Free Web NovelChapter 1193: Chapter 452: Showy Maneuvers
Naturally, the highlights wouldn’t be as many, so although some live audience gave Qin Miao cheers, the cheering wasn’t loud, given the overall number of on-site spectators wasn’t large.
However, Qin Miao is not on the track at this time to hear the audience’s cheers for him; he has become accustomed to such cheers from many grand prix races throughout his career.
He indeed wanted to familiarize himself with the track; at the same time, he was also curious about what driving on full wet tires specifically feels like.
But when Qin Miao actually got on the track, he indeed felt the grip of the full wet tires was very weak and the acceleration was poor, feeling not much different from normal intermediate tires or even worse.
On the track, Qin Miao had an incredibly strong feeling that if he dared to floor the pedal at below 150 kilometers per hour, the full wet tires on the rear wheels would instantly break through the car’s grip limit.
Even though Qin Miao was being as cautious as possible while driving, he still gave throttle much later than usual during the exit phases of many high-speed corners, and he would experience slipping, needing correction to regain control of the car.
This further delayed the exit.
Even when Qin Miao straightened his car, he couldn’t apply throttle as one would in dry conditions; the grip limit of the rear tires was too easily exceeded.
During the entire practice session, Qin Miao drove with great caution.
Despite this, Qin Miao still lost control of the car’s rear at the long curve of T7.
The reason was naturally Qin Miao’s operational mistake, as he had begun to accelerate after exiting the apex of T7 in the previous lap, at which time the rear tires gripped the ground.
But after a lap, the rain here intensified, and since Qin Miao’s car was the only one testing on the track, there was no other car to clear the water, so Qin Miao subconsciously applied throttle at the same position as the previous lap, resulting in the rear tires exceeding the grip limit.
The rear tires instantly lost grip, and the rear of the car slid forward.
Simply put, it was oversteer.
As an F1 world champion, the moment Qin Miao realized the car’s stance was off, he started to counter-steer to save the car.
However, while Qin Miao found the rear tire grip disappeared, it seemed the front tire grip was also gone, making the car slide straight toward the track’s outer buffer zone, like a curling stone.
If the sliding continued, the car might directly rush into the grass.
Seeing this scene, the staff in the Mercedes pit room following Qin Miao’s race progression momentarily felt their heart skip a beat.
At this moment, Qin Miao’s mind instantaneously conjured up the possible consequences and figured out a potentially viable solution.
Shift down to second gear, pedal to the metal.
The rear wheels, which had lost all grip, suddenly started to spin rapidly, creating a lot of spray.
However, the overall state of Qin Miao’s car remained unchanged, still sliding toward the grass along the track’s edge under the car’s original inertia.
Very soon though, as Qin Miao shifted the gearbox to third gear and further increased the rear-wheel speed, the full wet tires surprisingly regained grip on the track.
Hence, the audience, who hadn’t had time to exclaim, saw Qin Miao’s car sliding toward the track’s outer side, while also gradually moving forward.
And then...
The forward kinetic energy of the car gradually overcame the inertia, and Qin Miao’s W13B completed an inertia drift into the curve at T7.
F1 cars have excessive downforce; they aren’t suitable for drifting, but that doesn’t mean they can’t drift.
However, making a normally tuned F1 car drift is as difficult as climbing to heaven.
This was Qin Miao’s fortunate chance, no wind on the track, Qin Miao’s speed wasn’t fast, the aerodynamic kit of the car didn’t provide much downforce, and the water on the ground allowed Qin Miao to perform this miracle-like drifting into the turn.
Despite completing this miracle-like drift, in reality, Qin Miao was essentially walking a tightrope, dancing within a very narrow control range.
As long as Qin Miao applied too much or too little throttle, adjusted the steering wheel angle too much or too little, or even if a gust of wind came at that time, Qin Miao’s drifting state would be broken.
But Qin Miao managed to complete all operations under exceedingly stringent track conditions and successfully exited T7.
After passing this curve, Qin Miao’s speed slowed down.
The viewers watching the replay of practice online were stunned after seeing this:
[Ah?]
[???]
[Is this F1?]
[Really a first-time sight, having watched F1 races for so long, it’s the first time seeing an F1 car drifting on the track.]
[Damn, scared me to death; I really thought Qin Miao was going off the track.]
...
"Qin Miao, what happened?" Frankie’s voice sounded first, with a lingering nervousness detectable through his tone.
Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Qin Miao wanted to touch his nose, but with a helmet on, he couldn’t touch anything, so he pushed up his helmet’s visor with his hand: "Nothing much, during the T7 turn, the car’s rear wheels had insufficient grip and the car lost control, but it’s no big deal; I’ve got it under control."
