Chapter 464 - 2021 French Grand Prix | Race IX

"YEEAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The AlphaTauri mechanics cheered as they caught Fatih, who had jumped over the parc fermé barrier separating them, before throwing him in the air while shouting, "EEHH!!!! EHHH!! EHH!! EH!!!" in unison every time they threw him up.

He had brought the team great victories back-to-back three times in a row, and they expressed that with their extremely enthusiastic celebration as they crowd-surfed him from one place to another for a full minute before putting him down in the middle of their group.

One after another, they started hugging him, and one of the mechanics started jumping while rotating with him, causing the mechanics in their surroundings to join in as they started jumping and going around in a circle.

For a team that, during its entire existence, had only won two races, and years apart, to win three in a row and exceed the historical tally, they fully expressed it outwardly compared to teams for which winning was expected most of the time.

The Red Bull and Mercedes engineers, who were also there to congratulate their drivers and celebrate their podiums, looked at the AlphaTauri mechanics with amusement, and a few of them even joined in on the mini-rave celebration that was happening.

After a full two minutes, Fatih was finally let through from the middle of the crowd of mechanics to the parc fermé barrier, as the mechanics helped him climb over it as if he hadn’t jumped over it when he rushed at them.

Fatih then immediately walked to where the podium finishers had their tables set with water and towels to refresh and dry themselves, making a beeline towards Hamilton, who was adjusting his hair, trying to tie it up. He dapped him up and gave him a side hug before he walked to Verstappen, did the same, and finally walked to the scale that was waiting for them for his post-race weighing.

Martin Brundle, who had left the commentary box a few laps before the end of the race to rush there for the post-race interviews, just stood there with his microphone in his hand, watching everything that was happening as he waited for the podium finishers to finish what they were doing to go through their post-race interviews.

...

"I have rarely seen this much of an enthusiastic celebration in the last few years," Martin Brundle said as he chuckled, as the AlphaTauri mechanics were still full of energy.

"Yeah, sorry about that, as it came after a very arduous fight against these two, who pushed me to my wit’s end in those final laps," Fatih said as he pointed to Verstappen and Hamilton, who were talking to one another as they waited for their turn.

"As we are talking about those final three laps, I have to say I was very impressed with your racing mind, as you seemed to always be in control of the situation, making sure you were always coming out on top no matter what the other side did.

I don’t think that is something normal to see in a rookie, and although I have watched all of your previous races in single-seaters, this was the first time I have seen you being pushed this far, yet you still managed to come out on top. How did you manage to do that?"

"It is not really complicated. I just knew I needed to do everything in my power to make sure they didn’t overtake me and to retain full control of the situation.

Verstappen had a lower-downforce setup with their trimmed wing, while Hamilton and Mercedes went for the higher-downforce setup, so their weaknesses were very clear.

All I needed to do was target Verstappen in the corners and Hamilton on the straights, since those were their weaknesses.

While Verstappen was the one behind me in the corners, with his lower downforce, he was sliding all over in my dirty air, degrading his tires faster than mine while allowing me to either harvest through the corners or try to open the gap against him, depending on our gap.

For Hamilton, his weakness would be on the straights, but that was negated by his DRS, so all I had to do was make sure I harvested aggressively in the corners, since he was going to close up in those rapidly, and deploy it at the start of the straight to open a gap before his DRS opened to protect me for the remainder of the straight.

Or, when they were too close, I would just take the non-optimal line and let them through just slightly if I knew there was a DRS detection zone ahead, before retaking the position again on the straight, or I could outbrake them into the braking zone as my tires would not have been cooked behind another car.

It is not like I plan them; they happen naturally, but at least what I explained is what goes on in my mind when going wheel-to-wheel with any driver on the track."

Fatih, who was too excited, finally stopped rambling and realized he had gone on a long breakdown of his line of thought, only to be met by a look of surprise from Martin Brundle and both Hamilton and Verstappen.

Brundle was having a hard time coming to terms with what Fatih had said at the start: that it was not complicated, only for him to go ahead and break down the complex line of thought he was going through while still driving the F1 car, and it seemed like that was not all.

And he would be right, as Fatih hadn’t mentioned that he had driven the Red Bull car for thousands of kilometers in the simulator, so he knew how it ticked and every characteristic it had, allowing him to defend against Verstappen better than he could against Hamilton at the moment.

On top of that, he had also skipped that he knew these drivers’ preferred driving styles, so he could predict most of their moves, having fought against Apollo, who emulated them in the simulation.

"It is my first time hearing someone call that entire line of thought ’not complicated’...." Brundle took a few seconds before finally recollecting himself from his surprise and continuing with his questions, asking about how it felt as a sister team to have two more wins than the main team and if he was looking for a promotion.

"It is a good time when my team wins, and for us to win, others have to not win. As for the other matter, it is not like I can really say anything about it at the moment, so I will leave it to speculation."

"In a three-race period, you have come out with the maximum points possible in all of those races and have now amassed a total of 78 points, moving to third in the championship, skipping Perez, who is now fourth and ten points behind you. Did you expect this when you debuted in Monaco, and do you believe you can keep up with this momentum and squeeze yourself in the middle of the current two championship favorites?"

"In all three races, we haven’t won even one of them through pure pace merit. Even today’s race, we only won because we had planned for a two-stopper from the get-go and drove to it, unlike the other two, who were planning for a one-stopper, and our undercut attempt on the second pit stop forced them to change strategy.

I don’t think we can do the same in Austria for the following two races, so winning is going to be difficult.

As for the championship fight, that too is highly unlikely because I’m 35 points behind Verstappen and 40 behind Hamilton, so unless they crash into one another twice and I win in both of those races, the chances of closing this gap to put up a fight are going to be very difficult in our current car.

Maybe if we have a competitive upgrade that improves our pace, then that might happen, but they will still have to not finish two races for that to even be a possibility, and that is not something I can really rely on."

Hamilton and Verstappen couldn’t help but laugh in amusement at the joke Fatih was making about the two of them crashing, though Fatih looked serious, even if they couldn’t see that.

That brought an end to his interview, as Hamilton followed while Fatih moved back to talk with Verstappen as they waited for Hamilton to finish.

.....

Helmut watched Fatih and Max talking to one another while Hamilton was having his interview, a complicated look on his face.

Fatih had more than proved himself worthy of the seat, but Horner, ever the politician, was fighting heavily to make it impossible for him to be promoted this season lest he interrupt their bid for the championship.

Amidst their power struggle, Helmut had come to terms with this matter as Horner had the upper hand, but today’s race blew up all of the acceptance he had built in himself, as he had seen a glimpse of what he had dreamed of: seeing two monstrously talented drivers pushing one another to greater and greater heights, only instead of two, there were three.

He now started imagining what it would be like for three drivers to be in the fight, with two of them being on the same team. It would move from just being drivers pushing one another to the two teams also being pushed to their absolute limits.

Red Bull would be pushed to the limit as their two drivers would be fighting for the win against one another and against Hamilton, so they would have to evolve beyond their current level, as both drivers would want the best car, the best mechanics, the best pit stop, the best strategy, and the best of everything.

Mercedes would also be pushed to the limit as their single driver, Hamilton, would now be fighting against two giants, giving Red Bull strategic flexibility while they, on the other hand, would be very limited by having to rely on Bottas, who, although a good number two, couldn’t match the other two monsters.

They would have to adapt by focusing everything on Hamilton, who would be pushed as he now has to contend with two monsters who are in equal machinery.

Just like the three-body problem, the direction in which this situation would evolve would become impossible to predict, and within that unpredictability, something beautiful might come from it, and he was yearning for that.

’I need to do something about it,’ he thought to himself as the interview came to an end and the drivers headed to the cooldown room to rest for a short time before the podium ceremony could take place.