CHAPTER 210: CHAPTER 127: DOMINATING THE QUALIFYING SESSION

Qin Miao’s exit time would not allow his car’s engine enough time to cool down sufficiently. Although the car’s engine could still operate normally under such conditions, the power output would be somewhat less explosive compared to a fully cooled engine.

Nevertheless, Qin Miao still managed to clock a time of 1:14.019 with a car not in optimal condition.

Just short of breaking the 13-second barrier by 0.2 seconds, though a bit regrettable, Qin Miao’s time still set a new F2 fastest lap record at the Red Bull Ring.

After completing this lap, Qin Miao felt pretty good. If he changed to a new set of soft tires, he was confident he could break into the 13-second range. But there was no need, as this time was enough to secure pole position for the qualifying session.

Moreover, Frankie in the TR had only just excitedly praised Qin Miao: "Awesome! You..."

Mid-sentence, Frankie paused for a moment, then reluctantly said to Qin Miao: "Please come back to the pits, there will be staff guiding you at the pit entrance."

Qin Miao was curious: "What’s up?"

"...The FIA asks you to come back for weighing, your qualifying speed was too high, they must suspect your car is too light."

This wasn’t about discrimination or anything, purely because Qin Miao broke the F2 fastest lap record on this track, and the FIA needed to prove to others that Qin Miao hadn’t done anything illegal.

Shrugging his shoulders, since he didn’t plan to run anymore laps after completing this one, weighing was no big deal.

Upon reaching the pit lane entrance, some orange warning cones had already been placed on the empty space, and in the middle surrounded by cones stood an iron platform, much like the base of a power unit tester, but it was actually for weighing.

Normally, the weighing process is for Qin Miao to park his car beneath the makeshift scale, and the FIA staff would push the car onto it. Throughout this process, Qin Miao only needed to adjust the steering.

However, Qin Miao didn’t know this. It was his first time being called back by the FIA for weighing, and he drove directly onto the scale.

Moreover, since Qin Miao entered from the pit lane entry, he approached the scale at the pit lane speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour.

Seeing Qin Miao was almost there without slowing down, the FAA staff prepared to help push the car, got quite a scare.

But for a driver like Qin Miao, with his full control over the car, such a rookie mistake was impossible.

Around sixty meters before approaching the scale, Qin Miao began decelerating. At this point, you had to admire the extreme lightweight of F2 cars and their terrifying deceleration capabilities.

In a distance of sixty meters, the car’s speed was reduced from 80 kilometers per hour to 20 kilometers per hour.

Because driving onto the scale required ascending a small ramp with a slight incline, Qin Miao nailed the perfect speed to exhaust all the car’s kinetic energy just as he reached the top.

In a manner that appeared aggressive yet adhered to regulations, he parked his car on the scale.

The FIA staff looked at Qin Miao getting out of the car with a helpless expression after properly parking it.

If you claimed he broke the rules, he really didn’t do much, just drove the car onto the scale. Yet if you said he followed the rules, he did drive directly onto it...

Ultimately, Qin Miao was not penalized. For geniuses, whether in F1 or F2, race events tend to offer some leniency for such trivial matters.

The weighing process was quick, and calling Qin Miao over wasn’t only about weighing but also required a car inspection, identical to post-race inspections.

Naturally, Qin Miao’s car was in perfectly good order, with not a single issue.

After the weighing, the FIA staff was ready to gesture for Qin Miao to get back in and return to the session.

Then he was bewildered to see Qin Miao abandon his car and walk off with his helmet...

He just walked away like that...

Wait... you’re leaving your car???

Fortunately, Qin Miao had informed his team before weighing that his current performance was satisfactory, with no need to continue running, and virtually no chance of improving his fastest lap. Should there be any, Qin Miao would gladly give away the pole position.

So shortly after Qin Miao left, Sui Wentao and the crew arrived with tools and, under the confused gaze of the FIA staff, pushed the car away.

At Five-Star Sports, the two commentators briefly hesitated at the scene, quickly figuring out the reason.

"Qin Miao likely feels satisfied with his current performance and isn’t planning to run anymore. He wants to save a set of soft tires for another attack during the sprint race..."

...

Walking back to his team’s temporary P room, Qin Miao even passed Zhou Guanyu’s car.

Zhou Guanyu, sitting with a parasol, looked bewildered as Qin Miao walked past, a big question mark popping up in his mind, wondering what this guy was doing. Wasn’t the qualifying session not over yet...

Upon asking his racing engineer, holy moly, just now he broke the Red Bull Ring F2 qualifying fastest lap record.

Understanding Qin Miao well, Zhou Guanyu figured he probably didn’t intend to run anymore.

Watching Qin Miao walk out of sight with some envy, honestly, Zhou Guanyu also wanted to experience that feeling of only doing two hot laps in a qualifying session, then ending the session halfway through.

Drivers with personality naturally get more screen time from broadcasters. First, the feed showed Qin Miao’s car, which wasn’t pushed back by Sui Wentao and the team to the Prema pit area but instead straight towards the back of the pits, directly being pushed to Prema’s temporary P room.

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