How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 105 - 84: Dreaming of Becoming a Ferrari Junior Driver (Part 2)
Chapter 105: Chapter 84: Dreaming of Becoming a Ferrari Junior Driver (Part 2)
After confirming the mutual intention, Qin Miao still exchanged contact information with Lawson. Initially, Qin Miao thought the communication between the two would end there, but to his surprise, Lawson started chatting with Qin Miao again after confirming Qin Miao’s interest in joining the Ferrari youth training system.
"What do you think of Ferrari’s situation this year? Do you think Hamilton and Mercedes will continue to dominate the field?"
Qin Miao found this a bit puzzling. You’re in youth training, supposed to be nurturing young drivers, so why are you asking a regular guy like me, who knows nothing, whether other teams will win or not? I don’t understand these things.
But considering that this person might very well become his leader in the future, Qin Miao didn’t dare to act up in front of him. Instead, he provided a relatively objective analysis based on his judgment of the current situation.
"Barring any surprises, Mercedes are still the absolute rulers of this season. Their only opponents are themselves."
"As for the Ferrari team... to be honest, with the monstrous Mercedes car present, I don’t think Ferrari has a chance to claim the throne of the team championship."
Lawson nodded thoughtfully and then changed the topic.
The following topics involved some professional knowledge about racing. To be honest, rather than saying Lawson was chatting with him, Qin Miao felt more like he was being subjected to a preliminary assessment.
Faced with Lawson’s questions, Qin Miao was uncertain. He didn’t know if his answers were aligned with what Lawson was thinking. He answered based on his truest feelings and usual driving habits, leaving it up to the other party to interpret his responses however they liked.
The two of them chatted for about half an hour. Qin Miao wasn’t sure about the specific impression he left on Lawson, but the smile on Lawson’s face when he left seemed quite genuine.
But just as Lawson was about to leave, he seemed to remember something, turned back to Qin Miao, and said, "Oh, by the way, if possible, when you come to Maranello, it’s advisable to hire a lawyer to help you confirm the details within the contract."
Qin Miao nodded seriously upon hearing this.
After saying this, Lawson left, but he didn’t directly exit the P-room; instead, he went to the command area opposite the pit lane corridor.
By this time, Binotto had already arrived.
Upon closer observation, Qin Miao noticed that both of them had curly hair and the same color, only Lawson’s hair was a bit longer than Binotto’s.
Then Qin Miao saw Lawson sitting directly next to Binotto and starting to chat with him.
At this moment, a commotion came from the entrance at the back of the P-room. Qin Miao turned around and saw Leclerc, who had just completed the pre-race driver parade, walk into Ferrari’s P-room in his racing suit.
To be honest, after chatting with Lawson, Qin Miao’s mindset had unknowingly undergone some changes.
If yesterday, when encountering Leclerc, Qin Miao faced him with the mindset of a fan meeting his idol.
Now, being greatly praised by Lawson and due to the system contract, Qin Miao had already one foot into Ferrari’s youth training door.
The way Qin Miao looked at Leclerc now carried some degree of scrutiny and comparison.
This wasn’t in Qin Miao’s nature, mainly because his identity had undergone a significant change, and the notable figures he usually couldn’t approach were now praising him. This somewhat made the young Qin Miao a bit cocky.
Given some time to adapt to his current identity, Qin Miao’s mindset would stabilize.
Leclerc did not notice anything odd about Qin Miao, coming over to shake his hand and then getting directly into his car to prepare for the race without even making small talk.
Drivers really don’t have much leisure time on race days.
The preparation phase is relatively boring. During this time, engineers mostly just check the vehicle status to ensure each part can run stably because FIA regulations only allow adjustment of the tire type after the Q1 qualifying starts, and no tuning changes can be made to the car after the qualifying race begins.
Ten minutes later, everyone inside Ferrari’s team put on noise-cancelling headphones. After a set of familiar processes, the engines of the two Ferrari cars were started.
Then the engineers pushed the two cars out of the P-room and parked them in the location for the qualifying race.
At this stage, VIPs like Qin Miao are no longer allowed on the track. Besides the team staff and Matthew, only the FIA photographers can go up.
Five minutes later, all the track workers stood by the left and right sides of the track waiting, as the warm-up lap began.
The 2019 British Grand Prix is the 1007th Grand Prix in the F1 calendar, and the number 007 holds significant meaning in Britain.
The "007" movie series for the British is akin to the status of "The Wandering Earth" among sci-fi fans in China.
So Qin Miao saw the actor playing 007 live at the scene. It was just too bad that Qin Miao couldn’t even keep up with computer games, let alone movies, so he didn’t know exactly what this person was called.
As 20 cars drove out of the starting grid and began their warm-up laps, team workers and FIA officials jogged back into the pit lane from the track.
Soon, the twenty cars completed their warm-up circles and returned to their designated starting grids, with the medical car parked behind them.
Everything was ready.
Five red lights lit up one by one, and the engines of the 20 race cars on the field roared to life.
Compared to F2, the roar of the F1 engine sounds even more aggressive.
As the five red lights lit up and then went out, the twenty cars took off instantly.
Qin Miao didn’t pay attention to the situation of other drivers; he focused mainly on Leclerc.
With Zhou Guanyu setting a benchmark before him, Qin Miao was afraid that Leclerc might lose position in the starting phase, just like Zhou Guanyu did.
But Qin Miao’s concerns didn’t materialize on the field; after all, Leclerc was not Zhou Guanyu. Though he didn’t grab a position from the two Mercedes cars at the start, neither did he lose his place.
Qin Miao watched Leclerc’s onboard footage for a while to confirm that his starting position was secure, and then withdrew his gaze.
However, in just one lap, the two Mercedes cars had already opened up a gap of at least 1.1 seconds from Leclerc, who was third.
This clearly displayed the terrifying dominance of these two Mercedes cars on the track.
Afterward, there weren’t many cameras focusing on Leclerc; most of the broadcast highlighted the two Mercedes cars as Hamilton and Bottas started a fight.
Consequently, Leclerc started to close in on Mercedes after the fifth lap of the race.
But even with the red tires, Leclerc was struggling to catch up.
There was nothing to be done, Ferrari SF90’s performance was still lacking compared to Mercedes.
Before Leclerc could catch up to the DRS zone of Hamilton ahead, the two Mercedes, enjoying a fierce battle on yellow tires, turned back to find: Eh? How did this red-tired Ferrari catch up?
From the command area, Toto waved a hand: "You two kids stop fighting, if you’re going to fight, pull this Le the Fourth behind first and then continue."
Then in the sixth lap, Leclerc, who had started on red tires, found rather despairingly that the two Mercedes brutally pulled away, leaving him with a visible gap after he was closing in by at least 0.3 seconds per lap.
Damn it, I’m using red tires! Red tires!
Sitting in the cockpit, Leclerc was raging in helplessness.
Misery loves company, and trouble never comes alone.
Just as Leclerc got left behind by the ruthless Mercedes, Verstappen’s Red Bull started catching up and entered Leclerc’s DRS zone.
At this moment, Qin Miao clearly felt that the originally somewhat relaxed atmosphere inside Ferrari’s P-room suddenly fell silent, and a tense mood began to spread everywhere, with everyone looking up at the television showing the track scenes in the team’s P-room.
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