Formula 1: The GOAT

FWUUU!

“Damn,” Jack Doohan said. He had moved out of the racing line to clear the way for Fatih, who was on his second flying lap, and was shocked when he saw how fast Fatih went by him as he approached the braking zone.

However, as if to defy his expectations, and despite coming from the longest straight, Fatih braked so late that Jack thought he had a brake problem. When he finally started braking, Jack couldn’t see how Fatih could possibly stay on the track without locking up the tires. But, as if to mess with him, Fatih managed to reduce his speed to the exact amount needed to take the Tower Bend and nailed the corner perfectly.

From his point of view, Fatih’s car looked incredibly pointy and responsive, unlike his own. He knew exactly how that pointiness was achieved; it was so sensitive that he couldn’t even imagine driving a car with that level of sensitivity. Wanting to see more, he immediately pushed to follow Fatih, trying to watch more of the lap.

“God,” he groaned when he came out of the corner and saw that Fatih was already a few seconds ahead. He knew he would only see him until he entered the triple right-hander, but despite that, he still resumed the chase.

….

“Wow, he is driving it like it’s in a neutral setup,” the setup engineer said while looking at Fatih’s onboard feed, seeing every input he made.

Usually, when a car was as sensitive as Fatih’s, many drivers would need multiple micro-adjustments to get the desired result. But Fatih’s inputs were scarily precise; he was turning the wheel and stopping it at the exact angle that resulted in the car cornering perfectly.

It was a level of control he had only seen in one other driver, and it made him wonder what would have happened if the minimum age rule in F1 wasn’t put in place. Would the youngest driver record have been broken by Red Bull once again? Unfortunately, that was a door that had been permanently closed.

“He is still improving,” James, Fatih’s race engineer, said in response, while both of their eyes remained locked on the car and its telemetry.

“He is already adapting to the new setup and improving. This is getting scary. Do you feel like he has changed a bit?” the setup engineer asked.

“Why?”

“The Fatih of the first weekend and the Fatih of today act very differently. Previously, he listened to suggestions and was even collaborative. But the Fatih of yesterday and today has lost some of that and seems to be very set in a certain direction on certain things, like the setup.

He had already made up his mind about what the setup was going to be and went into detail all the way down to the spring stiffness he wanted. It answered my question as to why he was constantly watching the mechanics during the training rounds, but if this continues, it might be a problem.”

“But weren’t his suggestions on point? Why is that a problem?”

“The problem is that he looks like he is now trying to do every role he can because he has lost trust in the team,” said the setup engineer, pointing out something that others who didn’t think deeply about it had completely missed.

Normally, when it came to things like setup changes, the driver describes the feeling he wants from the car, and the setup engineer does the thinking about what needs to be changed for that outcome. Even if the driver was knowledgeable, instructions for what should be changed were usually given as suggestions for possible ways to achieve the desired outcome.

But Fatih had done all of the setup engineer’s work for him, leaving only communication and supervision as things the engineer could do. Though he had given setup-related instructions in the past, they were done collaboratively, so the suspicion was not unwarranted, especially considering where trusting the team had led Fatih.

“Let’s talk more about it after monitoring him for the rest of the weekend before we reach a conclusion,” James said, trying to give a look that suggested he wasn’t convinced. But inside, he knew this was a possibility for another reason entirely.

Fatih was the one who decided to go on the track when only five minutes remained, and he had said it in a way that indicated that even if he were told to join earlier, he wasn’t planning on following those instructions. With the setup engineer now adding fire to his thoughts, he decided to first wait and see for himself how Fatih acted for the remainder of the weekend.

……..

“…he comes out of the final corner where the driver would feel like the car is crawling, but he keeps it on the ground, back on power as fast as he can do it safely, and it is now a drag race to the checkered flag and it is… IS THE TIMING TOWER CORRECT?” Instead of mentioning the time, Justin questioned the validity of the timing equipment itself, so surprising was the number shown on the screen.

“A 1:19.941! He is a full second ahead of the closest driver,” Brad said in disbelief as he looked at the time, his co-commentator Justin still silent.

“A full second! It is an unbelievable gap for a series with equal machinery in every way except setup, tire grip, and the driver in the car. Oh my god,” Brad said, pausing for a moment before he continued.

“Everything had to be perfect for these two laps to be achieved. He carried the minimum fuel, went for his first lap with only two minutes on the clock, meaning the track was at its grippiest for the entire session, and his new tires were at their peak, along with perfect placement of the car for the entirety of the lap. And it secures him a pole position for both the first and third races! A double pole position for his first-ever official qualifying session.

And here is the starting grid for the first race that will be in a few hours. Fatih Yıldırım is in pole with a time of 1:19.941. In P2, we have his teammate Dennis Hauger with a 1:21.001. P3Kiern Jewiss, 1:21.039. P4Paavo Tonteri with a 1:21.058 time. P5Ayrton Simmons, 1:21.238…. And lastly, in P14, we have Jamie Sharp with a time of 1:22.209.” Brad took over the entire commentary as Justin seemed to have forgotten he was at work while the feed showed Fatih on a cool-down lap, gently bringing down the tire temperatures before he returned to the pitlane.