Formula 1: The GOAT

“Unlike F3 all the way to F1, in F4 you will be using a foot clutch, a decision made by the FIA for cost-effectiveness, so you will be learning to use the foot-clutch pedal at the moment. Unfortunately, when you move to simulator training, you will have to use the hand clutch, since they can’t modify the simulator that is being used for F1 practice in the first place,” Denis said as he drew three pedals on the board. The left one was the smallest, while the middle one was the largest of the three.

“The left one is the clutch, the middle one is the brake, and the right one is the accelerator. The clutch is made that small because you won’t be using it as frequently as the other two pedals. Other than starting and coming to a full stop, the sequential gearbox deals with the gear changes and cutting of power automatically, leaving you to focus on other things…”

One by one, Denis covered the important points of the lesson to the attentively listening Fatih, who was looking at the board while also checking the stack of papers placed in front of him.

Wanting to use his ability to absorb information faster and wanting to use it for as much time in the day as possible, Denis had started handing Fatih additional materials for him to go through after their lessons. These notes usually contained the more complex topics that, even with the now super-condensed and more detailed new curriculum, would not be covered, as there was no time, and most of the things were things that a driver didn’t really need to know in the first place. But he still gave them to Fatih for him to go through if he had time and ask him questions if he found something difficult, though that was yet to happen.

“Now let’s go through the standing start procedure. It is one of the most difficult things for those used to karting to adapt to, as you will be using your two legs to control three pedals while your hands are also doing their own thing, and at the same time, you are having to focus on the start lights for them to go off and have everything work in unison for the car to move forward perfectly. Any mistakes with your hands or legs could cause stalling, a false start, and many more, so let’s break it down into different stages for now and not just start by focusing on the full picture.

By the time you finish the formation lap and return to your grid position, you will already be in neutral, and the clutch would already be engaged by then, so what you have to keep in mind is that the clutch will not be released fully until the start lights go off. As a result, you will have your left leg fully focused on the clutch.

Your right foot, on the other hand, will already be on the throttle as you bring the engine RPM to between 5000 and 6000 RPM; any more or less, and the safety mechanism will engage, preventing your gears from being engaged.

You will then press the green button on your steering wheel, or as some people call it, the safety button, before engaging first gear.

You will then follow it by slowly releasing the clutch to find the bite point that you will usually have already fine-tuned during the formation lap, and while your right foot holds both the accelerator and brake pedal at bay, you wait for the lights to go off. The moment they do, you lift off the brake.

But unlike normal cars, F4 cars have very little low-end torque compared to a road car, so you cannot just “dump” the clutch. As you apply the throttle, you must smoothly but rapidly finish releasing the clutch with your left foot. If you release the brake too early before the clutch bites, you will roll and have a “jump start” penalty. If you release the clutch too fast without enough throttle, you will stall. So you have to perfect it through repeated practice.

Although everything looks complicated at the moment, I’m sure for you it will be easier to learn in the actual car, but knowing the principles beforehand helps. Also, looking at it from the bright side, you won’t need someone to separately teach you how to drive a normal car since this covers most of that,” Denis said, trying to lighten the mood, which he really didn’t have to, as Fatih was way too happy and excited for such minor complexities to change or affect his mental state; he rather welcomed all of them.

“Now let’s see the reason why all of these things need to happen in this way, if there are other different ways you can do it, and how much proficiency is needed for you to do them,” Denis said before finally starting to go into an in-depth breakdown of the gearbox mechanism, clutch and throttle action and response structure, instances where the safety system will deny you gear change commands, how to avoid them, and more. It took him an entire four hours with two breaks before he finally finished that topic and could finally move to the next sub-topic of the second main topic.

“Next will be braking, the bread and butter of motorsports, where tenths are gained and lost. We will be going through it after the lunch break, so go and eat and refresh yourself,” Denis said, bringing the first half of the lessons to a close.

“Are you fine, man?” Alex asked the moment they were left alone as Fatih gathered his items neatly on the table before he stood and started walking to the canteen.

“Why are you asking?”

“Well, even I, who has no skin in the game, can feel my brain frying just by listening. I can’t imagine you being just fine and not having your brain overclocked,” Alex said as he placed his palm on Fatih’s forehead to check for heat, only to find the temperature to be normal.

“You can only overclock your brain if what you are learning is pushing your CPU to the limit, but these things are not yet at the level of pushing me that far,” Fatih said as he playfully swatted Alex’s palm away.

“I mean, if you are going to be bragging, isn’t it better to humble-brag instead of being so shameless?” Alex said in a light tone as they waved past the engineers they found on their way.

“If I’m going to be bragging, why waste time and energy on trying to make it look humble? There is no moderation in my dictionary. If I’m expending energy, I expect something of equal or more value in return.”

“God,” Alex said in a groaning tone while holding his neck.

As their back-and-forth banter continued, they soon arrived at the canteen and took their food before finding a seat, where they immediately started enjoying their lunch.

Although he was residing at the headquarters of Red Bull, the season was still ongoing, though nearing its end, so he was yet to meet any of the F1 drivers despite some of them coming to the headquarters, as their schedules were fully packed, which was the same for him, not allowing for their paths to intersect. But for Fatih, that was not really a problem, as he was confident he would see most of them at the latest when they came to start their preparations for the testing of the cars for the next season.

It didn’t take long for them to finish their lunch, and they immediately returned to the classroom, where they used the remaining time to resume the talks that had started at the beginning of the break. But time spent enjoying something passes faster than any other, and theirs was the same, reminded of it by Denis entering the impromptu class.

“Let’s get into it immediately,” Denis said the moment he entered the class, not having any time for small talk since the amount of material Fatih needed to learn had increased by a fewfold.

Fatih nodded as he immediately adjusted and once again fully focused on the board. As for Alex, he stood from his chair and waved to Denis before walking out of the class, as he had something to do.

Once only the two of them were left, Denis finally resumed the lesson from where he had stopped. “Braking. It is something that differentiates the greatest drivers from the rest. I had the chance to go through some of your karting races and telemetry, and in it, it showed me how smooth and precise your braking is, as if a machine were the one pressing the pedal.

You have shown the ability to perfectly adapt and change your braking to exploit the maximum braking power on constantly degrading and heating tires. So, normally for you, it might seem like the shift is going to be easy, but unfortunately, it is not, because of the fundamental differences and the increase in things affected by the brakes, which in turn also affect the way you have to drive the car.

Fail to do it properly, and you might find yourself seconds off the pace or worse, in a barrier. But if you perfect it and manage to adapt your machine-like input from karting into single-seaters, then you will be a nightmare to compete against, and you will have an advantage that you can benefit from on every track…”