How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 885 - 351: Pre-Season Testing_2

Mercedes was not the first team in the paddock to reveal their car's livery design, but the teams that revealed their cars before Mercedes all had fairly large sidepods.

Mercedes is the only team whose car has flat or vertical sidepods, and the air intake of this Mercedes car is noticeably smaller than those of other teams.

As a result, after the Mercedes car launch, all the fans were discussing Mercedes' sidepod design.

Beyond the buzzing discussions within the paddock, designers and simulation departments from other teams also focused part of their attention on Mercedes' sidepod design.

They too were curious whether there was any deeper meaning behind Mercedes' design.

Of course, all they could do at this time was speculate, and at most, create a simple fluid dynamics model using the not-so-clear launch video to simulate the airflow of such a design.

Due to incomplete data, most of the teams that attempted this found it fruitless, instead wasting at least an hour of CFD simulation time.

However, at least before the preseason test began, Mercedes' design drew plenty of attention.

So from the car launch all the way to the start of the official preseason test, discussions about Mercedes' design never ceased, both inside and outside the paddock.

On February 20th, after another month of intense preparation, the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship preseason test was about to begin.

In keeping with tradition, the first preseason test is held at the Catalonia circuit in Barcelona, Spain.

The reason for choosing this location is purely because the Catalonia circuit is the most comprehensive of all F1 tracks.

This track includes low, medium, and high-speed corners, right-angle bends, hairpins, elevation changes, and long straights—iconic features of racing circuits.

In short, as long as your car is fast enough at the Catalonia circuit, it likely won't perform poorly on any track this season.

As a result, all teams choose this track for their preseason testing, and naturally, Mercedes is no exception.

So today Qin Miao headed to Barcelona.

This was the first time Qin Miao used his private jet to travel for work after acquiring it.

However, Qin Miao didn't have time to enjoy the scenery along the way; after landing, he didn't even go to the hotel but had Qimeng help put his luggage and other items in the hotel.

Qin Miao went straight to the Catalonia circuit.

By this time, the Mercedes team was already preparing for the preseason tests.

The winter test preparation process is similar to a regular Grand Prix: setting up the P room and then assembling the car inside it.

During this process, Qin Miao could only watch.

As a driver, there's not much he could do at this point.

However, Qin Miao's presence in the paddock at this time at least invisibly boosted the confidence of his team's staff.

With the driver already on site, there's no excuse for slacking off.

Time flew by, and soon it was February 23rd.

Today is the start of the preseason testing.

Even though this wasn't Qin Miao's first time participating in preseason testing as an F1 driver, and he even knew that there were certain design flaws in the car he would be driving this season,

despite this, knowing that he was about to drive a brand new F1 car still left Qin Miao too excited to sleep, and he was particularly exuberant upon waking up.

The atmosphere at the Catalonia circuit today was actually the same as during a regular Grand Prix weekend, the only difference being the absence of spectators.

After entering the paddock, Qin Miao went to attend the pre-test interviews as usual.

During the interviews, naturally, questions from reporters about the Mercedes car were inevitable, as no car in the paddock looked as distinctive as the Mercedes.

To this, Qin Miao just smiled knowingly.

If the reporters pursued the matter further, Qin Miao would dodge with the reason that he had only driven this car on a simulator and not in reality.

Seeing that the reigning champion was not budging, the reporters could only give up regretfully and began asking questions more interesting to other viewers.

Faced with these questions, Qin Miao's responses were much more normal, generally satisfying the reporters.

After completing what felt like a daily routine task from a mobile game, Qin Miao happily arrived at the team P room.

By now, Qin Miao's car had been fully assembled and was quietly parked in its spot.

Qin Miao knew that this was not the car's final form, so he only glanced at it briefly before looking away.

Today in the Mercedes P room, besides Qin Miao, there was also Hamilton, Toto, and other high-level executives from the Mercedes leadership team.

Worth mentioning is that Technical Director Mike Elliott was not present; he was still busy with his projects at the team factory, and Qin Miao hadn't paid much attention to Elliott for a while.

It's not that Qin Miao wasn't concerned about the development progress of the Mercedes car, but because Elliott's development pace was a bit slow—at first, Qin Miao would occasionally check on Elliott's progress.

However, as time went by, whenever Qin Miao checked, the components were still in the blueprint phase. Although each visit revealed more refined blueprints than the last, to date, Elliott hadn't produced any tangible results.

Over time, Qin Miao stopped paying attention.

After greeting the executives and chatting briefly, Qin Miao headed to the team area to change into his new season racing suit and helmet.

Qin Miao's current helmet design is still the same red helmet from last season.

The team suggested that Qin Miao debut his new season helmet at the Bahrain opening race.

Recently, Qin Miao also received his share of the royalties from the scaled-down helmets and team uniforms, which was not a small amount, so he happily accepted the team's suggestion.

After putting on his gear, Qin Miao approached his car.

At that time, the car's 18-inch tires were not mounted yet and were being heated in warming blankets.

When Reyes nodded at Qin Miao, he got into the car.

After more than a month, being back inside the cockpit of a race car, Qin Miao actually missed this enclosed feeling.

Once Qin Miao adjusted, Reyes came over with a tablet, asking, "How does the seat fit? Any adjustments needed?"

Qin Miao flexed his back and body slightly, and after making a few sudden left and right maneuvers, he gave Frankie a thumbs up, "Feels good, similar to last season's, it fits snugly."

Reyes nodded and made a note, then said, "When you run later, keep an eye on this aspect. If there's any loosening or discomfort, report to us immediately."

"Okay."

"How does the steering wheel feel?"

This season, the Mercedes car's steering wheel was modified to suit Qin Miao's hand shape.

Though 21-year-old Qin Miao's height was fixed and he was not continuing to grow taller, his skeletal structure changed every year, so the team had a custom steering wheel made for him every six months.

"It's great, feels as good as ever."

"Alright, you'll confirm again once on the track."

"How about the pedals? Is the angle comfortable? Any jerking when pressed down?"

…

Even though the preseason test had begun, Qin Miao was not immediately sent out by the team.

Reyes and the others asked Qin Miao to spend more time in the car to adjust.

This way, if there were any problems or discomfort detected during this time, they could be addressed on the spot. If it had to wait until on-track, it might be a bit too late.

After spending another ten-plus minutes completing all the checks, Frankie's voice came into Qin Miao's ears.

"Okay, checks complete, let's go see what this beast can do."