Formula 1: The GOAT

Chapter 232: Race Weekend | Saturday | Qualifying

“It is a very clear reminder that some of those on the track are still rookies and have yet to have enough experience on what to do on a track that potentially has other cars speeding past you and are not the size of a kart,” Justin said as the screen showed the car that was the cause of all of this moving slowly, the focus of the footage before the camera shifted to show Fatih appearing out of nowhere and repeating the avoiding maneuvers in slow motion.

“But that is still clear-cut impeding and reckless endangerment and a penalty-worthy action because he stayed on the racing line despite not being on the first lap, causing the incident. I’m surprised his pit wall didn’t warn him about Fatih approaching at all,” Brad said in a clear-cut, not suggestive tone at all as the replay kept happening and changing angles, and finally, it showed the inboard camera.

From the positioning, only a portion of the cockpit could be seen, but all the steering inputs were visible. From it, the track looked empty as the car climbed the rising elevation, only for the car to reveal itself once the corner was fully committed. Just as the elevation started falling, Fatih immediately started his evasive measures and counter-steering to keep the car tame until everything went out of control and he was beached in the gravel.

“Well, they are rookies, and thankfully, he reacted very well. It’s just that this part of the track is really not that forgiving, and he had almost made it out of it unscathed, but the curbs didn’t quite want to show any leniency at all. So he is definitely out of the session, and depending on the damage to the car, it looks like it is going to be difficult to participate in the following session as well.

It’s quite a blow to a driver who was just on his first-ever F4 session, and to only be able to spend ten minutes on the track is quite devastating for his chances of being able to perform well in qualifying. I hope the repair can be completed in time for the second session,” Jackson said as he watched Fatih powering off and getting out of the car. He walked to the rear of the car, looking at the tire rupture that had sent him there.

“He doesn’t look happy at all,” Jackson said as Fatih, on the screen, was shaking his head in disappointment before he turned, walked towards the road, and crossed it without worry, as the session was red-flagged due to where his car was beached.

“Well, I wouldn’t be happy either if my session were ended because of someone else’s negligence. And he looks like he plans to walk it out all the way back to the pit lane, hahaha,” Brad said as the feed showed from another camera focusing on Fatih, who was starting to jog on the right side of the track back to the pit lane, not planning to wait for someone to come and pick him up as it was only a few hundred meters from where he was.

…….

“Do you feel anything out of place?” James, Fatih’s race engineer, asked him the moment he returned to the pit lane and walked to the pit wall.

“I’m fine, but the car isn’t. From the look of it, the suspension and the gearbox mounting point seemed to be heavily damaged,” Fatih said as he took off his helmet.

“Oh, looks like it is going to be a race against time for the second session,” James said, not even bothering to ask for Fatih’s reasoning of how he came to that conclusion, as both he and all of the mechanics in their garage knew just how much he knew about the car. They had seen him show his level of understanding during the many practice sessions they had jointly held with Red Bull, making them trust his judgments on most mechanically related matters.

“Do we even have a spare gearbox here?” Fatih asked as he pointed to his garage.

“We have one, and if we didn’t, we can just borrow or buy one from any of the teams here. The cars are the same anyway,” James said as he chuckled.

“I will go to monitor the other drivers’ telemetry,” Fatih said before tapping James on the shoulder and leaving the pit wall, heading to the garage without worry since data between teammates was being shared openly, with the other two being the biggest beneficiaries of this decision. On the way, he met the chief mechanic and gave her the same report about the crash as the one he had given James before he headed further into the garage.

It took ten minutes until his car was returned to the garage and the session was resumed. The inspection found out that Fatih wasn’t too far off from his initial observations. They really needed to change the gearbox and the rear suspension system altogether, which was expected to take at least four hours to complete, meaning he was out for the rest of the day.

After receiving the report, Fatih decided to clock out from the session early since everything that needed him on the track was over anyway, and staying further brought no benefit to him. He returned to the hotel to resume his preparations for his upcoming GCSE exams, which were coming in May.

…….

“It is Saturday, ladies and gentlemen, a minute left to nine, and it is the first qualifying session for the British F4, which we are looking forward to very much. The weather is overcast with a brisk breeze, and despite the clouds, it has yet to rain, though the risk of it happening in the middle of the session is not out of the question.

It seems everyone in the paddock knows that, as all the drivers are now lined up at the end of the pit lane, waiting for the green flag that is a few seconds away to join the track and set their time as fast as possible,” Brad said, starting the official commentary for the first qualifying session of the 2018 British F4 season.

“For those who are new to watching F4, the qualifying format is very easy. It is a twenty-minute session where drivers have unlimited lap attempts with no eliminations like in the upper series. The driver’s fastest lap sets his grid position for race one, and the second-fastest lap sets the grid position for the third race.

And the green flag has been waved, marking the start of the session as Patrik Pasma is the first to enter the track, already in a hurry to set a time as he has a three-place grid penalty for causing the incident that ended Fatih’s free practice session due to the extensive repairs needed to be done on his car,” Jackson took over as the feed showed Patrik Pasma leaving the end of the pit lane the moment the lights turned green.

“Drivers need to give themselves a few seconds of distance from one another in order not to suffer from the turbulence of the cars in front of them. Although a slipstream is beneficial on the straights, the risk they cause in corners and the limitations on radio communications, together with not enough radio repeaters like in F1, means the quality of radio communications across the track is very location-dependent. So most of the time, drivers are limited to their own judgments, and we should expect the session to be stopped at least two times due to mistakes.”

……

{Distance is good enough to not be interrupted. You are free to go for a fast lap,} James said on the radio as Fatih was on the second sector of the track, having slowed down enough to create a gap.

Immediately upon receiving the radio update, he started weaving left and right, trying to pump as much heat into the tires as possible to bring them to their optimal temperature. As he neared the end of the third sector, he just floored the car just as he exited the final turn, gaining speed on the straight as he approached the start-finish line, setting himself up on the left side of the track, ensuring he would naturally reach the left side by the end of the straight.

…….

“Patrik Pasma is on a very good pace as he shows confidence in his inputs,” Jackson commented as the screen showed Patrik Pasma in sector two, having set a purple sector one, which was highlighted on the graphics screen. But out of nowhere, the purple-highlighted sector one turned green before the feed immediately changed to show Fatih coming out of the Druids Bend hairpin, already gaining speed.

“Oooh, the victim looks to have a very strong pace as he beats Patrik Pasma’s sector one time by two-tenths and looks to be on target to do the same for sector two, which is the fastest sector of the track as it has only one legitimate corner. And he really takes it aggressively as if he had done it a hundred times, which is not true as he couldn’t do more than a single lap yesterday before he was out of the session.

But none of that is visible as he projects confidence, AND HE SETS ANOTHER PURPLE SECTOR AS HE ONCE AGAIN BEATS PATRIK PASMA’S SECTOR TWO TIME AS HE GOES THROUGH THE SURTEES AND MCLAREN CORNERS AT FULL THROTTLE BEFORE BRAKING FOR CLEARWAYS TURN! AND HE DOES IT WELL, AS NOW IT IS A DRAG RACE TO THE FINISH LINE AND IT WAS PERFECTLY TIMED AS FATIH SLOTS BEHIND PAAVO TONTERI’S CAR THAT IS STARTING ITS PUSH LAP FOR A SLIPSTREAM AS THEY BARRELL TOWARDS THE START-FINISH LINE! AND WITHOUT A SURPRISE, IT’S ANOTHER PURPLE SECTOR, AND HE SLOTS HIS NAME ON THE PROVISIONAL POLE!

AND THE TIME IS ALREADY FASTER THAN THE FASTEST LAP TIME SET IN BOTH OF YESTERDAY’S SESSIONS AS HE IMMEDIATELY MOVES OUT OF THE RACING LINE.

A 0:46.552 lap time, which is a tenth faster than Patrik Pasma’s lap time, but there is still more than seventeen minutes in the session, and as the track rubbers in, expect the times to get faster and faster! And as if to prove us right, Fatih’s second sector time is beaten by his teammate, Dennis Hauger, as he is on pace to beat Patrik’s time at least! And it looks like a very interesting showdown is going to happen in today’s qualifying session, and I’m looking forward to it!”