Formula 1: The GOAT

“At the start of lap nine, he was eight seconds behind, and at the end of lap nine, he is already behind Johnathan Hoggard, the race leader! He repeats what he had done to Simmons, tucking behind his slipstream on the start-finish straight, BUT HOGGARD, HAVING BEEN UPDATED ABOUT WHAT FATIH HAD DONE ON THE PREVIOUS LAP, MOVES TO THE INSIDE LINE TO COVER FATIH’S POTENTIAL ATTEMPT INTO THE CORNER!

FATIH REMAINS ON THE OUTSIDE LINE AND BRAKES EARLIER THAN HOGGARD, COMING OUT OF THE CORNER STILL BEHIND HIM! IT IS NOW A CHASE ONCE AGAIN AS THEY ARE ON THE SHORT STRAIGHT HEADING TO TURN TWO!

FATIH MAKES A MOVE TO THE INSIDE, BUT HOGGARD REACTS FAST AND MOVES TO THE INSIDE! AS THEY APPROACH THE BRAKING ZONE, FATIH RETURNS TO THE OUTSIDE LINE JUST AS HOGGARD STARTS BRAKING AND TURNING!

HE TAKES A LITTLE LONGER, AND NOW THEY ARE SIDE-BY-SIDE AS THEY ENTER THE HAIRPIN! FATIH ON THE OUTSIDE, HOGGARD ON THE INSIDE! WHO WILL BE IN THE LEAD AT THE EXIT AS THE TWO ARE NEGOTIATING GRIP AND CONFIDENCE WITH THE TRACK?!

FATIH USES HIS LINE TO HIS ADVANTAGE, AS IT IS NOT THE NORMAL RACING LINE, MAKING IT NOT RUBBERED IN, AND ALTHOUGH IN THE DRY IT IS NOT DESIRABLE, ON THE WET, IT IS THE PART YOU CHASE!

USING THAT GRIP TO HIS ADVANTAGE, HE MOVES TO TAKE THE RACE LEAD BY THE TIME THEY ARE OUT OF THE HAIRPIN, HEADING TO TURN THREE! AND BY THE TIME THEY EXIT TURN THREE INTO THE COOPER STRAIGHT, HE IS CEMENTING HIS LEAD!

A GAP OF TWENTY-FIVE SECONDS WAS CLOSED IN FOUR LAPS, SHOWING THE ENTIRE WORLD FOR THE SECOND TIME THAT HE IS THE RAIN MASTER ABOVE EVERYONE ELSE!

AND THERE ARE STILL TWO AND A HALF LAPS REMAINING, BUT IF THINGS GO LIKE THIS, JEWISS WILL SECURE HIS TITLE WITH NO CONTENTION, AS THE CLOSEST TEAM ARDEN DRIVER TO JEWISS IS STILL FIVE SECONDS BEHIND, HAVING CLOSED THE GAP TO HIM BY A SECOND SINCE LAP SIX.”

As the feed showed Fatih entering the long straight, the TV director also played the radio conversation happening between him and his race engineer, James.

{Jewiss?} That was the only thing he asked.

{Still in P3. Simmons’ attempts have yet to produce results, and Doohan in P5 is still five seconds behind, with Simmons between them.}

Fatih didn’t say anything more as the broadcasted radio conversation ended.

“It has to be feeling shitty when you have done everything in your hands and it’s still not being enough, IS WHAT I WOULD HAVE SAID, BUT IT LOOKS LIKE FATIH IS TAKING THINGS INTO HIS OWN HANDS, HAVING SLOWED DOWN FOR HOGGARD TO CATCH UP TO HIM ON THE SAME STRAIGHT!

AND AS THEY TAKE THE HAWTHORN BEND, THE TURN AT THE END OF THE LONG STRAIGHT, WHICH HE USUALLY TOOK FASTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE, HE TOOK IT SLOWER AND WIDER, CAUSING HOGGARD TO TAKE IT SLOWER THAN HE USUALLY DID AS WELL! IF WHAT HE IS DOING IS WHAT I’M THINKING, THIS IS GOING TO BE THE GREATEST RACE END OF ANY F4 CHAMPIONSHIP EVER!”

Justin, who was about to try and convey how a driver or a person who had done their very best, but it still not being enough would feel, and how that might lead to them losing the edge in their performance or motivation, found himself once again shouting when he saw the way Fatih took the corner at the end of the long straight.

And Fatih’s actions on the following corner proved his thoughts to be right.

Fatih was slowing the pack down, compressing his and Hoggard’s cars’ gap to meet and slow down Jewiss so that Simmons could make a move for the final podium position. But Fatih had two and a half laps to do that, and the gap to the next group of cars was still more than twenty seconds. This meant he needed to slow Hoggard through all of the corners while keeping his position on the straights and losing as much time as possible so that there would be a few corners for Simmons to make a move.

…

“So now we have to hope that Simmons manages to make a move before the checkered flag?” James asked the strategist the moment he finished updating Fatih on the situation. It was very obvious that there was no other way, but he still asked the question in the hopes that there was something he had missed. He didn’t want it to end like that.

Fatih, who had come back from a twelve-race ban, had done his very best to close that gap, and only as he was about to take the lead did his Silverstone weekend happen.

Despite that, he did everything he could to close the gap again, and he had gotten very close. If things ended like this, he would lose the title by a meager three points, and he didn’t know how that would affect Fatih, who had done everything in his power, only to lose.

“He is not doing what I think he is doing, is he?” the head of strategy asked instead of answering, causing James to look at him, only to see that he was focused on the screen, looking at Fatih’s telemetry.

“He is taking things into his own hands,” James said with a smile once he understood the situation.

And both of them, everyone on their pit wall, everyone in their garage, every team on the pit wall, everyone in the grandstands, and everyone on the opposite end of the TV watching this race was now fully focused, trying to see if the move would work. Some were feeling excitement at what someone was willing to do to win. Some were feeling nervous, having placed themselves in Fatih’s shoes. Jewiss was surprised and worried when he was updated about the situation, and Simmons saw an opportunity and a podium possibility.

A possibility, that was all Fatih needed.