Chapter 315: Chapter 161: Team Orders_2
Qin Miao, a driver with no media activities in his contract, is already so busy before the race. It goes without saying how busy drivers with many media activities are during the race phase.
Back in the lounge, he put on his noise-canceling headphones to drown out Hamilton’s singing. Qin Miao lay on the sofa, closed his eyes, and relaxed by listening to Jay Chou’s songs.
In this state, Qin Miao unknowingly fell asleep.
Honestly, Qin Miao is actually a bit nervous. After all, it’s his first F1 Grand Prix in his life, and his starting position is quite ahead. If he doesn’t perform well in this race, the pressure on him will be immense.
Beyond external public opinions, there’s also the pressure from the three-race contract with Mercedes.
For the past few days, Qin Miao’s mental state has been very tense. It’s rare to have such a moment to calm down and rest.
With his mind relaxing slightly, Qin Miao unknowingly fell asleep.
Qin Miao was woken up by Barber.
He washed his face in the restroom of the lounge, dried the water off his face, and went to the toilet. Then, Qin Miao took his gear and headed to the track.
The race was about to begin...
At this time, Bahrain’s sky was still bright. The Bahrain race is interesting; as arranged by the organizers, it starts at dusk and ends after nightfall, with 495 high-intensity floodlights illuminating the entire track.
This change of environment is Qin Miao’s first real life experience.
When leaving the paddock, there were actually no spectators inside. There were just some reporters conducting interviews, as access was restricted during the pre-race period.
Moving through the middle area, Qin Miao arrived at the Mercedes team’s P-room.
The Mercedes staff were already busy with preparations and didn’t even have time to greet him when he arrived.
Qin Miao didn’t mind and greeted Toto before finding a vacant spot to sit, waiting for his car to be ready.
About five minutes later, the crew, who were already prepared and doing final checks, gave Frankie a thumbs up.
Receiving the signal from the crew, Frankie quickly approached Qin Miao, who was shaking his leg while drinking water from a Magic Claw logo-insulated cup: "The car is ready. You can make your final preparations before entering the vehicle."
Noticing Qin Miao’s constantly shaking leg, Frankie frowned slightly. In his memory, during F2 preparations, Qin Miao was either using his phone or resting calmly, quite laid-back.
He wouldn’t usually shake his leg like he was now.
But he quickly understood the reason behind this. This behavior showed Qin Miao was nervous.
Frankie chose not to console Qin Miao at that moment. He knew the reason for Qin Miao’s nerves, and comforting words wouldn’t help much.
F1 drivers typically have robust mentalities, and Frankie trusted Qin Miao’s ability to self-regulate. He believed it better to allow Qin Miao to adjust himself rather than waste words on comfort.
After hearing Frankie’s words, Qin Miao didn’t say anything. His right leg kept shaking, but he handed the insulated cup to Barber.
He stood up and put on his gear.
Just as Qin Miao finished gearing up and approached his car, Hamilton walked up to him.
Seeing Hamilton, Qin Miao instinctively thought his intentions might not be friendly. Putting himself in Hamilton’s shoes, Qin Miao felt he couldn’t face a challenging newcomer without psychological barriers.
However, Qin Miao didn’t see any extra emotions in Hamilton’s eyes, which puzzled him.
"Hi, Qin." Hamilton greeted Qin Miao first after approaching him.
Then, Hamilton moved closer to Qin Miao and said quietly: "Listen, don’t take Toto’s words at today’s meeting too seriously. If you’re faster than me, you don’t need to slow down intentionally. You can attack me freely; I might even give up the position to you."
Qin Miao looked at Hamilton with astonishment, not understanding why Hamilton said this or why it wouldn’t be disadvantageous to him.
Could it be that he intended to portray Qin Miao as rebellious on the track, giving Toto an impression that he doesn’t comply with team orders?
Even though Hamilton spoke in a lowered voice, Qin Miao’s team members were still around him and could hear.
So, Qin Miao was genuinely at a loss about Hamilton’s motivations.
"Don’t overthink. I mean it literally." Hamilton explained, noticing Qin Miao’s confusion: "On one hand, I don’t want a repeat of the Rosberg situation. Secondly, you’ve probably sensed that this year’s Honda engines are powerful, and our aerodynamic advantage was cut by the FIA. We aren’t as competitive as before; for us and the team, this isn’t the time for internal friction."
Listening to Hamilton, Qin Miao blinked but said nothing, just nodding.
Hamilton didn’t say more and left after seeing Qin Miao nod.
Watching Hamilton depart, Qin Miao smacked his lips but didn’t take Hamilton’s words to heart.
Though Qin Miao’s social experience was limited, he had encountered many two-faced people during this time.
Old Man’s reputation in the paddock was quite high, but Qin Miao mostly knew about him through TV reports.
Despite having dinner with him under Toto’s arrangement, Qin Miao focused more on eating and didn’t talk much.
Thus, he wasn’t deeply acquainted with Old Man Hamilton, so how genuine his words were would be revealed in the race.
Nonetheless, if Hamilton were indeed faster than him on the track, Qin Miao was still willing to yield.
Qin Miao inherently possessed a strong character. Though he craved victory, he knew how to prioritize, and if given team orders, he’d still give Hamilton the position.
As Hamilton walked away, Qin Miao climbed into the car, connected his equipment, and started the steering wheel.
More than ten minutes of preparation later, Frankie indicated via TR that the car was ready. As Qin Miao glanced at Toto, the latter nodded at him.
Then, Qin Miao slowly drove the car out of the P-room.
The F1 start preparation phase involves drivers driving out of the P-room, taking a lap on the track, and then proceeding to the starting grid for final preparations.
"Good evening, audience friends. Welcome to Five-Star Sports’ coverage..."
After the commentators’ standard opening remarks were completed, they immediately began discussing the excitement of yesterday’s qualifying session.
"Qin Miao’s performance on the track was enough to impress everyone. When everyone thought that a debutant couldn’t perform well, he surprised everyone, even beating his teammate, seven-time champion Hamilton."
After discussing Qin Miao’s performance, the talk shifted to the F2 race, where Zhou Guanyu had just won the championship.
Though domestic fans now have Qin Miao as their main interest and he consistently delivers good performances in F2, they are somewhat accustomed to it.
Yet, this doesn’t prevent Zhou Guanyu from receiving praise from the three commentators for his achievements in F2—if another Chinese driver emerged in F1, for domestic fans, every Grand Prix would be like a celebration.
As the commentators continued their conversation, Qin Miao had already driven into his parking grid position.
Qin Miao’s left side was still empty; Verstappen hadn’t arrived yet.
Hamilton was parked behind him, on his left rear.