How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 634 - 273: Mercedes W13 (6K, Extra Update 1/20)
However, fortunately, whenever Qin Miao encounters something he can't solve, Qimeng always descends from heaven to bring him a reasonable solution.
After listening to Qin Miao and Reyes chat a bit and understanding the ins and outs of the situation, Qimeng appeased everyone by asking Reyes to help with a car maintenance for Qin Miao.
It's not the W12.
Even if Qimeng hadn't mentioned it, maintaining Qin Miao's car is part of their work.
Qimeng asked them to maintain Qin Miao's AMG GT and Ferrari 488.
And Reyes and the others agreed immediately without any hesitation once Qimeng asked.
As if they were afraid Qimeng would change his mind.
Besides Reyes, Toto also personally sought out Qin Miao after the race.
If Reyes was apologizing to Qin Miao simply as a team's staff member, then Toto finding Qin Miao had some political significance behind it.
But for Qin Miao, Toto's visit was nothing more than its literal meaning.
After chatting with Toto and clearly expressing his understanding of the team's mistake during their conversation, Toto seemed very pleased.
...
Thus, Qin Miao's Italian Grand Prix ended.
After this race, the driver standings and scores are as follows:
1: Verstappen +25
2: Ricardo +19 (Fastest lap)
3: Hamilton +15
4: Qin Miao +12
5: Leclerc +10
6: Norris +8
7: Perez +6
8: Sainz +4
9: Stroll +2
10: Alonso +1
At the same time, after this race, the driver ranking standings are:
1: Qin Miao 248
2: Hamilton 224
3: Verstappen 223
4: Norris 111
5: Leclerc 111
6: Perez 104
7: Sainz 79
8: Ricardo 73
9: Gasly 54
10: Vettel 44
11: Alonso 42
12: O'Kang 35
13: Stroll 18
14: Tsunoda 12
15: Russell 9
16: Latifi 3
17: Kimi 1
After this race, the driver ranking standings did not change, but the gap between the top three competing drivers narrowed significantly.
Qin Miao's original 27-point lead over Hamilton became a 24-point lead after this race.
Although it might seem that the gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton only shrank by 3 points, overall, it's not a big deal.
But the gap between Qin Miao and Verstappen has narrowed by 13 points.
Meanwhile, after this race, the team standings are as follows:
1: Mercedes: 472
2: Red Bull: 329
3: Ferrari: 190
4: McLaren: 184
5: Alpine: 77
6: Aston Martin: 62
7: Alpha Tauri: 66
8: Williams: 12
9: Alfa Romeo: 1
10: Haas 0
There are still 9 Grand Prix races left before the end of the 21st season, and just like the driver standings, the team standings are still full of suspense.
But given the performance of Qin Miao and Hamilton, the two Mercedes drivers on the track, barring any accidents, predicting who will win the ultimate team championship is not difficult.
In short, after this race, some are happy while others are sad.
However, on the Chinese internet, Mercedes almost got attacked by the rapidly growing domestic fan base because of the tire change error that nearly reached the trending list.
This situation was only controlled by Qin Miao's post the next day after he woke up.
It's not that Qin Miao wanted to use this to put pressure on the team or anything.
Qin Miao is not that scheming.
The back-to-back triple race is exhausting for everyone in the paddock.
Compared to the veteran drivers, Qin Miao, as a rookie, has a lot to learn on the track, which inevitably consumes more energy.
So after finishing the triple race, Qin Miao went home, did nothing, took a shower, and went to bed early.
During this period, all of Qin Miao's phone calls and greetings with friends and family were handled by Qimeng alone.
After the Italian Grand Prix ended, the next race would be the Russian Grand Prix held in Sochi, Russia.
This track is considered Mercedes' stronghold.
Ever since the track hosted the F1 Grand Prix, Mercedes hasn't let the Sochi championship slip away.
Moreover, Mercedes cars perfectly match this track, and Qin Miao has raced F2 on it, making it familiar for him.
Also, for Qin Miao and others, transportation for the Sochi race is quite convenient.
Sochi, as a port city, is separated from Europe by only a Black Sea.
However, despite this, it's only convenient for them to go to Russia.
To save logistics costs, the team prepared some materials in Russia, and Mercedes will transport them there. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
It's only the vehicle's power unit that needs transporting.
Of course, it's a bit early to talk about these things now.
Qin Miao and the others have a week off.
On Monday, Qin Miao is off, spending most of his time with Qimeng besides exercising.
On Tuesday, Qin Miao and Hamilton both went to the team.
Normally, Tuesday is also a rest day for the drivers, but today the team unveiled next season's race car prototype.
They planned to use this prototype for wind tunnel testing to evaluate the aerodynamics of next season's new car.
Such an important moment, not only did Qin Miao and Hamilton, the current drivers, attend, but even Bottas, who is confirmed to be switching to Alfa Romeo next season, was present, along with all the high-ranking officials of the Mercedes team.
