How did I become an F1 driver?

Qin Miao nodded: "That's right, this season you can improve the performance and stability of the car as much as you want. As long as it can still be driven and the car is consistent in the race and qualifying, I can bring out the full strength and performance of this car.

Of course, the premise is that the characteristics of the car should be slightly less steering.”

Although Wasser remained calm on the surface, he was very happy in his heart. After all, he didn't know Qin Miao had such ability before.

As for whether this was Qin Miao bragging in front of him.

If you had won two world championships at Qin Miao's age, even if you boasted that you could drive an F1 car up a tree, Vasseur would still praise you for your good driving and think that you had a natural talent and could drive up that tree.

Vasseur suppressed his smile and said calmly, "Very good! If it is really as you said, then you don't have to worry about the team's car performance next season. Although I can't guarantee that I can give you a car that can compete with Red Bull's RB20 on the track, at least the performance of the Ferrari car next season will be greatly improved compared to the SF23."

As for whether Ferrari's approach will affect another Ferrari driver Leclerc...

It is undeniable that according to the upgrade method mentioned by Qin Miao and Vasseur, Leclerc will definitely not have an easy time on the track next season.

It is even possible that Leclerc and Sainz may not have to wait until next season, but in the second half of this season, they may start to complain because they cannot adapt to Ferrari's violent upgrade.

After all, according to Qin Miao, the controllability of Ferrari's cars will become very poor next season.

The tuning window will definitely be reduced to varying degrees.

At that time, Ferrari cars were really not something that ordinary people could control.

However, it can also be seen from this point that Ferrari is determined to help the team win the world championship again as soon as possible.

"I'm looking forward to it. After all, you know I was looking forward to driving a Ferrari in 19," Qin Miao said with a smile.

"Next season, next season you'll have your chance."

……

After that, the two chatted together for another hour.

The door of the room where Wasser and others were originally staying was pushed open, and the lawyers from both sides walked out.

After seeing this scene, Qin Miao and Wasser both knew that both parties had determined the terms of the contract and could now sign.

Qin Miao didn't hesitate. He stood up and walked into the room.

The room had been decorated at this time, and a pen was placed next to Qin Miao's contract.

Qin Miao sat down and took another quick look at the contract. After confirming that it was the one he had just seen, Qin Miao raised his hand and signed his name on the contract document with the red prancing horse logo amid the smiles of Vassell and the others.

Two copies were signed in total, one for Qin Miao and one for Ferrari.

After signing both, Vasseur smiled and hugged Qin Miao: "Welcome back to Ferrari."

Qin Miao hugged Vassell and said with a smile: "Thank you for your invitation. I believe that we can bring glory to Ferrari again next season."

Vasseur also smiled and shook hands with Qin Miao: "I can't stay in 2023 for even a day. I want to fast forward to 2024 and watch you put on the Ferrari uniform, just like watching a video."

Qin Miao smiled and said, "Time will always pass, don't worry."

"By the way, since you have officially confirmed that you will join Ferrari next season, I can tell you some of the team's decisions in advance."

Qin Miao took a sip of orange juice and waited for Vassel to continue.

"Ferrari is planning to abandon the 23 season and invest most of the team's resources into the research and development of the 24 season car, so the team's performance this year will not be very good, and it is estimated that they will not even get third place in the team."

Qin Miao shrugged and smiled and said, "To be honest, this is good news for me. After all, if it is true as you said, then next season I will have a top-notch car, and it will be Leclerc and Sainz who will carry the weight for me."

Wasser smiled and said, “That’s true.”

"The reason I tell you this in advance is to prepare you mentally. If the performance of the Ferrari car is not good enough this season, don't lose confidence in Ferrari. This is just us biding our time."

"Of course, I have learned some things about you from Zhou Guanyu. He trusts you very much, so I also believe in your vision and judgment."

Vasseur smiled and asked: "After all, I have found the most talented driver in the F1 paddock, right?"

Qin Miao was not modest at this time: "That's right, from the moment you were so determined to recruit me to Ferrari, I knew you were a visionary and ambitious person."

"That's right." Wasser suddenly seemed to have thought of something and took out a box from his pocket.

When the box was opened, there was a bunch of keys inside.

After seeing this bunch of keys, Qin Miao roughly guessed what Ferrari had prepared for him.

"This is a little gift from Ferrari for you," Vasseur explained.

"a house?"

Wasser was not surprised and nodded and said, "Yes, a house in Maranello."

“This is the house you lived in when you were in the Ferrari youth training. To celebrate your return to the Ferrari family, we decided to give you the permanent right to use this house.

Although the size of the house is indeed a little small for your current net worth, I believe that the house still means something special to you. I hope you like this gift."

"Oh, by the way, your house was later occupied by other people. After all, it was considered a Ferrari employee dormitory. I hope you don't mind. However, the interior of the house has not changed. If you are not satisfied, we can also change it."

Qin Miao smiled and waved his hands: "I don't have this kind of cleanliness obsession, and it's rare for me to be able to reminisce about the past. Thank you, I like this gift very much."

“That’s good,” Wasser said.

……

In the following time, Qin Miao and Wasser sat together and chatted for the whole afternoon.

However, the two did not talk about work, but instead chatted about gossip in the paddock.

The little old man, Wasser, is good at livening up the atmosphere.

It's never boring to chat with him. We talked about some interesting stories in the paddock, the whereabouts of retired drivers, and even how to make more money by doing side jobs relying on the fame of drivers.

After dinner, Qin Miao put on his disguise again and left the restaurant.

Although Qin Miao has now become a shareholder of Ferrari, the effective date of Qin Miao's contract is January 1 next year.

Now Qin Miao has work to do at Mercedes-Benz, and this week is a Grand Prix weekend, so Qin Miao squeezed out time to sign the contract here. After returning to the hotel with the contract, Qin Miao put it away and went to bed directly.

Qin Miao's schedule afterwards was no different from the preparation time before a normal Grand Prix.

The Circuit de Catalunya has had a major overhaul of its layout this Grand Prix weekend.

The two low-speed corners T14 and T15 in the third timing section were cancelled, turning it into a whole straight road.

This modification is still very comfortable for the driver.

Coincidentally, almost all drivers prefer tracks with smoother corners when driving F1, rather than sudden heavy brakes.

After all, for drivers, lateral G-force is definitely more comfortable to bear than rearward G-force.

And everyone prefers the feeling of speeding at lightning speed rather than frequent acceleration and deceleration.

But this modification is not good news for Mercedes-Benz.

Although you don't need to brake too hard in the high-speed corners of the Catalunya Circuit, you still need to brake.

On such a track, except for the starting straight and another DRS area, which are considered to be the W14's advantageous sections, other tracks will limit the W14's high-speed performance.

However, the race has to go on, and all Qin Miao can hope for now is that the upgrades brought by the team this week will be effective.

Soon, it was Thursday.

Qin Miao attended the weekly pre-race press conference and walked the track as usual.

What surprised Qin Miao was that at the pre-match press conference, the reporter asked Qin Miao questions about the next season.

Leclerc was sitting next to Qin Miao at the time, and the host asked: "Qin Miao, according to rumors in the paddock, you have signed a contract with Ferrari, right? We would like to ask you, what does it feel like to be the teammate of your good friend Leclerc next season?"

When Qin Miao heard this question, he was stunned.

Because he remembered that he signed the contract with Ferrari on Monday, how come it was exposed in just three days?
And it seemed like everyone knew about it.

However, the news that he would join Ferrari next season had already been released. Therefore, before Qin Miao officially signed the contract with Ferrari, many people speculated that Qin Miao had already signed the contract with Ferrari. Even if Ferrari and he did not announce the news of the successful signing, there would definitely be many car fans who thought that he and Ferrari had already signed the contract.

Qin Miao did not make any excuses. After returning his gaze to the question asked by the host, Qin Miao tilted his head to look at Leclerc beside him and asked, "Charles, what do you think about you becoming my teammate next season?"

After saying this, he handed the microphone to Leclerc's mouth.

On the contrary, it belongs to Tiangang.

Leclerc looked at Qin Miao in surprise. Why are you so honest?
At this time, you are still a Mercedes driver. If you encounter such questions, you can just skip them and not answer them. What's the point of throwing questions to me?
But since Qin Miao had already asked, Leclerc thought about it and replied: "First of all, I am very happy that I have the opportunity to play for Ferrari with Qin Miao. This makes me feel honored. After all, Qin Miao is now one of the best active drivers.

I am looking forward to competing with Qin Miao on the track to see who is faster. Although we also compete with each other on the racing simulator in private, the simulator is not a real race after all, and there is no way to simulate the real-time situation on the track. "

Qin Miao and Leclerc actually have no reservations about this topic in private.

The two would even joke about this topic in private.

But it would be inappropriate to talk about this matter in public.

Qin Miao had no way of answering this.

If Qin Miao said that he was not as good as Leclerc, wouldn't that be a disguised way of saying that Larry was blind?

He is so blind. He already has a talented driver in his team, but he still wants to find someone else.

But what if Qin Miao can defeat Leclerc?

Wouldn’t the relationship between Qin Miao and Leclerc be affected?
So there are two most appropriate options for Qin Miao at this time: either change the subject or directly refuse to answer the question.

Then Qin Miao turned the topic to Leclerc.

After all, Qin Miao would rather watch Leclerc have fun than make himself uncomfortable.

But there is nothing wrong with Leclerc's answer.

The host knew that his question was somewhat sharp, so after Leclerc answered it, he moved on to other topics.

After the pre-race press conference ended, Qin Miao and Leclerc left the conference room together.

On the way, Leclerc asked Qin Miao: "Seriously, what do you say after becoming teammates? A life-and-death battle on the track?"

Qin Miao rolled his eyes in annoyance: "Could it be a life-and-death fight?"

“You are so grown up, and you still want to take advantage of me verbally.” Leclerc complained, but still said: “But I still feel that my chances of winning are greater. After all, I am more familiar with Ferrari’s operating structure and car characteristics than you.”

After hearing what Leclerc said, Qin Miao looked at Leclerc with a strange look in his eyes.

If Vasseur had not had the negotiation with Qin Miao on Monday, there would be nothing wrong with what Leclerc said.

But considering the recent negotiation with Vasseur, Leclerc may not even have to wait until next season. He may start complaining to the team about the difficulty of driving the car in the second half of this season.

"Why do you look at me like that?"

"It's okay, you look handsome." Qin Miao said calmly on the surface, but to be honest, Qin Miao had already begun to feel sorry for Leclerc in advance.

However, Qin Miao could never have imagined that Leclerc's ability to adapt to the car was also extremely terrifying. This time, Ferrari developed the performance of the car at all costs, and the only victim was Sainz...

After returning to the team's P room, Qin Miao packed up and then started walking on the track with Franky Barber, Reyes and others.

After all, the Catalan circuit has undergone a revision for this Grand Prix weekend, and drivers like Qin Miao need to re-familiarize themselves with the track layout and find the braking points, cornering lines and APEX points based on the new track.

Basically all drivers have the same preparation process when they come to this track.

Except Alonso.

Because Alonso is the only active driver who has raced on this track layout.

This is Lao Deng’s experience.

Even Hamilton, a middle-level player, had never run this layout, so Qin Miao and other small players naturally had never run this layout either. (End of this chapter)