All-round Athlete

Chapter 597: Be Your Own Boss

The $500 million bet is not something that can be signed immediately. It has to go through a very complicated process, and there are many legal documents to be prepared. Therefore, whether it is Zhang Guan or Omi, they will find their own lawyers to make preparations and draw up a contract that both parties agree with, which will take some time.

In a mansion in Mumbai, two men in their 60s were sitting in front of Omi. They were his father and uncle, the ruling generation of the Maliya family.

Of course, Omi couldn't come up with such a big figure of 500 million US dollars, and he couldn't make a final decision, so he had to tell his father and uncle about this matter and seek help from the family.

"Omi, you disappointed me so much! I thought sending you to study in the UK would teach you to be calm and calm like a gentleman, but look at what you have done! Five hundred million dollars! You Do you think it's a child playing house?" The father said with a serious face.

"Dad, I didn't agree on a whim." Omi immediately said: "Zhang Guan claimed that he will become a Formula One driver next season, and he will win the Formula One world championship. What do you think is the possibility? How big is it?"

Without waiting for his father to speak, Omi asked himself and answered: "The possibility of the former is possible, but the possibility of the latter is completely zero. Motorsports are different from other sports. Yes, Zhang Guan is the world leader The fastest man on the road, and he can also cross multiple sports, but this does not mean that he will become the fastest driver in the world. Motor racing is not enough for physical fitness, Formula One A world champion needs not only first-class technology, but also a good car. Even if Schumacher is given a car that is not capable of winning the championship, he will not be able to perform miracles."

"So far, Zhang Guan may be able to get a position as an official Formula One driver. After all, some small teams can win the driver's position through commercial sponsorship, but how can a small team have the strength to win a Formula One position? Where is the champion?" Omi continued.

In Formula One, a team has two official drivers, a test driver, and occasionally one or two second or third test drivers. Formula One is the top motorsport in the world, and it is impossible to become a test driver in a Formula One team. Many champions of low-level formula competitions or low-level racing competitions may even have a test driver in Formula One. I can't even mix it with my hands.

However, if you have money, you can obtain the position of an official driver through sponsorship. For example, the former Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto, whose skills are terribly bad, can be called the "road killer" in Formula One, but he relies on sponsors. Obtained the position of the official driver of the Super Aguri team; in the future, there will also be a Russian driver, with a sponsorship contract of tens of millions of dollars, who will get a driver position for himself.

But this is something that can only happen in small teams. Small teams have less money and less sponsors, and less money to invest in the team. A sponsorship of tens of millions of dollars can almost offset the team's annual expenses. But big teams like Ferrari and McLaren that are capable of winning championships will definitely not have sponsor drivers. What big teams need are top racing drivers like Alonso, Hamilton, and Raikkonen. It is very welcome to have a car king like Schumacher.

I only heard Omi go on to say: "Judging from the points of last season, the four teams that can compete for the Formula One championship are nothing more than Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and BMW Sauber, but their drivers are all It has been determined. Ferrari has Raikkonen and Massa, McLaren has Hamilton and Kovalainen, Renault has Alonso and Piquet Jr., and BMW Sauber has Kubica and Heidfeld. Among these drivers , either a world champion racing driver, or a seasoned veteran, or a rookie with unlimited potential, I think unless Zhang Guan buys these teams, he will definitely not be able to get a formal driver position in these teams. "

Omi said this, and laughed to himself: "These are factory teams, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, BMW Sauber, can Zhang Guan have the ability to buy them? I think even if he is rich, he You may not be willing to sell it either!"

Omi's father and uncle nodded at the same time. As Omi said, even if they are rich, they won't sell century-old shops in Formula One such as Ferrari and McLaren.

"The possibility of Zhang Guan winning next year's Formula 1 championship is completely zero!" Omi shrugged, and then said: "Dad, I didn't agree to this bet on a whim. The reason why I agreed to this bet is , because I think this bet will bring huge profits to our Maria family! It is impossible for Zhang Guan to win the Formula One championship next season. 500 million US dollars is enough for our Force India team for the next three years Since Zhang Guan came to send money for a reason, why not do it!"

"Brother, I think what Omi said is right." Omi's uncle turned his head and said: "Formula One is more expensive than we imagined. Our Force India team spent 127 million US dollars last year, but We still didn’t get a point in the end. Although a large part of it was invested in the research and development of new cars, it also proved that the gap between the cars has a huge impact on the final results. A small team is not Ferrari or McGrady. Karen, not Renault, not to mention winning the championship, even getting the top three starting rankings is very difficult. Even if Zhang Guan has Schumacher's driving skills, without a decent car, it is impossible to achieve good results Yes! I think we can accept the 500 million dollar bet! Since someone sent money, we don’t want it for nothing!”

...

At the same time, in the hotel, Zhang Guanzheng was talking on the phone with He Yiming.

"500 million US dollars, you are playing big enough this time!" He Yiming's voice was a little excited, it can be seen that facing this figure, even he, who has always been calm, can't sit still.

"I originally wanted to say 10 to 20 million, to teach that dude a lesson, but I didn't expect him to propose 500 million! By the way, have you checked the Maria family? Are they capable of getting that much money? , but don’t renege on your debts in the end!” Zhang Guan asked.

"I haven't heard of this Maria family before, so I checked it for you, and it shocked me too! This Maria family has a lot of assets around the world, and they are in the United States. The west coast has a lot of assets, and they are mainly concentrated in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Las Vegas has their hotels, and the harbor of Monte Carlo in Monaco also has their shares. Their family also has a large financial investment in Hong Kong. In addition, their family is relatively The big asset is an airline company." He Yiming said.

"Airline company? Is it big?" Zhang Guan then asked.

"Whether the scale is large or not depends on who you compare with. Let me give you a brief description. The airlines of the Maliya family not only have domestic routes in India, but also foreign routes. Their flight routes include London. , Dubai, Dhaka, Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong. At present, their airline has close to 100 aircraft, of course, some of them are on order. The main models are Airbus A320 and A321, and there are another 15 Airbus A330 , 5 Airbus A350s, 5 Airbus A380s, and a number of aircraft order rights." He Yiming said.

Zhang Guan silently calculated, the cheapest Airbus A320, the price of a new aircraft is 30 million US dollars, the price of A350 and A380 is more than 300 million US dollars, so the assets of the Maliya family airline, There are six or seven billion dollars.

Zhang Guan didn't expect that he really provoked a rich man this time. He said, "So rich! Then this Maria family must have assets worth tens of billions of dollars! Why haven't I heard of it before? Why haven't I heard of it before?" Forbes rich list or something."

"There are too many invisible rich people, and they don't want others to know about them. Look at the chiefs in the Middle East, all of them are extremely rich, aren't they also on the rich list!" He Yiming's voice paused, Then he said: "The Maria family bought the Spyker team last year and then changed its name to the Force India team. It is said that they invested more than 100 million US dollars in the team last year. This figure is second only to Ferrari, McLaren and Toyota. Both Renault and BMW Sauber are higher. So I think the Maria family can definitely afford $500 million."

"That's great. I signed so many endorsements, but I didn't earn that much. When the Formula 1 race next season is over, we will get 500 million US dollars, so we can take less commercials." Zhang Guan smiled. explain.

"You're that confident? That's Formula 1! It's different from anything you've ever competed in. You compete in track and field, you run faster and you jump farther than others; you compete in tennis and basketball, you play If you are better than others, it is because you do have an advantage in your strength, but in the sport of racing, if you don’t have a good car, it is impossible to get good results! What’s more, you are not a racing driver yet, you must first pass the exam A Formula 1 super driver's license, and then you have to find a team to ask for you." He Yiming said.

"This can be regarded as one thing." Zhang Guan said.

"Then which team are you going to contact? Williams? I think if you bring a sponsorship fee of 20 million US dollars, they will definitely be willing to give you a position as an official driver." He Yiming said.

"Why go to someone else's team? Let's be our own boss this time!" Zhang Guan said with a smile.

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