Chapter 1139: Chapter 432: Mercedes Team’s Surprise for Their Two Drivers (Leave Request Update 1/2)
If given the chance, Qin Miao would certainly give Verstappen a hard time.
If possible, Qin Miao wouldn’t mind slipping the film from his helmet’s visor into Verstappen’s brake cooling duct.
It’s a bit of a shame that Qin Miao’s system didn’t provide him skills in this area.
Qin Miao actually wanted to experience what racing with props feels like in F1.
As long as I have enough visor film on my helmet, the car behind can forget about overtaking me, and even if they do, they’ll soon have to pit to clean it.
Of course, this is all just joking.
Looking at Hamilton’s confused face, Qin Miao said, "Thank you, Lewis. I’ve been caught up in my thoughts these past couple of days. Thanks to your reminder, I’ve figured it out."
Hamilton: ...
Alright, you young drivers are amazing. Not only do you drive well, but your confidence and composure don’t seem like that of a young person.
But Hamilton had to admit, from Qin Miao’s current expression and demeanor, there was indeed a big difference from that gloomy and depressive state earlier.
Maybe this guy really has, as he said, recovered his state.
Even though he was somewhat unwilling to believe it, Hamilton still nodded and said, "That’s good, but there’s still some time before the race starts. You need to be aware that during the pre-race parade, the fans on-site might not be kind to you.
They might be happier seeing Verstappen than their boss who gives them money, but after seeing you, they might make some... you know, insulting gestures.
Hope you’re mentally prepared."
Qin Miao nodded, "I’m already mentally prepared for that now, and I believe these external factors won’t affect my competitive state."
After talking with Qin Miao for a while, Hamilton unexpectedly left Qin Miao’s lounge feeling somewhat down.
Damn, I shouldn’t have bothered, obviously Qin Miao can adjust his mindset on his own, why remind him?
It should be good news for me if he doesn’t perform well in this race, right?
Besides, let’s assume Qin Miao’s ability and mental resilience, he might actually have had a chance to win the Dutch Grand Prix with the mindset he had then.
Shaking his head to clear these chaotic thoughts from his mind, Hamilton returned to his lounge and turned on the speaker.
Meanwhile, the sound of a game starting up on Qin Miao’s laptop came from next door.
...
Pre-race driver parade.
The situation was exactly like Hamilton described; as long as Qin Miao passed the stands in areas with more Dutch fans, there would be a loud booing.
Of course, among the 300,000 people on the track this week (over three days), not all of them are Red Bull fans, naturally there are neutral fans and ardent fans of Qin Miao, who come to every one of his races.
Indeed, when Qin Miao emerged from the team paddock, the area above the Mercedes team was filled with Qin Miao’s fans, cheering him on when he appeared.
With the support of his fans and Hamilton’s guidance, Qin Miao stopped dwelling on things.
So when Qin Miao faced the jeers and boos from the Dutch fans this time, he managed to squeeze a very friendly smile on his face and waved to greet the Dutch fans on-site.
Of course, Qin Miao isn’t the type to not retaliate, so he kept muttering under his breath in Mandarin: "wcnmdm."
After the pre-race parade ended, Qin Miao returned to the team’s paddock for the final pre-race preparations.
At this point, Qin Miao’s tire stock consisted of two sets of mediums and two sets of softs.
During yesterday’s qualifying session, Qin Miao thought he might use an extra set of soft tires, but in the end, he only used two sets, so he saved an extra set of soft and medium tires for the race.
The race strategy the team gave to Qin Miao was a one-stop red-yellow.
With Qin Miao’s tire saving skills, this strategy is almost perfect, and coupled with the extra stock of soft and medium tires, even if unforeseen events occur on the track during the race, Qin Miao has enough reserves to react.
Initially, Qin Miao wanted to use a yellow-red one-stop strategy, but after deciding to stop dwelling on things, he chose the strategy calculated by the team’s strategy team as the one with the shortest timing.
No need to affect my results just to annoy Verstappen.
After resting for a while in the team’s lounge, Qin Miao was notified to head to the track.
What bothered Qin Miao was that before the official start of each Grand Prix, all drivers on the track have to attend the host country’s national anthem ceremony at the starting position.
So before the race started, Qin Miao heard the Dutch national anthem again, which he didn’t particularly enjoy hearing.
After the anthem ceremony ended, Qin Miao returned to his car and waited for the start of the race.
But he didn’t have to wait long to feel a bit helpless.
Because for this race, Qin Miao is starting from fifth position.
Qin Miao’s starting position is right on the right side of the track, close to the spectator stands.
Despite a grassy area separating the track from the spectator stands, Qin Miao could still hear some mocking noises directed at him as he went past.
