- 4,978
- Paris
So, this is actually my 4th season and the 3rd season with McLaren. It's, however, my first season with everything set straight to "Expert". I've always kept at least the flashbacks on, just in case the AI is going nuts. So the gloves are off this time, it's set straight to "Expert", nothing's been changed. All races have been completed using a short race weekend but 100% distance.
The season was exciting so far, each race held some surprises for me. Alright, there we go.
I was able to qualify in pole position, almost 1.5 seconds in front of Webber, the local hero, who qualified in second. I went off for a great start and held on to the lead until lap 25, when I had my second pit stop. Vettel took over and held on it until around lap 50, when he suddenly got stuck in traffic and slowed down by 5 seconds within a single lap. I had fuel for +1 lap but I had to give it a go and overtook him with 2 corners to go - 25 points in the bag, his 2 stop strategy almost worked against my 3 stop strategy.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
I was able to qualify in pole position, yet again, almost 1 second off Hamilton. The race was started in extremely wet conditions and I was able to shave off around 2.5 seconds per lap from Webber, who overtook Hamilton when the Brit suffered a puncture and subsequently retired. It was pretty straight forward and I came in for intermediate tyres in lap 31, my first stop. I had built up a gap of 1 minute and 53 seconds to Rosberg, the car "chasing" me - so I was safe and sound and only had to bring my car back to the parc ferme. A second stop was required in lap 41. Putting on option tyres but I was, in the end, still almost one lap in front of Massa when I saw the chequered flag.
Pole position wasn't much of a problem here either but the race didn't go as expected, with me going off track during the second lap and rejoining the race in 16th. Schumacher had taken the lead by then and was, what I didn't know during the race, on 2 stop strategy. I couldn't keep up, being on a 3 stop strategy, and ended up second, around 16 seconds behind Schumacher. I got as close as 3 seconds but losing control of my car twice within three laps didn't help much.
Pole position was absolutely out of question this time. I was lucky and ended up on 9th place but thought I could turn things around if I'd stop twice instead of three times. The race started and I got off quite well, crossing the line on 4th after the first lap. Vettel led the race and Webber followed him closely when Vettel went in after lap 8. Webber, however, came to a halt right at the end of sector 1 and the lead was up for grabs. Once again, it was pretty straight forward - came in for new tyres at the end of lap 16 and once more at the end of lap 36, making two sets of prime tyres seal the deal in Istanbul.
Pole position wasn't much of a problem in Catalunya, around 0.7 seconds in front of Vettel and Hamilton. Vettel was around 3 seconds behind me until lap 12, when I made a small mistake and he got within DRS distance - yet, he missed his shot and Hamilton overtook him instead. However, Hamilton got a puncture, yet again, and retired half a lap later. I had to pit twice, picking up new prime tyres two times. I only had to settle for 2nd place once, when I came out behind Maldonado - I guess Williams wanted to run a 1 stop strategy, since he didn't put until lap 32. On options. Brave man. Crossed the line 26.7 seconds ahead of Massa and sealed the deal.
Qualifying was pretty smooth and I ended up 1.2 seconds ahead of Vettel and Hamilton, yet again. It went off to a furious start, with me crossing the line 3 seconds ahead of Hamilton after the first lap. The usual retirements started not too far into the race - subsequently taking out Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, Schumacher and Rosberg. My race was rather smooth and I went into the pits after lap 17, getting myself some new prime tyres. However, in lap 28 my race started going down the drain. I hit the barrier at the end of sector 2 and had to get a new front wing since I left the old one somewhere in the mediterranean sea. I also picked the wrong tyres by accident, to add insult to injury - so I went out on option tyres. I could've gone through in 2 stops with 2 sets of prime tyres but stopping two more times wasn't much of an issue. I've been chased by Kovalainen and Trulli, around 40 / 50 seconds behind me, respectively. I slightly damaged my front wing once more just before I went in anyway, in lap 47 - picking prime tyres this time, thinking I could use them until it's all over. Well, another front wing made a trip into the ocean (thanks to Mr. Buemi) and I went in once more in lap 59, picking up my 3rd set of prime tyres. All in all, easy win. Could've been easier. Trulli managed to come as close as 41 seconds when I crossed the line.
Qualifying was not too bad, 2.4 seconds ahead of Webber - yet, it's been a rain race so qualifying didn't mean too much. I was actually surprised about Alonso, who's been left behind on P17. He got more out of Q1 than Rosberg, tho, since Nico was right behind him on P18. The race started on intermediate tyres and I didn't get off too well. Webber passed me right away but I was following closely, finally being able to claim my lead back in the hairpin right before the back straight. I was 42 seconds ahead of Webber in lap 20 and the track slowly started to dry. I thought it would be a good idea to stay on intermediate tyres for the time being. The AI put option tyres on the other cars and they were closing in. Oh boy...3-4 seconds a lap. I stopped again, in lap 23, and put option tyres on my car as well. I held on to them for 20 laps and put new intermediate tyres on the car again, due it starting to rain once more. The AI chose options once more and they started to gain around 1 second per lap. However, the rain wasn't so light anymore, so they had to pit again and pick up intermediate tyres, too. Yet, due to the track not being too wet in the beginning, they started degrading really quick. I went into the pits after 17 laps, putting new intermediate tyres onto my car for the last 10 laps. I lapped both Massa and Vettel, leaving only Webber, Hamilton & Schumacher in the same lap. Great to see Hamilton finish a race, he even passed Schumacher in the penultimate lap.
Well, I won't go into details here. Just one thing: I didn't die from boredom. Hamilton made it to the chequered flag again and I never had to give up my lead.
It was pretty much straight forward: fastest lap in practice, pole position, fastest lap during the race, won the race. I made it out of the DRS distance during the first lap and held onto a 6 to 7 second lead the whole race, falling back to 11th after my first pit stop but taking the lead back the lap after. The primes were good for 20 laps, so I picked up another set and came back out in 4th, taking the lead back from Hamilton when he went into the pits 2 laps later. After all, quite an easy win. I could even afford to turn the fuel mix down with 5 laps to go, since I had a lead of around 18 seconds over Vettel. He cut it back down to 7 seconds but never got close, obviously.
Overall it was pretty much straight forward: fastest lap in practice, pole position, fastest lap during the race, won the race. Yet, this time it didn't come together from the start. Whilst the practice session was pretty normal, the qualifying session was held during a period of light rain. On my first lap I made a little mistake in the hairpin, on my second lap I made a rather big mistakeafter exiting the chicane just before the lastcorner. So, it all came down to my 3rd attempt - I went out 3 minutes before the end of the session and ultimately crossed the line after setting the best time, 0.648 seconds in front of Hamilton and another 0.329 seconds in front of Vettel. The race started in dry conditions ,so I opted for prime tyres and noticed it slowly started to rain after 13 laps. Luckily my primes held up for another 6 laps, so I could switch to intermediate tyres instead of having to pick up fresh dry tyres and intermediates just 2 laps later. Yet, it started raining badly - so I had to come back in after 7 laps and pick up a set of regular rain tyres. I had lapped 2/3 of the field by lap 30 and lapped Massa on P5 in lap 43. Everything went pretty much my way after that stop and I was able to stay out until lap 49. The track was drying a little faster than I thought, so I had to get some new tyres in lap 56 again since Hamilton was closing in by 5 seconds a lap. I could've won anyway but well, getting the fast lap was on the plan today. Sadly, Webber chose to make contact with my rear diffuser in lap 57 and I got a 20 second penalty for him not knowing how to overtake using DRS on the back straight. However, I still got my fastest lap during the last lap (1.28) and Hamilton wasn't able to close the gap at all, crossing the line 37 seconds behind me - so 17 seconds after the stewards applied an, in my eyes, penalty only a braindead person would've approved.
One of my favourite tracks, so I didn't expect the CPU to be able to fight back much. It was pretty much the perfect weekend: fastest lap in practice, pole position by 1.6 seconds, fastest lap during the race, won the race, lapped every contender. I was off to a sloppy start and Mark Webber took first place for the first meters but I quickly took it back in turn 1. By the first stop in lap 11 I had built a gap of around 18 seconds, so that I could easily follow my 4 stop strategy (start on option, prime, prime, prime, option) and still lap every other car on the track. There wasn't much going on, with the exception of Petrov moving onto my line when I lapped him for the second or third time during the last laps while I was also chasing Schumacher, who was running on P2 at that time. Alonso finished third, so he managed not to fall a lot more behind but after all I believe it should be possible to clinch the title in either Japan or Korea.
It was rather odd, all 3 days have been predicted to be rainy but the sun was shining at some point during each session. However, that led to me always having the wrong tyres on my car during qualifying - if I put options on them, it started raining at the beginning of my hot lap. When I changed them to intermediate tyres, the sun was shining again. Anyway, P17. Luckily I had a great start and was on P7 by the end of the first round, P3 at the end of the second round. With Schumacher in front of me I was following closely but I had to conserve some fuel since the chance of rain was only at around 40%. I went into the pits in lap 14 and changed my tyres from intermediate to option, falling back to 3rd place after around one lap running on 2nd. I went back into 2nd at the end of the DRS zone 2 laps after the stop tho, overtaking Schumacher once again. However, it started raining once more in lap 23 and I had to put intermediate tyres on the car once more. I've held a gap of around 6 seconds between me and Webber in P1 and the rain stopped yet again in lap 33. Shortly before I slid across the bus stop chicane and the game gave me a penalty, tho. So I went into the pits to serve said penalty, on the third lap - thus forcing me to come in. The unthinkable happened: they changed my tyres to option tyres. Nothing wrong with it per se but well...I should've served the drive through. Luckily the game didn't disqualify me and I went in the lap after. Webber was around 12 seconds in front of me afterwards, so I had to start a run. I cut off around 1.2 - 2 seconds a lap and passed him just before the bus stop chicane with 2 laps to go. He was following me closely, never leaving the DRS distance. However, Karthikeyan wanted to have his say as well and touched Webber in turn 1 of the last lap, causing Webber to spin and lose 15 seconds. Not that I wasn't glad I made it...but not like that, really. However, Alonso failed to score big and I'm 185 points in front of him by now. That means that he can't close the gap anymore, since he can't score more than 175 points in the remaining 7 rounds. The WDC has thus been clinched in round 12 of 19.
I really dislike Monza, I can't stand it - my hate only being surpassed when it comes to Korea. It was a bit boring, yet I wanted to keep going and got myself pole position. Hamilton arrived on P2 and overtook me at the start but couldn't keep up after the first chicane. It's hardly possible to write anything about the race since it was really, really straight forward. Hamilton arrived 6 seconds behind me and got some important points for McLaren.
I actually love Singapore - it's fast, slow and everything in between, too. Yet, I was thinking about lots of things while driving and, having a gap of 0.9 seconds to P2 after the 2nd sector, slipped in the penultimate corner, causing me to finish 0.112 seconds behind P1, thus starting from P3. It's going to be an exciting race today or tomorrow and, with all the tight corners, probably see the safety car as well. Well, so I started the race today and it wasn't a bad start, passed Webber in turn 2 and Vettel was braking a bit early in turn 3, so I went around the outside. Yet, Vettel pushed me into the wall in lap 8, luckily Webber kissed the wall, too - so the SC came out. I had to catch up and led until Heidfeld locked his brakes behind me and bumped into me, causing me to lose my front wing. Luckily, again, the SC went out after Trulli ripped off one of Schumachers wheels. I fought my way back up to 2nd when a backmarker in front of me lost his front wing, causing him to lose thousands of tiny bits from his car...and those bits subsequently slit my my right rear wheel open since I couldn't dodge them. Braking from 280 to 100 on 3 wheels didn't work too well. Terminal crash in lap 33. Singapore is great but it was just one of those days...even the race engineer started shouting, during the race, with a voice sample I never heard before: "That's not us, COME ON!". Yeah...not today, buddy. Rosberg won in front of Heidfeld, Massa came in third.
Suzuka is usually a track I cope pretty well with but this time the qualifying just didn't work - I don't know if my car's been on the lean mix or why it happened but I went around the track 0.183 seconds slower than Vettel, causing me to start from P2. The start was pretty ok and I overtook Vettel early on but he immediately got his position back by almost pushing me off track. Then again, I could get the lead back a little later just before the hair pin. It was pretty much straight forward from that point on, Japan is always fun. Vettel on P2, Hamilton on P3. My highlight, probably, was lapping Rosberg and Algersuari in pretty much Senna'esque style. It's on the video as well, right here. Also, I made a video of the first 2 laps and the last stint. I wanted to show the pedals but well, the lighting wasn't really good. It's ok but not that great - the screen is visible perfectly fine ,tho.
I really, really hate this track - I don't know if the designer (Herr Tilke!) was on drugs or simply thought to himself "Oh, well, it's see if a race driver can die of boredom.". Anyway. Qualifying worked just fine, 2.850 seconds in front of Schumacher. Vettel, however, took P2 right at the start whilst it wasn't too difficult for me to keep the lead until my first stop. I returned to the track on P8 and grabbed P7 when the other cars went in and I found myself back on P3 when I saw Vettel swapping positions with Schumacher and both subsequently slowing down at the end of the long straight right after turn 2. This incident caused the safety car to come out, so I had to get around almost a full lap before I could join the queue. After 2 laps of looking at the SLS in front of me, everything went according to plan again. Well, that is until my third stop - I thought to myself "Oh, well - one more lap, that'll make 3 more than I predicted." when I slipped and lost my front wing in the last corner. Luckily, I could just go in early without losing more than 20 seconds - which meant that Hamilton was only 2 seconds behind my car when I crossed the line and entered the pits. I rejoined the race, facing a gap of 19 seconds. Yet, I was able to shave off around 3 seconds per lap, so that I had a lead of around 21 seconds when Hamilton returned after his stop. I pushed a bit more and picked up new option tyres after 48 laps - I had saved enough fuel to finish the remaining 7 laps using a rich fuel mix. Hamilton finished 2nd, 28 seconds behind me but both Mercedes GP and Red Bull lost both of their cars within the first 20 laps, sadly.
Qualifying wasn't really great but it was good enough for P1, even tho only by 0.076 seconds. The race started in heavy rain and I ran around 2 seconds faster per lap than Webber on P2, Hamilton immediately fell back to P3 at the start. It was really easy, stopped in lap 24 for intermediates, once more in lap 34 for options and once more in lap 49 for options again. Webber arrived on P2, 59 seconds behind my MP4-26. Pretty intense race even if it doesn't sound like it. I started lapping backmarkers in lap 10 but it never got boring since I always had other cars are me. I briefly met Hamilton, too - sadly, a few times. 17th didn't help the team too much, I suppose.
So, Qualifying was pretty easy and the race started very well, too. Yet, I led by about 55 seconds by the time I got disqualified. I made a very long stint and on the 25th lap (and last lap, according to my plan) the tyres blew up. Right after I passed the pit entrance, maybe 10 meters after. I couldn't hold the car at the end of S1 and slid over the kerbs. The game said I cut a corner and disqualified me. Well, sad but I would've won easily and so I could move on to Brazil.
It's a pretty nice end to my season, I have to admit - Practice is being held in bright sunshine, qualifying in heavy rain tho. I still made it to P1 by 1.630 seconds (1:15.950) ahead of Schumacher in heavy rain but I had to go out on intermediates 2 minutes before the chequered flag and barely made got in front of Petrov - 0.078 seconds. The chance of rain is being predicted with 23% for the race but I'm almost sure it'd be better to go out using the wet setup. Well, let's see if I can finish this season off with a, maybe last, victory for McLaren. - One day later, the race. I've been off to a good start, losing P1 to Petrov but grabbing it back from him even before turn 1. Having chosen the wet setup meant I'll have a stable car with rather slow top speed, so I had to pull away in S2. Luckily I was able to and got back out on P2 after my first stop, swapping option for prime tyres. It started to rain when my primes started to wear out and intermediates worked just fine. I stopped two more times, picking up option tyres each time. First place in every session, pole position, fastest lap of the race, won the race - not the worst end to a season. Also, Rosberg made the most stupid move ever by going into the pits at the end of lap 70 of 71. Vettel thanked him for that, securing P2 easily.
The season was exciting so far, each race held some surprises for me. Alright, there we go.
Current standings after race 19/19
1 - Ayrton Senna - 418 points
2 - Fernando Alonso - 177 points
3 - Felipe Massa - 159 points
4 - Lewis Hamilton - 152 points
5 - Sebastian Vettel - 145 points
1 - McLaren Mercedes - 570 points
2 - Scuderia Ferrari - 336 points
3 - Red Bull Renault - 275 points
4 - Mercedes GP - 262 points
5 - Lotus-Renault GP - 186 points
2 - Fernando Alonso - 177 points
3 - Felipe Massa - 159 points
4 - Lewis Hamilton - 152 points
5 - Sebastian Vettel - 145 points
1 - McLaren Mercedes - 570 points
2 - Scuderia Ferrari - 336 points
3 - Red Bull Renault - 275 points
4 - Mercedes GP - 262 points
5 - Lotus-Renault GP - 186 points
Australia
I was able to qualify in pole position, almost 1.5 seconds in front of Webber, the local hero, who qualified in second. I went off for a great start and held on to the lead until lap 25, when I had my second pit stop. Vettel took over and held on it until around lap 50, when he suddenly got stuck in traffic and slowed down by 5 seconds within a single lap. I had fuel for +1 lap but I had to give it a go and overtook him with 2 corners to go - 25 points in the bag, his 2 stop strategy almost worked against my 3 stop strategy.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Malaysia
I was able to qualify in pole position, yet again, almost 1 second off Hamilton. The race was started in extremely wet conditions and I was able to shave off around 2.5 seconds per lap from Webber, who overtook Hamilton when the Brit suffered a puncture and subsequently retired. It was pretty straight forward and I came in for intermediate tyres in lap 31, my first stop. I had built up a gap of 1 minute and 53 seconds to Rosberg, the car "chasing" me - so I was safe and sound and only had to bring my car back to the parc ferme. A second stop was required in lap 41. Putting on option tyres but I was, in the end, still almost one lap in front of Massa when I saw the chequered flag.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Race: 1
China
Pole position wasn't much of a problem here either but the race didn't go as expected, with me going off track during the second lap and rejoining the race in 16th. Schumacher had taken the lead by then and was, what I didn't know during the race, on 2 stop strategy. I couldn't keep up, being on a 3 stop strategy, and ended up second, around 16 seconds behind Schumacher. I got as close as 3 seconds but losing control of my car twice within three laps didn't help much.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 2
Race: 2
Turkey
Pole position was absolutely out of question this time. I was lucky and ended up on 9th place but thought I could turn things around if I'd stop twice instead of three times. The race started and I got off quite well, crossing the line on 4th after the first lap. Vettel led the race and Webber followed him closely when Vettel went in after lap 8. Webber, however, came to a halt right at the end of sector 1 and the lead was up for grabs. Once again, it was pretty straight forward - came in for new tyres at the end of lap 16 and once more at the end of lap 36, making two sets of prime tyres seal the deal in Istanbul.
Qualifying: 9
Race: 1
Race: 1
Spain
Pole position wasn't much of a problem in Catalunya, around 0.7 seconds in front of Vettel and Hamilton. Vettel was around 3 seconds behind me until lap 12, when I made a small mistake and he got within DRS distance - yet, he missed his shot and Hamilton overtook him instead. However, Hamilton got a puncture, yet again, and retired half a lap later. I had to pit twice, picking up new prime tyres two times. I only had to settle for 2nd place once, when I came out behind Maldonado - I guess Williams wanted to run a 1 stop strategy, since he didn't put until lap 32. On options. Brave man. Crossed the line 26.7 seconds ahead of Massa and sealed the deal.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Race: 1
Monaco
Qualifying was pretty smooth and I ended up 1.2 seconds ahead of Vettel and Hamilton, yet again. It went off to a furious start, with me crossing the line 3 seconds ahead of Hamilton after the first lap. The usual retirements started not too far into the race - subsequently taking out Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, Schumacher and Rosberg. My race was rather smooth and I went into the pits after lap 17, getting myself some new prime tyres. However, in lap 28 my race started going down the drain. I hit the barrier at the end of sector 2 and had to get a new front wing since I left the old one somewhere in the mediterranean sea. I also picked the wrong tyres by accident, to add insult to injury - so I went out on option tyres. I could've gone through in 2 stops with 2 sets of prime tyres but stopping two more times wasn't much of an issue. I've been chased by Kovalainen and Trulli, around 40 / 50 seconds behind me, respectively. I slightly damaged my front wing once more just before I went in anyway, in lap 47 - picking prime tyres this time, thinking I could use them until it's all over. Well, another front wing made a trip into the ocean (thanks to Mr. Buemi) and I went in once more in lap 59, picking up my 3rd set of prime tyres. All in all, easy win. Could've been easier. Trulli managed to come as close as 41 seconds when I crossed the line.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Race: 1
Montreal
Qualifying was not too bad, 2.4 seconds ahead of Webber - yet, it's been a rain race so qualifying didn't mean too much. I was actually surprised about Alonso, who's been left behind on P17. He got more out of Q1 than Rosberg, tho, since Nico was right behind him on P18. The race started on intermediate tyres and I didn't get off too well. Webber passed me right away but I was following closely, finally being able to claim my lead back in the hairpin right before the back straight. I was 42 seconds ahead of Webber in lap 20 and the track slowly started to dry. I thought it would be a good idea to stay on intermediate tyres for the time being. The AI put option tyres on the other cars and they were closing in. Oh boy...3-4 seconds a lap. I stopped again, in lap 23, and put option tyres on my car as well. I held on to them for 20 laps and put new intermediate tyres on the car again, due it starting to rain once more. The AI chose options once more and they started to gain around 1 second per lap. However, the rain wasn't so light anymore, so they had to pit again and pick up intermediate tyres, too. Yet, due to the track not being too wet in the beginning, they started degrading really quick. I went into the pits after 17 laps, putting new intermediate tyres onto my car for the last 10 laps. I lapped both Massa and Vettel, leaving only Webber, Hamilton & Schumacher in the same lap. Great to see Hamilton finish a race, he even passed Schumacher in the penultimate lap.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Race: 1
Europe
Well, I won't go into details here. Just one thing: I didn't die from boredom. Hamilton made it to the chequered flag again and I never had to give up my lead.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Race: 1
Great Britain
It was pretty much straight forward: fastest lap in practice, pole position, fastest lap during the race, won the race. I made it out of the DRS distance during the first lap and held onto a 6 to 7 second lead the whole race, falling back to 11th after my first pit stop but taking the lead back the lap after. The primes were good for 20 laps, so I picked up another set and came back out in 4th, taking the lead back from Hamilton when he went into the pits 2 laps later. After all, quite an easy win. I could even afford to turn the fuel mix down with 5 laps to go, since I had a lead of around 18 seconds over Vettel. He cut it back down to 7 seconds but never got close, obviously.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Race: 1
Germany
Overall it was pretty much straight forward: fastest lap in practice, pole position, fastest lap during the race, won the race. Yet, this time it didn't come together from the start. Whilst the practice session was pretty normal, the qualifying session was held during a period of light rain. On my first lap I made a little mistake in the hairpin, on my second lap I made a rather big mistakeafter exiting the chicane just before the lastcorner. So, it all came down to my 3rd attempt - I went out 3 minutes before the end of the session and ultimately crossed the line after setting the best time, 0.648 seconds in front of Hamilton and another 0.329 seconds in front of Vettel. The race started in dry conditions ,so I opted for prime tyres and noticed it slowly started to rain after 13 laps. Luckily my primes held up for another 6 laps, so I could switch to intermediate tyres instead of having to pick up fresh dry tyres and intermediates just 2 laps later. Yet, it started raining badly - so I had to come back in after 7 laps and pick up a set of regular rain tyres. I had lapped 2/3 of the field by lap 30 and lapped Massa on P5 in lap 43. Everything went pretty much my way after that stop and I was able to stay out until lap 49. The track was drying a little faster than I thought, so I had to get some new tyres in lap 56 again since Hamilton was closing in by 5 seconds a lap. I could've won anyway but well, getting the fast lap was on the plan today. Sadly, Webber chose to make contact with my rear diffuser in lap 57 and I got a 20 second penalty for him not knowing how to overtake using DRS on the back straight. However, I still got my fastest lap during the last lap (1.28) and Hamilton wasn't able to close the gap at all, crossing the line 37 seconds behind me - so 17 seconds after the stewards applied an, in my eyes, penalty only a braindead person would've approved.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Race: 1
Hungary
One of my favourite tracks, so I didn't expect the CPU to be able to fight back much. It was pretty much the perfect weekend: fastest lap in practice, pole position by 1.6 seconds, fastest lap during the race, won the race, lapped every contender. I was off to a sloppy start and Mark Webber took first place for the first meters but I quickly took it back in turn 1. By the first stop in lap 11 I had built a gap of around 18 seconds, so that I could easily follow my 4 stop strategy (start on option, prime, prime, prime, option) and still lap every other car on the track. There wasn't much going on, with the exception of Petrov moving onto my line when I lapped him for the second or third time during the last laps while I was also chasing Schumacher, who was running on P2 at that time. Alonso finished third, so he managed not to fall a lot more behind but after all I believe it should be possible to clinch the title in either Japan or Korea.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Race: 1
Belgium
It was rather odd, all 3 days have been predicted to be rainy but the sun was shining at some point during each session. However, that led to me always having the wrong tyres on my car during qualifying - if I put options on them, it started raining at the beginning of my hot lap. When I changed them to intermediate tyres, the sun was shining again. Anyway, P17. Luckily I had a great start and was on P7 by the end of the first round, P3 at the end of the second round. With Schumacher in front of me I was following closely but I had to conserve some fuel since the chance of rain was only at around 40%. I went into the pits in lap 14 and changed my tyres from intermediate to option, falling back to 3rd place after around one lap running on 2nd. I went back into 2nd at the end of the DRS zone 2 laps after the stop tho, overtaking Schumacher once again. However, it started raining once more in lap 23 and I had to put intermediate tyres on the car once more. I've held a gap of around 6 seconds between me and Webber in P1 and the rain stopped yet again in lap 33. Shortly before I slid across the bus stop chicane and the game gave me a penalty, tho. So I went into the pits to serve said penalty, on the third lap - thus forcing me to come in. The unthinkable happened: they changed my tyres to option tyres. Nothing wrong with it per se but well...I should've served the drive through. Luckily the game didn't disqualify me and I went in the lap after. Webber was around 12 seconds in front of me afterwards, so I had to start a run. I cut off around 1.2 - 2 seconds a lap and passed him just before the bus stop chicane with 2 laps to go. He was following me closely, never leaving the DRS distance. However, Karthikeyan wanted to have his say as well and touched Webber in turn 1 of the last lap, causing Webber to spin and lose 15 seconds. Not that I wasn't glad I made it...but not like that, really. However, Alonso failed to score big and I'm 185 points in front of him by now. That means that he can't close the gap anymore, since he can't score more than 175 points in the remaining 7 rounds. The WDC has thus been clinched in round 12 of 19.
Qualifying: 17
Race: 1
Race: 1
Italy
I really dislike Monza, I can't stand it - my hate only being surpassed when it comes to Korea. It was a bit boring, yet I wanted to keep going and got myself pole position. Hamilton arrived on P2 and overtook me at the start but couldn't keep up after the first chicane. It's hardly possible to write anything about the race since it was really, really straight forward. Hamilton arrived 6 seconds behind me and got some important points for McLaren.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Race: 1
Singapore
I actually love Singapore - it's fast, slow and everything in between, too. Yet, I was thinking about lots of things while driving and, having a gap of 0.9 seconds to P2 after the 2nd sector, slipped in the penultimate corner, causing me to finish 0.112 seconds behind P1, thus starting from P3. It's going to be an exciting race today or tomorrow and, with all the tight corners, probably see the safety car as well. Well, so I started the race today and it wasn't a bad start, passed Webber in turn 2 and Vettel was braking a bit early in turn 3, so I went around the outside. Yet, Vettel pushed me into the wall in lap 8, luckily Webber kissed the wall, too - so the SC came out. I had to catch up and led until Heidfeld locked his brakes behind me and bumped into me, causing me to lose my front wing. Luckily, again, the SC went out after Trulli ripped off one of Schumachers wheels. I fought my way back up to 2nd when a backmarker in front of me lost his front wing, causing him to lose thousands of tiny bits from his car...and those bits subsequently slit my my right rear wheel open since I couldn't dodge them. Braking from 280 to 100 on 3 wheels didn't work too well. Terminal crash in lap 33. Singapore is great but it was just one of those days...even the race engineer started shouting, during the race, with a voice sample I never heard before: "That's not us, COME ON!". Yeah...not today, buddy. Rosberg won in front of Heidfeld, Massa came in third.
Qualifying: 3
Race: DNF
Race: DNF
Japan
Suzuka is usually a track I cope pretty well with but this time the qualifying just didn't work - I don't know if my car's been on the lean mix or why it happened but I went around the track 0.183 seconds slower than Vettel, causing me to start from P2. The start was pretty ok and I overtook Vettel early on but he immediately got his position back by almost pushing me off track. Then again, I could get the lead back a little later just before the hair pin. It was pretty much straight forward from that point on, Japan is always fun. Vettel on P2, Hamilton on P3. My highlight, probably, was lapping Rosberg and Algersuari in pretty much Senna'esque style. It's on the video as well, right here. Also, I made a video of the first 2 laps and the last stint. I wanted to show the pedals but well, the lighting wasn't really good. It's ok but not that great - the screen is visible perfectly fine ,tho.
Qualifying: 2
Race: 1
Race: 1
South Korea
I really, really hate this track - I don't know if the designer (Herr Tilke!) was on drugs or simply thought to himself "Oh, well, it's see if a race driver can die of boredom.". Anyway. Qualifying worked just fine, 2.850 seconds in front of Schumacher. Vettel, however, took P2 right at the start whilst it wasn't too difficult for me to keep the lead until my first stop. I returned to the track on P8 and grabbed P7 when the other cars went in and I found myself back on P3 when I saw Vettel swapping positions with Schumacher and both subsequently slowing down at the end of the long straight right after turn 2. This incident caused the safety car to come out, so I had to get around almost a full lap before I could join the queue. After 2 laps of looking at the SLS in front of me, everything went according to plan again. Well, that is until my third stop - I thought to myself "Oh, well - one more lap, that'll make 3 more than I predicted." when I slipped and lost my front wing in the last corner. Luckily, I could just go in early without losing more than 20 seconds - which meant that Hamilton was only 2 seconds behind my car when I crossed the line and entered the pits. I rejoined the race, facing a gap of 19 seconds. Yet, I was able to shave off around 3 seconds per lap, so that I had a lead of around 21 seconds when Hamilton returned after his stop. I pushed a bit more and picked up new option tyres after 48 laps - I had saved enough fuel to finish the remaining 7 laps using a rich fuel mix. Hamilton finished 2nd, 28 seconds behind me but both Mercedes GP and Red Bull lost both of their cars within the first 20 laps, sadly.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Race: 1
India
Qualifying wasn't really great but it was good enough for P1, even tho only by 0.076 seconds. The race started in heavy rain and I ran around 2 seconds faster per lap than Webber on P2, Hamilton immediately fell back to P3 at the start. It was really easy, stopped in lap 24 for intermediates, once more in lap 34 for options and once more in lap 49 for options again. Webber arrived on P2, 59 seconds behind my MP4-26. Pretty intense race even if it doesn't sound like it. I started lapping backmarkers in lap 10 but it never got boring since I always had other cars are me. I briefly met Hamilton, too - sadly, a few times. 17th didn't help the team too much, I suppose.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Race: 1
Abu Dhabi
So, Qualifying was pretty easy and the race started very well, too. Yet, I led by about 55 seconds by the time I got disqualified. I made a very long stint and on the 25th lap (and last lap, according to my plan) the tyres blew up. Right after I passed the pit entrance, maybe 10 meters after. I couldn't hold the car at the end of S1 and slid over the kerbs. The game said I cut a corner and disqualified me. Well, sad but I would've won easily and so I could move on to Brazil.
Qualifying: 1
Race: DSQ
Race: DSQ
Brazil
It's a pretty nice end to my season, I have to admit - Practice is being held in bright sunshine, qualifying in heavy rain tho. I still made it to P1 by 1.630 seconds (1:15.950) ahead of Schumacher in heavy rain but I had to go out on intermediates 2 minutes before the chequered flag and barely made got in front of Petrov - 0.078 seconds. The chance of rain is being predicted with 23% for the race but I'm almost sure it'd be better to go out using the wet setup. Well, let's see if I can finish this season off with a, maybe last, victory for McLaren. - One day later, the race. I've been off to a good start, losing P1 to Petrov but grabbing it back from him even before turn 1. Having chosen the wet setup meant I'll have a stable car with rather slow top speed, so I had to pull away in S2. Luckily I was able to and got back out on P2 after my first stop, swapping option for prime tyres. It started to rain when my primes started to wear out and intermediates worked just fine. I stopped two more times, picking up option tyres each time. First place in every session, pole position, fastest lap of the race, won the race - not the worst end to a season. Also, Rosberg made the most stupid move ever by going into the pits at the end of lap 70 of 71. Vettel thanked him for that, securing P2 easily.
Qualifying: 1
Race: 1
Race: 1
Next up: one more season with McLaren!
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). Will have a go at Monaco tomorrow, just hoping the FPS issues won't cause too much trouble.
And I'm in Season 1 with Williams on Legend. But, I tweaked the settings a bit 
, legend AI though, and trying to learn manual but I used auto for the race.
