How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 809 - 326: Zhou Guanyu’s First Career Win_2

Norris wasn't too concerned about this; after the Russian Grand Prix, Norris had pretty much had his rough edges smoothed out and was feeling quite laid-back.

The content of Qin Miao's interviews in the time before the driver parade was similar to that of yesterday's post-race interviews.

The phrasing was different, but let's not get into details here.

After the pre-race parade ended and a half-hour of preparation, Qin Miao completed the final pre-race checks on his car and was pushed onto the track by Frankie and his team.

Actually, Qin Miao could go around and test the car's performance before smoothly parking it at his starting grid.

But since Qin Miao was using soft tires for this race, and tire wear is particularly important, he wasn't sent out to excessively wear the tires.

...

"Good evening, viewers. Today is December 12, 2021, the closing race of the 2021 season."

"I think today is definitely the most exciting and anticipated day for our domestic racing fans, and many viewers believe this year has been the most thrilling season."

"At the start of the season, we got the great news that Qin Miao was joining Mercedes, and once Qin Miao joined Mercedes, he brought his dominant talent from F2 to F1.

Although at first, we thought that Qin Miao might only achieve a decent result this season.

But to the delight of all our domestic fans, Qin Miao's performance on the track has not only improved steadily but, as he's adapted to the Mercedes car, he's even surpassed his teammate, seven-time champion Hamilton."

Over at Five-Star Sports, Fei delivered an opening quite different from the usual.

Bing quickly followed: "That's right, and before this season, we didn't expect the competition to be so fierce this year.

Even now, in the final race, the driver's championship title is still up in the air."

Zhou Haoran wrapped up: "Even though this race Qin Miao announced the replacement of the entire battery set on Thursday due to unresolved battery issues from last week, under the rules, Qin Miao needs to drop ten places to start.

This is undoubtedly bad news, but given Qin Miao's overtaking performance and strong consistency this season, we still believe in Qin Miao, that he can still achieve honors we never dared to imagine despite unfavorable conditions."

As the opening words were finished, Qin Miao appeared on the Five-Star Sports broadcast.

At this moment, Qin Miao slightly leaned back on his car's headrest, but due to the helmet blocking, the commentators could only see Qin Miao's eyes and nose, and from these features, they couldn't judge his current state.

However, the commentators soon moved on to the map introduction and starting order segment.

On Qin Miao's side, the team had long been ready for all pre-race activities, and now Qin Miao and Reyes were waiting for the warm-up lap to start.

By this time, Qin Miao was somewhat bored, with nothing to do, and he didn't want to keep listening to music in the TR that had sound quality worse than buying a five yuan speaker from Taobao just for noise.

Since Qin Miao had been preparing for the race all day, he now had a bit of free time to let his mind wander.

Thus, with a brief lapse of concentration, Qin Miao had other thoughts.

As Zhou Guanyu's F2 races were already finished today, Qin Miao wanted to ask Zhou Guanyu about the final outcome of the race, whether he won the driver's championship.

Though confident in Zhou Guanyu, Qin Miao was a bit worried until it was finally settled.

Yet Qin Miao wasn't helpless, as the race hadn't started yet, and there must be around another ten minutes till the beginning.

Without much thought, Qin Miao got out of the car and found Barber, and after asking, he felt slightly at ease.

In the end, Zhou Guanyu had safely secured the 2021 F2 driver's championship, even taking an F2 race victory in the final race.

This rascal put on a perfect performance in his final F2 season with the driver's championship along with three main race victories and six sprint victories, though not quite matching Qin Miao's F2 performance in 2020, but enough to dominate the competition, leaving no rivals in F2.

At this moment, it seemed Zhou Guanyu was already off celebrating with the UNI-Virtuosi Racing Team staff.

With that worry off his chest, Qin Miao could wholeheartedly focus back on his car.

Starting now, Qin Miao's mind was entirely occupied with racing.

Quickly, with FIA's notice, all drivers were ready for the race.

The crew with tires and support personnel left, and Qin Miao's car was placed on the ground.

Before leaving, Reyes reminded Qin Miao: "The exact cause of the car's battery malfunction is still unclear; we might only understand after the season ends back at the factory.

But it's certain that the car battery can't be run at full power twice consecutively in a short time; after using this mode once, you need to leave at least five laps for the battery to cool down."

"So, I can still use this mode in the race?" Qin Miao asked unexpectedly.

Reyes nodded: "Correct, but I advise against using it too many times in a short span, and the total usage per race shouldn't exceed four times."

Qin Miao nodded: "Got it, anything else to watch out for?"

Reyes thought carefully: "No, but all our team wants to say to you, do well, don't stress yourself too much, we believe you can achieve this."

Qin Miao jokingly replied: "Honestly, since this week began, I've heard such encouragement over 20 times already, my ears are about to form calluses."

Reyes chuckled and patted Qin Miao's helmet: "This is the team's high expectations for you, cherish it.

Alright, it's about time, we should leave now, happy hunting!"

"Trust me, I won't let you down." With a thumbs-up to Reyes, Qin Miao refocused all his attention on his car.

Soon, all staff on the track left.

All cars started, leaving their grids under the signal from the officials.

The warm-up lap commenced.

During the warm-up lap, Pirelli announced the pit-stop strategy for the race; despite providing drivers the three softest tires, Pirelli still offered a one-stop strategy with their red-white and yellow-white combinations.

After Pirelli's broadcast, the FOM presented the fans' vote prediction on the final driver's championship outcome.

Among fans, Qin Miao held a 40% approval rate, Hamilton 27%, with Verstappen's conditions being too harsh, resulting in only a 10% approval, while the rest were scattered among other drivers.

Actually, Hamilton was in a passive position, and his rather high vote rate was due to the residual dominance from his seven championship titles over the years.

Besides these fans, the remaining were British fans.

Most British fans were firmly convinced Hamilton would take home this year's driver's championship.

PS: Finally, all pending updates since the start of this book have been fully delivered, but I know there's still the reward from this month's patron and the votes for additional updates.

Still, having cleared this up, I'll take a day off; today is just 4,000, and tomorrow the votes and patron rewards will count for continued updates.

Lastly, wishing all the reader parents: good health, success in all endeavors, hair full and forever youthful!