Before the sumr break ended, Qin Miao, like the staff at the rcedes team factory, returned to his usual work routine.
Notably, after returning to the team factory, Toto approached Qin Miao to discuss his driver contract.
Currently, Qin Miao's contract has two and a half years remaining, and for Toto, this is the most cost-effective contract he's signed for rcedes in his career.
However, anyone inside rcedes who knows about Qin Miao's contract is aware that it doesn't match his contributions to the team.
The salary is too low.
To put it bluntly, although Hamilton earns much more than Qin Miao, in terms of racing developnt, Qin Miao's contributions to the team surpass Hamilton by far.
Thus, the board of directors plans to compensate Qin Miao for this.
Moreover, Qin Miao's performance on the track in this half of the season has been impressive enough; in his first career season, he has managed to consistently outperform his teammate, seven-ti champion Hamilton, on the points table. Although luck plays a part, it would be shortsighted to ignore Qin Miao's own strength factors.
After all, many people might see an opportunity in front of them but are unable to seize it.
Additionally, Qin Miao has another trait that rcedes particularly appreciates, especially the strategy group and the logistics data analysis departnt—his terrifying stability.
On the track, Qin Miao basically secures the points and positions that he should achieve.
While racing, Qin Miao's state seldom fluctuates.
Yet he can occasionally shine and bring surprises to the team, with very few errors.
rcedes has no reason to let such a driver go, so after the half-season evaluation period was over, Toto decided to let go of Bottas and prepare a new contract for Qin Miao, allowing him to earn double the salary and boosting his annual salary to 15 million US Dollars.
Of course, this is rcedes' bottom line, aning the most they can offer Qin Miao in total for the combined two contracts is 15 million US Dollars. The initial offer would not be that high; it's all part of the later negotiations.
Simultaneously, Toto plans to extend Qin Miao's contract again. Given Qin Miao's current performance and his support for the team's work, he is truly deserving of a long-term contract.
After a discussion among rcedes' board of directors, they ultimately decided to extend Qin Miao's contract term from three years to five years—adding two more years—until the end of 2025, just before the new regulations in 2026 are implented.
If Qin Miao signs this contract, he will spend the ground effect era with rcedes.
Normally, a five-year long-term contract is what every F1 driver dreams of, as F1 is a buyer's market.
Driver spots exceed demand.
Countless people are clamoring to secure a position in F1; having a decent-salary long-term contract is basically unattainable for all F1 drivers.
However, coincidentally, Qin Miao has learned recently that Geely has thoughts of acquiring Aston Martin.
Although this news hasn't been directly confird by Li Shufu, Qin Miao feels that with his dominant presence in the paddock, Geely might really rush into F1.
So when Qin Miao received the offer from rcedes, he was a bit troubled.
He genuinely doesn't know how to handle this contract.
Luckily, rcedes has only made a proposal; they require a response from Qin Miao within a month.
Therefore, Qin Miao has ti to think and discuss.
Back ho, Qin Miao asked Qing for her opinion on this matter. Of course, Qing is aware of the situation with Li Shufu and Geely, as on the flight back, Qin Miao and Qing talked about it since they had nothing else to do.
After knowing Qin Miao t Li Shufu, Qing regretted not going with Qin Miao.
Regarding Qin Miao's new contract, Qing takes a more aggressive stance: accepting rcedes' invitation.
After all, everything with Geely is unknown. Even if Geely plans to enter F1, acquire Aston Martin, and buy the team along with it, exactly what obstacles they might encounter cannot be guaranteed or confird, making everything currently unknown.
Rather than betting on an uncertain future, Qing prefers to let Qin Miao choose a relatively safe but absolutely secure future.
Nonetheless, these are rely Qing's suggestions; even if Qin Miao wants to fully accept them, Qing herself wouldn't agree. Her advice is just a reference for Qin Miao—ultimately, Qin Miao needs his own independent judgnt.
After consulting Qing, Qin Miao knows he can't solely rely on one opinion, so he called Boss Zhou the next morning.
During the call, Qin Miao naturally shared his current situation with Boss Zhou.
After hearing about Qin Miao's current predicant, Boss Zhou thought for a bit and then said, "A golden nest or a silver nest, none compares to your own nest. No matter how good rcedes is, it belongs to foreigners, and if there's really an opportunity, I hope you can join Geely Holdings' Martin.
Although joining Martin initially might present challenges, the car won't be as good as rcedes, and winning will beco challenging.
But I believe, even so, it won't stop you; you probably have untapped potential still."
Regardless of the rest, Qin Miao thinks the main point is that a golden nest or a silver nest doesn't compare to your own nest.
Qin Miao is tempted, but he didn't agree imdiately.
He has one last thing to do.
Nervously, he found a phone number recently saved in his contacts and dialed it.
After ringing three tis, Li Shufu's voice ca from the other end: "Qin Miao, good morning, what brings you to ?"
With so anxiety, Qin Miao replied, "Chairman Li, sorry for disturbing you abruptly, but I do have a question I'd like to trouble you for an answer."
"Haha, you're not disturbing . Ask away if you have any questions."
Qin Miao took a deep breath and then explained that rcedes wanted to renew his contract early and extend its duration.
Although Qin Miao didn't explicitly say what he sought from Li Shufu, his words made it clear.
If Geely is indeed ready to enter F1, surely Qin Miao, as a Chinese driver, would want to join a Chinese team, but now rcedes is offering him an olive branch, and Qin Miao needs to decide within a month.
If it weren't for eting Li Shufu during the sumr break, Qin Miao, in his honeymoon phase with rcedes, would hardly need to think and would agree to Toto's contract on the spot.
But now, knowing Geely's intentions, Qin Miao ca to Li Shufu for news on whether Geely will enter or not, and when they might do so—specifically before his current contract ends.
After hearing Qin Miao's words, Li Shufu chuckled: "I think you need to look at this matter more long-term.
After all, I feel your potential hasn't been fully unleashed yet; you could still perform better on the track, and with your growth speed, by the ti you fully mature, it'll be in two to three years, which coincides with your contract at rcedes ending.
By then, teams like Red Bull, Ferrari, will surely be interested in a top driver like you.
Even if you don't want to be the second driver at these teams.
You can secure the first driver position at Renault, McLaren, and Aston Martin, with salaries not less than what you have now at rcedes or the contract you are about to sign."
Li Shufu might not have said anything explicit, yet explained everything.
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