How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 1192: Chapter 452: Showboating

The weather report from the team’s meteorology department obviously cannot be just a few simple words. These few words are the essence Qin Miao summarized after reading the weather report sent by the team, meaning there’s not much difference.

After reading it, Qin Miao rubbed his head with a bit of a headache, but no matter how much it hurt, he still had to get up and go to the race.

So Qin Miao got up, washed up, and then went to the paddock.

The heavy rain on Friday did not affect the Japanese fans’ enthusiasm and craze for F1 racing at all, each of them wearing raincoats and holding umbrellas.

When Qin Miao entered the paddock, he once again saw the scene from last week’s Singapore Grand Prix. The area right in front of the Mercedes team’s pit entrance at the Japan Grand Prix was filled with Qin Miao’s fans wearing black Mercedes team uniforms.

As soon as Qin Miao entered, those fans who had been waiting for a long time started chanting his name in unison.

Arriving at the team entrance, Qin Miao waved to the spectators on site and then returned to the team’s home base under an umbrella.

After handling various pre-race interviews, Qin Miao changed into his racing suit and began his first practice session.

However, the weather during the first practice session was completely different from the weather forecast Qin Miao received from the team in the morning.

Before the first practice session even started, it began to pour. As the timer for the first practice session started, the track’s drainage system was operating at full capacity, and the water accumulation on some parts of the track reached a thickness of 2mm.

Almost all teams, upon seeing this thickness of water on the track during the first practice session, decided not to send their drivers out.

On one hand, such a thick layer of water made testing unnecessary; even if they did test, they wouldn’t get any useful data.

After all, if there was this much water accumulation during the main race, the FIA would have canceled the race long ago.

Additionally, such thick water makes it very easy for drivers to make mistakes on the track, leading to collisions.

It was the end of the season, and apart from those low-end teams with financial issues and no investments within the budget cap, most of the wealthier teams’ budget caps were already maxed out. If they crashed in the second practice session, they wouldn’t be able to afford any upgrades for the remaining races of the season. Even if they had upgrades, they would only be on paper, with no money to manufacture the parts.

So after weighing the pros and cons, most teams chose not to send their drivers out for track testing.

Because the risks didn’t outweigh the rewards.

However, here it says "most".

"Hey, Lewis, have you ever experienced the feeling of racing on the track with full rain tires? How’s the grip?" Qin Miao curiously asked Hamilton after being informed by the team about the water on the track and decided not to go out temporarily.

"Wet." The Old Man cosplayed as Kimi, becoming very sparing with words.

But Qin Miao roughly understood what Hamilton meant; the track conditions weren’t good. Even with full rain tires, the grip of the car likely wouldn’t be ideal.

However, Qin Miao had been in the F1 paddock for over a year, nearly two, and he had never tried racing in such heavy rain before. So Qin Miao was somewhat curious.

Then...

"Reyes, get me a set of full rain tires, I’ll run a few laps on the track."

"Uh... but the rain..." Reyes hesitated as he looked at the rain that could be seen in the pit lane.

Toto also turned his head to look at Qin Miao.

"It’s okay, I know the track conditions aren’t suitable for timing, I mainly want to familiarize myself with the layout of the Suzuka Circuit and the angle of the corners, and check the track layout from the driver’s seat."

"... If you insist." Since Qin Miao put it this way, Reyes had no reason to refuse.

Moreover, Qin Miao did have a point. It was indeed his first time at Suzuka, and all his learning about the Suzuka Circuit before today was based on the team’s simulator. So at this time, Qin Miao wanted to take advantage of the practice session to familiarize himself with the layout of the Suzuka Circuit and find some brake points under wet conditions, which was understandable.

So soon, Qin Miao got into his race car, while Hamilton, with a "are you serious?" look, watched him as he entered the car.

After the engine’s lubrication oil was filled, Qin Miao started the car and drove out of the Mercedes pit in the heavy rain.

When Hamilton heard Qin Miao asking him about full rain tires, he really just thought Qin Miao was seeking his advice on the driving experience with full rain tires. He never imagined that Qin Miao would actually get into his own car and go on the track.

After all, Qin Miao was a well-known landlubber.

Quite famous in the paddock.

Moreover, in recent years, the FIA has been taking a blanket ban approach for races with uncontrollable weather conditions, directly issuing a red flag to stop races if the rain gets heavy.

However, the spectators on-site were a bit surprised to see Qin Miao coming out of the Mercedes pit, as the rain on the track was not light.

Many fans who came to watch the practice sessions on site were already prepared to leave disappointed, but Qin Miao’s appearance clearly gave them a big surprise.

Those sitting on the grass cheered at the Mercedes car driving past them, even in the rain.

However, since both Friday sessions were practice sessions, the number of spectators at the venue was not too large, and even if the drivers drove onto the track, they wouldn’t push the cars to the limit in such weather and time slots.