How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 927 - 366: Unlucky Kid Zhou Guanyu (Part 2)
It directly led to him missing the best pit stop time, and by the second lap when he reached the pit lane entrance again, it was already closed.
Because at that time, Matthew was pushing an Alpine and a McLaren towards the pit lane.
The virtual safety car persisted until lap 41, with 9 laps left until the race ended, Qin Miao didn't speed up but maintained a cruising speed on the track, casually preparing to finish the last 9 laps.
Next, all the cameras focused on Leclerc in first place and Verstappen in second.
The two had a thrilling duel on the track for 9 laps.
However, due to a collision between Albon and Stroll on the track in the last two laps, the first sector remained under yellow flags for an extended period, causing Leclerc, following behind Verstappen, to lack DRS on the main straight, the best place for an attack.
When crossing the finish line, Verstappen still defended his position and secured Red Bull's first driver victory of the new season.
Leclerc had to unwillingly settle for second place, while third went to the consistently performing Sainz, fourth to Perez, and fifth to Qin Miao.
It's worth mentioning that despite having an unfavorable starting position and car, Hamilton eventually finished tenth, at least bringing back one point for himself.
After the race ended during the slow-down lap, Qin Miao parked his car in the inspection area and got out to greet other familiar drivers, when he saw a dejected Zhou Guanyu walking past him.
Zhou Guanyu at that moment looked like his energy had been drained, and the whole person seemed lifeless.
However, Qin Miao still had work to process, so even if he wanted to go up and ask what was wrong, he couldn't spare the time.
After completing post-race weighing, Barber found Qin Miao, and seeing Barber approaching, Qin Miao curiously asked, "How did Zhou Guanyu perform in this race?"
"Eleventh."
Qin Miao became even more puzzled; although finishing only eleventh and missing points by just one position is frustrating, it wouldn't make one look as if they've lost their soul, right?
But Qin Miao quickly suppressed his inner doubts and went to accept post-race interviews.
The interview was again conducted by a reporter Qin Miao was very familiar with.
After finishing the interview, Qin Miao returned to the team base and participated in interviews with other media.
Once all media obligations were completed, Qin Miao attended a team meeting, and not until after eleven at night did Qin Miao's work completely conclude.
The final rankings and driver scores for this race are as follows:
P1: Verstappen +25
P2: Leclerc +19 (fastest lap)
P3: Sainz +14
P4: Perez +12
P5: Qin Miao +10
P6: O'Kang +8
P7: Norris +6
P8: Gasly +4
P9: Magelsen +2
P10: Hamilton +1
The driver's championship standings are as follows:
1: Leclerc +51
2: Sainz +32
3: Verstappen +25
4: Qin Miao +24
5: Magelsen +14
6: Hamilton +13
7: Perez +12
8: O'Kang +14
9: Bottas +8
10: Norris +6
11: Zhou Guanyu +4
12: Gasly +4
13: Tsunoda +2
14: Alonso +1
The team's standings are as follows:
1: Ferrari: 83
2: Mercedes: 37 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
3: Red Bull: 37
4: Alpine: 15
5: Haas: 14
6: Alfa Romeo: 12
7: Alpha Tauri: 6
8: McLaren: 6
9: Aston Martin: 0
10: Williams: 0
After the Saudi Grand Prix concluded, the next race is the Australian Grand Prix.
But that's in two weeks.
Having eaten sand in the Middle East for two days, Qin Miao didn't want to stay there any longer. After work finished, Qin Miao didn't even spend an extra day in the Middle East, packed a few things, and flew to France with Qimeng and Zhou Guanyu, along with each driver's assistant.
...
On the plane, Qin Miao poured Zhou Guanyu a cup of coffee, while he held a bottle of cola.
After sitting down, Qin Miao happily took a sip of cola and then reached out to pat the disheartened Zhou Guanyu.
"What's wrong? You look like you've had a couple hundred bucks stolen, looking so down."
Zhou Guanyu looked confused at Qin Miao, "You don't know?"
"No, after the race ended I was always busy, accepting interviews, attending meetings, then thanking fans and sponsors, and right after that I got on the plane. I didn't even have time to take a breath in between."
Zhou Guanyu's mouth twitched, is this the prestige of a world champion?
"It's nothing major, the team screwed me over during the race." Clearly, Zhou Guanyu didn't want to spend more words on this, he was intending to just brush it off with a sentence and switch to another topic.
But Qin Miao didn't care about that, upon hearing juicy gossip, Qin Miao got excited immediately.
"Oh? How did they screw you over? Tell me more."
Zhou Guanyu rolled his eyes, seeing Qin Miao's eager face, he could already predict how Qin Miao would react after he shared the story — he'd probably mock him severely.
But even so, Zhou Guanyu continued, "During the race, due to a positional conflict with Albon, I overtook Albon from the outside of the track.
Then I asked the team if necessary to give the position back."
Qin Miao nodded, "Everything's normal up to this point."
"Are you listening or not?"
Qin Miao quickly mimed zipping his lips, signaling Zhou Guanyu to continue.
Zhou Guanyu then continued, "True, there was still room to fix things, just handing the position back would do. My speed was faster than Albon's, overtaking him was merely a matter of time.
But frustratingly, the team said I didn't need to return the position to Albon."
"It's generally a five-second penalty." Qin Miao couldn't help but interject again.
Zhou Guanyu ignored Qin Miao and continued, "Exactly, a five-second penalty.
At that point, it was tolerable, being penalized for five seconds, whatever, since strictly speaking I didn't insist on my idea and actively handed the position back. I do bear some responsibility.
But then came the infuriating part. I returned to the pit lane under the yellow flag to change tires and accept the penalty."
Pausing there, Zhou Guanyu glanced at Qin Miao and said, "You know the typical procedure for time penalties, right?"
Qin Miao took a sip of cola and stated, "Of course, park the car properly and no technicians are allowed to touch the car, waiting until the penalty time passes before touching the car for tire changes, etc."
"Exactly! That's the norm! But after I parked my car, those idiots immediately lifted my car! And then made me wait right there for five seconds! Five seconds! That would have been fine, but when the penalty time elapsed and it was time to change tires, those idiots suddenly lowered my car!"
Zhou Guanyu was growing increasingly agitated. Qin Miao had the feeling that this guy might directly want to go after the Alfa Romeo team technician responsible for the front jack.
But honestly, putting oneself in Zhou Guanyu's shoes, dealing with such a situation would indeed make anyone furious.
"Then, of course, they had to jack up my car again to change the tires, wasting a total of 15 seconds before the tires were swapped. After running two laps, the team informed me that the five-second penalty doesn't count, it needed to be served again... Sitting in the car, I was literally Minos!"
"Hey, hey, hey, don't use foul language!" Qin Miao quickly stopped Zhou Guanyu.
"Alas…
Finished eleventh, if it weren't for this mess, I could have at least finished ahead of Magelsen…
The most infuriating thing is, one of my Super License points got deducted too."
Initially, when hearing the story, Qin Miao felt some sympathy for Zhou Guanyu, as he truly had a miserable race.
But upon learning that Zhou Guanyu even had a point deducted from his Super License at the end, Qin Miao couldn't hold it back.
"Pfft…"
"You damn!"
