Formula 1: The GOAT

“How are your preparations for the weekend?” Amidst the lull in the party, Fatih asked Seraphina, who was sitting on one end of the garden, drinking juice alone.

“I have been practicing every day after school, but I can’t help but be nervous about it. It is a major event after all,” she said, lowering her head, feeling embarrassed that she had to admit that in front of Fatih, someone who had been in such events numerous times in the past few years, to the point that it might appear no different from a normal event to him.

She was currently preparing for the upcoming CIK-FIA European Championship’s second round, which would be taking place at the PF International circuit, as one of the wild card entries for that round. Up until now, she had only participated in local competitions and had netted quite good results as she continued to improve.

This time, both her doctor and parents agreed it was time to expose her to an event that was of the same style she was used to but larger in scale. Her application was accepted once they received additional help from Fatih’s mother, who used her contacts with the two powerful teams that previously worked with Fatih.

“Don’t worry too much. I will be attending as well to support you, and now that I’m finally done with the exams, we can practice together as preparations,” Fatih said as he patted her back to calm her down. He knew that she had attended one of his previous karting races and had seen the number of people attending, so it was quite a monumental situation for her to imagine herself among the drivers on the track, not as one of the viewers.

“You are coming?” she asked in a surprised tone as she turned to look at Fatih with an excited expression. She knew just from knowing that he was among the people watching her would calm her down and give her peace of mind, so it was a very welcome addition to the weekend.

However, it was also a burden for her, as she knew he was the best driver she had ever seen, so him watching her drive during the competition would be nothing but revealing holes and mistakes in her driving. But the positive aspect of it overruled her worries.

“Yes, I’m free anyway since I still have two weeks on my ban from the F4 season,” he said as he lay on his back, looking at the sky, not wanting her to see his expression.

“I have to go tell Mom about this,” she said immediately as she stood and rushed to the house to find her mother. In her rush, she had even forgotten that there were people looking at her as she was fully focused on something else, leaving Fatih, who was watching her run, chuckling before he returned to looking at the sky.

Now left alone, Fatih took a few seconds looking at the sky, but his mind immediately went back on track, which was something he couldn’t avoid no matter how hard he tried. He raised his hand with his palm facing the sky before he said, “Two weeks,” and then closed it into a fist as if he was reaching for something.

Knowing that staying there would not be helpful at all, he just stood and returned to the house to talk with the few friends who attended the party, as he genuinely looked forward to the gifts he would be receiving from his mother.

And they did not disappoint. The moment the time for him to receive gifts arrived, he finally realized how the rest of his family was viewing this day. Knowing that the current situation he found himself in was a result of his age not meeting the minimum requirement, which led to him being banned from the competition for four weeks and twelve races, the gifts they brought really seemed to emphasize that the roadblock ahead of them was finally out of the way.

Despite being a very rich 15-year-old, he was very grateful for the gifts from both family, neighbors, and friends, which he expressed to all of them, no matter the size of the gift. Before long, only his mother was left, and she just handed him an envelope that seemed so light that it could almost be thought to be empty as she said, “Happy birthday.”

Fatih respectfully received the envelope, and with a nod from his mother, he finally opened it. Inside, there were only two papers. One of them, on top, was his officially approved and stamped license from TOSFED, which in itself made Fatih’s hand tremble for a moment because, although it was only a single page, it was very heavy in his mind.

After placing it aside, he immediately looked at the second piece of paper, now very curious as to what it was to be placed together along with his license. “Wow,” was the only word that could come from his mouth when he read it, as he was both surprised and impressed by the lengths his mother went to take his mind off the F4 situation.

“Tony Kart reached out to us on Monday to check on your availability as one of their drivers had a crash that required him to be out for a month, so he won’t be able to participate. They wanted to know if you could participate as a substitute entry for the weekend,” Rümeysa said with a proud smile on her face as she looked at the speechless Fatih.

“Looks like I will join you on the track,” Fatih said as he looked at Seraphina and showed her the second document that clearly stated that he was a substitute driver for the Tony Kart team for the CIK-FIA European Championship’s second round.

While Seraphina was speechless reading the document, Fatih hugged his mother as he thanked her heavily for such a good gift. He knew that, although it sounded like it was Tony Kart that had reached out to them, she, too, had worked hard trying to come up with something else to distract him from the upcoming race weekend, now that he didn’t have anything major that he needed to focus on, like his GCSEs that he had already finished.

He was now looking forward to his first karting competition, where he would be participating with Seraphina in the same OK senior category, which was thanks to his penalty only being limited to the British F4 championship. As for Seraphina, who was holding the document, she was shaking as she imagined having to fight against Fatih on the same track in an official competition, as she knew she would finally see him go all out, with all of the other drivers, along with her, acting as a benchmark.

“Are you sure you should be happy bullying people?” Apollo, not wanting to be left behind, asked him while he was in the middle of hugging his mother.

“Isn’t it good for them to see what is possible in order for them to chase that ideal?” Fatih said, responding to Apollo in his mind.

“What a good excuse to bully people,” Apollo said, not taking what Fatih said as the truth at all.

“You will help me practice in the simulation, right?”

“Don’t you dare, or I will nuke your kart, and I can really do that, and you know it,” Apollo said in exaggeration in response to Fatih’s joke. He knew that if it were not for his insistence on spending only two hours practicing in his F4 car, Fatih would have spent every day only driving that car on his first track post-suspension. However, even with his current two-hour limit, Apollo knew that the Croft weekend was going to go into the history books.

……..

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first day of the second round of the 2018 CIK-FIA European Championship. Although the competition itself attracts a large audience here at the PF International circuit, today it has even more people than the norm because of that driver right there, patiently waiting at the end of the pit lane, Fatih Yıldırım, who has been a topic of discussion for many people in motorsports for the last two weeks as a result of his participation in the British F4 that resulted in a four-week or a twelve-race ban, creating an opening for him to participate in this race as a substitute for the Tony Kart / Vortex team’s injured driver.

Even without that, he is a driver whose name calls for respect in the motorsports karting category, as he has won all of the championships he has participated in to completion. This competition is no different, as he held the title of CIK-FIA European Championship across all of the categories, and his return is not only an interesting event for viewers but it is also both frightening and exciting even for the drivers participating, as they will finally be facing him instead of hearing anecdotes or watching his racing videos and be able to measure themselves against him.

But for me, it is something I’m completely looking forward to,” the main commentator started his commentary, which was now being heard both on the track and on the YouTube livestream, which had way more viewers than normal, as the articles that had been talking about Fatih’s situation also wrote about this, as it was an interesting development.

“I am as well,” his co-commentator said just moments before the track was green-flagged and the free practice session officially started, with Fatih being the first driver to join the track with everyone’s attention on him.