Formula 1: The GOAT - Chapter 239: Race Weekend | Saturday | Back to Basics

Chapter 239: Race Weekend | Saturday | Back to Basics

“He keeps up with the tradition and immediately goes on a push lap on his first complete lap on track, which I heard is also the first time he is driving these new OK senior karts. But he is driving it with so much confidence, it makes you feel as if he had driven it for hours prior to this session,” the main commentator said as Fatih took the turn-one chicane without touching the brakes, arriving at the straight under the bridge at a very high speed. He approached the wide, rising turn heading towards the bridge he had just passed under.

“Ughh!” the two commentators groaned when they saw the speed at which he entered the bridge section. The heavy braking zone on the bridge exit approached him rapidly before he stomped on the brakes as late and as hard as possible, still avoiding tire lockup, keeping the wheels spinning and the kart in the right position.

But the kart itself didn’t have all four wheels on the track. Fatih’s leaning outwards to increase the load on the outer side, along with the angle at which he induced the turn, caused the inner tires to rise aggressively. But Fatih still kept it under control as he exited the bridge and entered the long straight.

The feed continued to follow him through the straight, staying with him as he took the first hairpin and began his second sector, through the second hairpin into the third back-to-back straight. He aggressively took the chicane onto the following straight shortly before he braked while in the middle of the straight and turned into the corner, already on the throttle.

This marked the start of what anyone knowledgeable enough about the track and karts would call a perfect run through the sequence of corners that followed, which, despite some resulting in more than a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn followed by almost a hairpin into a short straight with a wide turn followed by the final corner into the start-finish straight, he leaned forward without touching the brake pedals through the entire sector amidst all of the complicated corners.

“Wooow… uuuh… haaaa,” were the only expressions that the commentators managed to make during the entire sector as they couldn’t even bring themselves to commentate. Keeping to his nature, Fatih didn’t bother to go on a cooldown lap as he immediately started his second push lap, making it look like he was doing a race simulation instead of a qualifying practice.

Moments after the new lap started, the commentators finally had digested the situation enough to start talking about the previous lap, just as the replay of some of the sections started. It showed his exit from the bridge section that had caused them to be surprised.

“Just look at that confidence and control when the kart is only on two tires, and to catch that and correct it while keeping the kart still turning and not losing too much time is impressive. He is showing exactly why he was fast-tracked to the formula series,” the main commentator said as the slow-motion feed focused on Fatih.

The right-side tires had risen high enough to be at rib level when the kart was straight, but Fatih’s helmet showed no nervous movements at all as it kept facing the next sequence, as if considering everything happening at the moment was not a problem at all.

The replay then shifted to the onboard cam in Fatih’s kart as they showed him taking the third sector. The microphone picked up the throttle inputs, showing him only using throttling, coasting, and slight lifting for the entire corner sequence without his visible brake foot being touched at all.

“That, I can say, is the perfect way anyone has gone through that sector in all the races around here that I have seen,” the co-commentator said as the graphics showed his throttle inputs.

“A 56.27-second lap time is only about two-tenths from last year’s pole lap, and that on his first free practice push lap. Looks like he is going to keep up his tradition of breaking lap records, which he still holds one on this track,” the main commentator said. Still, before he could say more about that, the replay ended, showing Fatih on track.

While he expected him to be in the middle of another push lap, it showed him driving side to side slowly with another driver while talking to them before Fatih pulled back. The driver he was talking with pushed as he headed into the double hairpin section in sector two, despite not having started a push lap from the start, with Fatih following closely.

“Did he ever do anything like this previously?” asked the main commentator.

“No, he usually spends the entire practice session on practically a race simulation.” As the co-commentator said that, the driver ahead of Fatih slowed after taking the first hairpin, and Fatih caught up to them, moving closer and using his hands as if he was explaining something regarding the corner. A few seconds later, the situation reversed as Fatih rushed, and the other driver followed, watching closely as he took the second hairpin.

“Hahahahaha, he is coaching another driver and correcting their mistakes! Oh my god, this is crazy,” the main commentator said while laughing due to how unbelievable the situation was.

“Seraphina, car number 295, is the driver receiving education from Fatih, a wild card entry in this competition. We have yet to know the relationship between the two to see if this was a planned or spontaneous action from Fatih. She doesn’t have any international competition record, and she is a local with her record showing that she started officially racing last year and is entering as a privateer,” the co-commentator said as he went through the race information they had in their hand.

“It doesn’t really matter, but she is receiving instructions from the best possible karting driver to have. It looks like they know each other based on how they are interacting seamlessly back and forth,” the main commentator said as the feed kept following them, alternating from leading to showing as Fatih gave instructions and she tried to implement them, with Fatih either giving a thumbs-up or correcting the mistake.

At the same time, he was making sure they were not hindering other drivers who were on their push lap, and he was doing it so easily it made it very clear that he was not at all overwhelmed by the amount of information he was receiving on the track.