How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 801 - 323: Abu Dhabi Practice Session 2

Compared to Qin Miao, who was already waiting at the pit lane entrance before the practice session even started, Hamilton was at least a minute late in leaving the team's P-room.

Soon, Qin Miao completed his first warm-up lap and began today's long-distance test.

Despite encountering two slow cars during this long-distance test, Qin Miao's average speed still exceeded the team's expectations set for him before the first practice session.

Of course, Qin Miao's average score just barely crossed the line.

But this is understandable, after all, in the first two laps, Qin Miao was just getting familiar with the track, testing the hard tire's line through some corners, and challenging the car's cornering limits.

As Qin Miao gradually became familiar with the track, his speed naturally became faster.

Later, under the team's command, Qin Miao tested the speed of medium and soft tires, and after completing these two tests, the first practice session ended.

For some reason, Qin Miao's progress during the first practice session was relatively fast, completing the original team goals ten minutes ahead of schedule.

However, Qin Miao did not waste those additional ten minutes, instead switching to a set of old hard tires and running a fast lap.

Of course, it was the fastest lap for Qin Miao at that time.

Time passed, and the F2 qualifying session began.

This time Qin Miao didn't go to watch Zhou Guanyu's race.

Because the data collected by the team during the first practice session needed to be compiled and organized by Qin Miao.

After a period of busy work, the F2 qualifying session ended, and Qin Miao didn't have time to follow Zhou Guanyu's qualifying results since the second practice session had started.

During the second practice session, Qin Miao spent the first half hour on long-distance testing with medium tires and also did a qualifying simulation with medium tires; the results were subpar, but there was sufficient time for adjustment.

In the latter half hour, Qin Miao spent most of the time practicing soft tire qualifying simulations.

The entire second practice, the Mercedes team didn't have a moment of idleness.

By the end of the second practice session, everyone on the Mercedes team, including Qin Miao, breathed a sigh of relief.

Just like the first practice, Qin Miao's team completed the tests and data collection about fifteen minutes ahead of schedule in the second practice.

The second practice session results were significant since the weather conditions were similar to the race, especially since Qin Miao was running with an additional ten pounds of sensors besides maintaining the rhythm of a qualifying session.

After the second practice session, Qin Miao's time was 0.7 seconds faster than Hamilton.

Although Qin Miao's advantage seemed significant, it essentially indicated that Hamilton wasn't really exerting himself.

Still, Qin Miao was satisfied with such speed.

Toto was very pleased with this race.

In previous races, Toto would mention Red Bull or talk about Verstappen's performance in a couple of sentences with James Allison;

This week, Toto had rarely mentioned Red Bull since Thursday when he arrived at the paddock.

Mercedes didn't seem to see Red Bull as a threat.

Toto had good reasons for this since the drivers most likely to win the championship are from Mercedes.

Red Bull indeed didn't pose much of a concern for Toto at this race.

After completing Friday's work, Qin Miao didn't rest after returning to the hotel and tested whether there were any optimization possibilities with his racing lines from the day's driving using the simulator.

After all, it was just a practice session; even though Qin Miao pushed himself to the limit during that lap, it was the limit at that time, not Qin Miao's personal limit.

After returning to the hotel, Qin Miao spent nearly three hours focusing on track details using the simulator.

The simulation speed improved compared to the second practice, with the single lap improving by 0.3 seconds faster than the fastest lap in the second practice.

However, whether the details and cornering techniques deduced from the simulator would provide any advantage during the actual race could only be known in tomorrow's third practice session.

The next day, Saturday.

As usual, Qin Miao arrived early at the paddock.

After completing the routine pre-race interview and returning to the team's P-room, Qin Miao took the time to watch the replay of Zhou Guanyu's qualifying session yesterday.

As expected of him, Zhou Guanyu took third place during the Friday qualifying session.

This meant that Zhou Guanyu would start from third, and given Zhou Guanyu's current ability, starting from third guaranteed he would likely score points.

Barring any surprises, Zhou Guanyu would likely secure the F2 drivers' championship this year.

However, Qin Miao wasn't watching Zhou Guanyu's qualifying replay to see his ranking.

He mainly wanted to observe Zhou Guanyu's driving rhythm and cornering lines on the track.

By now, there was little to gain from the F2 qualifying footage for Qin Miao, so he closed the laptop after a few minutes.

After reviewing last year's race footage, it was now 3 PM on Saturday, and the third practice session had started.

During this phase, Qin Miao was mainly wrapping up his work and making final adjustments to the car.

It's noteworthy that, even though this race was the last of the 2021 season and Verstappen posed little threat to the two Mercedes drivers, Mercedes still brought new upgrades for the two drivers in this race.

The upgrades included a new front wing and a rear diffuser.

These two components increased the car's downforce and stability.

Even last week, at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Mercedes' R&D department had already shifted the focus to next year's car.

These upgrades had been developed long ago, only being manufactured recently.

After introducing these parts, the most noticeable effect was overall improved performance and cornering stability, crucially addressing the slow tire warm-up issue on Hamilton's car.

Of course, everything has its drawbacks; the setup window became significantly smaller after these parts were installed.

But fortunately, with the W12 built upon the solid foundation of the W11, the reduced setup window didn't pose much trouble for Qin Miao's car adjustments.

Additionally, Qin Miao and his crew were in exceptionally good form this week, completing tests and adjustments faster than normal race weekends.

Eventually, with ten minutes left in the third practice, Qin Miao finalized his car setup for qualifying and the race.

As a result, Qin Miao wrapped up the practice session earlier than usual.

Seeing Qin Miao call it a day early surprised Hamilton and his crew.

Qin Miao's actions inadvertently added pressure to them.

Qin Miao didn't watch Zhou Guanyu's F2 sprint race; after the third practice, he went straight to the team's relaxation lounge.

Now, it was just about waiting for the race to start.

Typically, during these moments, Qin Miao was never nervous, sometimes even playing on the PS5.

Today, however, after returning to the team's relaxation lounge, Qin Miao found it hard to calm down, feeling rather anxious.

Finally, Qin Miao found a noise-canceling headset, turned on the noise cancelation to block out all external sounds, and only then did his anxiety slightly subside.

Time ticked by slowly.

Finally, the qualifying session was about to begin.