Formula 1: The GOAT

{Simulation, yellow flag on the Hangar Straight,} James radioed Fatih, who was approaching the Hangar Straight for practice.

Fatih didn’t respond with words, but his telemetry showed his answer as he maintained the throttle at exactly fifty percent, as if he were on a throttle limiter throughout the straight. Although he could take Stowe corner without braking at that speed, he still braked before taking it. But everything changed the moment he exited the corner; he was finally out of the simulated yellow flag zone and back to green-flag conditions, so he immediately went to full throttle.

However, that didn’t last long, as he lifted shortly before entering the pit lane despite not being called back into it. As he reached the limiter line, he pressed the pit limiter button, reducing his speed to the mandated minimum. He stayed in the fast lane for a few seconds before leaving it and coming to a stop in front of the garage, exactly where the mechanics, who were rushing with wind blowers, were going to stand.

{Is there a problem?} James asked the moment Fatih came to a stop.

“No, I wanted to try some setup changes and see how they translate on the track,” Fatih answered as his car was raised and pushed back into the garage. He was finally allowed to disembark, but he didn’t do so.

{Is the seatbelt stuck?}

“No, I’m not getting off since the changes are easy and fast to do,” Fatih answered as he raised his visor.

{Okay, we are listening,} James said as he pointed to the setup engineer to tune in to Fatih’s radio.

“I’m getting mid-corner understeer in Copse, making it difficult to keep it pinned because the nose is washing out. Let’s add three clicks of front wing to get the front end to bite. The rear starts to slide at the exit of Club. The tires have ’over-wintered’ (overheated), so the pressures are too high. Bleed about 1.7 PSI off the rears to give me back that traction. In the Vale chicane, the car feels ’lazy’ and slow to react during the direction change. Stiffen the front ARB by two notches to make the car sharper on turn-in.”

…

{Copy that. We’ll have the mechanics finish it in two minutes and have you ready to head to the track,} James answered before turning to the setup engineer and asking, “How are his setup suggestions?”

“They are quite good, and I’m very surprised that he knew them in the first place,” the engineer said, his face showing how impressed he was.

“What about it is surprising?”

“Drivers usually are good at knowing what doesn’t work as they expect, but most of the time they don’t know the exact reason as to why or what causes the problem, which is why most of our work is to interpret their words into possible actionable setup changes to address the problems. But he has pinpointed the exact cause of the problems, and although his adjustment suggestions are slightly off the perfect setup changes, I’m sure he will get there after a few more laps with these new changes,” the engineer said as he took a pen and started writing something down. In that short silence, he added, “Maybe he was really trying to understand how the tires were reacting to the track and not just playing around.”

When James heard the latter part, he turned and looked at him briefly, as even he had started to wonder the same because the situation had already spread through the people in the garage, and the information was changing from one person to another, including some rumors about how it was resolved and what punishment Fatih received.

But before he could say anything about it, the engineer was already on the radio, conversing with the mechanics and delivering the instructions of Fatih’s request.

“You said they were not optimal, then why are you giving them as they are and not fixing them when we are supposed to?” James asked when he heard the instructions were the same.

“I can do that, but that would be a disservice to him. He might think his suggestions were correct if I fix them, so it’s better to use it as a teaching moment for him to see exactly what his suggestions result in and the following adjustments he needs to make.”

“What if he fails to solve it?”

“That’s when I will step in and point it out, but before that, I should give him the space to learn individually,” the engineer said while looking in Fatih’s direction with the look of someone who had finally found something that made him curious and excited.

James didn’t say anything but just added it as a note in the events notes app. It was an app that was accessible to every person in the garage for them to write things down that they thought needed to be written, either as a reminder or something a driver did that might be important for another department to take into consideration. The notes would then be checked at the end of the practice week to create a single comprehensive document about the testing week, which would be used to address the problems faced during the test to be avoided in the next one.

……..

After the changes, he immediately returned to the track.

{You are in a nice gap, so take your time in bringing the car into the operating window,} James’s voice was heard as he left the pit lane.

Fatih didn’t answer as he immediately started pushing the car the moment he rejoined the track.

As he went around, his senses were fully focused on trying to see how the changes resulted. He knew they were not a perfect fit because he didn’t have enough time to point out the exact changes and amount needed, but despite that, his setup mastery ability had still brought him into the ballpark, so he was sure that it was going to work. Now it was just a matter of fine-tuning.

……..

{How are the changes?} James finally asked him when he finished his second full lap on the track.

“I overshot and undershot some of the changes, but they are still in the ballpark, and the changes are still effective,” Fatih said as he started his third lap, trying to fine-tune how many changes he needed to make when he returned to the pit lane.

“Looks like pole position has a name on it,” the setup engineer said with a chuckle. He knew if Fatih had managed to pinpoint such things in just two laps, then it was really over for the other two drivers if he didn’t heavily intervene to make it fair. Doing nothing would be unfair to the other two drivers, but doing something about it would be unfair to Fatih, as he would be punished for finding the answer. The setup engineer didn’t even consider bringing it up, though he was sure that this was going to be brought up after the free practice session was over and they were preparing for the qualifying session.

“But even without it, he is still on pole,” he added, this time in a lower voice, meaning it was really unnecessary as he was still ahead of the other drivers by a few tenths despite them having the remainder of yesterday fully to themselves. They were still improving even on the third day, unlike Fatih, who seemed to have found the edge and was just dancing on it while the other two approached it one step at a time.

…..

A few hours later, Rümeysa had finally left after handling everything about the agreement.

Helmut, who was now free from the meeting that ended with the agreement signed, finally asked about the situation on the track.

“The free practice, qualifying, and first race are over now; only the second race is left, which starts in ten minutes,” his assistant answered as they walked toward the situation room for him to start observing personally.

Despite knowing the most likely answer, he still asked, “Who leads?”

“Fatih.”

“In all sessions?”

“Yes, he was ranked the highest on setup suggestions by the setup engineer, set the fastest lap in practice, took pole in qualifying, and went on to take a grand slam in the first race.”

“Grand slam?”

“Yes, he led from pole, never lost his lead, and took the fastest lap of the race, finishing with a seven-second gap to the other two, who helped by fighting against each other for position.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA,” Helmut laughed heartily at hearing the results, as it was the best validation he could have for the decision he ended up making. It fully washed away the dissatisfaction that had come during the back-and-forth discussions, as each side wanted to either take more or give less.

But Fatih going ahead and dominating like he used to do in karting was the best possible outcome for him, as it meant there would most likely be no adjustment period at all. He would be able to arrive at a series and dominate before moving to the next the moment he was eligible, meaning they were going to see the return on their investment very early.