Formula 1: The GOAT

(There was an election in my country, Tanzania, and a protest erupted so they shut down the internet)

PUFF!

A loud pop echoed across the La Conca track, followed by the sound of metal scraping against the ground. Fatih fought to keep the kart under control, but his reactions were a fraction too late, exceeding the window he had to save himself and the machine. By the time he realized it, it was too late.

BAM!

He hit the barrier with enough speed to dislodge several tires, one of which rolled onto the track as if it had just been ejected from a moving car.

“Aughh!” Fatih groaned as he felt his body healing in real time, broken bones snapping back into place, the only saving grace of this brutal training.

“Man, this is child abuse, you know that, right?” Fatih complained as he climbed out of the broken kart, clutching his throat. The memory of it breaking in the crash was still fresh, despite it being already healed.

“If you are talented, that is something you can recover from,” Apollo said, appearing next to Fatih with complete confidence, a serious mode he entered only when training him.

“Even you wouldn’t be able to recover from that blowout if you didn’t know it was going to happen,” Fatih pressed on with his complaint. “As a result of this hyper-vigilance training, I’ve been injured to the point of nearly dying several times. The pain during those moments was so intense that even Invictus at the ultimate level wasn’t enough to fully suppress it.”

“I made sure to give signs leading to a blowout similar to what would happen in real life, so that you have the feeling. I’m sure your body already knows what to look for should you encounter it in the real world. Your complaints are moot,” Apollo countered, not taking a step back, and Fatih had no argument against it since it was true.

It was like being forced into a fight-or-flight situation. The goal was for his subconscious to associate the feeling, or anything similar captured by Invictus (Ultimate), with an impending blowout, automatically putting his body in a state of high alert to prepare for whatever was about to happen.

“I know you’re going to say that pain is the best teacher, but can we dull it down a few steps? You risk me getting PTSD from these accidents or the pain I feel during a wheel-to-wheel battle, which would in turn reduce my effectiveness,” Fatih attempted to negotiate, knowing that asking for it to be turned off completely was off the table, having already failed to get a positive answer the few times he’d requested it.

“Quite the opposite. It will make you the best driver for others to race wheel-to-wheel against, as you will know the consequences of things going wrong. You will be able to push things and keep them just shy of the maximum limit because your body will warn you if you exceed it. These memories will act as that benchmark. So instead of complaining, you should be enjoying them. You kids don’t know a blessing when you have one,” Apollo said, his tone making it clear that the latter part was just him messing with Fatih.

“But don’t you think you’re going to make me super competitive to the point of destruction?” Fatih asked, half-serious, half-joking.

“How so?” Apollo asked, pretending to look around to hide a satisfied smile, as if his hidden motive had finally been discovered.

“Do you think after going through this much brutal training, one where I get my neck, back, legs, ribs, spine, and even head cracked at times, that I’m going to let someone else win easily? Not after all the pain I’ve been through,” Fatih asked.

This would be true for anyone who invests so much time and endures extreme pain during training. Whether they want to or not, they gain a level of competitiveness that might seem ridiculous to outsiders. They know what they gave up and what they felt while working for their goal.

“Good. That is the mentality I want you to have as a default state,” Apollo said with a smile that was obvious to Fatih, as if his student had just discovered the answer to his puzzle.

“I’m pretty sure I’m already very competitive, so is there a need for all this?” Fatih asked, tilting his head, puzzled by the revelation.

“There were a few instances this year where you deliberately avoided a fight or stopped pushing to the limit when you were in the lead. Although these are minor things, and you went on to win all of those races, I knew I needed to stamp that problem out now before it grows. I need you to be an uncompromisingly competitive driver, one who does everything in his power to make sure you get the best result possible, or even more than what seems possible. Only then can you be the greatest.

When fighting another driver, I want you to be able to match and beat them at their own driving style, ensuring you always come out on top, even in a slower car. If you compromise on one thing, it opens a floodgate where you will be expected to compromise more and more. But if you don’t do it the first time, they won’t expect it from you again. You can be a nice guy off the track, but the moment that helmet is on your head, I want you to become a different beast. I’m sure you would have developed this ability later, but why delay it when you can start honing it now? Do you understand my intentions?” he asked, his face at a level of seriousness Fatih had never seen before.

The intensity reminded Fatih that Apollo was here to mold him into the greatest driver to ever grace the F1 paddock, to a point where people wouldn’t even debate if he was the greatest; they would know it in their hearts, even if they weren’t his fans.

Being the greatest while enjoying the sport he had loved so dearly in his past life was the dream, and the man in front of him was trying to make it a reality in the fastest and best way possible. He had always known it subconsciously, but it wasn’t part of his daily considerations. He had imagined that the training to be the greatest would start closer to his F1 debut and that he was currently just building foundations. But Apollo was making sure that the winning mentality was ingrained in him early in his career. And although he already had it, Apollo wanted to bring it front and center so he could hone it further.

“I will keep that in mind, coach,” Fatih said with a seriousness that was rare for him, earning a wide smile from Apollo.

“Good, your complaint has just reminded me of something,” Apollo said as both of them were teleported to the start-finish straight, each in a kart. “From now on, all of the hyper-vigilance and mentality training will be done through a mixture of me randomly causing incidents. At the same time, they could also happen as an aftermath of our battling. This way, you can subconsciously match my battling style and not always be on the receiving end during a wheel-to-wheel battle. I will be constantly changing my driving style, from clean and compliant across the whole spectrum all the way to race-ending aggressiveness, a ’give me an inch, I’ll take a mile’ type of driving. You will have to match me in every aspect, understood?”

“Yes,” Fatih said, closing his visor. His eyes instantly changed. Moments later, Apollo used his ability to control the simulation to give their karts a push. They started going around the track for a formation lap, preparing for a rolling start to their second practice of the day. This also marked the start of his training’s difficulty increasing by an additional fifty percent from its previous level.

Just as bodybuilders need to push and train more than the last time, Apollo was also doing that, gradually increasing the difficulty of his training so that Fatih’s body and mind wouldn’t get complacent. He would always have a new challenge to beat. No matter how vigilant someone is, the human brain gets used to repeated situations very easily, which leads to complacency. This is also why even experienced pilots make avoidable mistakes, due to believing in their experience of doing the same thing repeatedly.

However, this was a bigger increase than usual, as Apollo wanted Fatih to have a bigger target to start training with this new mentality. After all, amidst the gradual increases, large ones were also needed to create an endgame goal.

And it seemed he started with the most aggressive driving style from the beginning. The moment the green flag light, which Apollo had triggered, allowing him to know exactly when it would go off, appeared, he immediately got a better start than Fatih. He used this to squeeze Fatih off the track, forcing Fatih to almost lift per his usual driving style.

But, remembering the practice also included him matching the level of aggressiveness, he pushed further, keeping his steering straight while on the edge of the track as Apollo kept pushing. This continued until Fatih’s front tire clashed with Apollo’s rear tire, sending both of them into a spin. Both used their superior senses to induce a controlled drift and return their karts to face the right direction before they continued their fight. But with Apollo’s abilities at a higher level, he was the faster of the two to recover and had already opened a gap of a few tenths. Fatih was now pushing, trying to catch up and resume the fight, as this time, he would be the one attacking Apollo.