Formula 1: The GOAT

”We guarantee him a seat no later than Round 5 of the 2021 season, barring force majeure1,” Helmut said as he wrote that as the first item on the memorandum of understanding.

Round 5 of the 2021 season, the Monaco Grand Prix, would be the first Grand Prix where Fatih would meet the age requirement and be eligible for the superlicense. So Red Bull was virtually guaranteeing him a seat in F1 the moment he could take it. As for who would be replaced for him to take over, that was something they would be responsible for resolving later.

”Duration five years, right?” Horner said with a look as if it was normal.

”Two years,” she answered back.

”Four,” Helmut counter-offered.

”Two,” she remained adamant.

”Two plus one,” Horner countered.

”So long as it is a mutual agreement, I’m fine with it,” she said, finally agreeing.

Although for other drivers, being offered a five-year contract in an F1 team would be something they would agree to without much thought, as there is nothing better than a guaranteed seat, Rümeysa didn’t have to worry about that. The talent she had seen in her son gave her the confidence to fight for a short-term contract, as it would give Fatih the freedom to move if the team was not competitive at the end of the 2022 season, should Red Bull fail to deliver a good car under the new regulations.

All of this, however, hinged on Fatih being able to deliver while in F1. If he disappointed, then the power would shift from Fatih to the teams, and Red Bull could even be the ones terminating the contract at the end of the first guaranteed two years.

Helmut just noted down the second line of the contract: Two years guaranteed, plus one under mutual agreement from both sides.

”What about promotion to the main team?” she asked.

”We will guarantee it starting in the 2022 season based on how he performs in the 2021 season. We plan to avoid promoting him early like we did with the two drivers who couldn’t handle the pressure,” Horner said, using Albon and Gasly as an excuse for not promoting Fatih to the main team mid-season. The main reason was that they knew they were on the right development path, and both this and the 2021 season were going to be competitive, even fighting for the drivers’ championship. Having a new number two who was not going to be competitive and helpful to the team was not something they wanted.

”What if he outperforms the team’s second driver?” she asked, not giving up easily.

”We will think about it then, how about that?” Horner said, planning to shelve it for later.

But she didn’t give up, as she said, ”We need it now so that he can prepare himself for it.”

”How about making it this way: if he wins two races or finishes on the podium five times, we will promote him to the main team,” Helmut suggested, trying to get to the middle ground. It was difficult enough that promotion was nearly impossible for the sake of Christian Horner’s worry, while also putting forward a clear way for him to be promoted to the main team if he met the criteria. They were difficult enough that if he actually accomplished any one of them, it would be difficult for them to argue against the promotion in the first place.

”Why two races?” she asked.

”To see how he deals with the now-increased expectations following his first win. If he handles it well or crumbles under those expectations, because promoting him immediately after a single win would put him under many times more pressure than he would have if he remained in the same team,” Horner was the one who answered this time, showing that he was going to agree to it if these were the conditions to open the path to the main team.

Rümeysa thought about it for a moment before she said, ”How about making it two podiums?”

”Four is the most we can go and be able to explain to our bosses.”

”Then four is enough,” she said, happy that she had at least reduced the number of podiums.

As Helmut wrote the third term, Horner looked at Rümeysa with curious eyes as he wondered if she was that confident in her son’s ability to take at least three podiums in a midfield car based on just trust, or if she was using his performances when the cars were equal and had not considered that in F1, the cars were far from equal. But it didn’t matter since this clause virtually guaranteed that they would only have to focus on a single driver as the clear number one on the main Red Bull team for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, since there was no chance he was going to win two races or get the second option of four podiums.

”Since the car is going to be in the midfield, should he be rewarded for every good performance? For that, I think a bonus per point is a good incentive to push him to fight for more points. How about 50k for each one?” she suggested, as she moved from someone who was confident her son was going to be on the podium to highlighting that a midfield car would be barely fighting for points, so he should be rewarded for each one he earned.

Helmut coughed when he heard that she was suggesting they pay Fatih fifty thousand dollars for every point he earned, trying to mirror the offer that bankrupted a team when the Lotus F1 team offered it to Kimi Räikkönen.

Helmut wanted to outright reject that, as he knew Fatih would definitely drag the AlphaTauri to points more often than not. So he thought about it for a moment before he counter-offered, ”How about we offer ten thousand per point, but if he scores a podium, the points earned in that weekend will be paid at 25k per point?”

”Twenty thousand per point, fifty thousand for podium points, and half a million dollars for a race win,” she counter-offered.

”A million dollars for a race win, but thirty thousand per point if he finishes P2, twenty-five thousand per point if he finishes P3, and ten thousand per point otherwise for the first year,” Helmut counter-offered, as he doubled the payout if he won a race in return for reducing the points paid for normal points. He was confident that, barring a spectacular situation on the track, a race win was far away from Fatih. Even in his stretched imagination, the furthest Fatih would go was a P2. That’s why he gave the counteroffer with full confidence.

”Deal,” she agreed without arguing in the slightest, making Helmut pause for a moment before writing it as he tried to see if he had missed something. When he didn’t see anything, he just wrote things down as they had agreed.

Horner just looked at how Helmut put a million-dollar-a-win offer on the table as if it was going to be coming out of his own pocket, and wanted to propose a maximum cap. But since it was already agreed, he decided against it. After all, it was not going to reach any level that would hurt their pockets in the first place.

”Guarantee Fatih absolute parity of hardware, software, and operational support,” she said, having seen and learned about how some teams prioritized their number one driver in all parts, including new parts and more. Although she didn’t expect her son to be a number two driver, she didn’t want to leave things to chance because situations change, but contracts don’t—at least, not until both sides agree to the changes.

”That is easy,” Horner said as Helmut wrote that down.

”These are good enough for now,” Helmut said as he straightened the napkin. All the major and most important parts of the contract were already there, leaving only the miscellaneous parts and the detailing of the already agreed-upon terms. But those were things their legal team and Fatih’s would be working on the fine print for within the week of exclusivity they had guaranteed themselves.

”I need a picture of that,” Rümeysa said as she picked up her phone and reached for the napkin to take pictures of it and the conditions.

”Please forward me the picture, and by tomorrow I will send a digital copy of it as well,” Helmut said, with a face of someone trying to hide his smile but failing to do so.

This contract just guaranteed him the opportunity to see two drivers of his making going head-to-head against one another in equal machinery.

Force Majeure: A standard legal phrase covering unpredictable, uncontrollable disasters leading to the contract not being honored.