Formula 1: The GOAT

It took them a week to go through the entire plan, as they tried to fit it into their own important schedules to see if any parts needed modification before finally sending their response to Elena, who would be the one conversing with the Red Bull side.

There were almost no modifications to the training plan, but a long list of reminders was still sent to Elena that would be passed on to Red Bull. The month of Ramadan in 2018 fell just at the start of his F4 season, which would require Red Bull to take that into consideration and shift all of the intensive training to after sunset, as Fatih would be fasting for the entire day for a month.

It was going to be intensive for Fatih. Still, thanks to his sponge-like body, it wasn’t something he couldn’t handle, as he had already driven while fasting in the current year. However, the intensity from karting to F4 was on a different level and needed the Red Bull side to aid in accommodating it.

It took only a day before they received a response that Red Bull had accepted the requested additions to their F4 season plan. It turned out that it wasn’t going to be a huge disruption since, during the season, the training intensity itself is already reduced. All of the bodybuilding is done during the preseason, and during the season, all they do is maintain the body to ensure it remains at the peak it had reached. The only significant change would be the shift to slow-digesting carbohydrates and ensuring adequate protein in his pre-dawn meal to allow for sustained energy throughout the day.

With that response, his move to F4 was finally set in stone. Fatih began the process of his karting graduation, as on Thursday of that week, he started his travel for the second round of the FIA European Championship in Le Mans, France.

……

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are seeing a historical run that might not be repeated anytime soon. I can almost say it is not going to be repeated, but that would be tempting fate to send a challenger. Even then, the challenger will find it very difficult to match the performance the driver in front of us is putting in.

If you look at his record, unless force majeure or mechanical failure hinders him, he is always going to be in the top place on the podium. His average finishing position in most of the competitions he participates in is just 1, with no additional numbers, as there is no race where he underperformed to mess with the average calculations. Even his overall average finish across all competitions is around 1.15, a near-impossible number considering he has had more than seventy international karting competitions across various categories since 2014.

This reminds me of the article about Fatih from theconqueror.com two years ago, where the writer said, and I quote: ’He embodies the namesake of his name to the character that nearly all of the Turkish people know and look up to as an example of excellence at a young age: Fatih Sultan Mehmet II, the conqueror of Constantinople, now called Istanbul. He is one of the few with that name deserving of the moniker of the Conqueror, as that is what he has been doing in his international career, no matter the category.’

At that time, those who read the article had varying opinions about it. Some said it was overly praising and making a mountain out of a molehill, but he has been proving himself with his consistent performance over the last two years across different categories in different weather and track conditions, which I can say has made him worthy of the moniker he had been given.

AS FATIH, THE CONQUEROR, BRINGS IT HOME FOR THE FINAL RACE OF THE WEEKEND AND TAKES THE CHECKERED FLAG, TAKING HOME THE WIN FOR THE SECOND ROUND OF THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP, CEMENTING HIS LEAD AS HE GOES TO THE THIRD ROUND AS THE FAVORITE! UNLESS FORCE MAJEURE, ALONG WITH A SUPERB PERFORMANCE BY ONE OF THE TITLE CONTENDERS, HAPPENS IN THE FINAL ROUND, IT CAN BE COUNTED AS AN ADDITIONAL TITLE IN HIS CABINET!” the commentator, who sounded very satisfied with his long-winded and obviously previously prepared commentary, sounded excited at the end of it.

“He is definitely a good driver, but I can’t say that is how those who face him on the track feel. It has now shifted from trying to fight for the win to trying to fight for P2, as it has become a certainty that someone already has the race win reserved. I heard that some drivers in the KF senior category celebrated when they received the news that he was given an exemption to move to the KZ2 category for this year,” the co-commentator mused about the effects Fatih’s dominance had on those competing with him before he asked, “Do you think it will be the same for those in the current category if they hear that he is allowed to move to the KZ category next season?”

“It is undeniable that he is a scarily good driver, and those he competes with are also very talented, but he is on a different level than all of them. They most likely would celebrate, but they haven’t competed with him throughout the year since he had taken three months off, and during that period, those drivers were able to clinch some wins, so they haven’t experienced the same trophy and win drought that those in the KF senior category experienced over the years he competed there. So they won’t celebrate that much,” the main commentator answered with a chuckle as he realized what they were even talking about.

Fatih, now used to the race-end procedure, followed it to a T. Having not stopped on the rear side of the pitlane since he started his international career, he answered all of the questions in French, matching the interviewer’s language.

The gaze in his eye was slightly different as he was enjoying the last moments of his karting career, knowing that he was going to miss it even before leaving. He loved traveling with his mother and grandmother to these different countries and cities, where they toured the area every time they went to a new city, and he knew that was going to become a bit more difficult to do when he was in single-seaters since the Red Bull side was going to be heavily involved and the time he would have over the weekend would be very little.