So fucking real!

Hearing this sentence, Zhang Yifei couldn't help but curse Prost in his heart.

In fact, this is not true. Because the team is now at the end of their lives and there is not enough capital injection, it is a question whether they can participate in the F1 season next year.

As the saying goes, the poor man is short-sighted. After Prost was abandoned by Renault, he had already contacted the former F1 driver, the Brazilian Diniz, hoping to get investment from him.

However, the conditions offered by Diniz are very harsh and there is no problem with investment, but Prost must take out 40% of the fleet shares to exchange.

This is simply unacceptable for Prost. You must know that his lifelong dream is to build a pure blood French fleet.

Nearly half of the team's shares will be sold now. If there is no improvement, what should I do next? Will I continue to sell team shares? Then, whether Prost team can still call this name in the f1 paddock is uncertain.

This is a difficult thing for Prost to accept, but for the history of f1, it is just a cycle.

There are countless fleets that have gone bankrupt in f1 history. Even in recent years, those who cannot stand up and go bankrupt or have been acquired include Lotus, Benetton, Stewart, etc.

Among the companies that are facing financial difficulties, Sauber, Minardi, and Flying Arrow, plus Prost himself, they can almost occupy half of the F1 team.

Prost didn't want the convoy he created to work hard to eventually escape the end of bankruptcy or acquisition, so he was so "real".

Just like Zhang Yifei creating a miracle on the track, maybe this Chinese boy can also give himself a big surprise in attracting sponsorship and save the team that is currently on the verge of bankruptcy.

"What sponsorship standards do you need to meet so that they all join the fleet?"

Zhang Yifei wants his team members to join the F1 team. In addition to selfishly thinking about more familiar people around him, he also has a kind of "public intention" towards the development of Chinese motorsports.

From the perspective of God, Zhang Yifei knew that even twenty years later, there was no F1 driver in China, let alone professional F1 event teams. Perhaps in a sense, it is many times more difficult to want a professional F1 event team than a Chinese professional driver.

Zhang Yifei believed that he did not have this ability, which allowed China's automobile industry to develop rapidly, and the F1-level factory teams appeared, competing for the crown jewel of the automobile industry. However, he still had some hope to create several F1-level team technicians who wanted to do his best to build a few F1-level team technicians, but he still had some hope.

Both Ahu and Zhige have good technical foundations, mainly because they suffer cultural losses. If they can enter the F1 team and study with the world's truly top maintenance team, they will definitely break through the current limit of domestic event technicians and reach a level of in line with the world.

This kind of strength may not be a big deal in Europe, but if one day he can return to China, Ah Hu and Zhige can at least become chief technicians and build a team of top event technicians in China.

You should know that industrial foundation and technician team are the guarantee for drivers to gallop on the track. As the saying goes, a spark can start a prairie fire. With such a spark, who knows whether there will be a sudden change in Chinese motorsports in the future?

If it really doesn't work, you can acquire an F1 team like the later Indian Power Team, first "domestic" the drivers and technician team, and then explore the experience and develop slowly.

Although it cannot reach the level of "all-Chinese team", at least it has taken the first step, which is better than being an audience outside the paddock.

You should know that even if it is as strong as Japan, with several world-class car manufacturers, it has only produced one of the super Ajiri teams with a bloodline of relatively "Japanese", and they are still at the bottom of the year and go bankrupt soon after.

Therefore, Zhang Yifei's goal is not high. It is already the limit of his ability to train several F1-level technicians at this stage.

Of course, wanting to witness a F1 team belonging to China is just Zhang Yifei's final dream. He has no witness to the direction of this world because it has changed too much.

"It cannot be less than two million dollars at least, this is my bottom line."

Prost offered a sponsorship price code for Ah Hu and the others to enter the F1 team. To be honest, this number was a bit beyond Zhang Yifei's expectations. It was not too high, but too low!

In this era, how much is the general cost of team sponsorship in the fleet? Zhang Yifei is not sure, but he knows that Marlboro sponsored the Ferrari team in 2014, and printed a small advertising logo on the body of the car, and the annual cost is 150 million US dollars!

Even if it includes 15 years of inflation, plus the gap between Prost and Ferrari, the 2 million US dollar is still an astonishing gap between 150 million US dollars.

After all, no matter how bad the Prost team is, it is one of the few teams in the world that can compete in the f1 paddock. The advertising logo on the body of the car can also be seen by hundreds of millions of viewers around the world.

Two million US dollars, not to mention the request for entering the four people, even if there is no additional sponsorship, it is estimated that many sponsors will give it without hesitation. This is really a "friendly price" that is half sold and half given away.

To be honest, Zhang Yifei's worst plan was to join two people, that is, let Ah Hu and Zhi Ge enter the Prost team.

This is not to say that he favors one and the other, but that Junko Takeda and Ukyo Yamamoto have a position as Toyota, and they have another way of retreat. They can wait until they gain a foothold before recruiting them into the event team.

However, Ahu and Zhige had no way out. Once they could not enter the F1 fleet, they could only return to the repair shop in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. At that time, their previous efforts would be in slack, and even their English skills that could barely talk to the conversation would be regressed to the starting point.

So Zhang Yifei had no choice but to keep Ahu and Zhi Ge.

When Zhang Yifei was planning to do it, Prost had already considered it. Don’t forget that he also had the title of “professor”, and careful calculation is his mark.

You should know that although Zhang Yifei's team members are immature, they are not useless.

Cosell naturally needs to be said. The strategy team member of McLaren, one of the three giants, and former colleagues of Prost, has no doubt about his abilities.

Even if there is nothing wrong with Zhang Yifei, as long as Cosell is willing to join the Prost team, his qualifications and abilities are there, and it is easy to enter the F1 team. Now joining as a member of Zhang Yifei's team is profitable for Prost.

Yamamoto Ukyo is not bad either. The data analyst of Toyota Le Mans team is considered a technical talent and has enough capital to enter the F1 team.

As for Junko Takeda, she had only served as the manager assistant of Le Mans team, and her qualifications were still a little worse than Formula One. As a woman, she wanted to join the management team.

But aside from entering the management, as long as Junko Takeda is willing to become Zhang Yifei's driver assistant, she can also join the Prost team, and she is fully qualified.

The only thing that Prost is a little "disgusted" is Ah Hu and Chen Zhi, but in the face of a sponsorship fee of 2 million US dollars, this is not a big problem. After all, the technical team of the F1 team is extremely large. It doesn't matter if there are two more people or two less people. It's considered a favor for Zhang Yifei.

"No problem, it's only two million dollars."

Zhang Yifei agreed directly, and he felt it was not difficult to sponsor two million US dollars. After all, his title as China's first F1 driver is still a bit important.

You should know that the domestic Donghai International Raceway is under construction. This will be the first time that China hosts a world-class sports event, not the well-known 2008 Olympics.

If Zhang Yifei remembers correctly, the East China Sea Grand Prix in 2004 triggered a racing craze, and the number of spectators in the entire event reached 1.46 million, setting a record for audiences in a single sports event in China.

With this east wind and a miraculous breakthrough, some top domestic companies should be willing to pay a sponsorship of 2 million US dollars. After all, if you want to advertise this price in other fleets, you can't even think about it.

Even if you put aside the identity of Zhang Yifei as a Chinese driver, from a commercial perspective, it is worth it to advertise around the world!

"Since there is no problem with the sponsorship requirements, I will also include your requirements in the contract supplementary terms."

"I wonder if you plan to sign the contract now, or wait until the contract supplementary clauses are formulated before considering it?"

“You can sign now.”

Zhang Yifei did not hesitate. He had a simple and crude personality. He was generally satisfied with the contract, and he was too lazy to care about some details.

And then again, this hasn't been sponsored yet. At worst, he can pay the money and deliver the goods in one hand, and he is not afraid of Prost "debt" or something.

"Very good, young people just do it."

Prost said with a smile, then handed over a signature pen.

Zhang Yifei took the signing pen and put his name on the last page of the contract. From this moment on, his identity will be completely changed and he will officially become an F1 driver!

"Congratulations on joining Prost team!"

When Prost saw Zhang Yifei signing his name, he officially extended his right hand to him and announced his welcome to Zhang Yifei joining.

"Thank you, I'm also honored to be a driver for Prost."

Zhang Yifei shook hands with Prost, and then replied politely, indeed, Prost team gave him a chance.

"In a few days I will hold a press conference to officially announce the news that you joined the Prost team. When everything is ready, my assistant will send you a detailed arrangement plan."

"Ok, no problem."

The matter has been finalized, and Prost did not need to stay there. Just as he was about to walk out, he suddenly remembered something, so he turned around and asked Zhang Yifei.
Chapter completed!