How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 777 - 316: Unexpected Yellow Flag

I believe that with the starting capabilities of Qin Miao and Hamilton, they can hold the first and second positions after the start on the Jeddah Circuit.

Next, it depends on how fast the two drivers are during the main race on the Jeddah Circuit.

Of course, since Qin Miao is in a competitive relationship with Hamilton at this moment, the only concern Toto has is what if Qin Miao and Hamilton clash during the race.

After the race was over, Qin Miao returned to the team pit room to complete his post-race analysis work and attended a post-race meeting, participating in interviews with several media outlets before leaving.

Having finished his tasks, Qin Miao didn't leave the paddock. Instead, he put on a mask, sunglasses, and hat, then changed out of his Mercedes uniform into his everyday clothes.

He then strolled to the F2 team's preparation area.

This week, the paddock not only hosted an F1 race but also an F2 support race.

However, as this is the first time F1 and F2 races are being held here, Qin Miao, when racing in F2 back in the day, hadn't been to this location.

But the layout of the F2 team's preparation area isn't too complex, and it didn't take long for Qin Miao to find the temporary pit room of the UNI-Virtuosi Racing Team, which Zhou Guanyu's family invested in.

The F1 race serves as a reference for the F2 drivers as well.

After all, it's one of their best future employment goals, so though the F2 race had already finished, the F2 drivers did not leave the paddock but stayed to watch the F1 qualification live stream with their team engineers.

Thus, when Qin Miao swaggered into the temporary pit room of the UNI-Virtuosi Racing Team, he saw Zhou Guanyu, also dressed casually, and the staff of the UNI-Virtuosi Racing Team gathered together, analyzing Verstappen's crash through a projection from a tablet.

Because these people were absorbed in their work at the moment, they didn't notice Qin Miao entering from the front door.

So Qin Miao deliberately slowed down his pace and sneaked up behind Zhou Guanyu.

He suddenly yelled in Zhou Guanyu's ear, "Oi!" and at the same time, gave Zhou Guanyu's shoulder a firm pat.

"What the hell!"

Caught off guard, Zhou Guanyu naturally flinched in shock at Qin Miao's sudden shout.

After seeing it was Qin Miao, Zhou Guanyu, annoyed, gave him a punch.

"Damn, you scared the hell out of me."

Qin Miao didn't mind and, after taking a chair handed to him by a UNI-Virtuosi Racing Team staffer, sat down beside Zhou Guanyu.

"I heard you got hit in today's sprint race?"

In today's F2 race, Zhou Guanyu started in 4th position but fell to the last rank due to a track accident on the second lap. Although he climbed several ranks after the safety car appeared, the F2 drivers are all in standardized cars, so Zhou Guanyu, despite fighting hard, didn't manage to score any points. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Qin Miao mainly came to poke fun at him.

Comfort? No way, because Zhou Guanyu is already 21 points ahead of Piastri in the F2 standings this season.

Although not overwhelmingly leading, Zhou Guanyu is indeed one of the top contenders for the F2 championship this season.

As long as there are no mistakes in the final two races, even if he finishes behind Piastri, he can still clinch the F2 championship.

In this way, F2 will again have a champion from China.

"Picking a sore spot right off the bat, why talk about such a buzzkill topic as soon as we meet?" Zhou Guanyu said, a little irritated.

…

Having spent over ten minutes at the UNI-Virtuosi Racing Team, bickering with Zhou Guanyu for a while.

Before leaving, Zhou Guanyu showed Qin Miao a playback of the accident; it was merely a normal track incident, nothing more to it.

Nonetheless, before leaving, Qin Miao pointed out some of the details he noticed on the track during his runs in the past two days to Zhou Guanyu.

For example, which parts of the track were bumpier, and how he could avoid them to prevent bumps.

The FIA's penalty at that bend is lenient, so he can take a bit more of the curb.

After watching Zhou Guanyu's onboard footage, Qin Miao returned to his hotel.

Without further ado, the next day, Sunday, the race day arrived.

Although the main race wasn't until the evening, Qin Miao and Hamilton, the two Mercedes drivers, arrived at the paddock in the morning.

They had quite some work to complete, though fortunately, most of it was in the morning; the afternoon workload was relatively light.

After being busy for about an hour and a half in the afternoon, they had time to rest and prepare before the race began.

During this period, Qin Miao didn't stay in the team pit room but instead went to the viewing area above the paddock.

He mainly went there to watch Zhou Guanyu in the F2 main race.

After being advised by Qin Miao yesterday, Zhou Guanyu seemed to have gained a new perspective and felt faster on the track today.

Though he didn't finish with the championship, at least he made it onto the podium.

Meanwhile, his biggest rival, Piastri, had an underwhelming performance, which further widened the points gap between Zhou Guanyu and Piastri from 21 to 25 points after the race.