Formula 1: The GOAT

“It is like watching a robot coming to life. Every lap is almost identical, barring a few unavoidable changes. He is in the final corner of the third sector, keeps it on the track, and drag races to the finish line, and once again he improves on his provisional pole time by two-tenths, increasing the gap to the closest contender by seven-tenths,” the main commentator said, his voice filled with admiration at Fatih, who kept delivering monstrous laps after monstrous laps in the qualifying session.

“And his on-track student is setting very respectable times in the first two sectors as she enters the final sector, trying to emulate the same way Fatih had done it, which had proven to be the fastest way to go through that sector across all of the free practice.

As she enters Turn 8, the ninety-degree corner, while already accelerating, SHE FAILS TO KEEP IT ON THE RACING LINE AS SHE SLIDES FOR A MOMENT, BUT SHE CATCHES IT AND RESUMES WITH THE LAP ANYWAY! BUT NOW SHE BECOMES VERY CONSERVATIVE AS SHE COMMITS TO THE FOLLOWING TURN, SHOWING CAUTION. AND AS SHE CROSSES THE FINISH LINE, P17!

SHE LOST FIVE-TENTHS IN THE THIRD SECTOR ALONE, BUT IF SHE HAD KEPT IT TIDY, A TOP-TEN PLACEMENT WOULDN’T BE IMPOSSIBLE. SHE IS SHOWING QUITE A GOOD TALENT. SHE STILL HAS TIME TO IMPROVE, AND FATIH SEEMS TO BE MAKING THE SAME POINT AS HE DRIVES BESIDE HER AND GESTURES WITH HIS HANDS AS HE CONVERSES WITH HER,” the co-commentator said, his voice filled with excitement as if it were a battle for pole position.

Due to the expected dominance from Fatih, everyone else focused on the battle for P2, which was very lively because although he was seventeen-tenths ahead of everyone else, the remaining top ten were all within three-tenths of each other, making it an exciting battle. As with the track’s continuous improvements, the lap times were going to keep improving.

……..

“Don’t focus on the mistakes. This time, follow and mirror me on the warmup sequence for this lap and go for another push lap again, okay?” Fatih shouted before he rushed to overtake and stay in front of Seraphina. A few seconds later, a kart rushed past them.

Fatih then turned to her and waved with a motion to follow him, and the moment Seraphina gave him a thumbs-up, he immediately started swerving left and right rapidly before accelerating for a moment and braking heavily, then once again swerving, which she immediately responded to by copying him, making them look like an acrobatic team doing a show.

This continued for the next two sectors, and as they neared the end of the second sector, Fatih slowed down, letting her catch up to him and be side-by-side before he said, “Swerve fifteen times and accelerate and brake three times in sector three before the final corner.” He then immediately hit the throttle and rushed away from her as he drove the third sector as if he was racing and continued to push while starting the new lap while Seraphina continued following his instructions.

……..

“While he is still giving instructions, he doesn’t neglect his own laps, as he now starts his third qualifying lap. As always, he passes the start-finish line already at peak speed, taking Turn 1 flat out, keeping it on the track easily as he enters the bridge sections before he brakes heavily, leans outwards as he takes the right-hander, which also has a falling elevation. He is already on a faster pace than his previous lap… OOOH, WHAT IS HE DOING?

WHY IS HE SLOWING DOWN ALREADY? DOES HE HAVE A MECHANICAL PROBLEM?” the commentator who was planning to use Fatih’s lap to explain the intricacies needed for a good lap shouted in surprise when he saw Fatih not accelerating but still keeping his foot on the brakes as he slowed down to a crawl while moving outside the racing line.

“HE IS PREPARING TO HELP CAR NUMBER 295,” his co-commentator explained excitedly just as Seraphina entered the bridge sections, coinciding with Fatih starting to accelerate. He moved back onto the racing line of the long straight, matching his speed and reaching high speed with Seraphina entering the straight at just the right distance where she would receive the highest benefits from the slipstream with the least trouble from dirty air.

To improve the benefits, she even lowered her head to reduce as much drag as possible from her kart, and the benefits were already visible as she became even faster than if she had gone alone.

“Ooh, this is very interesting. He is giving up his lap in order to help her, and she is already making very big improvements compared to her time as Fatih takes the off-racing line to not disturb Seraphina’s racing line or compromise her corner, but he still exits ahead of her from the hairpin and continues to give her a slipstream in the second straight of sector two.

He is showing exactly why he is someone who dominated his entire karting career, as he is keeping the perfect distance and making it as easy to follow as possible as Fatih repeats the same feat, taking the second hairpin off the racing line, and he manages to keep his position ahead as he continued to slipstream her on the third straight.

And showing exactly how beneficial the slipstream across almost that entire sector had been, she has caught up to Fatih in pure pace alone as they near the end of the straight. Fatih, knowing that, immediately moves off the racing line as SHE FLIES PAST HIM INTO THE CHICANE, SETTING A PURPLE SECTOR TWO! AND NOW SHE ONLY HAS THE FINAL SECTOR, THE SAME ONE THAT SHE HAD FACED PROBLEM AFTER PROBLEM ACROSS HER THREE PUSH LAPS!

WILL SHE BE ABLE TO KEEP IT TOGETHER AS FATIH DID THIS TIME? SHE ONCE AGAIN BRAKES EARLIER THAN CONVENTIONALLY THOUGHT AND IMMEDIATELY STARTS ACCELERATING AS SHE STARTS TURNING INTO THE CORNER, HITTING THE APEX AND GOING WIDE AS INTENDED AND LETS THE KART NATURALLY GO WIDE IN A SLOW FASHION, HITTING THE LEFT SIDE OF THE TRACK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD.

SHE DOESN’T LEAVE THE KART HANGİNG AS SHE IMMEDIATELY CRANKS THE STEERING INTO THE HAIRPIN-ESQUE TURN CONNECTING TO A CHICANE AND LIFTS WHILE IN THE FINAL PARTS OF THE HAIRPIN, COINCIDING PERFECTLY AS SHE LOCKS THE STEERING THE OTHER WAY WITH HER LIFT, ALLOWING FOR IT TO BE DONE EASILY AS THE KART COMPLIES AND THIS ALLOWS HER TO HIT THE APEX OF THE CHICANE PERFECTLY!

SHE GOES WIDE ON THE EXIT AS SHE KEEPS HER FOOT ON FULL POWER AS SHE APPROACHES THE FINAL TURN AND TAKES IT WITHOUT LIFTING, MANAGES TO KEEP IT ON THE RACING LINE AND SHE PUSHES HER HEAD FORWARD!

IT IS A DRAG RACE TO THE FINISH LINE… P3! P3! P3! SHE GOES THIRD FASTEST OVERALL, LOSING TO THE SECOND POSITION BY LESS THAN FIVE MILLISECONDS, WHICH CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE FIRST SECTOR! WOOOOW WOOOOW WOOOOW!

WHAT A GOOD LAP FROM SERAPHINA AND FATIH, WHO AIDED IN MAKING IT WHOLE! THERE IS LESS THAN THREE MINUTES ON THE CLOCK, AND BECAUSE IT IS THE FINAL QUALIFYING GROUP, IF IT ENDS THIS WAY, SHE WILL HAVE SECURED A P3 FOR TOMORROW’S HEATS AND I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO IT,” the main commentator shouted at the top of his lungs with full excitement upon seeing the lap times and how that lap time was achieved, to the point that he needed to take a breather and wet his throat at the end of it.

The co-commentator expertly took over as he said, “The current provisional top three are all related to Fatih. He is on pole, his teammate David Vidales from Tony Kart/Vortex is P2, and Seraphina is currently P3, making me want to look forward to tomorrow’s heats since these three will be together across all of the heats that will decide the starting positions for the final race on Sunday, which is shaping up to be a very interesting final race.”