Chapter 423: FIA Press Conference II

"Charles, a question for you. You’ve just heard Fatih’s response. He feels his integrity has been questioned. You’re the home hero; you stand to gain the most if this protest were successful, and you yourself just put in a phenomenal lap to get P2.

As a fellow driver, a competitor, when you watch his lap, do you see something that warrants a protest for illegal driver aids, or do you see a competitor who simply did a better job today?" a reporter from *The Race* asked the moment the moderator could bring the room back together and move on from the bomb Fatih had just dropped.

The question had directly put Charles between a rock and a hard place. If he sided with his team, he risked looking like a sore loser and would most likely lose respect from other drivers, but at the same time, if he sided with Fatih, he would be throwing his own team under the bus on a global stage, risking a massive internal political incident at Ferrari.

He adjusted his cap before picking up a bottle to take a sip of water as a means to buy himself a few more seconds to think about a response.

After a few seconds, he finally answered, "Look, my job as a driver is to focus on what happens inside the cockpit. I have to extract the maximum from the car that the team gives me.

Today, we put in a very strong lap for P2, and I am proud of the job we did. The technical side... that is for the team, for the engineers, and for the FIA. They are the ones who have the data. I don’t.

It is their job to ensure that all cars on the grid are compliant with the regulations. That is the process, and we have to trust that process. It was a great lap from Fatih to get pole, but my focus was on my lap, and now it is on the race tomorrow."

Fatih, upon hearing the answer, couldn’t help but inwardly chuckle because Charles had managed to tread a very thin line without tripping over any of it. He had deflected the question fully while reframing his role to be purely about driving, separating himself from the team’s political and technical actions while at the same time showing his support for the process, on top of complimenting the one they were currently outwardly protesting to the FIA.

"Max, you’ll start P3. Have you had the opportunity to go through Fatih’s lap? From a driver’s perspective, what did you see, and what are your thoughts on the protest that followed?"

"The lap was obviously very quick. To do a ’09 here, you have to be absolutely on it, no margin anywhere. It was impressive to watch. As for the protest, that’s just Formula 1. Teams will always look for an advantage. Sometimes it’s on track, sometimes it’s in the rulebook. I just hope the FIA gives us an answer quickly so that we can focus on the race," Max answered, trying to remain neutral but failing spectacularly at it.

Following Max, the next reporter immediately turned back to Fatih. "Fatih, this is for you. In an interview with Turkish television immediately after the protest was announced, you used language that was... highly profane and directly insulting to the Ferrari team. There are calls for an apology. Do you stand by those comments, and will you be apologizing to Scuderia Ferrari?"

Taking a page from the book of politicians buying themselves time, he drank his water that was already open before he answered, "That was an emotional moment. When you achieve something you have dedicated your entire life to, and the first news you receive is that you are being formally accused of cheating, the human reaction can be... raw.

My language was passionate, and it was not my intention to cause an issue for the Turkish broadcasters or the viewers back home, for whom this is a very special day. I regret that they were put in a position to broadcast that language.

However, the sentiment behind that emotion, the profound disappointment at having my integrity and my team’s integrity questioned in that manner, is something I stand by. My focus, and the team’s focus, is now 100% on the race tomorrow. The matter with the FIA is closed."

The reporters, both the one who had asked the question and the rest who were noting the answer, paused for a moment as they went through the answer in their minds again, only to see what they thought they heard was correct. Fatih had apologized to everyone *but* Ferrari for the insults, while at the same time giving his supporters a reason to stand behind him, as they could point to his answer to show that he had apologized.

The questions continued, but it was obvious from all the following questions that the controversy was the central topic, and every question, no matter how it was worded, always referred to the matter.

Before the end of the press conference, a reporter from a Dutch broadcaster asked the final question: "Fatih, you’ve handled this with incredible composure, but the reality is, after today, every great performance you deliver might be looked at with suspicion by some. How do you plan to race under that shadow for the rest of your career?"

As he digested the question and was getting ready to answer, Fatih leaned forward with a cold and determined look in his eyes before he answered, "A shadow? No. That lap stands on its own in the history books. And if they have a problem with me doing it once..." he made a slow and deliberate pause, "... then I just have to keep proving myself. Again... and again... and again..." while maintaining eye contact with the reporter, sending a clear message, "... and again... until there is nothing left for them to hold on to."

..........

"Why didn’t they give me one where it requires me to end the season with more wins than the two Ferrari drivers combined?" Fatih said the moment he entered the simulation, since he knew it would have been the easiest mission compared to having to finish ahead of the entire Ferrari team in constructor points.

After all, the two Ferrari drivers had a combined two race wins between them, and both of them were back-to-back Charles Leclerc wins in the highly controversial 2019 season, where Ferrari was accused of cheating the fuel flow sensors.

"For the rewards you will be getting by completing the mission, it has to be earned through some difficult obstacles," Apollo said as he materialized both of them inside identical cars, though his was red in color, emulating Ferrari, with a soft tire compound, while Fatih had a medium tire compound. The plan was for the two of them to practice their race starts for the final time before the race tomorrow.

"Shouldn’t you be emulating Red Bull?" Fatih asked, knowing that with Charles crashing as he did in his past life, he was not going to be able to start the race tomorrow since a gearbox problem would be discovered during the reconnaissance lap tomorrow.

"We don’t know if everything is the same, so we will emulate both of them as a contingency," Apollo said, and as they left the garage heading to the track, Apollo finally asked him, "Why are you still waiting to accept the missions? The rewards should be pretty enticing enough to immediately accept them, and don’t you want to earn massively while you are at it and keep beating Ferrari?"

"I wanted clarification on what happens if I have an engine failure or other force majeure. Will I still be penalized for it?" Fatih asked while swerving left and right, going through his warm-up procedure, trying to put as much heat as possible into his medium tires.

"Aren’t all of those just part of racing? So why should the system give an exemption for that?" Apollo answered as if it were the most normal thing ever.

"But in the past, missions had force majeure clauses."

"Well, you were still being nurtured. Now you are a full-grown adult, already reaching your dream, so the training wheels have been removed, and it is up to you to take the risks for the amount of reward that is on the table," Apollo said just as they finally arrived on the start-finish straight. Fatih stopped in his P1 position, fully and aggressively angling himself to the side as he waited for the lights to go out.

"The system even gives you an opportunity to remove the most damaging penalty through a future mission, so it is not a full dead end anyway. So are you still going to be hesitating?" Apollo added, trying to both advise him and distract him from the lights.

"I have just made my decision," Fatih said before immediately dropping the clutch as the lights had gone out, having a near-perfect start with a very rapid reaction.

"Aaaaaah, I believed it would work," Apollo groaned over the radio as they went through Turn 1 and started their uphill climb at full speed before they slowed down, aborting the session and cooling their tires before doing it again, this time emulating Max Verstappen.

Fatih didn’t answer him but just opened the system missions that were waiting for him to make a decision and immediately pressed "accept" on both of them.

He had already thought about it and was confident that if things went as he had brainstormed in his mind, he should be able to earn 323.5 points to make that dream come true. He might even have to earn less if his performance resulted in the two Ferraris finishing lower than they had in the races in his previous life.

After all, their cars were on average on par with one another, leaving everything up to the drivers, and in that regard, he had full confidence to not lose out.