How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 762 - 312: Qatar Finale

Verstappen regretfully finished third.

What was most surprising was that the driver who got fourth place was actually Alonso.

Brother Tou seized the opportunity at the start, holding steady throughout the race, and did not allow Perez to catch up from behind.

Meanwhile, Qin Miao was voted the most popular driver among the spectators at the scene with a 30% vote rate.

During the cool-down lap, while Qin Miao was thanking Frankie and the entire Mercedes team over TR, Frankie suddenly interjected, "Uh, Qin Miao, according to the data from the FOM, you seem to have been voted the most popular driver by the audience in this race."

Qin Miao: "Huh?"

"I don't think my performance was as good as Hamilton's, so why me?" Qin Miao asked with a tone full of confusion and puzzlement.

"Uh, we're not sure either, maybe the audience thought it was quite a feat for you to outperform Verstappen in this race?" Frankie was equally puzzled.

In reality, Qin Miao only had about 1% more audience support than Alonso.

Qin Miao could understand why Alonso's vote rate was so high, after all, he's a two-time world champion, and considering his age, it's indeed impressive that he still has such strong competitiveness on the track.

Soon, Hamilton, Qin Miao, and Verstappen parked their cars on the track, roughly from the pit lane entrance to the exit of the track, right next to the grandstands.

Hamilton was the first to park and get out of the car. By the time Qin Miao parked his car, Hamilton was already out, waving to the audience.

After parking and reattaching the steering wheel to the car, Verstappen arrived late, parking in third place.

Once out of the car, Qin Miao naturally waved to the audience as well.

Suddenly, the cheers from the audience were even louder than when Hamilton interacted with them just now.

To Qin Miao's surprise, not only were the cheers louder than for Hamilton, but there were also quite a few obvious Middle Eastern folks holding Chinese flags and cheering for Qin Miao.

For a moment, Qin Miao was puzzled, and after thinking for a while, he could only conclude that although he only got second place in this race, he still maintained first place in the championship standings.

With a smile, he waved at those people again, then turned around to hug Hamilton who was walking towards him.

"You were too fast in this race, I just couldn't keep up," Qin Miao said with some helplessness after the hug, "Were you holding back towards the end?"

Hamilton, however, didn't follow that thread of conversation and instead asked, "Today, it seems like you were quite a bit faster than Verstappen."

Qin Miao: ...

Though he felt helpless about Hamilton's diversion, Qin Miao also knew this wasn't the time to discuss it.

After brushing off Hamilton's comment, he greeted Verstappen and went to weigh in for the interview.

Today's interviewer was Jenson Button, who early on was jokingly called Jenson Button due to translation issues.

The first driver interviewed was today's winner, Hamilton.

Old Man's interviews were as always, regardless of his performance, he would first thank the fans who came to watch the race.

Such gestures would undoubtedly bring Old Man more casual fans and improve his public favorability.

Quickly, Hamilton's interview was over, and Qin Miao stepped up to the host's microphone.

"Qin Miao, it's unfortunate that at such a crucial moment in the championship fight, you only finished second. Is this considered a timely damage control?"

Qin Miao didn't hesitate much; previously, he used to worry about misspeaking during interviews and causing negative repercussions.

That changed after Qin Miao saw one of Verstappen's interviews.

Pan, during post-race interviews, was always blunt, sometimes saying whatever came to mind.

Despite this, Verstappen hadn't received any severe penalties for inappropriate remarks in interviews.

At most, his general public favorability suffered slightly. In F1, as long as you have the skill, that's all that matters.

As long as your conduct isn't egregiously offensive, strong performance can let people overlook personal flaws.

So when faced with the host's question, Qin Miao didn't think much and said, "Not really, in the standings, Verstappen and Hamilton have always been on my tail. I've always felt a sense of crisis about it. Hamilton was very fast this race, I tried several times to chase him after passing Verstappen, but the result is clear.

I'm quite satisfied with this result, at least after Hamilton took the championship, I still have some breathing space for a while."

"With two races left in the season, do you think you can maintain your current position in the remaining races?" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Qin Miao shrugged helplessly, "I don't know, just taking it one step at a time, hopefully, I can make my own history."

After responding to the two questions, Qin Miao's pre-race interview ended.

After the interview, Qin Miao celebrated with Frankie Toto and other senior members of Mercedes, before being called to the podium upstairs by FIA staff to receive his trophy.