How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 849 - 340: FIA Year-End Awards Ceremony

What kind of useless friends are these, coming over just to show off, and annoyingly, he actually managed to pull it off.

Undeniably, Leclerc does feel a bit envious—why has nobody ever gifted me a plane?

Although the maintenance cost of a plane isn't cheap, Leclerc could afford it; he just can't afford buying one.

After Qin Miao finished chatting with Leclerc and was about to return to his seat, Binotto also finished talking with the other two team leaders.

Binotto was slightly taken aback when he saw Qin Miao, but soon he smiled and approached Qin Miao: "Qin Miao, I didn't get the chance to congratulate you in the paddock, but I think it's not too late now. Congratulations on becoming world champion."

Qin Miao looked up and shook hands with Binotto, thanking him: "Thank you very much, Mattia."

"Actually, during F2, I suspected you'd have a day like this," Binotto said somewhat sadly, "but back then, I thought you'd achieve all this sitting in a Ferrari."

Qin Miao felt a bit awkward, but over the past year, he had somewhat learned the ways of the world.

So Qin Miao quickly reached out and patted Binotto's shoulder, saying, "Take it easy, Sainz is good too, right? This season, Sainz beat Leclerc many times, at least that shows Sainz is quite capable; he just needs a faster car."

"Hey, are you comforting him or me? Why drag me into this?" Leclerc, hearing Qin Miao and Binotto's words, grumbled unhappily from the side.

Leclerc's words dispelled the somewhat dull atmosphere between Qin Miao and Binotto. Qin Miao and Binotto exchanged smiles.

Then they let go of each other's hand, and Binotto said: "Good luck next season, I hope Mercedes adapts well to the ground-effect cars of 2022."

"I also hope your car is fast enough next season; I've had enough battles with Red Bull, I want to change the flavor."

"Indeed, Verstappen isn't a suitable opponent for a battle, no matter who it is," Binotto remarked with a smile.

Qin Miao laughed in agreement.

"Alright, the party is starting. I'm heading off."

"Goodbye~"

...

After showing off in front of Leclerc and catching up with Binotto, Qin Miao returned to his seat.

At this time, the drivers who went out to chat were returning as well.

After sitting down, Qin Miao greeted them.

They're all colleagues, so it's naturally easy to find common topics to chat about before the awards ceremony begins.

Soon, informed by the staff, the awards ceremony was about to start; the lights dimmed gradually, and everyone's chatter quieted, eventually coming to a stop. The entire awards venue became silent.

As the lights dimmed to a certain extent, the screen at the back of the stage began playing the FIA's promotional video.

Footage from all FIA-sanctioned events, as well as clips of drivers winning after certain events, even some early footage from when FIA was formed, were being shown.

Despite being the F1 world champion, Qin Miao was still a novice in the racing world.

Thus, he watched with keen interest.

Quickly, as the video neared its end,

the venue lights brightened, and a child drove a small car into the hall.

The child navigated his vehicle to the center of the awards venue.

Then, to music, FIA President Jean Todt came forward to personally fasten the boy's helmet.

Then, following the opening words of the female host, the FIA awards ceremony officially began.

At this point, Qin Miao noticed that there was now food on the table in front of him.

When he returned earlier, Qin Miao had been too focused on chatting to notice.

However, the quantity of food in front of Qin Miao wasn't much—one palm-sized piece of steak, a glass of red wine, and some caviar and salmon.

Qin Miao wasn't picky about food, and after setting the wine glass aside, he began using a knife and fork to consume the steak in front of him, then moved on to the salmon.

Anyway, the ceremony process was almost the same as previous times, and important awards wouldn't be presented early on, so Qin Miao focused on eating.

But while eating, Qin Miao suddenly felt Hamilton lightly bump him with his elbow.

Qin Miao paused, chewing the salmon in his mouth while glancing at Hamilton.

He saw Hamilton gesturing towards the large screen at the venue.

Turning his head, Qin Miao saw his eating had been captured in a close-up on the big screen.

Momentarily embarrassed, Qin Miao quickly adjusted himself, raised his thumb towards the camera, and pointed at the food on his plate.

He meant: This stuff is really delicious.

...

[Hahaha, everyone's at the awards ceremony, and only Qin Miao is casually indulging below, caught in the act]

[At these banquets, typically people don't eat much, right? Plus, drivers usually have strict food requirements]

[That's other people; it's said Qin Miao was always eating at every gathering during F2—fried chicken, soda, you name it—unworried about his diet]