How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 1353: Chapter 509: 2023 Winter Test (6K, Please Update 1/2)_2

So Horner’s behavior gave Qin Miao every reason to believe he’d come over specifically to block his way.

And that was indeed the case—after hearing Qin Miao would be in the paddock today, Horner had come over from the team side just for him.

After all, Qin Miao’s contract expires this year; a sugar daddy like this who’s only 21, a double world champion with almost unlimited growth potential.

If Horner doesn’t at least try to poach Qin Miao to Red Bull right now, he’d feel kind of guilty about the fat salary Red Bull pays him.

What if it works?

As for whether Verstappen and Qin Miao might end up brawling on track? That’s not important!

It’s not like nobody’s done their homework on Qin Miao—give Qin Miao and Verstappen differentiated pit strategies and Horner simply doesn’t believe those two can still end up fighting on the track.

...

By the time he got back to the Mercedes garage, Qin Miao had been run ragged and was sweaty all over.

It might technically be spring, but Bahrain is a tropical desert climate—daytime here only has two settings: pretty hot and stupidly hot.

Add to that dealing with all these team principals whose enthusiasm is a bit over the top, and it really does take some brainpower.

Only after Qin Miao got back to the team and sat under the air conditioning did he finally breathe a small sigh of relief.

By then his new car was already prepped, and Reyes and the crew were doing the final checks on Qin Miao’s race car.

He greeted his colleagues he hadn’t seen for almost two months and told them he’d prepared gifts for them, which had already been delivered to their homes.

Amid all the thanks and cheers, Qin Miao left the garage and headed back to the team’s motorhome.

As for the gifts and all that, those were all arranged by Qin Miao’s agency; they basically send stuff out once at the start and once at the end of every season.

It used to be Qimeng who handled it; now that Qimeng is pregnant and staying at home, all these social niceties are being taken care of by Qin Miao’s agency.

Back at the motorhome, Qin Miao also ran into his teammate Hamilton.

The Old Man looked full of life today; the two‑month off‑season really had helped him reset.

His signature Black-dude dreads were tied up immaculately; apart from the big bright green outfit—top, pants, and shoes—that Qin Miao found a bit harsh on the eyes, there was nothing about him that made Qin Miao feel uncomfortable.

As soon as they met the two naturally hugged, and after letting go, Hamilton lowered his head, eyed Qin Miao’s Mercedes team kit—the same one he wears every single time he shows up in the paddock—and said, "Seriously, Qin Miao, you should take a walk toward the fashion world."

Since there weren’t any commercial events today, Hamilton had come into the paddock earlier than he would on a normal Grand Prix weekend.

Which led to the rare sight of both drivers sitting around waiting for the pre‑race meeting to start.

So they ended up chatting together.

"Sometimes I can’t help wondering which one of us is actually the real young guy here," Hamilton complained.

Looking at the full‑on green on Hamilton, Qin Miao had no doubt that if the Old Man hadn’t learned from him what "green hat" means back home, he’d absolutely be wearing one today as well.

Speaking of that green hat, it’s actually kind of funny.

Qin Miao had explained to Hamilton what a green hat signifies.

After that explanation, Hamilton had been utterly baffled: how on earth does a green hat get associated with your partner cheating on you?

But considering Hamilton knows he has a lot of fans in Qin’s country, and he’s got Qin Miao right by his side, out of respect for the culture—other than Qin Miao’s rookie season in the paddock—Qin Miao hasn’t seen Hamilton wear a green hat again.

"The point is I really just don’t appreciate this stuff," Qin Miao said, spreading his hands.

Hamilton glanced down at his own emerald ensemble and chuckled. "You actually get used to it."

Then he looked around, lowered his voice, and said, "Honestly I wasn’t used to it at first either; felt it was too flashy, too in-your-face. But after a while you realize this is actually the easiest way to make money. On top of that, with all the equality movements, a lot of people committed to pushing that kind of thing keep throwing money at us, and all we have to do is say some lines on the topic in the post‑race interviews. It doesn’t affect our daily work or life at all.

Low barrier, high return."

Qin Miao still shook his head. "Forget it. Compared to making money, I’d rather dress comfortably. Besides, I’m not short of cash right now."

The Old Man wouldn’t let it go: "But you’re going to retire someday, right? After you retire? What if you don’t have money then, what are you going to do?"

Qin Miao actually thought about it seriously for a moment, then said, "Even so, there’s really nothing to worry about."

"Over New Year, a movie I invested in was released. That one film alone made me close to 14 million US Dollars."

"And is there not a possibility, Lewis, that given our country’s huge population base and my level of fame, as long as I perform one mysterious ritual back home—this ritual is called livestream selling—I could make those same 14 million US Dollars in a single day?"

Hamilton: ???

At that moment the Old Man’s surprise wasn’t because of the second half of what Qin Miao said, but because Qin Miao had invested in a movie.

As for the later part... Hamilton just assumed Qin Miao was bragging.

What kind of normal person makes 14 million US Dollars in a single day?

Even robbing a bank wouldn’t net that much!

As a driver who’s been steeped in the F1 paddock and the business world for years, the Old Man’s done his share of investing too—buying property, cars, stocks, funds, securities.

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