Chapter 307: Chapter 158: Practice Sessions Conclude (5K, Not an Extra) (3)
"I’ll draw you a diagram later, and you can try it out on the track during the practice session."
"Thank you very much, Lewis." Qin Miao sincerely expressed his gratitude.
Qin Miao had only ever driven F2 on this track.
The top speed of an F2 car is not in the same league as an F1 car. Qin Miao was unclear about how an F1 car behaves on the track once it reaches its speed limit.
Like the details mentioned by the Old Man, although Qin Miao could gradually learn through his growing driving experience, this would undoubtedly waste his time. With the Old Man’s guidance, Qin Miao could spend more time improving in other areas.
Of course, besides this, Qin Miao also learned some other small techniques, which need not be detailed here.
Qin Miao’s personal driving style leans towards understeer; in layman’s terms, he prefers low-downforce setups.
Coincidentally, Hamilton’s driving style is similar to Qin Miao’s, as both prefer understeering cars.
Inevitably, there would be similarities in their setups, and the engineers at Mercedes could cater to both drivers’ driving preferences in car upgrades.
However, the braking balance settings and differential ratio settings of the Old Man’s car indeed provided significant inspiration to Qin Miao.
Qin Miao directly copied the brake balance settings to try out during the practice session.
If it works well, it will stay; if not, adjustments will be made later.
The differential settings for Qin Miao served only as a reference, as he had his own insights into using the differential.
After a discussion between the two, the time for practice session one was gradually approaching.
Today, the work efficiency of the Mercedes team staff was incredibly high, so during the conversation between Qin Miao and Hamilton, both cars had completed the warm-up and ignition process and could hit the track anytime.
With the signal from the technicians of Qin Miao and the Old Man’s team, the two ended their pleasant conversation and returned to their cars to begin their final pre-race preparations.
Qin Miao put on a sweat-absorbing head cover, secured the Hans System, and finally fastened the helmet with only a few sponsors, completing the preparation work.
Stepping over the sidepod, Qin Miao entered his race car.
Pushing his lower body down into the car, Qin Miao’s body naturally reclined inside the car.
Putting on the gloves lying next to the sidepod, plugging in the earphone jack for helmet communication, connecting the drinking hose inside the helmet, Qin Miao completed all the preparation inside the race car.
"I’m ready." With everything prepared, while waiting for the steering wheel to start, Qin Miao said in the TR.
Although the steering wheel is the brain of the race car, the TR system and the car system are two independent systems. The steering wheel not starting does not affect the team TR communication.
"Received, FP1 starts in 2 minutes, please stand by."
Qin Miao didn’t respond and instead looked at the two screens clamped between his sidepod, reviewing his tasks for the practice session...
Two minutes later, a voice came through the TR: "FP1 is about to begin, you can go out anytime you want."
Qin Miao didn’t hesitate, pressing the button on his steering wheel indicating he was ready to set off.
Upon receiving Qin Miao’s signal, his crew technicians immediately removed the warm-up blankets from all four tires, revealing the brand new 13-inch red Pirelli tires beneath.
Simultaneously, the jacks at the front and rear of Qin Miao’s car were lowered, and Qin Miao felt the car body shake and drop to the ground.
Barber stepped back a few paces to help Qin Miao check the track, then gave the signal that it was clear to exit the pit lane.
Qin Miao smoothly accelerated, driving his car out amid the screeching sound of tires against the ground.
...
In PF1, Qin Miao’s performance was standard, testing the tire wear situation during long-distance driving without ballast and what his flying lap could achieve with a 10% reduction in engine output power.
Qin Miao ultimately ranked 6th in the first practice session.
In PF2, Qin Miao found a comfortable setup and differential ratio, and his four brake balance settings were also adjusted.
Although there was still room for improvement, Qin Miao still had team testing tasks, so he would not have time to adjust the car setup any further in tomorrow’s third practice.
Qin Miao ultimately ranked 9th in the second practice session.
...
The next day, March 27th, Saturday.
Today marks the beginning of the third practice and qualifying.
In PF3, Qin Miao mainly assisted the engineers in Brackley in running the car’s aerodynamic data while the Old Man continued to fine-tune his setup.
This demonstrates the status of the number one driver, where the team gives all the dirty and tiring work to the number two driver.
The Old Man worked on his setup preferences, while Qin Miao helped the team with data gathering.
However, Qin Miao was already aware of his position as the second driver within the team before agreeing to join Mercedes, so he had no additional negative emotions about it.
While collecting data, Qin Miao also tested the car’s consistency after long-distance driving and tire degradation.
After running these three practice sessions, Qin Miao used five sets of tires and now has five sets of soft tires, one new hard tire, and two sets of medium tires left.
Qin Miao has two more sets of soft tires and one set of medium tires than his teammate Hamilton.
No doubt, having strong tire preservation is enjoyable—it means more strategic options and error tolerance during the race.
In the qualifying stage, Qin Miao doesn’t have to worry about his tire usage at all.
At 5:45 PM local time, the F1 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying is about to begin.
The three commentators on Five-Star Sports were ready.