The two first walked into the building on the right side of the Meiben factory, where Qin Miao thought it was an administrative building.

Toto explains:

"This building is the assembly building of the reception room and the exhibition hall, the upper floor is a huge reception room, and the downstairs is the display area of some racing cars and some replicas of racing cars, and generally any guests also settle down here."

As he spoke, the two entered the building one after the other.

As soon as he came in, Qin Miao was shocked by the picture in front of him.

After entering from the main entrance, I didn't see the front desk, and even the one facing the door was just a white wall, without any decorations, which was really ordinary.

But as soon as you look up, you can see a Mercedes W07 just being hoisted in mid-air by a steel cable.

And the face of this racing car is just facing the entrance, and Qin Miao, who has just entered the door, can see the positive face of this racing car when he looks up.

And ordinary people who didn't know that Mei Ben had put a racing car in this place would most likely be amazed when they suddenly saw this car, and Qin Miao was one of them.

After Toto entered the door, he deliberately turned around at the door and waited for a while, just to see Qin Miao's expression after he suddenly saw this car.

After making sure that Qin Miao was also a little surprised, Toto said with a smile:

"This is not a real car, just a 1:1 replica of the W07 Hybrid, and the weight of the car is less than half of the actual car, so there is no need to worry about falling off."

After a short period of amazement, Qin Miao got used to the existence of this car, but became a little curious:

"Then why don't you put the stage and really go up?"

Toto shrugged:

"Both cars were sold, but after the car was sold, the team returned all the money invested in the R&D investment of this car......"

Qin Miao: 6.

Led by Toto, the two made their way up the stairs that surrounded the car.

In fact, there is an elevator to go upstairs, but the stairs are built around the car that is suspended in the air, and you can see different parts of the car on each step, and when you go to the third floor, you can observe all the cars in 360 degrees without dead ends.

No one who loves racing can say no to the experience.

When he came to the second floor, as soon as he entered the door, Qin Miao was once again amazed by the scene in front of him.

Because in the open space of the parlor, another Mercedes F1 car is quietly parked there, and the 44 on the shark's fin means that this is the car of the new seven-time champion Hamilton.

The most striking thing about this car is the three-pronged star on his back and the red color on the upper air intake.

But after Qin Miao saw the paint of this car, he frowned, because in his memory, the overall color of the Meiben car in the paddock this year was black, not this kind of gradient color of silver in the front and black in the back.

Although the overall layout is very similar to this year's Meiben W11, there is still a big difference in details, plus W11 is this year's champion car, and now the F1 race has only ended for less than a month, it is unlikely that the car will be put here directly, no matter how you say it, you have to take the car as a reference and study next year's car, right?

So Qin Miao felt that this might be another replica car, but it just used a set of paints that had not been used on the field.

However, Toto seemed to have seen through Qin Miao's thoughts, and said bluntly:

"It's actually a bootable W11."

Qin Miao was stunned for a moment, and then asked with a surprised face:

"Isn't that right? I remember this year's W11 was black overall. ”

Toto explains:

"At the beginning of the testing phase of the W11, it was a gradient paint from silver to black, but after some things we changed the paint to black, and this car is the original version of the W11, but we removed the internal engine and electronic control system."

"If you put those things back on, the car can move."

Qin Miao nodded thoughtfully, and then asked curiously:

"Can I go up and try it?"

Toto looked at Qin Miao, and then said: "Lewis's body shape is about the same as yours, the monocoque seat of this car is made according to his body data, you should be able to sit in it, but it may not be too comfortable." ”

Qin Miao didn't care, after all, it was the first time she had the opportunity to sit in a real F1 car, and Qin Miao didn't want to miss this opportunity.

"Then I'll try."

After finishing speaking, Qin Miao took off her shoes, crossed the flip-flops a little rustily, and then sat in the racing car.

To be honest, the car is really crowded, except for the head and his own hands, the movement space of other body parts is very limited, and the legs are wrapped by some unknown materials, except for stepping on the accelerator, there is basically no extra space for Qin Miao's legs to move.

"How does it feel?" Toto asked with a smile.

Qin Miao closed his eyes and felt the feeling of being wrapped in a racing car, and then held the steering wheel model with both hands, simulating the feeling of driving this racing car in his mind.

After a long time, Qin Miao spoke:

"The kind that I can't wait."

Toto smiled.

"Okay, come out, you'll have time to drive F1 in the future, and we've got a lot of places we haven't visited."

Qin Miao honestly got out of the car, put on his shoes and followed Toto's pace, and the two began to continue to visit the team's headquarters, which had won the constructors' championship for six consecutive years.

In addition to the reception room, a large area of space downstairs is full of Mercedes F1 cars over the years, most of which are replicas, and some are real, and even directly add some racing fuel to the car, and then warm it up and start it directly.

Of course, such a large factory building is not something that can be filled with racing cars in recent years, so at least a large area is empty.

And when the two of them had finished visiting the place and came to the door to leave, Toto suddenly said:

"Qin Miao, do you know? I hope to see a car with your driver's number here in the future. ”

Qin Miao was stunned, and then looked back at the vacant seats.

"There will come a day, Boss."

"I hope so......"

After leaving here, Toto took Qin Miao to the place that Qin Miao mistook for a factory.

After getting closer, Qin Miao realized that this was actually a large parking lot, just like those high-rise parking lots in GTA5.

I didn't go up to look at it, after all, a parking lot is not much to see, Toto just said:

"When you leave, go to the guard room at the door to register your license plate number, and when you come back, you don't need to register, you can come in directly."

At this point, Toto paused, then asked:

"Do you have a car?"

Qin Miao nodded:

"Ferrari gave me a 488, but I usually ride an electric car to and from work at Ferrari."

Toto nodded on the surface, but in his heart he was already thinking about what kind of car would be better for Qin Miao, if nothing else, it should be an AMG GT.

Then Toto took Qin Miao to see Meiben's factory, the design department in the factory, the CNC workshop, the engineering workshop, and even Qin Miao personally entered a series of instructions on the CNC machine tool under the guidance of the engineer, and then the CNC machine tool made a part the size of a fingernail for him according to the instructions entered by Qin Miao.

Then there is the testing department, which is mainly to test the durability of the car, and the main test items are the chassis of the car, suspension strength and so on.

Then there is the information technology department, the paint studio department, the data analysis department, the engine department, and finally the simulator department.

Qin Miao also climbed onto Mei Ben's simulator at Toto's invitation and tried it out.

In fact, the general structure of the Mercedes simulator and the Ferrari is the same, both of which are monocoque as simulator cockpits to increase the driver's sense of immersion, plus a huge projection screen.

It's just that since the simulators are all developed by the teams themselves, there will be certain differences in driving on the simulators of different teams, even if they are regulated cars.

The simulator of the Meiben team looks like this from the outside, and even Qin Miao feels that the simulator picture and light and shadow of the Meiben team are not even as good as the game "F1 2020", but the feeling of driving is extremely close to reality, and the feedback from the single shell of the simulator to Qin Miao is similar to the real feeling.

Qin Miao didn't stay on the simulator for too long, after all, he came to visit today, not to work, and after trying the feel, he left the factory and went to the administrative building of the Meiben factory.

"I'll take you to your office."

As he walked to the administration building, Toto said.

Qin Miao was stunned:

"Do I still have an office?"

"Of course, everyone at Mercedes has their own offices, but not all of them are in the administration building."

Qin Miao nodded, and then became curious and looking forward to her office.

Then the two walked into Meiben's administrative building one after the other.

As soon as he entered the reception area, what appeared in front of Qin Miao was another Mercedes F1 car.

Without waiting for Qin Miao to take a closer look, Toto explained to Qin Miao very understandingly.

"The W10 in '19, this is the real thing, and Lewis drove it when he finally crossed the finish line in '19, and we drained the oil and fuel inside and left it untouched."

Qin Miao nodded clearly, whether it was Ferrari or Mercedes, they all liked to show their achievements in the open.

Then Qin Miao followed Toto into the interior of the administrative building.

It is worth mentioning that because of Qin Miao's arrival, many Meiben staff who are still working now have cast curious glances at Qin Miao.

It was no secret that Qin Miao joined Meiben, so these staff members had long known that Qin Miao would come, but they didn't expect Qin Miao to come so early, in their expectations, Qin Miao had to come to the team after the winter break to report.

At the same time, they were also a little curious about whether Qin Miao, the new F2 champion, would really be a megalomaniac with a high self-esteem as the pid was rumored.

It's just that from their observation from a distance, Qin Miao is more like a teenager who is full of curiosity and is very curious about anything new.

Soon, Qin Miao followed Toto to the second floor of the administrative building, an area by the window.

There are many rooms separated by frosted glass in this area, and Qin Miao saw at a glance that the pinyin of a room with his name pasted on the door of the room, and even his own Chinese name Qin Miao under this string of pinyin.

Walking in and looking, the office is not too big, only about 40 square meters, but there is nothing lacking inside, desks, computers, water dispensers, refrigerators, some hanging paintings, guest sofas, and even the scenery outside the window.

"How does it feel?" Toto asked with a smile.

Qin Miao swallowed his saliva, this was the first office in his life, to be honest, he didn't expect Mei Ben to prepare it for himself:

"It couldn't be better."

"As long as you are satisfied, our company's pursuit of the office is to do our best to make the people who use this office feel comfortable, if you want to join here, you can mention it to us."

After shopping around other parts of the administrative department, Qin Miao finally ended today's day of visit to Meiben's headquarters in Toto's office.

"Where exactly do you live now?" Qin Miao took a bottle of mineral water from the refrigerator, and Toto asked in a casual tone:

"Meiben has a housing subsidy, and if you want, we can reimburse your daily rent, water, electricity and gas expenses."

After listening to Toto's words, Qin Miao's eyes lit up, and this is a good thing!

So Qin Miao told Toto his address without any precautions, and Toto also wrote down Qin Miao's address very carefully, and seriously instructed: "Remember to issue an invoice when paying rent and water and electricity, otherwise it will be a little troublesome for us to help you with the bill, and the reimbursement time may be as long as half a year." ”

Qin Miao nodded clearly.

And Toto, after recording all these things, asked:

"What was your first impression of our place?"

Qin Miao unscrewed the mineral water bottle and took a sip before replying:

"To be honest, it may not look as grand as a Ferrari on the outside, but on the inside it does live up to all my fantasies of a top-notch F1 team factory, if not more."

Toto smiled heartily, "If you like it, after all, this is probably where you will work for the next three years or more." ”

Qin Miao nodded.

However, Qin Miao turned around and asked a question that he was very puzzled about: "Boss, can I ask you a question?" ”

"Of course."

"Will I be able to drive a Mercedes F1 car next season?"

"To be honest, I don't think I'll be able to sit in the cockpit of a Mercedes with Bottas and Russell around." Qin Miao's face was very hesitant when she said this.

Toto didn't hide it either, telling the truth:

"There's no shortage of voices within us against what I'm doing, no matter how amazing your performance in F2 is, F2 and F1 are always two different dimensions, and no one can guarantee that you will be able to bring your talent in F2 to F1."

"So I had a certain risk in signing you against public opinion."

"But since you asked, I can tell you right now that you can indeed get into the cockpit of a Mercedes-Benz F1 team in 2021."

"However, there are a lot of strings attached."

"First of all, you have to recognise who you are, you are the number 2 driver in Mercedes, and that's the most important thing.

"Secondly, we're only going to give you three races to get used to, and if you don't realise your F2 talent in F1 after three races, we'll replace you after three races."

"I'm not putting pressure on you, I'm stating a fact to you, this is the paddock, natural selection, survival of the fittest is the main theme here."

"As for what you said about Bottas and Russell......"

"Bottas already had the idea that he didn't want to be the number two driver, but I made the decision for him a year in advance, and Russell ...... It's like I just said to you, natural selection, survival of the fittest. ”

"In the opinion of our evaluation team, you are now stronger than Russell, and you are cheaper than him, the only downside is the account problem"

"And if you're disappointing this season, we're going to have Bottas run you for the rest of the season, and next year it's Russell who will take his place."

Although Toto's words were full of coldness and cruelty, Qin Miao's heart became hot.

Because from Toto's words, Qin Miao got Toto's exact assurance: he can drive Meiben's car next season.

Even if you don't get used to Mercedes' car, you can drive at least three Grand Prix, right?

This guarantee is another purpose for Qin Miao to come here to visit the Meiben factory.

As for not adapting to the rhythm of F1 and being kicked out after only three races?

Just kidding, Qin Miao originally just wanted to experience the feeling of driving an F1 car, and was not very interested in business practices and political struggles in the paddock.

Although it is indeed a bit less to only be able to open three Grand Prix, after this addiction, Qin Miao can be regarded as completing one of his more difficult wishes, and after experiencing it, this is enough for Qin Miao.

Therefore, although Qin Miao was under a certain amount of pressure by Toto's words, the pressure was not great.

"Thank you very much for this recognition, and I will do my best to put in a good performance on the field and try not to disappoint you."

After confirming that his position was stable, Qin Miao sincerely thanked Toto, after all, without his strong support, Qin Miao should still be struggling in the quagmire of Ferrari now, and it is still unknown whether he can drive F1 in 21.

The two chatted for a few more words, and then the topic turned to family.

After all, Qin Miao's age is only a few years older than Toto's child, and if Toto had given birth to a child earlier, it would actually be Qin Miao's age.

asked Qin Miao's growth environment, and asked Qin Miao's family situation, and this meeting was almost over here.

Then Toto personally sent Qin Miao out of the door, personally took Qin Miao to register the license plate number of Qin Miao's Ferrari at the doorman, and gave Qin Miao a work plate, and this meeting was over here.

Later, after Qin Miao left, Toto sent a text message to Qin Miao, reminding Qin Miao to come over at the end of the month to hold the signing ceremony and press conference, as well as the FIA awards ceremony held on December 22.

Qin Miao glanced at this briefly, and then forwarded the entire text message to Qiu Meng.

This girl is now familiar with all the work of the agent, and now she has officially become Qin Miao's agent, and these arrangements are generally handed over to her to deal with.

And Qin Miao also found that she has been learning about physical exercise recently, and even signed up for an adult class, which will be examined next summer.

……

After leaving Meiben, Qin Miao was still recalling the scenes he had seen inside the Meiben factory, but what impressed Qin Miao the most was the feeling after he sat in the Hamilton racing car.

At that time, Qin Miao had a feeling, an impulse, an urge to step on the accelerator, listen to the roar of the engine, and be thrown out by the car with an acceleration of more than 2G.

With these things in mind, Qin Miao slowly walked back home.

In recent days, Qin Miao's training volume has been greatly reduced, although he has maintained training every day, but basically he has been training for an hour in the morning and practicing for another hour.

In the afternoon, they are at home with Qiu Meng, or the two of them play games together.

This year's Qin Miao can be regarded as a busy year, and in the last few days of 2020, Qin Miao also wants to rest for a while.

Qin Miao and Qiu Meng are not ready to go back for the New Year, after all, there is no sign of improvement in the international situation now, on the one hand, they go out less, and on the other hand, it is still very troublesome to go back to China for various inspections, and it is very difficult to come back in a short period of time if they go back.

And Zhou Guanyu also had the same idea as the two.

Originally, Zhou Guanyu's parents planned to come to the UK to accompany him for the New Year, after all, no parent could bear to see their children alone in a foreign country for the New Year.

But when they contacted Zhou Guanyu, they heard that Zhou Guanyu was going to go directly to Qin Miao to partner for the New Year, after all, Qin Miao was Zhou Guanyu's best friend in the paddock, and Qin Miao now lives in the UK, although it is a little far away from Zhou Guanyu's house, but it is only an hour's drive away.

Although I haven't seen Qin Miao in person, from Zhou Guanyu's words to Qin Miao, coupled with the photos of Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu often eating and playing games together, Zhou Guanyu's parents are quite relieved about Qin Miao, and after a few more words, they also dispelled the idea of coming to the UK.

So after Zhou Guanyu hung up his family's phone, he drove to Qin Miao's downstairs with his luggage alone.

Qin Miao and Qiu Meng had long thought that there might be friends coming to live at home, so the large flat they rented had three bedrooms, and each bedroom was equipped with a toilet, so they didn't have to worry about several people grabbing a toilet together.

And after knowing that Zhou Guanyu was going to spend the New Year with him this year, Qin Miao and Qiu Meng were naturally very welcome.

Although the young couple will not feel too lonely to celebrate the New Year together, there is no doubt that this year will be happier and more lively if Zhou Guanyu is there.

As for whether Zhou Guanyu's visit will disturb the two? Then there is no need to worry at all, because Zhou Guanyu is used to the greasy state that Qin Miao and Qiu Meng usually get along.

helped Zhou Guanyu move his things into the room prepared for Zhou Guanyu, and helped him tidy up the sheets and quilts, and the afternoon almost passed.

The three of them did not go out for the next few days, and they all stayed at home.

Until the 20th, Qin Miao and Qiu Meng were invited to the Meiben team, and Zhou Guanyu was also pulled over by Qin Miao. (End of chapter)