Formula 1: The GOAT - Chapter 138

Chapter 138: His Worry About the Future
It took them until Monday evening to arrive back home in Surrey. His grandmother, already in her fifties, was hit hard by jet lag. The constant long travels were taking their toll as she tried to be there for her grandson.

“We should rent a helicopter, Mom. Otherwise, Grandma will start hating coming with me to the races,” Fatih said as he held his grandmother’s hand, walking with her upstairs.

“Oh, I have never thought of that,” Rümeysa said as she stopped in the middle of the stairs, realizing that she had still maintained her previous middle-income mindset, forgetting that they were now in a position to do things for the sake of convenience and to reduce fatigue.

“How much do you think it would cost us from London to here if we charter one?” she asked Fatih, wondering if his suggestion came with prior research.

“It shouldn’t exceed three thousand pounds for their most expensive option, as they charge a per-hour cost,” Fatih said, having yet to look deeply into it.

“Three thousand? Do you have that much money to throw around? Don’t worry, I’m only fifty; I’m not old enough to warrant that kind of expense. So don’t bother,” Güldane said. Her Turkish mindset did a mental conversion of the cost to Turkish Lira and instantly threw out any wishful imagination of flying in a helicopter, especially considering the rest of their logistical costs for race weekends.

“Health is more important for people who can afford to reduce their inconvenience, and even more so for me, who will have to go to school tomorrow with little rest. So, consider it as doing it for my sake. How about that? The other option is for you to start exercising so you can live a long time and have the energy to keep joining me at my races,” Fatih said, finally revealing the reasons for his suggestion.

Although his grandmother was fifty and, based on average life expectancy, still had more than thirty years, that wasn’t a guarantee. His own death at twenty-five was the best evidence of that, causing him to want to reduce as many variables as possible, including her health. Although he wanted to suggest the same for his mother, he found no need. The moment his grandmother started exercising, she wouldn’t want to suffer alone and would drag her daughter with her.

For Fatih, whose previous life had only a group of friends to call family, he loved his current one. Unlike the ones he saw in TV shows and movies, his had no internal conflicts and was very supportive. He wanted it to be maintained as long as possible, and for that to happen, their health needed to be in good condition. After all, in just seven years, the world was going to be in an active pandemic, and older people were at high risk. Healthy older people who regularly exercised had a lower chance of getting it, and if they did, they had a higher chance of recovering with as few after-effects as possible.

“Why do you want me to tire myself out for no reason?” Güldane paused, looking down at Fatih as if he had just stabbed her in the back. “In our country, people our age consider it a blessing not to have to work, and you want me to give that up to start running around? Do you hate your grandma, Fatih?” she asked, touching her heart as if feeling the pain of betrayal.

“I’m just saying it for your sake, Grandma,” Fatih said with as much affection as possible in his tone, aware of such laziness but not fully understanding it.

“That won’t work on me,” Güldane swatted away the affectionate tone in Fatih’s words.

“Grandma, do you want to attend the races with me or remain at home and watch from the TV?” Fatih finally asked the important question, knowing how much she loved spending time with him.

“I do, but what has that got to do with exercising?”

“If you keep suffering from jet lag, then I will have to ask Mom not to bring you for your health. But if you are healthy, that won’t be a problem. Or we might have to charter a helicopter every time you come with us,” Fatih said, finally using her frugality against her, along with a subtle reminder of what exercising would allow her to do.

“See, I’m fine,” his grandma said, removing her hand from Fatih’s as she stood straight and walked up the stairs unassisted, as if to prove her health and shut down the discussion.

“Mom, we should get a treadmill,” Fatih said, ignoring all of that and immediately going to the one controlling the purse strings.

“I agree,” his mother said with amusement in her tone, earning a sharp glare from her mom, but it only caused her to laugh harder.

The lighthearted banter continued long into the evening, with his grandmother standing her ground and Fatih doing the same. When night arrived and everyone went to sleep, Fatih finally logged into the VR to resume his training.

………

“These are the final negotiated contracts from both sides,” Elena Petrov said, sliding a sealed envelope to Rümeysa in the dining room of their house on Tuesday afternoon, when the house was relatively silent.

Elena Petrov was someone Rümeysa had managed to poach from one of the talent agencies she had received offers from. She was looking for someone with experience to aid her in Fatih’s career to avoid a repeat of what she had gone through with the Fatih Academy and Selçuk’s father’s sponsorship debacle.

She was the most qualified for the level of payment she was willing to offer. Many of those she reached out to were men, which in a male-dominated motorsport was not a surprise. The surprise was what they were asking for. The payments they requested were sky-high, as they seemed to realize that anyone trying to poach from agencies like theirs was likely loaded and very invested in their child. Paired with her being a woman, they thought she was not knowledgeable in this field, which would make it easier for them to ask for outrageous amounts and negotiate down to a fee that she would feel was a bargain but was still well above the market average. She had already done her research, resulting in her eliminating them the moment they came back with their offers.

However, when she reached out to Elena Petrov, her asking salary was quite moderate, even lower than the market average. When they had a meeting and Rümeysa finally had the chance to ask her why, her answer was simple: in a male-dominated field, a woman needed to make some compromises to get through the door. Only then could she have the opportunity to strive for the same opportunities equally. In return for her requiring a lower salary to work exclusively for Rümeysa’s Yıldırım Racing company, she would be receiving ten percent of all the contracts she either found, spearheaded, or negotiated, incentivizing her to fight for Fatih as much as possible.

As for her background, she was Bulgarian and had moved to England at a young age with a family involved in finance. She majored in business along with sports management. With her education in finance, it helped her diversify her area of focus as she worked in motorsport. Although Fatih was her first client, she had worked as an assistant and led many deals to be signed well beyond initial expectations due to her talent leaning more toward the business side.

Rümeysa, who was reading the documents in the envelope, focusing on the highlighted parts that indicated changes from the previous draft, had a smile of satisfaction on her face before she said, “Very good work. We can go ahead with them in their current form.”

“Then I will reach out to them and try to have it completed and notarized by the end of the week,” Elena said with a smile, as her first work after being hired was completed successfully.

“We can hurry, but there is no need to rush and show that we are impatient, as we have until the end of the year. So keep that in consideration,” Rümeysa, who as a lawyer herself knew the mind games, said, reminding her so that she didn’t rush and get perceived as impatient, which might cause a few problems, no matter how slim the chances were.

“I will keep that in mind,” Elena said before moving to the next topic. “I was thinking of trying to prepare his schedule for next year ahead of time so that we can make early logistical preparations. If we know which competitions he will be partaking in, we should be able to adjust his education around that schedule to avoid as much friction as possible for Fatih. What do you think about it?”

As someone now responsible for all racing-related matters for Fatih, she asked this, wanting to avoid leaving anything to the last possible moment. She had seen those who did that having to do double the work to solve the mess created from late planning. As it was her first time in the head position, she went with the motto of being overprepared and ahead of schedule before any problems had the chance to appear.

“Please prepare one and share it with TOSFED to hear their input before we make the final decision,” Rümeysa said, stifling a smile at her enthusiasm.

As Fatih’s manager, Elena was now the point of contact between Rümeysa and TOSFED.