Formula 1: The GOAT

“Wow, he looks good, and this creates a very impressive narrative behind him and builds anticipation for his future endeavors,” the assistant who had remained to act as a companion to Rümeysa said when they were on the final shoot of Fatih standing in the middle of all the trophies he had won, both individual and team trophies.

But to the surprise of the two of them, once the shoot was finished, Fatih immediately rushed to the director and had a short conversation with him. Both sides nodded when the other one spoke before the director raised the megaphone in his hand and said, “We will take an additional shot,” as Fatih walked back to the field of trophies while the director called for the entire team responsible for the shoot and started speaking with them for ten minutes. They all then returned to their respective positions where their equipment was located before they started moving it to fit the shoot of the new scene that the director had just come up with after his conversation with Fatih.

The trophies were then moved, changing their positions into a hexagonal grid with an opening in the center where Fatih sat, looking up at the ladder where the main camera was. While holding his first-ever race win trophy in his right hand and his last-ever karting race win trophy in his left, he raised them in the direction of the camera, giving a very refreshing smile, creating a different feel, unlike the serious atmosphere the previous shoot had carried.

This shoot didn’t last too long, but the lovely and cheery vibes were obvious to everyone, as Fatih’s smiling face didn’t disappear during the shoot.

The woman, both the camerawoman and the shoot cinematographer, looked at the viewfinder that was currently extremely zoomed in, with only Fatih’s ocean-blue eye being on the viewfinder screen. Despite that, it was still crystal clear, as even the wave-like form of his blue iris was distinguishable. “Wow, his skin is beautiful,” the camerawoman said to herself, admiring his eyes.

“Quiet in the area! Action!” the director’s voice was heard, and Fatih’s eyes on the viewfinder closed for a moment before opening again, looking straight at the camera lens as the camerawoman started zooming out slowly. First, only his two eyes were visible, then his nose joined in, then his hair and mouth, before his full, bright, and smile-covered face fully appeared. The zoom out continued slowly until his full body, holding the two trophies, was visible, then the rest of the trophies appeared as the zooming out continued.

“Cut!” the director soon followed once the zooming out stopped and the image was clear, finally bringing an end to the final shooting.

“Quite impressive,” the cameraman who was beside the cinematographer said as he went through the pictures he had taken from the top of the raised platform they were both on.

“Can’t deny that, but I think I should ask his skincare routine because look at that clear skin, even without makeup,” the camerawoman said as she shared a look at the pictures the man had captured.

“Well, children have clear skin, so his answer would be being young or just washing his face with soap or something,” the man said before chuckling.

“If that is his routine, then God really has favorites,” she said before they braced themselves and their equipment as they were being lowered to the ground.

After a few more things, like a commemorative joint photo, the shooting finally came to an end as the team started packing their equipment while another team carefully collected, organized, and stored the trophies in their specialized boxes, as they were specifically hired to be responsible for making sure everything they borrowed was returned without a scratch.

Fatih, on the other hand, walked in the direction of his class, as it was a few minutes before school hours ended, and he would be able to talk with his other friends before heading home after picking up Seraphina. His mother had already been notified when they were coming for the shooting, since she would be heading back to Fatih’s house for both homework assistance and karting practice, which had increased in intensity since it would be a long time before they could practice together again.

….

“…” Fatih was silently standing on the pit lane of the local karting track, which they were renting for practice, watching Seraphina, who was already on the track, driving lap after lap per his instruction.

He had come to the realization that although he was still being bombarded by information from everywhere, when he fully focused on something, either a part of his body or anything outside it, the amount of information he received from that part increased more than usual. At the moment, he could even plot a telemetry chart of what Seraphina was doing on the track, as both his eyes and ears were working in tandem to gather all the data he needed to create the telemetry. His mind had enough mental capacity to go so far as to imagine a telemetry graph that updated in real-time with what his two senses were gathering, while still having the mental capacity to highlight the parts where she was making mistakes just from watching her.

Although she had improved tremendously since she started seriously learning from him, and many of her major and obvious mistakes were already gone, there were still subtle ones that cost her a few tenths or less over a period of a few corners.

“Move your braking five meters later than you previously did on turn one, and for all the corners, brake at minimum three meters later than you previously did,” Fatih said on the radio when she was on the start-finish straight, to avoid taking her focus while on other parts of the track.

She just nodded instead of responding, as by the time the instructions were over, she was nearing the braking points. As she attempted to follow the instructions, she overshot by seventy centimeters, leading to her not being able to make the corner and going wide on the exit, sending her spinning on the grass that had just been watered.

“You overshot it by about seventy centimeters from where I told you to brake. Go around the track and try to be more careful.”

“But the braking markers are not in the areas you told me to brake, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact mark,” Seraphina, who was now feathering the throttle to return to the track, said, wanting to see if she could receive some direction.

Fatih went silent for a moment, trying to think of how he could help her, since it was a problem he had never had after Apollo made him come up with a means of knowing the exact place. For Fatih, he used his extreme senses to know the speed he was moving, which in turn gave him the distance that he then used in conjunction with the braking markers on the track to pinpoint the latest he could brake to get the fastest time through that corner.

But it didn’t take a genius to know that expecting that of someone normal was going to be unfair, even more so now that he was going to be away and incapable of taking the time needed to teach her how to do it.

So after a short pause, just as she reintered the track, he said, “That is going to be your homework that I will check once I return during my free days or break days. There are many ways to do it, and all you have to do is find one that best suits you,” knowing that giving her the answer to every problem she faced on the track risked her not being able to come up with solutions on her own, leading to a dependency, which is something you don’t want someone who is going to be traveling at speeds faster than a human can run to not be able to think on her own.

Instead of responding, she once again nodded as she resumed her drive on the track. But this time, it seemed like she wasn’t trying to meet the exact distance Fatih had told her to and instead started by braking at half the distance he wanted her to increase and slowly reducing that distance to the marker, again and again, until their practice time came to an end.

Although she had made some progress, it was nowhere near enough for Fatih to certify her to participate in a legitimate competition. But knowing that his standards were extremely high if he used himself as the benchmark, he had compromised by suggesting she participate in the weekly races that took place on the track, since having had to try and defend against him was good enough training for when she faces similar amateurs and semi-pros in the local races.

Following their tradition, Fatih followed the practice with a post-practice debriefing, where he highlighted the areas she had improved, the new areas that she needed to improve, and the mistakes she made that she needed to keep an eye out for in their next practice, before they cleaned themselves and headed back to his house.

This continued for the rest of the week, and until finally Sunday arrived, where he bid his farewells to everyone, which was easy as he had spent the entire week saying goodbye to Seraphina and repeatedly reminding her that he was going to have break days and would be visiting home and her every time he got them. He finally left for the airport with his mother, who was escorting him only until the airport, since Red Bull had already sent someone to travel with him, as his mother couldn’t stay with him during the entire training period because she had work to do.

When his boarding time came, he finally boarded his plane, destined for Austria, to the Red Bull Athlete Performance Center, to start with his deep tests. Even he was curious to see the numbers on his body that had undergone improvements, thanks to the upgrade of his Sponge Body.