"Yifei-kun, I'm sure you're curious, why I'm here tonight, right?"

"Well, it's curious indeed."

Zhang Yifei nodded, it stands to reason that he and Tomita Mian have no intersection at all, what does the other party want to do if he finds himself so deliberately?

"I know that Yifei-kun has a very direct personality, so I won't go around in circles this time. The Toyota Group is optimistic about your strength and potential, and in a sense, Toyota is also the first stop in your formula racing career. ”

"I also know that at the beginning of Formula Renault, Toyota's racing division had some unpleasant experiences with you, but after all, we have a common philosophy, and in the formula cars dominated by Europe and the United States, we need to have a little Asian voice."

Hearing this, Zhang Yifei probably understood Tomita's thoughts, but he didn't say it directly, but nodded and replied: "So President Tomita, what do you think." ”

"My idea was straightforward, and that was Toyota's entry into the F1 paddock was to build a world-class formula team. However, the two current official drivers of the team, Bernoldi, as a newcomer, are a little less experienced and strong. ”

"Verstappen is on the verge of retirement and can't meet the demands of the team's performance, so we need to find a younger and stronger driver, and in the whole world, I don't think there's anyone better suited to Toyota than you."

Invite yourself to join the Toyota team?

To be honest, if this invitation had been placed a year ago, there would have been almost no suspense about Zhang Yifei.

After all, Toyota is where he started, and with the existence of Junko Takeda and Ukyo Yamamoto, it makes sense that he will choose to stay in the Toyota team and continue his professional journey.

But now the situation is different, I was abandoned by the Toyota team and went through a very difficult time. Although this incident does not cause Zhang Yifei to resent Toyota, after all, he can understand that in the interests of the team, the acquisition of the Flying Arrow team must be more important than a youth driver.

But this also cut off the connection between him and Toyota, and Junko Takeda and Ukyo Yamamoto have both left Toyota.

Therefore, the current Toyota team is only one of the other ten teams in the F1 paddock for Zhang Yifei, and there is nothing particularly nostalgic. He may be a little more familiar with it for historical reasons, but when it comes to key decisions, Toyota has no special advantage.

"President Tomita, thank you for your attention, but I have a good time with the Prost team and have no idea of transferring."

Zhang Yifei rejected Tomita's invitation, not to mention that it was Toyota now, even if Ferrari invited him, Zhang Yifei was not very interested.

"Yifei-kun, don't make a decision so early, I heard that you still have a basic salary of more than 100,000 US dollars, which is a serious underestimation of your value. If you're willing to come to Toyota next season, we'll pay a penalty and transfer fee, and raise your base salary to $10 million per year, as well as qualify for a share of the team's revenue. ”

"Yifei-kun, I think this is the embodiment of your value."

In fact, the way F1 drivers dig corners is no different from other sports competitions, it is nothing more than providing a better environment and smashing it with money!

Although Toyota is a new team this year, as the world's largest car manufacturer, its strength and capital are undoubted, and it is definitely not comparable to a private team like a small Prost.

And this year's weak performance of Prost racing cars, everyone is also obvious to all, Tomita Mian believes that Toyota can provide Zhang Yifei with more powerful racing performance.

With the hardware foundation, the software naturally has to keep up, and the money must not be less!

$10 million plus the team's revenue share could end up with a staggering $20 million a year. You must know that in the current F1 paddock, in addition to Schumacher's annual income of 60 million US dollars, the only drivers who can exceed 20 million US dollars are Coulthard and Villeneuve.

The former has performed very well in recent years, reaching the threshold of 20 million US dollars, and the latter is the brightest driver in F1 in recent years, the king of Grand Slams. And the Anglo-American team is also a rich man, otherwise Villeneuve would not have jumped from the Big Three team to a new team like Anglo-American.

Even Barrichello, who is currently the second strongest on the track, has not yet reached the figure of 20 million US dollars in annual salary, so it can be said that this offer is quite sincere, and Tomita is very confident that he will win Zhang Yifei.

But what he didn't expect was that Zhang Yifei just smiled after hearing it, in fact, he could roughly guess the source of Tomita's confidence. Indeed, in the face of this kind of treatment, the average rookie driver probably has nothing to hesitate about, and may agree to it on the spot.

But it's a pity that Zhang Yifei is not an ordinary newcomer, he has a God's perspective!

The Toyota team is better than the Prost team, but next year's Prost team is equipped with Ferrari "Mars rover" engines. It may not be as good as Ferrari in terms of body design and aerodynamics, but it is definitely stronger than Toyota.

As for the basic salary of more than 100,000 yuan, it is very rare, but the premise of the basic salary contract is that Zhang Yifei can freely accept advertising endorsements, and the income does not need to be shared with the team.

Junko Takeda, who is now an agent, has received endorsements and sponsorship invitations from many well-known companies. As long as Zhang Yifei is willing, it will be easy to break 10 million US dollars next year.

Of course, there is a more important point, that is, Chinese car companies can find a way to invest in the Prost team, Zhang Yifei does not believe that Toyota can give this opportunity!

"President Tomita, the conditions you made are indeed very sincere, and they affirm my value. But I'm sorry, but I'm still not going to leave the Prost team, and I'm not going to betray my crew. ”

Zhang Yifei firmly rejected Tomita's invitation, leaving no room for tactfulness.

Hearing Zhang Yifei's answer, the expression on Tomita's face was very complicated, because the Chinese kid in front of him was not the first to do this, before him, the Toyota team had already contacted Junko Takeda and Yamamoto Ukyo, and the two of them were equally resolute, everything was based on Zhang Yifei's will.

It is precisely because of this that Tomita Mian had to interview Zhang Yifei directly, but he didn't expect the process to be so similar.

"Yifei-kun, don't you really think about it anymore?"

Encountering this kind of scene one after another, in fact, Tomita Tsutomu already understood that there was not much hope, but he still made a final effort.

"Thank you President Tomita for your kindness, I'm sorry."

After Zhang Yifei said this, he opened the door of the Toyota Crown and walked to the Honda NSX in the back.

Watching Zhang Yifei leave, Ueto Hirakawa, who was in the driver's position, said, "President, why don't we think of other methods?" ”

"No need."

Seeing Tomita Tsutomu a little disheartened, Ueto Hirakawa comforted: "President, in fact, in this year's subleague, there are also many top newcomers, such as this year's F3000 champion Massa, his strength is very strong. ”

"Ueto, you don't understand, the reason why Toyota wants Zhang Yifei, in addition to his strength, is more about his background. Otherwise, how could we have spent so much money to hire a rookie driver? ”

Formula 1 is a commercial event, and the development of all teams actually revolves around commercial interests. The factory team is even more obvious, in order to show its technical strength in the F1 paddock and improve the popularity and sales of car manufacturers.

Toyota, as the world's No. 1 car manufacturer, is naturally the same.

In June this year, Toyota finally reached a joint venture agreement with FAW Group, and will soon sell cars in Chinese mainland under the name of FAW Toyota.

Although the purchasing power of automobiles in the mainland is not good, the market of 1.2 billion yuan should never be underestimated. As the best spokesperson for car brands in China, it is none other than Zhang Yifei!

That's why they are willing to pay a sky-high price of 20 million US dollars and pay Zhang Yifei's liquidated damages and transfer fees. In addition to Zhang Yifei's own technology and potential, Toyota is more interested in the huge Chinese market.

Whoever can sign Zhang Yifei will undoubtedly come out on top.

It's just that people are not as good as heaven, and Toyota never imagined that Zhang Yifei would be so determined, without even a trace of hesitation. It seems that this plan is destined to be aborted.

"It's over so soon?"

Xie Tiancheng asked Zhang Yifei, who was sitting in the car, it hadn't been ten minutes in total, and it was a bit fast.

"There's nothing to say, so it's naturally over quickly."

"So what is Tomita going to talk about?"

"Dig into the corner."

"Digging corners?"

Hearing Zhang Yifei's words, Xie Tiancheng repeated with some surprise.

"Well, they wanted to poach me into the Toyota team, but I refused."

"Oh."

Xie Tiancheng nodded, and then restarted the car.

"Don't you wonder why?"

"What's curious, you naturally have your own reasons."

"Yes, with personality, send me back to the hotel."

Zhang Yifei didn't explain, after all, the reason why he stayed in Prost was not something that could be said in a few words, and Xie Tiancheng would understand after all.

From the Wangan Line to the hotel near the Suzuka Circuit on the border between Osaka and Nagoya, it was almost 6 o'clock in the morning, and you could vaguely see the sky turning white in the distance.

"It's almost dawn."

Zhang Yifei glanced at the white sky, muttered a sentence in his mouth, and then turned back to Xie Tiancheng and said, "Thank you today." ”

"What's polite to me, come on for the Japanese Grand Prix."

"Then it's a must, I'll go in first."

"Hmm."

Xie Tiancheng waved his hand, there was no pretentious goodbye, the relationship between him and Zhang Yifei has actually reached the level of gentlemen's friendship in ancient texts.

Zhang Yifei also waved his hand without looking back, to be honest, at this moment, he was really a little tired.