Formula 1: The GOAT

“As he comes out of the final corner, once again it is Fatih Yıldırım who is on the receiving end of the checkered flag, and for the second time, Fatih Yıldırım WINS THE SILVERSTONE TEST 1 TRAINING RACE SIMULATION! WHAT A GOOD DRIVE FROM THE YOUNG DRIVER, AND WHAT A BAD NAMING SENSE FROM THE PLANNING TEAM!” the temporary commentator said, his voice full of excitement as if he were an actual Grand Prix commentator.

“As for the best of the rest, it is Jack Doohan who takes a win on that, with Dennis Hauger taking the last place of the three drivers after a valiant fight to try and prevent that from happening. What a good training week, and we can now say with confidence that we have talented drivers. However, unfortunately, we can’t enjoy it anymore as we now have to prepare to welcome them and deal with the post-race matters.

How I wish the world was a simulation, but well, it was either that or I become a mechanic in F1, and we all know which one is the best option. And now we have to go and do that work,” he said, causing all the mechanics who were already standing to start laughing as they gathered their foldable chairs, while some of them already took jacks and the cooling fans to go and welcome the drivers who were on a cooldown lap, which was unavoidable as the pit entry was before the finish line.

There was no need for anyone to say anything about how the race went, as they all knew that, despite having spent less than even half of the time of the other two drivers, Fatih dominated the weekend. However, they were experienced people who were in the sport for a period of time, and despite being beaten so badly, they could see that those two drivers were also very talented. If they had been against the average driver, they would have been the ones fighting for the race wins, so no one looked down on them.

………..

{What are you doing? You are not thinking of doing donuts, are you?} James asked when he saw Fatih’s car-mounted camera showing his car swerving left and right as if he was preparing for a safety car restart despite the race having already ended.

“I’m not. I’m trying to gather data on the suspension loading. I couldn’t fully focus on it when I was racing since I had to consider other things,” Fatih said before he stopped, as Jack Doohan had already caught up to him in the middle of the cooldown lap, raising his hand to give Fatih a thumbs-up, which Fatih reciprocated before Jack passed him.

Once he was alone again, he resumed loading the suspension, observing how the compression happened and how it bounced back in response to it, completely unaware that his actions were completely misunderstood by the other two drivers.

……..

Dennis Hauger was slowly modulating his throttle as he watched Fatih weave side to side in front of him.

“Is he making sure we see it?” he asked himself as he was forced to slow down to match Fatih’s pace. He thought that Fatih wanted everyone to see him celebrating his win and, as a result, was rubbing it in their faces.

“Fuck!” he said when he saw Fatih not leaving a way for him to pass, but also as a means to vent his frustration. He couldn’t even say anything against Fatih’s actions since he didn’t have any performance that could have acted as a counter-argument to spoil Fatih’s celebration by branding it as an over-exaggeration of his achievements.

However, that didn’t matter, as the justification for actions only mattered to the one doing them, not the one on the receiving end. They, too, have their own interpretation of the situation, and for Dennis at the moment, the interpretation was that Fatih was rubbing it in their faces, which made him unfit to consider Fatih a great driver. It was his way of distracting his mind from the pressure he was starting to feel, as he knew that his performance was going to be dissected by Helmut, and him being last in both races wasn’t helping him at all.

When he agreed to the offer, he believed that he was talented enough that a Red Bull sponsorship was the wings he needed before he could soar into the sky. But instead of that happening, he was now no different than the people who are used to make someone else look good. He had even wondered if it was done deliberately, and his way of thinking was not out of thin air. They already knew that, unlike the two of them, who had only a three-day training period, Fatih had three entire weeks entirely focused on that.

At the start, when they heard about it, the two of them thought that Fatih was only good on the track but not so on the theory part, which made them feel quite good and gave them the confidence to be able to beat him on the track. But that line of thought changed the moment they saw his pace, and also his technical breakdowns during the briefing sessions, which were sometimes done jointly, showing how much he actually understood the car, to the point that he could converse with the mechanics as if he was a junior mechanic and not a driver.

If everything he knew was actually the truth, then they were no different than sacrificial lambs for the new master. But he wasn’t planning on it remaining that way for long, as he planned to spend more time in the simulation to study Fatih’s driving style and break it down until he knew exactly where Fatih had a better pace and how he did that so that he could either replicate or even best it.

With mixed emotions and a determined line of thought, he finally entered the pit lane behind Fatih, who had continued his swerving all the way to the entry of the pit lane, where he resumed driving as normal until they came to a stop in their assigned garage spots.

………

“For the next two weeks, each of you will be assigned your own telemetry engineer to go through all of the data we gathered for the entire three days in order to understand it better and have a better understanding of the situation before we return here and compare the improvements between the two practice sessions.

So don’t take these two weeks lightly, as it might allow some of you to finally understand the track more in-depth and catch up, and for those ahead to improve further. For today, you are free to leave after the post-race debriefing is completed, and you have tomorrow free for you to rest before we resume with the program the following day, understood?” James went on a long-winded update on how the situation would develop now that the final race of the simulation has been completed.

The drivers each responded in their own ways, some verbally and some just with a nod as they hydrated.

“Good, then we can start with the post-race debriefing,” James said, finally taking a seat while the other people in the room were now fully primed and ready for the upcoming discussion.

………..

Alex silently drove the car as they headed to Surrey to take the sleeping Fatih home for rest, and to spend his free day with his family. Although he looked calm, his mind was filled with complicated thoughts regarding Fatih, to whom he had been assigned. He was slowly realizing just how much pull the fourteen-year-old had when he learned that he had made Helmut take a step back on a matter, the same Helmut who all the drivers in the junior team both respected and feared, as he ran the academy in a no-nonsense, ruthless style. It made him realize how impressive that was.

Having seen both Fatih’s talent and his leverage in the team, he had now been placed in a dilemma. Depending on which side he chose and how things went, his future career in motorsports would either rise or crash heavily. He now had to choose between remaining loyal to Red Bull, who were currently hiring and paying his salary, or to Fatih, the fourteen-year-old who had big potential, but it would take a very long time for the fruits of choosing him to bear themselves, and that was if they bore fruit in the first place.

The choice was very difficult but a necessary one to make, because depending on which side he chose, the way he was going to act would be different. This was exactly why he needed to make that choice, because until he did, neither Fatih nor Red Bull would fully and truthfully trust him.

If he chose Red Bull, then he would be used as an information point to provide them with leverage to tilt the power scale to their side, but this was also already the default option, as they had hired him and placed him next to Fatih with that expectation.

If he chose Fatih, then everything he did needed to have Fatih as the main beneficiary, with Red Bull being secondary, and not the opposite. This meant if something was beneficial to Fatih but harmful to Red Bull, he needed to do it if he chose to side with Fatih.

Fatih hadn’t yet brought up the topic of choosing sides yet, either because he hadn’t even thought about it, and his mother would be the one to do it for him, or it would be known naturally just from the way he would act on matters related to Fatih. So, should he side with Fatih or Red Bull was the question he needed to answer.