Formula 1: The GOAT

He immediately countersteered 1as the car was about to slide as he joined the track. The tires were cold, forcing him to lift 2slightly more than he was already doing as he tiptoed into turn three, deliberately going wide into the part of the track that was not used in dry racing. The coarse and un-rubbered-in nature of it made it grippier in the rain.

He did the same while going through The Loop, before finally getting back on the power as he entered the Wellington Straight, pushing while gently pressing the brakes at five percent pressure to generate as much heat as possible from the brakes to be radiated into the tires, bringing them up to temperature as much as possible.

Apollo, on the other hand, was already a few corners ahead with a thirteen-second gap between them that was now being extended, since his tires were warmer than Fatih’s and were also going to reach their optimal operating window earlier. Although his abilities were matched to Fatih’s, his experience was doing a lot of work, as it took those abilities and pushed them to their limit.

Unlike Fatih, who was still not capable of using Invictus to its fullest, Apollo could, and he was using that to his advantage as he chased for only the grippiest part of the track, while Fatih did the same but with much lower proficiency.

As a result, the gap remained the same, with Apollo gaining a few hundredths of a second per lap due to his better utilization of his abilities. But even with only five laps remaining, Fatih didn’t give up or pull back as he pushed the car even more, trying to reduce that gap as much as possible. Doing that finally didn’t work, as he was playing on the edge for too long.

The rear tires started sliding when he tried to turn for the Maggots and Becketts sequence, forcing him to counter-steer and sending him through the curbs 1before entering the tarmac escape road that was wet and had standing water. He tried to steer the car back onto the track while applying light braking to regain control of the sliding car, barely catching it before finally rejoining the track and continuing with the race, but he had lost five seconds during this period.

.......

As the loss of control happened, those watching on the pit wall held their breath as they watched Fatih fighting the car, using the brakes and throttle to regain control before rejoining the track. The expressions on their faces could have told a story to anyone who had seen them.

Horner’s eyes returned to the lap times that Fatih had been putting on the board following the start of the rain, and it was very clear that he was really driving as if he was in the middle of a real race. He was pushing to lap times similar to those expected on an actual Grand Prix weekend, which meant that Fatih wasn’t planning on driving with a breathing room just because it was a practice race and was afraid of crashing. None of that hesitation was seen even after that near-miss, since he was already back to pushing.

This entire week, which had been set as a practice week for Red Bull to see how Fatih would perform in an actual car, had turned out to be a weekend where he was again and again reminding them how talented he was, how serious he was, and what he was capable of doing if and when he got on the F1 grid.

{Final lap,} James called on the radio as Fatih crossed the start-finish line.

.......

{And checkered flag, checkered flag,} James called as Fatih crossed the start-finish line for the final time. Fatih aggressively moved to the right of the Hamilton Straight to get closer to the wall separating the straight and the pit lane, as there were mechanics cheering for him there.

He slowed the car down to a crawl before abruptly accelerating, letting the car slide forward slowly while sending a large amount of water into the air, and continuing to do that for about fifty meters before he resumed his slow drive and cooldown lap around the track.

Looked at from the outside, he looked happy, but anyone who could have seen his face would see that he was in the middle of having complicated feelings. Although he was excited and happy that he had gotten to drive an F1 car in a full race simulation, he had lost too much SP to the point where he was now in debt until his [CHALLENGE MISSION: Experience Challenge #002], which had started the moment he moved to single-seaters and just collected the rewards he earned for racing until he finished the ladder series, was completed. As a result, all of the SP he had gained from other missions outside the main one was now fully gone, and he still owed more than 6,000 SP.

But he wasn’t worried much, because he knew that the mission would most likely be considered completed the moment he signed the contract guaranteeing him a race seat.

”HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE, you are looking sad because you lost? Did teaching you about competitiveness go too far, to make you believe that you can beat me?” Apollo, who appeared in front of Fatih, who was still on his cooldown lap, said with a bright look on his face.

”You won due to luck,” Fatih argued back, despite knowing that it was not true at all.

”Luck is part of skill. Looks like you didn’t have that part sorted out,” Apollo argued back with a childish response, when he could have reminded Fatih that he was too focused on thinking short-term and forgot there was a heavy cloud hanging over them, meaning the chances of rain were very high.

But he knew it was also a sound gamble, since if the rain didn’t come for at least ten more laps, Apollo had planned to pit then anyway, since he couldn’t stretch it any longer, and Fatih would have secured the lead. But now was not the time to say that to Fatih, as he knew it would be seen as him just saying things to comfort him and wouldn’t mean anything.

”I’m going to beat you one day, and I will repay all of this,” Fatih said, his expression returning to normal in a single blink as he stopped telegraphing what he was feeling.

”I will die of old age before you can do that, but to not kill your motivation, I WILL BE LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT DAY,” Apollo said before disappearing, not planning on taunting Fatih anymore, because he wasn’t really that heartless.

Going three for three, the garage welcomed him with a standing ovation once again as he got out of the car, having finally finished his TPC 1week that he had enjoyed so much that he didn’t want it to end. The cheering got even louder when they heard Fatih was treating everyone in the garage to an all-you-can-eat dinner when everyone was done packing things up. After all, who says no to free food, and at a high-end restaurant at that?

His mother just slapped her forehead as a joke when she heard Fatih giving that promise, as it was going to cost them at least a few thousand euros due to the number of team members present in the garage, but it was something they could afford without hurting their budget anyway.

After all, they were currently in a Schrödinger financial situation, as by the time they pulled out all of their investments, they would either be billions of dollars rich or in debt, but until then, they still had money to spend.

Countersteered: Turning the steering wheel rapidly in the opposite direction of a slide to prevent the race car from spinning out.Lift: Backing off the accelerator pedal momentarily to shift vehicle weight forward and restore grip to the front tires.Curbs: The raised, painted concrete borders defining the inside and outside boundaries of a corner turn.TPC (Testing of Previous Cars): An official FIA regulatory framework allowing teams to run unlimited test mileage using chassis that are at least two to three years old.