Formula 1: The GOAT

“Welcome,” the receptionist said when Rümeysa entered the academy building, as she had already gotten used to her bringing Fatih on her free days.

“Thank you. How is your day going?” Rümeysa responded as she extended her hand for a handshake, something she did all the time.

“It has been going well, but where is Fatih? I hadn’t seen him during the week to congratulate him for winning his championship,” said the receptionist as she looked around Rümeysa to see if he was hiding behind her or had passed her without her noticing, which she was very sure hadn’t happened.

“He is not coming here today. I have a meeting regarding his application,” Rümeysa said, not hiding her intentions for her visit at all.

“Oh,” the receptionist said, surprised by her openness but not her decision. If even she, as a receptionist, knew about the situation, it wasn’t difficult to deduce that such a decision was coming.

“So, is the process of canceling the same as the one for applying?” Rümeysa asked, moving ahead with what she planned, remembering that the receptionist was the one they went through during his application period, though it was later escalated all the way to the academy director when his scholarship in the championships entered the equation.

“Ah, yes,” the receptionist said, recovering from her surprise. “Since your son’s current form is that of a normal student and there are no active contracts anchoring him to the academy, I have the authority to terminate it.”

“Then let’s go ahead with it.”

“Understood. Please have a seat,” said the receptionist as she pointed to one of the chairs for her to sit in while she processed the request. “If it’s all right with you, can I inform the academy director?”

“No problem.”

“Thanks,” she said before picking up the phone and calling the academy director.

…

“What? Are you sure about that?” the academy director said, shooting up from his chair in surprise, wondering if he was having a nightmare or just hallucinating.

Upon hearing the answer for the second time, he pinched the bridge of his nose as he released a disappointed sigh, knowing that it was something he had seen coming but didn’t think would happen this early.

Thanks to Fatih, Selçuk, and Ayşe’s performances, the academy had won the constructors’ equivalent trophy, adding to their academy trophy tally. But now he was hearing from the other side of the phone that one of the contributors to that success was trying to end their academy membership.

He had been so happy that he even momentarily forgot about the infighting that had happened. The other side had simply taken things and continued as if nothing had happened, and the matter was not brought up by them again at all, which gave him a false sense of security, allowing him to even momentarily forget about it.

“Please take he……” But just as he was about to ask the receptionist to take Rümeysa to the meeting room so he could have a conversation to try and persuade her not to cancel Fatih’s membership, he stopped midway. He finally remembered what they had done to her son and how there was no chance in hell she would agree to his request when the cause of all of this still remained, and they had yet to make any amends to her.

“Please go ahead and do what she asks,” Mehmet said, deciding not to pursue it and not even bothering to tell the academy owners. He knew the moment he did, they would make him try his best to keep them, which he knew was going to be impossible to accomplish. It would only destroy the little relationship between them that was still possible.

He realized it was better to let them leave when they wanted and as easily as possible. If the owner asked him why he did nothing to stop them, he would say he only learned of it after they had already canceled the membership. After all, it was better to apologize than to try to stop them.

“We missed the forest while trying to please a tree,” he said as he put down the phone and leaned back in his chair, not at all enjoying the powerless position he was in at the moment. He had no power to prevent, change the situation at all, or promise that it would never happen again.

……

“Thank you for waiting. We can go ahead with the process,” the receptionist said, placing down the phone as she tried to mask her surprise. She had expected the academy director to meet with Rümeysa and try to persuade her to reconsider.

The process, now that it was approved by the director, was very simple and took only ten minutes and a few of Rümeysa’s signatures before it was completed.

“The cancellation will be finalized by the evening. Please wait here as I arrange for the documents and the kart handover.” The receptionist said as she went to collect items like Fatih’s license and other documents he had accumulated during his time at the academy. She also needed to find someone to inspect the kart and log everything before it was returned, to avoid any liability or problems should the kart have any issues and the academy be accused of damaging it.

…….

“Tell him I wish him well for his future career,” Burak said as he helped Rümeysa pack the white kart that they had handed to the academy for transportation and services during the remaining half of the championship.

The receptionist had sought out Burak to do the inspection, which he was very happy to handle. The entire process took him only half an hour before the report was completed.

“I will,” Rümeysa said, pausing for a moment before voicing what was on her mind. “Is it possible for you to continue tutoring Fatih, or is it something the academy implicitly forbids?”

With a look of surprise at her question, Burak instantly answered, “If he is an independent driver, I won’t have any problem teaching him. But if he applies to another academy, I can’t do that. However, if possible, I will try to apply to the same academy, and if I’m accepted, I would be happy to continue teaching him. He is the best of anyone I have trained, and I want to continue teaching him and see where he goes.” It was as if he had already thought about this long before she asked and had the answer ready in his mind.

Upon hearing Burak’s answer, Rümeysa’s face showed a mixture of surprise, relief, and a few other emotions. She hadn’t expected Burak to even hint that he would consider leaving the academy if it meant he could continue teaching Fatih.

“Thank you,” she said, holding back some of her emotions. “I’m still thinking about what decision to make. Can I consult with you on things related to Fatih and his karting? You’re the only one I know who is better trained and knowledgeable about this situation.”

“Yes, I would be happy to help in that area as well. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me for any advice, and I will do my best to be of help,” Burak said, sounding excited, perhaps even more so than when he had celebrated Fatih’s final race win. Since then, his mind had been preoccupied with the thought that it might have been the last time he would train Fatih, which had prevented him from fully enjoying Fatih’s championship victory.

They conversed for about half an hour before parting ways, but promised to meet again tomorrow to talk further about Fatih, who was about to start primary school in one week. Rümeysa needed advice on how to better balance his schoolwork with his karting and motorsports-related activities.

….

Fatih, who was unaware of what his mother was in the middle of doing, was currently editing his weekly advanced in-depth article.

The TheConqueror.com forum was becoming increasingly popular, gaining recognition for its in-depth and high-quality articles that catered to people of all levels of understanding in motorsports.

His workload had eased quite a bit after finally managing to hire a few part-time moderators who took on the large responsibility of ensuring the forum remained free from issues like racism and other behaviors that could hinder its maximum growth potential.

As a result of the meteoric rise of the website, the number of premium members continued to increase, which in turn boosted his earnings even further. This allowed him to post work opportunities and begin the process of commissioning a high-quality website. The new site was already in development and would take at least three months to be ready for use due to his strict demands for how it needed to function and look. These demands inadvertently increased the cost, but it wasn’t something he couldn’t afford with his current earnings.

But with the continuous increase in visitors to his website and the number of premium members, Fatih was now facing another potential problem: taxes.

At the start, due to the small scale of the website, he didn’t have to worry about such things. However, now that his monthly earnings were in the tens of thousands of dollars and were expected to continue increasing as word of mouth spread, he was growing concerned about what might happen in the future.

He worried about the consequences if it were revealed that he was the owner of the website and government officials looked into his finances, only to realize that he had been earning money without paying taxes.

To solve that problem, he was already racking his brain for a solution, but none appeared that didn’t involve revealing it to his mother, a step he couldn’t avoid since he was not yet of legal age to handle things like company registration on his own.

At the moment, however, he was trying to delay that revelation for as long as possible, hoping that enough time would pass by then to allow him to give a reasonable and believable explanation.