However, after all, she is not alone in this family, so after thinking about it, Qin Miao still called Qiu Meng.

"Crooked?" Qiu Meng's somewhat lazy voice came into Qin Miao's ears.

"Did I wake you up?"

"It's okay, just say it."

"Toto gave me half a month's leave during the Spring Festival, but didn't we go back? So I'm a little bit torn now, whether we should either go home for the New Year while we happen to have a holiday, or if we still spend time abroad, and if so, should we both invite Toto over to our house for a meal? ”

"It's good that you decide." Qiu Meng still said in a daze: "I don't care, anyway, it's just a matter of adding a few pairs of chopsticks." ”

But after finishing speaking, Qiu Meng paused again: "If you want to invite Toto to come to your house for the New Year, it's not appropriate to invite him alone, have you considered Elliott, Alison, Meadows, team directors and directors and the like?" If Zhou Guanyu wants to stay in Switzerland for the New Year, he probably has to invite him over, right? At that time, there will be a lot of Sauber drivers in a bunch of Meiben executives, and it doesn't sound good to say, right? So Hamilton, and the drivers of the other teams, do you want to think about it? ”

"Stop, I'm starting to have a headache right now." Qin Miao hurriedly interrupted her daughter-in-law's broken thoughts, and rubbed her eyebrows with a headache: "You let me think about it." ”

Qiu Meng added at this time: "Of course, if your secrecy is good enough or calm enough, it should be no problem to just invite Toto's family over for a meal." ”

"Okay, I'll think about it."

"Okay, I've washed up and gotten up, and I've been doing a lot of work in the company lately."

"Well, bye-bye."

"Love you, bye."

After hanging up the phone, Qin Miao continued to rub her eyebrows, and she didn't know what to do for a while.

And my daughter-in-law really didn't seem to wake up, didn't she say that there was an option to go home directly? Why is there only one option not to go home for the New Year?

In fact, Qin Miao misunderstood Qiu Meng, because Qin Miao hadn't thought about this before, so Qiu Meng's parents had already told their neighbors that they would not be in China for the New Year this year and would go abroad.

If you say it, the water that will be spilled will suddenly stay in the country for the New Year, and everyone's face may not look too good.

The most important and main reason is that if you go back, you have to isolate.

And Qin Miao had a headache for a while, and after not being able to think of a specific solution, he simply broke the jar and broke it.

It's the same as the original plan, the family spends their own New Year.

After putting this matter aside for a while, Qin Miao swiped her mobile phone in her office for a while, and then went to the gym of the team headquarters to practice alone for a while before going to the team's factory.

Next is Qin Miao's working hours.

January 27th

In the afternoon, the lunch break ended, and everyone in the team got to work again.

However, Qin Miao's office was still a little dim, because the sunshades in the office had all been closed.

If you look closely, you can find that Qin Miao is asleep lying on the ergonomic chair.

But soon, there was a knock on Qin Miao's office door.

As there was a knock on the office door, Qin Miao woke up and said to the door, "Come in." After that, Qin Miao also sat up again from the chair that had been put down.

Looking at the tall figure at the door, Qin Miao put away the footrest of his chair and greeted him: "Boss." ”

At this time, Qin Miao didn't have the panic of being caught sleeping in the office by the boss during work hours, and even stretched out after getting up.

Toto didn't care, and even asked with concern, "Didn't disturb your rest, did you?" ”

Qin Miao waved her hand indifferently: "It's okay, is there something wrong?" ”

As she spoke, Qin Miao reached out and opened the electric curtains in her office, and with the almost inaudible sound of the motor turning, the sunlight gradually shone into Qin Miao's office.

Toto walked into Qin Miao's office and sat down on the reception sofa before saying, "I remember last season, when you had a different opinion on the design ideas of our version of the car this year?" ”

It seemed that he was worried that Qin Miao would think that he had come to Xingshi to ask for guilt, so after saying this, Toto explained his intention and said, "I came here this time to ask you some opinions about this season's car, which can be regarded as a solicitation of opinions. ”

Qin Miao nodded, he did have concerns about the design of the car, but Qin Miao didn't remember saying it.

Of course, it may have been brought up from other sources, or it may have been said but forgotten.

However, since Toto had already come to find him, Qin Miao also happened to express his worries.

Qin Miao picked up her sports kettle and took a sip of water, and then Qin Miao came to Toto and sat down on the sofa.

After thinking about it for a while, he said, "I do have concerns about this. ”

Toto made a gesture of please: "Listen up." ”

"My worries are mainly about the W13's side box and bottom panel."

"There's no denying that in the team's wind tunnel and CFD simulations, the zero-side box concept has improved the drag and weight of the car, even increasing the car's overall balance and tyre life without compromising the car's ability to dissipate heat.

But Toto, we all know that the chassis of a ground effect car relies on the increased downforce of the car caused by the different air flow rates at the upper and lower ends, and in this state, the edge of our car floor is a little too far away from the middle of the car as a whole.

I think that at high speeds, the floor will bend like the front wing at high speeds, which will affect the overall aerodynamic layout of the car.

I think the biggest problem for our cars next season is not the durability of the engine, but the speed of the straights. ”

Although Toto is from a financial background, as a leader, Toto has the ability that many people do not have, that is, he knows what kind of people to find for something.

Toto knew that at this time, he could actually ask Eric Blandin, the head of the aerodynamics department, if Qin Miao was right.

But Toto is also a businessman, a politician in the paddock, he knows that the current design of the W13 is basically completed and finalized, even if Qin Miao is right at this time, Mei Ben will not be able to change because of Qin Miao's words.

So Toto listened carefully to Qin Miao's views, and recorded the more important points that Qin Miao said in his notebook.

"Qin Miao, I can understand your concerns, but the W13 concept has been decided from the beginning, everything in the racing car is designed according to the concept of zero side box, according to you, if we want to change the side box of the car car, we will almost tear down and redesign a W13B.

You know it's almost impossible, neither me nor the other department heads of the team nor the team's budget cap will allow us to do that. ”

Qin Miao was a little helpless when she heard this, but there was no way, just like Toto said, the car had already been built.

But soon Qin Miao ushered in a turning point: "Of course, what you said is also reasonable, in the new season and new rules, there are always some things that cannot be detected before the car is actually on the track."

While I don't want your claim to come true, I think it's worth asking Elliott to prepare a draft of the car's design with a side box.

Of course, this design draft will only stay on the drawings, and if the zero side box concept really doesn't work, we will consider option B

I also hope you understand how difficult it is to manage and run a fleet. ”

Qin Miao at least felt a little relieved after hearing this, although Qin Miao didn't know why he vaguely felt that the current Meiben car design idea was not good, but at least the team had an alternative plan.

"Okay, like you, I don't want this speculation of mine to come true, but as there is a saying in my hometown: be prepared."

Seeing Qin Miao nodded, and obviously let out a sigh of relief, the expression on Toto's face eased a lot, and he covered his pen, Toto leaned back on the sofa behind him and asked, "How is it?" Did I give you this 15-day fake surprise? ”

"Actually, it's okay, because this year we are not going to go back to China for the New Year, but we are going to take both my and Qiu Meng's parents over."

"Good idea." Toto said: "But since it comes to the New Year, I am a little curious, how do Chinese generally celebrate the New Year? ”

Qin Miao raised her eyebrows: "Its practical language is not so real, and there may even be omissions, if you are really interested, why don't you come to my family to feel it?" ”

"Don't bother?"

"How so?"

"Okay." Toto readily agreed.

"Do I need to prepare for anything? I remember that Chinese New Year requires red envelopes, right? Toto even took out his mobile phone, ready to start recording the number of Chinese New Year's festivals and the like.

Qin Miao thought about it, during the New Year, the elders really need to give red envelopes to the juniors, keep the New Year at home in the Chinese New Year's Eve, go out to pay New Year's greetings on the first day of the new year, and so on.

But in foreign countries, it will definitely not complete the domestic process.

After all, in foreign countries, Qin Miao basically didn't know whose house to go to to visit relatives.

Therefore, the process of the New Year will be simplified, but it is up to the elders of the family to make up their minds on how to reduce it.

So Qin Miao just nodded and said: "The elders do need to give red envelopes to the juniors, but the amount is generally not too large, and if you convert it, it will be about twenty or thirty dollars for a red envelope." ”

Toto lowered his head to write this down, and then asked, "So where can I buy the red envelope?" ”

"Go to Chinatown, you should be able to buy red envelopes easily."

Toto nodded in understanding.

Then the two chatted about other things, but the topic between the two men quickly changed from the Chinese New Year to the family, as well as the outlook for the next generation, after all, in addition to this, the common topic between Qin Miao and Toto was only one racing car.

After chatting for more than ten minutes, Toto took his leave.

Sending Toto to the door of his office, Qin Miao sent a message to Qiu Meng.

[Toto's family should come over for the New Year, just now when he came to the office to find me, he talked about the New Year, and invited him, and he really agreed]

[Look, there's no need to worry about it, right? But what about the rest of the team? 】

[The invitation is unrealistic, our family is really not big, and we can't sit down when the invitation comes, or we will send a red envelope to each person? 】

[Okay, I'll arrange this matter.] 】

[Hehe, it has to be my daughter-in-law, and my family really has to be scattered without you]

[Good to hear, love to listen, come more (*^▽^*)]

Looking at Qiu Meng who was begging for praise on the other end of the phone, Qin Miao couldn't help but smile on her face.

[The things prepared for the New Year, let's go to Chinatown in France to buy them, right? ] 】

[You just rest at home, just your face, as soon as you appear, what do you do? During the Chinese New Year, I went to buy it with my parents, my mother and my mother-in-law, so you can honestly go about your own business.

[Okay, it's all up to you!] 】

[I'm not busy, bye bye (')]

【Bye-bye】

After chatting with Qiu Meng for a few moments, Qin Miao moved her body for a while, and then plunged into work again.

Although there is a hunch that the current W13 has taken a fork in the road, there is no way, the team will not and cannot turn back before it hits the south wall.

Although Qin Miao is a very important figure in the team, and even inside and outside the paddock think that he is Hamilton's future successor, Qin Miao is just a cog of the team in the end, and it is just a little more important than other gears.

Your own words may play a role in some of the details of car design, but in the overall direction, you can only provide an idea.

Sighing, tidying up his office, Qin Miao went to the team factory in the next building, there was always endless work to be done in the team.

On the other hand, after chatting with Qin Miao, Toto returned to his office, built a file of his chat with Qin Miao, and then recorded Qin Miao's main demands in the chat, and printed out the file for archiving.

In fact, Qin Miao's words still have some enlightening significance for Toto, so after returning to the office and archiving the documents, Toto directly opened the W13 engineering file on his computer, and then looked at the design structure of the racing car floor, thinking about whether the problems Qin Miao said would appear on the racing car.

Before Qin Miao said this, Toto felt that the overall W13 was perfect, and there was nothing out of place in terms of appearance.

And according to the calculations of the team engineers, there is no way that there will be any problems with the car's floor in any case.

Even from Toto's own subjective point of view, Toto didn't want anything wrong with the car's floor.

But after listening to Qin Miao's words, how does Toto look at the W13 baseplate in front of him, how does he feel that this baseplate is a little thin, and the distance between the connection and the side box is also a little far

However, after comparing the data, Toto really did not find any anomalies or problems in the data.

Just as Toto packed up his things and was about to forget about this matter, just as he had just said to Qin Miao, he only regarded this matter as an alternative.

Toto suddenly recalled that when Qin Miao was talking to him about this, he looked at him with a serious look that revealed a hint of worry.

Sighing, Toto took out the file he had just put in the filing cabinet, and after thinking about it, Toto called Blandin, the head of the aerodynamics department.

After making sure that the other party was in the office, Toto went over with his papers.

After sitting down in Blandin's office, Toto didn't treat Qin Miao with the opening greetings, and directly handed the document in his hand to Blandin and said: "Do you think it is possible that the W13 will be deformed by the high-speed airflow at high speed due to the rigidity of the chassis, which will affect the stability of the car at high speed?" ”

Blandin didn't think there was anything surprising about Toto's attitude towards him, and took the document handed over by Toto and said as he opened it, "Did you find something wrong?" I remember the aerodynamic shape of the W13 and we didn't find any problems with CFD or the wind tunnel. ”

"Is there a possibility of error?"

Blandin shook his head very firmly and said, "Basically, this possibility does not exist, we have cross-validation. ”

Toto recalled his conversation with Qin Miao again, and then asked tentatively: "Then what if the floor is deformed due to the excessive suction of the ground effect floor when driving at high speed?" ”

"Don't ......" Blandin just wanted to say no, and suddenly something seemed to come to mind in his head: "Wait." ”

After saying a word, Blandin quickly came to his computer, and then called up the wind tunnel and CFD simulation data from his computer in front of Toto.

After a while, Blandin let out a sigh of relief and looked at Toto: "Our wind tunnel has a wind speed limit, so it is indeed unpredictable how the car will drive at the limit speed, after all, this is the first time we have designed the ground effect baseplate, but at the beginning of the design we left a certain margin for the baseplate, if the margin is not enough, we can also connect the baseplate with stiffeners." ”

"In other words, if there is a deformation of the baseplate, we have a way to strengthen the baseplate."

Blandin nodded: "Of course, but since you have doubts about this, when we complete the design of our new rear wing and do the CFD simulation, we will increase the suction of the airflow under the floor by a slight order of magnitude, and then adjust it according to the nature of the car." ”

"But after analyzing it, I do feel that there may be a problem with the bottom plate that we didn't find." Blandin took off the glasses on his nose and rubbed his temples and said, "Because we don't have the simulation data of the ground effect base plate on our simulator, and we don't even have the experience of setting up the ground effect base plate, this data can indeed be wrong."

We can't be sure of the true state of the car until we actually test the winter test. ”

Toto didn't answer, but sat down on his own, thinking silently for a moment with his hands on his chest.

Then he said: "Got it, then I still have a job, so I'll go first." ”

Blandin nodded and got up and said, "Okay, if you have any questions, you can always come to me." ”

Toto nodded, then took the W13 file away.

But when he returned to his office, Toto picked up the phone and called Mike Elliott, who was working at the team's factory.

“Boss？”

"Mike, come to my office."

"Now? Okay, I'll be there in five minutes. ”

Four minutes later, Elliott walked into Toto's office, "Boss, you're looking for me?" ”

"Sit." Toto gestured to the chair in front of him.

After Elliott sat down, Toto handed Elliott a new document and said, "You can put aside the development and improvement work on W13 for a moment." ”

When he took the document handed over by Toto, Elliott was still a little confused, not allowing himself to stare at the factory to stare at the improvement and development of the new season of the car, and call himself over to give this?

As soon as he began to inquire, he began to ask himself if there was something he had not done well during this period that Toto was ready to push himself off before the start of the 22 season.

I haven't done anything lately, why did you get rid of me?

Then he saw that Toto had given him a budget approval document, giving him a budget of $5 million.

When he got the money, Elliott was still a little confused, as all F1 teams are now severely capped at $145 million.

Therefore, this is definitely not a small amount of money for all teams.

This money can even directly give a major upgrade to a key part of the car.

Just when Elliott was a little curious about why Toto gave him this money and what he was going to do with it, what Toto said next made Elliott's brain smoky.

"I'm a little worried that something is wrong with the design of the car this season, so I'd like you to put aside most of the work you're working on for the W13 and redesign the sideboxes and floors in the period leading up to the start of winter testing."

After hearing this, Elliott's originally somewhat confused brain suddenly froze, and then the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.

Elliott, who just felt that the 5 million was a bit much, suddenly began to have a headache, not to mention why Toto suddenly had such an idea, but if he really did it according to Toto's request, this amount of money was obviously not enough in the face of Toto's request.

And now it's only a month away from the 22-year-old East Test, and I'm not Doraemon, so I can make a great prop with just one out of my pocket.

In particular, this is a redesign of a base plate and side box, not to mention a month's time, half a year is considered less, and the budget given is also seriously insufficient!

Of course, in addition to complaining frantically in his heart, Elliott was also a little surprised, and Toto actually saw the design flaws of the W13.

Of course, Elliott didn't question Toto's decision, if Toto could see that there was a problem with the design of the car and talk to himself about it, and then stand up and express his doubts, wouldn't it be clear that he didn't know as much about car design as Toto?

It may not be much for engineers in other positions on the team to say that, but as the team's technical director, Elliott can't say the same.

And Elliott didn't dare to mention the time and budget now, because he also knew that because of the budget cap, the team could not spend as much money on R&D investment in racing cars as before, and it was estimated that Toto would be more uncomfortable than himself.

So after receiving Toto's mission, Elliot only said with some doubts: "Do you really want me to withdraw now?" ”

Toto nodded very firmly and said, "That's right, it's you."

And then you are solely responsible for the design of these two key components, and you don't need to report to Alisson anymore. ”

"What about Alisson?"

"He'll be in charge of continuing to refine W13."

"Got it, I'm ...... alone"

"You can take a quarter of the people in the design department."

"Okay, so when am I going to start working on new parts?"

"Now."

……

After Elliott left, Toto called Alisson again to talk about it.

Alisson didn't hesitate to agree to Toto's arrangement.

The two did not experience any emotional turmoil because the mine was transferred from their hands or a new mine was taken over.

In fact, this is because the atmosphere inside Meiben is too good.

Because they have won all the way in the past few years, it can be said that because they have been winning races, all the contradictions within the Meiben team have been suppressed by victory.

As a result, a culture of no blame has been born within the Meiben team, which means that after a staff member makes a mistake, his leader and the team's senior management will not hold a staff member accountable for making a mistake, and will even take the initiative to help him clean up the mess.

You just don't have to make a different mistake next time.

Therefore, the two senior executives of Meiben on the technical side accepted this matter very calmly, and did not have any happiness or dissatisfaction.

And Elliot didn't have any worries because of the lack of time and budget, as long as he tried his best within the specified time, but without the full request of Toto, he would neither be scolded nor deducted from his salary.

And after this matter was taken care of, Toto took care of some other business in his office, and only after all the work for today was taken care of, Toto breathed a sigh of relief.

Feeling a little stuffy, he took off his coat and hung it on the chair behind him, and then Toto leaned back in his chair, enjoying the rare leisure.

But after sitting for a while, Toto felt uneasy, so he walked to the window of his office and prepared to take a look at the scenery.

It's just that as time went on, instead of feeling better, Toto's brow even became deeper and deeper.

Toto has a hunch that this year's team won't be as competitive as last year.

But soon, Toto saw through the glass of his office that Qin Miao was walking out of the team factory, and there were many team engineers who came out with Qin Miao.

Judging from the way Qin Miao and the engineers talked happily, Qin Miao had a very good relationship with them.

Toto couldn't help but smile, he ran to the team's R&D department every day, although he shouted that he would never work overtime in the future, but Qin Miao, who would still come to the team factory when he had time, how could he have a bad relationship with the team staff?

After seeing them leave, Toto raised his hand and looked at his watch, and before he knew it, it was time to get off work.

After putting down his hand, Toto watched Qin Miao sit on the somewhat rebellious Ferrari 488GT3 modified version.

Then he was seen as he left the convoy.

After watching this for a while, Toto suddenly felt that his tense nerves relaxed a lot.

At least Qin Miao can see this guy whether it is talent or hard work, even if the team encounters difficulties in a short period of time, Toto feels that Qin Miao can also bring the team to a new height in the future that he can meet.

Of course, whether it is Toto or the team, what is actually more desirable is for Hamilton to win his eighth Drivers' World Championship sooner.

After all, Qin Miao has a promising future, but if Hamilton really wins eight championships, then the Mercedes team will go down in history like Hamilton.

Of course, that's all for later.

……

The next day, the FIA will give you the registration fee for next season's Super Driver's License.

First of all, it is also the most concerned by domestic fans, Qin Miao's super driver's license registration fee for the 2022 season.

It is reported that because Qin Miao won 394 points last season, when applying for a super driver's license this season, Qin Miao needs to pay a registration fee of 837,800 pounds to the FIA.

In addition to the basic fee of 10,400 pounds that everyone has to pay, the other 827,400 is calculated from the points obtained by Qin Miao, and one point is 2,100 pounds.

In total, Qin Miao needs to pay about 7,632,000 yuan to the FIA.

When she knew that her registration fee was so expensive, Qin Miao was taken aback.

There are too many, and Qin Miao wondered for a moment whether the FIA relied on the drivers to pay the registration fee every year.

And the sprint race is set up to increase the points of the sprint race in the future, and rely on these extra points to generate income.

Of course, Qin Miao was only surprised for a while, and didn't feel any pain.

Because this money does not have to be paid by Qin Miao at all, one of the directors of the team, INEOS helped Qin Miao with the money in full.

Mainly to thank Qin Miao for choosing the same color as INEOS.

To put it simply, INEOS thinks Qin Miao's painting is very pleasing to the eye, and pays you the money.

There is also the fact that Latifi really lost his seat in F1 completely as the paddock rumors and became a substitute driver for Williams.

In his place was Red Bull's outcast, Thailand's Alexander Albon.

As for why Albon came to power, there are different opinions.

But the most popular version is that Plum Ben made a push on his side and let Williams kill Latifi.

Of course, some people say that Russell thinks that he can't do a good job with Latifi, so he asked Alben Williams to apply for a job, and then Albon, who hasn't touched a car for a year, is nearly a second faster than Latifi on the team simulator.

But no matter how the paddock passes, Williams this season is Russell's partner Albon.

Other than that, there are no more personnel changes in the paddock this year.

……

January 29th.

Today is because it is Saturday, the factory is on holiday, and Qin Miao is going back to Monaco today, so Qin Miao did not go to the factory after getting up in the morning.

Instead, I went straight to the airport after completing my daily workout at home.

On the way to the airport, Qin Miao also called Leclerc.

After getting on the plane, Qin Miao did not go directly to France, but went to Switzerland first.

Because of Qin Miao's relationship, Zhou Guanyu did not continue to stay in China during the holiday, and came to the team factory early like Qin Miao and began to help the team develop next season's racing car.

is also because Zhou Guanyu and Qin Miao don't plan to go back for the New Year, so Qin Miao took Zhou Guanyu with him, and went home to celebrate the New Year together, there are many people and it is lively. (End of chapter)