Hearing this, Qin Miao really did feel a deep respect for the old gentleman.

Having already shaken hands with him once, Qin Miao reached out with both hands again for another shake.

"Thank you so much for designing such an excellent circuit in our country. I'm really looking forward to racing there when China hosts a Grand Prix again."

"No need to thank me, young man. I should be the one saying thank you, for China giving me the opportunity to design such a great track."

After a bit of small talk, Toto then introduced Herman's son, Kastin.

"This is Kastin, he's the one who designed the Jeddah Coastal Circuit and the Hanoi circuit." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

This surprised Qin Miao even more.

Back then, the old Qin Miao didn't feel much about it, but after actually becoming an F1 driver, he'd developed his own preferences about what makes a good track.

Namely, those tracks with tons of braking points, low speeds, and frequent slow-downs—basically no driver likes them, including Qin Miao himself.

But high-speed circuits, where you hardly ever hit the brakes and can just focus on racing lines and flat-out speed—those are the ones almost every driver loves.

In the past, Qin Miao thought the reason you barely used the brakes on high-speed tracks was just because the drivers were having fun. Only after he got behind the wheel himself did he get a real sense of it.

Having fun on a track where you don't need to brake much is one thing, but the real reason F1 drivers love high-speed circuits is that the temperature inside the monocoque is just way too high.

If you're always running at medium to low speed, or on circuits with lots of slow corners, the heat inside the car doesn't dissipate as easily.

As the race goes on, the temperature in the cockpit keeps building up layer by layer, and it just gets hotter and hotter inside the car.

On high-speed tracks, though, there are air intakes set up at the nose of the car, so the faster you go, the more airflow you push into the monocoque, and the lower the temperature.

Even the intake flow for the engine increases, and the engine temperature drops as well.

So on high-speed tracks, the overall temperature of the car comes down.

And Jeddah just happens to be one of those high-speed circuits.

So when he met the man himself, Qin Miao made sure to give him a proper, serious handshake.

And then Qin Miao remembered what Toto had said earlier about networking.

Knowing people like this was definitely beneficial for him.

At the same time, another thought flashed through his mind.

Prince Jacques of Monaco got into racing because of him—so what if, in the future, his own son or daughter also fell in love with racing because of him?

If the kid really wanted to pursue a career in this field, would he even be able to stop them?

With that in mind, it suddenly hit Qin Miao: could he build a circuit back in China, to train young domestic drivers and, while he's at it, raise his own kid?

And if it was operated well enough, he could even leverage his own reputation and use the circuit to make money.

Of course, making money wasn't really something the current Qin Miao was thinking much about.

What he was thinking now was: there's a professional track designer standing right in front of me, so could I ask them to come to China and build a circuit there?

But since Toto was standing right beside him, it didn't feel appropriate to bring up business in such a public setting.

So Qin Miao decided he'd find a chance during the dinner to ask for Kastin's phone number and contact him privately later.

"Mr. Kastin, I really like the Jeddah Circuit. I'd even say it's one of my favorite tracks. It feels fantastic to drive." Qin Miao said as he shook Kastin's hand.

"My pleasure, Mr. Qin Miao." Kastin replied with a smile.

The few of them chatted casually for a bit and then went their separate ways.

At first, Qin Miao just picked a random spot to sit down and grab some food, and then later he waited for a chance to go find Kastin.

When he saw Qin Miao coming over, Kastin was a little surprised at first. After all, the fact that Qin Miao wasn't big on socializing wasn't exactly a secret—most people in the paddock knew that. He was also curious what Qin Miao wanted with him.

After a bit of light small talk, Qin Miao quickly steered the conversation to the main point: "Mr. Kastin, do you have any projects on your plate at the moment?"

Kastin didn't hide anything: "I've been busy in Germany recently, working on the renovation and construction of a stadium. Why, is Mr. Qin planning to introduce some work my way?"

Qin Miao smiled. "I do have something along those lines in mind."

"Oh?" Kastin raised his brows in surprise.

"It's just a rough idea for now—I want to build a circuit in my country."

"To F1 spec?"

"No, not sure yet. But that I'm going to build one is definite."

"Alright, but if you really are serious about it, you can contact me. I already gave you my card just now. I assume you're not the kind of guy who takes a business card and then tosses it away like trash at the first opportunity, right?" Kastin joked with a grin.

"Of course not."

Since Qin Miao had come back specifically to say that, and given his own line of work, it was obvious to Kastin that Qin wanted to invite him to his country to build a circuit.

For business that walks up to your door on its own—especially when it's the world champion personally inviting you—Kastin had no reason to refuse.

"Yeah, for now it's just an idea. I don't have any detailed plans yet, but I'm sure it won't be long before I trouble you."

"That's exactly the kind of 'trouble' I'm dying to have. You know, in construction, chances to take on big projects are rare and precious.

Right now I'm actually a bit worried I won't be able to meet your expectations for the circuit."

"I don't think that'll be a problem. If you can design something as outstanding as Jeddah, you've definitely got something special."

"Alright then, thank you for the trust. I'll be waiting for your good news."

After finishing his talk with Kastin, Qin Miao went back to where he'd originally been sitting.

Toto had been right—once you get to know more people, there'll always be some kind of payoff.

...

For the rest of the time, Qin Miao didn't really join in the socializing. Most of the time he just sat in a corner by himself, eating.

During that period, some of his colleagues came over to chat with him for a bit.

When talking with other drivers, Qin Miao didn't feel any psychological pressure at all—he just opened up and talked about whatever came to mind.

The next day, Qin Miao once again arrived at the team's factory in Brackley.

Today was the start date for the W13 evaluation report.

When Qin Miao got there, there still weren't many people in the meeting room, but Hamilton and Angela were already there.

Without overthinking it, Qin Miao went straight over and sat down in the empty seat next to Hamilton.

Since today wasn't a public event, there were no appearances or shoots to attend, no fans nearby, just a regular internal Mercedes team meeting, Hamilton wasn't wearing any of those outfits that "catch your eye" at first glance.

As soon as Qin Miao sat down, Hamilton asked curiously, "You're really going to Ferrari?"

Caught off guard by Hamilton's sudden question, Qin Miao's face froze for a second, then he said, a bit annoyed, "Fake news.

On the Monaco Grand Prix podium, Leclerc was just joking around with me.

But some shameless reporters overheard the joke, and now the paddock is full of that kind of fake news. It's driving me crazy."

When he got home last night, Qin Miao had scrolled through those stories on his phone, so he was fairly up to speed on what was being said.

Because there was a one-week break between races during this stretch, it was easier on the drivers and team staff, but with no race to watch, the fans got bored.

And since there wasn't much breaking news in the paddock around this time, even though a lot of people knew it was just a rumor born from an offhand joke—

—bored people are capable of anything, so the talk of Qin Miao wanting to return to Ferrari to fulfill his childhood Ferrari dream was all over the place.

People even extended the topic, discussing whether, if Qin Miao went back to Ferrari, he and Leclerc could form a "double sword" partnership and lead Ferrari back to glory.

Seeing those wild speculations gave Qin Miao a headache. He couldn't even count how many people at Ferrari wanted him dead—go back?

He'd probably be benched the moment he walked in, or be driving along when the engine would "mysteriously" blow up, or someone would "accidentally" mis-set his car.

For a team's higher-ups, making sure a driver can't run a proper race is ridiculously easy.

ps. State's not great, only 4K today