Even though Qin Miao and Mercedes's official social media accounts firmly denied the rumors, the buzz surrounding the topic hasn't diminished.

"I'm speechless. No matter how I think about it, I can't figure out why this story spread like this." After chatting with Hamilton, Qin Miao also vented a bit.

"That's how the media is, you'll get used to it." Hamilton laughed and patted Qin Miao on the shoulder.

Although he said that on the surface, is there a moment when Hamilton actually hopes Qin Miao has an ardent Formula dream?

Then, just like the media rumors in the paddock, Qin Miao might directly switch to Ferrari, who knows?

Or maybe he himself wants to go to Ferrari?

Who can tell.

After chatting with Hamilton for a while, the attendees of the meeting room had mostly arrived.

Finally, Toto and Elliott walked in, and with their arrival, the meeting officially began.

Throughout the meeting, Qin Miao and Hamilton barely spoke a word.

They simply listened attentively to Elliott and his team's engineers' reports and explanations.

Although both drivers are skilled in racing and can offer some constructive opinions,

but when it comes to the car design, subsequent upgrade plans, and solutions to existing car problems, neither of them has a deep understanding.

Qin Miao might be slightly better off since he spends his days in the team's development factory, understanding what's being said on stage. Hamilton, on the other hand, is completely in the dark.

During this process, neither driver had the need to speak up. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

This process might be somewhat tormenting for Hamilton, but quite interesting for Qin Miao, at least he knows how the W13 he's driving is designed and where the issues lie.

After the meeting, Hamilton said to Qin Miao beside him: "You looked quite happy listening, I zoned out halfway, can you summarize it for me?"

Qin Miao shrugged: "In short, the W13 has a certain potential for upgrade, but if the fundamental issue with the chassis isn't solved, we'll never catch up to Ferrari and Red Bull.

Summary: This season is hopeless; W13 will be abandoned next season."

After speaking, Qin Miao and Hamilton could only share a wry smile.

Although this decision seems hopeful, after making it, Mercedes is a season behind other teams in car development.

Even though there's a whole season's worth of 2022 data as support and reference, it's estimated that the car of 2023 won't have the chance to compete for the drivers' championship.

However, there's some good news; the team will directly abandon the W13's design concept next season.

Major changes to the floor, adjustments to the front and rear suspension layout, and addressing the driver's seat position issue often reflected by Hamilton.

As for Qin Miao, due to his formidable adaptability, he doesn't really feel the W13 has significant problems; the only discomfort for Qin Miao is that the car's setup window isn't as wide as last season's W12.

Last season's W12 had a wide setup window, so making some extreme setup configurations wouldn't affect the car's overall speed too much.

This season, however, it's different; if you exceed a certain threshold, perhaps increasing the front wheel camber by one degree could slow the lap time by 0.2 or even 0.3 seconds.

In the racing industry, a decline of 0.2 to 0.3 seconds in speed is almost fatal.

It's equivalent to having no competitiveness in qualifying and the races.

But currently, none of this really concerns Qin Miao.

With the meeting concluded and the W13's upgrade plans redrafted, next season's new concept car development is on track, now just waiting on the progress of the simulator department.

Everything is moving in a good direction.

Therefore, despite this season's poor car performance, everyone's morale within the team isn't much lower than last season.

As they left the team, Qin Miao and Hamilton exited together.

At the entrance, watching Hamilton wait for Angela to fetch the car, Qin Miao casually said: "Lewis, just at dinner time, want to come over to my place for a meal?"

Originally, it was just a polite offer from Qin Miao; little did he expect Hamilton to agree immediately: "Sure, I heard recently from a driver in the paddock that you've got really good cooking skills. It's a great chance to try it now."

Since Hamilton agreed, Qin Miao had no reason to refuse and nodded: "Alright, my place isn't far, let's walk over."

"Great, I'll call Angela, ask her to come directly."

Angela knows Qin Miao's home address too.

Speaking of which, this is the first time after Qin Miao won the championship last season, the two are having a meal together.

And given there's a guest at home today and Hamilton mentioned Qin Miao's cooking skills,

so naturally, Qin Miao's cooking tonight.

Qin Miao's top-notch culinary skills; even if Hamilton and Angela haven't tasted authentic Chinese cuisine much, Qin Miao's cooking naturally drew praises.

Not to mention Hamilton, a British guy, when it comes to food, what do they know about gourmet?