconds faster than the press method.

The only difficulty to overcome is getting the drivers to change their starting habits.

And F1 drivers are never short on perseverance, so this upgrade poses no major issues.

Qin Miao also got accustomed to this operating method at the Brackley factory.

Amid the roars of the engines of 19 F1 cars, the five red lights light up and then go out.

"The five red lights are out! The race has started!"

Qin Miao didn't know how the front group started, but he felt his start was definitely an extraordinary performance. He clearly saw that Ricardo on his front right had a slower start than him by half a beat, and O'Kang in front was obviously being caught up by him.

Starting from behind, Qin Miao had quite a distance to T1.

So, from the start until the T1 section, Qin Miao had enough time to attempt an overtake on these two cars.

O'Kang started slightly faster than Ricardo, leaving just a gap wide enough for one car in between.

Qin Miao knew O'Kang wouldn't easily give up his position, so seeing the gap, he directly drove into it.

It's fortunate that Ricardo's racing experience was rich enough to know he had a slow start, and Qin Miao had squeezed in.

If he didn't give way, a major collision would occur, so after Qin Miao came in, Ricardo, although not slowing down, slightly turned inward, providing Qin Miao a wider space to enter the corner.

Qin Miao successfully advanced a position at the start and took the inside line.

O'Kang noticed Qin Miao had taken the inside and was relatively faster. Certainly, he wouldn't let Qin Miao overtake him easily.

Furthermore, Giovinazzi in front of Qin Miao also had an average start, and there was no longer a gap between him and O'Kang for Qin Miao to squeeze in.

Qin Miao had no choice but to ease off the throttle slightly and see if he could overtake O'Kang depending on their handling of T1.

If his maneuvers were good enough, he'd move directly up two positions into the scoring area from the start.

Qin Miao kept his eyes fixed on O'Kang, observing Giovinazzi ahead in his peripheral vision.

Soon, both O'Kang and Qin Miao were side by side entering the T1 braking zone.

Qin Miao adjusted his brake balance forward by 2% and kept his eyes fixed on O'Kang.

To gain the line advantage at T1, Qin Miao had to be ahead of O'Kang when entering the turn. To achieve this, Qin Miao relied on not only the car's braking performance but also braking later than O'Kang.

Qin Miao waited until O'Kang started braking before he slammed the brakes.

If it hadn't been for a corner that allowed braking, Qin Miao, before braking, intentionally adjusted his brake balance forward by 2%, significantly enhancing braking efficiency. This move would have ended up with him crashing into Giovinazzi ahead.

But in reality, Qin Miao didn't collide with Giovinazzi in front and managed to overtake O'Kang by half a front wing before entering the corner, securing the line advantage.

On any other track with a buffer zone, Qin Miao wouldn't hesitate to block O'Kang's entry line completely and push him off the track.

But this was Monte Carlo circuit, and there were no buffer zones at all.

So Qin Miao left O'Kang some space, but it wasn't enough for O'Kang to force his way in from the outside line and would have to delay acceleration at the exit to ensure he didn't lose position.

And Qin Miao completed the remarkable feat of overtaking two cars from the start.

However, by this time, the broadcast was entirely focused on the top three drivers, and the camera didn't point at Qin Miao. Moreover, the rankings on the left hadn't been updated yet, so no one knew Qin Miao overtook two cars from the start except the on-site audience.

After that, the Monte Carlo circuit straightened all the cars.

Until entering T8, there were no cars side by side on the track.

When Verstappen at the front reached T18, the Monaco broadcast finally displayed the driver rankings on the left.

The first was Verstappen, followed by Sainz, Norris.

If no accidents occurred on the track, the race was pretty much over. The top three would undoubtedly be these three.

This is the F1 Monaco Grand Prix.

And behind these three were Gasly, Hamilton, Vettel, Perez, Giovinazzi, Qin Miao, O'Kang, Stroll, Kimi, Ricardo, Alonso, Russell, Latifi, Mick, Mazepin.

It's evident that Ricardo's poor start cost him more than one place, and he probably wouldn't have a good time within McLaren after this race.

Aside from Qin Miao, there weren't significant changes in others' positions.

"Eh?! Qin Miao advanced two positions at the start!" With the rankings now visible, the three commentators finally noticed Qin Miao had made a significant move in the standings.

"Qin Miao, now in ninth, has entered the points zone!" Bing was also very surprised.

Brother Ran remarked somewhat exasperatedly, "What's up with the broadcast? Rewind! Such an amazing overtake at the Monaco start can't go unshown!"

The other two commentators nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, this broadcasting is unprofessional."

[Qin Miao!]

[It has to be you]

[Damn, is this the Ferrari reject?]

[What do you mean by Ferrari reject? Qin Miao left Ferrari on his own accord. It just shows Qin Miao had foresight, leaving Ferrari's mire early on.]

[I really respect this Monaco broadcast, unable to switch angles, catch overtakes, or play replays. Better change careers and tighten screws at a factory instead.]

[Broadcast, watch for the pit entry timing.]

The fiery comments on Tieba flared up after seeing the broadcast's handling.

After Qin Miao completed two overtakes without losing position, Frankie's voice also came through on the TR, "Well done! Those overtakes were brilliant."

Toto and the Mercedes team staff couldn't help but applaud in joy after seeing Qin Miao's overtaking.

Qin Miao also sighed in relief. Honestly, both overtakes were dangerous and were forced. Any mistakes could have resulted in collisions requiring pit stops for repairs or even retirement.

But now, it was alright. Qin Miao gained the position he wanted and didn't incur any car damage.

By the time lap two was halfway through, amid the commentators' and viewers' complaints, the broadcast finally released Qin Miao's first-person perspective from the start phase.

The three commentators praised it considerably after seeing it, all the details and bold moves from Qin Miao's start were top-tier.

If it were an average F1 driver, even with the opportunity in front of them, they might not have the courage Qin Miao had to forcefully go through those gaps.

Even if they did have that courage, their maneuvers wouldn't likely match Qin Miao's precision.

However, after Qin Miao's overtakes, the race settled into a dull phase, as it was really hard for the cars this season to overtake.

The diffuser Qin Miao used could indeed provide plenty of downforce, but at the same time, the airflow discharged was all turbulence.

This turbulence partially disrupted the aerodynamic effect of the following car, reducing its downforce.

Additionally, the DRS zone on Monte Carlo's track was too short to facilitate overtakes unless the driver in front made errors.

This was the problem Qin Miao now faced.

Giovinazzi ahead wasn't that fast, and Qin Miao wasn't conserving his tires, but he couldn't catch up in a short time.

Until lap five, after exiting T19, Qin Miao spotted a small mistake from Giovinazzi; his car didn't fully utilize the track upon exiting.

Seeing this, Qin Miao's eyes lit up as an opportunity arose. He hadn't used his ERS in full power until now and also opened his DRS.