How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 753 - 309: A Blessing in Disguise

After sunset, Qin Miao tested a few laps on the C3-C1 tires.

The final results were not particularly encouraging, as the track was quite harsh on the tires, especially on the front left of the car.

Therefore, most teams are expected to opt for a two-stop strategy during the race.

Ultimately, the second practice session ended.

After the second practice session, Qin Miao's ranking remained low, at sixth place.

Compared to his teammate Hamilton, Qin Miao's position could even be described as unsightly.

However, putting aside the driver's ranking, Qin Miao's team collected decent data during the second practice and started devising Qin Miao's pit stop strategy for the race.

After finishing the post-race interview back at the team's P garage, Qin Miao's work for the day came to an end.

On Saturday, Qin Miao ran the third practice session in the afternoon rather casually, as he was helping the team test the aerodynamic settings of the car.

And Qin Miao's knowledge on aerodynamics wasn't particularly comprehensive, so the help he could provide was limited to running a lap on the track after the team's settings, reporting back the changes brought by the adjustments, determining whether they were good or bad from his perspective.

But that was already enough.

That's pretty much how the third practice went.

Finally, before the qualifying session began, the team came up with a finalized setup.

Medium-high downforce, with a cornering characteristic leaning towards understeering, sacrificing some entry precision in exchange for faster exit speed and acceleration.

It might not be the most suitable for this track, but it's definitely best suited to Qin Miao's personal driving style.

Quickly, the time approached 6 PM local time on Saturday night.

By then, it was completely dark, and the track temperature was dropping rapidly.

A lot of spectators came to the venue today, and starting from Friday, Qin Miao noticed that many foreigners were waving their national flags, cheering for him trackside.

This proportion was noticeably higher than during his races in Europe.

Qin Miao had a feeling that these Middle Easterners harbored a kind of unexplainable goodwill towards him.

Although Qin Miao didn't know the reason, it didn't harm him in any way.

Very soon, as time passed, the qualification round began.

Qin Miao was already dressed in his racing suit, seated in the car's cockpit, as Frankie made one last caution before the qualification round: "The track limits for this race are extremely strict, and the penalties for crossing the line are unforgiving, so you must be extra careful, the tires can mount the kerbs but must not exceed them..."

Qin Miao treated Frankie's caution as pre-race entertainment.

Very quickly, the 15-minute countdown for Q1 of the qualification round began.

Naturally, Qin Miao had no reason to rush out immediately.

At such times, it's customary for those teams with a marginal chance of advancing to Q2 to run a lap first, sweeping the dust and gravel off the track.

Only when the track is clean enough would Qin Miao's team go out.

This is an unwritten rule, giving the lower-tier teams' drivers a chance to run a flying lap on an unobstructed track.

Qin Miao only headed out when there were 13 minutes remaining in Q1.

Just around the 10-minute mark before the Q1 clock stopped, he started his first flying lap.

And on this flying lap, Qin Miao didn't put on an overly impressive performance, only reaching third place after finishing.

The good news, however, is that Qin Miao's Q1 time was merely 0.01 seconds slower than Verstappen.

At least this showed that Qin Miao's car setup for this race was quite decent.

Actually, after completing the first flying lap in Q1, Qin Miao had already secure a place in Q2, but after returning to the team's P garage and refueling once, Qin Miao went out on the track for another flying lap.

However, this time Qin Miao used the old soft tires for the flying lap.

It's not hard to guess Qin Miao's intention by running this extra lap; he wanted to familiarize himself with the track during the qualification round.

Missing any chance for a practice lap was out of the question.

Ultimately, Qin Miao successfully advanced to Q2, ranking fifth.

The drivers eliminated in Q1 were: Kimi, Latifi, Giovinazzi, Mick Schumacher, Mazepin.

Q2 arrived swiftly.

Qin Miao used an old set of medium tires for the first lap.

After completing this lap, Qin Miao's time was enough to qualify for Q3; however, he didn't want to start tomorrow's race with this set of tires.

So for the last flying lap in Q2, Qin Miao switched to a brand new set of medium tires.

Unfortunately, even with the fresh medium tires, Qin Miao's time didn't improve too significantly, only 0.3 seconds faster than his first flying lap in Q2.

Actually, this was deliberate on Qin Miao's part; during the flying lap phase in Q2, Qin Miao purposely slowed down in some corners that were hard on tire wear.

Qin Miao always favored one-stop strategies in races where others opted for two stops, hence starting to protect this set of tires from the qualification round was necessary.

Eventually, Q2 ended, and Qin Miao advanced to Q3, although at a not-so-pretty position.

But it didn't matter, since it was only Q2.

Meanwhile, Hamilton and Verstappen advanced to Q3 as first and second, respectively.

The drivers eliminated in Q2 were: Perez, Stroll, Leclerc, Ricardo, Russell.