Formula 1: The GOAT

“Why would they call you now?” Rümeysa asked in a slightly raised tone, surprised by what she heard from Elena on the other end of the phone.

“I don’t know the reason yet. I’ve just been told that Fatih has caused a problem, and I’m being called to the meeting to hear more details about it,” Elena said, giving her all the information she had.

“Fatih? Caused trouble? The same Fatih we know?” Rümeysa found herself saying those words, pausing after each one, conveying her disbelief.

Many mothers believe their kids can do no wrong, often minimizing problems in their own minds. For Rümeysa, however, the situation was different; she had genuinely never heard of or seen Fatih cause an actual problem.

The few times she was called to school, it had always been caused by the other side, with Fatih justifying his defensive actions. Other than those instances, he had never been the instigator. Initially, she had worried about his problem-averse nature, but after a few trips to doctors, she accepted it was just his personality. Doctors had warned her that puberty might bring a change, but even that phase passed without altering his disposition, much to her relief.

But just now, she heard that her unproblematic and respectful son had caused trouble big enough that his manager was being called in, making it clear that a punishment was likely.

“I’m having trouble believing that, too, but we all know how different he becomes when he is in the car. Maybe it’s a misunderstanding as a result of that?” Elena said, as she too was having a hard time believing he had caused a problem. If it was a misunderstanding that happened while he was in the car, then the possibility was there, albeit a small one.

Anyone who had actual contact with Fatih when he had his helmet on knew that he became nearly a completely different person: unyielding and relentlessly competitive, to the point that many wondered if he had multiple personalities. Only under that condition was it considered possible for Fatih to cause a problem.

“I will be coming too. I want to hear and see it firsthand to believe it, and if it’s really a problem, I need to talk to Fatih,” Rümeysa said.

“I will meet you there then,” Elena said before the call ended.

Rümeysa got up and gathered the papers she was in the middle of reading, placing them in her handbag. After informing her mother that she had to go somewhere, she got in her car and started the two-hour journey to Milton Keynes.

…

“Why is he leaving?” Jack Doohan asked James as they were going through their telemetry. He saw Fatih carrying his backpack, walking away from the pit lane towards the parking garage, despite it only being noon with several hours of practice time remaining. For Fatih, it was even worse, as he had only had a total of less than an hour on track over the past few days.

“He has been called back to headquarters,” James said, and didn’t go into more detail since it was not his place to.

“Looks like they are impressed,” Jack Doohan said with an envious tone. He thought the call was a response to the pace Fatih had shown on the track, completely unaware that it was about something else entirely.

“I hope so,” James said as he hid his reaction and resumed going through the videos with him.

Jack looked at Fatih, who was walking and casually talking with Alex, before he turned his attention back to reviewing Fatih’s videos.

……

“That is what he was doing, and when I reprimanded him for it, he tried to argue about it. So what do you think?” Helmut said as he pointed towards the paused screen showing Fatih with his eyes closed on track.

The meeting had started once all parties arrived, with a video montage showing all the instances of Fatih having his eyes closed while driving, which deeply frightened his mother when she saw the speed overlaid on the side of the screen. Additionally, to show that he was being fair, Helmut had also shown them the footage of his crash from different angles, which had Rümeysa shooting Fatih a sharp glance as she wondered why he hadn’t told her about it.

But despite all the evidence shown, which clearly made Fatih appear to be in the wrong, in the eyes of Rümeysa, as both a lawyer and Fatih’s mother, she knew that, depending on how things are portrayed, even an innocent person could be made to look guilty. Before making any decision, she turned to Fatih and asked, “What is your side of the story?”

“The crash did happen, but it was a result of brake failure, so it is unrelated to this situation. I’m completely fine and was even cleared by the medical center. I didn’t tell you because hearing about it would sound bigger than it actually was, and I was planning to talk to you about it when I returned home and could explain it in detail, so you would see that I’m fine.

As for closing my eyes, that is also true. I was doing it in order to get a better feel for how the tires act, and I did it only on the straights after being sure I knew exactly how long it would take to cover the distance. I counted the time in my head before opening my eyes. It is something I have been doing since my karting days, and neither then nor now did I crash or even veer from the road. It is one of the reasons I know the cars so well.

I understand his safety concerns and his sensitivity being higher since I just had a crash, but the cause of the crash and what I was doing were two different things. The problem that I have is with how things were handled, by moving immediately to reprimanding me before even hearing my side of the story and my reasoning.

It’s clear to anyone watching that I wasn’t just doing it for the thrill. Immediately after I was called in, I was given the verdict and a warning without being allowed to say anything or being asked any questions.

Since it was only a reprimand, I could have turned a blind eye to it, but because it risks setting a precedent of them getting used to making decisions regarding me without hearing my side of things, I decided to stand my ground on this matter in order to enforce that,” Fatih said, his detailed way of speaking leaving nothing to interpretation to avoid any misunderstandings.

“Firstly, the cause of the crash is still being investigated. And what is there to think about and hear your side when what you did was dangerous? That’s the end of it. Do you mean you want us to hear your reasoning every time you do something that is very obviously wrong?” Helmut said, completely unreceptive to Fatih’s reasoning.

“Danger is literally baked into the sport, and yes, I would like for it to be the case where my side of things is listened to before a decision is made.”

“Yes, danger is part of the sport, but needlessly chasing it on top of the danger already in place is careless and needs to be squashed before it becomes a habit.”

“Why does it feel like you are ignoring the reason that I gave as to why I was doing it?”

“It is because it sounded like an excuse you came up with after the fact.”

“I’m sure the telemetry disagrees with you.”

Just as the back and forth was about to continue, risking the situation growing bigger than it needed to be, Elena, who was just observing, interjected. “Let’s have a short break to reconsider things before we gather again. How about that?” she said, trying to buy time to first have a conversation with her client and see how far he was ready to take things.

“Sure, we can stop for twenty minutes. We’ll have twenty more minutes for the meeting after that. If it goes longer, then we will have to reschedule for tomorrow, as I have an important appointment in an hour.”

“Twenty minutes is enough,” Elena said.

“I will be back in twenty,” Helmut said before he stood along with his assistant and immediately walked out of the room, leaving Fatih and his team alone in the meeting room.