How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 956 376: The Root of Mercedes' Problems

So after the two exchanged glances, they both started worrying that the upgrades the team brought this week might have no effect, or even have adverse effects.Hamilton chuckled bitterly: "I don't know why, but now I'm somewhat hoping that our guess is wrong."

Qin Miao also chuckled bitterly.

However, even if the two realize something's off while chatting, given their current position and situation, they wouldn't be able to speak up about it.

Then naturally, it was a session that Qin Miao and Hamilton were both very familiar with.

Drivers in this era might be quite inexperienced in terms of driving the car, but they definitely wouldn't be unable to engage the audience when facing fans and racing enthusiasts.

But after finishing the appearance, neither Qin Miao nor Hamilton attended the reception prepared by the organizers. They left, returned to the team paddock, and called a meeting with the higher-ups still in the paddock.

At the meeting, Qin Miao spoke out about the issues he and Hamilton noticed while chatting, as well as their suspicion of a bug in the simulator.

Although the team executives were somewhat surprised that the previously frosty atmosphere between Hamilton and Qin Miao had suddenly eased, they quickly focused on the current practical issues they needed to address.

Toto went as far as to call in the head of the simulator department, who was still resting at the team headquarters, to discuss the matter.

The reason this issue was discovered only at this moment is mainly due to the lack of information sharing between the two drivers at the Mercedes team since entering the ground-effect era.

Therefore, neither Qin Miao nor Hamilton knew the specifics of the data the other was getting from the simulator.

Now that their information cocoon is broken, many problems that were previously hard to identify immediately surfaced.

This meeting lasted a full two hours, finally concluding with a somewhat heavy voice from the head of the team simulator department, letting everyone at the Mercedes team know of some very bad good news.

That is, there were indeed errors in the parameters on the team simulator.

Especially in the simulation data of fluid dynamics.

The error in the simulator data at this position, for a team at this crucial time point in the ground-effect era where the aerodynamic layout is very important, is almost disastrous.

It's even possible the entire aerodynamic design of the car needs to be redone.

Not to mention, upon hearing this news, Allison, who was originally full of confidence in the zero-sidepod concept, immediately lost confidence.

It's called good news because the team triggered a deeply buried bomb ahead of time.

At least with this bomb exploding early, the team can have more time to repair the damages and gaps caused by this explosion.

In short, due to the breaking of the ice between Qin Miao and Hamilton, the Mercedes team literally started to turn into a scene of turmoil.

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

The development of the front wing and front suspension, which had already started, was urgently halted, as the team could not waste more budget on these components that had already gone astray.

Afterwards, there was nothing involving Qin Miao and Hamilton. Now, the team's primary task is to investigate the simulator issue, locate the problem and fix it.

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

...

The hot Miami evening wind also became much gentler.

On their way back to the parking lot after work to retrieve their cars, the two Mercedes drivers, Qin Miao and Hamilton, rarely walked side by side.

"Looks like, in the recent period, it's going to be difficult for the team to achieve any significant upgrades again." Hamilton said in a tone that was hard to tell whether it was joyful or disappointed.

Qin Miao nodded: "At least for half a season, the car won't have any major upgrades, maybe not even for this entire season."

"Would the team really scrap the design concept of this car altogether?" Hamilton was somewhat surprised after hearing Qin Miao say the car might stay this way for the entire season.

"This possibility can't be ruled out." At this moment, Qin Miao's face displayed a mixture of a pained and slightly joyful expression.

The reason for the pained expression needed no elaboration, while the joy was due to him and Hamilton together uncovering a hidden risk within the team.

"Also, wondering if the team doesn't have any upgrades this season, where our ranks will end up." Hamilton mused.

Qin Miao laughed and comforted him: "Looking on the bright side, at least by the end of this season, we won't have to pay the FIA so much Super License registration fee."

Hamilton chuckled and shook his head at Qin Miao's words.

"As long as I can earn another world championship title, I'd gladly pay them a little more money." Hamilton quipped.

The next day, Friday, the day for the start of practice one and two.

Although, due to yesterday's discovery by Qin Miao and Hamilton, it was somewhat chaotic within the team and at the team factory, when Qin Miao and Hamilton arrived at the team, most of the team staff were calmly busy at their workstations.

As if the emergency meeting from yesterday had never occurred at all.

Qin Miao wasn't curious enough to look for the team staff to ask if they knew what had happened the night before.