Qin Miao, who had been wrestling with his thoughts for quite a while, was at the peak of his curiosity when Hamilton sent him the file. He didn't refuse it, and when Hamilton returned to his seat, Qin Miao sincerely said, "Thank you."

"I haven't had the chance to thank you for holding off Verstappen for me on the track, so this is nothing. Besides, even without that incident, I wouldn't mind sharing this data with you if you need it," Hamilton replied generously, showing his true champion demeanor.

Qin Miao couldn't bother with formalities with Hamilton at this moment. After a perfunctory reply, he hurriedly downloaded the compressed file from his email, unpacked it, and opened the throttle and brake data packets. He then compared his data with Hamilton's while also starting to play the video he had been researching earlier.

Qin Miao had certainly lost a lot of hair over this, so now that there's a hint of a solution and opportunity, he naturally felt quite urgent.

In just over a minute, Qin Miao watched the video more than seven times and then let out a long breath in relief.

The problem wasn't with Qin Miao's operation but with the exit rhythm of the corners.

Qin Miao's throttle application in and out of the corners was about 0.05 seconds slower than Hamilton's.

Qin Miao's timing in accelerating wasn't as good as Hamilton's. One or two corners might not show a difference, but over multiple corners, the speed gap between Qin Miao and Hamilton would become very evident.

Besides, there were also numerous details where Qin Miao fell short of Hamilton. These details were mostly small tricks on the track accumulated through racing experience. It was understandable that Qin Miao's ability in this area was not as refined as Hamilton's.

After identifying the issues, Qin Miao lay down on the lounge sofa and let out a long breath: "Feeling much better~"

"What?" Hamilton's voice suddenly asked.

Upon hearing this, Qin Miao froze for a moment before realizing Hamilton was still in his room. Annoyed, he lightly slapped his forehead and said somewhat embarrassedly, "My bad, I got so caught up in the track issue I didn't notice you, Lewis."

"No problem."

"Want something to drink? My girlfriend stocked the fridge with drinks for me."

"No, thanks. You should know we can't just drink anything," Hamilton replied, rejecting the offer without a second thought.

Qin Miao didn't persist. After taking a leisurely sip from his thermos, he remembered he hadn't even asked why Hamilton had come: "By the way, I haven't asked why you came to see me?"

"Oh, right. Seeing you so focused, I didn't want to interrupt, and after a while, I forgot myself. I came this time mainly because we have a team-arranged small vlog later. Originally, it was supposed to be me and Toto in the video, but I thought you needed more exposure than Toto, so I wanted to see if you were interested?"

Hamilton had learned of Qin Miao's quirky contract with Mercedes. When he first heard about it, he didn't quite understand why Qin Miao avoided publicity like the plague, especially when such exposure could increase his fame.

However, holding a "to each their own" attitude, Hamilton didn't press further.

Regardless, Hamilton had a certain gratitude towards Qin Miao at the moment, so he wanted to lend a hand off the track.

Hamilton had some insights into managing fan engagement and increasing fan loyalty.

But to his surprise, Qin Miao directly refused: "I'll pass. The qualifying race is coming up, and I need this time to make adjustments. After all, I have the Damocles sword of getting kicked out of Mercedes hanging over me if I don't perform well in the next three races."

Upon hearing Qin Miao's reason, Hamilton secretly scoffed.

You might fool others with this excuse, but I'm not an outsider. You won over Toto and the high-ups at Mercedes in your first race. The position of Mercedes' second driver was long settled. What Damocles sword are you talking about?

However, since Qin Miao didn't want to go, Hamilton didn't insist.

After a few more casual chats with Qin Miao, Hamilton left.

Qin Miao waited in the lounge until the qualifying race was about to start.

When he arrived at the team's P garage, Qimeng and Boss Zhou had been waiting there for a while.

He winked at his wife and nodded at Boss Zhou before collecting himself and beginning his pre-race preparations.

He organized his gear, sat inside the car, and confirmed the tires he'd be using through the display in front of him. After dealing with all sorts of minor tasks, Qin Miao took advantage of the gap when the steering wheel wasn't connected yet and gave his car a "buff."

The pit crew was already used to Qin Miao's pre-race rituals. After all, even in F2, he always did this before a race.

Sometimes you have to admire these superstitions because sometimes they do work.

Like Qin Miao, he never had a mechanical failure with his car in F2, and even minor issues could be solved through remote settings from the command center.

After completing all preparations, Qin Miao waited in the garage for the race to begin.

"Radio check, can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Okay, Qin Miao. The probability of rain for this race is 20%, so we don't need to worry about rain."

"Roger that."

"However, it's a bit cold, and the tires will warm up slowly. The team suggests you do an extra warm-up lap, but with the weather conditions and the cooling system upgrade we had over the break, you don't need to worry about the car overheating. You can keep the engine at high revs for a long time.

That's all. Good hunting."

...

In the 14th minute of Qualifying Q1, Qin Miao was let out by the team.

But only two minutes into it, just after finishing his first warm-up lap and readying for a second warm-up lap to start pushing, a red flag appeared on the track.

This was because Tsunoda made a mistake between the T14 and T15 corners and crashed.

After a brief yellow flag, race control directly showed the red flag.

Aside from Qin Miao, Tsunoda was considered the best rookie in Bahrain, so his mistake surprised many people.

After parking the car back in the pit lane, Qin Miao watched the replay on-site.

The crash seemed to have destroyed Tsunoda's gearbox, rear wing, and rear suspension, with probable damage to the floor as well.

The F1 floor is a single piece of carbon fiber, so if Tsunoda's floor was damaged, even just a little, he'd likely have to replace the whole thing.

Assuming no surprises, repairs would start at $1.5 million and have no upper limit. If the engine was also damaged from the crash, the costs could easily double.

Three minutes later, after stretching a bit, Qin Miao went back on track.

In his first lap, Qin Miao's speed wasn't particularly remarkable, clocking in at 1:15.119 and temporarily taking the first spot. However, as Hamilton and Verstappen started pushing, Qin Miao's position quickly fell to third, with a tendency to drop further.

By the time Qin Miao returned to the pit for adjustments, he was already in seventh position.

For Mercedes, this result was unacceptable.

But Qin Miao had a similar slow start in his first qualifying, only getting into rhythm by Q3.

Ultimately, in the last lap of Q3, Qin Miao only managed to push his position slightly forward, advancing to Q2 in fifth place.

In Q2, Qin Miao encountered traffic problems, with Sainz slightly blocking his racing line. As a result, his first lap wasn't great, and Qin Miao was momentarily squeezed out of the qualifying zone.

Nevertheless, after switching to a new set of soft tires, Qin Miao still advanced to Q3, finishing sixth.

In Q3, Qin Miao started his first flying lap with a set of soft tires used in Q1, mainly to set a baseline time, finishing seventh.

With about four minutes left on the Q3 clock, Qin Miao left the pit to start his final flying lap of the qualifying session.

ps. So frustrating… This damn Alfa Romeo.

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