How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 590 - 252: The Pride of Youth

"Alright, we can talk about extending the contract duration later, but I'll still prepare a new contract for you. How about we start discussing it after the Spa race?" Toto asked.

"No problem, thank you for understanding, Toto," Qin Miao gratefully replied.

After hanging up the phone, the matter was settled, and from then on, Qimeng and the Mercedes team would handle the negotiations.

What is certain is that without the contract extension, the salary Mercedes offers Qin Miao will not be as high as the 20 million US Dollars Toto mentioned.

But it won't be low either. After all, it must match the contributions Qin Miao has made to the team, right?

After hanging up the phone, Qin Miao told Qimeng about his decision exactly as it was, and Qimeng wasn't surprised after hearing Qin Miao's choice, as if she had expected it all along.

"As long as it's settled, leave it to me. I will definitely get both of us a good deal from Mercedes!" Qimeng patted her chest and assured him.

...

On Wednesday, Qin Miao's management team officially began negotiations with Mercedes. News of this spread quickly, and everyone inside and outside the paddock knew that Mercedes and Qin Miao had started negotiating his contract.

Opinions differed both domestically and abroad. In China, the audience heard this news and felt the simplest and most direct emotion: joy and happiness.

Because this move by Mercedes proved that they thought Qin Miao's current strength no longer matched the treatment he was receiving, so they needed to improve both parties' bargaining chips through negotiations to balance Qin Miao's contribution to the team.

However, some fans abroad called Qin Miao greedy, despite receiving such high bonuses. Halfway through the season, Qin Miao's salary had already surpassed some drivers in mid-tier teams.

Many others thought this was perfectly justified, as Qin Miao's current salary indeed didn't match his contribution to the team.

And there were those who just found it entertaining.

Of course, there were also those mocking Ferrari's Iron Buddha Temple, since now, Qin Miao, a young driver who could compete on equal footing with seven-time champion Hamilton and even lead him in the standings halfway through the season, was let go by Ferrari.

Even though the person responsible had been fired, many long-time Ferrari fans still had a lot of resentment about it.

"Qin Miao should have been ours!"

"Toto is a thief, he should return Qin Miao to us!"

It's worth mentioning that Binotto also received his fair share of criticism.

But after several instances where reporters in the paddock caught Qin Miao and Binotto chatting and even joking with each other,

Iron Buddha Temple fans realized that Binotto was one of those who hoped Qin Miao would stay at Ferrari.

Therefore, the criticism towards Binotto gradually diminished, now mainly focusing on Ferrari's poor performance.

However, Qin Miao felt that by now, the Iron Buddha Temple fans using his situation to criticize Ferrari was just an excuse they found at random, not because they genuinely cared about this talented driver.

After all, as the saying goes, some things, once missed, are just missed.

Besides this, there was another matter today, which was that the system, as usual, sent Qin Miao a task.

The task rewards were pretty standard.

They mostly included the driver championship and the best driver as voted by the live audience, things like that.

The rewards were also quite ordinary, including Free Attribute Points and lotteries.

There's no need to elaborate further.

On Thursday, Qin Miao and the team staff set off for Belgium.

This week, the race would be held at Spa.

The good news was that Mercedes brought upgrades this week, with the side windbreak wings becoming more complex to add mechanical grip without disrupting the car's balance. They also brought two new rear wings, allowing the two Mercedes drivers to choose according to their preferences.

The bad news was that the meteorological department indicated that the weather in Belgium this week wasn't very good, with rain expected on six out of seven days of the week.

And it wouldn't just be light rain.

For Qin Miao, this rain was really quite deadly.

After all, he had become known in the paddock for being a poor wet-weather driver.

Although in the rain, Qin Miao could still fully exploit the W12's performance, compared to his performance on dry surfaces, Qin Miao's Rain Combat Ability was really lacking.

But for Verstappen, this rain at Spa was a golden opportunity, his best chance to overtake the two Mercedes drivers in the standings.

It's worth mentioning that Verstappen had been rigorously trained by his father Joss Verstappen from a young age to drive in the rain, so Verstappen's rain combat skill was undoubtedly the best among all drivers in the current paddock.

So before the race began, many people thought this race would be a solo performance by Verstappen.

The two Mercedes drivers would only be supporting roles behind him.

On Thursday, after starting his work, apart from participating in some team promotional activities as usual, Qin Miao spent most of his time practicing the limits of the qualifying round and long-distance lap times during the main race at the Spa circuit in the rain.

Running a circuit in rainy conditions is challenging because the track conditions are constantly changing with the varying intensity of the rain.

It also depends on the track's topography. Some areas have better drainage or are near track drains, so those sections leave very little standing water despite the rain, with rainwater flowing directly into drains due to track incline.

While some places suffer from poor drainage system layout, leading to water pooling. Although if it stops raining, this water would soon evaporate and drain naturally, during ongoing rain, these sections collect water, affecting drivers' judgment while driving.

Qin Miao, familiar with the track, knew which areas were prone to water accumulation. But while driving, he couldn't calculate and judge cornering angles, gear shifts, and car control simultaneously with the impact of rainwater on grip and aerodynamics.

So, faced with these issues he couldn't solve, all Qin Miao could do was use the most basic and effective method: slow down.

Reducing speed naturally makes cornering easier, and this was the main reason for Qin Miao's lack of strong rain combat ability.

By now, it was already early autumn, and both air and track temperatures were very low.

Air temperature was 12°C, track temperature 16°C, with humidity at 91%.

In such conditions, it was even harder for car tires to gain grip, and bringing the tires to an optimal working temperature without quickly cooling down was challenging.

Due to the harsh track environment, Qin Miao only did a single lap during track walk, and because of the weather, only he and Barber were on the track.

Finally, after attending a pre-race press conference, Qin Miao's work at Spa for the day was completed.

That evening, Qin Miao didn't have much free time; he shared a meal with all Mercedes staff. Since it was the first gathering after everyone returned to work, it was naturally a good opportunity for team-building and morale boosting.

Naturally, key Mercedes figures, Qin Miao, Hamilton, and Toto, all attended.

By the time Qin Miao got home from the gathering, it was almost 10 PM.

He messaged Qimeng that he had returned to the hotel, then put down his phone and went to sleep.

On Friday, the first and second practice sessions began.

From that moment on, Qin Miao officially became busy.

Although he enjoyed a very leisurely time during the vacation break, when the hectic schedule started again, Qin Miao didn't feel any discomfort and even found a sense of comfort and reassurance in the busy atmosphere.

Unbeknownst to him, this busy lifestyle within the paddock had become his comfort zone.