Qin Miao had already told the team before the start of Q1 that she wanted to change to dry tires and run on the track.

But at that time, the team refused.

And it turned out that Qin Miao's choice was correct.

The Meiben team pitted Qin Miao again.

It's not terrible to make mistakes, it's terrible that someone tells you the correct answer and you still make mistakes, and the key is that you also pit the person who knows the correct answer.

It's pretty embarrassing.

Qin Miao drove her car back to the vehicle inspection area in silence.

When he got out of the car, Qin Miao saw Hamilton's car, and Qin Miao didn't know that Hamilton was not in the top three in the Q3 stage, so Qin Miao was a little surprised after seeing Hamilton's car.

But just as he encountered an unexpected situation, Hamilton may also have encountered an unexpected situation like himself.

So Qin Miao didn't dwell on this matter, but began to think.

Obviously he has the strength, but because of one reason or another, he can't play all his strength and doesn't get good results, if it were Hamilton, what would he do?

While thinking, Qin Miao took his helmet and gloves and weighed them.

The final Sochi Qualifying Q3 standings are as follows:

1: Norris

2: Sainz

3: Russell

4: Hamilton

5: Ricardo

6: Qin Miao

7: Alonso

8: Stroll

9: Pérez

10: Ocon

It is worth mentioning that the fourth and sixth results of Qin Miao and Hamilton in this race were run by them on semi-rain tires.

After completing the post-race weighing, and participating in the post-race interview, Qin Miao returned to the team's P room after the work was over.

By this time, Toto had already left the team P room and went to the team house.

And when Qin Miao came back, he only saw the tournament director Ron McDos and did not see Toto.

However, it didn't take long for James Vincent, the strategy director of Meiben, to find Qin Miao.

explained to Qin Miao as soon as possible the reason why the team did not let him pit for the first time to change tires.

In fact, the reason for the team is legitimate.

After all, the risk of switching to dry tires at the beginning of Q3 is too great for Mercedes.

At this time, if you change to dry tires, you can only run one flight lap at most, because just like the problem Qin Miao encountered before, it takes at least 6 minutes of preparation time to run a flight lap in front of soft tires at a suitable working temperature.

After running an all-out flight lap, Qin Miao had to go back to the team's P room to change the tires, which would take another six minutes.

And a Q3 is only 10 minutes in total, if the soft tires don't run well, or the results are canceled, Qin Miao will have to start tenth in the race tomorrow.

Although everyone in Meiben would not doubt Qin Miao's stability, there was a way to get a good result steadily, so why take the risk?

And Russell's appearance was not only unexpected, most of the teams in the paddock didn't expect Russell to suddenly intervene, Alonso, Stroll, Pérez and others were not the same as Qin Miao, and they didn't even run in the last flight lap?

Otherwise, the big eyes can show off their power in the third?

And although Qin Miao was a little angry here, he really didn't think that this wave was a problem with the team, after all, he also had a choice at the beginning, and when the team proposed to let Qin Miao run an effective lap with half rain tires first, Qin Miao also agreed.

The reason why Qin Miao was angry this time was because his luck was really too bad.

Now Vincent's explanation can be regarded as finding a step for both sides, and Qin Miao will also borrow the slope to get off the donkey.

And that was the end of the matter.

And at this time, Hamilton also returned with his physical trainer Angela.

Qin Miao said hello to the old man, and after seeing Hamilton, Vincent also confessed to Qin Miao and went to Hamilton.

Sometimes the team's strategic director is still quite humble, and if the team's strategy goes wrong, he has to put out fires.

When I apologize to others, I am as humble as a grandson.

Shaking his head, removing these distractions from his mind, and packing up his things, Qin Miao held a post-race meeting with Toto, Hamilton, and the management of the two-person car team after qualifying.

After that, today's work is completely over.

After returning to the hotel, Qin Miao didn't look at her phone, took a shower and lay on the bed with Qiu Meng and chatted for a while before going to sleep.

Sunday, the day of the race.

Unlike the report from the meteorological department on Friday night, there was no rain in the sky after Qin Miao got up, not even any raindrops.

It's just that the sky is a little overcast.

That's good news.

Qin Miao finished the routine meeting after arriving at the paddock in the morning, and went directly to the meteorological department of the team without resting after that.

Qin Miao mainly used to look at their weather forecast for today's day.

Qin Miao was satisfied with the final results, and the report of the meteorological department said:

There is a high probability that there will be two light rains in the period before the start of the game, but both of them will rain in the morning, and the rain will not be too heavy and will not last long.

Despite the poor drainage capacity of the Sochi circuit, both of these rains took a long time before the start of the race, so there was no need to worry about the track getting wet during the race.

As long as there is no delay in the main stage, the probability of rain in the entire main stage is very low.

Of course, the track temperature is not too high during the whole race, so there is a problem that the tires will heat up slowly.

However, this problem has little impact on Mercedes' car.

The tire load is relatively large when the Mercedes car is on the track, so the tire wear will be more serious than other cars during the race, and naturally, the tire will be more likely to heat up.

It can even be said that the racing characteristics of the Mercedes are particularly suitable for the relatively low temperature tracks.

That's why Mercedes' cars have been so strong in Sochi.

After getting the information he wanted, Qin Miao left the meteorological department of the convoy with satisfaction.

When he came out of the meteorological department's office, Qin Miao met Norris in the paddock.

Because the two play games together from time to time, the relationship between the two is heating up very quickly.

So after seeing Qin Miao, Norris, who was in a good mood, took the initiative to say hello to Qin Miao: "Hey, Qin Miao!" ”

"Lando, how is today?" Qin Miao came to Norris with a smile and shook hands with the other party.

"It's good, even though I couldn't sleep last night, I feel like I'm in good shape today, and I have a hunch that this will be the first race of my career."

Qin Miao raised her eyebrows, and then said with a smile: "Then I have to congratulate you well, you have to express yourself after winning the championship in today's competition." ”

"Of course, if I really win the championship, call Charles, Zhou Guanyu, and I'll take you back to the UK to see the world." Norris patted his chest in reassurance.

However, seeing Norris's self-confident appearance, Qin Miao still persuaded the other party from the perspective of a friend: "There will always be opportunities, but I feel that Lando, you are a little too excited, you have to calm down." ”

Norris was stunned for a moment, and then said with a smile: "Thank you, Qin Miao, really, but I'm very sober now, and my state has never been so good."

I understand your concern about me, but you haven't experienced this feeling of mine, and you can't empathize with me at this time.

I entered F1 two years before you, and this year is my third year in F1, but I haven't won a single race in so long as a talent. ”

Norris paused: "Now that I've taken the first pole position of my career and have the opportunity to challenge for the first title of my career, it's normal for me to be a little uncontrollably excited. ”

Qin Miao looked at Norris carefully.

Compared to what Norris said to himself, this person really didn't seem to have lost his mind, except for being a little too excited.

Although there were still some doubts in his heart, since Norris had already said so, Qin Miao couldn't continue to say anything.

"In that case, it seems that I am worried a little excessively, but the ugly words are ahead, although I started in the sixth, I will not give up the opportunity to pursue you and Hamilton, and don't cry when I overtake you."

"Ha, it's impossible, just wait, I'll definitely win the championship today!"

After a brief conversation, Norris left.

Qin Miao looked at the back of the other party who felt a little excited when he walked, and he was still a little worried in his heart.

Let's hope Norris doesn't have any surprises in today's game.

As for the champions......

It wasn't an accident that I overtook me on the field.

……

At noon, after eating lunch and resting for a while, Qin Miao and Mei Ben's staff got busy.

Until the start of the game, there was no time to rest.

Finally, after completing all the pre-game preparations, Qin Miao returned to his familiar cockpit.

Although Qin Miao was a little exhausted by the three consecutive races half a month ago, he hadn't returned to the car for two weeks, and Qin Miao really began to miss the time when he was sitting in the car and waiting for the start of the race.

By this time, all drivers had completed the pre-race listening to the Russian national anthem and swearing to abide by the F1 race specifications.

There were also a lot of spectators present today, the grandstand area opposite the P room was densely packed, and a five-star red flag was hung under the stands on the side of Qin Miao's starting position.

Qin Miao was making the final preparations in his car, but when he saw the national flag hanging in the stands, Qin Miao always had a feeling that there were people behind him when he sat in the car and entered the state of integration of people and vehicles.

Although this feeling will be thrown out of Qin Miao's mind once the game starts, this feeling can effectively alleviate Qin Miao's anxiety during the start of the game before the game starts.

And Qin Miao is also more confident.

It is worth mentioning that if Hamilton wins today's race, it will be the 99th Grand Prix victory of his career.

With one more win this season, Hamilton could claim a historic 100-career race title.

Regardless of historical status or anything like that, as long as he can achieve the achievement of 100 race wins, Hamilton is definitely the first person in F1 history in terms of statistics.

So today, Hamilton, who was higher in the starting position than his teammates, also gave his all in this game.

Soon, the race will give notice, all the staff on both sides of the track will be withdrawn, and the warm-up lap will begin.

Qin Miao also used neutral tires in this race, mainly because it was too difficult for soft tires to heat up on this track, and this track was very long, if it was kept at a suitable working temperature, Qin Miao's tires would wear out a little too fast.

So in the end, after weighing it, Qin Miao was asked to adopt the tactics of yellow and white stopping.

The advantage is that because the temperature is relatively low, the heat dissipation problem of the racing engine is easy to solve, so the team refueled Qin Miao for two more laps, and Qin Miao can use each lap as a qualifying race to push forward with all his might.

And the old man's tactics are much more normal than Qin Miao's, that is, a regular yellow and white stop, and pursue Norris in front of him as much as possible.

Soon, a warm lap was completed and the drivers were back in their grids.

And in the last period, Qin Miao received a TR from the team: "According to the report of the meteorological department, it may rain in the last ten laps of the main race stage, but it will not rain too much, and we will remind you at that time." ”

"I got it, but after knowing the news, I started to regret using these neutral tires."

"I know what you mean, but it's not a good value for money on hard tyres, and it won't rain too much."

"Okay......"

After a brief conversation with the team, Verstappen at the back stopped where he was supposed to be parking.

After adjusting the car's system to the starting mode, and the ERS power was all released, Qin Miao looked at Alonso in his rearview mirror, then at Ricciardo in front of him, and at his teammate Hamilton in front of him.

In fact, many races over the years have proven to everyone that the Sochi circuit is a disadvantage to start from the dirty side, and the track grip here is not as strong as the normal lane side.

And the start was followed by a false turn to the right, which was very disadvantageous for the riders on the inside.

So although he was very confident in his starting speed, Qin Miao couldn't help but observe his two main opponents more, and silently simulated in his mind what might happen after the start, and how he should seize the opportunity and how to avoid danger.

Finally, as the medical vehicle in charge of the pursuit took place, the green flag waved in the rear, and the five red lights began to light up one by one.

Qin Miao moved his hands slightly, and then began to increase the speed of the engine, staring at the indicator light in the distance.

"One, two, three, four, five...... Five red lights go out! ”

"It's game on."

(End of chapter)