Formula 1: The GOAT

”What is the family’s temperature on this?” Horner asked.

Although he didn’t have any control over who could be signed into the Red Bull Junior Team or promoted to AlphaTauri, as team principal, he had the power to decide who raced for the main Red Bull Racing team. It was clear to anyone that Helmut was only telling him that because of that, as he was looking to offer Fatih something to keep him with them, as they couldn’t risk the chance of losing him to another team at all.

”The only important thing to them is that Fatih gets into an F1 car the fastest way possible and will definitely go with the one who guarantees them that,” Helmut said, revealing what he had learned about the Yıldırım’s main focus after years of dealing with them.

”But won’t they have to pay the money we spent on them if they leave before they race for us? Can they afford that much amount...?” Just as he was about to finish his question, he paused, realizing how foolish the question was. If a driver of similar talent was in another academy and it required them to pay the fees spent on him during his academy period, he would definitely shell out that much money, and the three teams had the financial muscles to agree to it without much of a consideration.

”Our only advantage is that we currently have the first right of refusal to match any offer received by the other teams, along with our relationship with him, but he has already shown signs of being open to outside offers since the 2018 F4 season,” Helmut said, reminding Horner about Fatih’s docuseries of that year that caused quite a sensation when it was released in 2019 due to the story and all the things in it, including Fatih’s statement that made it clear that he was with Red Bull because of their fast promotion culture if you are talented enough, and insinuated that if someone else could offer that, he was ready to go to them.

”So what do you have in mind?” Horner asked.

”We need to lock him in as fast as possible before others offer them something ridiculous that we are forced to match.”

”But didn’t we already agree to a pretty bold decision on guaranteeing him a seat if he wins two Formula titles, which he has already won? What is the problem?”

”The worry is that they will offer him a seat directly in their main teams,” Helmut answered.

Red Bull couldn’t guarantee that, no matter how talented he was. If it were another year, they would have done that, but not this year and next, as they were under the ”No Excuses” mindset. They believed that they had a title-contending car for both the 2020 and the 2021 seasons, so promoting a rookie directly was not something they could risk. The team fully expected to be fighting Hamilton for the title both this year and next and, in turn, needed a reliable and experienced rear-guard to help score points for the constructors’ title, not a rookie who was yet to be proven on the track, no matter how good he was in the lower series and on the test.

”We had guaranteed him promotion to the main team for the next season if he won a race or finished in the top three of our team’s drivers. How about making it so that he can be promoted to the main team if the situation allows for it, and we guarantee it for the next season if he can win two races?” Horner suggested, knowing that it was impossible for him to win any race in AlphaTauri in the era of the dominant Mercedes and Red Bull.

”And we also guarantee a promotion to the main team if he finishes within our agreed range?” he offered, knowing full well that this was going to be the main clause that would make his promotion possible and motivate him.

”Two races? Are you sure that is something he can agree to?”

”He has to look at it from our side, since we will be debuting him as soon as he is eligible, which should be in Monaco next year. After missing the four rounds before that, he will have a full season to show us his capabilities. Other teams will most likely delay his debut for a few more races to try and see his free practice performance first before pulling the trigger, and to also allow him to acclimate to the situation. At least, that is how I would do it if I were in their position.”

”But what if he actually manages to do it? Do we risk another Albon situation while we might be competing for the title again next season? We can’t risk that, can we?”

”But if he can win five races in that car, then doesn’t that mean he is good enough to not face the same problem?”

”You can see it that way, but you can also think of it as a person performing well when there are no expectations on him, but the moment he is in a car where a certain level of performance is expected, he might crumble.”

”I put him in many situations where he had too much pressure on him to crush a driver with a weak mentality, and he didn’t crumble, so I can guarantee he won’t.”

”That was when he was in the lower series. This is Formula 1. Do you think it is the same?”

”Then we can include a clause that allows us to demote him within a certain number of races if he doesn’t perform to certain standards. How about that?”

The two of them started talking back and forth about the possible clauses they could offer to fully lock Fatih within their program and not lose him to other teams. Since Horner, who had the final decision on who could be promoted to the main team, was there, it allowed them to come up with offers related to the first team that Helmut couldn’t have guaranteed on his own.

And while they were doing that, Fatih had already left for his second five-lap stint, fully unaware of what was going on inside a room at the Silverstone circuit.