Formula 1: The GOAT

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

“We will start with the introduction as usual,” a reporter sitting next to an ARRI ALEXA Mini Camera said to Fatih.

They were inside a studio, actively shooting an interview for his individual docuseries.

Fatih, sitting in a normal chair with a dark curtain as the background, was lit by a small light source pointing towards him. This was accompanied by a gridbox light covered with a white diffuser, placed at a ninety-degree angle to the camera. His face was lit from one side, with a shadow providing counterpoint on the other, and a microphone hovered above him.

This was the shooting for the fourth season of his individual docuseries, which had gained and maintained a large following interested in the career of the youngest-ever Red Bull Junior Team driver. The hype kept building as he continued to meet all the fans’ and viewers’ expectations. Although the company had been purchased by Liberty Media a few months ago, they still allowed the continued production of the docuseries while the company was undergoing a reshuffle to fit the new management better.

For starters, the company was now divided into two pieces. The F1 and its ladder series were taken from the initial company and absorbed by the Formula One Group, now named F1 News for the news side and F1 TV for the video media. The other half continued operating as TheConqueror.com.

As a result, the current installment of the docuseries was operating as an F1 TV production. There was even a rumor that they were in discussions with Netflix to stream these docuseries as they worked to create their own streaming site for F1-related content. But that was not something Fatih needed to trouble himself with, as it was a weight that had been lifted from his back. His only connection was now through the docuseries.

Fatih took the slate that was on his lap. “My name is Fatih Yıldırım. I’m fourteen years old. I’m a karting driver with the Ricky Flynn Motorsports team in the KZ2 category, and welcome to *Road to Formula 1*,” he said before *TAK*, he closed the slate that had the words “Mid-year documentary shooting, scene 1” written on it.

“Can you give us a summary of your competitions in the first half of the year?” the reporter asked as he sifted through the documents in his hands. These were all the questions they needed Fatih to answer for the editing of the docuseries at the end of the year. Although the interviews looked like they were recorded after every race, the drivers’ schedules usually didn’t allow for that. Instead, they chose a few days before the start of the season, a few days during the mid-season, and a few days after for all the questions to be answered.

“The first competition I participated in was between January 26-29, and it was the WSK Champions Cup…” he said, as he started recounting it through the questions asked by the reporter to get the answers for the most interesting parts of the week.

……

January 29.

While the negotiations on the purchasing price were still ongoing, Fatih was only a few minutes away from his first race in the KZ2 category, which was not going well for him at all.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the final race of the 2017 WSK Champions Cup, which is about to start after a very eventful pre-final where the race leader suffered a gearbox problem. This resulted in him dropping all the way down to fifteenth by the time the checkered flag was waved, bringing an end to the pre-final. Now he has to start the race at P15 after his team worked very hard to repair the gearbox in time for the final race here at La Conca, a track where Fatih Yıldırım has a one-hundred-percent win rate and a one-hundred-percent record of breaking the lap time record more than ten times whenever he competes. This has resulted in many people calling him the ’Ghost of La Conca’ for the increase in performance he has when he is on this track, as he drives as if he is a man possessed,” Matia, the event’s main commentator, was heard through the track speakers as the drivers of the KZ2 category were already on the track, only five minutes away from the start of the final race.

“I can’t deny that he is deserving of the name. If you look at his performance in all of his participations on this track, if you don’t count the disastrous first time, every other time he came here, he has always been in P1, no matter the session. It took a gearbox problem in the final laps of the pre-final to drop him down to P15. Had it been anyone else, it would have been a drop of way more than that, as they wouldn’t have opened a twenty-second gap to the closest driver behind them. That time advantage is the only reason he managed to finish that race in P15,” Giovanni, the second commentator, said in response.

“I’m quite looking forward to what he can show us here, as he is already known for his dynamic driving style, where he matches the driver he is fighting with. Many who raced him or watched him race said in their interviews of his very famous docuseries that he is the worst type of person to fight against, in a good way, since he is literally holding a mirror in front of you and showing you how you drive, but doing it even better. There are really no worries about him not being able to overtake, as he has a history of going from last to a podium position in all the heats that he didn’t start on pole at this track, which happened four years ago in his second international race,” Matia said while chuckling. The marshal on the track finally raised the board showing three minutes remaining before the formation lap. “Now let’s go through the grid positions of all 29 drivers.”

“The front grid positions are locked out by teammates and brothers, with Stan Pex taking pole position and his brother Jorrit Pex sitting beside him, followed by Matteo Viganò and Rick Dreezen in the second row. In P5, we have Flavio Camponeschi, who dropped three positions from his starting position at the beginning of the pre-final… In P12, we also have two brothers following each other, Leonardo Lorandi and Alessio Lorandi, in P13. Following them are Taymour Kermanshahchi and Fatih Yıldırım in the P14 and P15 grid positions,” the list went on, all the way to the last drivers.

“Fatih, who just received the waiver on his age thanks to the WSK event organizers agreeing to match his FIA exemption approval, has been allowed to participate in KZ2 despite being thirteen years old. As a result of the exemption, he now finds himself on a completely new grid with new drivers. The only other driver he has competed against previously is Alessio Lorandi, against whom he has a one-hundred percent win record in all the competitions they have met in, which is quite a lot over the past four years. Today, Alessio is finally starting ahead of him and might have a chance of taking some of that percentage back in their head-to-head fight,” Giovanni said once the grid position announcement was completed and the track started clearing, with only a minute before the race was about to start.

“And the time has come as the drivers now leave for the formation lap, the final free lap before we start our 2017 WSK Champions Cup race,” Matia said as, one after another, the drivers left their grid positions to start their formation lap to warm their tires. This was heavily needed since, unlike the lower karting categories, which nearly all had a rolling start, KZ2 and above were all standing starts, so having the tires at the optimal temperature meant a lot.

Fatih, who was weaving left and right to put temperature into his tires on the final straight, dropped down to below five kilometers per hour and put the kart into neutral, letting it glide into his grid position before he braked.

Now his mind was completely silent; the only thing it focused on was the signal lights.

The moment the lights turned red, he put the kart in first gear but didn’t drop the clutch. He and all the other drivers started revving to the optimum range, their focus locked on the lights, ready for the moment they went off.

The moment the lights went out, everyone reacted, dropping their clutches and getting away to start their race.

……

“And the race has started! The front row gets a nearly equal start, with Stan keeping his lead against his brother as he moves to cover him and avoid any diving scenarios. Rick is now side-by-side with Matteo as they barrel into Turn 1. Who is going to come out of the corner ahead of everyone else? And it is Stan who keeps his advantage! But look at the driver who is swimming through the field as Fatih benefits from the braking chaos and a good start, gaining five positions before Turn 1 by choosing to take the abandoned and dirty side of the track. He traded the chaotic nature of the racing line, and it seems to have worked in his favor, as into Turn 1, he is already in the top ten, reminding everyone that although he has changed his category and moved to KZ2, he is still the ’Ghost of La Conca,’ and he is en route to keeping that legend alive!”