How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 904 - 357: The Unlucky Alfa Romeo Duo

Zhou Guanyu returned to the location arranged by the organizers: "Getting ready for the photo, no more chatting."

"Alright." Qin Miao, understanding the process, knew that after the photo session, both would return to their teams to prepare for the upcoming race. The likelihood of them meeting again before the race concluded was slim, so Qin Miao said, "Good luck, aim for a top five in your first race."

Zhou Guanyu gave a bitter smile; saying it was easy, but accomplishing it was far from it.

Then, the 20 drivers of the 2022 season stood with their teammates for a photo.

It's worth mentioning that since Vettel was absent today, his spot was filled by substitute driver Hockenheim in the Aston Martin team wear.

After the photo session, all the drivers moved toward the pre-race parade vehicles positioned in front of them.

Qin Miao originally intended to clear his mind during this period because the parade is one of the rare opportunities during the Grand Prix to completely empty his thoughts, doing nothing but waving to the spectators.

And since the spectator stands at the Bahrain Grand Prix track are not particularly crowded, Qin Miao could spend 80% of the time zoning out from a good vantage point.

But just as Qin Miao found a less conspicuous spot, Zhou Guanyu came over.

Before Qin Miao could inquire why Zhou wasn't interacting with the audience and came to him, Zhou shamelessly said, "Well, Qin Miao, is there anything on this track that deserves special attention? Since there's time now, can you explain it to me in detail?"

Qin Miao was dumbfounded, bro, if you're going to cram last minute, why drag me into it?

And this is my rare downtime, I really don't want to think right now...

But seeing Zhou Guanyu's expectant look, Qin Miao sighed and didn't refuse: "Alright.

But I have an interview later, so if you really want to listen, it'll have to wait until the interview is over."

"No problem!" Zhou Guanyu agreed enthusiastically.

Then under the host's call, Qin Miao went for the first interview.

As the world champion of 2021, this privilege and prominence is well deserved.

After completing his pre-race interview, Qin Miao returned to his spot.

Zhou Guanyu was already there waiting for some time.

Then Qin Miao greeted the audience while briefly explaining some noteworthy aspects of the Bahrain track to Zhou Guanyu.

Of course, as an F1 driver, Qin Miao knew that even if he didn't say anything, Zhou Guanyu's track engineer and coach would inform him of some techniques.

Maybe the Mercedes team, with its resources, indeed knows some nuances that Alfa Romeo hasn't discovered, but these insights are seldom vast.

Because the advantages they provide to drivers are very limited and cannot be decisive.

Thus, Zhou Guanyu could only glean modest benefits, perhaps after thorough understanding, his single lap speed in the race might improve by 0.1 seconds.

Mid-conversation, Leclerc, who had finished his interview, joined in: "What're you guys chatting about?"

Without avoiding Le the Fourth, Qin Miao switched the language to English and said, "Some track tips. How about you? Got anything to share?" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Nope, signed an agreement, can't divulge."

...

After the parade truck toured the track, most of the 20 drivers underwent interviews.

Then the drivers returned to their team garages for final pre-race preparations.

Two hours later, the sky gradually dimmed, and the track lit up brightly, illuminating the entire Bahrain Circuit.

When the camera returned to the track, Qin Miao was already waiting in his racing car.

The first shot after the cut was directed at Qin Miao.

There's no way around it, last season's world champion starting from sixth after an entire winter break.

This start is notably worse than Qin Miao's very first career qualifying race, where he started second and even beat his teammate, seven-time champion Hamilton.

Times have indeed changed.

Ironically, right after the qualifying finish yesterday, people online immediately began disparaging Qin Miao, claiming his talent had dwindled, predicting a downward slope this season, eventually being abandoned by Mercedes.

However, sitting in his race car, Qin Miao remained exceptionally calm.

With his hands resting on his lower abdomen, he listened to music while waiting for the race to start.

It's noteworthy that Mercedes knew Qin Miao liked to relax by listening to music before races, and their team TR system quality wasn't optimal.

Hence, Mercedes specifically upgraded their TR system during the winter break, enhancing everybody's headphone quality.

For an F1 team, this process wasn't troublesome, yet such upgrades do consume part of the team's budget cap.

Moreover, this type of upgrade seemed trivial in other teams' eyes, as TR audio quality isn't a crucial component and doesn't improve vehicle performance.

But that's exactly what Mercedes did, and their headphone sponsor EPOS significantly contributed.

This clearly signifies how much Mercedes values Qin Miao.