Chapter 109: La Conca
Red Bull Milton Keynes Headquarters
Helmut Marko was sitting in silence in his office, his eyes focused on the video playing on the screen. It was the video brought by the scouts who had gone to observe the 42nd Trofeo delle Industrie to see if there were any talented drivers that might catch his interest.
He had very little hope when he sent them, but they had returned with their faces flushed with excitement as they handed him the CD and a document of all the drivers they found interesting for him to take a look at.
Although he was curious about who they had found, he didn’t raise his hopes. He had seen what the best looked like, so for anyone to catch his interest, they would have to at least match it or surpass it. Even he knew how difficult it would be for someone to surpass Max Verstappen.
However, despite his prejudice, he decided to take a look at it. His mind changed just a few minutes into the video, as he found himself fully immersed in what was happening on the screen.
Without realizing it, two hours had already gone by when he finally lifted his head. In the video, Fatih was pumping his fist, celebrating his win.
Worried that he might forget, he clicked the intercom to his secretary, who answered nearly instantly.
"What can I help you with, sir?" the secretary asked.
"What is my schedule for this weekend?" he asked.
"You are to go and attend the first round of the FIA World Championship KF-Junior category," answered his secretary, waiting for the next instructions.
"Aaah," Helmut said, coming to the realization that this year was going to be the first year ever that the KF-Junior category officially debuted as a standalone karting world title, so he really hadn’t considered it.
"When am I heading there?" he asked after a moment.
"Leaving on Friday evening. Starting Saturday, you will be on the track, leaving on Sunday after the final."
"Change it so that I can observe starting Friday," Helmut said.
"But sir, you have a scheduled meeting with Jos Verstappen on Friday afternoon. That’s why it is set for you to leave in the evening," his secretary reminded him.
"Okay then, leave it as it is," Helmut said, realizing that he had nearly dropped the golden apple in his hand to chase for a potential golden one that he wasn’t even sure would stand up to the test.
Fatih had shown impressive capability, but he wasn’t enough to warrant him canceling a meeting with Jos when all he would be missing was the free practice, still allowing him to attend all of the important sessions when he arrived on Saturday.
He then returned his focus to the screen, rewinding the video back to the pre-final race start and playing it, then rewinding it again, watching the quadruple overtake in turn one.
....
Maranello, Italy.
"And he knows Italian," Davide Colleoni said to Luca Baldisserri, his supervisor, who was watching the video.
"This might be a spell of performance, and we need to monitor him more before making a decision," Luca Baldisserri said, deferring the decision regarding him until later.
"He is participating in the FIA KF-Junior World Championship next week. I suggest you attend," Davide Colleoni said, not wanting to let it remain like that just because he was still in karting, a newcomer on the international scene.
"Didn’t you say that he was new? How is he participating in the world championship when he doesn’t have an international KF-Junior competition under his belt to compete for the championship?"
"He is entering as a wildcard entrant through the support from his ASN. So even if he wins, he won’t be receiving the championship. Additionally, he is not expected to enter the second round of the World Championship in Abu Dhabi, so he won’t be winning it either way."
"I will see if I have the time to attend. I want to see for myself if he can keep the performance or if it’s a one-hit wonder for him," Luca Baldisserri said after a moment of consideration.
Davide Colleoni released a breath of relief, thankful that Luca Baldisserri didn’t show the usual Ferrari arrogance. Otherwise, they might have already tossed Fatih aside due to him not being Italian or not having proved himself enough on the international scene. They would have most likely opted for the "wait and see" option with the confidence that they could recruit him whenever they deemed him to have met their criteria, even if he was already with another team. After all, they were Ferrari.
It was a disease that had caused many problems for them, but the times when it had worked in their favor acted as nothing but proof that their system worked, leading to the disease not being treated.
.......
Upon arriving on Tuesday, Fatih and his family rested for the day before finally heading to the track on Wednesday to see it for themselves and get used to it.
Fatih had the option to attend Wednesday’s unofficial free practice, but before they could include their name on the list, it was already filled by drivers who had skipped last week’s competition, leaving him to wait for the official free practice on Friday, as the track was not accessible to anyone on Thursday due to the FIA team’s planned checks on the track to make sure it was ready for the competition weekend.
Following their arrival at the track, Fatih started touring it with Burak, but since it was still filled with karts, he was limited to seeing it from the grandstands.
"What are you doing?" Burak asked when he saw Fatih standing with his eyes closed.
"Feeling the track," Fatih answered without opening his eyes.
This track had a very deep connection to him, despite this being his first time visiting it. He had spent the second-longest amount of time here, second only to home, as he had started driving on this track the moment he registered a kart in the simulation.
It was one track that he could say, no matter who he competed with, he could beat them by a very large margin, as he was confident that he knew the track better than even its designers.
"Aren’t you supposed to do that while driving, or do you have a radar-like sensor?" Burak teased him before leaving him to it and not interrupting any further.
After about a minute, he opened his eyes and said, "I’m done," before leaving the grandstands and touring the inside of the building to memorize the bathroom, changing room, and all other important areas they needed to know in order not to waste time. After spending an hour on the track, they left and returned to the hotel.
......
Time went by very fast, and it wasn’t long until Friday arrived. They headed to the track very early to go through all of the administrative procedures and have enough time to get ready for the free practice sessions.
The entire day was set aside for free practice, with each driver having a total of four, two - ten minutes practice in the morning and two more in the evening. They were not timed sessions, as they were used for drivers to get used to the track.
Once they had completed all of the administrative matters and Fatih had received his assigned driver number, which once again was number 99, they headed to their academy tent to start the day’s briefing. This went by quickly before they headed into the drivers’ meeting with the race director and stewards, who went through the same basic and additional special directives specific to the track, like where track limits would be enforced and where they wouldn’t, to what extent the drivers could maintain their aggressiveness, and more.
Once the meeting was done, finally, Group A was allowed onto the track to start their ten-minute free practice.
"We are once again starting with the neutral setup for you, so go around the track and come up with the setup you want before we implement and test it in practice two to see if there will be any problems. So go out there and drive as you like, imagining what you want it to feel like," Steve said to Fatih, who was last in line, waiting for the other drivers to enter the track before he joined them.
Instead of answering verbally, he just gave Steve a thumbs-up as he started heading to the track, looking forward to it. He wondered if his performance could correlate one-to-one with this track, as it was a track where, if it didn’t correlate, even by a few percentages, he would be able to feel the difference entirely. It was his opportunity to know to what percentage the system track matched its real-world counterpart.
As he joined the track from the pit exit and started his outlap, he almost closed his eyes, focusing all of his brainpower on his body to feel the track while swerving left and right, going through his perfected tire warmup routine that he had first learned on this circuit.