Formula 1: The GOAT

”....” The moment the time he had driven was shown on the timing screen, Croft, who was commentating with full excitement, and even Brundle, found themselves in a full second of silence as they digested what they were seeing with their own eyes.

”I CAN’T BELIEVE WHAT I’M SEEING, BUT IF THE EQUIPMENT ON THE TRACK IS WORKING AS IT SHOULD, I WOULD SAY HISTORY HAS BEEN MADE!

WHAT WAS DEEMED IMPOSSIBLE HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED, AS WE HAVE WITNESSED WITH OUR OWN EYES FOR THE FIRST TIME A SUB-70-SECOND LAP TIME AROUND MONACO! THE ROOKIE MARKS HIS ARRIVAL TO FORMULA ONE WITH A ONE-OH-NINE-NINE-NINE-NINE (1:09.999) STATEMENT AROUND THE STREETS OF MONTE CARLO!

HE MOVES TO THE TOP OF THE TIMING TOWER, BEATING THE MONEGASQUE WHO HAD BEEN ON PROVISIONAL POLE BY THREE AND A HALF TENTHS! WE HAVE WITNESSED A LAP THAT WILL BE TALKED ABOUT FOR GENERATIONS, MARTIN!

HE HAS PLANTED A FLAG ON ONE OF THE SUMMITS OF MOTORSPORTS! THE PRINCIPALITY HAS A NEW PRINCE, AND HIS NAME IS FATIH YILDIRIM!” Croft shouted when he finally managed to digest what he had witnessed.

Martin Brundle, finally finding his voice, filled with a profound and an almost reverent awe, said, ”I’m speechless, David. Utterly speechless. We talk about drivers being ’at one with the car,’ but you have to be more than that to accomplish what we have just witnessed.

There needs to be no gap between thought and action, to remove any fats or safety margins that drivers instinctively leave and extract one hundred percent of the possible pace around this track for what we have seen to be made possible.

I definitely need to have a very detailed lap breakdown to see for myself how he has written that history and made what was considered impossible, even by simulation, become a reality. We will talk about Senna at Donington in ’93.

We will talk about Hamilton at Silverstone in ’08 and at Singapore in 2018. And now, for the rest of time, we will talk about Yıldırım at Monaco in 2021.

He has just entered the pantheon and joined the ranks of drivers who have performed the greatest feats in motorsports, and on his first-ever weekend, in his first-ever qualifying, in his Formula 1 career. And what a beginning it is.”

......

While the commentary team was freaking out, Fatih, who was now driving his cooldown lap and moving out of the way for Verstappen, who was now back on the track for his push lap, said on the radio, {That is everything the car and the track have to give. There is nothing to improve,} breathing heavily as if he had run a marathon, a result of expending a large amount of physical and mental energy, which was only possible thanks to Zone being active and pushing him all the way to Ultimate.

{OH MY GOD, FATIH! P1! P-FUCKING-BLOODY-ONE! YOU LEGEND, YOU ABSOLUTE LEGEND! A SUB-BLOODY-SEVENTY-SECOND LAP TIME, IN MONACO....} James shouted on the radio, not holding anything back from the pure excitement he was feeling.

In the background, Fatih could hear people clapping, as they too were clearly very excited. Despite there still being more than a minute left in the session for someone to beat his lap time, they didn’t sound the least bit worried.

....

While the commentators were excited to talk about it, the session was still ongoing, so they had to return and focus on those planning to talk about it once the session was done.

”He’s put in an eighteen-five as HE TAGS THE BARRIER ON THE FINAL CORNER as well. Perez stays ninth fastest, not a surprise.”

”Yeah, that was a horrible lap for a number of reasons.”

”Wasn’t it a bit too much curb, a bit too much traffic? Certainly, Lewis Hamilton now, around the Lowe’s hairpin, as he sets an eighteen-five-one-nine sector time, as he too tags the barrier coming down from Portier, but he has managed to keep some forward speed. This is going to be a pretty bad qualifying session for Lewis Hamilton unless he can pull something amazing out of the bag. He was 13th on the grid in 2017, he was 19th in 2009, and at the moment, he’s only seventh fastest.”

”Look at this, three and a half tenths down. How often do we say that about Lewis Hamilton and qualifying?”

”We don’t, as he backs off and tries it once again while Verstappen sets an eighteen-four sector one, a good time but not fast enough to beat Fatih... OOOOOOOOOOOOOH, BUT IT IS GOING TO COME TO NOTHING FOR MAX VERSTAPPEN! HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN IMPROVING ON HIS PACE, BUT LECLERC, THE MAN IN P2, HAS GONE INTO THE BARRIERS IN THE MIDST OF HIM TRYING TO IMPROVE!” Croft shouted when the feed changed from Verstappen to showing Leclerc against the barrier at the exit of the swimming pool chicane, with a tire definitely out of where it should have been.

Martin Brundle immediately took over, ”THE RED FLAG HAS COME OUT WITH ONLY EIGHTEEN SECONDS REMAINING, AND THAT’S IT FOR QUALIFYING! AND CHARLES LECLERC, THE MONEGASQUE, IN AN ATTEMPT TO TAKE BACK HIS PROVISIONAL POLE, HAS CRASHED! AND IN DOING SO, HAS GUARANTEED POLE POSITION FOR THE ROOKIE, HANDING IT TO FATIH YILDIRIM ON A SILVER PLATTER! YOU CANNOT WRITE A SCRIPT LIKE THIS!”

Having used that breathing room to gather himself, Croft finally resumed, his voice carrying the weight of the historic moment, ”AND WITH NO TIME FOR ANYONE TO BEAT FATIH YILDIRIM’S LAP TIME, LET THE HISTORY BOOKS SHOW WHAT WE HAVE WITNESSED HERE TODAY IN MONTE CARLO, AS A ROOKIE ON HIS DEBUT HAS TAKEN POLE POSITION AT THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS RACE IN THE WORLD! LET’S GO THROUGH THE RECORDS HE HAS JUST BROKEN IN A SINGLE AFTERNOON...”

He paused for a moment, just in time for the TV director to put on the screen the graphics of the records Fatih had set in this session.

Croft finally continued, ”On his first-ever Formula 1 qualifying session, he becomes THE YOUNGEST POLE-SITTER in the history of formula 1, obliterating the record from sebastian vettel, who set it at monza all the way back in 2008 at 21 years and 73 days old!

The rookie beats it by over three whole years! He becomes the youngest driver to ever stand on a Grand Prix front row, beating the record held by the man sitting right behind him in second place today, Max Verstappen, who set it at Spa in 2016 at 18 years and 331 days old!

He became the FIRST-EVER SUB-70-SECOND lap in the history of the Monaco Grand Prix, breaking the ultimate track record set just two years ago in 2019 by Lewis Hamilton. A one-ten-one-six-six completely erased by a teenager!

He becomes only the sixth driver in seventy-one years of this sport to take POLE POSITION ON HIS ABSOLUTE DEBUT WEEKEND, the first to do it since Jacques Villeneuve stunned the world in Melbourne back in 1996, joining a truly elite club.

He is the FIRST-EVER TURKISH DRIVER to start from pole position, a monumental moment for his nation.

He has delivered Helios AlphaTauri THEIR FIRST POLE POSITION since Sebastian Vettel’s legendary win for Toro Rosso at Monza in 2008.

But even all of that doesn’t tell the full story. He has secured the SHORTEST TIME BETWEEN SUPER LICENSE ISSUANCE AND POLE POSITION IN MODERN F1 HISTORY. His license was approved on Tuesday. It is now Saturday. That’s a mere four days from being officially eligible to race to sitting on pole at Monaco! Unprecedented!

THIS WAS HIS FIRST-EVER FORMULA 1 QUALIFYING SESSION, AND HE CAME OUT AT THE END OF IT WITH A PERFECT RECORD: ONE ENTRY, ONE POLE POSITION. HE DIDN’T NEED A SECOND CHANCE.”

”Wow, what a set of accolades. But for me, it is the time-based records that are just staggering, David. Most drivers have months with a Super License; they have full pre-season testing campaigns; they have several race weekends to get up to speed. He has had three hours of Free Practice and has conquered the most difficult track on the calendar.

What that says about his innate talent, his adaptability, and his sheer nerve under pressure... It’s off the scale. We’re not comparing him to other rookies anymore. Today, he’s set a standard that even world champions will look at in awe,” Martin Brundle said, his voice making it clear to anyone listening that he was extremely impressed by what he had witnessed.

”The rulebook was changed because of a seventeen-year-old phenom named Max Verstappen. One has to wonder what they will do now, after what we’ve seen from an eighteen-year-old Fatih Yıldırım.

He has taken every expectation, every piece of hype, and not just met it, but launched it into the stratosphere. A star is born, and he will start tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix from the very front,” David Croft said as the feed followed Fatih’s car back to the pit lane as the rest of the field returned there as well, following the red flag procedures. Everywhere he passed, people, including mechanics from other teams, clapped for him as if welcoming him back in triumph.