How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 671 - 284: Turkey Grand Prix Qualifying 2

After all, there are still a few races left this season, and Qin Miao's engine reserve is not enough to last the entire season. He will eventually have to face a penalty for an engine replacement.

Since this is the case, it is better to change the engine sooner rather than later.

Of course, Qin Miao does not have to worry about this at the Turkish Grand Prix.

Moreover, Hamilton's penalty is definitely good news for Qin Miao. As long as he doesn't make any big mistakes during the race, a second-place finish is assured.

Although some of Qin Miao's detractors have started calling him by the nickname "Qin the Second."

But among the twenty drivers on the grid, many are trying in vain to secure the second spot.

So Qin Miao doesn't find the nickname offensive.

Leclerc: ?

During the qualifying rounds, all the drivers used soft tires.

Even though the track was still wet, without any rain, after a few laps on the racing line, the water was mostly dried.

So there was really no need to use intermediate tires at this time.

At the start of Q1, almost every car was slipping. With the water on the track not yet dry, the grip on dry tires was lacking, which was normal.

As a result, after his warm-up lap, Qin Miao did not immediately start his first flying lap.

Despite the rain in Q3 leaving all drivers with surplus tire reserves, Qin Miao had five sets of brand-new soft tires unused.

But Qin Miao still decided to run another warm-up lap. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

And it turned out to be the right decision for Qin Miao, as the track was not completely dry after the first lap.

Sainz spun out while on his flying lap due to the slippery track conditions.

Reentering the track, Sainz even blocked Hamilton, who was coming up from behind, ruining one of Hamilton's flying laps.

After completing the second warm-up lap, Qin Miao's tire wear wasn't too much, and by then the track conditions had greatly improved due to other drivers.

Qin Miao then took the opportunity to run his first flying lap.

After his first flying lap, Qin Miao's time was 1:25.047, placing him directly in first.

This was a result of Qin Miao following Hamilton's driving style without holding back, serving as a base time.

Honestly, after Qin Miao posted this time, Frankie on the team radio clearly said, "Qin Miao, your time is enough to get us into Q2. Do you want to run two more laps?"

At this time, Hamilton's lap time was 1 minute 27 seconds; Qin Miao's result was truly extraordinary.

However, Qin Miao still returned to the team's garage, changed to a new set of tires, and ran another flying lap at his own pace.

The good news was that Qin Miao's flying lap time improved, but by only a thousandth of a second.

1:25.046.

After completing this flying lap, Qin Miao did not continue on the track.

By the end of Q1, Qin Miao finished in sixth, advancing.

Even as other drivers improved their speeds with the ongoing betterment of track conditions, Qin Miao's time still secured him a sixth-place entry into Q2, demonstrating Hamilton's caliber and Qin Miao's remarkable learning ability and talent.

After a short break, Q2 began.

The track conditions in Q2 were even better, with no water stains on other parts of the surface.

By the end of Q2, Qin Miao's time improved to 1:23.579.

This time was faster than the one Qin Miao set before with soft tires, yet it was achieved on medium tires.

This situation only indicated that the track conditions were excellent at this time.

In the end, Qin Miao advanced to Q3 in second place,

Q3, the fight for final positions.

At this point, Qin Miao didn't think too much, not even using what he learned from Hamilton, just running the last two flying laps according to his habits and abilities.

And on the first flying lap in Q3, Qin Miao was particularly fast, 1:22.981.

He directly broke the 1-minute 22-second barrier.

After crossing the line, he was 0.1 seconds faster than his teammate Hamilton.

Qin Miao was somewhat surprised to realize that sometimes, when he lets go of certain things and just focuses on unleashing his full potential, he becomes faster.

During the last flying lap in Q3, Qin Miao's speed was even faster than Hamilton's.

In the first two sectors, he was directly purpling, close to overtaking Hamilton for first.

However, at this moment, Mercedes intervened.

Toto directly hinted over the team radio to Qin Miao that Hamilton has a ten-position penalty and won't be able to threaten Qin Miao's leading position in tomorrow's race.

Given this, Qin Miao couldn't disobey, could he? Besides, Toto was right; in the race, Hamilton was unlikely to pose a threat to Qin Miao.

After all, even without Qin Miao taking action, Verstappen behind Qin Miao wouldn't easily let Hamilton pass.

Even if Hamilton shook off Verstappen and began attacking Qin Miao, there wouldn't be much time left.

So ultimately, in the last timed sector, Qin Miao reduced his speed slightly.

After the exit of the corner, the third timing sector turned yellow, and across the line, Qin Miao's speed was just 0.1 seconds slower than Hamilton's.

Ultimately, Hamilton took the pole position with a 1:22.868 time, but due to an internal combustion engine change, he will serve a ten-place grid penalty in the race.

Qin Miao's 1:22.968 secured him second, starting from pole position tomorrow.

The subsequent starting positions of the drivers are as follows:

2: Verstappen

3: Leclerc

4: Gasly

5: Alonso

6: Perez

7: Norris

8: Stroll

9: Tsunoda

10: Vettel

11: Hamilton.

In today's race, both Red Bull drivers didn't perform spectacularly; it's possibly because Red Bull's cars were not suited to this track, or maybe due to the special white livery issue.

After all, in the paddock, besides Hamilton, whoever plays with fancy liveries tends to suffer.

After qualifying, Qin Miao parked his car under the second place sign, and after getting off, he stared blankly at the second place sign in front of his car.

However, as Hamilton's car parked next to Qin Miao's, he snapped back to reality.

He turned around to shake hands with Hamilton, then briefly celebrated with the Mercedes staff, followed by participating in post-event interviews, thus ending his day's work.

During the four-day race weekend, Qin Miao likes Saturdays the most, after qualifying.

Because with a race to prepare for on Sunday, both the teams and media know better than to disturb the drivers, allowing them more rest time in preparation for Sunday's race.

Thus, Qin Miao can get off work earlier.

However, before leaving the paddock, Qin Miao stopped by the Mercedes team base and found the head of the meteorology department to ask about the weather for the race the next day.

The news he received was only somewhat satisfactory.

The head of the meteorology department explicitly stated that tomorrow there would be showers with a ninety percent chance of rain. However, the rain wouldn't be too heavy and might only fluctuate between moderate and light rain, likely during the race, though there's a slight chance it might not rain during the race window given some luck.

Upon hearing this, Qin Miao actually breathed a little easier.

Even though rain was expected during Sunday's race, it meant Hamilton would find it significantly harder to chase after Qin Miao.

This way, Qin Miao could take the opportunity to extend the gap between himself and Hamilton.

The next day, when Qin Miao woke up in the morning, he received favorable news: the weather was very good, with bright sunshine.

Qin Miao even thought it might not rain today.

But as he left the hotel and arrived at the paddock, the sky began to look overcast again, yet without raining.

Even after Qin Miao reached the paddock, it still didn't rain.

During pre-race preparations, interviews, warm-ups, and even the drivers' parade, it did not rain.

But just when all the drivers' cars were being transported by the team's engineers from the garage to the track, it started to drizzle.

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