Chapter 379: Chapter 182: Practice Sessions 1, 2, and 3
The wait time was naturally used to study and discuss these things, specifically the performance improvements in the Red Bull race cars, and to find countermeasures.
Before the race starts, Barber would knock on Qin Miao’s door to remind him that it’s time and that he needs to start preparing.
In the room, Qin Miao naturally made all the necessary preparations before the race started.
Heading to the pit room, he greeted the staff and chatted with Hamilton for a while, and soon it was time for the first practice session.
He got into the race car, started the engine, and after the system check was completed, Qin Miao drove out of the pit room.
Qin Miao wasn’t very familiar with the Portimao circuit, so for the first practice, the team put on a set of hard tires for Qin Miao to get familiar with the track.
This period was mainly used to help Qin Miao find the car’s tuning setups, as the data he produced during this time couldn’t be used by the team due to his unfamiliarity with the track.
However, Qin Miao’s learning and adaptability were truly astonishing.
In the first twenty minutes of the practice, Qin Miao showed noticeable awkwardness in driving the car; he couldn’t even make it into the top ten during long-distance laps.
But after twenty minutes, Qin Miao’s lap times underwent a qualitative change, shooting up to the fifth position.
At this point, Qin Miao’s lap times could be used as data simulations for the actual race, and Qin Miao was also testing the new upgrades on the car’s floor.
The first practice session eventually ended quite uneventfully, with Qin Miao reaching the team’s expected data. However, Qin Miao felt the car setup was still somewhat uncomfortable to drive, but he couldn’t pinpoint the specific issue.
After a two-hour break, the second practice session began.
During the second practice, Qin Miao’s task remained to familiarize himself with the track and find his tuning setup.
The only noteworthy point was that Qin Miao ran 25 laps on a set of soft tires during the second practice.
Running the mileage of medium tires on a set of soft tires seemed quite absurd to other teams, and the key point was that Qin Miao’s average speed over those 25 laps was quite impressive.
This caused quite a stir among the teams paying attention to Mercedes.
But to no avail, except for Mercedes itself, no one knew precisely about the wear data of Qin Miao’s set of tires or whether the subsequent degradation was controllable.
On the Mercedes side, they naturally smiled slightly after obtaining the precise data, and the strategy group’s eyelids twitched.
The second practice session ended, with Qin Miao using up two sets of soft tires during this period.
Afterward, the team naturally took the data from the two drivers on the track for analysis and summary, and then the strategy group roughly established a direction for the tactics for the qualifying session and Sunday’s race.
During this time, Qin Miao and Hamilton could take a break, but neither had such intentions; instead, they gathered together to study and discuss the changes and discoveries they felt on this track.
Despite being technically in competition with each other, both did not care much about this relationship. One reason being that they got along well privately, and another being that Hamilton knew Qin Miao’s abilities were not as good as his own. However, Qin Miao was a loyal person, and if needed, he would definitely help Hamilton, so without any clear conflict of interest, he didn’t mind sharing his knowledge gained on the track with Qin Miao.
As for Qin Miao, although he already harbored thoughts of no longer being the second driver, he knew he was not yet fully fledged, and his influence was not enough, so he did not have the qualification to challenge Hamilton’s status. Thus, Qin Miao kept this thought deep in his heart, for now, dutifully continuing his role as the second driver.
On the track, he would help his teammates to the extent possible. Plus, given their good private relationship, and Qin Miao being a person who valued relationships, he didn’t care much about these interests and gains for the short term.
Furthermore, to a certain extent, Hamilton was also unreserved toward Qin Miao. If Qin Miao wanted Hamilton’s telemetry data, Hamilton would hand it over without a word.
The senior takes care of things thoughtfully, and the junior shouldn’t only think about overthrowing the regime, right?
Friday’s work soon came to an end.
Unlike the strategy group’s overtime efforts, most Mercedes staff went back to their hotel to rest after a busy day, leaving only the strategy group working overtime at the factory or team headquarters.
At times like these, Hamilton would always considerately have coffee and late-night snacks sent to his coworkers, showing tremendous thoughtfulness.
Saturday arrived, and today the third practice and qualifying session took place.
Before the official start of work, Qin Miao routinely accepted interviews from media journalists, who mostly asked questions about the first two practice sessions from yesterday. Over time, Qin Miao had become experienced in answering reporters’ questions, responding smoothly and without any potential slips.
During the third practice, both Qin Miao’s and Hamilton’s work focused on qualification simulations, which required no detailed explanation.
During the third practice, the team also discovered a track characteristic: that the degradation rate of medium tires was not much different from hard tires, but they were verifiably 0.4 seconds faster than hard tires.
Despite knowing this information, the team still had Qin Miao test how these two types of tires performed on his car.
The results were gratifying; in normal driving conditions, the degradation rate of Qin Miao’s medium and hard tires was the same. If conserving tires, the medium tires for Qin Miao indeed wore out faster than the hard tires, but not by much. However, if driving aggressively, Qin Miao’s medium tires even lasted longer than the hard tires, with the average speed of the medium tires being 0.5 seconds faster than the hard tires.
As soon as this data came out, it was destined that this race would basically see no cars using hard tires in the main race stage.
Furthermore, the data run on the hard tires was unusable as well.
After receiving this information, everyone at Mercedes remained fairly calm, except for James Vincent and his strategy group staff.
With this new variable, they needed to spend more time adjusting their tactics, extending their overtime hours.
However, they were already used to this.
After this small episode, Qin Miao spent the rest of the third practice using an old set of soft tires for qualifying simulations.
Since it was a qualifying simulation, Qin Miao pushed nearly to the limit on almost every lap. Additionally, due to his unfamiliarity with the track and the significant elevation changes, Qin Miao went off track twice.
Fortunately, both times he managed to control it; once, he pulled back onto the track before heading into the buffer zone, and the other time he entered the buffer zone, but by then the speed had dropped, and Qin Miao didn’t cause the race officials to show a yellow flag, skillfully driving out of the buffer zone through his car control.
Back at the team, a check revealed only some scratches on the car’s underbody carbon fiber, which didn’t significantly affect the car’s aerodynamics and showed no damage.
As the third practice was about to end, Qin Miao switched to a new set of soft tires, completing a flying lap and securing first place in the third practice.
However, the practice results could only be used as a reference since, apart from Qin Miao’s fans being happy for a while, nobody else paid much attention to the result.
The preparation time between the third practice and the qualifying session wasn’t long, just two hours.
During this period, the team fitted the two drivers with the qualifying-specific engine and gearbox, and also installed a new set of exhaust systems for both.
Technically, Qin Miao’s old exhaust system could still be used, with only 30% wear, which basically wouldn’t affect lap times.
But the race allocation of these parts was generous, with as many as eight sets, and wealthy Mercedes didn’t care much about the money. The pace of changing a set every three races was just right for Qin Miao to finish the entire season.
Apart from the exhaust, Hamilton also activated his second set of MGU-H.
In fact, the MGU-H of Hamilton’s race-specific engine was only 50% worn, and it wasn’t impossible to finish both the qualifying and main races with it.
But this approach always carried risks, and given the small speed advantage Mercedes had this season, Mercedes wanted to create both an eight-time champion and win the team championship again. From a stability-seeking perspective, the team ultimately chose to have Hamilton switch to new components.