Formula 1: The GOAT

Chapter 326: São Paulo III

Fatih sat in the garage in his Red Bull team kit, headphones connected to the team’s radio, as the cars started their formation lap.

"It is more complicated than what we had in F4," Alex said, leaning towards Fatih as they heard the race engineers going through the pre-formation lap checklist.

"Yeah, and if you miss something, it sends the grip and temperature wild and turns the start into a nightmare," Fatih said while chuckling.

While they were talking, the TV feed cut to the Mercedes pit garage, showing Toto Wolff with Rubens Barrichello standing next to him, waving to the camera. The feed then moved to the Ferrari pit wall before finally settling on the Red Bull garage, showing Horner keeping with his tradition of standing in the garage for race starts.

This time, it only showed him for a few seconds before it zoomed directly to where the guests were standing, revealing Fatih still talking with Alex. As if prepared beforehand, a title card appeared to introduce him:

[FATIH YILDIRIM, Red Bull Junior Team.]

[(2018): BRITISH F4 CHAMPION, (2013-2017) 4x CIK-FIA Karting World Champion, 4x CIK-FIA European Champion, 13x WSK Championship Titles + other]

"And there he is, the famous Red Bull junior driver making waves. That title card couldn’t be stretched any more, or else we would have seen even more titles on it. I’m looking forward to the day he gets to F1," Martin Brundle said as Fatih was introduced to the wide world of F1.

"I wonder what talent magnet Red Bull and Helmut have to find another Verstappen-level talent in the same year they found Verstappen," Crofty said as the feed showed Fatih finally realizing he was on the live broadcast. He turned and waved to the camera with a smile before returning to his conversation with Alex.

Fatih remained on the feed for ten seconds before it changed back to the track, where the top three were finally coming out of the final corner, doing their final burnouts as they headed to their grid positions.

"As you can see, this is one of the few grids we come to with an uphill start for most of the pack. It’s the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2018. IT’S LIGHTS OUT, AND AWAY WE GO! HAMILTON AND VETTEL GET AWAY VERY WELL, BOTTAS VERY FAST AHEAD OF KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN! VETTEL ON THE INSIDE, AHEAD OF VALTTERI BOTTAS, BUT FOR THE TIME BEING, BOTTAS SKIPS ON THE OUTSIDE, GETS A BETTER LINE ONTO TURN TWO, AND VERSTAPPEN IS AHEAD OF KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN!" David Croft commentated as the race started with excitement.

Martin Brundle took over for a moment. "BOTH FERRARIS ARE STRUGGLING TO GET AWAY ON THOSE HARDER TIRES. IT’S HURT THEM A LITTLE BIT."

"IT’S LEWIS HAMILTON THAT LEADS, FOLLOWED BY BOTTAS, AND VETTEL, RIGHT ON HIS REAR WING! THEN RÄIKKÖNEN, THEN VERSTAPPEN..."

..........

Fatih watched with full focus. Although it was a race he remembered quite well, that didn’t deter or bore him for a moment. He was now watching and enjoying it in another way; he was both enjoying the atmosphere and also seeing behind the curtain of the race, without the curated TV director’s version.

On the radio, he could hear the conversations between the race engineers and their drivers, and the strategists with the home base. He could see the mechanics shuffling in their chairs in their stuffy, fireproof race overalls, their helmets on their laps with the tires, covered in heating blankets, placed behind them.

On the third lap, they all cheered when Verstappen overtook Räikkönen for P4. They did the same when he overtook Vettel for P3 in the same place. Some of them stood up when he overtook Bottas on lap 10 into the Senna ’S’ and started chasing Hamilton for the lead. On lap 19, as Hamilton pitted, he listened on the radio to what they were discussing regarding strategy.

{We should not be reacting to that. Based on the pace, we still have the opportunity to open the gap and even keep the position,} Will Courtenay, the Head of Race Strategy back at Milton Keynes HQ, reported to Horner, the team principal, as he was the one who had the final say before they could move to the action phase. He needed to give an active "yes" or "no" before the team could take action.

{I’m of that thinking as well, based on the current pace and the simulation,} Hannah said.

{Then we do that,} Horner didn’t bother to argue, as he knew they were the best on the strategy side of things, so he went with their suggestions. And with Hamilton in the pits, Fatih watched as Verstappen went on to lead the race on his supersoft tires.

The way the mechanics rushed out with the tires on Lap 35 when it was decided that Verstappen had pushed those supersofts enough reminded Fatih of the chaos he’d seen in his own races. He already had enough of a tire offset to fight for the race win, which worked, as he came out in P3 behind Hamilton and Ricciardo. Daniel was yet to pit, so Verstappen was still a net P2 as things stood.

"This could be it," Martin Brundle said as the feed showed Max and Lewis.

"Verstappen is almost pushing that Mercedes up the hill here! Such is the pace difference, and such is the speed advantage he got at the exit of Junção! HE MOVES OVER TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF LEWIS HAMILTON! MAX VERSTAPPEN LOOKS AT HIS MIRRORS, DON’T KNOW WHY HE WAS DOING THAT, ’CAUSE HAMILTON WAS ALONGSIDE AND THEN WAS BEHIND HIM, AND HE IS NOW THE RACE LEADER AS HIS TEAMMATE, RICCIARDO, FINALLY PITS!"

Amidst David Croft’s commentary, the garage jumped up, cheering as Max got into the race lead. But that lasted for only a few laps, as on lap 44, while the feed was focused on Räikkönen overtaking Bottas, it immediately cut to show Max having spun and trying to rejoin the track. Everyone groaned or expressed their surprise, disappointment, and a mix of other feelings as they wondered what had happened.

"AND THAT IS MAX VERSTAPPEN, THE RACE LEADER, AND HE HAS SPUN COMING DOWN THE HILL! AND THERE IS A FORCE INDIA AS WELL! IS THAT SERGIO PÉREZ? DID THEY MAKE CONTACT GOING THROUGH THE SENNA ’S’? VERSTAPPEN HAS LOST THE LEAD TO HAMILTON BY SPINNING OUT!" David Crofty commentated as the feed showed Verstappen rejoining the track and trying to chase the leader, who was now five seconds ahead of him, before the replay immediately started from the Senna ’S’, showing two cars side by side.

"THAT WAS ESTEBAN OCON! APOLOGIES TO SERGIO PÉREZ! IT WAS OCON DOWN THERE!" David Crofty apologized for having thought the driver in the crashed Force India was Pérez instead of Ocon as the feed showed the cars spinning.

And he heard what Verstappen said firsthand without having to wait for the race director to play it for the rest of them. {WHAT A FUCKING IDIOT!} Max shouted into the radio a few seconds after showing a middle finger to Ocon.

{WHAT A FUCKING IDIOT!} he repeated again, and it was clear to anyone that he was not happy at all.

{Okay, can we still focus on the moment, Max?} Gianpiero Lambiase, Max’s race engineer, said, trying to calm Max and have him focus back on the race. After all, what had happened had happened, and they needed to recover the race.

But his attempt failed as Max reported, {Ah man, I have floor damage! FUUUUUUUUCK! FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!}

The race seemed to have settled after that, as despite his valiant effort, he failed to mount a challenge to Hamilton’s position by the time the checkered flag was waved and the race came to an end. Despite knowing about the pushing and shoving that was to come, Fatih didn’t bother going there, as he needed to rush to the post-race meeting, though he knew it wasn’t going to be shown on the broadcast anyway and would only be seen in detail in that season’s Drive to Survive.

The post-race debriefing went as well as a dinner between divorced parents who are still angry at each other, as Max was no less angry than he had been at the end of the race, having lost a win that had been virtually guaranteed.

Once that was done, he spent about an hour with his family touring the rest of the paddock and greeting people before they boarded the golf cart heading to the helipad, ready to take them from the track directly to the airport as the plane was already waiting. They needed to be in the air as fast as possible if they were to make it to school on Monday. As for their luggage, their team had already handled the gathering and sending it to the airport, as they handled everything else.

An hour later, the wheels of the private jet lifted off, and the journey back to the UK had finally started, bringing an end to a weekend full of excitement, a one-of-a-kind experience, and a dream come true for him.

It was time for him to return to his own journey, to turn this from being just an experience into a permanent one.