CHAPTER 463: CHAPTER 210: DRAMATIC TURNS

However, it’s not the first or second time that Mercedes limited engine power during practice sessions.

So most fans who know Mercedes’ character aren’t overly worried about it.

Of course, the world is full of surprises, and despite knowing that Mercedes likes to hide its true potential by limiting engine power during practice sessions, there are still viewers worried about Mercedes’ performance in the race.

Given such concerns, those people started discussing it on Mercedes’ social media.

Mercedes’ external communications staff have plenty of experience dealing with worried comments on social media and managed to reassure them quickly.

After the second practice ended, Qin Miao drove his car back for weighing, and during this waiting time, Hamilton came over to Qin Miao.

After shaking hands and embracing each other, Hamilton took off his helmet and asked, "How did the first and second practice sessions feel?"

Qin Miao thought for a moment, "Pretty good, I adjusted everything during the first and second practices based on the data tested on the simulator at the factory. Right now, the car basically meets all the race expectations. The only issue is that I’m worried my engine might have problems during the race. Other than that, everything’s fine."

Upon hearing Qin Miao’s words, Hamilton frowned and then lowered his voice, "I don’t know if you’ve tested it at full power, but I did a full-throttle run before the end of the second practice, and the results weren’t ideal."

Qin Miao was a bit surprised, "Was there any engine adjustment?"

The implication of the question was whether Hamilton had limited the engine power.

Hamilton shook his head.

After hearing this, Qin Miao also looked a bit serious; the philosophy of Mercedes’ powerful yet clumsy design seemed to be having issues adapting to this track.

"I’ll test it during the third practice tomorrow and see what’s going on."

Hamilton also nodded worriedly.

After chatting for a bit, the two Mercedes drivers returned to the garage.

After putting down their gear, Qin Miao and Hamilton went to the interview area together.

On the way, they compared their setup parameters with each other, much like students comparing answers.

This year, both Mercedes drivers share similar driving habits and styles, which is that they both prefer understeering cars, meaning their setup differences are minimal. If needed, they can use each other’s setups for reference.

By comparing setup data and explaining the reasoning behind their adjustments, they can better understand the tuning window of the Mercedes car on this track.

During the post-practice interview session, an FIA reporter who had a good relationship with Mercedes interviewed Qin Miao.

Since they were familiar with each other, the questions were less tricky, and the reporter didn’t deliberately trouble Qin Miao with questions about team secrets that couldn’t be easily answered.

The interview segment went relatively smoothly.

However, Qin Miao’s work didn’t end there for the day, as he stays quite busy during race weeks, helping some social media influencers sign autographs for their fans, and providing signatures for photos and photo collections taken by some well-known photographers in the paddock.

Such activities, which could subtly enhance Qin Miao’s influence, were exactly what he needed to focus on at this stage.

And so Qin Miao kept busy in the paddock until past seven in the evening. After grabbing a meal at the Mercedes team headquarters, he returned to the hotel.

Exhausted from a full day, Qin Miao didn’t have the mood for anything else after returning to the hotel. He took a shower and then cuddled up with his wife, holding her soft body as he drifted into sleep.

The next day, after getting up and washing up, Qin Miao downed a bottle of nutritional supplement.

He felt energized immediately.

After some simple physical training, Qin Miao headed to the paddock; there was a qualifying session today, so Qimeng also came along.

However, this time she didn’t follow Qin Miao to the team garage but watched the race from the VIP area upstairs.

As for the team, a tension filled the atmosphere within Mercedes before the third practice session.

Once the third practice session truly began, and after Qin Miao completed his qualifying simulation run, this tension grew even more intense within the team.

Although Qin Miao took first place after the simulation run, his time was still slower than Verstappen’s fastest lap in the second practice yesterday.

Moreover, when Qin Miao ran this lap, the engine wasn’t in a restricted state, meaning if Qin Miao fully pushed during qualifying, his time would only be about 0.2 seconds faster at best.

Yet just as Mercedes likes to hide its strength, Red Bull might also be concealing something, and everyone knows drivers don’t showcase their full potential during practice sessions for safety reasons.

After all, this is a street circuit, and pushing too hard could lead to a crash, potentially ruining half the weekend.

No one can guarantee that if the car crashes today, it will be fully repaired for the race tomorrow.

No team would risk their race points like that.

After receiving this bad news, Toto and strategy director James Vincent discussed it and unanimously decided to use slipstream tactics during qualifying.

Q1 and Q2 were not a concern, as with Mercedes’ strength, they might not outperform their biggest rivals, Red Bull, on this track, but would still fare better than other teams.

However, for Q3, the team arranged slipstream tactics for the two drivers.

Originally, they could also draft behind other drivers, but the success rate was not only low but also uncontrollable. Given that Qin Miao had four new sets of soft tires in reserve, the team decided that the two drivers would draft off each other.