Mobil itu, bergemuruh seperti binatang buas, terdengar dari jauh saat kembali ke jalur pit setelah dikendarai sekuat tenaga oleh Fatih. Ia berhenti tepat di depan mekanik yang sudah menunggunya untuk ketiga dan terakhir kali dalam sesi stint lima putaran itu.
Langkah pertama yang ia lakukan adalah melepas sabuk pengaman dan keluar dari mobil, melepas helm dan meletakkannya di meja garasi bersama balaclava-nya, lalu melepas earphone-nya, tepat waktu sebelum Alex tiba. Mekanik memasang kipas pendingin yang diisi es kering untuk memastikan mesin tidak overheat.
Sementara mekanik sibuk dengan mobil, Fatih langsung menuju ruang rapat sambil meminum air yang dibawakan Alex untuk debriefing pasca-sesi dan melihat data apakah ada yang bisa ditingkatkan atau perubahan setelan apa yang perlu dibuat untuk sesi berikutnya setelah makan siang.
Mengejutkan, Horner dan Helmut tidak hadir di rapat itu padahal mereka ikut yang sebelumnya, tapi Fatih tidak repot memikirkan kenapa mereka tidak ada, karena ia sepenuhnya fokus menikmati sesi ini.
........
Vroooom. Mobil bergemuruh saat Fatih sekali lagi meninggalkan jalur pit, kembali ke lintasan yang sudah berhenti hujan tapi masih basah untuk stint lima belas putaran dengan bahan bakar penuh. Ia dikirim untuk merasakan bagaimana mobil berperilaku dengan beban bahan bakar mendekati level balapan dan mengendarai di kondisi seperti itu untuk melihat bagaimana dia bisa beradaptasi.
Seluruh akhir pekan disusun agar dia bisa mengalami sebanyak mungkin skenario berbeda yang mustahil sepenuhnya dirasakan di dalam simulator, supaya hal itu tersimpan di benak saat latihan simulator dan nanti saat ia benar-benar naik mobil F1 resmi untuk sesi kompetitif.
"Telemetri ini bikin gue mikir ini pengemudi berpengalaman, bukan pemula di putaran pertamanya naik mobil F1," kata Michael sambil melihat telemetri Fatih, yang nggak menunjukkan kekurangan pengalaman seorang driver baru.
Fatih sepertinya mengatur seberapa keras dia push sesuai dengan berat bahan bakar di mobil, dan perlahan meningkatkan push seiring bahan bakar habis. Beriringan dengan penggunaan ban, hasilnya dia menjaga laptime yang anehnya sama terus meski mobil jadi lebih ringan sementara ban jadi lebih jelek.
"Gue udah nggak kaget sejak lihat musim F4-nya," kata James sambil melihat laptime yang hampir identik meski kondisi berubah.
"Tapi gimana dia adaptasi cepet banget ke hal yang seharusnya lebih powerful dari yang pernah dia alami?"
"Itu pertanyaan yang masih gue cari jawabannya, tapi menurut gue dia memang itu jeniusnya soal mengendarai mobil cepat," jawab James sebelum ngomong lewat radio, update Fatih soal situasi, kayak hujan yang diperkirakan turun dalam beberapa putaran lagi.
Michael lalu kembali memperhatikan perkembangan selanjutnya sambil mencoba merasionalkan situasi. Secara rasional, sesi pertama naik mobil F1 asli di tengah hujan itu kondisi paling sulit buat driver. Tapi alih-alih melihat aksi konservatif, satu-satunya yang dia lihat justru driver mendorong mobil ke batas, padahal kondisi seharusnya bikin driver baru yang khawatir nabrak mobil justru melaju perlahan.
.......
{BOX BOX BOX untuk full wets,} James seru lewat radio saat Fatih keluar tikungan Stowe jauh lebih hati-hati, karena air di lintasan bertambah akibat tiba-tiba hujan turun lagi di tengah stint sore hari yang jadi sesi terakhir, bikin sulit lanjut mengendarai di kondisi itu.
Dia langsung tekan tombol konfirmasi pit dan belok, masuk jalur pit, yang menuntut dia berjalan kaki lebih hati-hati lagi sampai sampai di pit box, lihat tim siap penuh untuk pit stop tengah sesi. Dia ikutin prosedur: berhenti di area berhenti, langsung gasin mobil sambil tarik kopling saat ban diganti dalam tiga detik.
Dia dilepas, dan langsung masuk gigi pertama sambil lepas kopling dan keluar meluncur ke jalur cepat, kembali ke lintasan untuk menyelesaisa sisa empat belas putarannya di lintasan yang semakin gelap.
Red Bull memutuskan tetap kirim dia keluar meski pencahayaan kurang optimal di sore berawan sebagai latihan mengendarai di cahaya minim dan belajar pakai serta percaya penanda di lintasan, supaya nanti di kondisi balapan hujan asli dan visor penuh air dari mobil di depannya, dia nggak kaget dan udah punya pengalaman mengendarai di kondisi mirip atau lebih parah.
Dan dia memenuhi harapan saat kembali ke pit di akhir sesi, belum sekali pun keluar lintasan, meski laptimenya tetap kompetitif buat kondisi itu, jelas buat siapa aja betapa kontrolnya dia sepanjang hari.
Saat berhenti dan akhirnya ditarik ke garasi dan keluar dari mobil, mekanik di garasi mulai bertepuk tangan sebagai selamat atas penyelesaian hari pertama sesi on-track-nya. Lebih antusias karena dia nggak nabrak dan nambah kerja malam mereka.
Fatih cuma ngacung sebentar sebelum tepuk dada sendiri, mengakui gestur mereka, lalu pergi sama Alex buat mandi dan akhirnya keluar sirkuit dan istirahat, karena masih ada dua hari lagi.
.......
"Ibu di mana?" tanya Fatih saat selesai mandi dan ganti baju saat mereka mulai keluar garasi dengan hanya ayah tiri, Burak, dan neneknya yang menunggu.
"Horner dan Helmut nanya ke dia apakah dia sempat buat rapat, dan dia pergi sama Elena beberapa jam lalu buat bahas sesuatu yang penting, dan bilang jangan ditunggu," jawab Burak sambil terus jalan.
"Ahaaa," Fatih jawab dan nggak tanya lagi soal itu, karena dia sudah bisa duga apa yang dibahas di rapat itu.
"Lalu gimana hari ini?" Burak, sebaliknya, kelihatannya lebih penasaran gimana hari Fatih ketimbang apa yang dibahas istrinya dan manajer anak tiri mereka sama raksasa motorsport itu.
The car, rumbling like a beast, could be heard from afar as it returned to the pit lane after having been pushed to the limit by Fatih. He came to a stop in front of the mechanics who had been waiting for him for the third and final time of the five-lap stint session.
He immediately removed the seatbelt and got out of the car, taking off his helmet and placing it on the table in the garage along with his balaclava before finally removing his earphones, just in time for Alex to arrive. The mechanics placed cooling fans stuffed with dry ice to make sure the engine wouldn’t overheat.
As the mechanics were dealing with the car, he headed directly to the meeting room while drinking the water that Alex had brought him to have a post-session debrief and look at the data to see if there was anywhere to improve or what setup changes to make for the next session after lunch.
Surprisingly, Horner and Helmut didn’t attend the meeting despite having attended the previous ones, but Fatih didn’t bother wondering why they were not there, as he was fully focused on enjoying this session.
.........
Vroooom. The car rumbled as Fatih once again left the pit lane, heading back onto the track that had stopped raining but was still wet for his high-fuel, fifteen-lap stint. He was sent to experience how the car would feel at near-race level fuel and drive under those conditions to see how he could adapt to it.
The entire weekend was set around allowing him to experience as many different scenarios as possible that were impossible to fully experience inside a simulator, so that he could have that in mind during simulator time and when he finally got into an actual F1 car for an official competitive session.
"This telemetry makes me think it is an experienced driver and not a newbie on his first few rounds in an F1 car," Michael said as he watched Fatih’s telemetry, which didn’t show the lack of experience of a new driver.
Fatih seemed to be moderating how much he was pushing to how much fuel weight there was in the car, and he was slowly increasing how much he was pushing the more he burned. In tandem with how much the tires were being used, it resulted in him keeping the lap times eerily the same despite the car getting lighter while the tires became worse.
"I stopped being surprised ever since I saw his F4 season," James said as he looked at the near-identical lap times despite the changing conditions.
"But how is he adapting so fast to things that should be more powerful than the ones he has previously experienced?"
"That is a question I’m still looking for an answer to, but I think he is just that good when it comes to driving cars fast," James said before getting on the radio, updating Fatih on the situation, like the expected rainfall within a few laps from his current lap.
Michael then returned to watching the continuing development as he tried to rationalise the situation. Rationally, having a driver’s first real F1 car driving session happen while it is raining was the most difficult condition you could put the driver in. But instead of seeing conservative actions from the driver, the only thing he saw was the driver pushing the car to the limit, despite the conditions being ones where a new driver worrying about crashing the car should be driving slowly.
.......
{BOX BOX BOX for full wets,} James called on the radio as Fatih came out of Stowe corner much more carefully, as the water on the track had increased due to the sudden return of the rain in the middle of his final evening stint of the day, making it difficult to continue driving under those conditions.
He immediately pressed the pit confirm button and turned, entering the pit lane, which required him to tiptoe even more until he arrived at the pit box, seeing the team fully ready for an in-session pit stop. He obliged as he came to a stop in the stopping area and immediately started revving the car while pulling the clutch as his tyres were changed in three seconds.
He was dropped, and he immediately engaged the clutch in first gear and left the area sliding as he returned to the fast lane and went out on the track to finish his remaining fourteen laps on a track that was getting darker and darker.
Red Bull had decided to still send him out despite the lighting conditions being less than optimal on a cloud-covered evening as a way for him to practice his driving in low-light situations and learn to use and trust the markers on the track so that when he is in actual wet race conditions and his visor is filled with water from the cars in front of him, he will not be caught off-guard and will already have experience driving in similar if not worse conditions.
And he lived up to the expectations as he came back to the pits at the end of the session, having not gone off the track even once, despite his lap times still being competitive for the conditions he was in, making it clear to anyone how in control he was for the entire day.
When he came to a stop and was finally dragged into the garage and got out of the car, the mechanics in the garage started clapping for him as a congratulations for finally finishing his first on-track session day. It was more enthusiastic because he didn’t crash and increase their overnight work as well.
Fatih just waved for a moment before tapping his chest, acknowledging their gesture, before he left with Alex to go and wash up and finally leave the track and rest for the day, as there were still two more.
.......
"Where is mom?" Fatih asked when he finally finished washing and changing clothes as they started leaving the garage with only his stepfather, Burak, and his grandmother waiting for him.
"Horner and Helmut asked her if she was available for a meeting, and she left with Elena a few hours ago to talk about something important, and they said not to wait for them," Burak answered as he continued walking.
"Ahaaa," Fatih said and stopped asking more about that, as he could already guess what was being discussed in that meeting.
"So how was today?" Burak, on the other hand, seemed to be more curious about how the day went for Fatih than what his wife and his stepson’s manager were talking about with those motorsports giants.
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