Qin Miao's idea to adjust in this way is also easy to understand. He wants to further reduce the drag on his car while helping Hamilton with the slipstream.

To give his car more speed; during the time he's helping Hamilton with the slipstream, he prevents Hamilton from approaching too quickly while also helping Hamilton to achieve higher top speed.

However, Qin Miao did not replicate the scene from two weeks ago when Hamilton provided him with slipstream because the straight at the Baku Circuit is too long. Before reaching the braking point, Hamilton was already about to catch up, so Qin Miao yielded his position early.

This slipstream alone improved Hamilton's lap time by at least 0.2 seconds.

After all, Hamilton is a seven-time world champion, and his strength is evident. Therefore, he did not waste the DRS that Qin Miao helped him with.

After completing the flying lap, Hamilton's time improved to 1:41.879, ranking fifth.

The top four are naturally the Ferrari and Red Bull drivers.

However, the team had Qin Miao and Hamilton run a qualifying simulation during practice, so they knew that with the normal performance of the W13, it was not possible to enter below 1 minute 41 seconds.

Qin Miao's slipstream entering 1 minute 41 seconds, even though neither Qin Miao nor Hamilton might reach the podium in this race, the team and Hamilton were content with it.

Finally, Qin Miao crossed the line before the clock stopped in Q3, running his final flying lap.

This performance may seem insufficient compared to Ferrari and Red Bull, but for Qin Miao and Mercedes, a 1:42.497 is the limit Qin Miao can achieve under normal conditions.

The final qualifying rankings are as follows:

1: Leclerc

2: Perez

3: Verstappen

4: Sainz

5: Hamilton

6: Qin Miao

7: Gasly

8: Yuki Tsunoda

9: Vettel

10: Alonso

After getting out of the car, the podium ceremony wasn't something Qin Miao could enjoy this time.

After parking the car in the inspection area, Hamilton came over.

He reached out and shook hands with Qin Miao, and even patted the helmet of Qin Miao, who was still sitting in the car: "Thank you."

Qin Miao smiled: "You're welcome."

The post-race inspection process doesn't need to be elaborated here.

However, on Saturday night, when Qin Miao finished work and returned to the hotel, he saw in the small group chat with Leclerc, Zhou Guanyu, and Norris that Zhou Guanyu was furiously complaining about his team's strategy group.

Everyone was friends, so during these moments, no one held back their... laughter.

Qin Miao and Norris both found it hilarious.

However, unlike usual, Leclerc didn't taunt Zhou Guanyu's miserable situation but rather offered him comfort.

Maybe there's some mutual sympathy among the unlucky ones. Even though Leclerc got pole position in this race and his team didn't play any tricks on him, when he thought of the times he had been messed up by his team's strategy during qualifying and races, some bitterness and sympathy would inevitably rise in his heart.

After the laughter, everyone rested.

After all, the main race is tomorrow, and everyone needs to be in a good competitive state for the main race. Ensuring a good night's sleep and good mental condition is crucial for that.

After pre-race interviews and parades were over, Qin Miao used the next period in the team P room's lounge to adjust his condition.

The time soon reached just before the start of the race.

Sitting in his car, Qin Miao adjusted the fit of his gloves to his hands while listening to Frankie describe the track condition.

At this moment, Qin Miao is using the same set of brand new medium tires as his teammate Hamilton.

Normally speaking, when two drivers from the same team start with the same tires, their tire strategy during the race stage might be identical, with only a pit stop gap of maybe one lap.

But with Qin Miao's renowned tire-conserving ability, even if he and Hamilton started with the same tires, their pit stop strategies during the race could differ significantly.

And indeed, that's the case.

Qin Miao planned to finish the race with a one-stop strategy from yellow to red tires.

Because in the two practice sessions, Qin Miao demonstrated good long-distance speed and tire durability with these two sets of tires, despite adopting a yellow-red one-stop strategy, Qin Miao still had enough tire margin to try to attack the drivers ahead.

After improving relations with Hamilton, Qin Miao also knew Hamilton's pit stop tire-change strategy for the race.

Yellow-white one-stop.

This pit stop strategy isn't great, but it's decent and reliable.

Soon, all preparations before the race were complete, and the team staff withdrew. The race was about to start.

The five red lights lit up one by one, then went out, and the race began.

Actually, at the start, Hamilton's launch wasn't great, but Qin Miao maintained his usual high-level start.

But knowing that Hamilton used a favor to start ahead, it would be impolite to overtake him at the start.

Besides, Qin Miao wasn't contending with Hamilton for the driver's championship anymore, and he had more points than Hamilton, so even though his start was faster, Qin Miao eased off the throttle slightly after starting, not pressuring Hamilton into T1 or forcing the inside line excessively.