However, at the beginning of the qualifying race, the tires on Qin Miao’s car were not those old soft tires, but a set of old hard tires.
At this moment, the condition of this set of tires is still very good, with only about 10% wear.
The main reason for using this set of tires is that Qin Miao’s set of soft tires has already undergone one long-distance test and two high-intensity flying laps. Although the current grip is still stronger than hard tires, they won’t last for many laps.
So, let’s first have Qin Miao use these hard tires to make an effective lap on the track.
When the qualifying race is nearing its end, and the track has more rubber and better grip, let Qin Miao switch to those old soft tires for a push.
Roxin has given Qin Miao a strong sense of autonomy and trust. An ordinary driver couldn’t possibly propose an idea and have the team immediately formulate the race strategy based on it.
After switching to hard tires, Qin Miao drove onto the track.
Because Qin Miao was using not only old hard tires during the qualifying but also tires that have run ten laps, the difference in tire choice quickly attracted the attention of the live broadcast director.
In the Five-Star Sports live broadcast room, the three commentators were somewhat surprised to see the white rims representing hard tires on Qin Miao’s car.
Fei: "Is Qin Miao using hard tires in qualifying?"
Zhou Haoran, who had tire data, immediately looked down to check. After getting the official data, he answered: "Qin Miao is not only using hard tires but also hard tires that have already run ten laps during practice."
Bing: "Prema must have their strategy for switching to hard tires."
Fei: "They couldn’t possibly be saving a set of new soft tires for the sprint race, right? Tire wear at the Red Bull Ring isn’t severe, but it’s a bit far-fetched to expect a set of soft tires to complete the entire sprint race."
The three commentators then discussed Qin Miao’s tire choice more deeply, but from their words, it wasn’t difficult to conclude that they didn’t believe Qin Miao would risk running the entire sprint race on one set of tires.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Qin Miao, already on the track, didn’t see Zhou Guanyu behind him this time. If he had spotted him, Qin Miao would definitely let Zhou Guanyu pass, and then catch his slipstream during the flying lap.
Without external assistance, Qin Miao naturally knew that he had to rely entirely on himself from now on.
During the warm-up lap, Qin Miao weaved left and right to heat up the tires on his car as quickly as possible, while also exercising the muscles in his arms.
Unlike F1, F2 cars don’t have steering assistance systems, and the Red Bull Ring is a high-speed, high-G-force track. To set lap times here, you first need enough strength to maintain steering stability during high-speed cornering before discussing lap times. Qin Miao did this to ensure his hand flexibility during qualifying later.
Soon, Qin Miao reached T9.
Qin Miao slightly controlled his speed, waiting until the F2 car in front moved at least four seconds away before he started accelerating.
Exiting T10, Qin Miao was already pushing hard.
If there were a camera at the yellow curb in the center of T10 at this moment, it would show that Qin Miao’s tire was almost grazing the raised curb, leaving a faint mark on the side rubber of the tire.
This makes clear just how extremely Qin Miao is controlling his car right now.
Full throttle across the finish line and the DRS detection zone after the finish line, Qin Miao’s first flying lap in his F2 career began at this moment.
Into T1, the left front wheel took up as much of the entrance curb as possible, extending his line as he reached the apex of Turn 1.
Then, just like in T10, the right front wheel pressed the apex curb to the limit. After passing the apex, he started accelerating, and the car quickly surged out of the corner under the effect of aerodynamics and tire grip. Exiting T1, just like Qin Miao taught Zhou Guanyu, the left front and left rear wheels rode on the yellow sausage curb but didn’t go over it, running along the sausage curb until exiting the corner.
Afterwards, exiting T1, he opened the DRS for full-speed sprint.
This time, for qualifying, Qin Miao used a low-downforce setup, essentially adjusting all the aerodynamic kits on the car to the lowest resistance mode.
Full throttle past the hardly noticeable T2, and onto an uphill section.
In games or on TV broadcasts, viewers aren’t very aware of the slope’s height due to the display medium, and it doesn’t feel very real.
But it’s actually a nearly 30° uphill section, and when driving up at high speed, the driver can clearly feel at least 2 Gs of pressure coming down.
Past T2, entering the second timing sector, which is also the second DRS detection point on this track. It’s also the highest point of the circuit and the most frequent overtaking corner entry.
Brake about 10 meters before the 50-meter sign, with the left tire taking up about half the curb.
Because this is an uphill right turn, a low-speed corner, the conventional outside-inside-outside cornering doesn’t offer much advantage here, and it might even damage the car’s undercarriage due to the significant drop at T3’s apex.
Therefore, Qin Miao didn’t cut the corner at the apex, opting instead for a wider line to gain more speed after exiting the turn.
After the exit of the corner, drive straight through the second DRS detection point, full throttle down a long straight, arriving at T4, the left tires still on half the curb. After passing the fifty-meter marker, hit the brakes and enter the corner. If the entry angle is good enough, neither the brakes nor accelerator need be used in the corner, completely relying on the car’s kinetic energy to glide through this corner.