Chapter 974 381: Zhou Guanyu's Hidden Worries

Of course, this bit of engine wear basically won't affect the race results of the two drivers.

Moreover, the team here can't just let themselves be stuck because an internal disagreement halts the development of the new car.

They must come up with a solution within a short time.

So on Wednesday night, while Qin Miao had already checked into a hotel near the Catalonia circuit in Spain and started his daily physical training, Brackley finally came up with a solution that most people were satisfied with after arguing for almost half a month.

That is, the team still wants to strive for better rankings this season.

Currently, the W13 design concept is still used this season, with improvements to the simulator to upgrade the car.

However, the resources invested in upgrading this car have been halved, and the other half of the resources are fully invested in the development of next season's new car.

On the other side, Allison's new floor and side box design, which existed only on paper before the season started, was brought back out.

As for the issue of the new car design investment exceeding the budget cap after evaluation...

Qin Miao had heard that the team's engineers have significantly increased exchanges with the team's sailing department lately.

Although the FIA set a budget cap for teams, wealthy teams always find ways to bypass FIA inspections, and basically all big teams with money do this.

Think of Ferrari's and Alpine's Le Mans cars, Red Bull and Aston Martin designing supercars.

These are all products under the FIA's budget cap.

Mercedes' sailing department is also such a product.

Many aerodynamic parts of the team are simulated and tested in this place.

And Qin Miao also heard in the team's work group that this department has been working overtime every day lately.

However, in any case, these matters have little to do with Qin Miao now.

What he needs to do now is to prepare for the Spanish Grand Prix.

It's worth noting that this week, Ferrari and Red Bull have introduced new upgrades.

Red Bull has primarily focused on car weight reduction, while Ferrari has updated the aerodynamic efficiency of the car.

Normally, Mercedes' upgrade from the last race was meant to be applied in this race, but the development speed of those two new parts exceeded the team's expectations, so they were used ahead of time.

But this isn't a bad thing, after all.

Friday.

Qin Miao is so familiar with this track, coupled with Qin Miao having fully understood his car in the last race, so he didn't go on track during Friday's first practice session.

The driver conducting the first practice test in Qin Miao's car was Mercedes' reserve driver, De Vries.

This is actually an FIA regulation that every team must give rookie drivers at least two opportunities to participate in practice sessions per season.

The team just took this chance to use one opportunity during this race.

However, consequently, when Qin Miao got into the car for the second practice session, there was a lot more work to do.

But Qin Miao has always been known for his high efficiency in work, so this work doesn't put too much pressure on him, and he completes it easily.

Moreover, although the main goal of De Vries for this test was to familiarize himself with F1 cars and accumulate his F1 mileage, he is also considered a professional driver, and he helped the team a lot.

Quickly, Friday ended, and the time came to Saturday.

Qualifying session.

Catalonia circuit is a track about which all teams have mixed feelings because it is very balanced. Teams with specialized or extreme setups can't perform well here.

Yet, most drivers have given positive reviews about this track because, after finding the right setup, the track is quite comfortable to run on.

This week, Pirelli provided the hardest three tire compounds from C3 to C1.

But Catalonia circuit is also a high-speed, corner-heavy track.

So, even though the hardest tires are used, some drivers will likely opt for one stop during the race, and two stops, even three stops, are very possible.

Thus, during the practice session of this race, Qin Miao left two sets of brand new soft tires for himself for the race phase.

Q1 session, Qin Miao demonstrated good speed right away, with a lap time of 1:19.999.

This is only Qin Miao's first flying lap.

Also, because of this performance, Qin Miao smoothly advanced to Q2.

Meanwhile, Alfa Romeo learned from the last race, and in the last flying lap of Q1, the team put Zhou Guanyu out two minutes early, ensuring that during his flying lap, traffic was excellent, naturally avoiding any obstruction, allowing Zhou Guanyu to fully showcase his abilities and advance to Q2.

It was rather relaxed.

The drivers eliminated in Q1 were: Vettel, Alonso, Russell, Stroll, Albon.

This season, Williams is already aiming at muscle car development, so the car's straight-line acceleration and top speed are in the first tier.

But on tracks like Catalonia, which test the comprehensive performance of cars, Williams' car performance couldn't be showcased.

Consequently, the two Williams drivers couldn't achieve satisfactory results.

The time came to Q2.

Qin Miao's fastest lap in Q2 was 1:19.400.