Of course, although there has been a feud between the two from the moment Qin Miao entered F1, in this semi-public occasion, no one will break up and do something irrational.
Both sides shook hands with each other with smiles on their faces, exchanged a few words, and then ignored each other and started chatting with familiar riders.
Qin Miao has grown up now. No matter how slow he is, he will gain some experience points after staying in the paddock for a year, not to mention Qiu Meng's guidance and now Alyssa's on-site teaching.
In addition, F1 drivers basically live under cameras all the time when they are in the paddock, and no matter how they have grudges in private, they will not be exposed.
"I see you did almost two hundred laps during the winter test, right? How was it? How is the performance of Mercedes-Benz's car this year?" When everyone else found a driver they could chat with and waited for the interview to begin.
Seemingly unintentionally, Leclerc leaned against a box with Qin Miao and asked this question lightly.
Qin Miao glanced sideways at Leclerc, then sighed and said: "The situation is not optimistic. My winter test results were obtained by running in qualifying. You should also have seen the final ranking. My winter test results The fastest lap wasn’t even as fast as the Alpine.”
"It's not interesting if you answer the question like this, isn't it?" Leclerc said, "You're a liar?" Looking at Qin Miao with an expression on his face.
Qin Miao crossed his arms and said, "You didn't have a good heart when you asked this question, and you still have the nerve to accuse me."
Leclerc's handsome face was full of indifference. Since he couldn't get any useful information from Qin Miao, he naturally changed the topic: "It's not peaceful inside Ferrari recently. Many people are watching you on the track. performance.”
Qin Miao didn't know what Leclerc's words meant at the beginning. He just thought it would be great if there was no peace within Ferrari. Ferrari's gang only knew how many political enemies could die, and it would be best if they all died.
But thinking of what Leclerc said later, Qin Miao couldn't help but think more about it.
Qin Miao gradually understood the meaning of Leclerc's words.
Originally, Sainz's position was his own, but later, due to some manipulations by the smart people inside Ferrari, his position was no longer available, which directly led to his departure.
It was okay if Qin Miao left, but Qin Miao joined Mercedes without giving up. This made Ferrari's senior executives who squeezed Qin Miao away unable to sit still.
At this time, Qin Miao's performance on the field was not only related to Qin Miao's own interests and those of his Mercedes team, but also related to Ferrari's face.
Because if Qin Miao's performance is better than that of Sains, then Ferrari will definitely become the laughing stock in the paddock.
Although Qin Miao entrusted Mercedes to find Ferrari to terminate the contract, anyone who knows the inside story knows that the real reason for Qin Miao's departure was that he could no longer drive F1 at Ferrari.
This kind of thing is probably only Ferrari can do to force away the talented drivers in its youth training camp who can kill everyone in F2 competition.
Everyone at Ferrari already has a clown's red nose on their nose. If this happens again, the clown's red nose will probably get bigger again.
Leclerc told Qin Miao the news just to let Qin Miao know that if his performance in F1 is good enough, someone in Ferrari will suffer.
In Leclerc's opinion, this news will make Qin Miao happier.
To be honest, Leclerc guessed it right, and Qin Miao was indeed very happy after knowing the news.
Although Qin Miao now has a better place than the circus, the feeling of being stabbed in the back is still fresh in Qin Miao's memory. Although Qin Miao is not kicked out, Qin Miao's state at that time is different from being kicked out. Being kicked out makes no difference.
Now that he finally had a chance to take revenge, Qin Miao was full of energy.
"Thank you." After learning the news, Qin Miao sincerely thanked Leclerc.
Leclerc seemed to understand nothing. After Qin Miao said thank you, he had a puzzled look on his face: "What? Thank you for what?"
Seeing Leclerc's performance, Qin Miao clicked her tongue: "You're really wasting your talent if you don't become an actor."
"Rather than an actor, I would rather be a pianist, like Lang Lang in your country." Leclerc shrugged and smiled.
"I can't appreciate these elegant things anyway. If you gave me a choice between an e-sports competition and a concert, I would definitely choose the former."
While the two were chatting, Norris's voice suddenly broke in: "E-sports competition? What kind of game competition?"
After turning around and discovering that it was Norris wearing a McLaren uniform, Qin Miao didn't hide anything: "CSGO, I think CSGO games are one of the most entertaining games in e-sports. Apart from CSGO, I only Let’s watch the LOL S game.”
"I have played CSGO. It is indeed a good game, but I cannot play LOL. I can't describe the operation of this game."
"Is that so? Let's have some fun together if we have a chance."
"Of course, by the way, do you play PUBG?"
…
The three of them chatted about the game for almost five minutes. Soon cheers came from the stage in front, and the voice of the female host reached Qin Miao and the others.
"Let us welcome with applause: Leclerc, Norris, Russell, Tsunoda, Qin Miao!"
Amid moderate cheers from the audience, the backstage door leading to the stage was pushed open. Leclerc smiled at Qin Miao: "It's our turn, don't be too nervous when facing the audience."
Qin Miao shrugged: "Brother, how are you with a top-notch heart?"
Afterwards, Qin Miao and others walked out of the backstage while waving to the audience.
After going out, Qin Miao saw densely packed heads of people wearing masks, and it was completely dark.
To be honest, this was the first time for Qin Miao to see so many people, and most of them were looking at her. The feeling of being watched by a lot of people really made Qin Miao feel nervous.
And there are not too many visitors today, after all, due to the impact of the epidemic.
Qin Miao could no longer imagine how many people would come to such a scene after the epidemic.
He wiped the sweat from his palms on his pants without leaving a trace, and sat down on the sofa under the guidance of the host.
Including the interview process, there are no changes. A few questions, talking about the current situation of the team, the driver's own outlook for this year, and his feelings about the country of Bahrain.
It is worth mentioning that Qin Miao saw many Asian faces in the audience below.
And when they saw Qin Miao looking over, they immediately waved to Qin Miao excitedly. If nothing else, they must be Qin Miao's fans.
Qin Miao originally thought that during this special period, most ordinary people were thinking about self-protection. Even if there were people coming to watch the game, there shouldn't be too many. However, at a glance, those Asians wearing black Mercedes uniforms were not there. Quite a few.
Qin Miao reluctantly smiled and nodded at them, then turned her attention to the stage and began to answer the host's questions.
…
Originally, after the interview, there would be a session for the drivers to sign autographs for the fans, but due to the special circumstances, it was changed to each team preparing some hats, and the drivers signed the hats, and then threw the hats to the audience.
Qin Miao deliberately threw a few more hats into the group of fans wearing Mercedes uniforms, and Qin Miao basically did not hide his behavior. He just threw a few more signed ones in that direction openly and openly. hat.
Qin Miao's calf-protecting attribute hidden deep in his heart was revealed for the first time.
After the event, Qin Miao, Leclerc and Norris returned to the paddock together.
Norris finally met a person of the same age who had the same hobbies as himself, so he talked a little more on the way back.
After entering the paddock, Qin Miao's work is not over yet. Although Qin Miao ran almost 200 laps in Bahrain during the winter test, and his proficiency in the Bahrain track in his system is more than 900, Qin Miao still wants to go. Walk the circuit.
On the one hand, it is to deepen my impression of this track. On the other hand, it is because walking on the track can observe the track in more detail and discover some details that cannot be found in simulators and cars.
After getting a new hat and buckling it on, and asking the team's logistics team to get some parasols, Qin Miao took Frankie, Barber, and other crew members who needed to walk on the track onto the track.
The day passed like this on Thursday.
On Friday, Qin Miao did not need to attend the interview today. In the morning, he held a meeting at the newly built team home.
I mainly talked about the characteristics of the track in Bahrain and the main content of today's work. In addition to finding the driver's sweet spot for tuning the car, there are also unfinished data from the winter test that need to be run.
After the meeting, Qin Miao and the old man took a rest, and the technicians began to busy decorating the P room...
Two o'clock in the afternoon.
Qin Miao dressed neatly in the lounge and came to the P room of the team with her helmet in hand.
At this time, Qin Miao's only skill that can be replaced at any time is [Guide of the Research Department]. The efficiency of the team and staff during the practice session is still more important.
If it really comes time to test how fast his tires are wearing out, Qin Miao can just change his skills back when the time comes.
It is worth mentioning that from the moment Qin Miao came out of the car home, the "Drive to Survive" film crew carried long microphones and cameras to follow Qin Miao.
After all, Qin Miao is a member of the Mercedes team, and he is also a talented driver whose talent is visible to the naked eye. The film crew will definitely not let go of Qin Miao's material.
Qin Miao is still not used to this, and her body is obviously stiff. It is obvious that Qin Miao cannot adapt to the environment of living under the cameras and being watched all the time in the paddock in a short period of time.
At the beginning, I felt that the cockpit of the racing car was very closed. It felt very crowded when sitting in it, and I couldn’t move at all.
Arriving at room P, Qin Miao greeted the crew members and then walked over to chat with the old man.
Although the driver's training is generally not made public, Qin Miao didn't hesitate to ask.
The old man had no intention of hiding anything from Qin Miao, so he openly told Qin Miao his racing settings and the reasons for his settings.
The old man even taught Qin Miao some tips he had learned from racing cars for so many years.
“Even though Bahrain’s main straight looks smooth, you will actually feel some bumps when driving at high speed, but if you take a relatively large S-shaped route, you can effectively avoid these bumps, so that the vehicle’s The traction will be maintained at all times, and you can enter the bend about 2 kilometers per hour faster than going straight.
I will draw a picture for you then, and you can try it out on the track during practice. "
"Thank you very much, Lewis." Qin Miao also thanked her sincerely.
Qin Miao has only driven F2 on this track.
The top speed of F2 is not on the same level as that of F1. In fact, Qin Miao doesn't know how the F1 car will perform on the track when it reaches its speed limit.
Although Qin Miao can rely on his gradually enriched driving experience and learn these small details in practice, it will undoubtedly waste Qin Miao's time. Now with the old man's tips, Qin Miao can Have more time to focus on improving other aspects.
Of course, in addition to this, Qin Miao also learned some other tricks, but I won’t go into details here.
However, with every gain comes disappointment. The old man's racing training and Qin Miao's driving style are completely opposite extremes.
Qin Miao's personal driving style is biased toward understeer. To put it simply, Qin Miao prefers low-pressure tuning.
The old man’s tuning tends to be oversteer, which is high downforce tuning.
Two different styles doomed both parties to have less to learn from in terms of training.
However, the brake balance settings and differential ratio settings of Laohan Racing did give Qin Miao a lot of inspiration.
The brake balance setting was directly copied by Qin Miao and was tried during the practice session.
If it works well, keep it; if it doesn't work, adjust it later.
The differential setting only has a reference value for Qin Miao. Qin Miao has his own experience in using differentials.
After the two communicated for a while, the time for the first practice gradually approached.
The work efficiency of the Mercedes team staff was extremely high today, so while Qin Miao and Hamilton were chatting, both cars had completed the process of warming up and igniting, and were ready to hit the track at any time.
Following the signal from the crew technicians of Qin Miao and Lao Han, the two ended their pleasant conversation and returned to their cars to start the final preparations before the race.
Qin Miao put on a sweat-absorbent hood, jammed the Hans system, and finally put on a helmet with only a few sponsors. The preparations were completed.
Stepping over the flip-flops, Qin Miao entered his racing car.
He inserted his lower body into the racing car, and Qin Miao's body lay down inside the racing car.
After putting on the gloves hanging next to his flip-flops, plugging into the communication headphone jack of the helmet, and connecting the drinking hose inside the helmet, Qin Miao completed her preparations in the racing car.
"I'm ready." After everything was prepared and waiting for the steering wheel to start, Qin Miao said in the TR.
Although the steering wheel is the brain of the racing car, the TR system and the racing system are two independent systems. The steering wheel is not activated and does not affect the team's TR communication.
"Roger, FP1 starts in 2 minutes, please stand by."
Qin Miao didn't answer. Instead, he looked at the two screens between his flip-flops and flipped through his first practice tasks...
Two minutes later, a voice came from the TR: "FP1 is about to start. If you want to go out, you can go out at any time."
Qin Miao did not hesitate and pressed the button on his steering wheel that reminded him that he was ready to go.
After receiving Qin Miao's signal, his crew technicians immediately lifted the insulation blankets on Qin Miao's four tires, revealing the brand new 13-inch red Pirelli tires under the insulation blanket.
At the same time, the jacks in the front and rear directions of Qin Miao's racing car were also lowered. Qin Miao felt his car body shake and the racing car fell to the ground.
Barber took a few steps back to help Qin Miao observe the track. After confirming that it was correct, he gave Qin Miao a signal to drive out of the P room.
Qin Miao took advantage of the situation and refueled, driving his racing car away amid the harsh friction sound of tires and the ground.
…
In PF1, Qin Miao's performance was quite satisfactory. It tested the tire wear of long-distance driving without load, and also tested what Qin Miao's flight lap could achieve when the engine output power was reduced by 10%.
Qin Miao ultimately ranked 6th in the first practice session.
In PF2, Qin Miao found his comfortable tuning settings and differential ratio. At the same time, Qin Miao's four brake balance settings were also adjusted.
Although there is still room for improvement, Qin Miao still has the team's testing tasks. Qin Miao will not have time to adjust the car's tuning in tomorrow's third practice.
Qin Miao ultimately ranked 9th in the second practice session.
…
The next day, Saturday, March 27th.
Today is the day when the third practice and qualifying starts.
In PF3, Qin Miao was mainly helping Brackley's engineers run the aerodynamic data of the car, while the old man continued to find his own training.
This is the status of the No. 1 driver. Any dirty work for the team will be handed over to the No. 2 driver.
The old man ran his own training dessert, while Qin Miao helped the team run data.
However, Qin Miao already knew his identity as the second driver in the team before agreeing to join Toto at Mercedes, so he had no unnecessary negative emotions about it.
While running the data, Qin Miao also tested the consistency of the car after tire degradation after long-distance driving.
After these three practice sessions, Qin Miao has used a total of five sets of tires, and now he still has five sets of soft tires, one set of new hard tires, and two sets of medium tires.
Qin Miao has two more sets of soft tires and one more set of medium tires than his teammate Hamilton.
There's no way around it, it's so cool to have strong tire protection. Having more tires means more tactical options and fault tolerance during competition.
In the qualifying stage, Qin Miao no longer needs to worry about the use of his tires.
At 5:45 pm local time, the F1 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying is about to begin.
Three commentators from Five Star Sports are ready to go. (End of chapter)
