This feeling of potential car crash fatalities with any careless operation was intoxicating for Qin Miao.
However, during the first practice session, Qin Miao mostly focused on exploration. He was familiar with this circuit only through gas, and the exact conditions in reality were unknown, so he had to rely on himself to slowly explore.
In the one-hour first practice, Qin Miao only pitted once and spent seven minutes adjusting the car’s setup.
The rest of the ti, Qin Miao was on the track familiarizing himself with the circuit. What pleased Frankie and Toto was that Qin Miao did not show any resistance due to being penalized ten grid positions at the Monte Carlo circuit; he did not think that he couldn’t overtake during the official race and thus gave up.
Qin Miao’s preparation before the race was still ticulous and thorough, just like before, or even more so.
anwhile, even though Qin Miao was using hard tires, his lap tis were still improving visibly and steadily.
It was clear that Qin Miao was quickly familiarizing himself and mastering this circuit.
However, it’s worth noting that although the lap tis were consistently improving, Qin Miao did not drive as he would during a qualifying rhythm, leaving quite so room on the track when cornering.
Nevertheless, Qin Miao’s best ti on hard tires during the first practice ca to 1 minute 13.987 seconds.
Even faster than his teammate Hamilton.
Of course, at this point, everyone was still finding the right setup window for their cars, so the first practice tis were just for show.
Simulating long distances and at most doing a non-extre qualifying simulation is the limit.
Ultimately, Qin Miao ranked third in the first practice, finishing with a ti of 1 minute 13.011 seconds.
During the break, the team held a eting with the drivers.
The main focus was on analyzing the setup window discovered during the first practice, where Qin Miao and Hamilton would give feedback on the details felt on the track, what needed adjustnts in the car, and the appropriateness of the setup.
After the eting and a short rest, it was ti for the second practice.
Qin Miao started the second session at the Monte Carlo Circuit on his second set of tires, a set of dium compounds.
At the beginning, they conducted a long-distance test with a heavy fuel load to check Qin Miao’s lap tis, planning to do another heavy fuel load test with soft tires at the start of the third practice tomorrow, combine the data and decide on which tires Qin Miao should start with in the official race.
In the middle of the second practice, Qin Miao went for his third set of tires, a set of soft compounds, and did a flying lap on the track.
However, while trying to achieve lap tis, Qin Miao was obstructed in the second sector, rendering this flying lap ti unusable, but even then, Qin Miao still perford strong purple sectors in the first and third sectors.
Of course, this obstruction wasn’t Ricardo’s fault, but Frankie’s.
After all, we all know there’s simply no way to give way in the four turns of 5678 in the second sector.
Therefore, no penalty was given by the stewards.
However, according to the team’s calculations, Qin Miao’s lap ti could have been in the 1 minute 11.3-second range if not obstructed in the second sector.
Of course, this wasn’t a qualifying session; running a qualifying simulation was just to test Qin Miao’s potential under this car setup.
Afterwards, a series of other tests and simulations were conducted, which Qin Miao completed one by one as per the team’s requirents for pre-race data collection.
Because he completed the team’s assignnts ahead of schedule, in the last five minutes of the second practice, Qin Miao drove a few more laps on the track without any burden.
After all, it was using practice-specific gearboxes and engines, and the tires were also old ones intended to be returned to Pirelli after the second practice, allowing Qin Miao to enjoy the pure state of driving: the joy of racing.
Finally, the second practice concluded, and thanks to his simulator experience and confirmation in reality, Qin Miao had successfully mastered the driving skills required for the Monte Carlo circuit.
Honestly speaking, this circuit is truly difficult, narrow with no buffer zones, aning any driving on this track leaves no room for errors.
A mistake on this circuit can lead to either crashing out by hitting the wall or getting stuck in an ergency runoff area, with considerable ti lost while attempting to back out.
However, to enter F1, one must be among the best in racing, and despite Monaco’s challenging nature, everyone can control their cars.
What’s interesting about Monaco is that the Grand Prix race itself requires 78 laps.
Thus, every driver has to face the danger and difficulty of the Monte Carlo circuit 78 tis; no one dares to guarantee they won’t make a mistake or lose focus within these 78 laps.
And once a mistake happens...
This circuit is a comprehensive 360-degree test of a driver’s driving skills, will, spirit, and physical stamina.
...
Climbing out of the car and removing his helt and the sweat-soaked headband, Qin Miao shook hands and hugged Reyes before saying, "I feel like the steering is still a bit too much; the angle of the front wing could still drop by 0.5°, the rear pressure is well balanced, and there’s nothing else to adjust."
Reyes nodded and recorded the data, then said to Qin Miao, "The tire degradation is still better than we expected, so I think maybe we can further reduce the front wing angle and increase the front wheel camber."
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