Formula 1: The GOAT

“Shhhh,” John took a deep breath as he checked the lap time of the final push lap Fatih had driven in his second session on the track.

1:04.202

Despite a ten-kilogram ballast that was slowing him down by more than a second, he still improved by more than two-tenths on his fastest lap with the neutral setup.

“Looks like we have the fastest setup possible on our hands,” Steve said, waving at Fatih, who had arrived at their tent to rest and wait for the next session.

“Yeah, I think only a few fine-tunings are needed before it is good for the weekend,” Fatih said as he sat in his chair, lazily enjoying the moment of rest.

“There is only one session remaining. Do you want to do the modifications now or go with the proposed setup and do the final modifications during the official sessions?” Steve asked as he joined him at the table.

“Let’s go with the suggested setup,” Fatih said without a moment of thought. He had already driven with the highest setup, but wanting a super-specific setup from the start was something he avoided. He usually gave the specific main setup he wanted and followed it by slowly increasing the minimum adjustments over a session.

“Okay,” Steve said, opening his notebook as they started the session debrief, which was very short.

This was followed by the mechanics being informed about the setup changes, and they started working on them, having it ready before the day’s final unofficial free practice session, allowing Fatih to go out and experience the setup.

………..

“Tomorrow, do you want to go to a park?” Rümeysa asked Fatih as they had dinner at the hotel following his return from the track after the final session.

“Yes,” Fatih said excitedly, as tomorrow was going to be a free day. The competition officials and the scrutinizing group would be doing final checks and preparations for the competition that would start on Friday and go all the way to Sunday, so the track was closed to anyone other than them.

“Good, then I will ask Burak and see if he is free as well,” Rümeysa said with a smile. Burak had not yet returned to the hotel, as he was still at the track, going through the data and final meetings before the official competition started.

Güldane just looked at her daughter and didn’t say anything, smiling silently before continuing with her meal, knowing that saying anything would result in her slowing things down, and she didn’t want that.

After they finished their meal and enjoyed time together in the hotel’s lounge, they went to sleep to rest for the day, with Fatih entering the simulation to continue his practice as Apollo went through his planned lessons.

The following day was quite enjoyable for Fatih and the family, plus Burak and the cameraman who joined them on their journey to the park. They returned in the evening, and they avoided doing anything else, resting early in preparation for the start of the competition tomorrow.

Finally, Friday arrived. Knowing the importance of the day, they got up early and finished all of their preparations before heading to the track, arriving there at seven to start the sportive scrutineering process as fast as possible so that they could benefit from the non-timed session that was allowed before the official sessions were to start.

Fatih, with Burak’s assistance and a worker from RFM, presented themselves, their kart, and their equipment for inspection. The officials checked the chassis number, engine seals, and Fatih’s driver’s license, which earned Fatih very weird looks from the officials who realized that he had a license above his age specification. Only after the FIA approved documentation was provided was that situation solved, and they were approved to go ahead as they had finally complied with the FIA technical and safety standards.

This allowed them to return to their tent, finally, to do their final preparations, and Fatih finally got the chance to meet the future Formula 1 driver.

“Lando, this is our new team member, Fatih,” Steve said, welcoming Fatih to the tent and starting the introduction process before reversing it. “Fatih, this is Lando, our academy’s ace and your competitor.” Fatih gave a slight nod to Lando before turning to the young guy beside him as Steve said, “I’m sure you have already met Enaam in the test session, so there is no need for a reintroduction, and this is…” before he continued introducing the remaining drivers under the RFM team.

As he reached the table, Fatih extended his hand to Lando, who looked smaller than people his age actually were. Lando reciprocated the handshake as Fatih did the same to Enaam and the other drivers, before joining them at the table for a joint briefing session before the competition started.

They were all already in their race suits with their helmets on the table in front of them, showing that they were ready for the competition both mentally and physically.

“Okay, let’s start fast before you have to head to the Official Drivers’ Briefing in half an hour,” Ricky Flynn said as he dropped a clipboard on the table, taking a seat at the short side of the table, signaling his position and the start of the briefing.

He had participated personally and taken the leadership role in this competition because he wanted to see how Fatih was going to perform with his own eyes and observe how he operated behind the scenes to see if he was the real deal he had shown to be in the test sessions, because there were drivers who were good in practice but the moment they were under the eyes of people, they started getting nervous and made blunders.

“We have completed the scrutineering process without any problem, and all our chassis numbers and engine seals are cleared. No surprises there, and frankly, that is the easy part,” Steve said, starting the team briefing.

“I know you are tired from waking up early, but I want you focused,” Ricky Flynn said, taking over from Steve when he saw a few of their drivers sitting and listening lazily.

“Go on,” Riccky said when everyone focused back.

“This weekend’s going to be tight. We’ve got 54 entries in KF-Junior, split into three groups. Not all of you will be in the same heats, so you are not going to be able to rely on teammates to clear space for you, and I don’t want that to be something you were hoping for,” Steve said as he flipped the dossier on the table, starting to go through the group allocations.

“Lando, you’re in Group A. Enaam and Alex, Group B. Fatih and Max, Group C. You’ll rotate through heats: A vs. B, B vs. C, C vs. A. That means you’ll be racing each other at least once. So I want you to compete fairly and keep it clean. I’m sure you already know that these group allocations are the same ones that will decide which free practice session you will be participating in, so I’m skipping that.”

“South Garda is dry right now, but forecasts say light rain tomorrow morning. That means qualifying could be on a damp track. We’ll run a medium setup in free practice, not full wet, not full dry. I want feedback after every session. Don’t just say ’it feels okay.’ I want corner names, braking points, grip zones, which I’m sure you already have experience with, having already driven a few sessions on the track before today.”

He went through additional important topics before he finished everything.

Rickky, who had been silently listening, looked at the drivers for a moment before speaking.

“I’m sure you all want to win, but doing so while driving dirty is something I do not condone. I would rather have a driver who shows consistency, and the same will be true for officials, sponsors, and recruiters who are watching. The reputation you form for yourselves today will determine the future of your racing career, the same way your talent does. No one wants a dirty driver, and even if you are good, with that attitude, you will need to be one of a kind for them to accept it. So drive hard but clean, understood?”

“Yes,” the drivers all said in unison.

Upon receiving their response, his face softened a bit, happy that they were taking it seriously.

“You’ve all got talent. That’s why you’re here. But talent without discipline is just noise. So let’s make this weekend count,” he added as he checked his watch.

“Alright, grab water, stretch, and be at the drivers’ briefing tent in 30. And Lando…… no heroics in free practice. Save it for qualifying.”

The drivers nodded, with Lando giving a look of surprise that he was specifically called out by name, but he didn’t argue about it since he had a tendency to do that. Other drivers reacted differently: some were jealous of the attention Lando received, others didn’t really care about the singling out, and some were focused on looking forward to the session. The tension between them was real, but so was the excitement, because the weekend had officially begun.

They quickly got up from the table and started doing the things they deemed urgent before they swiftly headed to the drivers’ briefing tent with five minutes on the clock, because missing it meant penalties or even exclusion from the event, so no one wanted to be late and miss the rest of the weekend because of it.