How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 1107: Chapter 421: Champion Before the Summer Break_2

"Well done, Qin Miao. This is yet another Pole to win in your career. If I’m not mistaken, this should be your fifth Pole to win. Enjoy your moment of glory." Frankie’s voice always seems to play like a BGM every time Qin Miao wins.

"Let’s go!! Hahahaha! Awesome!" Even though he knew there was a high probability of winning this race today, the feeling of victory hitting the pocket was entirely different.

And while Qin Miao is no stranger to this feeling, every time he truly wins, he can’t help but feel happy.

This might be why so many people pursue the F1 championship so tirelessly.

Toto also chimed in on the conversation between Qin Miao and Frankie, "It was an incredible race. You ran spectacularly today, Qin Miao. We are proud of you."

"Thank you, BOSS. Today’s race was indeed perfect, hahaha. Also, please thank Lewis for me."

...

After chatting with the team bigwigs, Qin Miao drove his car back to the post-race inspection area, with Hamilton following right behind.

At this moment, it started to drizzle on the track.

Even though Qin Miao has always hated the rain, he smiled when he saw this rain. It was just what Qin Miao had hoped for: no rain during the race, only after the race ended did the raindrops fall.

Soon, Qin Miao parked his Mercedes in the winner’s spot for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

As Qin Miao’s car came to a stop, a huge cheer erupted from the Mercedes team staff who had been waiting for some time, applauding and congratulating Qin Miao for today’s performance. freёwebnoѵel.com

This time, before celebrating, Qin Miao honestly made sure to secure his steering wheel.

Then he celebrated a little on the car before turning around and joining the enthusiastic embrace of the team staff.

He happily hugged, shook hands, and greeted everyone. After enjoying himself, Hamilton also got out of his car and walked over to Qin Miao.

Qin Miao hugged Old Man Hamilton.

Then, with Qin Miao’s white helmet against Hamilton’s yellow helmet, Qin Miao said loudly, "Thanks, buddy.

Without your help, this race might not have been so easy to win."

Hamilton replied just as loudly with his helmet against Qin Miao’s, "Come on, don’t pretend in front of me."

As he spoke, Hamilton nodded toward Qin Miao’s car tires, "With your tire reserves, you could run 10 more laps without any tire wear issues."

Qin Miao looked at his tires, their surface clean without debris, though lots of small rubber bits were stuck on them. But overall, they were in great condition.

Just needed to scrape off the tire’s surface rubber with a special tool, and this tire set would be more than enough for practice sessions to collect data.

Qin Miao shrugged, "Alright, you caught me. Your help was indeed somewhat unnecessary."

Hamilton wasn’t upset, smiling as he patted Qin Miao’s helmet, "But no matter what, you owe me a meal."

Qin Miao raised an eyebrow and said discontentedly, "Didn’t you say your help didn’t really make a difference? Why do I owe you a meal?"

"Whether it worked is one thing, but whether I did it or not is another," Hamilton said, smiling, as he let go of Qin Miao and went to celebrate with the team staff.

Qin Miao spread his hands in helpless resignation.

Just like that.

Afterward, Qin Miao greeted Verstappen, who was being weighed, and completed the post-race weigh-in.

Next was the post-race interview.

This process was skipped over. There wasn’t much to say about Qin Miao’s post-race interview, as today’s victory was purely a result of Qin Miao’s individual heroism.

In the preparation room instead, as Qin Miao was wiping sweat and getting ready to wear his hat to the podium, the room’s monitor happened to show Hamilton’s defense against Verstappen to help Qin Miao.

To be honest, from Qin Miao’s professional perspective, Hamilton’s defense could still improve quite a bit.

If they swapped places at that time, Qin Miao felt he could at least defend against Verstappen for more than 4 laps.

But after 4 laps, it would be hard to say because Hamilton’s tires were really worn out by then.

"How many seconds did your defense help Qin Miao gain?" Verstappen, who was beside, looked at Hamilton after seeing this.

"About 2 seconds, I didn’t exactly confirm it with the team."

Verstappen said somewhat helplessly, "If you hadn’t helped Qin Miao defend, I might have threatened Qin Miao’s victory today."

Hearing Verstappen’s words, Qin Miao didn’t say anything and just smiled.

While Hamilton didn’t show any emotion, he glanced at Qin Miao, who was full of smiles.

Without any visible reaction, he said, "It’s certainly possible as Qin Miao’s speed decreased significantly toward the end."

In his heart, Hamilton complained: What’s up with young people nowadays? One is pure like just a driving fool, and the other appears humble and courteous but is calculating the moment they hit the track.

Take Qin Miao’s set of medium tires that lasted 48 laps. Would you believe he could run 10 more laps? How on earth does Qin Miao manage it? Why do his tires have such a longer lifespan than those of other drivers from different teams?

After chatting for a while, race organizers came over to notify the three drivers that it was time to go up and receive their awards.

Then, as per the staff’s notification, Hamilton, Verstappen, and Qin Miao ascended to the podium in succession.

When Qin Miao stepped out, the originally spacious starting straight was completely occupied by fans. "Packed like sardines" couldn’t even describe the crowd Qin Miao saw now from above.

The most absurd thing was, Qin Miao saw someone holding up a DRS white foam sign, enjoying themselves.

This was the second time on the podium that Qin Miao had seen someone waving this thing around with glee.

Even though this "souvenir" is quite special to an F1 Grand Prix attendee, Qin Miao felt puzzled about how they weren’t worried about being caught with it?

Taking back such a large item would take up a lot of space at home, don’t you think? Are you sure you have enough room for this?

But regardless, when Elliott came up and took his spot, Qin Miao also curbed his smile.

It lasted until the end of the national anthem.

During the award presentation after the national anthem, Fei from Five-Star Sports smilingly said, "Even though it’s not the first time hearing this song on the podium, for some reason, I never get tired of it."

As Fei finished speaking, the other two commentators knowingly laughed along.

"Of course, we’d never get tired of this song, particularly on the F1 stage. I wish I could hear it at every Grand Prix," Bing chimed in with a smile.

...

After the award ceremony and another round of celebratory revelry on the track, the Hungarian Grand Prix officially concluded, marking the end of the first half of the F1 2022 season, leading into a month-long break period.

Technically speaking, the break is only two weeks, just 14 days.

However, these 14 days are FIA-mandated off-days, where all team staff are on leave, with no overtime allowed.

The FIA even sends personnel to monitor, ensuring no teams sneak in R&D work during this time to outpace other teams during the break.

But beyond these two weeks, there are still two additional weeks during which teams can conduct normal R&D and design work.

For Qin Miao and his working team, any break, no matter how short, is better than none. As for car development... talk about that after the summer break!