CHAPTER 196: CHAPTER 124: THE END

Connect the call.

"Hello, Ms. Qiu, this is Horner, the team principal of Red Bull Racing."

Qimeng was a bit surprised, but after seeing Qin Miao’s performance on the track, she understood.

"Hello, Mr. Horner. May I know the reason for your call?"

"Well, I’d like to ask if Qin Miao is interested in changing teams? Our Red Bull junior program is very much looking forward to Qin Miao joining.

If Qin Miao can join our junior system, we promise to give him enough F1 driving time to accumulate for a Super License, and as long as he earns the Super License and maintains his form, we promise he can become an official F1 driver within the same year.

As for the Super License points, given Qin Miao’s current performance, we have no concerns about him accumulating enough points by the end of the season.

You should be aware of the situation within Red Bull; unlike Ferrari, we promote a merit-based system. Once Qin Miao gets into F1 and performs outstandingly, he could even be promoted mid-season to join the Red Bull main team and become Verstappen’s teammate."

"Thank you for your interest, but as you know, this is not something I can decide on. Also, you know Qin Miao is currently on the track. I will convey your message to Qin Miao, but as for the specific outcome, I will respond to you once Qin Miao has made his intentions clear."

"Alright, goodbye."

Besides the call from Red Bull’s team principal, Qimeng also received calls from Toto, as well as team principals from Renault and Racing Point.

Almost all teams looking to strengthen their driver lineup called Qimeng.

However, Qimeng did not promise anything right away. It’s not that the offers weren’t generous; having a team principal personally call you shows ample sincerity, and the offered conditions were extremely favorable. To be honest, even Qimeng was tempted to accept for Qin Miao after seeing the offers.

But she knew that, although Qin Miao didn’t express it verbally, he indeed had feelings for Ferrari. Otherwise, with such talent, he wouldn’t have chosen Ferrari’s junior training over trying out with Red Bull and Mercedes when invited by Ferrari’s junior manager.

So, Qimeng decided to discuss with Qin Miao after the race. After all, they still have a contract with Ferrari, and switching teams would inevitably incur a penalty fee.

Deciding who will cover this penalty is bound to involve some disputes.

...

On the track, Qin Miao wasn’t aware of the chain reactions caused by his excellent performance.

He was still maintaining his pace and pursuing Drogovich ahead.

Frankly, Drogovich felt somewhat desperate inside at this moment because he realized that no matter how hard he tried on the track, he couldn’t widen the time gap with Qin Miao. Instead, it was rapidly narrowing at a visible pace.

By the end of lap ten, after exiting T10, Qin Miao was just 0.2 seconds behind Drogovich.

With the advantage of soft tires and faster corner exit speed, Qin Miao quickly closed in on Drogovich on the straight, and completed a series of maneuvers to overtake before reaching the braking zone.

Just like Horner said, the race ended after two safety car deployments and Qin Miao securing second place.

With Qin Miao’s tire management abilities and the help of two safety cars, he was practically never lacking in tires from then on.

Given Qin Miao’s displayed capabilities, getting first place was only a matter of time.

Even though the commentators had anticipated this scenario, they couldn’t help but laugh out loud when Qin Miao finally overtook Drogovich.

"Hahaha! What a beautiful overtake!"

"This overtaking was so clean, it was a total domination in terms of skill."

"I feel Drogovich didn’t even have any intention to resist."

"Qin Miao’s performance today is absolutely world-class!"

"Yes, I feel Mr. Bi had Qin Miao in F2 not because he couldn’t race in F1 but because he needs a Super License to do so."

"I think it won’t be long before Mr. Bi lets Qin Miao try an F1 car during the practice session at Shanghai."

...

During the race, after Qin Miao took the lead, there was another yellow flag on the track and a safety car was deployed again due to a car stalling at T2.

But none of this affected Qin Miao, as he was already leading and never fell behind again.

With Qin Miao finally reaching his coveted P1, the broadcast director at the scene finally remembered his duties. As Qin Miao gradually widened the gap with Drogovich behind him, the live camera rarely showed Qin Miao anymore.

The rest of the race was like returning to the main race day.

The lead was still that red F2 car, only the drivers and cars behind had changed.

No matter how fiercely the cars behind fought, Qin Miao was as relaxed as if he was conducting a winter test.

He didn’t pull too far ahead; when the race reached lap 21, the gap between Qin Miao and Drogovich remained stable at around 4 seconds.

This gap allowed Qin Miao to make small mistakes on the track without worrying about the car behind catching up.