How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 493 - 219: Mercedes’ Problems (7/19)

It wasn’t until this moment that the two suddenly realized that Hamilton seemed to have not spoken for a while now.

Turning their heads, they saw Hamilton leaning back in his chair, looking up at the sky, lost in thought.

At this time, Hamilton’s head was already beginning to feel a bit dizzy, but his mind was still clear.

After confirming Hamilton’s state, Toto didn’t ask him to drink anymore. The most enjoyable state of drinking was exactly like Hamilton’s current state.

Your head starts to feel dizzy, yet your body feels fine, and your mind is still functioning.

That’s what is called being microdrunk.

Then Hamilton’s physical trainer and assistant, Angela, came to take the Old Man away.

After that, Qin Miao inquired about the motorhome, and after confirming that his current driver’s license allowed him to drive one, he relaxed and borrowed a not-yet-released motorhome from Mercedes.

Qin Miao and Toto chatted at the dining table until ten-thirty before they each went their separate ways.

Up to this point, all of Qin Miao’s work in Azerbaijan was basically finished.

He and the Mercedes team would both have a half-month of rest and preparation time.

And after this preparation period, it’s the triple-header starting in France.

Back-to-back doubleheaders are already painful for Qin Miao and the team, and now they have to face a back-to-back triple-header, which is the pain within the pain.

But this is life, and Qin Miao is happy to experience some different things in such a cycle of races and life.

Of course, these are matters for half a month later, and all Qin Miao needs to do now is return to the hotel, take a comfortable bath, and sleep.

However, Qin Miao’s victory is not a small matter for him and the country’s motorsport fans.

So even though it was already late at night, nearing 11 PM, the news quickly topped the hot search on various social media platforms.

And it became the top in a short time.

But all of this happened while Qin Miao was asleep, and even if someone specifically messaged him about it, he couldn’t see it.

Although the country no longer needs a Chinese person to prove the nation’s strength to the world, or needs the recognition of others so urgently.

It’s like you wouldn’t refuse domestic photovoltaics, electric vehicles, or rare earths dominating foreign industries, the general public wouldn’t refuse the emergence of a top-ranked F1 driver from their own country.

The local motorsport fans are quite straightforward; one guy even spent 300,000 to rent the outer light curtain of a building in Shenzhen, playing footage of Qin Miao’s championship win and podium moment at high intensity.

Others, like putting a number 66 sticker on their car, buying a Qin Miao-style helmet, or applying his car’s livery and decals on their vehicle, are countless.

More importantly, unlike the incomprehensible photovoltaics, F1 has inherent entertainment value and it only takes a little understanding to get into it.

As a result, because of Qin Miao, there are more and more F1 fans in the country.

Qin Miao’s dedicated forum and fan club have also seen increasing numbers.

It’s a thriving scene where everything competes to flourish.

...

The next day, Qin Miao packed up a bit and returned to the UK.

On Monday, Qin Miao didn’t work.

After completing his morning physical training, Qin Miao and Qimeng, like an ordinary couple, went to a nearby supermarket for shopping, bought some ingredients for dinner, then accompanied Qimeng to buy some clothes. They didn’t return home for lunch but chose an Italian restaurant outside.

In the afternoon, Qin Miao didn’t play games; instead, he took his fishing gear to a pond near his home and spent the afternoon fishing, having a little success, but not much.

However, this is the only way in his busy F1 career that he can let his mind relax and slow down.

Moreover, Qin Miao thought, if the motorhome arrived, could he perhaps go fishing in more distant places?

At the same time, when preparing to return home in the afternoon, Qin Miao learned from Qimeng that he had made it onto domestic news broadcasts again.

However, this time, it wasn’t as long as the first time, and they didn’t deliberately introduce Qin Miao, they only showed his national anthem moment on the podium, and the host mentioned it briefly.

On Tuesday, Qin Miao continued to rest. This day, he didn’t go fishing; he exercised in the morning and spent the rest of the time playing two rounds of CSGO, then in the afternoon, he was approached by the Speed of Life filming crew to shoot a video and several interview clips.

Though there weren’t many scenes, it still took almost more than three hours to get it all done.

That afternoon, with a bit of time left, Qin Miao didn’t go home; he was recording near Silverstone, so he went to Zhou Guanyu’s house, had a meal there, and left a bunch of kitchen waste before returning home satisfied.

On Wednesday, Qin Miao’s day became more regular, with physical training in the morning and simulator practice in the afternoon.

To put it simply, it was practicing the tracks while gaining proficiency on them, and earning a bit of Purple Lottery on the side.

Thursday followed the same routine.

On Friday, Qin Miao returned to the Mercedes’ Brackley Factory to start his work routine.

Things like developing and testing new car parts, recording fan and charity videos were not worth mentioning.

The only noteworthy thing was that Mercedes brought up the issues encountered by the team in Azerbaijan during the team meeting.

The drag problem on the straights was particularly highlighted.

But truth be told, Mercedes had been dominant for so long, and all of FIA’s technical directives are aimed at hitting Mercedes’ main artery.

Both openly and covertly, everyone wants to pull Mercedes off the pedestal.

Under such targeted suppression, this W12 is the best design the Mercedes engineers can come up with based on the current car design philosophy.

According to Qin Miao’s driving experience from the last few races, this W12 indeed offers a great driving experience.

At least compared to last season’s Ferrari SF1000, it’s better in terms of acceleration, handling, or steering.

The most crucial thing is, thanks to years of accumulation and adjustments, the tuning window of the Mercedes car is quite large.

This means as long as you don’t mess up the settings, the car won’t be too difficult to drive. It’s also easier to find the most comfortable setup for the driver within a larger tuning window compared to cars with a smaller tuning window.

The best comparison in the paddock is between Mercedes and Red Bull. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Red Bull’s current design philosophy is to put all efforts into stacking the car’s performance.