Chapter 437: Azerbaijan Grand Prix | The Second Press Nuke

The silence went on for ten seconds, with Fatih just looking in the direction of the reporter.

Lewis, who had seen this game played in his over-a-decade-long F1 career, didn’t say anything but shook his head, as he knew it was happening to Fatih while he was still way too young and on his second race weekend.

He kept wondering if the silent Fatih was going to snap because, on top of the pressure that he must have been feeling with people’s expectations, he kept finding himself being caught off guard by big news that was related to him. Both had happened while he was in the middle of interviews, giving reporters the opportunity to catch him off guard and not allowing him time to get up to date with the matter and be given the talking points before having to address the press.

The FIA moderator, sensing the explosive nature of the situation and seeing Fatih’s state, tried to intervene as he said, "Perhaps we can move on to a question for Charles..."

But Fatih raised his hand in the direction of the moderator, cutting him off. This time, however, the surprised expression was nowhere on his face, replaced by a blank look as he asked, "What is the publication that printed the story?"

The reporter, slightly taken aback by Fatih’s question, said, "De Telegraaf, from the Netherlands."

Nodding for a moment after hearing the name, he said, "I see. As I have not read this article you are referencing, it is difficult to comment on speculation and anonymous sources, especially when they appear to be so... conveniently timed. My focus has been on delivering the results I believe perfectly reflect my talent, one that Red Bull had seen and believes is worth the level of support they have provided in my racing career. Other than that, I have no further comment on the gossip."

Lewis looked at Fatih, surprised, as it was an answer he wasn’t expecting from the young driver at all, since it looked to be a masterclass in deflection, completely the opposite of the outburst Fatih had when he was caught by surprise two weeks ago in Monaco.

He hadn’t denied or confirmed the allegations but had linked them as gossip of Dutch origin, making it clear that he was implying it was a political hit job without saying the name Verstappen, buying him time to clearly address the matter once he had all the facts.

The moderator immediately moved on, not wanting to give the reporter the chance to ask a follow-up question and open up the possibility of Fatih snapping as he did in Monaco. "A question for Charles..."

While the reporters were asking questions to Charles, the questions themselves were directly related to Fatih’s situation, but Fatih could be seen clearly to have zoned out and be in deep thought.

In his mind, he was, at the moment, going through every decision made by Red Bull regarding his motorsport career, but this time filtering it through the new context to see if he had missed something.

With the new context filter, he could now see a few incidents that finally made complete sense. One of them was the time it took for Verstappen to sign his current contract, which had taken longer than it had in his previous life. Previously, he had chalked it up to some sort of butterfly effect somehow delaying things, but it would make sense if the Verstappens were delaying the signing to receive a guarantee from Red Bull not to go all out in supporting his earlier debut.

The other thing that came to mind was the near-impossible and stringent criteria he needed to go through to be promoted to the main team, making his promotion to Red Bull in the middle of the season quite difficult.

More things started raising question marks as well, but he didn’t immediately accept them as being the by-products of this agreement, as he needed to look into them further. But at the moment, those didn’t matter as he was filled with a fury that was barely being held back by Invictus.

Managing to keep it under control, he answered the questions directed at him in single, short sentences to not talk long enough to lose control, and that was how he finished the press conference, though it was clear to everyone that Fatih was not happy at all.

The moment the press conference ended, Fatih didn’t even bother to talk to the two other drivers and immediately headed for the exit as Eve and Alex rushed to join him, knowing that a mountain of reporters was going to be waiting for them outside.

Amidst all of this mess, only two people were happy: Jos Verstappen and the Netflix *Drive to Survive* director, as his crew was also among the group of reporters swarming Fatih, raining him with questions, as he didn’t address any of them while heading back to the team garage.

.................

"Thank God you didn’t explode. That was a difficult situation. Jos is playing foolish games," Helmut said the moment Fatih entered the AlphaTauri debriefing room, escorted by Eve, finding both Helmut Marko, Christian Horner, and Franz Tost already in there waiting for him.

"Was it a lie?" Fatih asked in a flat, cold statement while looking directly at Helmut.

"Now, Fatih, the context is complicated..." Horner tried to interject to try and calm the situation before things went sour, but Fatih wasn’t having any of it.

"I’m not asking him, I’m asking you. You looked me in the eyes when I was a boy and told me Red Bull rewards performance above all else. You made a promise. My family believed in that promise and structured my entire career around that promise. But I have just been told that for the last year, you have been actively working against my potential with my rival’s camp to delay my career as a condition of his contract. Was. It. A. Lie?"

Everyone in the room was caught off guard by how combative Fatih was, considering the level of power the people in the room had over him. Franz Tost was his team principal, Helmut had power over the Red Bull drivers, and Horner was the man leading the main team. All of them had power over him, but he didn’t seem to care at all, as he didn’t hold himself back.

"Performance is everything to Red Bull, and Max was a proven performer, and we lived up to the exact standard we told you. He delivered the performance and met his conditions, and the same can be for you if you keep performing.

Don’t try to twist it as anything different. Jos is only playing the political game because he now considers you to be a problem and wants to affect your performance by wedging himself in the middle of our relationship," Horner, who was dissatisfied by the way Fatih had ignored and interrupted him, said, trying to make it clear that he didn’t have any performance in F1 for them to not accept their conditions, considering he was already in an F1 car, trying to show the young and inexperienced boy how the world worked.

When Fatih didn’t say anything to what Horner said, Helmut saw hope and added, "The way he worded things made it look worse than it is, and as you have already seen, we vacated the seat as soon as you were eligible and gave you our full support, while Jos would have liked for you to stay the 2021 season out..."

While Helmut was speaking, the door opened as Elena, who had been having a meeting with someone, rushed into the room, her chest rising and falling, showing that she had been rushing to get there as fast as possible.

Helmut still finished what he wanted to say, and just as Elena was about to say something and ask for a short break to have a conversation with her driver before saying anything, Fatih said, "Deep in my heart, I used to consider the Red Bull academy as more than a team, but also a family to grow with. But it seems from your side, I was just another card you could play."

"Fatih..." Horner, feeling something was wrong with Fatih’s statement, tried to interrupt, but that didn’t work.

"But that ends today. Just as you treated me and my career as a card you exchanged in return for securing Verstappen, that is how I am going to be treating our relationship starting today. It will be nothing but transactional. I’m the contractor, and you are my client.

I will drive the car you provide to the best of my ability and expect you to honor everything that we have agreed to in the contract.

There will be nothing more and nothing less outside of the agreed-upon things," Fatih said, making it clear to both Helmut and Horner before he turned and started walking out, stopping at the door that was slightly open and adding, "And tell Jos... thank you. He has given me clarity on something that I had been contemplating for quite some time," before getting out, with Elena following behind him.

The entire conversation took less than two minutes from the time Fatih entered to when he left, but the relationship between the two sides changed dramatically in that short time.

Franz Tost, who had been brought into the room to act as a mediator but had no opportunity to say anything, rubbed the sweat that had pooled on his forehead from the intensity of the conversation.

As for Horner and Marko, they each found themselves in trouble with how the meeting had ended. Although both of them at the moment were angry at Jos, who had caused all of this mess, they didn’t have much time to deal with him because they needed to first address Fatih’s situation.

After all, if he even finished on the podium tomorrow, that would bring the requirement to be promoted to Red Bull down to two more podiums, reducing the window they could negotiate.

But worse of all, if he somehow won tomorrow, that time would just vanish, leaving the period between the end of the race and the start of the French Grand Prix two weeks later where they would either have to promote him, and with the relationship between the two families now dead, their cooperation would be nonexistent, or not promote him and start accumulating fines until it reached a level they could not afford to pay.

They would have the option to either hand the championship to Hamilton and Mercedes or accumulate fines that would bankrupt them. There had been a possibility of a third option, as the contract allowed the pausing of the penalty if a mutual agreement was met, but the chances of that happening following this discussion were now slimmer than the chance of Haas winning the driver’s and constructors’ championships this year.

It was not impossible, but it could as well be.