Chapter 1437 - 540: Undercurrents Surging (2)
The colleague from the simulator department who was helping Qin Miao check the data saw Qin Miao’s tail speed and thought there was something wrong with the simulator.
Taking a closer look, oh boy, Qin Miao really did achieve that insane tail speed.
But really on race day, the car’s tail speed probably won’t be this fast.
Because no one knows what the weather will be like on race day, or whether the engine’s horsepower will suffer wear and lead to a power decrease.
However, once Qin Miao’s tail speed was reported, everyone inside the Mercedes team was invigorated.
Because such results meant that the upgrades they brought this week were useful.
Following this period, Qin Miao returned to his usual daily work life, commuting between the team factory and home.
But because he now has a daughter, Qin Miao lost over an hour of game time each night. After returning home each evening and having dinner, he would make a video call to his family to see his daughter.
Time flew by, and soon it was Thursday.
This week is the Grand Prix weekend, held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is quite far from the UK, so Qin Miao took a flight on Wednesday during the day, arrived in Azerbaijan in the evening, rested for a day, and then started work on Thursday.
During this period, news of Qin Miao having a daughter had thoroughly spread within the paddock.
On Thursday, as Qin Miao went to the paddock for the pre-race drivers’ meeting and press conference, anyone who recognized him on the paddock road offered their congratulations.
After dropping off his stuff back at the team home, Qin Miao went to the pre-race team meeting and found that Old Man was earlier than him today.
Upon seeing Qin Miao, Hamilton stood up from his seat with a smile and handed over a gift he prepared for Qin Miao’s child.
Having lived abroad all these years, Qin Miao knew not to be overly polite with foreigners, but he still scratched his head and asked, "Didn’t you already give me a gift? A lifetime of pocket money can be considered a lifelong gift for the child. I can’t think of anything better, so why are you giving me more?"
"That was for her birth, this is for me missing the chance to see her when she was just born and thus offer my apology."
Seeing Old Man insist, Qin Miao didn’t refuse and accepted the gift.
"Lewis, thank you."
Once Qin Miao accepted the gift, Hamilton crossed his arms over his chest and sat back, then curiously asked Qin Miao, "How does it really feel to have a child?"
Seeing the curiosity and anticipation in Hamilton’s eyes, Qin Miao roughly guessed why Hamilton was asking the question.
After all, compared to himself, Hamilton is 16 years older, yet still unmarried and childless.
While for Qin Miao, his child is already born.
Surely Old Man feels a little sentimental when looking at him.
Of course, it might just be that the old man is simply curious. After all, it’s well known that F1 drivers have strong mental fortitude and don’t get easily affected by minor things.
Scratching his head, Qin Miao answered somewhat troubled, "How should I describe it to you...
It’s like having a little girlfriend who’s always by your side, doesn’t argue with you, and grows adorably lovely."
Qin Miao did his best to translate his inner thoughts into English with his understanding of Hamilton.
Old Man listened but was bewildered, yet still nodded reluctantly.
Though a bit abstract, Old Man understood what Qin Miao meant.
"I guess it feels pretty good," Old Man said.
"For you, wanting a daughter shouldn’t be too hard, right?" Qin Miao curiously asked, "Why haven’t you married yet?"
Hamilton shook his head: "It’s not a hard thing to do; regarding marriage...
I really don’t have the extra time to handle such matters. Honestly, I’m not prepared for my life to suddenly include another person.
I don’t think my current lifestyle allows me enough time to spend with a wife and child.
In my view, a father unable to be present enough during his child’s growth is quite irresponsible."
Qin Miao: ?
Am I the subject here?
But Hamilton made an addition: "Of course, this is just my personal, subjective opinion. People’s differences are diverse, and my approach might not be beneficial for my child or myself.
Who really knows?"
Qin Miao silently glanced at Hamilton, but didn’t delve deeper into this topic, instead shifting the conversation to the upgrades for the Grand Prix weekend.
"Have you tried the simulator after the upgrade? How does it feel?"
"Honestly, the feedback from the simulator feels a bit understeered, driving the car now feels like driving a traditional American muscle car. I can’t deny the W14’s acceleration and speed improvements are surprising, but it increasingly feels like driving a brick."
Qin Miao smirked: "True, but at least on a track like Baku, the car’s straight-line speed and stability are worth anticipating, right?"
"Let’s hope so..."
...
After some casual chat, the pre-race meeting began in the morning.
Toto wasn’t here today, so the meeting was led by both drivers’ track engineers and Rosy Witt, the head of the Mercedes strategy group.
The main topics of the meeting focused on briefing the drivers about some key points under the new regulations regarding the sprint qualifying and race procedures.
It also laid out the drivers’ race plans for Friday’s qualifying phase.
Given Baku’s main straight is especially long, it makes it suitable to provide slipstream for teammates.
Mercedes decided ahead of time to have both drivers help each other with slipstream during the main race.
It’s not just Mercedes; almost every team has mentioned helping out with slipstream before the Grand Prix weekend started.
According to the team’s strategy group, Hamilton would first help Qin Miao with slipstream in Q3 during the first flying lap, and then Qin Miao would help Hamilton on the last flying lap in Q3.
Qin Miao had no objections; with his stability and reading ability, he could always bring out all the speed for the final flying lap.
Such is the poise and confidence of a two-time world champion.
But comparatively, starting his flying laps first puts Qin Miao at a slight disadvantage.
No one knows if, after Hamilton provides slipstream, Qin Miao will encounter traffic or make a mistake that prevents him from achieving a safety net result.
But the pre-race drivers’ meeting has already decided, it can’t be changed.
Yet observing Witt’s direct decisions without discussion or negotiation regarding an arrangement disadvantageous to Qin Miao,
Qin Miao suddenly realized that news of him leaving Mercedes seems to have started spreading internally. Even if it hasn’t, there’s at least some rumor.
Of course, it could just be a sheer coincidence.
But Qin Miao prefers to believe it’s the former and realizes he must prepare himself mentally in advance.
Besides this, the pre-race meeting also brought up something that made both Qin Miao and Hamilton chuckle helplessly.
The FIA has stipulated starting from today’s race, all team technicians can’t climb the track barriers to celebrate the winning driver after the race.
Because the FIA deems it dangerous.
"Idiotic."
"Stupid!"
This was the most straightforward evaluation the two-time and seven-time world champions had for the FIA’s regulation.