How did I become an F1 driver?

Qin Miao didn't hesitate much and answered the phone directly.

As soon as the call was connected, Zhou Guanyu's voice came over: "Qin Miao! Have you watched the news? The latest ones! Geely has really entered the market!"

Qin Miao nodded and said, "Didn't I tell you this news earlier? Why are you so excited?"

Qin Miao can actually understand the reason why Zhou Guanyu is so excited. Qin Miao may not have felt it himself, but in this F1 paddock dominated by Europeans, in fact, Asians such as Qin Miao, Zhou Guanyu, and Tsunoda are not like normal Europeans. So popular.

Putting an Asian driver and a European driver together, if the two drivers are of equal strength, the Asian driver may even be slightly stronger than the European driver.

When these two choices are put in front of some teams that are in urgent need of drivers, these teams will most likely choose European drivers.

Not just because of the issue of racial discrimination, but also because a European driver will make the team more popular in most grands prix on the F1 calendar, and naturally make more money from fans.

For Zhou Guanyu, joining a Chinese team means that basically as long as his performance is not bad, then Zhou Guanyu does not need to worry about his driver's seat.

"Although I have known it for a long time, after the news came out, I still couldn't help but be happy. Domestic teams, the first Chinese F1 team in history! We have witnessed history."

"You should really celebrate, but to be honest, I take 90% of the credit for this wave." Qin Miao said with her hands on her hips.

"You are really..." Zhou Guanyu just wanted to criticize Qin Miao, but he was speechless when he thought of the results this guy had achieved in the F1 paddock.

To be honest, the influence of F1 in China is no less than that of traditional competitions such as the NBA, and a big contribution to this is that Qin Miao performed well in his first season after entering F1 and won the Winning the driver's championship has attracted a lot of attention to F1 in China.

After all, Chinese people are known to be results-oriented. After Qin Miao won the world championship in F1, F22's ratings in China increased six times in 1 years.

Even because of Qin Miao's presence, Mercedes' domestic car sales increased by a full 20% last year, and most of the sales in this country are electric cars, and traditional fuel vehicles are put out when the domestic market is weak. results.

It can be said that the growth rate of car sales of all traditional fuel car manufacturers has slowed down, and some car companies are even declining. Only Mercedes-Benz's sales are still growing.

At the same time, if F1 attracts attention in China, it will naturally make money, and it will naturally play a better publicity role. This is why Geely will speed up its entry into F1.

That's why Zhou Guanyu said three words and immediately changed his tone: "It's really awesome! This is your first time!"

Sometimes, Zhou Guanyu's words of submission are much more pleasant to Qin Miao than the compliments from Frankie Toto and the others.

Qin Miao didn't know why.

But Qin Miao is indeed very happy now.

"But are you really ready to leave Arrow right now? The performance of Arrow's car is pretty good right now, and if it doesn't give you any trouble, you can basically get into the points zone in every race.

But there's really no way to guarantee the performance of Geely's racing cars. If you were at the bottom when you first came in, wouldn't you just start going to jail? "

Zhou Guanyu was not stupid, and said directly: "How is it possible, with you standing in the paddock and setting such an unlucky example here?

Although I have never thought about winning the driver championship, I still want to try what it feels like to win a race championship. "

Qin Miao scratched his head in confusion: "Even if you want to win the points championship, it won't be possible with the Arrow Racing Team."

As for Zhou Guanyu saying that he was an unlucky role model, Qin Miao simply ignored it.

It was a daily routine between him and Zhou Guanyu that friends would scold each other.

“Then I don’t have any other teams to choose from.

What I'm waiting for now is a bumper car in its infancy. I'm waiting for a noble person at a track like the Hungaroring to knock all of you out of the race. Then I'll go alone with Hulkenberg Mick and the others. Compare. "

"Go to bed early, you will have everything in your dreams." Qin Miao rolled her eyes.

"How do you call it a dream? Reality is always more magical than you think, and it is not impossible for this kind of thing to happen." Zhou Guanyu said.

"Yes, yes, go to bed early." After saying that, Qin Miao's cell phone rang again. She picked it up and saw that it was a call from Toto.

It happened that Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu were almost chatting now, so Qin Miao said directly: "Toto called me. He usually doesn't call me. This time he suddenly called me, probably because of the Geely thing. thing.

That's it, let's not chat for now, see you in France then. "

"Okay, I'm hanging up." Zhou Guanyu was also decisive. Anyway, he came to see Qin Miao this time because he was a little excited after receiving the news. He wanted to share his excited emotions with his friends. No Doesn’t Qin Miao still have Leclerc and the others?
After hanging up the phone, Qin Miao answered Toto's call: "Boss, good morning."

"Good morning Qin Miao, are you at Brackley's house now?"

"Yes, I'm at home now."

"Okay, I'll come over in a minute. There are some things I think I need to meet and talk to you about."

Qin Miao picked up the mobile phone that Qiu Meng had not taken away from the bed. It was only 9:17 in the morning.

"Okay, then I will sweep the couch to welcome you."

"see you later."

After hanging up the phone, Qin Miao scratched his head. There was no need to guess the reason why Toto came to see him this time. It was just that he was worried that he would leave because of the auspicious entrance.

With a season's performance and the blessing of many off-field factors, Qin Miao is now an indispensable part of the Mercedes team.

Qin Miao's presence has greatly increased the commercial value of Mercedes-Benz Racing Team.

Especially in the Chinese market, in 22 alone, the sales of Mercedes-Benz team peripherals, such as car models, team uniforms, hats, etc., increased by 120%.

The growth rate in the domestic market has reached a terrifying 300%.

Not to mention that the fan economy driven by Qin Miao has greatly increased the sales of Mercedes cars.

Putting aside these business matters, what the team really values ​​about Qin Miao is his talent on the field.

The most important thing is that Qin Miao is too young now.

You must know that Qin Miao is only 21 years old at this time. At this time, Qin Miao has not even reached the true peak period of a driver.

Therefore, after a Chinese team that is extremely attractive to Qin Miao, a Chinese, joins, Toto will naturally have some concerns about Qin Miao's stay.

After all, he is planning to continue Mercedes' current lineup until the end of the 2026 season and then make adjustments after the new regulations come out.

But what Qin Miao didn't expect was that Toto would come to find him so soon.

In Qin Miao's expectation, Toto would not come to find him until at least his two days of rest were over.

But no matter how Toto persuades him, Qin Miao has to get up now.

After lifting the quilt and putting on underwear, Qin Miao randomly picked a pair of short-sleeved shorts, put on slippers and went to the toilet.

After finishing washing, there was a knock on the door of Qin Miao's house.

He said to Qiu Meng who poked his head out of the study: "Toto will come over and talk to me later."

"Oh, then I'll cut some fruit for you." Qiu Meng nodded, and after returning to the study, she picked up a rubber band and tied up her somewhat scattered hair.

This is what an old married couple is like. When they are at home, they basically don't manage their own image very much. The other party has long been used to the embarrassing appearance of both parties.

However, Qiu Meng is a naturally beautiful girl with good skin. Even if her hair is a little messy, her overall aura is restored once she ties it up.

After nodding, Qin Miao went to open the door.

To Qin Miao's surprise, Tuotuo was not the only one who came this time, but also came with him, his wife Susie Wolfe.

Suzy Wolfe is also a legend on the field.

As one of the few female drivers, Susie Wolff was no weaker than the male drivers during her time as a driver.

At the peak of her career, she became a test driver for the F1 team.

This is a position that many male F2 drivers find difficult to achieve.

At the same time, Susie Wolff is also the second woman in F1 history to join an F1 team as a driver.

Of course, she has never run in a race, and is mainly responsible for being a DTM driver and Williams' F1 test driver.

After retiring to the second line, the work she is responsible for is still closely related to the F1 paddock.

He has served as the head of the FE team and his current position is the managing director of the F1 Driver Academy.

Therefore, Qin Miao, who came up from F2, is also familiar with his boss's wife.

Whether it was at driver meetings during his time in F2, or at various gatherings of the team after joining Mercedes-Benz.

"Welcome and good morning, boss, Ms. Suzy."

"Good morning Qin Miao, I hope our visit will not disturb your rest day."

Toto said with a smile, and at the same time handed Qin Miao a bottle of red wine.

Although everyone inside and outside the paddock knew that Qin Miao did not drink, Toto bringing a bottle of wine was considered basic etiquette in Europe, and he did not bring it to Qin Miao to drink.

Qin Miao naturally took it with a smile and said, "How could it be? Entertaining friends is considered a kind of rest, isn't it?"

Amidst laughter, Qin Miao welcomed the two people in.

At this time, Qiu Meng also prepared fruits and hot tea to entertain the guests. After saying hello to Toto with a smile, she accompanied Qin Miao and began to entertain the guests. When Toto came up, he didn't talk to Qin Miao directly about the issues he was most concerned about.

Instead, he took a curveball approach to save the country and began to ask Qin Miao about his current living conditions and whether there was anything the team could do to help.

Then they talked about some interesting things inside and outside the paddock. After all, they both work in the paddock, so naturally they have a lot of common topics to talk about.

Under Toto's guidance, the atmosphere between the several people was quite harmonious.

Soon, when Su Xi asked to see Qin Miao's trophy wall where he collected all F2 championship trophies, which was very famous in the entire paddock, Qiu Meng left with the other party.

Only Qin Miao and Totuo were left in the living room.

Qin Miao knew that now was the time to get to the point.

Toto leaned on the back of the sofa and looked at Qin Miao and asked: "Have you seen the news this morning? Geely is planning to acquire the Aston Martin team. To be honest, I was really surprised when I found out that a Chinese team was going to enter. , of course, I am more happy, because this means that our influence in the Chinese market will gradually increase, and you also have a lot of credit for this."

There is nothing to hide, Qin Miao nodded and said: "I saw it, Zhou Guanyu called me as soon as I got up in the morning, although I do not deny the role I played in this matter.

But to be honest, I did this completely unintentionally. "

Toto nodded, and then asked: "Have you ever considered joining them? After all, it would be much easier if you work in an environment where everyone speaks your hometown language.

If everyone in the Mercedes team spoke German, I believe there would be many fewer communication barriers between me and the team staff. "

In front of his boss, Qin Miao was actually not prepared to tell the truth. No matter how kind, caring and pampering Toto was, her relationship with Toto was still a subordinate relationship after all.

It is never appropriate to discuss the possibility of changing jobs to another company in front of the boss of one company.

And if one thing goes wrong, I may not be able to get any resources within the Mercedes team in the next few seasons.

But looking at Toto, Qin Miao finally chose to tell the truth: "To be honest, I did consider them."

Toto raised his eyebrows, and then seemed to think of something, and felt a little more at ease.

After all, in Toto's eyes, Qin Miao has always been a very sincere person. He doesn't like those who are vain and usually tells the truth about everything.

The same is true now.

"Have you considered it? Does that mean the idea has been abandoned?" Toto asked curiously.

Qin Miao spread her hands and said: "Although Geely's identity as a Chinese manufacturer is very attractive to me, aren't they still in the negotiation stage? And even if they really come in, the competitiveness of the car may not be able to match my current strength and need.

So at least I have no plans to change the team until I completely lose my competitiveness, or our team's car completely loses its competitiveness.

After all, I still have the possibility of winning the driver's championship again, right? "

"Then it seems that I was a little too worried when I came to see you in a hurry this time." Toto spread his hands and said, "You should have guessed the purpose of my coming here this time.

I'm just worried that because of Geely's entry, you will choose to change jobs. "

We have been working with Qin Miao for a year. What stands out about Qin Miao at work is his sincerity. Now that Qin Miao tells the truth at the beginning, Toto is not going to make any detours.

"You also know that you are now an integral part of the team. The team's future car development ideas will be more based on your driving habits and opinions. At the same time, the team's resources will also weaken with Hamilton's strength. Gradually move towards you.

To be honest, the jokes in the paddock may not be unbelievable. Now you have become the prince of the Mercedes team, and what you are waiting for now is the abdication of the old king. "

Qin Miao found it difficult to adapt to Toto's sudden and straightforward statement.

After all, Toto used to speak more tactfully.

But the key is that Qin Miao really has no intention of leaving the Mercedes Racing Team.

This is true even if I have a system task pressed against me.

"Toto, I don't care about princes or kings.

Moreover, putting all this aside, I am now very comfortable in the Mercedes team. You don't really need to worry about anything. I really have no plans to change teams now.

Trust me, I won't leave.

And most of us Chinese know how to repay kindness. You gave me the opportunity to enter F1 when I was most frustrated. I will not wave away when the team is frustrated. "Facing Totuo, who seemed a little concerned about gains and losses, Qin Miao solemnly promised.

Toto looked at Qin Miao with some emotion: "I feel relieved with your words. I have been glad more than once that I invited you to join the Mercedes team, and now I am glad again for my original decision."

Qin Miao smiled and waved his hand and said: "It's just a matter of sincerity. Ask yourself, since I joined the Mercedes team, the team has not treated me badly, and I naturally have no reason to leave the team."

Toto shook his head and laughed: "It seems that the words I prepared in advance, such as the team's resources inside and outside the paddock, more advanced infrastructure and engineering team, and the design team that knows you better, are of no use."

Hearing Toto's words, Qin Miao couldn't help but rolled her eyes in her heart.

Isn't this useless? Isn’t this stated directly?

Of course, what Toto said is also true.

Although Geely intends to acquire Racing Point, Racing Point is an old team after all, and the team's infrastructure and wind tunnel are definitely not as good as those of Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Red Bull.

If Geely enters the car, the team's team of engineers and technicians will inevitably be replaced.

If Geely wants to achieve good results in the F1 arena, it will definitely have to invest in the team's infrastructure.

Therefore, in the first season, Geely is unlikely to achieve very good results, and will inevitably experience a period of turmoil.

Only then will it be possible to gradually demonstrate its competitiveness.

Of course, although he was rolling his eyes in his heart, Qin Miao did not show it on the surface: "Actually, I feel that it is too early to say this now. Taking a step back, what if the old Stroll does not plan to sell the team? After all, the valuation of F1 teams has risen with the increasing number of viewers.

Moreover, in the foreseeable future, the valuation of F1 teams will become higher and higher, and Geely is likely to terminate negotiations because Stroll's asking price is too high. "

Toto also nodded and said: "Yes, all this is unknown.

But again, you are the cornerstone of the future Mercedes team. The team will do everything we can for you. Please believe in our ability and determination. "

"certainly……"

After the business talk was almost finished, Toto pointed to the room where Qiu Meng and Su Xi walked past and said, "Actually, I'm also quite curious about what the F2 championship trophy wall you have put together in your room looks like."

Qin Miao simply spread his hands towards his honor room and said, "That's just right. Let's go and take a look."

This is actually the first time Toto has come to Qin Miao's house. After all, Toto is the boss, so it is somewhat inappropriate to go to an employee's house.

So he was quite curious about the trophy wall at Qin Miao's home.

After getting up, the two walked into Qin Miao's honor room together.

At this time, Qiu Meng and Su Xi were still inside. Qiu Meng was introducing to Su Xi the race in which Qin Miao was ahead of the car behind him and won the trophy.

The trophy in the storage room at Qin Miao's home is actually not the real F2 trophy, but a one-to-one replica that Qin Miao found from an acquaintance of Ferrari.

The material and appearance of the trophy are basically the same as the original trophy, and the real trophy was sent to Monaco's home by Qin Miao.

The public security in Monaco is actually better than that in the UK. After all, the place is full of rich people. If something is lost, the rich people will not settle down and buy a house in you because of the safety of their property, and Monaco will not be able to show its shame.

Moreover, Qin Miao lives in a relatively high-end home in Monaco, and there are insurance measures inside and outside the honor room.

So the risk of theft is not very high.

As for Qin Miao's house in Brackley, because Qin Miao has become more and more famous in the F1 paddock, some powerful fans or fans who have acquaintances in the paddock know that Qin Miao's home lives in it. Not far from the Mercedes motorcade.

Even many knowledgeable car fans know where Qin Miao lives.

So for the sake of safety, Qin Miao moved all his trophies away. However, Qin Miao lived in Brackley for a relatively long time, and it was impossible for Qin Miao to eliminate the possibility of all his relatives and friends coming to his home to play.

So Qin Miao found someone to re-order a batch of trophies.

It was expensive but not expensive. Because the quantity was relatively large, I got a discount. In the end, it only cost Qin Miao about US$50.

And because the guys at Ferrari have taken Qin Miao's trophy back and re-engraved it before, it's not troublesome to do it.

As for Qin Miao's F1 championship trophy and those F1 race championship trophies, Qin Miao placed them all in Monaco.

But to be honest, even if Qin Miao's F1 world championship trophy is placed in front of Qin Miao's F2 championship trophies and F2 championship trophies, it seems a little less dominant.

So when Toto saw Qin Miao's cabinet of trophies, he inevitably had a look of admiration in his eyes.

"It's hard to imagine how you won so many trophies in F2 in the first place. Wasn't there anything that could threaten your driver that season?" Toto couldn't help but sigh as he looked at Qin Miao's wall full of honors.

Qin Miao shrugged: "Is it possible that I am too strong? When I was in F2, I often used the current tire differentiation method to score points. Basically, my tires were faster than the F2 drivers at the same time as me. It took more than 0.3 seconds. In addition, I am stronger than them, so it is natural to win so many trophies.

Of course, I also want to thank the original Prema team. In my first and only season in F2, they did not cause problems with my car from time to time like Ferrari did. "

Hearing what Qin Miao said, Toto glanced at Qin Miao with a speechless expression.

Why does the most historic team in the paddock sound like a clown in your mouth? (End of chapter)