Formula 1: The GOAT

The next day, Fatih arrived at the track at the same time, having already had breakfast with his family before leaving the hotel. Ten minutes following his arrival, they were already having a briefing on what they were going to be doing today, which didn’t take long. Within an hour of his arrival, he was already getting into the car as Lisa helped him with the seatbelt.

{Good luck, mate,} James said before he was given a thumbs-up by Lisa, who was now standing in front of him outside the garage that was still being heavily rained on as he engaged the clutch without worrying about the track conditions at all.

He was starting the day with a changed plan due to the weather conditions, going from the expected light rain to heavy rain, so the torrential rain, heavy fuel stint that was planned for noon was brought forward as he entered the track with full wets1.

Having done the sessions yesterday, he didn’t face any problems completing today’s. One after another, the sessions were completed without many problems from Fatih’s side, other than impressing everyone watching his drive, as it made them wonder just how good he was to be adapting this fast to these difficult conditions, completely unaware that he had driven on this track since he was still driving shifter karts for fun and took it more seriously when he had an F4, then an F3, and now an F1 car registered within the simulation.

Having started with the torrential rain and heavy fuel stint, he then moved to the wet-condition long stint when the rain stopped following his first session. Keeping up with the same, they sent him out again on inters 1when the track was just slightly wet to go and have him experience it but also test to see how he would perform when the track was approaching the crossover window2. It was during that session that he finally pitted to take slick3 tires to continue his session as he drove for another twenty laps with those tires.

For this dry segment, there was only a single type of tire available to him. To keep their official Grand Prix race compounds a secret, Pirelli, which was contractually required to provide the rubber for all official test sessions, only provided a single, much harder dry compound for any dry running.

{BOX BOX BOX for tire change,} James called on Fatih’s radio as he was on the Hangar Straight, which now had a complete dry line1 thanks to him constantly driving over it with the dry tires.

{We are doing a qualifying session?} Fatih asked on the radio, his excitement unmissable.

{No, they are planning a practice start to buy more time for the track to dry and change the setup for dry conditions before going for the qualifying simulation. Don’t worry about that,} James said on the radio, and his smile was obvious to anyone listening to their conversation.

Fatih didn’t say anything more as he immediately got into the pit lane for an active pit stop that had happened a few times already, so he just stopped in the pit area. Once again, he pulled the clutch and revved the engine as the mechanics changed the tires and dropped him. He left the area sliding due to the area still being wet, unlike the racing line he had carved on the track, but he still retained control of the car by the time he entered the fast lane. He feathered the car on the still-wet fast lane as he headed towards the track.

The moment he got on the track, James started giving him instructions on the setting changes he needed to make as he went around the track, which was also a setup to see how much he could make these changes while still driving. They weren’t worried about him crashing by being overwhelmed, as the speed he was driving at the moment was slow enough to prevent any heavy damage to the car other than bodywork damage, so it was the perfect time to check that from the tasks list.

This went on until he came to a stop in the P1 grid position, waiting and primed as his eyes looked at the lights to go out for him to start the formation lap procedure.

The single light that was on went out. He immediately started looking for the clutch bite point1, pulling both clutch paddles after pressing the BPF button on the steering wheel before revving the engine and slowly releasing one of the clutch paddles until the car started moving slowly. This allowed the computer to log exactly where the carbon clutch plates were biting and to calibrate the electronics for the real start at the end of the formation lap.

{Bite point at 6,} James said on the radio as the car started moving.

Fatih didn’t even answer as he focused on the formation lap actions he needed to complete.

He weaved left and right anywhere he could to put temperature in the tires, and when he arrived at Hangar Straight, he dropped down to second gear before aggressively stabbing the throttle, letting the rear wheels spin violently, scrubbing the cold surface film off the tires and spiking their temperature.

As he returned to the start-finish straight, he started brake-loading by holding the brakes and accelerating to increase the temperature on the front and rear carbon brakes all the way to 700°C. This would allow him to not lose too much temperature when he was sitting still on the grid waiting for the lights to go out, as the temperature radiating from the brakes would cook the aluminum wheel rims, which would then move the temperature to the tires, keeping the core pressure stable for the start. He came to a stop once again at the P1 position after doing final burnouts to remove all of the dust and other things that had stuck to the tires during the formation lap.

With his foot on the brake, he pulled the two clutch paddles and started revving the engine, fully focused on the lights.

Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep

When the fifth light came on, Fatih held his breath as he felt himself being sensitive to everything. The moment the lights went out, he immediately dropped the first clutch fully while keeping the second clutch paddle held as he left the grid position with the throttle at about forty percent. Over a period of a second and a half, he dropped the second clutch paddle before he started upshifting.

By the time he reached the end of the straight, he was already in fourth gear, but he kept his foot on the floor, took Turn One flat out, and then upshifted to fifth gear before taking Turn Two.

Only then did he finally slow down and start driving the rest of the lap slowly, as he was reminded that he didn’t have enough fuel to push for the rest of the lap. After all, it was done on the in-lap and was supposed to only be a formation lap and start practice. But deep down, Fatih hungered for more, and he knew the qualifying session at the end of today, after a few hours’ break for the track to dry, was going to be the moment where he would be allowed to go all out, without any limitations like rain or anything else.

The heavy-duty rain tires marked with blue sidewalls. They feature deep grooves designed to pump massive amounts of water off the track to prevent the car from sliding out of control.Inters (Intermediates): The versatile wet-weather tires marked with green sidewalls. They are used when the track is damp but doesn’t have deep, standing puddles.The critical tipping point during changing weather when the track becomes either too dry for rain tires or too wet for dry tires, forcing teams to make a high-stakes pit stop choice.Smooth racing tires with no grooves at all. They provide the maximum amount of grip and speed, but they can only be used on a completely dry track.A narrow, visible strip of dry asphalt carved onto a wet track by the heat and friction of passing racing cars.The exact millisecond of physical contact where the clutch plates engage and begin transferring the engine’s rotational power straight to the rear wheels.