Chapter 404: Race Weekend | Thursday | A Push Lap II

01:15.918

"It is a one-fifteen for him as he moves to the top of the timing sheet, and that is impressive considering he is most likely on heavy fuel and medium tires, with a clear track," Natalie Pinkham said as the camera remained on Fatih, who was going for his second push lap immediately.

"That was an impressive push lap, and even more impressive for someone doing it for the first time... OOOOOOOOH, Mazepin interrupts him on his second run! He definitely has to be fuming, considering he was already improving on his second push lap and up on his first sector time by a tenth..." Karun said in reaction to what was happening on the screen, as it showed Fatih having to slow down due to Mazepin not moving out of the way, resulting in him aborting his push lap.

{Keep me as far from him as possible,} Fatih said on the radio, which was broadcast on the live feed almost immediately.

"HAHAHAHA, that is not what I expected to be his first reaction," Paul di Resta said upon hearing what Fatih said on the radio following the impediment that killed his second push lap attempt.

"Yeah, I expected him to be angry at either Mazepin or the team, or even both, for not coordinating things, but he is just asking them to keep him as far from Mazepin as possible! HAHAHAHA," Natalie also chimed in due to how unexpected the response was.

"And to see how impressive that lap time was, we currently have seven lap times on the board already set, and all of them are down from Fatih’s by more than half a second, with the closest one being Carlos Sainz. But let’s see the replay of his push lap... OOOOOOOOOOOOH!" the three commentators, who had finally moved on from his reaction to Mazepin to talking about the lap time itself, found themselves releasing some impressed groans when the slow-motion replay showed how close he came to some of the barriers.

"He is brave for doing that on his first attempt," Karun said, with the tone of disbelief still in his words.

"I can’t argue with that. Monaco, after all, is a build-up track, where you start with moderate confidence and build up your confidence through the sessions leading to qualifying, arriving there with full confidence to push to the limit. This is why it is one of the tracks where you want as much time as possible, and any crash or problem taking you away from it will affect you all the way to the qualifying session.

But he seems to be starting with very high confidence when it should be the opposite, as he is the least experienced driver than anyone on the grid. Do you think you could have done that?"

"No," Paul di Resta said, answering without elaborating at all, causing the silence that followed for a few seconds to send the three commentators into a laughing fit.

"I waited to hear why, but you didn’t even give a reason you wouldn’t?"

"It is a very unfavorable situation, and what he did is very risky, considering he went for a push lap on his second-ever lap in this car and in Monaco. Pushing it this close from the get-go in the third minute of the first free practice is nothing but a crazy decision. I wonder if it is confidence or just the guts of a young driver."

"It has to be both, but the possible return is very small compared to the risk he had taken."

"Yeah, a crash now will put him out of the entire session, and a good lap now is pretty useless, considering it is going to be beaten very fast as drivers use soft tires and come out on low fuel simulations."

"Maybe it is a confidence builder?"

"That can be..."

...

As the three commentators were trying to find the justification for Fatih pushing that to the limit on his second-ever lap when he didn’t even learn the track enough to push it that close, Fatih, on the other hand, had a smile under his helmet as he moved aside to let Verstappen on a hot lap pass him before he returned to the racing line.

"The feeling is the same," he said as he finally drove the car in the real world, and the feel was identical to the one he had experienced in the simulation.

He had decided to go for a push lap immediately because he wanted to see how the car would behave under those conditions and compare it to what he had experienced in the simulation. The best way to do that was to push it to the limit from the get-go, and the sensation he got back was the same, to the point that he had unconsciously driven very close to the barriers, like he had practiced countless times in the simulation when he wasn’t planning on pushing things that close from the get-go.

With that answer, his plan for the weekend was now fully set, as he could fully go with what he had practiced in the simulation without worry of correlation problems. Now, he only needed to generate the data that he could use as his argument to get the setup he wanted since he couldn’t just tell the team to do something to his car without a conclusive reason, or else they might override him.

...

"Yeah, you need to have that much guts to be someone worthy of the main seat," Horner, standing in the Red Bull garage, said when he saw the slow-motion replay of Fatih getting too close to the barrier on his first push lap ever in F1 and his second lap ever in the car.

Although outwardly he was pleased, inwardly he was extremely caught off guard by what Fatih had done, since it wasn’t something he would have imagined anyone else doing, even in their wildest imagination.

"Yeah, that is a good greeting to the field," he said as he just stopped thinking about it and accepted it, chalking it up to fully embodying the Red Bull mentality.

While he was thinking like that, something similar was happening to Horner, who had already left the garage, heading to the pit wall.

After seeing just one lap from Fatih, he imagined what it would be like to have him in Red Bull because if he performed anywhere close to Verstappen, then they would have the chance to go for both the Constructors’ Championship and Drivers’ Championship this year and have the chance to win both.

But just as the thought came up in his mind, he shut it down, remembering that if that were true, then Verstappen would now have his teammate to fight for points with, along with the entire Mercedes team. Although winning the constructors’ was a good thing, Red Bull cared more about the drivers’ championship than the other and would sacrifice it if the drivers’ championship was up for grabs. At the moment, the highest priority was for Verstappen to be fully supported in his bid for the drivers’ championship.

As the thought was being shut down, he said to himself, "If he is that good of a driver, then he will eventually arrive at Red Bull naturally, and by then the gap will be big enough that he will have no choice but to act as a support for Verstappen," as he remembered the contract.

In his mind, even if Fatih were to be promoted to Red Bull this year after he achieved the promotion requirements, it would take a very long time for that to happen, and by then, the season would have advanced way too much for him to have any argument against the main team requiring him to act as Verstappen’s support in the bid for the drivers’ championship, since the chances of him doing that would be nil.

"HAHAHA, what am I even thinking about someone with only a few laps on the track?" Horner laughed as he realized that he was thinking about Fatih being Verstappen’s caliber, if not close, from just a few laps that were not even qualifying caliber. He knew he was getting ahead of himself, just wishful thinking and absurd imagination.

..........

"I thought he would mature when he reached here, but to him, it is no different from karting," Burak said as he pinched the bridge of his nose at how reckless and full of confidence his son was.

That level of confidence Fatih had in himself was something he had been fascinated by since he had seen him for the first time when taking the test drive that led to him breaking the lap record on his first push lap around the indoor track.

It was as if the idea of building up to it slowly before pushing the car was not ingrained in him at all, as he seemed ready to push the car as soon as he understood the track.

Having taught and known him very well, he had some level of expectations, but seeing him retain the same level of confidence he had shown when he joined the new series, those expectations started ballooning beyond the already high expectations he had.