CHAPTER 530: CHAPTER 231: 51G (6K, BONUS UPDATE 13/19)

Qin Miao has officially achieved the first pole position of his career, and also became the first sprint qualifying champion in F1 history.

At the same time, he pocketed three points.

But to be honest, this sprint qualifying race was really quite boring.

Of course, boring as it was, this championship was snatched from Verstappen and Hamilton, and it wouldn’t affect Qin Miao’s joy after winning the championship.

Parking the car in his designated spot on the track, Qin Miao got out.

He greeted the spectators on site, and cheerfully went to complete the weigh-in.

After the weigh-in, he tidied himself up a bit and then, led by the official staff, boarded a car similar to the pre-race driver parade with Hamilton and Verstappen.

After today’s sprint qualifying race, not only was there a parade, but the interviews also took place during the parade.

The first to be interviewed was Qin Miao, the sprint qualifying champion, and before the interview, a laurel wreath made of olive branches was placed around Qin Miao’s neck.

Then, with the wreath, Qin Miao waved to the audience while accepting the host’s interview.

But to be honest, Qin Miao really had nothing much to say about this race.

What could he say?

"I didn’t feel much pressure after the start, then did a long-distance test on the track with soft tires?"

So, Qin Miao’s response to the host’s questions was somewhat unoriginal, akin to diplomatic rhetoric, lacking substance.

After Qin Miao’s interview, it was Verstappen’s turn.

At this point, Qin Miao also came to Hamilton’s side. The two said nothing, just hugged each other.

Qin Miao knew that Hamilton realized he was preparing to surpass him, and Hamilton knew Qin Miao had thoughts of challenging him, just like all his former teammates.

But honestly, Hamilton didn’t have any negative feelings because of this.

Nor would he break relations with Qin Miao because of it.

At his age, he is very clear about human nature, when young people will have what thoughts.

These are all natural and he understands them.

But just like Hamilton endured and outlasted many of his teammates.

As time passed, Hamilton is still Mercedes’ number one driver, one of the iconic figures of the team.

Thinking of the Mercedes F1 team brings Hamilton to mind, and vice versa.

The driver and the team are full of each other’s traces.

So even knowing what Qin Miao intends to do, Hamilton is still confident that this young man will not be his opponent.

At least on his home turf, Qin Miao absolutely won’t be his opponent.

Hamilton is full of confidence in this regard.

After the parade ended, the race officials announced the starting order for tomorrow’s main race.

Pole position: Qin Miao 2: Verstappen

3: Hamilton 4: Leclerc

5: Norris 6: Ricardo

7: Alonso 8: Vettel

9: O’Kang 10: Sainz

11: Gasly 12: Russell

13: Kimi 14: Stroll

15: Giovinazzi 16: Tsunoda

17: Latifi 18: Mick

19: Mazepin 20: Perez (due to retiring in the sprint qualifying, Perez has to start from the pit lane)

Because he secured first place in the sprint qualifying, after the race, Qin Miao, along with Hamilton and Verstappen, went to the post-race press conference, spending an hour being bombarded by the media.

Then they attended a post-race fan meet-and-greet, where they handed out a wave of gifts to the on-site fans, marking the end of the day’s work for Qin Miao and Hamilton.

However, after the paddock work ended, Qin Miao did not go home but turned to the team’s factory.

Although it was already off-work hours, the F1 factory of Mercedes in Brackley was still brightly lit, with those team R&D staff and engineers whom Qin Miao knew or didn’t know still busily working at their stations.

That’s how an F1 team is; except for the drivers, almost everyone else needs to work overtime, and it’s quite common for R&D staff to be busy until 1 or 2 AM.

However, with effort comes reward, and some engineers’ annual salaries in Mercedes’ R&D department are even higher than those of the bottom-tier F1 drivers.

Of course, this only considers the drivers’ salaries, and not anything else, while the engineers’ side has to include overtime pay.

When Qin Miao arrived at the team, he didn’t go anywhere else but directly to the racing department to check his long-distance data from the sprint qualifying and the report quickly put together by the team.

Although these things could provide limited help for Qin Miao’s race tomorrow, for the sake of his first Pole to win in his career, Qin Miao pushed "doing one’s best" to the extreme.

He did everything he could to the limit and left everything else to the gods.

After checking his data, Qin Miao spent more than an hour on the simulator before going home.

Honestly, even after a busy day, Qin Miao didn’t feel tired when he got home.

But since tomorrow’s race was too important, Qin Miao did nothing else tonight, took a bath, and went straight to sleep.

That night, Qin Miao, who seldom dreams, had a rare dream.