Since F1 typically doesn't host two races within a year in the same country, this race uses the name of a very small principality near the track, San Marino.

Unfortunately, this track claimed the lives of a three-time world champion and a veteran driver who was about to retire in 1994. He was the revered Brazilian Car God, Ayrton Senna.

And the veteran was named Larsen Borg.

But F1 is inherently a dangerous sport. Although it's never explicitly stated, every driver is mentally prepared for the possibility that they might never be able to exit their car once they are seated in the cockpit. Qin Miao is one of them.

The Imola Circuit is a counter-clockwise track. The tire compound for this Grand Prix is the softest, ranging from C2 to C4. The track is 4.909 kilometers long, with 63 laps required in the race, covering a total distance of 309.049 kilometers. The highest speed on the track is 334 km/h, with an elevation change of 34.4 meters, consisting of 19 corners—9 rights and 10 lefts—and includes a DRS zone. The current race lap record was set by Hamilton last year at 1 minute 15.484 seconds.

After inspecting the track surface, Qin Miao even touched it personally to confirm that the track uses old asphalt. The distinct ridged asphalt on the racing line has been smoothed over by countless tires, making this track relatively tire-friendly. Given Qin Miao's expertise in tire preservation, he could complete the race with a one-stop strategy using red and yellow tires, and still have some reserves left.

After returning to the lounge, Qin Miao didn't do much else but went outside to communicate with his race engineer Frankie.

He learned about the upgrades for the Mercedes car in the second race, how the new front and rear wings performed in testing, and what tasks he needed to accomplish in the next three practice sessions.

Overall, as Qin Miao gradually accustomed to the rhythm of the F1 Grand Prix, he became increasingly adept with his work and knew what he should focus on during this period, having a clear goal in mind.

Until about 4:30 in the afternoon, Qin Miao went for a media interview.

At 5:30 PM, he clocked out and finished work on time.

In the evening, he had dinner with Toto and Hamilton. The dinner was more like a private gathering among friends, where they didn't even discuss work. They mainly talked about their families, lives, and future outlooks.

Such private gatherings can indeed easily bring people closer together.

Friday, today marks the start of the first and second practice sessions.

After getting out of bed in the morning, Qin Miao's head buzzed with the system notification.

The system task arrived as scheduled. Without delving into specifics, the main requirement was to finish in the top three in this race. The reward is a random blue skill, with the higher the position, the higher the skill level. Winning would directly award a gold skill.

To be honest, Qin Miao really doesn't have the confidence to easily cut through the competition and string together wins like he did in F2.

The F1 drivers are incredibly strong, and it's no easy feat for Qin Miao to beat them, especially with Hamilton as a looming threat.

After realizing the difficulty of this task, Qin Miao decided not to deliberately focus on it.

He woke up early and entered the paddock, where, like in Bahrain, there were mostly staff and few tourists.

However, once Qin Miao clocked in at the staff entrance gate and entered the team staff area behind the pits, many people wearing FIA official photographer vests surrounded him with cameras, capturing his every move.

This is just the basic reception for a star driver entering the paddock.

Qin Miao had already proven his ability last week in Bahrain, earning Toto's acknowledgment. The paddock also accorded Qin Miao the treatment befitting a driver of his caliber.

After all, who knows where these photographs might end up in the future? So, when facing the staff capturing his image, Qin Miao's previously expressionless face carried a faint smile.

This smile softened Qin Miao's facial expressions considerably. His Asian features are often perceived as youthful by Europeans, resulting in a low perceived level of aggression.

This is part of what Mercedes' public relations taught Qin Miao.

After all, Qin Miao is one of the top 20 F1 drivers in the world, and ranked prominently among them. Mercedes places significant importance on his outward image and the first impression he gives the audience.

Maintaining this expression as he walked to the team P-room amidst the camera clicks, Qin Miao nodded to the photographers following him before entering the team P-room.

Once the annoying shutter sounds ceased, Qin Miao went straight to the car preparation area.

By then, Qin Miao's car was mostly ready, with technicians having inputted the setup from the simulator.

This race saw a few small upgrades to the Mercedes car. Visibly, both the front and rear wings were replaced with medium-high downforce wings.

The unseen upgrades included some enhancement of the internal front and rear suspension, a larger internal radiator to improve engine cooling, thereby further boosting engine stability.

After a quick inspection of his car, as Qin Miao was involved in the entire development of these components and was quite familiar with their appearance, he confirmed there were no issues. A quick glance reassured him, so he went to the team meeting.

The team meeting followed the usual procedure, and there's no need to elaborate further here.

After the meeting, Qin Miao sat in his lounge with his eyes closed, meditating until the first practice session was about to start.

He changed into his racing suit in the lounge, put on the helmet and Hans System, and left the Mercedes Motorhome with Hamilton.

With cameras and lenses clicking around them, the two entered the Mercedes P-room.

After inspecting his car, Qin Miao sat inside it.

Once he adjusted the seatbelt tension and confirmed the car's condition, Qin Miao received his first hard tire task.

The task was simple: long-distance testing.

Run ten laps with heavy fuel in the most comfortable way for Qin Miao, while the team gathers data on tire wear, fuel consumption, and of course, evaluates Qin Miao's speed.

These data points are used to develop the race strategy for Qin Miao's participation in the main race phase.

During this period, Qin Miao also needed to find a setup that felt comfortable, but he had to handle this by communicating with the team's engineer and Frankie.

Having confirmed his mission, the first practice session officially started.

Fully prepared, Qin Miao drove his car out as soon as the session began.

Hamilton, meanwhile, faced a system issue, requiring technicians to continue repairing the car.

After a warm-up lap, Qin Miao began his long-distance test.

Despite encountering several traffic issues and being blocked by slow cars once or twice, Qin Miao's lap times were within the team's expectations. The data remained stable, and any fluctuations had clear causes.

After ten laps, he provided the data his team desired and returned the car to test the tire wear, which was consistently good. Qin Miao also adjusted the front suspension stiffness and increased the front wheel camber angle slightly.

The setup Qin Miao used tended towards understeer, but this was because he enjoyed pushing the car to the limit and was comfortable sliding through corners.

However, the setup from the simulator was excessively understeering and needed some adjustment.

PS. Congratulations to Xiaozhou for achieving his career-best P5 in qualifying at the Budapest Circuit.

Under the urging of the group chat friends, the Dog Author decided to add two more chapters, but currently lacks the capacity to deliver them quickly, so it's noted down.

The current chapter debt increased from 27 chapters to 29 chapters...

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