Chapter 425: Chapter 425

Exhausted, Qin Miao returned home, where Qimeng had already prepared hot water for him.

He took a relaxing bath at home, rinsed off with cold water, had dinner, and didn’t play games afterward, just lay down on the bed and slept soundly.

It took him until the next day to recover.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all rest days, so Qin Miao got up quite late.

But as soon as he woke up, matters arose.

Recently, Qimeng had been discussing a contract with Yili, which was becoming more refined as time went on.

Because of Qin Miao’s performance and his action of completing the lap in the car, the contract price from Yili went up significantly.

Yili also signaled a desire to sign with Qin Miao quickly.

Moreover, quite a few sponsors came looking.

These sponsors were very eager to collaborate with Qin Miao and hoped to sign the contracts soon, with terms generally over three years.

Qimeng naturally saw through their intentions at a glance; Qin Miao had already proven his strength and talent on the track, and he had quite a striking presence.

Perhaps due to talent, Qin Miao had a good camera sense, leading to more airtime for him, and this meant more exposure for his sponsors.

But Qin Miao mostly just glanced through these; what contracts could be signed or not, he handed over to her to deal with.

As for Yili’s contract, Qin Miao looked at it and refused without much hesitation but gave a final deadline, saying he would respond after the Monaco Grand Prix.

Yili actually wanted to finalize the contract right away, but it’s essentially a seller’s market, with Qin Miao holding the initiative.

If Qin Miao performs brilliantly in the Monaco race, the price of Yili’s contract would surely rise again.

Of course, besides the good news of potential earnings, there was also bad news: the FIA’s penalty decision for Qin Miao came out.

Although Mercedes tried hard to negotiate, Qin Miao had indeed violated FIA’s rules, resulting in a ten-place penalty for the next race in Monaco and a reprimand, fortunately without any points deducted from his Super License.

As for the collision between Qin Miao and Verstappen on the track, the FIA ultimately classified it as a normal racing incident, hence no penalty or investigation.

Qin Miao’s good mood for the day ended upon receiving this news.

However, in the following three days, Qin Miao’s daily life returned to peace.

Three days later, Qin Miao was back to work, involved in the development of new team components, practicing the Monaco track on the simulator, and discussing next season’s car configurations and tracks.

Due to being a street circuit, Monaco is extremely difficult for overtaking, with the only usual overtaking point within the DRS zone on the main straight.

Elsewhere, unless the driver in front makes a mistake, overtaking is almost impossible.

Qin Miao actually didn’t have much of a liking for this track; after all, it was impossible to play with a controller on this difficult circuit back in the day.

T6 always ended in a crash.

But now it’s about work, not games, so Qin Miao must practice, even if he doesn’t favor this track.

Moreover, it was much easier to operate using the steering wheel.

At this time, an interesting news broke online.

During an interview with Sainz, a reporter asked him: "Who do you think is faster, you or Qin Miao?

After all, we all know Qin Miao was originally Ferrari’s second driver candidate, but because of your joining, Qin Miao left Ferrari and joined Mercedes."

Sainz seemed to be annoyed by such questions and impatiently responded: "There’s no comparison between us; his Mercedes car is much faster than Ferrari’s, and if I drive Mercedes, I’m definitely faster than Qin Miao."

Meanwhile, Mercedes proposed to terminate the contract with Bottas.

Even though Qin Miao had retired from one of the last four races, it wasn’t his fault, and it had nothing to do with him. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on Nove1Fire.net

Throughout these races, Qin Miao’s speed, stability, and support for Hamilton proved his ability to all doubters.

Mercedes had also recognized Qin Miao and began officially grooming him as the second driver.

Therefore, Bottas, who was originally meant to replace Qin Miao, became unnecessary.

Although Mercedes could wait until Bottas’s contract expires to terminate it, Toto, as Bottas’s agent, surely wouldn’t want him to stagnate at Mercedes for a year due to a contract.

So once Qin Miao’s position stabilized, they immediately prepared to let Bottas go out and find a team on his own.

Once Bottas found a team that wanted him, Mercedes would proactively terminate the contract with him.

With Bottas’s ability, there certainly would be mid to lower-tier teams eager to have him.

However, this news was not known to the outside world at the time.

On Friday, Qin Miao received a WeChat message from Qin Yun, saying she had time to visit the Mercedes factory and asked if it was convenient for Qin Miao.

Such matters were easy for Qin Miao, so he did not refuse, arranged to meet on Friday afternoon, and once she arrived at the entrance of the Mercedes factory, had someone responsible for reception guide her into the factory.