After the unique Formula 1 Theme for F2 finished playing, the screen showed the three hosts from Five-Star Sports.
After the live scene director indicated that the broadcast had begun, the host Bing greeted the audience in front of the TV: "Good morning, viewers, and welcome to the live broadcast of the qualifying race for the first stage of the 2020 Formula One Grand Prix, the Austria stage, brought to you by Five-Star Sports. I’m Bing."
Just when all the viewers were wondering why Five-Star had started broadcasting so early, and that the broadcast was about F2 instead of F1, Bing explained:
"We all know, another Chinese driver has appeared in F2. After internal discussions at our station, we decided to start broadcasting the F2 qualifying race, as well as the two sprint races and the main race, to cheer for the two young Chinese drivers."
Fei added: "The two Chinese drivers fighting in F2 are Zhou Guanyu and Qin Miao. Zhou Guanyu was born on May 30, 1999, and is 21 years old this year. Qin Miao was born on March 7, 2001, and is 19 years old this year."
When introducing the two drivers, the director thoughtfully placed large photos of them in racing suits on the screen behind the studio.
After chatting about the detailed circumstances of the two drivers, the hosts of Five-Star Sports shifted the topic to the completed F2 practice race.
Soon, with the director’s notification, the live scene switched to the racetrack.
The first shot was the exit of the pit lane at the Red Bull Ring track. At first glance, at least a dozen cars crowded at the exit to secure a relatively good space to set lap times during the subsequent qualifying process.
As the green light at the pit lane exit lit up, cars gradually drove out of the pit area. This text is hosted at NoveI~Fire.net
However, Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu were not in a hurry. After the people in the pit lane mostly moved out, Qin Miao started the engine and drove out.
Currently, Qin Miao was using the set of old soft tires he had just used for doing long-distance laps.
Originally, Roxin and Frankie wanted Qin Miao to switch to a new set of soft tires. With the speed he showed during the practice race, there was a real chance of taking pole position in the qualifying race with a new set of soft tires.
The two points for the pole position in qualifying are also very appealing.
But Qin Miao felt it wasn’t necessary. He had also reviewed his tire degradation data and knew he could use the soft tires as hard tires.
Confident that he could secure a top-three spot in the qualifying stage, Qin Miao wanted to save an extra set of brand-new soft tires for a push during the sprint race stage.
Anyway, he had the skill to use soft tires as hard tires without any issue. At that time, with the grip of the soft tires and the durability of the hard tires, securing a top-three in the sprint race and earning more than ten points was stronger than the pitiful two points for pole position in qualifying, right?
By then, he could still have a brand-new set of soft tires and hard tires remaining for the main race, highlighting ’not worrying when you have provisions on hand.’
If he dared a little more, using soft tires, he might even get a podium finish starting from the back row in the sprint race. Then, by holding his position in the main race and getting another podium, it would be like a cow entering a herd of bulls - absolutely impressive.
Facing Qin Miao’s decision and idea, Frankie initially wanted to refuse because such a move was too uncertain. However, after Roxin verified and calculated it himself and confirmed its feasibility, the only issue now was whether Qin Miao could achieve a good result in qualifying with this set of old soft tires.