How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 501 - 221: Paul Ricard (6K, Bonus Update 9/19)_4

This value generally remains within one kilogram.

So many drivers spend time losing or gaining weight due to weight issues before the race starts.

However, Qin Miao never has such troubles; he doesn’t really gain weight, loses it slowly, and usually eats whatever he wants without any restrictions.

It was also by chance that Hamilton, while preparing to discuss media activity plans with Qin Miao in the team’s lounge, pushed open the door and saw Qin Miao eating voraciously.

Then Hamilton realized that Qin Miao could eat whatever he wanted without gaining weight, and Hamilton’s eyes turned red with envy on the spot.

...

The next day was the race day.

Qin Miao arrived at the track very early since there were some pre-race activities before the race started.

Such as the drivers’ parade and some meet-and-greets with the team’s VIPs.

After all, today there were spectators present, and F1’s business philosophy treats spectators as gods, applying it throughout the entire event.

So even though today’s on-site audience was only half of previous years, not a single part of the process was omitted.

After all these miscellaneous matters were completed, Qin Miao went to the team’s pit to begin the pre-race preparations.

During today’s race, Tsunoda was starting from the pit lane, so there were only 19 cars on the starting grid.

However, Tsunoda’s pre-race preparation was still completed on the track.

After that, Qin Miao and the Mercedes team staff went through the familiar routine.

Soon, all the staff withdrew, and the warm-up lap began.

Notably, due to two cars retiring from tire blowouts during the Azerbaijan race, and Pirelli facing a devastating blow in the Netherlands due to Verstappen’s incident, Pirelli increased the tire pressure for all drivers’ rear tires this race.

Higher tire pressure means harder tires, less contact with the ground, which correspondingly means reduced grip and wear, making it less likely for a blowout to occur as in the previous race.

After the warm-up lap, five red lights lit up one by one, signaling the start of the race.

Both Qin Miao and Hamilton had excellent starts, but neither was faster than the other, and Verstappen also had a good start.

So after the start, the distance between the three remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Perez had a slow start, at least compared to the top three drivers; after the start, he visibly lagged behind, and even Sainz behind him managed to get wheel-to-wheel alongside him.

However, Wofa had early on given up on this season’s car development, like Haas, focusing most resources on next season’s car development under the new regulations.

So Perez eventually stabilized his position.

Just when everyone thought the start phase of the race would end that way, Verstappen, starting from pole position, encountered an unforeseen incident.

As he exited T1, his car unexpectedly understeered, and he went off the track at Turn 1.

Hamilton naturally wouldn’t pass up this immense opportunity, taking the lead position instantly.

Upon noticing this, Qin Miao also wanted to seize the opportunity, but he was still some distance away from Verstappen, and his exit from the corner wasn’t as fast as Hamilton’s due to the dirty air, making it difficult to catch up to Verstappen.

By the time Qin Miao was ready to overtake, Verstappen inconveniently blocked his path.

However, as strong as Verstappen is, it still took him some time to rejoin the track and regain his normal driving rhythm after going off track, allowing Qin Miao to make repeated attempts to overtake, eventually succeeding on the straight between T7 and T8.

Thus, the Mercedes duo achieved a dream start, moving from starting positions two and three to positions one and two.