Qin Miao wasn’t as worried, his engine components were wearing much less than Hamilton’s. Currently, his fastest wearing MGU-H is only at 38% overall wear, so despite some wear, it’s still in good condition for the upcoming qualifying and race.
Honestly, Toto originally thought Qin Miao would crash once or twice, or make some other common mistakes young drivers do after joining.
He even prepared a 2-million budget for crashes, but the end result left Toto very pleased - powerful, stable, aware of his position. The only flaw was being somewhat unambitious.
But it’s believed this flaw will soon improve.
Qin Miao maintained his tradition of not exerting before Q3. He took a new set of soft tires for the first flying lap and quickly reached third place, but was soon pushed to twelfth by subsequent drivers who completed effective flying laps.
Seeing Qin Miao’s current result, Fei joked, "It’s true that you’re influenced by your surroundings.
After staying at Mercedes for a long time, Qin Miao began to hide things, not showing everything until the final stages of Q3."
Bing joked, "Maybe this isn’t a habit developed only after joining Mercedes, as even in F2, Qin Miao often ran two flying laps in qualifying and stopped, but still other F2 drivers could only sigh looking at Qin Miao’s results."
Zhou Haoran summarized with a laugh, "You mean he had this habit already in F2, but it wasn’t necessary to hide there, right?"
"Yes, that’s about right."
The scene shifts back to the race track.
With 7 minutes left in Q1, Qin Miao used the soft tires that had already run one flying lap for another. This time he pushed to the limit, and ended in fifth place.
Qin Miao used old soft tires for the last flying lap in Q1, yet still managed green in the first two sectors. Unfortunately, he encountered traffic in the T13 and T14 corners of the last sector, ruining the lap.
Even though it was a pity, the Mercedes cars are still good. Relying on the second flying lap’s score, Qin Miao ended up in twelfth place, making an exciting advance.
Q2, Qin Miao’s last lap had no issues, but the third sector lit yellow, finishing seventh and again narrowly advancing to Q3.
Fans watching this scene began complaining in forums and other places.
[Though honestly, Qin Miao hiding is quite scary, after several times seeing this, I’m worried he’ll be eliminated]
[Yeah, what if he messes up?]
[Qin Miao doesn’t have direct competitors, what’s he doing?]
[Actually, he does. After blocking Verstappen twice in Bahrain, both Mercedes and Red Bull started paying attention to Qin Miao. Mercedes hopes Qin Miao can block Verstappen longer, giving Hamilton more time to set lap times, while Red Bull hopes Verstappen can avoid Qin Miao as much as possible.]
[Eh, I’m used to it now. Since Mercedes isn’t stopping Qin Miao, they must be prepared to keep playing this way without crashing.]
More audiences have gradually adapted to Qin Miao’s qualifying rhythm.
Initially seeing Qin Miao’s nervous moments in Bahrain and half a month ago in Imola qualifying, they were extremely tense, worried he might perform poorly, more nervous than Qin Miao and Mercedes staff. They genuinely wished they could contribute a few horsepower themselves.
They were also concerned if Qin Miao was too young to adapt to F1’s rhythm, but over time they’ve grown accustomed to his qualifying driving style.
What if Qin Miao really messes up on the track?
The lone Chinese F1 driver, this lone seedling hasn’t embarrassed China abroad, and even if he messes up, what can you do? Cheer him on.
As for direct criticism?
There are surely such people, but most fans have feelings for Qin Miao.
Not only because he’s China’s first F1 driver but also the first national Grand Prix winner.
After watching foreign drivers for years, finally encountering a national Grand Prix winner, true fans are really reluctant to criticize him.
Q3, Qin Miao began the first flying lap with a new set of soft tires, while other drivers were doing safety laps, he started the flying lap all out with the new tires.
After finishing the first flying lap, Qin Miao clocked at 1 minute 17.234 seconds.
In such a state, Qin Miao naturally took first place.
He was a full 1.7 seconds quicker than Norris in second place.
Everyone was unsurprised, as Q3 had just begun, and any of the ten drivers in Q3 could end up in first before the timer stopped.
After the first flying lap ended, Qin Miao returned to the pit area and changed to another new set of soft tires.
Compared to Qin Miao, other drivers’ tire reserves were much tighter. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novelꜰire.net
Some drivers with significant tire wear didn’t even have new tires left, and even if they had a new set of soft, they wouldn’t use it in qualifying as it’s reserved for the race.