In this work, the interplay between fast ions (FIs) and safety factor rational surfaces is studied in a turbulent plasma via global nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations. The fast particle-induced enhancement of shearing structures from turbulence self-interaction is analyzed. Our study takes into account the competition between this mechanism and other FIs effects, i.e. thermal profiles dilution and quasi-resonant interaction. We find the reduction of the zonal modes destabilization threshold caused by FIs (Hahm et al 2023 Phys. Plasmas30 072501) to be a very effective method to suppress turbulence. Indeed, it leads to the formation of regions where turbulent transport is reduced by 90% of its original value. Furthermore, an fishbone is driven unstable inside the plasma and its interaction with turbulence is studied. We find the beat-driven zonal structure generated by this mode to further reduce turbulence when its presence does not drastically flatten the thermal profiles.