How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 591 - 253: Excessive Is as Bad as Insufficient

During Friday's first practice session, rain was still falling from the sky. The good news was that the rain wasn't too heavy, just light showers, and many areas of the track weren't raining at all.

However, as a rain cloud had just passed, the entire track was wet.

The air conditions were similar to yesterday, with the air temperature at 12 degrees, track temperature at 16 degrees, and air humidity at 90%.

This wasn't an ideal temperature for racing, and the data collected wasn't very useful. The good news was that according to the meteorological department's forecast, it would rain in the next two days as well.

Despite the continuous rain today, there were quite a few spectators at the practice session, with the grass tickets selling as they did before the pandemic. From the aerial view, the grass was packed with RVs and tents.

But the first practice hadn't run for long when the rain gradually stopped, and since there were cars running, the driving line on the track dried completely within about ten minutes.

Qin Miao therefore went to the pit and changed to a new set of intermediate tires.

The weather forecast really is sometimes just unreliable. Qin Miao remembered that before getting in the car, people from the meteorological department confidently told him it would rain throughout both practice sessions.

Yet the rain stopped before the set of intermediate tires finished two laps on the track.

Afterward, the practice session settled into a calm routine, with everyone continually refreshing their test results and probing the limits of their cars on this track.

Quickly, the first practice session ended. Qin Miao ran the fastest lap on a set of soft tires and, rarely, finished first after practice.

The rhythm of the second practice was the same as the first, with Qin Miao helping the team gather a lot of data. But it was worth mentioning that everyone used dry tires in both practices, so the data collected was also that of dry tires.

However, the meteorological department indicated that it would absolutely rain on Saturday and Sunday, and the data collected today with dry tires might not be useful for qualifying or the race.

But at least other teams were in the same situation, and Qin Miao and Mercedes expressed that they could reluctantly accept this.

The second practice session ended, and Qin Miao finally accepted an interview to wrap things up, then clocked out!

Saturday came, and this time the meteorological department got it right; the track was indeed raining as they said.

Bad news, scattered showers; at some places on the track, during the third practice, cars could run along the driving line, while in wet areas, the spray when cars passed was as high as four or five meters.

But at least, according to the weather forecast, the rain would continue until the qualifying session ended.

So the third practice became crucial.

An hour later, Qin Miao eventually chose a high-downforce setup and opted for the higher downforce wing from two new rear wing configurations.

At the same time, Qin Miao also activated a new engine and exhaust gearbox set. It could be said that Qin Miao's team was aiming for the championship in this race.

People say Qin Miao lacks rain combat ability? Then simply give him a new engine and core power components to make up for this shortfall with hardware.

Qualifying.

Right from the start, qualifying was postponed as the rain got heavier in the afternoon, delaying the start time.

The specific start time depended mainly on when the rain would subside.

Yet despite all this, the audience still filled the venue, with tents and RVs all over the lawn.

During the waiting time for qualifying to start, Qin Miao and the drivers couldn't wander around, so they had to stay in the team's garage.

While waiting for the qualifying session to start, Qin Miao was different from his teammate Hamilton. The Old Man directly put on his helmet and waited in his car, while Qin Miao leisurely sat behind Toto in a spot specially prepared for drivers.

Once the live broadcast director started searching for camera angles, they happened upon a shot of a photographer focusing on Qin Miao.

Because of Qin Miao's position on the leaderboard at the time, the live broadcast director specially found an angle that captured Hamilton sitting in the car in preparation, while simultaneously showing Qin Miao on the other side, head down, occupied with something.

The director just put this picture out there.

Meanwhile, the photographer slightly tilted his camera upwards, perfectly framing whatever Qin Miao was looking at.

A slight zoom revealed that Qin Miao held a red Switch...

This guy is slacking off during work hours again...

If Hamilton and Qin Miao weren't in the same shot, Qin Miao playing games during downtime before the race wouldn't invite much comment.

It might even make many feel a kindred spirit with Qin Miao, as quite a few people want to sneak off and relax during their daily work and life too.

But by chance, the shot had both Qin Miao and his teammate Hamilton, where Hamilton at this time was sitting in his car, waiting for the race to restart.

It's always a worry when you have comparisons, and with Qin Miao's teammate Hamilton providing the contrast, Qin Miao's actions appeared a bit unprofessional.

Some immediately thought Qin Miao was becoming arrogant because he was ahead of his teammate on the scoreboard.

And even fans wanting to defend Qin Miao didn't have very good arguments at the time since the image was so impactful.

Actually, Qin Miao was still somewhat restrained at this moment because previously he had played on his phone while waiting for the race to start. But during races, using communication devices led to a 5000 euro fine from the team.