Formula 1: The GOAT

“I know you are excited about receiving an offer from an academy with an F1 team, but I need you to push that aside and focus on the two races you have today. It was your performance that made them interested, and if you end up not performing well because of the meeting, they are going to question their decision. We can discuss it in detail after the race, okay?” Rümeysa said as she brushed Fatih’s shoulder, trying to keep herself calm. She was feeling the disbelief, and the words she was saying were more for herself than for Fatih, as he looked calm and composed.

It was one thing to believe that your son is talented, but it is completely another when the world acknowledges it without you having to force it out of them through coercion or by putting them in an uncomfortable position, and from people in the sport they were heading into.

As a lawyer, she knew this was just a preliminary discussion. She needed to wait and hear what others had to offer and only then weigh the offers. Still, there was no reason to stop her from feeling excited. After all, it wasn’t as if she was going to make a decision based on excitement, but only on what was best for Fatih.

“I will keep that in mind,” Fatih said, hugging her before the two of them left for the tent. She headed to where her mother was to resume watching the races from one of the grandstands, just as they did every weekend.

……….

“Welcome back,” Steve said the moment Fatih entered the team’s tent.

“So, how are you feeling today? Confident as usual? Any anxiety or fear of performing?” John asked as everyone in the room started moving to the table for the pre-final briefing; Fatih and Burak were the only ones they were still waiting for.

“Not really. If I were to have anxiety, it should have been yesterday, not today when I’m in the lead,” Fatih responded, but then he caught Lando Norris’s reaction to his words, which was to lower his head.

’Ah, shit,’ Fatih thought, realizing he might have accidentally hit Lando with a below-the-belt punch with his response.

“Good. Now, let’s start the briefing,” Rickky said, bringing everyone’s attention back to him before he continued. “We have a very good lineup for the academy, with the front grid being locked out by Fatih and Lando, so I expect you two not to fight so much that you harm one another at the start, as that is not to anyone’s benefit. The one who has the lead through turn one should be allowed a lap of peace as both of you open the gap to those behind you. Only starting from the second lap are you free to fight one another…”

The meeting went quite fast, as most of the things discussed were race strategies and what they were suggested to do during the race, depending on the position they were starting in. Unlike the ten-lap heats, this one had fifteen laps, so the range of strategies that could be implemented was quite diverse. By the time the meeting was over, only twenty minutes remained until the start of the pre-final, so all the drivers’ coaches immediately left the tent with their equipment, heading to the pitlane where their karts were already placed in their respective grid positions.

As it was the final day of the competition, where the only two important races took place, the grandstands were fully packed with viewers. This created a good atmosphere for a driver who had no problem with the public and an intimidating one for those who couldn’t perform well in front of people watching.

At the start-finish line, a grid girl dressed in a catsuit raised a board showing fifteen minutes remaining on the clock before the start of the pre-final.

“…atih, Fatih,” Lando Norris called to Fatih, who was having a random conversation with Burak as they waited for the clock to hit zero while doing some simple final checks on his suit and other equipment.

“Yes?” he answered upon hearing the call, finding Lando quite close.

“How do you remain calm at the start and not make mistakes despite the pressure?” Lando asked after a few seconds of deliberation.

“Mmm, how can I explain this? Let me think for a moment,” Fatih said, wondering how he should word it so that he didn’t have to explain that thanks to Invictus, pressure was not a problem for him at all. A few seconds later, he realized he should tell him what he feels as a result of Invictus by comparing it to how he felt anxiety and worry in his past life when he was about to do something, knowing that any action he took would result in excruciating pain. So he said, “I don’t think of the consequences of failure.

I know it’s there, but keeping it in my mind constantly only increases the chances of it happening. So I fully focus on what would prevent that failure and give in fully to that. If I still fail and lose positions at the start, then I will have no doubt that I gave my all and it just wasn’t enough this time. But not once will I think that it was because I was too nervous or worried about the outcome to the point that it increased my anxiety and pushed me into failure. Have I managed to articulate it well?” he asked once he finished rambling, knowing that there was a chance the other side might interpret his words as nothing but complicated mumbo jumbo.

“Yes, I understood it,” Lando said, his childish voice a constant whiplash to Fatih, who was used to seeing and hearing him as an adult.

“I mean, it might not work at first, but if you keep practicing it, it should slowly start to bear results. Or it might just one day click and work seamlessly. Plus, losing the race is not the end of the world, so don’t put the weight of the world on something not equal in worth to the weight you’re placing on yourself.”

“Understood, thanks,” Lando said before returning to his grid position, where his coach was waiting for him.

“I sometimes wonder if you are thirty years old in a child’s body,” Burak said when they were finally left alone.

“Why?”

“Do you think it is normal for a ten-year-old to give advice to a thirteen-year-old?”

“Wisdom doesn’t come from age but from experience,” Fatih teased Burak, causing both of them to chuckle.

“But aren’t you worried that he might use what you taught him to beat you?”

“’I taught him everything he knows, but not everything I know,’ is what I would have said if I were his teacher. But no, it actually makes the competition more interesting,” Fatih said, before thinking to himself and Apollo, *If I were to lose because of what I said, despite having an entire system backing me, it would mean I deserved that loss and was outclassed.*

Time went by fast, and before long, the pre-final race time arrived. Everyone other than the drivers and their karts cleared the track, with the grid girl leaving last.

…………….

“And the green flag is waved! Fatih, repeating his fastest reaction feat, gets a great start, but Lando Norris manages to match his time as they drag race through the long straight to the first corner, having already left a small gap from reacting faster than everyone else! It’s a two-horse race for the lead that will be decided into turn one. Who will brave it and keep their foot flat on the metal, and who will choose to be conservative and lift? As the first corner approaches, Fatih, with the inside line, looks like the one who can benefit the most from the start, but Lando Norris moves to the left in an attempt to take the corner at a higher speed.

AND THEY ARRIVE AT THE CORNER WITH NO ONE LIFTING, GOING SIDE-BY-SIDE THROUGH THE CORNER! BOTH GO WIDE ON EXIT WHILE REMAINING SIDE-BY-SIDE AND MILLIMETERS AWAY FROM EACH OTHER, GOING ALL THE WAY TO TURN TWO! BUT LANDO NORRIS, ON THE DIRTIER SIDE OF THE TRACK, HAS TO BRAKE EARLIER OR RISK LEAVING THE TRACK, AS FATIH YILDIRIM TAKES THE RACE LEAD! THE CROWD CHEERS FOR THE EXCITING BUT SHORT FIGHT SHOWN BETWEEN THESE TEAMMATES WHO KEPT IT AGGRESSIVE BUT IN A CONTROLLED AND CIVIL MANNER! BUT ONLY ONE CAN BE AT THE FRONT, AND FATIH HAS THAT HONOR AS HE SLOWLY STARTS TO OPEN THE GAP TO LANDO BY MORE THAN TWO-TENTHS IN THREE CORNERS!”

Fatih, now ahead and in clear air with no one to fight him or break his rhythm, once again entered his qualifying mentality. He considered all the laps, starting with the current one, to be qualifying laps driven in order to continue his record-breaking attempts.

“After he took the lead, it was no surprise to anyone that he once again started opening the gap. By lapping more than a second faster than the second-fastest driver, he comes out of the final corner on the final lap with more than a seventeen-second gap! The checkered flag is waved for him as he once again wins his fourth race of the weekend in a dominant style, one very rarely seen in a spec series but now shown to be possible by the very man taking the checkered flag. He celebrates his win as he goes around the track on his in-lap, having finally been able to convert a pole position to a win. Once again, WHAT A DRIVER, WHAT A DRIVE!”