How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 624 - 269: A Failed Test (Part 2)

So this time, the mediation in the small black room was a success, Qin Miao and Verstappen shook hands in front of the race officials.

Of course, what’s going on in their minds is anyone’s guess.

After Thursday, Qin Miao continued with his routine work, and for fans seeing Qin Miao for the first time, everything seemed fresh and new.

But for Qin Miao, he’s already gone through this process nearly twenty times this year.

The only thing Qin Miao found interesting during Thursday’s shooting phase was that the Mercedes people always came up with some new gimmicks, like shot put hopscotch or using Pirelli tires as hockey pucks.

They even made Qin Miao tie one hand behind his back to play ping pong with Hamilton.

Though even with one hand tied, Qin Miao could still crush Hamilton at ping pong...

After finishing the media materials, Qin Miao walked the track once more, and only after returning was his work truly over.

This week’s Italian Grand Prix was different from before; last year’s Italian Grand Prix followed the standard practice sessions, followed by qualifying and the main race.

But this year, after reform, the Italian Grand Prix schedule is:

Friday features a practice session, followed by a qualifying session that determines the starting order for Saturday’s sprint race.

Saturday involves a second practice session, followed by a sprint "qualifying race".

The ranking from Saturday’s sprint qualifying determines the starting order for Sunday’s main race.

The rationale behind FIA’s reform isn’t hard to guess; they want each of the three Grand Prix days to be filled with highlights.

This way, all three days of the Grand Prix would attract audiences to the venue.

In a way, it’s an indirect method to increase foot traffic within the paddock.

However, looking at the sparse audience numbers in the stands during Friday’s post-practice qualifying session, the measure’s effectiveness is limited.

Of course, it could also be due to the pandemic that few spectators are attending in person.

The Monza Circuit is a high-speed track, so this week Mercedes not only brought their regular upgrades but also provided their drivers with low-drag rear wings.

Arguably, Monza is the race with the least downforce in the entire calendar.

During Friday’s practice session, Qin Miao and the team didn’t gather much data.

Considering the afternoon’s qualifying, the team mainly tested the car’s balance and grip consistency at Monza’s limits during the practice session.

In the end, before the practice ended, the team managed to obtain a fairly satisfactory qualifying setup for the car.

The ATA qualifying format has its benefits, allowing different car setups for qualifying, sprint qualifying, and the main race.

In the sprint qualifier stage, old tires from Q2 aren’t mandatory.

Yet, under this new format, the tire issue is what bothers other drivers the most.

With an added 18-lap sprint, most drivers need to test more elements in both practice sessions, naturally leading to more tire wear than before.

These things are up to the teams and drivers’ discretion, but Qin Miao doesn’t have such worries.

During the qualifying stage.

Ever since Qin Miao stopped messing around during qualifying, Q1 and Q2 haven’t caused any heart palpitations for his fans or Mercedes fans.

This race was no exception.

Qin Miao even smoothly advanced with the top results from Q1 and second place in Q2.

In Q3, Qin Miao encountered a minor issue.

During the first flying lap at sector 3 T9, Qin Miao was hindered by Sainz returning to the pits, and had it not been for Qin Miao’s quick reflexes, he nearly collided into Sainz’s car, nearly taking flight.

Due to this, Sainz was penalized to drop two positions at the start of Sunday’s race.

Who knows what Ferrari is doing; even in Q3, they manage to cause traffic issues on the track.

The key point is that this is Ferrari’s home ground.

It’s hard to imagine any team besides Ferrari, the world’s greatest circus, making consistent mistakes at their home.

After the first flying lap was nullified, Qin Miao paid more attention to his second attempt.

He ran particularly seriously, completing the lap two minutes earlier than the team’s projection.

Although this lap brought Qin Miao up to first place, he was quickly surpassed to third.

Hamilton and Verstappen were both faster than Qin Miao.

Qin Miao wasn’t surprised by this.

In the end, after Friday’s qualifying, the standings were:

Pole Position: Hamilton

2: Verstappen

3: Qin Miao

4: Norris

5: Ricardo

6: Gasly

7: Sainz

8: Leclerc

9: Perez

10: Giovinazzi

Given that Giovinazzi is competing at home, despite driving the second-last ranked Alfa Romeo in the paddock, with home field advantage, an uncertain contract future, and a deep familiarity with this track, Giovinazzi managed to fully showcase his talents during the qualifying stage, finally squeezing into Q3.

However, whether Giovinazzi can start from this position in the main race depends on Saturday’s sprint qualifying.

Friday’s event came to a close, and Qin Miao accompanied Hamilton and Verstappen to the post-race press conference, concluding the day’s work.

On the way back to the hotel, Qin Miao shared the same car with Hamilton, during which they discussed the FIA’s implemented race format.

The Old Man clearly stated that after Liberty Media Group took over F1, many of their choices were profit-driven.

His words were filled with criticism and dissatisfaction with this race format.

Nonetheless, Qin Miao didn’t voice his opinion, mostly listening to Hamilton’s talk.

Being new to the paddock for just a year, Qin Miao might not be insignificant, but his influence certainly can’t compare to Hamilton’s.

Hamilton might chat privately about the flaws of the FIA’s policies, but Qin Miao wouldn’t dare.

Saturday, second practice session.

During the one-hour second practice session, neither Qin Miao’s nor Hamilton’s cars experienced any unexpected issues on track.

However, this second practice wasn’t entirely without incident, because once again Ferrari caused a scene on their home ground.

Sainz had a crash during the second practice session.

Crashing at home, naturally, the spectators made quite a commotion.

Fortunately, by the start of the sprint qualifying, Ferrari managed to miraculously repair Sainz’s car in just half an hour.

It’s no wonder why people say Ferrari, their highs and lows are so dramatic.

The high being they can fix Sainz’s car, which had its entire front suspension broken, rear wing and floor damage, in just half an hour.

But the low being extended pit stops, like in Monaco where Leclerc’s car had issues despite claims of repair at race start, only to face problems again when the race began.

Ferrari truly is a miraculous team.

Sprint qualifying stage.

This is an 18-lap race where no pit stops are required.

Yet, be it Qin Miao or Hamilton, or any other driver, they all know this sprint qualifying isn’t that important.

It’s a bit of a tasteless offering, not worth the trouble of discarding.

After all, no matter what position you achieve in the sprint qualifying, only the top three drivers earn points.

And even if you place in the top three, the points are quite limited.

The winner gets three points, the runner-up two, and the third place one.

For such an ineffectual reward, hardly any driver would risk everything to overtake the driver ahead.

This is one reason Hamilton kept complaining to Qin Miao about the race format designer’s poor judgment on their way back to the hotel and resting.

Even though Qin Miao didn’t say anything, he also thinks the format designer is out of their mind.

However, to be fair, compared to Friday’s qualifying, Saturday’s sprint qualifying had noticeably more spectators.

Of course, all the spectators were Ferrari fans; even if they weren’t wearing Ferrari gear, hats, or waving Ferrari flags, they were Ferrari fans.

After all, everyone in the world is a Ferrari fan.