How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 152 - 105: Practice Race 2

From the moment he sat in the driver’s seat, Qin Miao clearly felt his blood begin to boil gradually, but the more his blood boiled, the clearer his mind became.

...

A technician walked up to the pit lane, looked around, and after confirming no cars were passing, gave Qin Miao, who had already started the engine, a thumbs-up and then signaled that he could leave the station.

Unlike F1 which requires engine warming, starting F3 is much simpler; once confirmed there are no issues, just ignite it directly.

Upon receiving the engineer’s instruction, Qin Miao gently pressed the accelerator, slowly driving the car out of the pit room and through the pit lane onto the track.

Today, Lubos came not only as an assistant but also teamed up with Qimeng to act as Qin Miao’s engineer, which means communicating with Qin Miao in TR.

However, since it wasn’t an actual race, the content they could communicate with Qin Miao was quite limited, mainly Qin Miao’s lap time and the traffic condition on the track, plus maybe the current status of the car and tire wear.

Overall, it was fairly simple.

The first day of testing began from this moment.

Qin Miao’s nature tends to seek stability, so his practice rhythm remained to gradually familiarize himself with the track; he would only start speeding up to fly laps once he had enough confidence.

When Qin Miao really started timing laps, it was after his third return to the pit lane and going out again.

By then, Qin Miao had made three adjustments to the chassis; coincidentally, just three tweaks allowed him to find a tuning setup that felt comfortable to drive, commonly referred to as the tuning sweet spot.

It was unclear whether this was due to the technicians’ good skills or good luck, or perhaps Qin Miao’s skill played a role.

In any case, Qin Miao felt the F3 was in a state where he felt very comfortable.

After leaving the pit lane, Qin Miao completed a warm-up lap in the stadium and after confirming the traffic conditions on the track with Lubos, Qin Miao began his first flying lap in the practice session.

The first lap was uneventful; at this time, most drivers participating in the same group race were looking for their tuning window and only Qin Miao was running a flying lap, coupled with the fact he’d run this track countless times on the simulator and walked it many times before—one all-out flying lap naturally translated easily into a fastest lap record.

But after completing the first flying lap, Qin Miao did not slow down; partly because F3 tires degrade much slower compared to F1, with the tires’ grip still intact, and partly because Qin Miao felt there were still some imperfections in the first flying lap, and a second attempt might yield better results.

The second flying lap went just as Qin Miao had anticipated, clocking in 0.2 seconds faster than the first, despite being briefly blocked by a 488GT3 when turning into a straight.

Had there been no blockage, Qin Miao’s time would have at least been 0.4 seconds faster than the first lap.

However, after finishing the second flying lap, Qin Miao didn’t attempt a third, as it was unnecessary.

The second flying lap validated much of Qin Miao’s inner thoughts, and it was the fastest speed he was currently capable of—a mere practice race, so no need to meticulously chase those fractions of seconds.

Returning to the pit lane, Qin Miao swapped in a new set of Yellow Tires.

The purpose of this was to test the long-distance performance of Qin Miao and the vehicle under the current tuning setup.

...

When watching a favorite movie, playing games, or being affectionate with your partner, time tends to pass swiftly unnoticed; one moment the sky is bright, you’re immersed in work, and the next it’s quitting time with dusk setting in.

This was how Qin Miao felt; in continuously collecting data and familiarizing himself with the car, Qin Miao found pure driving fun and joy.

And when he snapped out of work again, it was already five in the afternoon, the track closing for maintenance and preparation for tomorrow’s race.

Qin Miao could only leave the track with a sense of unfulfilled yearning.

Notably, the flying lap time he set in the morning had yet to be surpassed by other drivers also racing F3 cars.

Yet it was just a practice session, no Ferrari executives present, and no one paying attention to Qin Miao’s result, which wasn’t even on Qin Miao’s mind...

Just as other drivers were unaware of Qin Miao’s exact performance, Qin Miao was similarly oblivious to theirs—without comparison, naturally, one doesn’t know how their own results measure up.

Just as Qin Miao was about to head home with Qimeng, and put aside work and race pressures to enjoy some gaming and catch up on the backlog left by days of rigorous training.

Qimeng suddenly asked Lubos, "Lubos, who usually keeps the keys to our pit room?"

Lubos was initially perplexed by why Qimeng would ask such a question, but having spent considerable time with her, Lubos had come to understand her character.

This girl, seemingly of the same age as Qin Miao, possessed a maturity and poise uncommon for her age, and she had fully captured Qin Miao’s heart. Her thoughts would generally not be denied by Qin Miao if not too far-fetched; importantly, she was extremely considerate, never suggesting anything that might make Qin Miao uncomfortable—the state of their relationship was enviable even to Lubos, who was a non-believer in marriage.

So, faced with Qimeng’s question, Lubos did not dare neglect it, carefully recalling before responding, "Normally the keys are kept by the security on the track, plus the logistics department has a backup. Plus Fiorano is our private track, so under normal circumstances outsiders would not enter, P-room would mostly only pull down the shutter door without locking."

By the time he said that, having witnessed the darker side of humanity, Lubos gradually understood Qimeng’s concern; she worried someone might sabotage Qin Miao’s car or maliciously alter its tuning.

But Orano Circuit isn’t open to outsiders, and the pit area is equipped with cameras; surely no one would dare to go to such lengths to disgust others?

Facing Lubos’s hesitant gaze, Qimeng calmly spoke, "Ever since Qin Miao embarked on the path of a racer, I have always assumed the worst motives from Qin Miao’s competitors.

There’s an old saying in our country: ’Better safe than sorry...’

Lubos nodded, "Then I’ll bring the pit room keys from the guard room to lock the door when I leave.

Though a slight hassle, I think your worry is justified."

Upon hearing this, Qimeng nodded, finding Lubos trustworthy, since his contract with Qin Miao was essentially tied to Qin Miao’s success, sharing both glory and risk.

Returning home in the evening, Qin Miao opened his computer after a long time, checked the friend list on Faceit, but sadly Zhou Guanyu was not online; otherwise, the two could have caused a ruckus on the ladders of Faceit.

But even by himself, Qin Miao could still play, albeit missing some of the teasing fun when with friends.

That night, Qin Miao played three games, winning all three, which seemed like good luck; satisfied with the victories, he decided to quit and go to bed, with a race awaiting him tomorrow. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

After a quiet night, Qin Miao rose early the next morning, warmed up briefly in the gym, and headed to the track.

Since there was a race today, Qin Miao’s training intensity wasn’t high to maintain optimal stamina for the race, amounting to just a simple warm-up.

However, instead of going to the pit room to prepare, he was called by Lawson to a meeting in the track’s conference room; this meeting covered the specifics of today’s race and rewards post-race.

Furthermore, it was explained that within a week after the race ends, announcements would gradually reveal who received driver seat allocations for next year.