Chapter 1281 - 481: Geely’s Situation (2)
On the other side, Hamilton and Verstappen parked their cars at the podium area of the pit lane entrance.
After getting out of the car, Hamilton looked to his right; the second place marker of the race was vacant, causing an indescribable feeling in his heart.
Shouldn’t I just swallow my pride? It would be much better if Qin Miao had given me the position...
When he turned around, he saw that Verstappen, after winning the race, did not go to celebrate with his team but stood beside his car, hands on his hips, watching the white smoke rising from the distant track.
As drivers, they knew that the white smoke was generated from the excessive friction between the tires and the ground, basically the smoke from Qin Miao doing donuts.
Sighing, Hamilton did not gaze longingly in Qin Miao’s direction like Verstappen. Instead, he lowered his head and began installing his car’s steering wheel and headrest before joining his team members who had gathered at the trackside to celebrate.
After all, Hamilton has already won seven world championships and has missed chances for more, so he is definitely more able to accept such feelings of desolation.
Naturally, he can also accept the current result faster and restore his calmness more quickly than Verstappen.
Qin Miao didn’t celebrate on the track for long. After doing over ten donuts, he felt a bit dizzy himself. Qin Miao stopped his car and waved at the audience while parking at the junction between the track and the pit lane.
The reason for not driving another lap back to the pit lane was mainly because Qin Miao was worried his car didn’t have enough fuel.
According to FIA regulations, the fuel weight of the car in post-race inspection must not be below a certain limit.
But to minimize the car’s weight, almost every team strictly controls the car’s fuel level, leaving only enough fuel for the driver to drive back to the pit lane after a race weekend.
That’s why Qin Miao dared not drive his car for another lap on the track.
Moreover, it was clear that the team was prepared. Reyes and the crew waited for Qin Miao at the junction of the pit lane and the track during his donut celebration.
Once Qin Miao parked his car, Reyes and the team lifted it with a jack and inserted two boards with wheels under the car.
After ensuring the boards were securely positioned, they released the jack and pushed Qin Miao’s car to the post-race podium area.
It took three minutes before Qin Miao was placed in the second position spot.
For some unknown reason, once the audience saw the number two, many inexplicably felt that it matched Qin Miao’s second world champion title in some subtle way.
By this time, Verstappen and Hamilton had already got off their cars and finished celebrating and wiping off their sweat, waiting for Qin Miao to arrive for the post-race interview.
After the car was set down, Qin Miao unlatched his seatbelt.
Afterward, Reyes helped Qin Miao remove his headrest and reached into Qin Miao’s cockpit.
Qin Miao smiled and shook hands with Reyes, who patted Qin Miao’s helmet with a smile, "Congratulations, world champion, double champion."
Qin Miao didn’t claim all the glory, smiling as he said, "It’s also thanks to you guys. Without your help, I couldn’t have achieved this world championship. You know, this season I haven’t had a single race retirement due to car failure."
Reyes smiled too, "Maybe it’s because your driving habits are particularly good, and the overall wear of the car has always been in a highly stable and manageable state?"
"Quit the bragging, you two, let’s hurry up and let Qin Miao come celebrate," Toto exclaimed impatiently from the Mercedes team’s crowd as he looked at the two holding hands without letting go.
Qin Miao and Reyes exchanged a smile.
Toto had some significant work to handle in Austria today, but given that there was a high chance Qin Miao might clinch the world championship one race early, Toto naturally couldn’t miss the moment when the driver he discovered went on to win the championship.
Yet under all the joy, a slight worry started to emerge within Toto.
On the one hand, it was the strong entrance of Chinese capital.
Although there had been little news since Geely announced its intention to enter F1 and started frequently engaging with Aston Martin in the first half of the season, the news about Geely had significantly decreased in the paddock.
However, as a senior figure in the paddock, Toto knew clearly that Geely going silent didn’t mean they gave up entering; in fact, all the fanfare initially wasn’t Geely’s doing but Old Stroll’s.
The quietness now was because Geely’s negotiations with Aston Martin had fallen through.
Old Stroll wasn’t prepared to sell the team, and Geely, not wanting to give up on entering F1, turned their sights to Red Bull.
They wanted to buy the junior Red Bull team.
After all, the junior Red Bull team is a burden to the Red Bull Group as it has been making losses and not achieving noteworthy results.
For Red Bull Racing, though, the existence of the junior team indeed provided a lot of conveniences, being able to nurture drivers for the main Red Bull team and cut budget expenditures through data sharing with the junior team.
This allowed more money to be freed up for investment into R&D.
Because of this, the junior Red Bull team was often brought up by other teams in the paddock when complaining to the FIA about unfairness.
As Red Bull Racing is the only team with a satellite team in the F1 paddock, while all other teams operate independently, at most relying on limited data from engine suppliers.
However, this might change the upcoming season as it seems like Geely is close to finalizing talks with Red Bull, and the news might be announced in the offseason once the season ends.
Having been in the F1 paddock for so many years, Toto knew very well the allure a home team holds for any F1 driver.
Apart from Geely, Ferrari also began showing interest in Qin Miao. In fact, Ferrari’s interest in Qin Miao was quite intense.
Apart from some unfortunate past relationships with Ferrari, Qin Miao graduated from the Ferrari Young Driver Academy.
Qin Miao surely has a sense of belonging towards Ferrari, and Ferrari fans are also familiar with Qin Miao.
Furthermore, Ferrari is known for favoring world champions.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Ferrari, being a century-old brand, has inspired countless drivers to have a "Ferrari dream" from a young age.
Currently, Qin Miao holds a three-year contract, and with the season ending, he’ll run another year on the track next year, at which point his contract will expire.
Yet, Qin Miao shows no interest in renegotiating his contract with the team.
As Toto grappled with concerns about Qin Miao’s contract, someone suddenly embraced him.
The external interruption pulled Toto back from his thoughts.
As Toto came to his senses, he saw a white helmet in front of him, beautifully adorned with fragments of blue and white porcelain designs.
For a moment, Toto recalled that he was still at the track, and the helmet in front of him belonged to Qin Miao.
After all, the two-time world champion was notoriously lazy and sentimental; Qin Miao had used this helmet throughout the entire season, only swapping for a special edition one during the Japan Grand Prix.
Many fans joked that this helmet probably saved Qin Miao’s life,
making it easy for fans to identify which Mercedes driver they were watching based on the helmet.
PS, damn you, Bravi, damn you, Sauber, damn you, tire change crew, is this the green Ferrari or what?