How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 496 - 220:

The point is, Qin Miao is just someone who found his optimal racing setup in just one practice session.

Actually, Qin Miao’s operation was quite ordinary. Following the team’s protocols, he first transferred the setup settings he often used in the simulator to the real-world race car.

After modifying some settings that would conflict between the simulator and reality, Qin Miao then changed into a set of new soft tires for a long-distance test with heavy fuel, as arranged by the team.

Then, Qin Miao and the team realized that Qin Miao’s speed was unusually fast.

Upon returning, Qin Miao was also quite surprised. The driving experience of the car was so perfect, it felt like it was tailored to his driving habits.

It’s amazing, but when Reyes and the team found out about it, they were just somewhat surprised and happy.

Qin Miao could tell that their happiness was purely due to having a lot less work to do in the coming days.

In the first practice, Qin Miao unexpectedly ended the session with a speed nearly a second faster than the second place Hamilton.

It wasn’t until the break between the first and second practice sessions that Qin Miao asked Hamilton and found out.

Despite Qin Miao’s situation being very unique, a purely accidental occurrence, it wasn’t unheard of in the paddock. Sometimes, just making random adjustments to the car lead to it becoming the most comfortable driving state.

These are considered lucky breaks.

If put into an F1 team manager game, it’s like you just entered the game, made random car setup adjustments during the first practice, and were shocked to find that the driver’s compatibility with the car reached 100% after the session.

Of course, Hamilton didn’t explain for free. After explaining, Hamilton directly took Qin Miao’s setup data and used it to adjust the settings for his own car.

It’s worth mentioning that in the second practice session, Qin Miao didn’t participate at all, but instead gave all the time to Mercedes’ junior driver De Vries.

Originally, after Qin Miao found the optimal setup for his car, the subsequent work was quite simple, which involved helping the team’s logistical department gather data and test tires.

This work can be done by any driver with a bit of experience, and FIA happens to have certain mandatory requirements in this regard, requiring teams to ensure that rookie drivers participate in at least two practice sessions during a season.

Isn’t that just right? So De Vries took over.

De Vries also performed well in FE, so he shouldn’t end up wrecking Qin Miao’s car by running in the second practice.

And Qin Miao didn’t have any other requests for De Vries, just not to crash, and to drive his car out and back in full intact condition.

Fortunately, this practice session also concerned De Vries’ potential future entry into F1, so he wasn’t too reckless. He simply followed the team’s instructions for car testing and brought Qin Miao’s car back in one piece.

Moreover, according to Qin Miao, Mercedes cars are pretty much the most operable among all F1 cars.

Anyone with a bit of F2 racing background shouldn’t find it difficult to handle this car.

Friday passed in such tranquility.

Saturday, the day for the third practice session and qualifying starts.

It’s worth mentioning that the French Grand Prix also opened entry channels for spectators, allowing 30% of the audience inside.

Therefore, even for yesterday’s second practice, some stands were filled.

Consequently, the team’s VIP activities also restarted. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Among these activities, there’s a track experience event that typically involves some professional drivers taking VIPs for a thrilling ride on the track.

Previously, Mercedes always used reserve drivers for this, and back when Qin Miao was still in F2 and hadn’t had a fallout with Ferrari, he also worked as a laborer there. Back then, despite Qin Miao dominating F2, he was still a nobody in the minds of F1 fans.

But today is different, today the team specially arranged an event, and although it was advertised that the ride along with VIPs on the track would be led by Mercedes’ junior drivers, Qin Miao was actually scheduled by the team to participate in the track event before the third practice.

Of course, Qin Miao is no longer a worker, he’s more of a VIP now. After picking a few lucky VIPs to sit in his car and have some fun, not everyone could have Qin Miao as their chauffeur.

Honestly, the reason Qin Miao agreed to the team’s request to come over and driver was mainly because he found it quite amusing.

He was also curious to see what kind of expressions those people would have when they discovered that the unknown driver taking them around was actually F1’s superstar, Mercedes’ Crown Prince, and future successor Qin Miao.

Moreover, this is also a way for Qin Miao to increase his personal influence.

This time, the car was an AMG GT with the same model as the safety car, and its exterior was black.

Qin Miao wore a short sleeve Mercedes shirt and a fully enclosed black helmet commonly used by Mercedes technicians during tire changes before getting into the car.

This disguise completely covered Qin Miao’s face, and although it wasn’t as comfortable as a half helmet, its main feature was making him hard to recognize.

After a final check of his disguise, ensuring that even Qimeng wouldn’t be able to recognize him if appearing in front of him, Qin Miao turned his head to give a thumbs-up to the Mercedes staff, indicating he was ready to receive guests.