How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 898 - 355: Ferrari’s Rise

Zhou Guanyu's qualifying round certainly added some intensity for the domestic fans. Before the end of Q1, he was pushed down to the 17th place in the elimination zone.

Just when the fans thought Zhou Guanyu might end his first career qualifying race at Q1, he completed the final flying lap and his time jumped to 1 minute 32.210 seconds, soaring to 10th place and advancing to Q2 right in front of his idol Alonso.

Sure, Zhou Guanyu's performance was decent, but compared to his teammate Bottas, Zhou Guanyu was somewhat lacking. However, no one would think less of him because it's only his first career qualifying race.

We can't ask too much of a rookie driver. After all, even though F1 races have been held for so long, there has only been one Qin Miao.

Not everyone is born knowledgeable. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Ultimately, the drivers eliminated after the Q1 were Albon, Yuki Tsunoda, Hockenheim (replaced by Hulk), Ricardo, and Stroll.

After returning to the garage, Qin Miao, sitting in his car, merely glanced at the onboard footage of his fastest lap and then turned his attention directly to Verstappen and the two Ferrari drivers.

Today's performance by Ferrari was surprisingly good; all the patience and concessions from last year paid off this year. Only in the Q1 qualifying race, Ferrari exhibited unexpected speed, with two drivers occupying first and second place.

In Q2, the two Mercedes drivers steadily passed to Q3 as usual, while Zhou Guanyu, on the other hand, was not fast enough and was eliminated in 12th place in Q2.

Meanwhile, drivers eliminated in Q2 were: O'Kang, Zhou Guanyu, Mick Schumacher, Norris, and Russell.

That's right, this season McLaren has directly become a third-tier team.

Ricardo, poached at a high price from Renault by McLaren, was eliminated in Q3, while McLaren's Crown Prince Norris was defeated by freshman Zhou Guanyu in Q2 and was eliminated in 14th place.

We can only say that the economic crisis this season has affected the entire McLaren F1 division.

Possibly, McLaren this season will be like Red Bull in 2020, with no effective upgrades all year.

"What a pity, based on the speed Bottas showed, Zhou Guanyu might have made it to Q3 in this race." After the race ended, Bing from Five-Star Sports sighed.

However, today's commentator Xia spoke up for Zhou Guanyu: "We actually cannot demand too much of Zhou Guanyu. After all, this is just his first F1 Grand Prix, and the car he's driving does not have the performance like Qin Miao's, who could drive a Mercedes in his first Grand Prix."

Although the commentators felt regret that Zhou Guanyu couldn't go further, at least domestic viewers and commentators from Five-Star Sports were quite satisfied with his current achievement.

...

Soon, Q3 started.

Qin Miao returned to the track.

From the start of Q3, the Mercedes team didn't waste time; the drivers from other teams followed closely behind them as they left the pit. After a warm-up lap, they began their flying laps.

Qin Miao definitely has strength; during the winter break, he didn't stop training his driving skills. What's crucial is that Qin Miao is still young and has plenty of room to grow.

On the track, in the first timing sector of Q3's first flying lap, Qin Miao marked purple, but the second and third sectors fell short.

After completing the lap, Qin Miao's result was fifth.

However, with Hamilton crossing the finish line behind him, Qin Miao's result dropped to sixth.

The four drivers ahead of the Mercedes drivers were Leclerc, Sainz, Verstappen, and Perez.

At this point in the race, although many remained hopeful for the Mercedes team, some sharp-eyed spectators noticed that Qin Miao's lap time was 1 minute 31.871 seconds.

This result was a significant improvement compared to Q1 and Q2 but fell short compared to the Ferrari and Red Bull drivers.

Looking at Leclerc's time of 1 minute 30.771, it seemed that Mercedes was like a spent force.

Last season, Ferrari drivers had no way of even seeing the rear lights of the Mercedes cars just 10 laps into a race.

Thus, opening the season's qualifying with such results took everyone by surprise.

In Q3, Ferrari was 1.2 seconds faster than Mercedes.

What was more surprising was that Red Bull, with good momentum last season, also outran Mercedes this season, though nonetheless, Red Bull was still stepped on by Ferrari.

No matter how Mercedes and Red Bull fans viewed the start of these two teams, at least in the eyes of the Iron Buddha Temple, the performance of the two Ferrari drivers in qualifying was a definite booster for all of them.

Wofa has been accumulating for a year, a whole year! It's finally time for great rewards from modest beginnings!

Indeed, in the last lap of Q3, even though Qin Miao and Hamilton showed all their potential without reservation on the track, Qin Miao repeatedly probed the edge of control with his car.