How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 931 - 368: Envy Causes Zhou Guanyu’s Protoplasm Separation_2
On Friday's first practice session, Qin Miao and Hamilton changed their usual behavior, as the practice session just started, they both went on the track for testing.
The proactive attitude of the Mercedes team left other teams puzzled; what's up with Mercedes today? Did they take the wrong medication?
However, very quickly, Qin Miao and Hamilton had very different feelings on the track.
Indeed, the upgrades introduced by Mercedes greatly reduced the porpoising phenomenon of the car.
At least at high speeds, this car compared to last week's car at the Jeddah Circuit, the amplitude and frequency of porpoising are much smaller, even reaching top speeds in light fuel qualifying rounds without porpoising.
But this just means it's not jumping as severely, the car in heavy fuel conditions will still jump, meaning during the race the car will still have porpoising.
However, at the same time, the tail speed and end stage acceleration of the car did improve significantly, at least it won't be the case where by the end, the foot is almost pressing into the fuel tank and the car's top speed is still hovering around 300.
As for this degree of bouncing, Qin Miao's physical condition can accept it, even after the bouncing amplitude decreased, Qin Miao feels that he wouldn't have any discomfort in his back after running an entire Grand Prix.
But not for Hamilton, you can't deny aging, already 37 this year and approaching forty, Hamilton's physical condition naturally can't compare with young Qin Miao who is 20.
So even though the porpoising phenomenon has greatly subsided, Hamilton still feels some discomfort in his back after a practice session.
Therefore after the first practice ended, Hamilton and Qin Miao returned to the resting area with different feelings.
Qin Miao obediently stayed in the resting area waiting for the second practice to start, while Hamilton found Toto and Elliott to discuss further reductions in the car's porpoising possibility and development direction.
After a brief rest and preparation, the second practice began.
During this process, Qin Miao maintained a speed that surprised the team.
The simulator couldn't predict that due to the introduction of a new bottom plate, the car's cornering speed also had a clear improvement, making the speed much faster than expected.
By the time the first and second practice sessions ended, Qin Miao's results in the second practice ranked second, behind Leclerc and 0.1 seconds faster than Verstappen.
Even though knowing the qualifying round results are just for fun, after seeing this result, whether it's the commentators of Five-Star Sports who are narrating the practice session or domestic racing fans or the staff of team Mercedes, all felt a surge of excitement.
Even Toto, who rarely smiles during races, had a rare look of relief on his face.
At least in terms of the current team upgrade progress, the team's upgrades are effective, team Mercedes does have the potential to restore previous competitiveness in order to compete for the championship in mid or late-season.
But when Saturday arrived and qualifying started, this beautiful illusion was soon shattered.
In Q1, Qin Miao's speed was indeed good and faster than his teammate Hamilton, but their results were still fifth and sixth.
This shows that both Mercedes drivers were exerting utmost effort to run lap times during practice, while for Ferrari and Red Bull, they were genuinely just practicing.
In Q1, Qin Miao and Hamilton both steadily advanced, but this result doesn't align with Mercedes's usual image.
On the other side, Zhou Guanyu also smoothly passed Q1 in this race.
The drivers eliminated in Q1 were: Albon, Russell, Magelsen, Vettel, Stroll.
Seeing Magelsen eliminated in Q1 was unexpected for everyone.
Because actually, Magelsen's speed this season is quite good, at least in the first two races, Magelsen performed very well.
But now looking at Magelsen's results… it can only be said to be a high start followed by instability.
Soon, the time came for Q2.
In Q2, Qin Miao and Hamilton had similar paces.
However, during the advancement, Qin Miao ranked sixth and Hamilton fifth.
It can be seen that the gap in single lap speed between the two Mercedes drivers has been further reduced this season.
From the past when Hamilton consistently topped Qin Miao in qualifying speed, to the present when the two are evenly matched on the track, Qin Miao's growth is astounding.
Zhou Guanyu, however, was unfortunately eliminated in Q2.
At the same time, Zhou Guanyu's teammate Bottas was also eliminated in Q2.
Their time gaps weren't large.
At least this should ease the mind of domestic audiences, judging from the qualifying results of both, Zhou Guanyu isn't much worse than Bottas.
The drivers ultimately eliminated in Q2 were: Gasly, Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Tsunoda, Mick.
Soon, Q3 began.
However, Qin Miao and Hamilton had just run their first flying lap in Q3 when an accident occurred on the track.
Alonso made a mistake while purpling the second sector and understeered into the wall at turn T11.
From the replay, it was clear Alonso was trying to downshift while entering the turn, but there seemed to be a hydraulic issue with the car, keeping the gear stuck in fourth without allowing him to downshift.
At this point, someone might ask, as an experienced driver, Alonso would be fully focused during a qualifying lap, and shouldn't miss the apex to go off track even if the downshift didn't happen.
However, F1 car braking doesn't rely solely on the brakes; the engine is also a means of braking.
After downshifting, the lower RPM of the engine effectively reduces rear wheel speed, thus braking the car.
Therefore, unable to downshift his engine, Alonso lost some braking power, causing him to miss the apex, understeer, and crash into the wall.
This crash directly broke Alonso's front left suspension, and his position lacked a Matthew Passage, making it extremely troublesome to clear the car debris, thus naturally the race committee issued a red flag.
But fortunately, most drivers completed their first flying lap.
The most unlucky was Sainz, who was about 100 meters from the finish line when the red flag appeared, thus his first flying lap time was voided.
Don't underestimate the base flying lap, because with a base lap time, drivers can run their final flying lap without worry.
Even if the final flying lap isn't good or an accident occurs, you still have a base time, your starting position might not be optimal but it won't be as bad as a 10th place start.
However, due to this incident, when Sainz started his final lap, he would definitely hold back and not push to the limit, so naturally, the results would be poorer than having a base time.
And ultimately, Sainz indeed didn't achieve a good score in qualifying.
But it wasn't because he missed a flying lap, it was because during the last stages of the race, his car had issues, making his final flying lap about 1.1 seconds slower than Leclerc's.
Meanwhile, with one driver missing from each of the front row teams' four drivers, Qin Miao could glimpse the top four positions.
After qualifying ended, the top ten results were as follows:
1: Leclerc
2: Verstappen
3: Perez
4: Qin Miao
5: Hamilton
6: Norris
7: Ricardo
8: O'Kang
9: Sainz
10: Alonso
