Chapter 432: Azerbaijan Grand Prix

"They really know how to squeeze more interest," Fatih said while in the AlphaTauri paddock building as he looked at his itinerary for the day.

Unfortunately for him, he had once again been selected for the ten drivers who would be doing the FIA Thursday press conference.

"You are the talk of the town at the moment, so there is no chance they will leave you out of it," Eve said as she received the tablet that had the schedule document open from Fatih.

"Shouldn’t drivers try to fight and make it so that those who did one race can rest the next until they have to do it again?" he complained as he stretched, knowing today was going to be a very light but still tiring day.

"And lose the opportunity to get the driver being talked about the most during the build-up? Never. If you keep performing as you did in Monaco, then you are going to join the permanent attendees of these, along with Max and Hamilton. So, think of your selection as an honor," Eve said, teasing Fatih while she handed him his cap that was on the table, as they had five minutes to start their schedule for the day.

"Where is James?" Fatih asked as he gathered his hair before putting on the team cap.

"Speak of the devil," Alex said as he pointed towards the stairs, showing James walking down with Lisa, waving at them.

"I prayed he would be late so I could rest a few more minutes," Fatih sighed at their arrival. They immediately headed out of the paddock to officially start their track walk.

Fatih, alongside Alex, James, and Lisa, started their track walk from the pit lane as the team and personal photographers followed closely behind, taking pictures to later be used by the team or on his personal accounts.

The group conversed with one another, laughing as they continued walking, making it look as if they were having a stroll and barely stopping at any place.

They were already used to the way he did these track walks, which was the opposite of many drivers who usually stopped for longer and spent most of their time focusing on specific areas. That rarely happened with Fatih, unless the final changes to the track happened on race day, but that rarely occurred in the lower formula series, so they only saw him do that once or twice in the entire period he was with them.

Thanks to his way of doing things, they were among the first group of people to arrive at the long start-finish straight. Everyone in his group denied his bet on who could reach the pit lane fastest from the starting point of the long straight; having lost quite a few bets in their relationship with Fatih, they came to know that he had monstrous endurance but also only proposed bets that he was confident he could win.

.......

"I can’t really talk about the contract clauses since they are under confidentiality, so any answer related to that, please let that be the statement for it," Fatih said as his answer to the very first question asked to him while sitting next to Perez, among the last ones scheduled for the FIA Thursday press conference.

The FIA loved drama, it seemed, since they placed him with the driver that would be replaced if the clause was actually true and he met the conditions for promotion.

"Sergio, if the clause is true, how do you feel about it, and would you be okay with being replaced by someone else?" the next reporter immediately asked the same question, this time to Sergio.

Sergio took a few seconds before he answered, "It is a hypothetical, so I don’t know how I would react if it were true, but I believe both teams have a good lineup, and changing that could destabilize things," Sergio answered in a roundabout way as well.

Although he had framed it as a hypothetical, making it look like he didn’t know or even worry about it, behind the scenes, things were different. He was already looking into the matter to get clarity on it because he had been a witness to how Red Bull had gone ahead and demoted Daniil Kvyat to promote Verstappen mid-season, so it was not out of the question for Red Bull to do the same to him if the rookie kept up his good performance.

He had already reached out to the sponsors he had brought to the team, and they had promised to back him in the matter and that they would withdraw their sponsorship if the clause was true and they tried to enforce it.

But even before that, his situation was already not looking good because even the results of a single race from the rookie had already guaranteed him a seat in the main team, which meant his one-year contract was most likely not going to be renewed as he had previously hoped his good performance and team play would allow him to get.

His agent was already looking into other teams and considered the remainder of the season as just an advertisement for him. The pressure to perform that was previously for the sake of securing a contract extension was now replaced by the pressure to perform to secure himself a seat for next year, the same position he had been in last year at Racing Point.

The reporters kept asking uncomfortable questions, but as advised by their press officers, they all refrained from answering them directly and constantly went the roundabout way before their half-an-hour interview period ended and they left. But in the midst of it all, both drivers knew they needed to beat the other for their own sake.

........

"It wasn’t us. As you know, they are just speculating on their own, trying to sell ads," Jos said as he looked Helmut Marko directly in the eye without any shame.

"So the Dutch reporters decided to fabricate this to sell ads?" Helmut asked, pointing out how Jos’s excuse didn’t make any sense.

"There isn’t smoke where there is no fire," Jos said, in his roundabout way of expressing his displeasure. Despite two weeks passing since learning about the clauses, he was still not over it.

"It doesn’t matter who released it, but you need to settle it before it becomes a problem. If Max’s championship opportunity is messed up because of such rumors, I’m sure you know about our clauses as well, right?" Jos said, his smile, trying to feign ignorance on the matter, disappearing completely as he reminded them that Max had performance-related exit clauses that were added in the contract that was renewed last year.

Knowing about Fatih’s arrival in Formula One for the 2021 season, he had made sure to use the leverage they had last year to cram in as much advantage on Max’s side as possible, but it seemed like it was not enough.

"I’m pretty confident he will finish at least P2 in the standings, no matter what," Horner said as a rebuttal, reminding Jos that the exit clause only triggered if Max fell below third place in the championship or if Honda dropped out as an engine maker.

"Not that one, the other one," Jos said as if he had expected it, as he responded.

He was referring to their consultation regarding the second driver if they had an issue. Although the clause didn’t give them a direct veto, it gave them a passive one, which was as much as he could get from Red Bull. This meant he was definitely going to use it if they tried to demote Perez and promote Fatih.

Jos was one of the few people who believed Fatih could be a serious challenger to Max. Even if he couldn’t match his son from the get-go, he was bound to still be a problem for him, so he wanted to delay it as much as possible.

The two stared at each other for quite some time before Helmut said, "We will take your words into consideration as we deal with the matter."

Jos just nodded while making an expression showing he did not fully believe it before he left the room, thinking, ’I still have another card to play if you drag your feet and he keeps being dangerous,’ in his mind as he left the meeting room.

He knew the veto clause didn’t allow them to directly veto a driver but could only slow the selection for a maximum of two weeks, four weeks at most. Although it would still be devastating for Red Bull, as the fines would now be in the tens of millions already, he had already prepared another card that would definitely destroy the relationship between the two sides and put them into a direct confrontation, ensuring Max was going to be the ultimate winner from the fight.

"FUCK!" Helmut cursed when he remained in the room alone.

They had remained silent to see if the Yıldırıms would reach out to them and planned to use that as an avenue to modify the clause, but the Yıldırıms didn’t make any sort of move to reach out at all, making it clear they were not worried or interested in addressing the matter since it didn’t affect them at all. That was not good for Red Bull because if they made the first move, they would be at a disadvantage.

Although he would like to promote Fatih immediately, he knew that Horner was going to fight it hard, and unlike when he had forced Max’s promotion against Horner’s wishes thanks to Mateschitz’s support, this time that support would not be there since the owner wanted the team to win the drivers’ championship and might side with Horner on this matter. That was not something he wanted since it would reduce the political muscle he had spent time building.

He also couldn’t leave it be, because the moment Fatih showed signs of meeting the conditions, it meant that Dietrich Mateschitz was going to interfere, and that would leave no maneuvering room in their actions at all.

Just like Perez found himself in a difficult position, he too found himself in one, and he didn’t like the feeling at all, since he was now being pushed by one side and the other side was pushing him through the contract he, too, had agreed to.

Although unlike Perez, he would most likely not be fired, his influence would dwindle heavily, and that would give room for Horner to be the most powerful individual in the team outside of Dietrich Mateschitz and the Thai owners, which was something he didn’t want happening at all.

He needed to come up with a solution, and fast, because the later he let it go, the more likely it was that Fatih might complete the requirements and trigger the promotion clause.