Formula 1: The GOAT

“For the tenth time, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the British F4 final round’s first session. In a rare situation for the series, the title chase that had been considered over in the middle of the season is still on, and it will take a final checkered flag to know who the 2018 British F4 Drivers’ Champion is. We are in the perfect circuit to do that, as this track is where everything started, making it the best place to end it.

Fatih Yıldırım drove a very fast qualifying lap in the first round that was still competitive at the end of the session, but it was the one and only official timed lap he entered, and it is most likely the lap he hates the most in his career so far, as it resulted in him receiving a twelve-race ban for entering a competitive session without reaching the minimum required age.

This essentially made everyone who followed him believe that his season had come to an end before it even started. But he has made a record-breaking comeback, though it has not been a smooth ride. He left the last round with a strained hand and zero points, although he made sure his other title contender didn’t take an additional fastest-lap point during Race One of the Silverstone round.

On the other hand, we have Kiern Jewiss, the current title leader, with a lead of 63 points. It is a big enough lead that if it had been any other year, we would have considered it a done deal for him and would have been fully confident that he would be the champion at the end of the weekend. But having someone like Fatih Yıldırım chasing you is a big enough thing that we know there is a chance for a turnaround.

However, to him, this track has better memories than it does for Fatih. He finished on the second step of the podium twice, with the other one being just a position short of a podium for the entirety of the first weekend. But this is not going to be any sort of advantage for him, as the first round on this track was on the Indy Circuit configuration, but this time it is on its longest setup, the Grand Prix Circuit, so it is a new track for all of them for most of the lap.

This makes it a new track, and in those, we have seen Fatih be the best of the rapid learners. But we have to take into consideration that he is not fully healed, though he has passed the test to allow him to participate in the session. We don’t know if he is going to bounce back after such a nightmare of a week in Silverstone, where everything that could go wrong for him did. He is also on the final round, 63 points behind, when on the previous weekend it was only eleven, which would make anyone with a weak mental capacity almost ready to give up.

As a result, this makes it a very fair fight: a fast learner coming from a bad weekend against a good driver coming from a very good Silverstone round with a 63-point cushion that is a nightmare for the other side but a calming and reassuring gap for him. So how do you think this weekend is going to come to an end?” Justin, who was finally done with his long, detailed, and planned rambling, finally gave Brad the opportunity to say what he had on his mind.

“As commentating with a Scottish accent next season is still on the line, I have to remain on the side that will save me from that, so I will be on the side believing that Fatih will be the champion at the end of the final race this weekend,” Brad said while chuckling as he reminded Justin about the bet they had made on this track during the first round, where Brad chose Fatih to be the title winner. The loser would have to commentate a single weekend in a Scottish accent.

Justin, who had at the start believed it was going to be one of the other experienced drivers, but then later became a fan of Fatih, said while chuckling, “How naive I was at the start, but a bet is a bet. So, is there a reason you believe that?”

“I believe it is a possibility so long as a few conditions are met, and if the team decides to operate in the same way the mother team operates, this weekend will be the most exciting one, and…” Brad started giving his reasons on why Fatih still had a chance of winning the title.

……

While they were rambling about who had the highest chance to win the championship, one of those two contenders was still in the middle of putting on his race suit.

“Let’s hold on for this weekend, and we can have as much rest as we want,” Fatih said as he held his left hand with his right while clenching and unclenching it into a fist.

He had learned from Apollo on the night after the medical test that the injury was worse than the doctor had explained, and it was only seen as a mild one due to his Sponge Body ability rapidly starting to repair the damage. Thanks to that, the healing window that would have taken more than a month for a normal individual was still expected to heal in three weeks. The two weeks he had were enough for him to pass the required test, but it still made it painful for him to drive.

“Are you sure you can handle driving with that pain?”

“I lived with a pain worse than this for my entire previous life, so this is nothing I can’t handle,” he said as he rotated the fist of his left hand before he added, “Plus, with Invictus, it should be easy to handle it and be able to focus on the driving.” He said this with full seriousness.

Although there was no harm in him not even participating in this race, and no harm would come to his future prospects if he lost the championship, that didn’t feel right to Fatih. He both loved the sport and was super competitive, so to just sit on the side when in his previous life he had dreamed and imagined having such an opportunity was not an acceptable trade-off. He would definitely be cursed by his old self if he made that decision, and even his current self would have done the same.

To him, winning this title was important, but more than anything, driving the car was the main thing, so there was no way he was going to not participate.

Apollo, looking at Fatih while hearing the unwavering determination in his mind, couldn’t help but smile and not say anything, as he too was looking forward to how he was going to drive around his problem.