Formula 1: The GOAT

While Murat broke down the technical aspects of a lap around Istanbul Park, the feed that had been divided into two to show both the car being driven by Yağız Avcı on the track and Fatih’s workout in preparation for his test finally returned to show Yağız fully, as he was finally going to be pushing his car around the track. Just like with Kenan, the helicopter followed him as he went around the track, pushing the rally car that was in a very tame environment compared to the conditions it was used to experiencing on a day-to-day basis.

”Turn 8, that is the most well-known corner when people talk about this track with its four apexes. What makes it so famous?” Mehmet asked about it just as Yağız was approaching it.

”If I could give it a name, I would call it the graveyard for weak drivers,” he said as a matter of fact.

”A graveyard? What do you mean by that?” Mehmet asked, knowing it was definitely going to be interesting.

”Look at that,” he said as he pointed to the screen just as Yağız was in the middle of taking Turn 8, before he continued, ”It is not just one corner but a massive, sweeping 640-meter arc. And Hermann designed it with four distinct apexes, making it a very rare corner in the F1 calendar. Drivers are used to thinking a corner is turn-in, clip the curb, power out.

And the most change they have is maybe a chicane, but that is not true here because they now have to thread a needle across four separate corners in one continuous high-speed line. If he misses or overshoots the line by even a small distance, his trajectory is ruined; he will drift wide, and he will experience understeer for the entirety of the sequence until the exit. And worst of all, he will have to lift the throttle. I will come back to that later.

At the moment, Yağız is pulling at most 2 Gs in that rally car, with the speed ranging between 155 and 165 km/h, and although that sounds like mind-boggling speed, in a few minutes, Fatih will be going through the same corner at speeds of nearly 270 kilometers per hour and more, thanks to the downforce the F1 cars can generate. But in return, he will also be hitting peak lateral Gs in the range of 5 Gs.

What that means, ladies and gentlemen, is that Fatih’s helmet and head will suddenly feel five times heavier while at the same time being pushed to the right, meaning he has to fight it back. If it had been a quick turn, then it would have been no problem, but he will have to endure that for five consecutive seconds, all of that while still having to drive like threading a needle on the racing line to not lose time.

This turn is also the most important turn on the entire track, tire-wise, because if we look at the telemetry from Yağız’s rally car, we can see the temperatures spiking violently on the right-side tires since they are bearing the most weight of the car for the entire duration of the corner. For Fatih, the front suspension will push past 10,000 newtons, and if a driver leans too far into it or scrubs the tire while trying to correct a steering mistake, he will cook the rubber instantly. A blister on that tyre means a high-speed blowout on the back straightaway.

Now, back to what happens if he is forced to lift due to a mistake. If he gets scared or hesitates by even a small amount through the corner, he will lose exit speed, and with the exit being a straight, he will lose time through the entire part until the next braking zone. Half a second could be lost during the entire sequence, meaning he cannot really play it safe during the turn...”

Murat went on and on all the way until the lap was finished, but he still continued as the feed changed to the ground-level angles and continued until the car returned to the garage after a ten-lap tour around the track. The feed then changed for a moment to show Fatih finally in the garage with his racing overalls hanging at his waist, his long-sleeved fireproof underwear fully visible as he talked with a woman in a mechanic’s fireproof overalls who handed him his earpieces.

”The man of the day is finally in the garage, ready for his important test,” Mehmet said as Fatih put on his earphones, followed by his balaclava. Finally, he put on the top half of the hanging racing suit before fully zipping it up.

Thanks to the balaclava, only his eyes and the top of his nose were visible, with everything else covered by the black and dark gold racing suit he was wearing as the camera slowly zoomed in on his face.

And when he turned to talk to a man who approached him with a red helmet in his hand, his back was finally visible, showing the golden-colored crescent and star on his back, an obvious design choice by Red Bull to cement themselves in the country by including the national flag on the uniform.

Taking the red helmet, he adjusted the straps before immediately putting it on and finally walked towards the car. After an elbow bump with the female mechanic, he walked to the side of the car, raising his right leg as a mechanic rubbed the sole of his shoe before he put it in the cockpit. The same was done for the left shoe before he finally sat down in the carbon fiber seat molded to his body. The mechanics started putting on a seatbelt to secure him into the car before the steering wheel was finally attached.

...

Fatih closed his eyes for a short moment before he opened them, feeling the rumble of the car as it powered on, before a mechanic removed the long starter motor inserted into the car to ignite the engine.

The steering wheel responded as well, lighting up as data regarding the car was finally updated on the screen.

{Radio check?} James’s voice was heard in Fatih’s earpieces, bringing a smile to his face.

{Loud and clear, James,} he answered, the smile still on his face, as it had been a very long time since he had heard that voice through his earpieces while he was the one in the car.

{We will do a few installation laps for final checkups before we come to a stop in the P1 position to begin our test in race simulation, understood?} James said, going through something they had practiced a few times beforehand in the simulator in Milton Keynes.

{Understood,} Fatih answered as he closed the visor. Lisa, his previous and current chief mechanic, pulled back to near the fast lane line and gave him a thumbs-up. Responding to that, he engaged the clutch and left the pit lane.

He was excited as he was finally back in an actual F1 car, and he could push it to its limit.