Formula 1: The GOAT

Chapter 285: Race Weekend | Saturday | Copse Corner

“AND THEY TOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!”

“HOGGARD IS OUT OF THE RACE! THAT IS A BIG CRASH INTO COPSE! FATIH CONTINUES WITH THE RACE AS JEWISS TAKES THE RACE LEAD AND A SAFETY CAR HAS BEEN DEPLOYED!” Justin continued, focusing on the driver on the track as the feed did the same. They would only return to the crash if they were confident that the driver was fine, to avoid mistakenly showing viewers the death of a driver.

But he didn’t even have to wait for the feed to tell him the driver’s condition because the crowd did it for him. He heard cheers from them, and immediately, the feed changed to show Hoggard getting out of his car, his helmet, including the visor, covered in dust as he extended his hand to one of the marshals before completely leaning on him, his legs seemingly having no power.

“Thank God he looks to be fine. I hope that is where everything ends in terms of damage, but it doesn’t seem like it was an easy shunt because the medical car has been deployed, so we are confident that the crash exceeded the G-force requirements needed to deploy it. And here is the replay, let’s take a look,” Justin said just as the feed changed to the replay of the crash.

The replay started all the way from the final corner of the lap, Woodcote, as it showed Fatih and Hoggard trying to gain an advantage over one another. Fatih made an attempt to take the outside route, which was closed, only to react and take the inside.

In order to take Copse corner at the high speeds they did in all the previous sessions, the cars usually turned slightly left before committing to the right turn, in order to both cut the corner slightly and load the right-side tires for grip through the high-speed corner. Both drivers did the same, and just as they turned right, heading into the corner, Fatih’s front-left tire clipped Hoggard’s right-rear, sending him sliding off the road, across the tarmac run-off, and into the gravel.

His left rear tire dug in for a moment before sending the car tumbling upside down, sideways, until it crashed into the barrier, while a tire could be seen hitting the barrier fences a few meters away from where the car came to a stop.

“OOOOOOOOOH,” the commentators couldn’t help but react that way because the original feed didn’t show the full crash, meaning they didn’t see the car digging in for a moment before being sent tumbling all the way to the barrier.

“That’s brutal, and thank God he came out of it walking. We really need to adopt the Halo very fast before things go very wrong,” Brad said just as the replay feed changed to show the same thing, but from Fatih’s onboard T-cam.

The sequence was the same, but this time Fatih’s inputs, along with Hoggard’s car in front, were the main focus.

“It was the merest of touches, but it was enough. Look at how that rear tire was ripped off the rim, showing how much speed they were going,” Justin said as the T-cam replay repeated once again.

“It is surprising how Fatih’s tire didn’t rip itself, but the touch was enough to send him off the track and allow Jewiss to take the race lead,” Brad said as the replay feed once again changed to another angle.

At the same time, the radio communications between the drivers and their race engineers started playing. They started with Fatih’s. {Is he okay?} he asked, as he was now on the opposite side of the track, making it impossible to see what was going on as they were going very slowly under safety car speeds.

{Yes, he is okay, and the medical car has been dispatched,} James answered almost immediately.

Another driver also asked similar questions, receiving similar answers, while others also added their thoughts on whether Fatih’s aggressive driving was bound to injure someone. But most of them focused on Hoggard’s condition.

That didn’t last long, as James’ radio conversation was once again played. {An ambulance has been dispatched to pick him up.}

However, before the competitors could say anything in reaction to this, something else happened, causing them to focus on that.

“And a red flag has been issued on the fourth lap, as the barrier now needs extensive repairs, and it can’t be done with cars on the track.”

…..

{Red flag, red flag, follow the safety car into the pit lane,} James said on the radio, causing Fatih, who was swerving left and right to keep heat in the tires, ready for a restart, to stop doing that and drive straight behind Jewiss.

{It needed to happen on lap two, not five,} Fatih said as he entered the pit lane, slightly frustrated at the delayed decision. He knew there was a big chance a penalty was going to come his way, and the fewer laps remaining in the race, the fewer laps he would have to overcome it. Now, with five laps gone, he only had about fourteen or thirteen laps to do something about any possible penalty.

{We agree, but we will talk about it on the pit wall,} James answered, and a few moments later, Fatih’s car came to a stop behind Jewiss’s in the pit lane fast lane, with Hauger stopping behind him in P3. He then got out of the car and headed directly to the pit wall.

“Can you check the front-left suspension and tire?” Fatih said, catching Lisa, who was walking behind the mechanics who were rushing to the car to put fans with dry ice on it before the engine overheated.

“Okay, but are you okay?” Lisa asked when she saw the look on Fatih’s face under his open visor.

“I’m fine, just frustrated, that’s it.”

“About what?”

“A few things overall,” Fatih said before walking away towards the pit wall, wanting to immediately review the replay because he was very confident that he had positioned himself perfectly to be able to take the corner side-by-side and not have it recreate the Verstappen-Hamilton crash ahead of its time in this world.