How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 893 - 353: Blossoms in Full Bloom

Outside the paddock, Qin Miao naturally saw quite a few racing fans.

It's worth mentioning that nowadays, many domestic fans who are affluent or financially independent are expressing on social media that they intend to follow Qin Miao through all of his 2022 season races.

And at the paddock entrance on Friday, Qin Miao saw quite a few shadows of Chinese fans.

What? You ask how to tell if someone is a Chinese fan?

The Mercedes team attire, the red Mercedes team cap that only Qin Miao wears — you don't need to check their skin color. As long as you see fans dressed like this in the paddock, eight or nine out of ten are Qin Miao's fans.

Qin Miao has always been quite enthusiastic with his fans.

So when he saw these people at the entrance waving and calling his name, Qin Miao also smiled and greeted them.

Qin Miao even considered walking over to chat and take some photos, but with Barber's reminder, Qin Miao had no choice but to wave and then reluctantly leave.

Because the entrance area has a high traffic flow, but you can't block the fans and strictly scrutinize the people entering, as this would severely disrupt the work efficiency of other team personnel.

So the FIA chose to let fans in but have regulations stating that when drivers encounter fans at the paddock entrance, they can't linger — they should at most say hello and go inside, without affecting the normal passage of other team staff. There's a dedicated channel for fans and drivers to meet later, where signatures, handshakes, and photo ops are fine.

Inside the paddock, looking at the bustling crowd, Qin Miao suddenly felt a sense of nostalgia.

The only regret is that many familiar faces are no longer here, like Vettel, Giovinazzi, and Director Lado.

Since Mercedes won the team championship again last season, their team location this season is still at the front of the pit lane, by the pit entrance.

So Qin Miao and Barber walked through the entire pit lane together.

Qin Miao vaguely remembered when he first joined Mercedes last season walking this path, perhaps some might cast curious glances his way, but the situation now is different:

"Good morning, Qin Miao, looking good."

"Morning! Qin Miao."

"Look who's here, our world champion."

"Good morning, world champion."

... 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Basically, anyone slightly familiar with Qin Miao would smile and greet him upon seeing him.

Even those who aren't familiar would have a friendly smile on their face when looking at Qin Miao.

And when Qin Miao passed by Alfa Romeo's team entrance, he happened to see Zhou Guanyu being interviewed by journalists.

Qin Miao was long used to these interviews, but at this moment, Zhou Guanyu seemed a bit nervous.

Thinking for a moment, Qin Miao greeted Barber and then sneaked to the blind spot of Zhou Guanyu's view.

Behind Zhou Guanyu were other members of the Alfa Romeo team, who saw Qin Miao approaching and prepared to greet him, but then saw him gesture for silence. They didn't want to create trouble, so they just shut their mouths and waited for the scene to unfold.

Then they saw Qin Miao quietly coming up behind Zhou Guanyu, just as Zhou Guanyu was puzzled about why the cameraman in front of him suddenly raised the camera lens to aim at his right side. Zhou Guanyu's shoulder was suddenly heavily tapped.

In his tense state, Zhou Guanyu was startled on the spot.

Knowing what would happen once Zhou Guanyu realized the prank was on him, Qin Miao laughed and ran away after startling Zhou, leaving Zhou Guanyu swearing in place.

And their interaction was captured by the camera on-site.

Qin Miao didn't know that this was actually a live broadcast...

[That was real...]

[Good friends, messing around.]

[So funny, Zhou Guanyu almost got scared off.]

[Qin Miao is too skilled at pranking and running, clearly not his first time doing this.]

[Leclerc: I have something to say about this.]

[Did Qin Miao prank Leclerc during an interview too?]

[Of course, but Leclerc held a grudge and waited for his chance to return the favor after being scared.]