"Kamu baik-baik saja?" tanya Steve, menepuk bahu Enaam yang duduk di kursi lipat dengan kepala tersembunyi di lutut, tangan memeluk kaki sendiri. Wajahnya muram. Dia ada di tenda, menunggu orang tuanya datang menjemputnya dari sirkuit.
Perasaannya hancur setelah finis kedua di setiap sesi yang diikutinya bersama Fatih. Kekalahan di simulasi kualifikasi sangat menggiurkan kepercayaan dirinya, karena kalah dari orang yang sama sekali tidak dia kenal.
"Tidak, aku tidak," jawab Enaam dengan suara suram, tetap tidak mengangkat kepala.
Mendengar jawaban itu, Steve menyeret kursi terdekat, duduk di samping Enaam, "Kamu tidak perlu merasa putus asa. Cuma karena kalah hari ini, bukan berarti kamu tidak bisa bangkit nanti dan mengalahkannya. Lagipula, aku yakin kamu jadi lebih baik berkat beradu dengan Lando beberapa tahun lalu. Sekarang dia naik kategori tahun depan, aku khawatir tidak ada lawan berkualitas, tapi sekarang kamu punya satu. Jadi coba lihat dari sisi positif, jangan terlalu menggantungkan diri pada kekalahan hari ini."
Dia, dengan caranya sendiri, mencoba memotivasi Enaam, merasa kasihan mendatangkan ke sini hanya untuk dilibas anak baru itu, padahal mereka kira akan jadi tantangan berat buat si anak baru. Tapi sebagai insinyur telemetri, bukan pelatih, kata-katanya tidak keluar semotivasinya yang dia kira. Malah terdengar seolah dia menganggap Fatih sekelas Lando dan Enaam satu tingkat di bawah, membuat moral Enaam semakin hancur.
"..." Enaam diam menunduk, tidak menjawab. Steve sadar kata-katanya mungkin disalah artikan. Dia diam-diam bangun mencari orang yang jago bicara dengan anak-anak, biar tidak semakin parah dan membuat anak ini benci karting.
Meski dia tahu kemungkinan itu kecil, karena Enaam pengemudi berbakat dan termotivasi, tidak akan nyerah cuma karena lawan baru muncul, tapi lebih baik tangani lebih awal. Lagipula, dia pengemudi mereka, dan mereka dibayar untuk mendukung dia dan karirnya.
........
"Gimana rasanya akhirnya nyetir kart lagi setelah lama?" tanya Burak saat mereka berjalan kembali ke mobil sambil menggendong tas Fatih.
"Rasanya sangat bagus. Aku kangen, jadi aku lakukan yang terbaik," jawab Fatih sambil tersenyum lebar, kelihatannya antusias nyetir kart. Dan memang benar, tapi bagian besar kegembiraan dan kebahagiaannya karena akhirnya dapat SP tambahan dari menyelesaikan misi dengan sukses.
"Jangan khawatir, mulai minggu depan, setelah mereka selesai evaluasi, kamu akhirnya bisa mulai latihan harian seperti biasa," kata Burak sambil mainan rambut Fatih dan membukakan pintu mobil. Selama ini kameramen mengikuti dari belakang, merekam mereka.
Perjalanan pulang diisi obrolan acak soal berbagai hal, dari karting sampai sekolah yang akan dimulai sekitar sebulan lagi, sampai mereka sampai rumah. Tiba di rumah, Burak minta bicara dengan Rümeysa, yang menyetujui.
Burak gunakan kesempatan ini untuk memberitahu keputusannya menerima usulan TOSFED membiayai pendidikannya agar bisa memenuhi tuntutan Fatih yang terus berkembang dan tumbuh.
"Gimana caranya?" tanya Rümeysa, penasaran bagaimana caranya karena dia tetap harus melatih Fatih setiap hari.
"Kursusnya kemungkinan besar terkonsentrasi di pagi sampai siang, dan hanya beberapa kali aku perlu pergi untuk pengalaman lapangan dan tes, jadi kamu tidak usah khawatir dia harus dilatih orang lain," Burak tegaskan dia tetap yang melatih harian, kecuali beberapa kali yang tidak bisa hadir.
"Bukan berarti aku khawatir kamu tidak tersedia. Aku berpendapat perbaikan kamu adalah untuk kebaikan dia, jadi tidak ada alasan bagiku untuk menentang. Kita pertahankan jadwal sama seperti di Turki, dan untuk hari-hari kamu tidak ada, dia bisa ke sirkuit nyetir sendiri, mengerjakan tugas yang kamu berikan. Jadi fokus berkembang lebih cepat. Aku pikir Fatih juga mikir begitu, mengingat dia ingin kamu ikut ke sini," kata Rümeysa, sepenuhnya mendukung.
Rümeysa berusaha sekeras mungkin agar kehidupan Fatih se mirip mungkin dengan di Turki karena, tidak seperti dia, Fatih lingkaran dekatnya sangat kecil: dia, ibunya, Burak, dan teman-temannya. Tapi sekarang teman-temannya tidak ada, dan dia tidak mau hal sama terjadi pada Burak.
Lebih baik Burak tumbuh bersamanya dan jadi orang paling dipercaya soal urusan motorsport, karena mencari orang percaya lain yang mau mempertaruhkan hal penting untuk Fatih setelah dewasa nanti akan sangat sulit kalau sudah punya satu di sini.
Meski orang di sekitarnya akan semakin banyak semakin tinggi posisinya, keberadaan Burak memungkinkan dia tidak harus mulai dari nol soal memahami satu sama lain dan bekerja sama, karena Burak akan jadi jembatan antara dua sisi.
Sementara mereka berbicara, Fatih sibuk bicara dengan videografer dan editor soal apa yang dilakukan dengan rekaman hari ini.
Meski dia punya lebih dari satu editor, hanya satu yang bisa ikut ke luar negeri; yang lain tetap di rumah, kerja remote.
"Untuk video ini, aku pikir kita buat bentuk vlog, dari kedatangan sampai kita pergi. Tidak ada wawancara atau ad-lib tambahan, cuma tunjukkan proses apa adanya," Fatih panjang lebar soal keinginannya, sementara Mustafa mencatat setiap hal penting untuk nanti dibagikan ke tim editor agar kata-kata itu terealisasi.
Fatih selesai, Mustafa ulang instruksi dan idenya tertulis untuk memastikan tidak ada yang terlewat atau salah representasikan. "Jadi, kamu mau itu...
"Ya, kamu boleh tambah sentuhan sendiri kalau mau. Kalau nambah bagus, kalau tidak, kita hapus aja."
"Kita lanjut format musim untuk ini, atau upload begitu jadi?" tanya Mustafa karena saat ini mereka masih tengah mengedit backlog episode.
Saat ini mereka di musim ketiga cerita Road to Formula 1-nya, musim paling menarik karena dia dapat promosi ganda ke KF-Mini dan langsung ke KF-Junior setelah performa dominan. Kalau ikut format itu, episode ini minimal keluar lima bulan lagi.
"Karena kita akan kemas dengan tiga balap yang akan aku ikuti untuk seri spesial singkat, aku pikir kita upload setelah musim tiga selesai, tapi sebelum musim empat dimulai. Itu promosi bagus buat aku dan bahan buat yang cari aku setelah balap-balap itu untuk lihat performa nyetir terbaruku."
"Oke, aku akan percepat editnya dan selesaikan bagian yang footage-nya sudah ada, dan proaktif edit bagian selanjutnya begitu sesi selesai dan footage tersedia."
"Oke, makasih."
"Sama-sama, sampai nanti."
......
"Kita punya semua dokumen relevan untuk aplikasi?" tanya Ricky Flynn sambil meletakkan data telemetri sesi kualifikasi yang berlangsung saat dia tidak di trek.
Dia langsung menyelami membacanya begitu pulang dari janjinya, dan dia tidak kecewa sedikit pun, sudah jadi salah satu pendukung Fatih.
"Ya, mereka bawa semua dokumen relevan, termasuk persetujuan wild-card entry untuk Kejuaraan Karting Dunia FIA dari TOSFED, evaluasi fisik dan mental terbarunya, dan lisensinya," jawab asisennya sambil menggeser dosir yang berisi semua yang disebutkan dan lebih.
"Mereka sangat teliti," kata Ricky sambil mengecek, menemukan versi asli berbahasa Turki dan terjemahannya dengan segel menunjukkan jasa profesional, lalu menambah, "Jadi yang tersisa dari sisi kita cuma mendaftarkannya sebagai pengemudi kita dan mengajukan sertifikasi lokal untuk balap yang butuh itu, kan?"
"Ya, dan TOSFED sudah menghubungi kita meminta invoice layanan tahun ini."
"Mereka sangat antusias memberinya pengalaman terbaik. Aku paham kenapa," kata Ricky, karena ini pertama kali pihak yang bayar minta invoice dulu bukan menunggu mereka kirim untuk dibayar. Tapi tahu kalau komplikasi soal pembayaran berisiko membuat Fatih kelewatan kompetisi atau balap dengan mesin di bawah standar, wajar mereka ingin hindari itu segala cara.
"Are you okay?" Steve asked, touching the shoulder of the low-motivated Enaam, who was sitting in a folding chair with his head buried in his legs, which were hugged by his hands. He was in the tent, waiting for his parents to come and pick him up from the track.
He was feeling down after coming in second in every session he participated in with Fatih. The loss in the qualifying simulation was a particularly big hit to his confidence, having come in second to someone he didn’t know at all.
"No, I’m not," Enaam said in a demotivated voice, still not raising his head.
Upon hearing the response, Steve dragged the nearest chair over, taking a seat near Enaam before he said, "You don’t need to feel demotivated. Just because you lost today, it doesn’t mean you can’t rise later and come and beat him. After all, I’m sure you have grown better by fighting against Lando in the past few years. Now that he is going to move to the next category next year, I was worried there would be no high-quality competition, but now you have one. So you should try to look at it from a positive angle and not hang on to today’s loss as much."
He, in his own way, tried to motivate Enaam, feeling bad for bringing him here only for him to be dominated by the new kid, when they thought it would be a strong challenge for the new kid. But as a telemetry engineer and not a coach, his words didn’t come out as motivational as he thought. They came out as if he saw Fatih to be on the same caliber as Lando and Enaam to be a level below, crushing his morale even more.
"..." When Enaam kept his head buried and did not give a response, Steve realized that his words might have been taken negatively. So he quietly rose to go and look for someone good with words who could talk with kids, lest he make it worse and end up causing a kid to hate karting.
Although he knew the possibility of that happening was low, as Enaam was a very talented and motivated driver and wouldn’t quit just because a new challenger appeared, it was better to deal with it earlier than later. After all, he was their driver, and they were being paid to support him and his career.
........
"How did it feel to finally drive a kart after a long time?" Burak asked as they walked back to the car while he carried Fatih’s bag.
"It felt very good. I missed it, so I did my best," Fatih answered with an excited smile, making it look like he was excited about driving a kart. And although that was true, a larger portion of his excitement and happiness was due to finally earning additional SP from successfully completing the mission.
"Don’t worry, starting from next week, after they finish going through the evaluation, you will finally be able to start practicing daily as usual," Burak said, playing with Fatih’s hair as he opened the door for him. During this whole period, the cameraman followed them from behind, recording them.
The drive back home was mixed with random conversations about different things, ranging from karting all the way to his upcoming school in about a month, until they arrived back home. Upon arriving, Burak asked to have a conversation with Rümeysa, who agreed.
Burak used this opportunity to tell her about his decision to accept TOSFED’s suggestion of paying for his education in order to be able to meet the demands of the constantly developing and growing Fatih.
"How would it work?" Rümeysa asked, wondering how it would work since he would still have to train Fatih daily.
"The course will most likely be concentrated in the morning to noon periods, and only a few times would I be needed to travel for on-field experience and tests, so you won’t have to worry about him having to be trained by someone else," Burak made it clear that he was still going to be the one training him on a daily basis, barring the few times he wouldn’t be available.
"It’s not that I was worried about you not being available. I’m of the view that your improvement is for his benefit, so there is really no reason for me to be against it. We can keep the same schedule as we did in Turkey, and for the days that you are not available, he can go to the tracks and drive by himself, doing the assignments you will give him. So focus on developing faster. I think Fatih would think the same way, considering he wanted you to come with him all the way here," said Rümeysa, fully supporting him.
Rümeysa did her very best to try and make Fatih’s life as close to Turkey as possible because, unlike her, Fatih had a very small circle of people he knew closely: her, her mother, Burak, and his friends. But now his friends were no longer with him, and she didn’t want the same to happen with Burak.
It was better for Burak to grow with him and act as his most trusted individual when it came to motorsport dealings, since finding another trusted individual who would risk important things for Fatih after he grew up was going to be very difficult when he already had one of them here.
Although he would have an increasing number of people in his surroundings the higher he rose, having Burak there with him would allow him not to have to start from scratch when it came to things like understanding each other and working together, because Burak would act as the connection between the two sides.
While they were having that conversation, Fatih was busy having a conversation with his videographer and editor about what to do with today’s recorded footage.
Although he had more than one editor, only one of them was able to come and join them abroad; the others remained back home, doing their work remotely.
"As for this video, I think we should make it in the form of a vlog, starting from my arrival all the way to us leaving. There will be no interviews or additional ad-libs, just showing the process as is," Fatih went on and on about how he wanted the video to be, as Mustafa took notes of every important thing he said to later share with the editor team in order to make those words come true.
Once Fatih was done, Mustafa repeated the written instructions and ideas to see if he had missed or misrepresented anything. "So, you want it to be..."
"Yes, you can add your own flair if you want. If it enhances it, then good. If it doesn’t, then we can just remove it."
"Are we going to continue following the season format for it, or are we going to upload it as soon as it is ready?" Mustafa asked because at the moment, they were still in the midst of editing the backlog of episodes.
At the moment, they were on the third season of his Road to Formula 1 story, which was the most interesting season yet, as he had received a double promotion to KF-Mini and immediately to KF-Junior once he showed a dominant performance. So if they were to follow that format, it would mean this episode would not come out for at least five months.
"Since we are going to package it with the three races I will be participating in for a short special series, I think we should upload it after the third season is over, but before the fourth season starts. It will be a good promotion for me and something for those who will look for me following those races to see my most recent driving performance."
"Okay, I will then accelerate the editing of it and finish the parts that we already have the footage of, and proactively edit the following parts as soon as the session is over and we have the footage."
"Okay, thanks."
"No problem, see you later."
......
"Do we have all the relevant documents for the applications?" Ricky Flynn asked as he put down the telemetry information of the qualifying session that took place while he was not on the track.
He had immediately dived back into reading them the moment he returned from the appointment he had, and he was not disappointed in the least, having already become one of Fatih’s believers.
"Yes, they brought us all of the relevant documents, including his wild-card entry approval for the FIA World Karting Championship from TOSFED, his updated physical and mental evaluation, and his license," his assistant answered as he slid a dossier that contained everything he had mentioned and more.
"They are very thorough," Ricky said as he went through them, finding both the original version of them in Turkish and their translated copies with seals showing that they were done through a professional service, before he added, "So all that is left from our side is to go ahead and register him as our driver and apply for local certification for races that require that, right?"
"Yes, and TOSFED has reached out to us requesting the invoice for this year’s service."
"They are very eager to give him the very best experience possible. I can understand why, though," Ricky said, as this was the first time that the paying side had requested the invoice first instead of waiting for them to send one in order to pay. But knowing that any complication that arose from payment-related issues meant there was a risk that Fatih might miss the competition or race in an underwhelming machine, it was understandable for them to want to avoid that in all shapes or forms.
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