Chapter 430: First Move

7,215 SP was the number he was seeing once all the system missions were tallied at the end of the Monaco Grand Prix.

He was, at the moment, finally seeing the advantage of what dominating a race weekend in Formula 1 was going to net him, and the Grand Slam was the largest contributor to it.

From the [Race Weekend Missions], he had earned a total of 1,275 SP for completing all standard and hidden objectives for his Monaco Ascent missions, along with a perfect weekend bonus.

It was then multiplied by 5X following the result of achieving the Grand Slam, as highlighted in the [THE GENESIS] season mission.

He earned an additional 800 SP through the [THE GENESIS] mission as well, for taking the pole, podium, and race win milestones.

Finally, he received the last 40 SP for out-qualifying and finishing ahead of both Ferrari drivers, marking his first strike in the [WAR AGAINST FERRARI] mission.

This brought his SP total to 9,055 SP.

"With both Sponge abilities and Invictus at Limit Break, how long would it take for me to adjust to another ability upgrading to Limit Break?" Fatih asked Apollo while still focused on the screen in front of him.

With the 20% season-wide discount from his [Experience Mission] reward, Fatih had the opportunity to upgrade an ability that was at Ultimate to Limit Break at the price of 8,320 SP and still have 735 SP remaining. So, if the time frame made sense, he would go ahead with it.

"A month at most, but it depends on what ability you upgrade. If you upgrade one encompassing many things, it might take a month, and you will be affected fully. But if it’s a specific ability like Setup Mastery or Mirror, then you can continue with everything else as normal," Apollo answered, having taken into consideration that Fatih was going to only focus on that.

"Aquaman, it is time for you to reach your limit," Fatih, upon hearing the answer, immediately decided to upgrade the only ability that was at the Ultimate level at the moment to Limit Break.

He knew this season was yet to have another wet-weather-related race, and having an advantage in those was nothing short of guaranteeing himself a race win if he could keep things under total control. The time to reach those races was far enough that he could slowly assimilate and be ready by the time they arrived, without it fully affecting him.

Just as he was about to go through with the purchase, a system screen spread in front of him with a warning:

[The upgrade will take twelve hours to fully integrate into your body. Would you like to go through with it?]

[YES] [NO]

Fatih immediately pressed [NO], knowing that they would be arriving back in England in a few hours. They had headed to the airport as fast as possible, taking their private jet to rush back to England to get to see his new siblings he had just dedicated a Grand Slam to. Failing to wake up upon landing would be a nightmare situation for both his parents and grandparents, and he didn’t want to worry them as he did in the past when he woke up in the hospital.

"Okay, let’s get back to practice. We have Baku in two weeks," Apollo said as he snapped his fingers, teleporting both of them into the Baku pit lane.

"Understanding how far we can push the tires before they explode, what the symptoms are before an explosion, and how to mitigate them is going to be our advantage for that weekend," Fatih said, as he knew it was going to be a race with multiple safety cars and crashes due to tire failures.

"You are hungry to be promoted into that Red Bull car, aren’t you?" Apollo asked with an amused smile on his face.

"If I’m going to be promoted anyway, why not do it as fast as possible and have the chance to fight for the title as well?" Fatih said, as he knew if he made his move perfectly in Baku, he could both gain 25 points against Verstappen and Hamilton while also securing another race win, which would trigger his immediate promotion.

With it being only the sixth round of the championship, he would still have the chance to remain in the title fight since he would only be less than fifty points behind the championship leader, Lewis Hamilton, who might come out of that weekend with 0 points.

........

"Aylaaaaaaaa," Fatih called as he swayed his two-day-old sister left and right while she slept peacefully in his arms.

He had finally gotten the chance to see his younger sister and brother after he allowed his father and mother to have some time of their own that they had missed because of him.

He couldn’t help but feel emotional as he now had something that he didn’t have in his previous life, and even more people were being added to his family.

He tried to hold himself back from feeling too emotional, but he couldn’t control it and ended up crying while still holding his younger sister.

"I will be a good brother," he said in the midst of the people in the room laughing at his emotional state.

He spent the remainder of the day constantly checking on them, as the two new additions to the family only seemed to have two modes: crying or sleeping, and nothing in between.

That night, after finally etching the new members into his memory, and while still reluctant, Fatih finally went to sleep, having informed his family that he was going to be resting to recover from the race, something he had skipped to rush back home as fast as possible.

[The upgrade will take twelve hours to fully integrate into your body. Would you like to go through with it?]

[YES] [NO]

He instantly clicked [YES], and within a few seconds, he drifted into a deep sleep as the ability underwent an upgrade.

Apollo just observed Fatih as he underwent the changes, but his face had a slightly complicated expression on it as he knew the complicated political world of Formula 1, which he had only been on the viewer side of in his previous life, was going to treat him now that he was going to be in the midst of it.

......

The following day, while Fatih was still celebrating two great events at the same time, along with his fans celebrating their debut win, a story broke in the most influential Dutch newspaper, De Telegraaf, sending the Formula 1 world into chaos.

[[RED BULL’S INTERNAL CRISIS: Secret "Doomsday Clause" for Rookie Threatens Verstappen’s Championship Campaign

.....while the world celebrated a historic rookie win, sources close to the Red Bull Racing camp have revealed a crisis brewing behind the scenes. It is understood that a highly unconventional contract, signed years ago by Dr. Helmut Marko, contains a performance clause tied to junior driver Fatih Yıldırım that could force the team into an impossible position.

The clause, described by one source as a ’doomsday scenario,’ is believed to trigger a mandatory promotion to the main Red Bull team should Yıldırım achieve two Grand Prix victories. While this seemed a distant prospect, after his dominant Monaco performance, the alarm bells are ringing loudly in Milton Keynes.

The real poison pill, however, is the penalty for not promoting him. Sources suggest an exorbitant, exponentially doubling fine for every race he is not in the top seat after the condition is met. A figure that would ’quickly become financially unsustainable,’ forcing the team’s hand.

A source close to the Verstappen camp expressed deep concern: ’Max’s focus should be 100% on fighting Lewis Hamilton. The team’s focus should be 100% on that fight. To have this distraction, this internal pressure from the junior team, is exactly what Mercedes would hope for. You cannot have a championship campaign destabilized from within.’

The question now facing Red Bull is a stark one: will their long-term bet on a future star come at the immediate cost of their best chance at a World Championship in eight years? For Max Verstappen, who has given everything to this team, it’s a question that demands a clear answer.....]]

The Verstappens, who were informed of the deal, finally made their move, starting their media play from their home base, where they had massive influence to gain as much advantage as possible.

The article sensationalized and wrote from a perspective that would point to Red Bull focusing on the future and giving up the present, and how detrimental that would be, as there was no guarantee that they would keep performing.

It sent waves through the F1 community, and within just an hour, other F1 media took the article and immediately wrote their own, riding the wave as it was the exact hot-cake situation that brought in readers in large numbers because it was about a possible internal conflict between a championship contender in the middle of a fight against a phenomenal rookie who, in his first race, had delivered a historic performance never seen before.

Fans joined the mess, amplifying it, and as always in a fight happening online, memes were in constant use. The majority of the memes were Lightning McQueen and Cars movie-related, as the situation was very intriguing.

The first move had already been made, and the political chessboard was now set.