How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 803 - 324: Abu Dhabi Qualifying_2

The FIA has understandably sent Qin Miao a penalty, which is a ten-place grid penalty for the race start.

This also adds a layer of unpredictability to what should have been an otherwise straightforward race.

Although the three commentators from Five-Star Sports understand and agree with the Mercedes team's decision, knowing that Qin Miao has to endure such a grid penalty at the start inevitably fills them with concern.

Apart from worrying about Qin Miao facing too many obstacles from other drivers during the race, they are also concerned about how this penalty might affect Qin Miao's mindset.

After all, no matter how you look at it, Qin Miao's journey so far has been remarkably smooth, and he is still young, only 20 years old.

Sometimes, because Qin Miao's performance on the track is so unbelievable, both commentators and fans might subconsciously regard Qin Miao as an experienced driver.

But setting aside these biases and the filter of Qin Miao's strength, in the eyes of the Five-Star Sports commentators, Qin Miao is even younger than their own children.

And when looking at someone younger, there's always a certain degree of concern and worry, which is precisely their most genuine emotional reflection at this moment.

However, judging from Qin Miao's results in the first lap of Q1, their worries seem a bit unnecessary.

After the first lap of Q1, the fans online also became optimistic.

[Haha, I told you Qin Miao was just idling through the qualifying sessions this season, but now it's the final race, and the urgency has kicked in. Let's see if Qin Miao still dares to idle!]

[Go!]

[Qin Miao's single-lap speed isn't bad, is it?]

[I don't have too many demands for Qin Miao in this race, just be in the top three in qualifying.]

[Go Qin Miao, I want to see your name on the Weibo headlines tomorrow.]

[I just bought some fast-acting heart-saving pills, looks like they won't be needed for this qualifying session.]

[To the person above, don't be happy too early; you never know when Qin Miao might surprise you with something big.]

[Ever since I started watching F1 because of Qin Miao, I've never been without my fast-acting heart pills. I even heard that the pharmacy downstairs opened a branch.]

...

Qin Miao's result did not hold the top position for long.

Midway through Q1, there was a brief red flag on the track. When the session restarted and Qin Miao returned to the track, he was still on an old set of soft tires, so naturally, his speed wasn't great.

In the same flying lap, Hamilton improved the fastest single lap time in Q1 to 1:22.845.

With this time, Hamilton entered Q2 in first place, while Qin Miao was in second.

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

They are all familiar faces.

And Vettel narrowly advanced to Q2 in 15th place.

In Q2, while the two Red Bull drivers and Hamilton were using medium tires to post times, Qin Miao opted for a set of soft tires.

At this point, it's not hard to guess what Qin Miao intended.

He simply wanted to gain an advantage from the start of the race by using these soft tires, making it easier to chase Hamilton and Verstappen.

And because the tires used for the fastest lap in Q2 need to be used at the race start, there is a strategy involved in Q2.

Qin Miao wouldn't push the soft tires to the limit in Q2; instead, he would try to keep his speed close to the cutoff time for Q3.

This way, Qin Miao could advance to Q3, and the tire wear from the flying lap wouldn't be too severe, allowing better grip performance in the race.

For Qin Miao, who has tested the heart strength of his team's staff and fans throughout the season, protecting the race tires during qualifying was no issue.

Thus, we saw that after his first flying lap in Q2, Qin Miao's time was 1:23.400.

It's considerably slower than Q1, but it's a time that successfully put Qin Miao in fourth place.

This time actually crosses the team's budgeted Q2 cutoff line, although it only exceeded it by 0.1 seconds.

So when Frankie saw Qin Miao's time and Qin returned to the team's paddock, he worriedly asked, "Qin Miao, I think this position isn't very secure. Should we run another lap? Anyway, we have enough soft tire reserves."

Qin Miao also felt unsure at the time, only feeling that the result was enough for him to qualify.

But with Frankie's reminder, Qin Miao also realized the tenuous chances of advancing with this result.

Since Frankie mentioned it, and all the technicians in his car team seemed to be holding their tongues, even Toto was frowning at his time. Qin Miao thought it over and decided to follow Frankie's advice, going out for another flying lap.

After finishing this flying lap, Qin Miao's time indeed improved to 1:23.200.

It was 0.2 seconds faster than his first flying lap and 0.3 seconds faster than the predicted Q3 cutoff line.

Although the improvement wasn't much, everyone watching Qin Miao knew he was deliberately protecting his tires.

But with a 0.2 seconds improvement, Qin Miao could securely enter Q3.

As expected, after the last lap of Q2, the Q3 cutoff line came to 1:23.460.

In fact, Qin Miao's time in the first flying lap would just allow him to scrape into Q3 as 10th.

But now that he has this result, there's no use in overthinking.

Additionally, with this lap, Qin Miao didn't consume much more tire than in his first flying lap of Q2.

The drivers eliminated in Q2 were: Alonso, Gasly, Stroll, Giovinazzi, and Vettel.

Qin Miao advanced to Q3 in sixth place.

[Where did I just put my fast-acting heart pills?]

[Here we go again, here we go again]

[This familiar feeling of blockage, it's like a stroke!]

[Bro, can't we just run a normal lap?]

[Watching Qin Miao in the race is exhilarating, but the qualifying... let's just say it never lets me stay calm]

...

It is worth mentioning that during the Q3 phase, Verstappen used the medium tires for a valid lap, but on the return lap, he uncommonly experienced a tire lock-up while taking a corner too fast.

No matter when, a tire lock-up is no small matter for racing cars, let alone when Verstappen is using a set of medium tires needed for the race start.

If he continues to use this old tire in the race, Verstappen might as well forget about everything else and be prepared to be overtaken by following cars at the start.

And although Verstappen still has new medium tire reserves, he cannot guarantee that his speed in the last flying lap before the end of Q2 will be faster than his first flying lap.

If there is a problem during this flying lap, it means that in the race, Verstappen would not only have to start with a set of already worn medium tires but would also waste a brand new set.

Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, Red Bull decided to have Verstappen run a valid flying lap on a new set of soft tires.

Verstappen didn't have as many thoughts as Qin Miao, nor did he have as much experience in concealing his abilities, so he pushed hard in that lap, achieving a time of 1:22.800, securing first in Q2.

After a short break, the race soon moved to Q3.

As Q3 began, Qin Miao immediately put pressure on Hamilton and Verstappen, completing his first flying lap in 1:22.555, taking the lead.

Verstappen and Hamilton's lap times followed at just 22.9 and 22.7 respectively.

However, when it came to the final flying lap in Q3, Verstappen and Hamilton began exerting themselves.

Qin Miao had started out by using his full strength in one flying lap initially.

Meanwhile, the two ran their first effective lap at the beginning of Q1, intending to post a valid single lap first and then proceed.

In the final flying lap, Verstappen clocked in at 1:22.109, Hamilton at 1:22.480.

Qin Miao again found himself squeezed in the middle, with a final lap time of 1:22.321, finishing second.

However, due to the ten-place grid penalty that Qin Miao needs to take for the race, he will start from 12th.

That means ahead of Stroll and behind Gasly.