CHAPTER 131: RACE WEEKEND | FRIDAY | A LAP OF POWER PLAY

"I heard after our meeting you went to watch the KF Junior World Championship to see a driver," Jos Verstappen asked Helmut Marko in one of the grandstands as they watched the karts on track.

Helmut, upon hearing the question, turned to Jos, raising an eyebrow before he asked, "You have connections even in KF Junior?"

"Nah, they were my connections for when Max was in the category. As I was catching up with one of them, it just came up. I mentioned my surprise at not seeing you at the first round of the world championship, and he said he saw you there. After a little back and forth, I realized you went to the KF Junior event, not the KF one. It made me wonder if there was a driver who made you go all the way there to watch him," Jos said, trying to clear the air when he sensed the direction the conversation was going.

He knew that Helmut hated being spied on, and at the moment, they were working together. He didn’t want to create the impression that he was watching him, but at the same time, he couldn’t remain silent when he didn’t see him come to Abu Dhabi to watch Max and heard that he went to watch another driver instead. It created the idea that there was another driver who had now entered the same level of importance as Max, or was at least approaching that level, and he wanted it cleared up. He had his suspicions; the moment he learned about his attendance, he looked into it and immediately locked on to a driver named Fatih, who delivered a driver-of-the-weekend-worthy performance. But he needed to hear it from Helmut rather than speculating.

Helmut looked at Jos for a moment, letting the silence linger before he said, "I went to watch that driver," pointing at Fatih, who was finally entering the track as the free practice session for the group with even numbers was about to start. "After hearing and watching his impressive international debut, he didn’t disappoint. Rather, he delivered such a good performance that I made an offer immediately," he said, not trying to hide anything, since he was sure Jos was already aware of who the driver might be.

"I’m sure you already know that anyway," he added, but Jos didn’t say anything. His eyes were now focused on the track, tracking Fatih, who was on a warmup lap, zigzagging on the straight to heat the tires, accelerating and slowing down to open a gap to the karts in front of him. It was a very crowded track, with thirty-five karts in a single session. As he came out of the Turn 11 hairpin and put his foot on the power, he kept with his tradition of going for a push lap on his second lap on track.

Helmut, seeing how focused Jos was, didn’t say anything and let him watch, joining him as well. He wanted to see how Fatih would deliver on this track and if the pressure of the contracts and offers he received would cause his demise. He knew Fatih’s mother was delaying the signing of the contract, despite agreeing to many of the conditions, until after this weekend in order to increase her leverage and make sure her son got everything he could from the deal. But that was a gamble, one dependent on whether Fatih could continue delivering as he had before. If he didn’t, she would be the one on the receiving end.

.....

Fatih, uncaring of what was on the minds of the viewers, was fully focused as his push lap was about to start. He had already started gathering momentum on the straight after Turn 11, heading to the Turn 12 left-hander that was coming at him rapidly. He hugged the right side, lifted for a moment, letting drag slow him down before he turned the kart, letting it stick, and returned to power as he rushed towards the final corner. This one was a flat-out corner, requiring him to go wide on the exit, taking as much curb as available as he entered the start-finish straight, his foot to the metal as he went through the magnetic timing strip to start his push lap.

As he neared Turn 1, he jabbed the brakes for a moment before turning right, getting on the power on the corner exit and heading toward the smaller Turn 2, which many would choose to take flat out. He went the opposite route, pressing on the brakes for a moment before returning to power and braking later for Turn 3. This gained him time that would have been lost from the heavier braking had he taken Turn 2 flat out, which would have sent him wide into the Turn 3 and 4 left-right chicane.

This allowed him to exit with more speed, which was crucial, as the following Turn 5 left-hander and Turn 6 right-hander led into the longest straight on the track, all of which was pedal to the metal, giving the advantage to the one who reached the higher speed first. He moved his head forward for the mini-DRS effect on the straight leading to the heaviest braking zone on the track, the very corner where, only yesterday, Apollo had nearly sent him into the wall as a joke.

Instead of braking on the straight and then turning like others did, he trail-braked into the corner, inducing a slight drift before returning to power on the following straight. This allowed him to be in the braking period for as short a time as possible and retain more speed than those who braked on the straight.

Arriving at Turn 8, a double-apex corner, he braked early, deliberately missing the first apex only to take as much of the second apex as possible while on power. This continued all the way to Turn 9, which he took flat out, benefiting massively on the following straight leading to the double hairpin corner. He repeated the process of braking early, missing the entry apex, and taking the exit apex for a slow-in, fast-out approach before finding himself on the second-to-last straight, going full power towards Turn 12.

However, unlike the previous time where he had lifted, this time he braked only for a moment to load the front tire and allow the kart to bite, letting him turn at a much higher speed than he had previously before returning the gas pedal to the metal. He took Turn 13 flat out, going wide on exit and once again taking as much curb as possible before finishing his first lap and starting the second, which he was instantly forced to abandon due to two karts in front of him going slow and covering his lines, bringing him to a near-full stop to avoid a crash.

.......

[P1 - #329 Fatih YILDIRIM - FP1-Even Group - Lap Time: 48.135]

Jos closed his eyes for a moment after he saw the lap time on the timing board. It had instantly catapulted Fatih to the overall P1, beating the fastest lap that Logan Sargeant had set in the Odd group’s free practice.

It wasn’t a feeling of worry or fear, but of pure annoyance. Fatih’s presence was causing some irritation and could slightly force him to change his plans. Other than that, he didn’t like seeing someone else hogging the spotlight from his son, as he was used to Max being the center of attention for the performances he delivered on every track.

"I’m sure you see the vision. Despite having no experience on this track, he has already set the best overall lap time of the free practice on his second lap ever," Helmut said, hiding a smile, as just this single lap had given him a slight additional bargaining advantage in securing Max.

"That is something Max can do as well," Jos said, not wanting to acknowledge it, as it would imbalance the power more than he could handle. He added, "It’s just that instead of prioritizing a show, he prioritizes checking everything before going for a push lap where he can give everything."

"You don’t think he did that during his reconnaissance lap?" Helmut asked, amused.

"You are not trying to tell me he gathered all the information he needed on the track in just a single lap, are you? Even you know that is impossible," Jos said, wholeheartedly disagreeing.

"I think that is proof enough," Helmut said, pointing to the large timing board which had Fatih on top.

"I mean, he might be faster than the kids he is with, but if Max were placed in the same kart as that kid, he would be faster than him," Jos disagreed, not liking the direction the conversation was going at all.

"You are ignoring the age factor. He is ten. Max is what now? He just turned sixteen, I think. So the fact that we are comparing them itself should be a win for the kid, as he is six years younger than Max."

"Age shouldn’t be a factor in one’s driving capability. Only those who are untalented would use it as an excuse when they are not capable of competing with those who are older," Jos said, completely shutting out the age disadvantage Fatih had.

"I think we should introduce him to Max. I’m sure in the future we will get the chance to compare them against each other. It will be very interesting," Helmut said while chuckling, seeing how Jos was reacting to someone threatening the benefits he would get with Red Bull.

"Sure," Jos said, agreeing half-heartedly before standing up. "I’m going to check on Max and tell him not to dawdle and to show you what he can truly do," he said, looking at Helmut before leaving and heading to the tents where his son was.