Chapter 1141: Chapter 432: Mercedes Team’s Surprise for Their Two Drivers
Actually, the Zandvoort track is not very conducive to overtaking, and it has frequent elevation changes and medium to high-speed corners.
So quickly, everyone was stretched into a long straight line.
At this moment, both Qin Miao and Hamilton subconsciously felt that the sidepod upgrades brought by the Mercedes team couldn’t significantly close the gap with the cars ahead in today’s race.
Even though Qin Miao knew that his skill could greatly improve the team’s development capabilities.
But in reality, after the race started, both Qin Miao and Hamilton were pleasantly surprised to find that the upgrades had exceptional effects!
They could actually keep up with the pace of the drivers in front.
Moreover, Qin Miao could stay within 0.7 seconds of the DRS zone behind Sainz for a long time.
Hamilton could also stay in the slipstream zone behind Qin Miao without being left behind.
The car upgrade was very successful, which naturally put Qin Miao in a good mood, while on the other hand, Sainz and Ferrari had a completely different feeling.
What the hell? It’s only been a week, Mercedes only brought a sidepod upgrade, and why is the Mercedes car suddenly so much faster?
In fact, the reason Qin Miao was so fast was that this week’s upgrade mainly focused on increasing the overall downforce of the car. Strictly speaking, the top speed and acceleration of the Mercedes this week was actually slower than last week’s W13 at Spa without upgrades.
But there are trade-offs. On one hand, the new sidepods enhanced the sealing effect of the car’s floor, allowing the team to reduce the rigidity of the car’s suspension without worrying about porpoising on the track.
On the other hand, greater downforce and floor sealing effect naturally optimized the car’s cornering ability.
And since Zandvoort is a track with more corners, this week’s upgrade suited the Mercedes W13 perfectly for this track.
But Ferrari’s cars are known for their strong engines, making Ferrari more suitable for high-speed tracks with fewer corners.
At Zandvoort, the red horses were clearly out of their element.
Strictly speaking, there’s still a significant performance gap between Mercedes and Ferrari cars, but under advantageous conditions, the Mercedes seemed faster than the Ferrari.
Following Sainz for a lap, after exiting T13 on the second lap, Qin Miao was 0.4 seconds behind Sainz.
Then it was full throttle to T14, exiting T14 and entering the main straight of the third lap, Qin Miao stayed right behind Sainz, riding the slipstream.
Even though Sainz immediately blocked the inside line to prevent Qin Miao from braking late on the inside line.
But this was only the third lap of the race, and Sainz’s ERS was almost depleted at the start. Even though the Ferrari engine is powerful, isn’t the Mercedes engine equally strong?
Originally, Mercedes won so many honors in the hybrid era by having an engine stronger than other teams in the paddock for two seasons. The reason they struggled after the 2022 ground effect era mainly lies in the aerodynamics department’s design flaws, which resulted in excessive drag, preventing the engine from fully showcasing its strength.
Now that Qin Miao was slipstreaming Sainz, the drag naturally disappeared, and the car’s acceleration and speed were fully unleashed.
So when Sainz was defending the inside line, Qin Miao used his speed to overtake Sainz on the outside before the braking point.
Even though Sainz still wanted to regain his position by braking late on the inside line.
But Qin Miao isn’t only capable of attacking.
Late braking? Qin Miao directly squeezed towards the inside line before the braking point.
Sainz, seeing Qin Miao squeezing in, had no choice but to brake early, otherwise, he would crash into Qin Miao.
