Formula 1: The GOAT

{How long will it take to clear?} Fatih asked on the radio as he passed the crash area on the second lap of the race. It was still only being attended to by marshals, with no collection truck in sight, making it clear that this was not going to end by the end of the lap.

{It should end at the latest by lap five,} James responded a short moment later before he added, {You will still have enough time to challenge for a podium at the current pace.}

{That is not the reason I asked.}

{Is there a problem with the car?}

{Not that there is one,} Fatih said.

To an average listener, that response was taken at face value, but the moment it came from Fatih’s mouth, it meant something different entirely. That specific wording was one of their agreed-upon codes to confirm the question without it being known to the rest of the paddock. It was used in specific conditions where the damage was not visible, and if it were known, the other teams could do their best to force it to fail. His current situation fit that description perfectly.

{Let’s go through Dashboard page D,} James said after a short pause.

Although the things drivers could change on the car were limited, one of the few things that was free to do was customize what the dashboard displayed. Many teams had different pages for the dashboard: some showing delta times, some showing diagnostic data, and others for additional information that the driver or teams deemed important. So, using the dashboard pages as a means of indirect communication allowed for some flexibility.

{It says section one, sub-two in oil pressure…}

Their back-and-forth coded communication continued as Fatih updated them on the situation of the possible problem he was feeling.

…..

James, now looking at a piece of paper that had a top-down diagram of the car, divided and subdivided into different sections, drew a circle on what would be section one, sub-two. It landed squarely on the front-left suspension. With every additional piece of information, it became very clear that this was exactly where the problem was coming from. He immediately pressed the button that connected him to Lisa, Fatih’s chief mechanic, and asked, {Fatih is reporting the vibration he was feeling yesterday is slowly intensifying. What did the morning checks reveal?}

{We did the checks, but they were mostly visual, and nothing alarming was discovered,} she answered moments later.

{What if it is internal?}

{Then the visual inspection wouldn’t catch it most of the time if there is no external bend.}

{Is there a chance he can survive this and still drive at the current pace?} James asked the performance engineer, who had access to all of the data from the car.

{At the moment, it is not big enough to register in the telemetry as an anomaly and could mostly be attributed to the pace he is driving and the suspension not being given room to breathe. It is difficult to judge unless we see the load and distribution on the left side increase with each lap. We won’t know the exact extent it can handle before giving out.}

{The safety car is a good baseline for that, then,} Lisa jumped in.

{Yes, I will correlate the data from two of the safety car laps and see if there is a noticeable increase in some places…}

Their conversation continued back and forth for about a minute before an action plan was decided, and it was immediately communicated to Fatih.

{Maintain current pace,} which Fatih interpreted as, “continue doing what you are doing until further instructions.”

{Understood.}

…..

“Fatih is practically in a position where he would have started if he had won the first race, so this is nothing but good news for him, as he weaves left and right in P8, trying to put as much heat into the tires and keep them alive for as long as possible,” Justin said.

“That crash really made him gain five positions in a single lap while keeping the entire grid bunched up. Anyone who has a good race restart will be the final winner, and if data is anything we can trust, he is someone you don’t want to be near at all when restarting, but you can’t avoid it either…” Brad took over, but in the middle of his rambling, he was interrupted by the banner that just appeared.

“The safety car is coming in on this lap, and we still have sixteen more laps to go! It is all up to Jack Doohan on how late he wants to leave it before he goes. He has until the end of this lap to make his decision, as the safety car is already in. HE DOESN’T LET IT EVEN MARINATE AS HE GOES EARLY INTO THE MAGGOTS COMPLEX AND ONTO THE WELLINGTON STRAIGHT! HE HAS MADE A VERY POOR STRATEGIC CHOICE AS HE IS NOW GOING TO BE TOWING EVERYBODY BEHIND HIM! THEY ALL NOW LINE UP TO GAIN A SPEED ADVANTAGE AGAINST HIM!”

“IS IT REALLY A POOR STRATEGIC CHOICE WHEN NO ONE CAN OVERTAKE ANYONE UNTIL THEY PASS THE START-FINISH LINE, WHICH IS STILL AN ENTIRE SECTOR AWAY? NO MATTER HOW MUCH OF AN ADVANTAGE EVERYONE HAS, THEY ARE REQUIRED TO REMAIN IN THEIR POSITIONS ALL THE WAY TO THE END OF THE LAP, AND SLOWING DOWN MIGHT CREATE A CONCERTINA EFFECT, WHICH I THINK AND HOPE WAS HIS INTENTION FOR GOING THIS EARLY.”

The feed showed the long line of cars driving behind one another on the Wellington straight, with some of them being forced to move to the side to avoid hitting the car in front, while also trying to avoid overtaking. Some of them over-braked, causing those in the rear to do the same or risk a penalty, messing things up for everyone and resulting in the gap between Doohan and the rear groups widening more and more before they reached the braking points.

Fatih, on the other hand, was forced to reduce his speed compared to the pace he could go, as the cars in front were not driving to the max they could to avoid the same situation. He lost even more time through the corners, but the moment they exited Luffield, he immediately accelerated to reduce the gap to the car in front. As he tried to cut into the inside line, he usually took to gain a distance advantage and make an overtake the moment they passed the start-finish line. Dennis Hauger, who was in front of him, immediately moved to cover it. The speed difference was so great that if Fatih did nothing, they would definitely crash.

“AND FATIH STEERS SHARPLY TO THE LEFT, FORCED TO TAKE EVASIVE ACTION! HE GOES WIDE BUT MANAGES TO KEEP IT ON THE ROAD AS THEY ENTER THE STRAIGHT! HE ENTERS WIDE INTO THE CU— OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…” Justin found himself speechless at what happened in front of them.

Forced to jink from the inside right all the way to the outside left at such a high speed, Fatih’s car ran wide as they exited the corner. The harsh curbs on the outside met the front-left suspension, and it snapped like a twig. With the front-left wheel gone, the car instantly oversteered mid-corner. The rear swung around, sending him sliding helplessly across the track and into the start-finish straight wall, narrowly missing other cars as they swerved to avoid the wreck.