Inside a quiet meeting room, Elena Petrov, Fatih's in-house manager, sat opposite Helmut Marko at a glass table with two coffee cups between them. A short distance away, a note-taker sat with a laptop, noting everything being discussed and recording the audio for future cross-referencing.
Elena had been invited a few days after they sent Fatih the docuseries for his review and suggestions. They knew that if they delayed and the docuseries aired, it would proportionally strengthen Fatih's position at the negotiation table. With his increased fame among a wider audience, more academies would take the risk and jump into the competition, especially after seeing Red Bull's interest, something they had done similarly with Verstappen, who was set to debut the following year. This was them trying to get ahead of the situation. However, this knowledge had already given Fatih considerable negotiating leverage, albeit not to the level he would have after the docuseries' release.
