In a hotel in a wealthy area of Sao Paulo, the Force China team was holding a dinner to celebrate their victory.
Zhang Guan held a wine glass, walked up to Barrichello, and said, "Rubens, I want to thank you very much. If you hadn't given me the first place, I wouldn't have won the championship."
"This is what I should do, I am the second driver." Barrichello said with a smile.
Zhang Guan could feel a trace of regret in Barrichello's smile. After all, Brazil is Barrichello's home country and his home court. As a driver who has been driving F1 for more than ten years, Barrichello is in Brazil has countless fans. Of course he hopes to win a championship in Brazil to give an explanation to his homeland and compatriots, but in the end he gave up the championship to Zhang Guan, and thus he created Zhang Guan's performance this season. The thirteenth victory.
Prior to this, the most wins in a single season belonged to Schumacher with thirteen wins in a season, which means Zhang Guan tied Schumacher's record. But Zhang Guan's thirteen-win record is more valuable than Schumacher's thirteen-win record. Schumacher set a record of thirteen wins in a season in 2004. There were a total of eighteen races that year. In 2004, there were no races in Turkey and Singapore, but there were races in France, the United States and Canada. This year, all North American races have withdrawn from F1, the French Grand Prix has also been suspended for several years, and there are only 17 F1 races left. Thirteen wins in seventeen games is naturally more valuable than thirteen wins in eighteen games.
But Zhang Guan was not satisfied with these. Especially after the Japanese Grand Prix ended and Zhang Guanhao won 12 times, a consensus was reached within the Force China team to help Zhang Guan win 14 consecutive victories and surpass Schumacher. That's why Barrichello gave way.
On November 1st, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the richest place in the world, this year’s final race of Formula One officially began.
Both the driver championship and the team championship have lost their suspense. For other drivers, this game has become a battle of honor and has nothing to do with the overall situation. But for the fans, this game is still full of suspense: Can Zhang Guan succeed? Breaking Schumacher's record of fourteen wins in a season.
The birth of a new record is something that the entire F1 is happy to see. Even the car king Schumacher expressed his expectations for Zhang Guan in the pre-race interview. But not every driver can achieve adult beauty. For example, Hamilton worked extremely hard in yesterday's qualifying and got the pole position. In today's race, he once again planned to snipe Zhang Guan, at least making Zhang Guan unable to Complete the season with fourteen wins.
But it is a pity that God is not on Hamilton's side. On the 20th lap, the MP4-24 driven by Hamilton had a problem with the rear brake system. He was unable to control the car on the track and had to return for repairs. District, and then chose to withdraw from the competition.
Even if it is a civilian car, it cannot be driven if there is a problem with the brakes, let alone an F1 car with a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour. And even if Hamilton dares to continue driving on the track with such a problem car, the stewards will stop him from doing so by using dangerous driving. After Hamilton retired, no one could stop Zhang Guan from winning the fourteenth race.
After 1 hour and 34 minutes and 55 laps of competition, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finally came to an end. Zhang Guan also got his wish and broke Schumacher's record of 13 consecutive wins in the season.
The two cars of Red Bull Racing performed well and were ranked second and third respectively. As a result, Red Bull Racing locked in the runner-up spot this season. It's just that in terms of total score, the gap between them and China's strength is a bit large.
"Zhang Guan, congratulations!" Vettel stepped forward to hug Zhang Guan and congratulate him. Everyone could see the envy on Vettel's face at this time.
"Thank you." Zhang Guan said to himself: "Don't envy me. Starting next year, you will have the fastest racing car."
This season, if Ross Brawn hadn't taken advantage of a loophole in the rules and used a double-layer diffuser, Red Bull would have been the fastest car. Next year's rules will be clearer, and Ross Brawn will no longer have any loopholes to take advantage of. Red Bull's design master Newey will show off his talents and create the fastest car. Vettel will also bring a four-peat to Red Bull Racing and become the new generation of car king.
"Congratulations, I know you can do it." Schumacher also stepped forward to congratulate Zhang Guan. Although Zhang Guan broke Schumacher's record, Schumacher did not have a frustrated expression at this time. Instead, he looked at Zhang Guan with a rather gratified look.
Just listen to Schumacher continue: "The season is over, what are your plans next?"
"I have to go back to China first to deal with some things, and then I will give myself a holiday." Zhang Guan said.
"Are you interested in going skiing? The ski season in the Alps is about to start, and Meribel is a place I go every year." Schumacher continued.
"Skiing? To be honest, I'm not very good at skiing. Winter sports are not very popular in our country." Zhang Guan said.
"It doesn't matter, I can teach you. My skiing skills are not inferior to professional skiers." Schumacher continued: "If you have time, come to me and relax. You broke two of my records this year. I can’t defeat you on the field, you have to let me regain my place on the snow!”
Schumacher sincerely invited Zhang Guan, but Zhang Guan was too kind to refuse, so he nodded and agreed.
…
F1 has entered the offseason. The new competition will not start until March next year. The team staff also got a two-week holiday. Zhang Guan also took this opportunity to return to China.
In China, what awaits Zhang Guan are various welcome and celebration ceremonies, as well as sponsors swarming in waving banknotes.
The largest number of visitors are automobile companies. Against the background of the global financial crisis, the sales of bulk commodities such as automobiles have been greatly affected. Those multinational automobile brands are not having an easy time. In the traditional markets of Europe and the United States, automobile sales All declined, but in the Chinese market, car sales bucked the trend and rose. Zhang Guan came back holding a Formula One championship trophy and suddenly became a "sweet steamed bun" in the eyes of the automobile company. Major car companies also spent a lot of money to get Zhang Guan to become their spokesperson, but Zhang Guan was waiting for a price, waiting for the car company to give him the highest price.
The Force China team's revenue last year reached US$188 million. This figure is obtained after deducting costs, which includes bonuses received by the team, advertising fees and additional bonuses from sponsors. The cost of running an F1 team is actually very high, and for each race, the team needs to rent aircraft, venues, and equipment, which all cost money, not to mention the research and development of racing cars is a bottomless pit, such as That kinetic energy recovery system cost Zhang Guan tens of millions of dollars.
This revenue, after paying team staff bonuses and leaving some operating expenses, belongs to the two major shareholders Zhang Guan and Ross Brown. Zhang Guan finally received a share of 100 million US dollars.
Earning 100 million U.S. dollars a year is a lot. Even the Ferrari team does not have such high profits, but compared to the 500 million U.S. dollars bet, it is really a drop in the bucket.
Although the instigator Omi has been imprisoned, the money that should be repaid still needs to be repaid. Omi did not have the financial strength to begin with, so the person who signed the contract was the Maliya family. Even if the Maliya family did not come up with the $500 million, there was no good way. After all, people all over the world were watching. .
The whole world knows about the $500 million, and everyone wants to see if the Maliya family is willing to carry out this bet, and whether they will not pay back the money they owe.
If the Maliya family were asked to choose between wanting 500 million U.S. dollars or losing face, the Maliya family would definitely choose to ask for 500 million U.S. dollars. Although it would be embarrassing not to repay the money they owe, how can face be worth 500 million U.S. dollars? Even if you are reviled by people all over the world, it is still worth it to earn 500 million US dollars. However, it was written in black and white on the bet. If the Maliya family really did not pay back the money, they would still have legal means.
For the Maliya family, pure legal means are not terrible. The Maliya family's properties are spread all over the world. Transnational debt collection is a global problem. Many of them are even the Interpol can't do anything about. .
But when public opinion hijacks the law, the situation is completely different. Lazy processes can be simplified, laziness can become efficient, and even things born in the two worlds can cooperate hand in hand.
What's more, if the money is not repaid, it will also affect the credit of the Maliya family.
Credit is a very important thing. Even the most untrustworthy people will eagerly hope that others can be trustworthy, so untrustworthy people will always be condemned by the public, and honest and trustworthy people will condemn them, because their untrustworthiness will offend people. Their own interests; dishonest people will also condemn these similar people because their dishonesty will violate their own interests. It's like a thief who hopes to steal money himself, but doesn't want other thieves to steal his money.
This is especially true for people who are engaged in business activities. Except for those who do one-stop business, abiding by credit is the most basic thing. This can even be regarded as an unspoken rule in business activities. If the Maliya family wants to continue to engage in business activities, he must abide by this unspoken rule.
The Maliya family eventually returned the money to Zhang Guan, although it was repaid in installments over the next year. In fact, half a billion US dollars is not a small amount of money for the Maliya family. At least their airline will have to buy a few fewer planes.
However, what Zhang Guan didn't expect was that the US$500 million would bring him a lot of trouble.
Trouble for rich people!
…
Provincial Track and Field Training Center Canteen.
"Come on, come on, Zhang Guan, often this fried chicken is the chicken raised by our team. They are all free-range. They haven't eaten any feed since they were young, let alone have hormones. And it's chef Xu himself. Fried." Coach Zhou turned the plate of fried chicken to Zhang Guan, used serving chopsticks to pick up the largest chicken drumstick for Zhang Guan, and said with an attentive look.
"Coach, why are you being polite to me? Just do it yourself." Zhang Guan took a taste and then nodded: "It tastes really good. When I was in the team, I was used to Chef Xu's cooking. The dish has less salt and is light in taste, but the texture is very good.”
"Yes, Chef Xu is a Shandong cuisine cook, but he doesn't like to add salt when cooking. This is different from other Shandong cuisine cooks. Originally, he was not on duty today, but when I heard that you were coming, he had to come over and cook some special dishes for you. ." Coach Zhou paused for a moment, then continued: "In the past two years, our team has specially built a vegetable planting base and a livestock breeding base to provide athletes with pollution-free food. All the food on our table is made by ourselves. Planted.”
"Isn't it? Food safety is indeed too important for us athletes. More than ten years of hard training may be ruined just by eating a bite of pork containing clenbuterol. What are even used in many vegetables now? If you don’t grow the ripening agent yourself, you really wouldn’t dare give it to the athletes.” Coach Wang next to him said.
"Hey..." Coach Zhou sighed, and continued: "But growing vegetables and raising chickens by yourself is not a long-term solution! Not to mention other things, we just can't afford the money. Take these chickens for example. , the white-striped chickens on the market take less than 50 days to be out of the cage, and the grass-fed chickens from chicken farms will take a better time, but it can only take three months at most. And the chickens we raise ourselves have not been taken for hormones for three months. Half the size of a chicken. We athletes have to eat meat to supplement our nutrition. How can we raise a chicken for six months to get some meat? The time cost is a small matter, but the economic cost is too high!"
Coach Zhou picked up a piece of spinach and continued: "And this spinach, the spinach we grow ourselves, we dare not use many pesticides. If we use it, we are afraid that athletes will eat it. But if we don't use pesticides, the spinach will still grow." It will be eaten up by insects before it grows up, and the spinach we can grow on one acre of land is not as much as what others can grow on half an acre of land."
"Coach Zhou is right!" Coach Wang next to him continued: "Now the cost of planting and animal husbandry is too high. Fortunately, we are not here to make money, but it is not an option to continue losing money like this. Since last year's Olympic Games After the end, sports funding was cut a lot. In 2008, it was okay for us to plant and raise livestock to feed the athletes. We had a lot of funding at that time. But with the current funding, I'm afraid we won't be able to sustain it for long. .”
It is an indisputable fact that sports funding will be abundant during the Capital Olympics, and it is inevitable that sports funding will decrease after the Olympics. The number of domestic sports competitions has decreased a lot, and some leagues are almost unstoppable.
This is a drawback of the national system. No matter how many gold medals and championships we win, sports cannot drive the upstream and downstream, and cannot form a sports industry chain. If we rely solely on financial allocations, what often happens is : Once the money is in place, the sports project will produce results. Once the money is taken away, the sports project will soon be on the market. Of course there are exceptions. No matter how much money Chinese football spends, it may not be able to rise. Everyone knows that it is not about money at all!
Seeing Coach Zhou and Coach Wang complaining here, a smile appeared on Zhang Guan's face. He had already seen that these two were playing a double act in front of him.
They are here to ask Zhang Guan for money!
(End of chapter)