Formula 1: The GOAT

“He has improved in the first two sectors by more than two-tenths from his previous lap, and as he goes into the first of the triple hairpins…..OOOOOOHHHH! There is a yellow flag on the track, and Fatih has to lift or risk a penalty, killing his final lap of the qualifying session and not allowing him to improve. Wow, what bad luck for the young driver who made a high-risk bet and was about to place himself in a position where he could benefit from it, but something out of his control interfered and killed his final attempt.

He had fallen to the seventeenth overall position after a few drivers in his group improved. To add insult to injury, his teammate, Max Fewtrell, improves his position and droppes Fatih down to eighteenth. With a few more drivers still in their final sectors but spared of the yellow flag, which has cleared a few seconds after Fatih was affected as the driver who spun managed to rejoin the track, would they improve and drop Fatih further down? Yes, and yes again, but a third driver failes to improve on Fatih’s lap time. Fatih has now fallen all the way to twentieth overall.

What a bad day to be in his shoes, as his workload has now doubled. Depending on how the heats go today, he might have the worst week of his karting career ever,” Gianni commentated with excitement in his tone. Although it was not something to feel excited about from Fatih’s perspective, Gianni didn’t care.

As a commentator who is supposed to be neutral, this was a very exciting situation for the young driver, as it would show what type of driver he was depending on how he performed following such a bad qualifying session. Depending on how he deals with such a first in his career, it could make an even better impact than him qualifying on pole. Although scouts were looking for talented drivers, they would try to avoid a prodigy who couldn’t deal with unfortunate situations with a calm mind, since the moment they faced difficulty, they risked stagnating and not regaining their confidence to perform at the same level as they did in the past.

“But isn’t that what the qualifying heats are for? To allow these young drivers to have an opportunity to recover from mistakes they make, unfortunate situations they find themselves in, or if they are affected by things out of their control by giving them more than two chances to try and reduce the effects of such events. So I don’t think his weekend is solidified as the worst, but only has the potential to be one if he fails to deliver during the heats,” Martina countered Gianni’s slightly negative-leaning commentary. She highlighted the structure implemented in karting in order for it to fit its status as a training and learning ground for young children who aim for motorsport in the future by avoiding cutthroat qualifying sessions like professional motorsports have.

“Although I agree with you, you have to keep in mind that he will only have a competitive pace once the track fully dries and his dry setup enters its optimal window. Before those periods arrive, the first two heats will still be driven under conditions similar to these in just half an hour from now, compared to the final two that will be driven in the evening.

Also, the forecast data shows that there is a possibility of rain during the evening where the remaining two heats will be taking place, which was not in the previous day’s forecast. So it means there is a possibility of rain in the evening as well, and the performance gain he expected to have during the evening heats when the track is fully dry might not arrive. He might even find himself falling down further and starting even further back in the pre-final and the finals,” Gianni said, providing a counterpoint to the optimistic-sounding Martina as the karts returned to the pit lane. Fatih showed no different expression or even lowering of his head, as if all that had happened was not much of a problem.

……..

“It’s alright, mate. You still have the opportunity to recover in the heats,” RFM’s mechanic, Tommy, said in his British accent as he tapped Fatih on the shoulder once he came to a stop.

Fatih raised his visor before turning to look at Tommy and said, “I’m fine. I actually look forward to it,” with a smile on his face, not showing a hint of disappointment or sadness for qualifying twentieth overall. Rather, he was looking forward to something finally being on the line that forced him to be prepared to fire on all cylinders.

“Are you sure? I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be this excited if I came last on the whole team,” Tommy asked, raising his eyebrow, wondering if Fatih was just acting to hide his embarrassment.

“Yep, constantly winning is fun, but doing so without competition becomes stale after a while. Plus, it becomes even more enjoyable when you win after carving through the pack against competitive drivers,” Fatih said, his eyes being the only visible part of his face, and they showed no hint of it being a coping mechanism at all. He meant every part of it.

For Fatih, it was a one-plus-one deal, one that he had experience achieving in his career. Although it was going to be enjoyable to carve through the field once his setup regained its advantage, it also increased the number of overtakes he would have to do over the four heats, meaning for every overtake, that was one additional system point, and if the overtake was good, that was five points. And although he couldn’t spend them to upgrade his abilities, there was nothing against accumulating as much SP as possible.

“Is that so? Then I look forward to your drive in the heats,” instead of Tommy answering, it was Ricky Flynn who spoke.

Instead of answering, Fatih just gave him a thumbs up as he got off the kart and took off his helmet and balaclava, looking refreshed instead of the expected tiredness from the qualifying session’s intensity he had just gone through.

“Good. Debrief in five,” Ricky said before turning around and walking back to the team’s tent. As he took each additional step, a smile formed on his lips, quite satisfied that Fatih was not discouraged by the situation he had faced, including the unlucky yellow flag that killed his lap, which would have at least improved him to the top ten overall.

He had been worried that someone like Fatih, who had experienced nothing but good fortune and dominance in his national karting scene, would be feeling down and maybe even embarrassed from the arrogance and steadfastness he had shown yesterday in arguing back and forth with him. This made the reason he had come for, which was to comfort and motivate him, moot. A talented driver who could argue for and believe in his intuition was very rare these days, as a majority of them were being coddled and were very dependent on data.

“I’m looking forward to the heats,” he said before entering the tent.