Chapter 1496 - 546: Ferrari Has Its Own True Monarch Erlang

Chapter 1496: Chapter 546: Ferrari Has Its Own True Monarch Erlang

Unfortunately for Mercedes, Red Bull’s RB19 this season happens to be an exceptionally well?balanced car.

You could say the RB19 is the single car best suited to the Catalonia circuit.

So it’s easy to foresee that this Grand Prix weekend won’t be too pleasant for Mercedes’ two drivers.

The only good news is that the team will be bringing upgrades this week, though nobody knows yet how effective they’ll be.

And right after landing in Spain, Qin Miao got a call from his agency.

They told him that his contract with Ferrari had been fully drafted.

All that was left was to find a time to sign.

Once he signed, Qin Miao would officially become a full?time Ferrari driver next season.

Besides informing him of this, the call also had a bit of a sounding?out tone: did this need to be locked in as soon as possible, or should they wait until the end of the year, at the other Italian Grand Prix, to go to Ferrari’s headquarters and sign?

Qin Miao thought about it. If news of him joining Ferrari hadn’t leaked yet, then sure, they could sign just before the Italian Grand Prix, give all the Ferrari fans a surprise.

But now that his move to Ferrari for next season was common knowledge in the paddock, there was nothing left to hide.

So Qin Miao decided to settle it directly this Grand Prix weekend, to avoid any long nights and wild dreams.

And so on Wednesday, just an ordinary day.

On the second floor of a restaurant in Spain opened by Ferrari fans, fully wrapped up in disguise, Qin Miao knocked on the door in front of him and then pushed it open.

As soon as he walked in he saw Vassel in casual clothes, along with Ferrari’s head of vehicle performance, David Sanchez, and a lawyer hired by Ferrari, all sitting there in the restaurant with broad smiles, chatting away in a relaxed mood.

After all, most of the contract clauses had already been negotiated. There wasn’t much pressure on them now; all they needed to do was sign on the dotted line.

Seeing Qin Miao come in, Vassel broke off the conversation, stood up smiling, and gave him a hug.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries with David Sanchez, the three of them each took their seats.

Very quickly, still smiling, Vassel handed Qin Miao the contract.

"This is your contract for ’24. Take a look. If there are any terms you want to add, we still have time to amend it."

Even though Qin Miao already roughly knew what was in it, and his agency had helped him check everything, once the contract was in his hands he still read through the clauses carefully.

There was quite a bit in there, so let’s just pick out the main points.

First of all, it’s a 2+1+1 contract.

The initial term is two years, running from 2024 through 2025, which is to say up to the season before the next FIA aero regulations change.

The extra year is a team option, meaning that if the team feels Qin Miao is good enough, they can keep him on under the same conditions, and Qin Miao can’t jump ship.

The final year is a driver option; in that year the initiative shifts to Qin Miao. If he wants to stay, he can, and the team can’t refuse.

You could say that in this contract, the only thing that’s even slightly unfavorable to Qin Miao is the length.

The rest of the terms are all to his advantage.

After all, Ferrari itself isn’t sure whether this big gamble will pay off. If they give Qin Miao such generous treatment but his performance after joining Ferrari falls short, then this deal might go down as the biggest joke of the ground?effect era.

Ferrari has no firm confidence either, so the guaranteed term is only two years, with the third year a team option.

Beyond that, once Qin Miao joins Ferrari, his annual salary will be 30 million US Dollars.

He’ll also have the same kind of performance?bonus scheme as at Mercedes, but compared to what he had there it’s much smaller—win a race and it’s just ten thousand US Dollars.

It really is just a symbolic bit of lucky money.

But for both Qin Miao and Ferrari, this is mosquito?leg money—especially compared with the clauses that follow.

Quite a few people seeing this will probably get anxious, since in the previous round of negotiations, Ferrari and Qin Miao had clearly talked about a 50 million US Dollar annual salary. So why did it go down when it was finalized?

In reality, the remaining 20 million US Dollars for Qin Miao was converted into 0.7% of Ferrari’s shares.

That’s right, not Ferrari’s F1 team, but shares in Ferrari the car company.

In fact, Ferrari had originally planned to offer 3%.

But what Ferrari was offering were dividend?participation shares that would be taken back once Qin Miao’s contract with Ferrari expired, and he would no longer receive dividends.

However, thanks to the efforts of Qin Miao’s financial team, this was negotiated down to 0.7%.

Even though that 0.7% stake would still be reclaimed, once it was taken back it would be converted at the then share price of Ferrari into equity in the Ferrari team, and given to Qin Miao.

And the equity in the Ferrari team he would receive would be permanent.

That’s just ordinary team equity; if the percentage is high enough, Qin Miao could even get a seat on the board and attend board meetings.

Of course, he’d also share in the team’s income and dividends.

So as long as Qin Miao confirms this contract and signs it, he becomes a Ferrari shareholder.

At the same time—

Qin Miao has the right not to take part in any commercial activities.

He can decide on the hiring and dismissal of staff within his own car crew.