How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 973 381: Zhou Guanyu's Hidden Worries

Went to Qin Miao's for a meal, and a few people gathered together for a chat in the evening.After that, Leclerc took his leave as he needed to stay in the US for two more days, while Qin Miao took Zhou Guanyu and Qimeng back to the UK on his plane.

Since their journey back to the UK started at night, Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu fell asleep on the plane, so by the time they arrived, it was daylight and no need to deal with jet lag.

However, upon arriving in the UK, Qin Miao unexpectedly found himself at leisure.

When he arrived at the team factory, he found that hardly anyone was at work; mostly those responsible for equipment maintenance were there.

Upon careful inquiry, he learned that Mercedes was still involved in simulator inspection work, along with assessment work for racing car design concepts, hence production of team parts had been halted.

After all, the team was concerned that the path they were on with the W13 might be wrong, producing parts that would yield no results, wasting the team's budget cap.

Thus, there was no work within the team that required Qin Miao's attention.

Since entering F1, Qin Miao had always been busy, hardly stopping until this leisurely week.

He met with Toto, had a meal, and chatted about racing car issues, then went to Hamilton's house for a meal.

Later, Qin Miao treated his crew technicians to a meal, completing all of his team relationship maintenance for the week.

With no more social affairs to handle and no team work available, Qin Miao and Qimeng returned to their home in Monaco.

In the following days, besides daily training, Qin Miao spent more time with his wife, experimenting with new positions learned online.

Additionally, Qin Miao took Qimeng out for two days of sea fishing.

It was a comfortable little holiday without disturbances.

Comfortably spent a week, and it was already Wednesday.

Clearly, during the team's car assessment, the W13 couldn't continue with any upgrades.

Of course, saying this isn't entirely accurate because the team brought a high-downforce wing for the race.

This wing was specifically prepared by the team for balanced tracks like Catalonia before the season started.

There's also a set of aerodynamic packages prepared for high-downforce tracks like Monaco and Hengelo.

The good news is, over two weeks, the Mercedes team identified the root cause of the simulator issue.

This proves that the simulator indeed has problems, and changes have begun to address this issue.

However, no one knows when it will be completed.

Meanwhile, the team faces challenges in evaluating the W13, needing CFD time to analyze the car's overall aerodynamics thoroughly.

It requires a considerable amount of time.

The team calculated that, normally, after the release of the W13 evaluation report, remaining total CFD hours for the team might only be around a dozen.

Then how to upgrade the car later this season?

If not used, the efficiency and accuracy of the evaluation cannot be guaranteed.

A third option emerged within the team besides these two evaluation plans.

It's simply not to evaluate it anymore, abandon the season, and develop specific aspects of the W13.

Such as enhancing the car's grip in medium-low speed turns, gaining enough advantage on tracks with many such turns, allowing the team to compete for one or two Grand Prix wins.

Or directly strengthen the car's top speed on straights, further reducing drag, decreasing downforce from the floor, suppressing porpoising.

Tuning the W13 toward a muscle car direction can also yield good results on specific circuits.

At the season's end, once team rankings stabilize without expected fluctuations, all resources can be invested in the simulator's complete revision B car.

Now, the team is in a heated debate over these three plans, everyone having plenty of reasons to present.

Fortunately, Qin Miao is not picky with the system, able to bring out a car's best performance regardless of the given model.

Hamilton leans more towards the third option.

He often participates in team meetings, advocating to develop the car comfortably aligned with his driving habits.

Although the current model is no longer as slow as in previous races, he isn't fully accustomed to the new driving style, unable to exploit the car's limits.

Regardless of the team's internal discussion outcome, the Spanish Grand Prix following the Miami Grand Prix will see the team using the W13 without any performance upgrades.

Performance might even drop since, after running a Grand Prix in Miami, engine wear may decrease lap times by approximately 0.05 seconds.