Formula 1: The GOAT

{Fatih, warning from Milton Keynes. Don’t take it as child’s play.}

Fatih, who was in the middle of the Hamilton Straight, immediately opened his eyes, puzzled for a moment as to what the radio was talking about. But that didn’t interrupt any of his inputs; they repeated the same pattern, only adjusted to tire wear and the car getting lighter as it spent fuel with each lap. It wasn’t until a few corners later, as he exited The Loop, that he finally understood what the message’s intent was, but only after Apollo pointed at the most likely possibility.

As a result, Fatih wondered how exactly his actions were interpreted as him taking it as child’s play, as he had been giving it his all and taking it as seriously as anyone could.

“That’s what people call perception dissonance. Both of you are seeing the same thing, but due to your differences in perceiving it, different views can be reached despite the same information,” Apollo said when he saw Fatih trying to find the reason. In Fatih’s eyes, the action of closing his eyes didn’t for a moment seem to be what they were talking about.

It was only then that he connected it to Helmut himself and understood why he might perceive it as such and react that way. As a driver who was on his way to becoming great, having even won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, his career was abruptly brought to an end when a stone thrown from the rear tire of Emerson Fittipaldi pierced through his visor and struck him in his left eye, leading to both the loss of his left eye and the end of his driving career.

So to him, who had experienced the worst of an inevitable situation, Fatih’s deliberate closing of his eyes was not seen as a daredevil but as a reckless driver who was deliberately increasing the risk of injury when the base level itself was already high enough.

“Looks like we are going to have to limit it to the simulation,” Fatih said with a sigh. He had just realized that so long as he wasn’t going to reveal the system and the existence of Apollo to act as his guard, if they even believed him in the first place, then he was not going to be allowed to get away with any of his shenanigans on the track again. He also knew that this was not the end of this topic at all, and it had been made short because the rest of it was being held back until after he left the track. It was even a wonder why they didn’t tell him to pit immediately.

And his wonder was answered immediately the moment he exited Stowe. {Box, Box, Box,} as he was called into the pits.

……..

“If I hear, see, or receive any report that you are trying to do some foolish things like this again and endanger yourself and others on the track, then I’m going to take aggressive measures, from delaying your season until you learn not to do that, or canceling your contract entirely, understood?” Helmut’s firm, no-nonsense voice was heard from the other side of the phone that was placed at the center of the room.

Fatih and Alex were sitting on one of the long ends of the table with Michael Scott, the head of the entire training program, and Borris Andreason, the head of this training program from the Arden Motorsport side, sitting on the opposite side.

“I repeat, did you understand my words?” Helmut asked again when he didn’t receive a response from Fatih, who was looking at the phone, dumbfounded.

“I can understand the possible risk perceived from your end, but…”

“What do you mean by ’perceived’?” Helmut interrupted him. “Are you trying to defend your actions when there is clear evidence of it? Children these days.”

“You have to listen to my argument first before you come to a conclusion,” Fatih said after a deep breath, trying to be understanding of Helmut’s side of the view, but he also needed to defend himself from such threats ahead of time, or he risked being on the receiving end of things in the future, as this might be used as one of those arguments.

It was going to be difficult to argue for himself due to some of the actionable evidence on his side being unusable, but for the sake of setting a good precedent and an equal relationship between the two sides and avoiding one side having leverage over him, he still needed to have his side of things heard in front of everyone present before he was to accept the warning.

“You are still trying to argue back?”

“Yes, and I’m not going to acknowledge any warning until my side of the situation is listened to,” he said firmly. Although his tone was still that of a fourteen-year-old, the conviction behind his words was still clear.

“I was not closing my eyes for the sake of it, but to try to get a sense of how the tire reacted to the forces subjected to it and how the degradation process works, which I have only done on the straights while counting in my head how much time passed, because I already knew how many seconds it would take for me to cover those distances. I’m confident that I didn’t make any mistakes while doing that, so although I understand your reaction to it…” Fatih, who was in the middle of one of his long ramblings to try and justify his reasoning, looked at the phone and saw that it was showing the wallpaper, meaning the call had already been disconnected.

“Since when did he end the call?” Fatih turned to Michael Scott and asked.

“A minute ago, so about when you started giving out your reasoning,” Michael said as he scratched his eyebrows after he picked up the phone and checked the call duration.

“I will try to deliver your argument to him, but for now, you should return to resume with the program as scheduled,” Michael said. Just as he was about to add something else, a notification sound was heard. He immediately clicked on it before he added, after a short pause, “Looks like your practice time for today is over, so you should gather your things and head back to Milton Keynes. Helmut is waiting for you there to talk.”

“But he still had to make up for the lost time due to not having practiced the entire day yesterday after the crash,” Alex said, trying to argue for Fatih’s sake, who just had his practice time abruptly cut.

“You will have to argue it with him when you see him,” Michael said, making it clear that he was not planning to interfere in the situation at all. After all, he was not on Fatih’s side, but Helmut’s. As he looked at Fatih, he added, “You could have lowered your head once, and none of this would have been a problem,” in a tone that made it very obvious that he was faulting Fatih for how the situation went and the consequences of it.

“If you bow once when it wasn’t required, you end up doing it again and again,” Fatih said back as he stood from the table, not planning to waste any more time now that a decision had been made. He didn’t even consider arguing or trying to explain himself to Michael, who was obviously on Helmut’s side, wanting to have the conversation with Helmut himself. His reaction to the situation would decide the direction in which their relationship goes. Unlike other drivers, he had leverage, one powerful enough to allow him to not needlessly put himself in a precarious position, so he wasn’t really required to be subservient to the other side just because they were sponsoring him.

……

“Are you sure it is okay to do that? You know it is Helmut; he can terminate your contract according to his whims,” Alex said as he rushed to Fatih, who was a few steps ahead of him.

“I know he is feared by many people, but he can’t do that to me at the moment, because if he does that without a conclusive reason, he will have to pay penalties as he will be breaching the contract,” Fatih said, but didn’t elaborate further on that side of things since it was related to the contract.

“If other drivers heard what you were saying, they would call you crazy,” Alex said, chuckling, knowing that it was true. It was clear to anyone who knew Fatih that he was a very hot topic among teams and academies, with many having already sent their offers to recruit him. The moment Red Bull made such a decision, he would be leaving without even looking back once.

However, all of that was dependent on how their conversation went, though it hadn’t really started on a good foot.