Formula 1: The GOAT

“Understood, I will update them and visit you tomorrow for a more in-depth meeting,” Elena Petrova said before ending the call and putting her phone on the table to recollect herself from the news she had just received.

She had just been briefed that they were planning on having Fatih move to F4 next year. She needed to visit them for a more detailed breakdown of their plans and to inform her clients about the proposal before her visit to Milton Keynes.

She tapped her table for about three minutes before she picked up her phone and called Rümeysa. She brought her up to date with the situation to see which direction her heart leaned: was she open to Fatih moving forward, or did she want him to wait a little longer in karting? Although Elena was sure the full decision wouldn’t be made until they went through what Red Bull had on their plate for Fatih, if Rümeysa was fully against it, this was the time for her to come forward so that when Elena went there tomorrow, she could inform them immediately and not needlessly delay it.

After the phone call ended, she immediately returned to work after ordering her assistant to make the preparations for her meeting tomorrow.

………..

“I’m waiting for more details after her meeting tomorrow. What I told you is everything that I know, so there is no benefit in asking any more questions,” Rümeysa said in response to Fatih’s rain of questions, which had fallen the moment he heard the gist of what the Red Bull junior team was planning for him. The excitement was obvious on his face as he was almost jumping up and down, barely holding himself back.

This news was exciting for two reasons. The first and main one was that he was finally moving to the next step of his career and would be driving single-seaters, at the same time, finally starting the ladder to Formula 1. His second reason was that he was now on the verge of finally getting all of the accumulated rewards from the past few years in a single swoop.

“Tomorrow can’t come fast enough,” Fatih said as he turned around, jumping up and down as he walked to his room, leaving Rümeysa chuckling behind him.

“How many SP points is that?” Fatih, lying on his bed and looking at the ceiling, asked himself as he started counting all of the races he had participated in under the “All or Nothing” mission the system had given him, starting from 2014 all the way to the current 2017 season.

“Will the system count the local tournaments as well?” Fatih asked Apollo, knowing how he had terrorized those who participated in the local karting tournament.

“I don’t know, but I would expect the system to have some sort of filter to avoid you abusing it. Who is to stop you from organizing these competitions every weekend you are free to pad your race counts and wins?” Apollo materialized next to Fatih in a body looking the same age as him and joined him on the bed.

“I’m looking forward to registering my first single-seater car,” Fatih said as he imagined himself in one of the F4 cars.

Over the past few years, he had some opportunities to go to F1 races, specifically the British Grand Prix, but he had deliberately avoided doing that. He knew the moment he went there, he would not be able to stop himself from registering one of the Red Bull F1 cars in order to test drive it in the simulation. He didn’t want to do that, as that would remove the satisfaction he would get once he legitimately registered his car. It would also risk having him feel the dissatisfaction of not being able to drive it in the real world for a few more years, while removing all of the fun he would have in the single-seaters he would be moving into after tasting the power and pace of their F1 counterparts. It was something he had experienced before, having driven the most powerful kart in his simulation, the KART_KF1_2008_BASELINE_001, while he was still in KF Mini, and nearly flipped himself when he had to return to driving the KF Mini karts that now felt like tortoises compared to the KF1 kart, making it very clear that this would repeat itself if he did that.

“Looks like you are about to make a very large number of drivers happy and a few new ones excited to face you,” Apollo said, alluding to those in KZ2 feeling happy that he was finally leaving the category and those in F4 who would be facing him, happy to finally have the chance to crush the new prodigy.

In motorsports, everyone believed that they were the best, and what better way to prove you are the best than by beating someone who had terrorized the karting scene for years and even had a docuseries made about him for his domination? It was the perfect opportunity for them to do that, as it was going to be his first year in single-seaters, meaning he would still be an amateur and was yet to get used to the car while carrying the same prestige from his karting domination.

“I’m looking forward to that,” Fatih said before entering the simulation, as the excitement he was feeling could only be quelled by driving something in the simulation.

……….

“So the plan requires him to leave the remaining competitions to start his training early?” Elena said as she looked at the comprehensive plan they had in hand for Fatih’s transition from karting to single-seaters. It would be an understatement to say it was extensive, as it spanned a more than five-month training period, including everything from physical conditioning all the way to Red Bull renting tracks for entire weekends for him to gain as much experience as possible.

“We are just keeping our side of the agreement we signed, which stated we will provide him with as much practice time as possible, and I don’t see any other way for him to get more than the current practice time we have planned for him,” Helmut Marko said, feeling proud of the plan his team had managed to come up with. He had made some modifications to the plan when it was brought back to him, but the skeleton had remained largely the same.

“Is there a reason that it has to be the British F4, despite him having to miss the first six races, when there are competitions that will be starting after he turns 15?” Elena asked.

“We have taken into consideration the required travel for those competitions and the disruption it will introduce into his school life, which we had promised to keep in mind as much as possible. Among the available competitions, this one is the best for his education due to all races taking place in the country,” Helmut calmly lied through his teeth, as there was no way he was going to tell them the actual reason why they chose it.

After asking a few more questions to make sure she had a complete understanding of the matter, she said, “Okay, I will head back to update them on your plan and will get back to you as soon as possible on their decision,” while putting the provided document containing their plan in her bag, planning to deliver a copy to them.

“We will be expecting positive news from your side,” Helmut said with a smile on his face, but inside, he was not fully satisfied. He was used to having total control over the drivers in the Red Bull junior team, but thanks to Verstappen making such a huge debut in single-seaters and other teams starting to look for drivers from karting, Fatih had the largest target on his back. This forced them to make some concessions, which included allowing Fatih and his family to also have a say in his career direction, a sacrifice they had to make or risk losing a potential Verstappen-like talent, which was not something they were willing to do.

This was finally going to be the opportunity that would allow for a shift in the power balance, depending on how Fatih performs. If he doesn’t deliver to expectations, then their side will have more power and leverage, and if Fatih delivers to or beyond expectations, the agreement will remain as is, meaning there was no downside on their side and only potential upside, making it a gamble worth taking.

In fact, he would benefit if Fatih performed to expectations or exceeded them. Because of the performance of the unstable and sometimes criticized for unnecessary aggressiveness Verstappen, who despite all of that continued delivering jaw-dropping performances, the junior academy was receiving more attention and resources from Red Bull. With Fatih continuing to dominate in his karting career, the amount of say Helmut had in the team was getting bigger and bigger with each good performance delivered by the two drivers whose signings he had spearheaded, making it a win-win situation for him.