How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 896 - 354: Opening Race in Bahrain

Regarding another shortcoming of the Red Bull Racing: the engine aspect.

Honda has gradually helped Red Bull improve in this area.

This is also why the two high-level officials at Red Bull are smiling; this season's Red Bull virtually has no shortcomings.

After laughing, Horner still said, "This season is indeed the time to showcase our design strength, but we mustn't be complacent. The skills of Mercedes drivers Qin Miao and Hamilton are equally formidable.

What's Max saying? Any noteworthy feedback on the car?"

"Max is still the same, wanting us to further increase the car's speed. Although he's getting older, he's still as impatient as before," Horner said.

"But that's Max," Marco smiled, then looked at Qin Miao on the screen and said, "We should continue with deep development on the car's floor as per our strategy; this is the right era for our team…"

"I feel that the team's glorious era is returning…"

...

On Saturday, during the third practice session, Qin Miao finally had time to start qualifying simulations and long-distance cruise testing.

After two practice sessions, the car's overall speed had a significant improvement, and both drivers found the tuning settings they felt most comfortable with. However, the issue of porpoising continued to trouble the team and the cars.

Given Bahrain's many straights, despite the team's efforts, porpoising still occurred at the end of the longest straights like T1, T4, T11, and T14.

Both Qin Miao and Hamilton requested the team at the internal meeting to address the porpoising issue promptly.

The team agreed wholeheartedly, and attempts were made using various solutions.

During the second practice, the team tried raising the car's floor height.

Indeed, this measure had an immediate effect, and the porpoising was alleviated, allowing Mercedes' engine to unleash its full potential on the straights.

However, this adjustment turned the Mercedes car into a muscle car, losing the smooth grip it had in medium and high-speed corners, resulting in significant downforce loss that actually slowed down the car's overall speed after adjustments.

Therefore, neither the team nor the drivers considered this option.

It's clear that, at least for this race, the team couldn't completely solve the porpoising issue, but the engineers devised different design ideas.

Despite everything, the Mercedes drivers would have to endure the porpoising effect during the race.

During the third practice, Qin Miao used five laps and combined data from the first two practices to find the optimal tuning window for his car.

It's noteworthy that due to the porpoising issue, Mercedes' tuning window feels somewhat quirky. Last season's tuning window allowed drivers to find a perfect balance between qualifying and race speed. But this season, it's different — either choosing a qualifying-focused tuning which allows higher speed and better handling during low fuel loads.

Or opting for a race-focused tuning where the car's stability and overall speed are greater during long-distance states.

Qin Miao wasn't sure about what Hamilton chose, but he opted for race-focused tuning in his car setup.

After the third practice concluded, after a brief rest, the event quickly moved to the qualifying stage.

It's worth noting that many celebrities came to the viewing area upstairs at the Mercedes team and the team's garage, so there weren't many actual racing fans at those spots.

The most surprising thing to Qin Miao was, fifteen minutes before the qualifying began, as he was preparing in the team's garage, he saw many celebrities he recognized.

The one who caught Qin Miao's eye was Liu Yifei.

Looking at the team's garage, she appeared a shade whiter than everyone around her.

Also, being a female celebrity, her aura was entirely different from the others.

Besides Liu Yifei, Qin Miao noticed Jay Chou and Lin Zhiying. Apart from the three, there were other people around them, seemingly celebrities, but Qin Miao didn't recognize them.

This is mainly because Qin Miao had a computer at home after starting middle school, and since he had the computer, he mainly relied on it for entertainment and stopped watching TV dramas.

After seeing these people, Qin Miao simply nodded at them, not even having time to greet them because qualifying was about to begin.

Don't be fooled thinking that during Mercedes' qualifying, the car release seemed unhurried, sometimes even late. In reality, the team was continually observing other teams' movements, naturally appearing sluggish.

During this time, the team was not idle.

After reaching his position, Qin Miao exchanged information with Reyes, understood the track situation and wind conditions, then put on his helmet and Hans System before getting into his car.

It's worth mentioning that the biggest change in the 2022 qualifying compared to 2021 was that during the Q2 stage, the fastest lap tire wasn't mandatory for use in the race stage.