F1: Starting with a Simulator Master

Chapter 112 Steiner's Farewell

"Last year, for two points, I would have fucked t he whole

paddock.

(Last year, I would have gone through the entire paddock X times just for two points.)

"But—not this year."

Steiner strolled casually in the shadows of the Bahrain circuit paddock tunnel, still accompanied by Netflix's "John Wick" cameras.

However, his current identity is no longer that of the Haas team principal with the highest authority pass for the team, but rather a special guest broadcaster for Sky Sports.

A new year, a new season has begun, and it's practice day for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

It's F2 practice time now.

The camera in "Man vs. Zombies" precisely captured Steiner standing outside the pit lane of the Haas team, looking at the new team leader who replaced him—Reio Komatsu—through the fence.

Meanwhile, Reio Komatsu was staring intently at the monitor, his brow furrowed.

The preseason tests have ruthlessly proven that Haas has once again uncompetitive scrap metal this year. Steiner is fully aware of what Komatsu Reio is thinking right now.

In this extremely expensive game where you have to spend a lot of money to build a wind tunnel, how can you expect to do more with less money when you can't even afford the budget cap?

This means they are destined to consume the exhaust fumes of others.

Coupled with the drivers' performances that always send blood pressure soaring, this seems to be the standard start that Haas team has booked for every new season.

Seeing Komatsu Reio's frantic state in the P room, Steiner habitually swore.

"Get more done with less money? Go eat shit."

After uttering that curse, he felt a surge of vengeful pleasure.

But after the pleasure subsided, all that remained was intense resentment.

His thoughts inevitably drifted back to that damned winter break that had just passed.

Perhaps he's been too impatient these past few years.

With his foul mouth in "Man vs. Zombies," he almost single-handedly brought the drama and huge traffic that American investors love to watch to this bottom-ranked team.

This made him arrogant.

He was not content to be just a high-level employee; he wanted to own shares in his own Mercedes team, like Toto Wolff.

So last season, he made a crazy bet with the team owner: if he could lead the team to a higher annual ranking and earn the owner a lot more in year-end bonuses, he would get the Haas shares he had been dreaming of; otherwise, he would be out of a job.

He lost his bet, and his team finished at the bottom of the rankings.

For most of last season's races, Haas's VF-code-named junk car could only manage to squeeze out a little lap time in qualifying with new tires, but in the long runs of the race, it turned into an extremely ridiculous tire-wearing monster.

While other cars' tires can last for twenty laps, theirs will lose grip after fifteen laps due to rapid overheating, and they can only watch helplessly as one race car after another overtakes them on the straightaway.

He refused to accept his fate; he needed a trump card to turn the tide, a madman who could drive even a beat-up car into the points zone.

And it was in that winter that he found it.

That amazing kid from China, Luo Xiu.

He still remembered that at the end of last season, he personally went to China to meet Luo Xiu and Xu Zihao. As long as Luo Xiu agreed to sign a long-term contract, he was willing to immediately make those two idiots in the team bend over and let Luo Xiu kick either of them out if he wanted.

As far as he knew, besides Haas, which he represented, four other teams—Williams, Alpine, Toro Rosso, and Sauber—had all extended offers, but that damned Xu Zihao didn't respond to any of them.

Later, during the winter testing, Luo Xiu's agent, Xu Zihao, sent a group message to ten F1 teams at the talent market.

The team has a strange contract.

At that time, Steiner had not yet been ousted and was still the team principal of the Haas team.

Steiner simply didn't have the patience to even turn to the third page of that thick, beautifully bound, all-English contract, which was as thick as a brick.

The disclaimers and complex business constraints that filled the text were something Steiner neither wanted to read nor understood.

But he still astutely grasped the most crucial information in the contract, which was also what Steiner found strange.

This kid was determined not to sign a long-term contract, and was even willing to give up the opportunity to directly enter F1 and get a regular seat.

This also means that the madman he found rejected him.

But later, Steiner figured it out.

The European Formula 2 youth training system is a set of precise rules with clear boundaries, an extreme emphasis on pure bloodlines and absolute loyalty.

This Chinese kid named "LuoXiu" was not a product of the youth training program of a long-established European team. At that time, all he knew was that Luo Xiu had an F3 contract with Prema that had not yet taken effect.

As the most cunning old fox in the paddock, he knew all too well what these Chinese were up to.

They're definitely eyeing the seats in the four major racing teams.

However, the large fleet currently has no available slots, and this guy is clearly looking for a better opportunity while still employed, not wanting to be bogged down by the quagmire of the small fleet and its long-term contracts.

Therefore, they would rather choose F2 than accept a long-term contract with a smaller team.

Preferring to play in F2 rather than join a smaller team, Steiner, who has now retired from the paddock, doesn't seem like a bad choice.

This might actually help maintain the appeal to major teams and make it easier to achieve good results.

After all, no one knows better than him that it's much harder to achieve good results in an F1 team than in F2.

And that was exactly what happened; it wasn't long before Steiner learned that Roche had signed an F2 contract with Prema.

It's just unclear how many euros these wealthy Chinese people actually spent on Prema.

Such good fortune, like a pie falling from the sky, will never fall into his lap.

Because just one additional clause in that strange contract they presented was enough to entice Steiner, and even the entire paddock.

[A €1000 million purely commercial sponsorship deal, not seeking a permanent driver's seat, in exchange for a year as an F1 substitute driver; the full payment is made immediately upon receiving just one substitute appearance.]

Steiner unconsciously licked his dry lips.

Just by being a substitute and running one game, can you earn 1000 million euros in sponsorship?

This is practically like a windfall. The team doesn't need to do anything for Luo Xiu, and Luo Xiu doesn't make any substantial demands on the team.

This sponsorship clause will only take effect immediately if the team itself agrees to let Rosicky play as a substitute once.

In Steiner's view, why bother with all that trouble?

In fact, Steiner would even be willing to pay the salary out of his own pocket if the kid was willing to sign a long-term contract.

Unfortunately, no if.

Not only Haas, but Xu Zihao, who was fully authorized to represent Luo Xiu, also rejected long-term contracts offered by other teams.

Even though this independent "substitute bounty contract" was signed by Steiner on behalf of Haas, he still lost his position as team manager not long afterward.

In this paddock teeming with vampires, this unique substitute contract made Luo Xiu incredibly popular, especially among the smaller racing teams, who saw him as a walking ATM.

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