Chapter 1409 - 530: The Old Man Who Undermined Himself

Chapter 1409: Chapter 530: The Old Man Who Undermined Himself

Normally, the team leaders wouldn’t come to the team on Thursday; Toto and the others typically arrive at the paddock on Friday.

But today in the paddock, the media were surprised to find that Toto and Vassel had arrived on Thursday.

And when Toto passed by the Ferrari team’s home, he happened to meet Vassel, and the two began chatting on the street.

At least from outward appearances, the two seemed quite happy chatting, very harmonious.

There was no appearance of Horner’s classic "change your fucking car."

Before leaving, Toto even shook hands with Vassel with a smile, and this scene was captured by reporters in the paddock.

However, from Qin Miao’s perspective, when Toto was shaking hands with Vassel, why did Vassel’s already slightly bent mouth become even more bent, and the crow’s feet around his eyes wrinkled together? This expression didn’t quite look like a polite smile... but rather a bit like a pained twitch?

Qin Miao didn’t know Toto had this side, but if his best driver was poached from under him, this might be his reaction too?

Maybe when squeezing Vassel’s hand, he would use even more force.

After contemplating for a while, Qin Miao put away his cell phone and went out to accept an interview.

Today’s F1 paddock is no different from the usual; everyone is busily doing their work. However, when Qin Miao walked out of the team’s home, glanced to the left at the red Ferrari team’s P room, his heart was somewhat conflicted.

Initially thinking of leaving in a fit of anger, Qin Miao thought he wouldn’t return to Ferrari in the short term.

How unexpected—

Perhaps this is life, after all, who would have thought Ferrari would be willing to pay such a high price for him?

While Qin Miao was sighing, Hamilton suddenly came out from the team’s home and patted Qin Miao’s shoulder from behind: "Why are you daydreaming here? The journalists are waiting."

Qin Miao was stunned for a moment before replying: "I’m thinking about something, feeling a bit sentimental."

"What do you, a kid in your early twenties, have to be sentimental about?" Hamilton shook his head, expressing his disbelief: "When I was your age, the only thing on my mind was how to win races, how to be faster."

At this point, Hamilton paused, noticing Qin Miao’s expression being hard to maintain, his eyes starting to drift.

Speaking of which, when I was 21, I was still racing in GP2, the predecessor of F2.

Though I won the GP2 championship, compared to Qin Miao’s performance in F2, my GP2 performance seemed to lack some dominative strength.

And when Qin Miao was 21, he was already a two-time world champion.

Reflecting on Qin Miao’s expression.

Hamilton suddenly felt a bit awkward.

But you can’t blame Hamilton for accidentally hitting Qin Miao’s sore spot, who’s ever won world championships as casually as eating and drinking?

"Uh-huh." He coughed to cover his embarrassment, the Old Man shifted the topic: "Did you hear? Last week McLaren Team announced the restructuring of their entire technical department and are preparing to launch a B-version car this season."

"Lewis, your topic shift is a bit clumsy." Qin Miao joked, but understanding when to stop, followed Hamilton’s lead: "McLaren’s financial situation seems to be much better now, wanting to regain their power on track is only natural."

"I hope they can regain their past competitiveness; I’m really looking forward to seeing that day," the Old Man inconspicuously said.

Qin Miao shrugged: "You’ve got sentimental value, after all, you came out from McLaren, naturally you wish them well.

Speaking of your old team, I’m quite curious—what was it like when you parked the Mercedes car in McLaren’s pit stop area and they didn’t change your tires?"

Hamilton had been a bit awkward, but upon being asked this, he fell into reminiscence.

"Awkwardly, actually at that time I knew I was serving in the Mercedes team, but when I saw the McLaren team ready and waiting on track, I couldn’t control that impulse inside, and I just parked the car there."

"Yeah, I’ve had those moments where my brain suddenly short-circuits, just not on the track..."

Before Qin Miao could finish, Hamilton interjected with a wave: "Alright, let’s not linger on these embarrassing topics."

...

Over the next period, Qin Miao spent time in the paddock.

Since the layout of Albert Park Circuit hasn’t changed compared to last season and the asphalt hasn’t been repaved, Qin Miao didn’t waste much time on the track today.

Riding a scooter around the track, seeing if the marker points he found last season were still in place, confirming whether their positions had changed, and if not, finding a new mark nearby.

This whole process took half an hour to complete.

Then it was back to the team’s home for a pre-race meeting before clocking out.

Thursday’s workday thus came to a complete end.

Amidst the farewell from fans who’ve already entered the paddock prematurely, Qin Miao left the paddock.

The next day, Friday, Practice 1 & 2.