Chapter 424: The Monaco Grand Prix

"Where is the coffee?" Lisa asked as she used her gloves to rub the sweat that had accumulated on her forehead.

As the chief mechanic on Fatih’s side of the garage, she, along with the assigned mechanics, was currently working under the supervision of the FIA to tear down the car, while every mechanic from other teams had already left the garage during their curfew.

Knowing that the teardown was going to be extensive and that once everything was done, they would need to rebuild the car as it was without changing anything, the team had ordered all mechanics from both garages to be on standby to help with the rebuild once the inspection was done. At the moment, the other half was still back at their garage, getting the little rest they could as they waited for the inevitable.

As for the FIA, they were very thorough, having started by downloading all the data inside the car’s ECU to look for any anomalies within both the data and the software itself in case of tampering.

While a team was going through the downloaded data and the source code, another one, along with the mechanics, started tearing down the car, starting with the steering assembly, going through the power steering hydraulic units, the steering rack itself, and all the wiring, making sure nothing was out of the ordinary while everything was photographed as well.

They then moved to the brake and throttle system, inspecting the brake-by-wire system and throttle pedal sensors, analyzing the wear patterns, and checking for any non-standard electronic components that could interfere with the driver’s raw inputs before finally heading to the most complex and work-intensive inspection: the gearbox actuators.

The mechanics now had to tear the gearbox out for the FIA officials to check the hydraulic actuators inside to ensure every gear change logged on the ECU corresponded perfectly to the inputs from Fatih. ℴ

"Yeah, it is on its way," James, who had remained with them, answered as he yawned and used the clipboard in his hand to cover his face.

The teardown was complete, and at the moment, what they were waiting for was the verdict so that they could be released to start working on rebuilding the car to the state it was in. Coinciding with the arrival of the coffee, the stewards finally posted an announcement on the FIA website and released the car.

"Fuck Ferrari," Lisa said as she read the official document that proved everything was just a waste of time from the start.

[... determine that Car 95 was in full conformity with the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations at all times during the Qualifying session.

The protest is DISMISSED.]

Following the release, and while the accused Fatih Yıldırım was in the middle of a deep rest for tomorrow’s race, the mechanics wheeled the car back to their garage. The group of mechanics started working on rebuilding the car under the supervision of Lisa and the FIA officials as they tried to rebuild it exactly as it was after qualifying.

.........

"Kaan and Ayla," Fatih said as he looked at the picture of his two new siblings sleeping soundly, having been born just a few hours ago.

"Compared to yesterday, you seem to be in a very good mood," Eve said as she sat down on the other side of the table facing him, placing a tablet on the table inside the Red Bull Energy Station.

"I could say the same for you," Fatih said as he put the phone down, knowing that it was time for him to be updated with information about everything he needed to know so that when asked, he had an answer ready.

"We got off quite easily yesterday, so that is good news," Eve said as she remembered the 50,000 Euro fine that they had been slapped with by the FIA due to his profanity on the Turkish broadcast.

For a rookie, that much of a fine should have been quite a big blow due to how low their rookie salaries were, but Fatih didn’t have to worry since the team was going to be the one handling the penalty fees, as it had been negotiated in his contract, so he was not going to be affected at all.

"These are the articles about you," Eve said as she slid the tablet to Fatih, showing screenshots of the front pages of many newspapers from different countries. The majority had him as the main cover, and the most striking and attention-grabbing one would be from Italy, La Gazzetta dello Sport’s headline.

Printed in massive red letters: "EL CAPONE" DI MONACO È UN CAFONE (The "Al Capone" of Monaco is a Lout).

"So they are comparing me to the mob boss Al Capone while also word-playing and calling me ’Cafone,’ a classless savage." As Fatih said that, Eve, who knew that Fatih knew Italian, focused on him to see how he was going to react.

To her surprise, Fatih, instead of getting angry, just chuckled before he slid the tablet back to her.

"What?" Fatih asked when he saw she was looking at him.

"Considering what happened yesterday, I thought you would be angry or worse," she said as she put the tablet aside.

"Well, I’m too happy to be angry," Fatih said, a smile still on his face as his mind was filled with his siblings. "Plus, depending on how I keep performing, even a derogatory name can become a legendary one," he added, knowing that many names that were initially used as derogatory or to shame someone ended up being the same ones used widely with endearment when those people beat every expectation and kept delivering, so it wasn’t bad. Even in F1, there were a few of them that started that way only to later mean something completely different, like "The Iceman," "Mad Max," "The Professor," and more.

"That is a good mentality..."

They continued talking until Pierre Gasly arrived, and moments later, both Max and Perez arrived at the Energy Station, making the atmosphere quite lively for some time before they all had to head to the track for the drivers’ parade.

.........

As they went around the track, cheers could be heard from the grandstands when a driver was shown on the screens all around the track, with the loudest ones being when Charles was shown on the screen.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Boos were heard all around the track when Fatih was shown on the screen.

Max, upon hearing the boos, turned to look at the screen to see what had caused them, only to see Fatih on it with a wide smile on his face, as if the boos did the opposite of what they had intended. He couldn’t help but shake his head while chuckling. After all, not many would outwardly laugh at those booing him, and the most they would do is try to make it look like they were not reacting at all.

Although his smile had caused the boos to only get louder, as they felt like he was taunting them, Fatih was happy about something else entirely.

.........

{NO! No! Nooooooo! The Gearbox, guys!} Charles Leclerc’s radio was played as it showed him slowing down outside the tunnel exit while other cars overtook him during the reconnaissance (warmup) lap, sounding sad and resigned about what had just happened.

"The emotions pouring out of Charles Leclerc now must be very heavy, as he knows he has a problem, and it is exactly as we had suspected yesterday: a gearbox problem. His left driveshaft has a problem and is impossible to fix before the start of the race," Karun, who was currently co-hosting the pre-race show on Sky Sports F1, said, speaking very rapidly at the breaking news.

While Charles was having a nightmare situation to the point that the Prince of Monaco was currently hugging him to console him, Fatih was having nothing but good news.

{So how is everything? Any changes we need to make to the feel of the car?} James asked on the radio as Fatih finished his reconnaissance laps around the track and came to a stop on the start-finish straight, which was currently packed with both mechanics and celebrities.

{Everything feels good; the balance is like yesterday. Thank the guys for me, as they did an incredible job rebuilding the car,} Fatih said, just as the mechanics who had arrived at where his car was raised before they started pushing it amidst the crowd, heading to P1.

"It is unfortunate for him, but this is good," James said as Fatih got out of the car and the mechanics covered the open cockpit with a reflector to prevent it from overheating.

"His position will now be left open, right?" Fatih asked as he looked in the direction where the chairs would have been placed.

"Yes, the official final starting grid has already been published, so his position will just remain empty," James said as Alex received his helmet and handed him a team cap as he headed back into the garage to wait there until the time for the national anthem arrived, which would mark only a few minutes before the final race would start.

.........

"...Fatih Yıldırım with the fastest lap of the track, but there is no Charles Leclerc beside him today as he had a mechanical issue, removing him from the race, leaving him alone on the front row...." David Croft started his commentary as the starting grid was announced.

"On the second row, we have the second driver in the championship starting right behind the pole-sitter, Fatih, and accompanying him is Valtteri Bottas, who will have a clear run as Charles is not in front of him..."

One after another, the starting grid was announced as it went all the way to P20, with Mick Schumacher ending just in time for the formation lap to take place.

"It is a significant day for the championship. It could be today, with Max being behind the leader by only fourteen points, as Hamilton is down to effectively seventh with Charles out of the race.

But he has to make everything at the start, and he has all the advantage compared to the pole-sitter outside of grid position, as everyone in the top ten other than the pole-sitter is on soft tires, while the pole-sitter is on the medium, and the soft tires are advantageous by a few meters, grip-wise, at the start. And we already have Max pointing the car towards the empty section and the direction of P2 for the start.

Seventy-eight laps to come, then, it is the Monaco Grand Prix. We had a year’s hiatus where we didn’t come here last year, but we are back, and who is going to take it this afternoon?

AND IT’S LIGHTS OUT AND AWAY WE GO! FATIH GETS AWAY VERY WELL, BUT VERSTAPPEN HAS HIGHER GRIP, AND HE MOVES, TRYING TO EXPLOIT THE OPENING POSITION, BEATING BOTTAS TO IT!

BUT FATIH REMAINS ON THE INSIDE LINE WITH THE HARDER AND SLOWER COMPOUND AS THEY DRAG-RACE TO SAINTE DÉVOTE AND MANAGES TO KEEP HIS LEAD THROUGH TURN ONE, AS FATIH LEADS WITH VERSTAPPEN SECOND AND VALTTERI BOTTAS THIRD AS THEY GO UPHILL, WHILE OCON HAS A TUSSLE THERE..."