How did I become an F1 driver?

Although, F1 drivers are all weak.

But basketball is also a sport where injuries are easy to occur. If you, Qin Miao, were to play this exhibition game normally, you would follow ordinary people's thinking.

If they dribble the ball for a while, look away from the defense and then find an open spot to shoot, they won't say anything.

But you just deducted it directly?

What if you sprain your foot when you land? Is the race still running?

So after Qin Miao landed lightly and happily, Barber rushed in front of Qin Miao and grabbed Qin Miao's wrist: "Brother, don't you have any idea about your identity? Just perform honestly in the exhibition match. If anything happens to you, What should I do if I get injured if my body position is wrong after dunking?"

Qin Miao was stunned. Although his physical fitness cannot be said to be the best in the world, he is still one of the top people and is not so easy to get injured.

But looking at Barber's frightened face, and the staff of the Miami Grand Prix organizer who were running towards him in a hurry.

Qin Miao could only shrug sadly.

"Okay, then I'll finish this exhibition match normally."

The content of the subsequent activities was relatively simple. Qin Miao and Butler played bullfighting for about 10 minutes. In the end, the two sides drew 11-11.

I believe that the other party has also read the book "Emotional Intelligence".

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that it is a deliberate request by the organizer.

In addition, Qin Miao also participated in the famous American large V8, environmentally friendly QTM drag race.

But it was a marketing event after all, so it was impossible for Qin Miao to drive other brands of cars, so when he went to the track, he drove a renovated old model Hutouben.

Surprisingly, Qin Miao's speed is actually very good.

In the midst of such activities one after another, the time came to Thursday night.

Tonight, Qin Miao put on the team's T-shirt and came to the paddock with Hamilton and Toto.

There is a special concert in the paddock in the evening.

It is similar to a large-scale disco show. The only people who can come to the scene are those who have bought a package ticket.

All drivers will be present and brief interviews will be held.

But all Qin Miao and the others needed to do was go up and show their faces. After this incident, most of the pre-match marketing activities ended here.

While preparing, Qin Miao and Hamilton got together to chat again.

"Did you enjoy your weekend?"

"Actually, it's just normal daily life. What about you?"

“I kicked off most of my marketing this week and spent my time on the simulator.”

Qin Miao was surprised: "Are you looking for training or something?"

"Yes, I tried to make a fastest lap using my normal driving method on the simulator, and then ran a lap using the method you mentioned."

Qin Miao asked curiously: "How is the effect?"

Hamilton scratched his head: "To be honest, it may be because of the simulator. After I found the braking point again, the speed was not as fast as running normally according to my habit."

Qin Miao frowned when he heard this: "Are you practicing on this week's track? It's impossible, right? What's your fastest lap speed on the simulator?"

Hamilton didn't hesitate and said directly: "1 minute 28 seconds 1."

Qin Miao frowned.

"Any questions?"

Qin Miao nodded and said: "Your lap speed is faster than the fastest lap I ran on the simulator, and it is much faster."

Hamilton didn't show any surprise when he heard this, but said: "Actually, the data I ran using the simulator is about one second faster than my normal lap time.

At least that's the case on these tracks this year. "

Qin Miao suddenly raised his head and looked at Hamilton when he heard this.

Hamilton also saw Qin Miao's stunned eyes and was stunned for a moment, then asked uncertainly: "Is your lap speed always faster than the speed of the simulator?"

Qin Miao nodded seriously: "My lap time is about 0.5 seconds faster than the simulator on average. I always thought it was because the simulator didn't simulate something in place, so I didn't care.

And I didn’t have your data before, so I didn’t have a clear reference.

But now when I hear you say it, I feel...

"Is there a problem with the team's simulator?" Hamilton said, and repeated the question, but this time the question became an affirmative sentence: "There is a problem with the team's simulator!"

"This matter needs to be reported to the team." Qin Miao said.

Hamilton also nodded, but quickly said: "Even if a problem is found, we want to make adjustments here..."

Hamilton stopped talking at this point, and Qin Miao also knew what he was going to say next. Modifying the team's simulator data was not a small project.

Although the interior of Mercedes-Benz's simulator is not a mountain of code, the things inside the simulator are not so easy to modify.

Presumably, even if the problem is really found and modifications are made, it will take at least two months for the team to see initial results.

This also means that the Mercedes-Benz team is unlikely to have any upgrades to its racing cars in the recent period.

Moreover, if this is true, then the current W13 design idea has gone wrong from the beginning, and the same will be true for subsequent upgrades.

Even if the recent upgrades on the team's part are just a blind cat and a dead mouse, they are indeed effective. The dolphin jumping phenomenon of the car has been reduced and lap times have also increased.

But on the premise that the foundation is wrong, no matter how you build the house, it will be wrong.

So after the two looked at each other, they both began to worry that the upgrades brought by the team this week would have no effect, or even have the opposite effect.

Hamilton smiled bitterly: "I don't know why, but now I hope that both of our guesses are wrong."

Qin Miao also smiled bitterly.

However, even if the two of them discovered something was wrong while chatting, given their current position and situation, they would not be able to tell them about it.

Then naturally comes the link that both Qin Miao and Hamilton are very familiar with.

The F1 drivers of this era may be bad at driving cars, but it is absolutely impossible for them to be unable to arouse the emotions of the audience when facing fans and fans.

However, after the appearance was over, Qin Miao and Hamilton did not even attend the cocktail reception prepared by the organizer. After they were able to leave, they returned to the team's P room together and called the team's senior management who were still in the paddock for a meeting.

At the meeting, Qin Miao talked about the problems he and Hamilton discovered during the chat and the suspicion that the simulator had bugs.

Although the team's top executives were a little surprised that the originally estranged atmosphere between Hamilton and Qin Miao suddenly eased, they quickly turned their attention to the real issues they needed to face now.

Toto even called the head of the simulator department who was still resting at the team headquarters and started discussing the matter.

In fact, the reason why this problem was discovered at this time is mainly because since entering the ground effect era, the two Mercedes drivers have no longer shared information.

Therefore, neither Qin Miao nor Hamilton knew the specific data that the other party ran in the simulator.

Now that the information cocoon between the two is broken, many problems that were not easy to find before will immediately surface.

The meeting lasted for two full hours, and in the end, in the somewhat heavy voice of the head of the team's simulator department, everyone at the Mercedes team got a very bad news.

That means there is indeed a parameter error on the team's simulator.

Especially on fluid mechanics simulation data.

This error in position simulator data is almost catastrophic for a team that is at a very important point in aerodynamic layout in the ground effect era.

Maybe the entire aerodynamic design of the racing car will have to be completely overhauled.

Not to mention that after Allison knew the news, he immediately became less confident in the concept of zero side boxes.

The reason why this is good news is that the convoy detonated a deeply buried bomb in advance.

At least after the bomb exploded in advance, the convoy would have more time to repair the damage and gaps caused by the bomb explosion.

In short, because of the ice-breaking relationship between Qin Miao and Hamilton, the Mercedes team started to become very upset in a literal sense.

Many heads of important departments, as well as technicians, engineers, and designers were forced to work overtime.

The research and development of the front wing and front suspension that had already been launched were also urgently stopped. The team can no longer waste more budget on these already skewed components.

After that, nothing happened to Qin Miao and Hamilton. The first thing the team has to do now is to troubleshoot the simulator problem, find the problem and fix it.

This has touched upon the knowledge blind spots of the two drivers.

……

The wind in the hot Miami evening has also become much softer.

On the way back to the parking lot to pick up the car after get off work, Qin Miao and Hamilton, the two Mercedes drivers, had a rare opportunity to walk side by side.

"It seems that it is difficult for the team to make any obvious upgrades in recent times." Hamilton said in a tone that he didn't know whether he was happy or disappointed.

Qin Miao nodded: "At least within half a season, the car will not have any major upgrades, and it may even be like this this season."

"Will the team directly overthrow the design concept of this car and start over?" Hamilton was a little surprised when he heard Qin Miao say that the car had been like this all season.

"This possibility cannot be ruled out." At this time, Qin Miao's face had a pain in the balls, mixed with a happy expression.

There is no need to go into too much detail about the reason why the ball hurts. The joy is that he and Hamilton worked together to solve the hidden dangers within the team.

"I don't know, if the team doesn't upgrade this season, where we will be ranked in the end." Hamilton said with some melancholy. Qin Miao smiled and said with relief: "Think on the bright side, at least at the end of this season, we will no longer have to pay so many super driver's license registration fees to the FIA."

After Hamilton heard Qin Miao's words, he laughed and shook his head.

"As long as they can give me another world championship title, I would rather pay them a little more money." Hamilton joked.

Day 2, Friday, is the day when first and second practice begins.

Although Mercedes-Benz was in a bit of a commotion internally and at the team factory because of Qin Miao and Hamilton's discovery yesterday, when Qin Miao and Hamilton came to the team, most of the team's staff were He was busy at his job as usual.

It was as if the emergency meeting yesterday had never been held.

Qin Miao was not so curious, so he went to ask the team members if they knew what happened last night.

So he looked normal and did what he does every race weekend.

While the team was having breakfast, Hamilton also came over.

After saying hello to the other party, when Qin Miao was about to continue eating with his head down, Hamilton sat down directly in front of Qin Miao.

Today, Hamilton is dressed up as usual. Although the color is not particularly bright, his denim suit and bell-bottom pants look particularly eye-catching.

Although Qin Miao didn't know the price of Hamilton's suit, but having been in foreign circles for so long, Qin Miao also knew that the suit Hamilton was wearing would not be cheap.

But these were digressions. After Hamilton sat down, he said directly to Qin Miao: "The results of yesterday's meeting are out."

Qin Miao nodded. He had never asked about this issue. Now that Hamilton mentioned it, Qin Miao was also curious about the outcome of the meeting.

Hamilton said: "The team has not taken any immediate action, but is conducting internal evaluation."

When talking about this, the team's chef also brought Hamilton's breakfast in front of Hamilton.

After thanking him and waiting for the other party to walk away, Hamilton continued: "The team does not want to waste the resources to develop the current W13. Some people still have certain hopes for this car. If something goes wrong, it will be gone. Are you on the right path?"

"meaning is?"

“The team wants to evaluate the potential of the current W13. If there is still potential for upgrade, the team wants to continue along this path.

The biggest problem is to modify some parts of the car that have made mistakes in the design concept.

After all, you know, if you change the development ideas of racing cars at this time..."

Qin Miao nodded. He had discussed this matter with Hamilton last night.

"Then what do you think of this matter?" Qin Miao asked casually after taking a bite of beef.

Hamilton also started eating breakfast: "I don't know."

But after finishing speaking, Hamilton looked up and saw Qin Miao's expression of disbelief.

"Well, I do hope that the team will tear it down and start over. It's really painful for me to drive this car." Hamilton said helplessly and waved his hands.

Qin Miao also nodded in agreement and said: "Actually, my thoughts are the same as yours. Although the current speed of this car is good, compared with last season's car, the level of driving trouble has gone up by more than one level."

"Are you talking about the braking weight settings at which corner braking points?"

"Yes, if you are free later, you can come and take a look at the preset knobs on my steering wheel. The carbon fiber on them is smoother than other places." Qin Miao complained.

You must know that carbon fiber material is very hard and has high wear resistance. One knob that Qin Miao can use is smoother than other parts, which only means that Qin Miao often uses this button.

It is even used more frequently than elsewhere.

Generally speaking, the only carbon fiber parts on the car where this happens are the shift paddles.

After breakfast, Qin Miao left first. After returning to the team home, Toto held a remote video conference in his office.

Therefore, the morning meeting is no longer held by leadership staff such as the team's technical director. The person in charge becomes Hamilton's track engineer Peter Bonnington.

Of course, in the minds of many car fans, he also has a more familiar name: Bono.

At the same time, Qin Miao's track engineer Frankie gave additional explanations for the meeting.

Although the main person in charge and senior leaders were not present, the post-match meeting progressed in an orderly manner.

The process was pretty much the same. After all the tasks were assigned, Qin Miao and Hamilton returned to their respective lounges and waited in the lounge for half an hour before the first practice started.

When the time was up, Qin Miao changed into his racing suit, and then Qin Miao took Barber to the team's P room.

Although the new upgrade is likely to have negative effects, after Qin Miao arrived at the team, the new floor and side box air inlets were still installed on the car.

After all, these two parts may also have a good effect like the rear diffuser from last race weekend.

Of course, the specific effects of these upgrades will only be known after running on the track.

After all, it is now clear that there is a problem with the racing simulator data.

After completing the preparations before the race, putting on his helmet, Qin Miao stuffed himself into the car.

Time passed by and it was time for the practice match to begin.

During the first practice period, Qin Miao did not sprint at all out, and spent more time looking for the data the team needed to formulate race strategies.

Because of the competition time period, the three practice sessions are only the second half of the second practice. The time conditions of the track are the same as those of qualifying and the race, so Qin Miao plans to start looking for the most comfortable training at that time.

There is nothing to elaborate on in the practice stage, and the rankings at this stage have no reference significance. After all, everyone is collecting data.

The only thing that surprised Qin Miao was that few seats in the audience were empty during the game.

You know, for a grand prix held in a normal European region, if Friday is a practice session, there will be spectators on site, but not too many.

Basically, if you can do half of it, it will be considered a grand prix with a lot of people.

Should we call it the Great America?

There was nothing much to say about the two practice sessions on the first day. With Qin Miao's ability to adapt to the car, he quickly found the car settings that made him most comfortable to use.

However, what makes Hamilton feel a little bit pained is that after the car has been upgraded, there has indeed been a very significant improvement in straight-line tail speed.

The speed increase has also met the team's expectations. Now in the third DRS zone of the Miami Circuit, the W13 can run a top speed of 329 kilometers per hour in qualifying mode.

But the effect of the bottom plate is a bit too good.

When the car is running on heavy fuel, the jump at the end of the straight is particularly satisfying.

Even more joyful than before.

So much so that Qin Miao, who had completed all the test tasks in the first practice stage when the clock stopped with 10 minutes left in the first practice, was called back to the maintenance area. Then when the second practice started, Qin Miao's blade was replaced with the original one. base plate.

After replacing the old blade, Qin Miao's dolphin jump in heavy oil mode is indeed not as cheerful as the new blade.

But Qin Miao's lap time is not faster than the new blade, and is even slower.

So in the end, after the second practice, the team reinstalled Qin Miao's racing parts on the new chassis.

Anyway, Qin Miao is young and can withstand the ravages of racing.

But when the question was put into Hamilton's hands, Hamilton hesitated.

The dolphin jump of the car did cause him a lot of trouble, but as a professional driver, in terms of speed and his own physical safety, Hamilton did not allow himself to slow down.

So in the end, Hamilton did not choose to replace the old blade and continued to choose to use the new blade.

It is worth mentioning that Hamilton tried the setting method of shifting the brake center of gravity to the rear wheel that Qin Miao told him last week during the practice session.

Indeed, after using this method, the problem of oversteer in the car has been greatly alleviated, and the overall speed of the car has also been improved to a certain extent.

However, Hamilton discovered that this method of operation has certain drawbacks, that is, the car will have some difficulties in attacking and defending during the race, and it will not be able to gain an advantage in cornering.

Thinking of this, Hamilton suddenly remembered that this season, Qin Miao's overtaking no longer started attacking in the corners like last season. Qin Miao's overtaking relied more on his accuracy in turning into corners. In the early stage, In the curve, bite the wake of the car in front, and then use DRS to get close enough to the car in front to use speed to overtake the car in front of you in the DRS zone.

At the beginning, Hamilton thought it was because Qin Miao's personal ability had declined. But looking back now, Hamilton realized that he was completely wrong.

All in all, the upgrade of these two parts of the Mercedes-Benz racing car has indeed had a positive effect, at least for Qin Miao. Although the average lap speed cannot be said to be able to chase Red Bull and Ferrari in front, it has also opened up a gap with himself behind him. time gap between McLarens.

Soon, the three practice sessions ended in an orderly manner.

The weather in Miami has been nice the last few days, and this Saturday is no exception.

After completing three practice sessions, Qin Miao, who was waiting for the start of the race, was taking a bath in the closed area where the tires were placed inside the team.

But unlike ordinary people's baths, Qin Miao's bath bucket was filled with ice cubes.

This is used to cool down Qin Miao's body before the game starts.

Today the air temperature is 33℃ and the track temperature is 52℃.

For drivers who need to drive at high intensity for a long time in a racing car, this temperature is definitely a severe test.

The rider's skin temperature can reach at least 40°C.

Coupled with the ventilation system in the racing monocoque that is better than nothing, the driver is equivalent to being in a sauna during the entire race.

Therefore, in order to allow Qin Miao to have better physical fitness and clear mind during the competition, the team gave Qin Miao an ice bath before the start of the competition. (End of chapter)