Moreover, the McLaren in fourth place clearly doesn't have the capability to threaten Mercedes, which is currently in third.

Ultimately, the team decided to stiffen the rear suspension for both Qin Miao and Hamilton's cars to ensure the drivers' physical health.

However, despite receiving this news, Hamilton still appeared somewhat worried.

During the second practice session, Hamilton also made adjustments to increase the rear suspension stiffness.

Yet, what Qin Miao found tolerable, the porpoising, was still quite strenuous for the 37-year-old Hamilton.

As people age, their bones aren't as sturdy as they used to be, and their lower backs can give out.

However, Qin Miao was unaware of this.

On the following day, Saturday, when both the third practice session and the qualifying session began.

During the third practice session, Qin Miao continued familiarizing himself with the car and seeking the right setup.

The setup from the first practice session, due to the increased rear suspension stiffness, was completely unusable, and during the second practice, Qin Miao not only had to find his own setup but also had to assist the team in gathering data with the increased rear suspension rigidity, which made his third practice session slower than normal.

The good news was that Qin Miao had a decent ability in data collection and setup, so before the third practice ended, he found a setup he felt most comfortable with.

Hamilton, too, made some adjustments to his setup based on Qin Miao's after the third practice session.

However, whether this change was beneficial could only be determined on the track.

During the time between the third practice and the qualifying session, both Mercedes cars had the engines intended for the race installed.

At this point, the engine on Qin Miao's car had already been used in seven Grands Prix, and today's Azerbaijan Grand Prix was its eighth.

But to the surprise of the Mercedes team, the overall wear on Qin Miao's engine wasn't as high as they had expected; it could even last for two more races without any issues.

Hamilton, on the other hand, directly used a new engine.

In fact, Hamilton's engine usage frequency was normal; the team's technicians were somewhat puzzled by Qin Miao's case.

However, being able to use the engine for more races was a good thing for Qin Miao since he would avoid time penalties, and apart from the staff in the durability research department, no one paid much attention to this.

This Grand Prix had minimal long curves on the track, mostly right-angled turns, so tire wear was low, and the C5-C3 softest three compounds were provided.

Even though the track had low tire wear and Pirelli offered the softest three compounds, the main pit stop strategy was still one stop.

Unexpected situations on the track, of course, were not included.

Given the track length, Qin Miao and Hamilton didn't wait for other drivers to hit the track or even start their flying laps before leaving the pits.

Before the qualifying session began, all drivers were already out of the team's pit boxes waiting at the pit exit.

A long track had its advantages, such as a reduced likelihood of encountering traffic, with drivers consciously keeping their distance from each other.

In the Q1 stage, Qin Miao's first flying lap recorded a 1:43.539.

To be fair, this time wasn't great, but it was sufficient for Qin Miao to enter Q2.

For the second flying lap, Qin Miao didn't use new soft tires and instead used a set of old soft tires for a lap.

The speed of this flying lap was decent at 1:43.879, steady enough to advance to Q2, though not as fast as Qin Miao's first flying lap.

Zhou Guanyu also made it to Q2 on his first flying lap during Q1.

Currently, the Alfa Romeo team hasn't put pressure on Zhou Guanyu, allowing him ample time and opportunity to showcase his full potential.

Eliminated in the Q1 stage were: Magelsen, Russell, Albon, Stroll, Mick.

In the Q2 stage,

Qin Miao was already queued up at the pit exit early.

However, Qin Miao's first flying lap wasn't optimal as he was blocked by Yuki Tsunoda.

As a result, Qin Miao's first flying lap in Q2 was only a 1:43.755.

This time was clearly not good enough to make it to Q3.

Even Qin Miao, who rarely swore over the team radio, expressed his frustration after being blocked by Tsunoda.

Meanwhile, Zhou Guanyu and Bottas didn't exit the pits immediately.

Under team instructions, they waited until the track had fewer cars to start their flying laps.

Since tire wear wasn't significant on the track, a set of soft tires was enough for two flying laps.

With light fuel loads, the degradation was only about 0.1 seconds slower than on new soft tires.

This time difference might even be compensated by the driver's performance on track.

Thus, both of these flying laps were something to look forward to.

Yuki Tsunoda received a warning for blocking Qin Miao's flying lap and was required to visit the stewards for a reprimand; the Red Bull junior team was fined €12,000 as well.