How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 808 - 326: Zhou Guanyu’s First Career Victory

Because Qin Miao had once complained about the soundproofing of the lounge, the team added soundproof padding inside the drivers' lounge afterward, so once the door was closed, Qin Miao couldn't hear the sounds outside.

What Qin Miao didn't know was that just as Qimeng was bringing her mother-in-law to the team's P room lounge area to eat something and enjoy the view, Toto had just finished an FOM interview with the team leaders outside and returned.

Toto naturally knew Qimeng, but this was indeed his first meeting with Qin Miao's mother.

After a simple introduction, they happily started chatting.

"Mrs. Qin, we really appreciate you for raising such an excellent driver like Qin Miao. Your son is now crucial to the Mercedes team; he's become an indispensable part of it. Without him, it wouldn't have been so easy for us to take the team championship this season."

And surprisingly, Qin Miao's mother was able to answer Toto's questions in English, and she hardly had any accent: "You're too kind. Actually, we're the ones who should be thankful. If it weren't for you giving Qin Miao the opportunity, he wouldn't have reached this height now. He might have been racing in Le Mans or other events, and wouldn't have been able to enter F1."

"Mrs. Qin, you're underestimating your son. Qin Miao's talent is seen by all team leaders in the racing paddock.

If back then Qin Miao showed any intention of transferring to another team, I believe all mid-to-lower tier teams would have extended an olive branch to him."

...

They were naturally having a pleasant conversation, and Qimeng, listening to Qin Miao's mother speak fluent English, didn't find it surprising.

However, Toto was still the leader of an F1 team, and like drivers such as Qin Miao, who had a heavy pre-race schedule on Sundays, his pre-race workload was no less than Qin Miao's.

So after chatting for two to three minutes, Toto excused himself due to a heavy workload and bid farewell to Qin Miao's mother.

"Enjoy your time in the paddock. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

During the following time, Qin Miao was immersed in pre-race preparation activities, didn't eat much, following the pre-race preparation principle of eating small meals frequently.

Soon, it was time for the pre-race preparations.

After receiving Barber's notification, Qin Miao closed his laptop screen, changed into his racing suit that had been prepared long ago, and headed out to the track.

Because it was the last race, Qin Miao, like all F1 drivers, needed to take a group photo on the track before the race started.

This is considered a traditional program of F1, a process that has to be followed before the start and end of each season. It's something that's impossible to refuse, and the drivers are happy to participate in such an event.

Soon, Qin Miao arrived on the track.

At this moment, FOM staff had already set up six chairs at the finish line of the track, with a row of standing platforms behind the chairs.

In front of the chairs were signs for this match and the F12021 season explanations.

These six chairs correspond to the six drivers of the current top three teams of the F12021 season.

Qin Miao and Hamilton, from the Mercedes team, were the team champions of the season, so the two of them naturally sat on the two middle chairs. To their right were the two drivers from Red Bull, and to their left were the two drivers from Ferrari.

As for the drivers from other teams, they stood in order of the current team rankings, from left to right, on the raised platform behind Qin Miao and them.

Soon, the group photo of all the drivers of the 2021 season was set at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Notably, there was one person missing from this photo.

The missing person was Nikita Mazepin from the Haas team.

Before this match started, Mazepin was diagnosed with a positive COVID-19 test.

Thus, he was naturally unable to participate in this photo session, and he also missed today's race.

However, because the reserve driver from the Haas team did not participate in the qualifying race for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday, even though there was a driver spot vacant, Haas wasn't able to let the reserve driver replace Mazepin for the race.

Therefore, only 19 drivers participated in today's race, and this group photo before the race also had only 19 people.

Taking photos didn't take long, and it was soon over. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

After the photo session was completed, Qin Miao and the others naturally went to the back of the pre-race parade truck not far away.

Once all the drivers were on board, the parade truck started moving slowly.

The first interview on the truck was with Pan Verstappen, and although he was currently only third on the points table, he was starting this race from pole position.

During Verstappen's interview, Qin Miao kept interacting with the audience on-site, and truth be told, there were quite a few Chinese fans present today.

As the parade went on, Qin Miao saw many fans waving their national flags.

Since the audience stands on this track are relatively scarce, most of the track is barren, so the time Qin Miao and the others needed to engage was not too long. Most of the time, Qin Miao was casually chatting with Norris and Leclerc.

Verstappen's interview soon ended, and then it was Hamilton's turn.

After Hamilton's interview ended, it wasn't Norris's turn as expected. The host directly approached Qin Miao, who was joking with Leclerc and Norris.