How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 728 - 302: Sprint Qualifying Win Secured in Advance

After measuring the rear wing of Hamilton's car, Verstappen also walked around to the rear wing of Qin Miao's car.

Perhaps it was because of Qin Miao's setup, or perhaps because Qin Miao did not defeat Verstappen during the qualifying round of this race, Verstappen just glanced at Qin Miao's car and did not reach out to inspect it like he did with Hamilton's car.

Because when Verstappen inspected Hamilton's car, Qin Miao and Hamilton had just gotten off their cars, neither noticed Verstappen's unusual move.

However, after the post-race interviews finished and everyone returned to their hotels, the FIA suddenly issued an investigation announcement. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The FIA began investigating Hamilton's rear wing violation, and Verstappen was fined fifty thousand euros (approximately 380,000 RMB at current exchange rates) for touching other drivers' rear wings after the race.

When Qin Miao heard this news, he was shocked, not because of Verstappen's fine, but because he was surprised why Hamilton would violate the rules.

After all, he and Hamilton were using the same rear wing.

Could it be because of the new rear wing the team just installed on the car? Won't I also be penalized because of the new rear wing?

Naturally, Qin Miao began to worry about being implicated.

However, in the end, the team did not call to notify Qin Miao, and the FIA announcement did not mention Qin Miao's name.

What Qin Miao didn't know was that before this announcement was released, the FIA had already begun a very strict car inspection on Hamilton's car.

Quickly, the officials found that the gap between the DRS wings on Hamilton's car exceeded 85 millimeters when DRS was activated.

Although the gap was only 85.2 millimeters, a violation is a violation, exceeding by 0.2 millimeters is still an excess.

Even because Qin Miao and Hamilton used the same rear wing, after discovering Hamilton's wing violation, the FIA urgently reviewed Qin Miao's car data but found that Qin Miao's car did not violate the rules, with the gap being exactly 85 millimeters when DRS opened.

So this penalty wouldn't impact Qin Miao.

Even though evidence already existed, the FIA will still hold a hearing on Saturday morning, meaning tomorrow morning.

After the hearing ends, if it's confirmed that Hamilton did violate the rules, then his qualifying results will be canceled.

This means that in the sprint qualifying on Saturday, Hamilton will be penalized to start from the back of the grid.

This is undoubtedly good news for Qin Miao and Verstappen.

On Saturday morning, when Qin Miao woke up, he found Qimeng sleeping beside him; she had taken a late-night flight and arrived in Brazil very late.

And because of his profession, Qin Miao slept early every day, so he didn't have time to pick her up.

So this girl came to Qin Miao's hotel on her own after landing.

Qin Miao's good mood naturally started when he saw his wife.

He did not disturb Qimeng, got up quietly, washed up, and went to the paddock.

Even though Hamilton had a hearing in the morning, Qin Miao did not plan to attend.

The FIA had already found evidence, and Qin Miao and Barber analyzed it together last night.

Verstappen must know something; otherwise, he wouldn't have gone directly to inspect his own and Hamilton's rear wings right after the race.

And Verstappen is known as a ruthless machine on the track.

So while on track, Verstappen couldn't have paid attention to Hamilton's rear wing aside from his own driving.

The Red Bull team must have noticed issues with Hamilton's rear wing and told Verstappen.

After finding he didn't outperform Hamilton in qualifying, an upset Verstappen naturally wanted to see the difference in the rear wings of his and Hamilton's cars after the session.

Then Verstappen was fined 50,000 euros.

Though that amount isn't significant for Verstappen.

However, Verstappen didn't discover anything, and a 0.2-millimeter gap in the DRS wing couldn't be measured by hand.

Since Red Bull already knew the issues with Mercedes' rear wing, they, given their rivalry, were unlikely to let Mercedes off easily.

While the FIA is scrutinizing Hamilton's car, Red Bull would certainly pressure the FIA, using their evidence to turn the situation against Mercedes.

So Hamilton being penalized in the hearing was inevitable, and since the outcome was apparent, Qin Miao had no need or time to waste attending.

However, during the pre-race routine interviews at the paddock, reporters still asked Qin Miao some questions about Hamilton.

"Your teammate Hamilton is currently under FIA investigation for rear wing violations. What are your thoughts on this?"

Upon hearing the reporter's question, Qin Miao rolled his eyes inwardly.