Tell us about your Career...

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After my win at Abu Dhabi, it was on to Austin. Bit of a straight forward race weekend if you take away my struggles getting used to the circuit! Qualified 12th, directly behind my team mate on the grid (in the top 10 for the first time). I got a decent start and moved up to 7th, promoted to 6th when Massa got a puncture on lap 2. I was able to keep up with the others, but only whilst I had the luxury of the faster fuel mix. When I needed standard, I became a mobile road block once again. Pitted 6th, but held up waiting in the pitlane again. 2 places gained at the exit of turn 1 direct from the pits though. After the stops I was running in 10th and struggling due to fuel being on standard for the entire second stint. Someone retired (no idea who though!) and I finished 9th, 1 place behind Ricciardo.

Just finished Brazil now, and not happy with first qualifying runs... I join the circuit last, but on the first lap Alonso spins and I pass both Webber and Raikkonen. Overall, I'm content with 4th. I pause and select back to pit, and I'm now 10th! They haven't done 2 runs as all of the laps are at 2, or 3 if race director stating they are in the pits already. Proves that they are just given lap times though still and what happens on track irrelevant...

I finished the session in 10th, but get a good start to 4th. Button leads from Perez and Webber, and I have Alonso for company. I held him off until lap 6, but he then retired on lap 7 thankfully! After the pitstops I'm third after a scruffy Webber stop. I could turn the mix up as well to defend from Vettel, until the very last lap... Lost the place into turn 4, and in trying hard to get back onto the podium I run wide at 6 losing 2 more places. I finish 6th which I'll take, but had I stayed 4th or even 5th I would have been 11th in the drivers championship rather than 12th.

Force India for season 2!
 
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Will27
I have only hit this bug once myself, have you tried starting the race then quit to the main menu? (NOT retiring)
Not sure if it will make a difference, but I haven't been effected by this bug for a long time (just over a season)
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I can't remember but I'll give it a go if I run into the same issue again. Thanks man! 👍
 
Restarted my career again, but this time I decided to be an actual driver that is currently competing in another race series. I chose Romain Dumas and started my new career at Marussia.

Team: Marussia
Season Objective: Score minor points, occasionally break into Q2
Best Qualifying: 18th (Australia and Malaysia)
Best Finish: 9th (Malaysia)
Championship position: 12th (2 points)

So far it's been a lot more fun than my career at Williams and Toro Rosso. Hoping to stay with the team for next season but with an improved car hopefully.
 
Nearly scored my first points for Caterham today. But Perez dived up my inside into the final chicane (at Canada), I turned in, he didn't move, I spun, and I finished 17th. :grumpy:
 
Anyone having trouble getting the AI to attempt overtakes? I qualified in P5, took P1 at the first corner, and then the AI can never overtake me past that point, though they are faster in front of me (I tested it, playing on Legend).

KERS seems to be faster than DRS. If there's a car behind me I can just use my KERS in the DRS zone and they won't be able to overtake. I know it's used in actual races as a defensive strategy, but it seems too effective, and the AI never manage to overtake you in a corner. :odd:
 
Signal52
Anyone having trouble getting the AI to attempt overtakes? I qualified in P5, took P1 at the first corner, and then the AI can never overtake me past that point, though they are faster in front of me (I tested it, playing on Legend).
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Yep, that's indeed odd. They're 2 seconds a lap quicker if they're in front but can't keep up if they're behind.
 
Started Season 2 driving for McLaren as number 1 driver.

Australia-Pretty straight forward race although the game changed my difficulty to amateur from pro so it was a very easy race but i don't like Australia plus on the final lap i hit an HRT and got a +20sec penalty and finished 3rd

Malaysia-Weekend started out good but for the race it was all downhill. Weather changed every 6 laps and i ended up DNFing because i wasn't gonna deal with the bs.

China-Bad qualifying starting out 12th but quickly slotted into 1st and didn't look back.

On a side note it seems the Mercedes AMG is the top team in my Season this year with each qualifying session being dominated by Schumacher and Rosberg. Currently sitting 2nd in points behind Schumacher after china and sitting in 2nd in constructers behind Mercedes AMG. Really didnt want to be with a top tier team in my second year, i was hoping to drive for Sauber this year but we will see.
 
I forgot how silly the game seems once you enter the second season and teams switch pace groups... Wasn't right (but pleasing at the same time?) to see both of my old teams top practice! I've switched to Force India just as they become one of the slowest teams as well, though it still handles decently. Just means I'll have no issues dominating Hulkenberg in the team mate challenge!

Got a bit cocky in qualifying, tried to get out of Q1 on primes. Realised I'd need to put options on with 5 minutes to go, and messed up my first run so I had to use a second set. In Q2, I decided early I would do only 1 run on the fresh options and be content with wherever I qualified, but was still gutted to finish 17th in such a close session having made a slight mistake in the final sector. Hulkenberg 24th....

Got a decent start to the race, all the way up to 6th with gaps appearing for me to dive through at turn 1! Spent the race defending faster cars as Massa, Maldonado, Webber, and Hamilton all passed me throughout the race. Massa collided with me as he did so down the start straight, pushing me into Vettel and taking half his front wing! Ironically saved me falling outside of the points though since he couldn't keep up through the final corners.
 
Continuing with McLaren in Season 2.

Bahrain - Pretty dominating race by me all weekend. Only on the first lap did Rosberg pass me but when DRS was activated i took 1st and didnt look back again. Still ended up trailing Schumacher in points by 12.

Catelunya - This race was my most exciting race to date. Qualified pole in the rain but it was dry for the race.

Right off the bat Rosberg, Schumacher, Vettel, and Alonso pass me in the first 2 corners then on the hairpin i run wide and into the gravel being slotted down to 17th. Ended up fighting all the way back up to 3rd place by lap 19.

Pitted on lap 22 for Options since i started on primes. Came out behind Hamilton and Vettel battling for 5th. I caught them up 2 laps later and Hamilton passed Vettel and i followed suit. I then began to battle Hamilton back and forth for the next 5 laps before finally getting him.

Starting lap 29 i was 8 sec behind Webber in 4th. So i switched to rich fuel mix and did hotlap after hotlap before catching Webber on the last lap and passing him on the very tight hairpin.

Schumacher went on to win again and I now trail him by 20+ points.
 
Update: (Red Bull, season 2)

Silverstone, (new engine fitted) Q:1st, R:1st. Qualifying was wet and the race was dry, so we were able to choose which tyres to start the race on. I started on Primes and easily pulled away from the AI on options. The car felt much better than it had been all season, I could feel and even see with the body language that the car had loads of mechanical grip.

Hockenheim, Q:1st, R:1st. In qualifying I really had to fight the car around the circuit, so getting pole by 7 tenths with rain starting to fall was a surprise. A change of approach with my driving for the race paid off big time, with a totally dominant display. I think a 2 stop strategy was possible here, but I chose to limit my risk and stayed on the 3 stop.

Hungary, Q:17th, R:1st. Car was quite bad for the first half of the race, but I took the lead by leap-frogging Alonso and Button at the first stops and never looked back.

Spa, (new engine fitted) Q:18th, R:1st. Qualifying was a disaster, with a big crash through the high speed section before the final 2 corners in Q1 on a good lap.
In the race, as soon as I went through turn 1 I knew I had the race tied up. The car felt the same as it had at Silverstone, the body of the car pitching and then squatting under power without a hint of sliding... she was a weapon.
In the first stint I was consistantly lapping 2~3s per lap faster than everyone else, on the harder compound tyre. When the weather turned to rain, I got the call for inters spot on and doubled my lead to over a minute. The race finished with the track drying, but I stayed on the inters until the flag.

Thats 12 wins in a row. I now have a 140 point lead over Button with 8 rounds to go.
Next up, Monza. Time for another new engine :D
 
GTracer38
Team: Sahara Force India-Mercedes
Aims: Minor points and the odd podium
Next Season Team: 3 races into S1
Best Qualifying Position: 10th, Dry. China.
Best Finishing Position: 1st, Dry. Melbourne, Malaysia.
Drivers Championship Position: 1st - 68 points

I am changing the difficulty for the race but not Qualifying from Race 4 onwards.
Qualifying results - 18th, 17th and 10th
Race results - 1st, 1st and 2nd
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Since then I haven't done much. Played a bit of Forza and lost it in F1.

DNF, DSQ, DNF and 13th.

At Montreal, I qualified 24th (I had 2 10-place grid penalties from Practice :/) managed to get to 3rd before I pitted dropped to 7th because of front wing damage but quicly recovered to 4th. With 2-laps to go I caught up to 2nd & 3rd battle so I had a crack at Webber with DRS into the chicane and failed. Had a go a Turn 3 and succeded only to be taken out by Grosjean (2nd) coming out of Turn 7. Limped around the last lap and a half so I could beat my team mate.

I need to bounce back fast. Clinging on to 2nd in the title chase with 68 points. Hamilton has won 3 of the last 4 with Raikkonen winning in Montreal. Hamilton leads.
 
Ahh man, just knocked myself out in Q1 at melbourne -_-

Set fuel to 3 laps, went on a flying lap with rich that didn't quite get me out of the drop zone, went again and was about half a second clear of 17th before running out of fuel halfway through sector 3 T_T
 
Update: Red Bull Season 2

Italy: Q:10th, R:1st
Singapore Q:1st, R:1st - With only 12 finishers, HRT still couldn't score a point!
Japan, Q:4th, R:1st - Perez gave me a very unexpected run for my money here..
Korea, Q:8th, R:1st - Drivers title secured for me!
India, Q:1st, R:1st
Abu Dhabi, Q:1st, R:1st
USA, Q:1st, R:1st - Constructors title wrapped up for Red Bull.
Brazil, Q:1st, R:1st

Thats 20 from 20 for season 2. :)

Season 3, Red Bull:

Australia, Q:1st, R:1st.
Qualifying almost turned into disaster in Q3 when I lost the back through turn 5 (opened DRS too soon:ouch:) and crashed into the wall, taking the nose off the car. With that fixed, I didn't want to use another set of options, and if I fitted the same set I'd just crashed on they would be worn heavily before the race even started... so I fitted some new prime tyres instead and slid my way to pole position by 2 tenths on the harder rubber.
In the race the prime tyres seemed to work very well on full fuel, and after that it was all option tyres to the end.

Malaysia, Q:18th, R:1st. Made an error in the wet in Q1, but I knew the car was good so I didn't bother with another run.

China next, I think I'll turn off ABS to make things a little harder.
 
The recap on my S2 with McLaren was quite boring because i either DNF'd or finished first by a mile. But took the points battle all the way to brazil and edged Schumacher by 10 points for the title.

For season 3 i decided to stray away from the top three big hitters and wait for Lotus to send me a contract which they eventually did.

Australia: fell into to third and raced hard against Rosberg and Alonso eventually winning. Defiantly alot harder this season now that i dont have the fastest car on the grid.

Malaysia: full wet race but fought to first and held off Hamilton in the closing laps to win.

China: this race had so many lead changes it was like Nascar. Fought with Rosberg, Hamilton, And Button all race long and finally pulled a gap on the last lap to edge Rosberg.

Not much has changed in the pace of the teams since S2 but Force India does seem to be faster. However Mercedes is the most consistent and fastest team again this season.
 
Kinda late but having finally finished my carreer on 2011, I've just started on 2012 so here it goes:

Team: Scuderia Toro Rosso
Aims: At least to stay in the top 15
Next Season Team: Unsure (possibly Williams)
Difficulty: Professional

Season 1: Round 1-Melbourne (Practice)

So I finally got in. Did the usual looking around at settings and setup. Decided to go out, first on Primes just to get used to harder compounds. Did fairly decent. Lap times not spectacular, but decent. Afterwards, I changed over to Options for some hot laps and learning to push the car. Thats when a few troubles started. First, I spun getting on the throttle too soon in Turn 14, then four laps later spun at turn 4 and nosed it into the wall. Had to get that repaired and then for a final time, spun through turn 12 and again, nosed it into the wall. Overall, not a promising start and when I didn't crash or go off repeatidly in the sand at turn 12, could only manage some measely 1'32s while everyone else is doing 1'30s.

Season 1: Round 1-Melbourne (Qualifying)

Just when I thought Practice went bad, I had no idea how bad Qualifying was gonna go. Did some lap times and tried to push but while my teammate manages a 1'29, I once again could not manage anything other then a 1'32 :ouch: and to make things worse, I nose the car into the wall with 8 minutes to go and I can't improve so I never made it past Q1 *facepalm* add insult to injury, he starts 11th (or somewhere higher then I did at least) while I start an embarassing 20th :indiff: Not really looking forward to the race, thats two sessions where I couldn't keep it on track so I might as well not even bother. I don't quite see a top 15th being attainable as I once thought.
 
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I've restarted my career (and used a mod to get back to McLaren right away in season 1) and modified the AI to be more aggressive and break later. Way better. Won by around 7 seconds in Malaysia. The race was dry for around 35 laps but for the remaining 21 laps the advantage of having my car set up for wet conditions really kicked in.
 
Season 1: Round 1-Melbourne (Race)

For the race, I went with a simple strategy: Primes first, Options last. I felt by doing this, I would gain alot of time by using the options later in the race while everyone was trying to keep the wear down on their Primes after such a long stint. At the start and in the first corner, Some carnage. Many cars damaged and was able to make up many positions and was even fighting Raikkonen at one point. Unfortunately, a few of them were lost in over the course of the race due to some offs and I was never able to gain any ground. I ended finishing a very dissapointing 18th, far from where I wanted to finish and 4 laps down. While I'm glad to finish the race without any major incidents like I had in Qualifying, I'm still not too happy about it. Next race is of course at one of my favorite tracks so maybe I'll have better luck.
 
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To sum up my career at Lotus my goal for the season was to bring Lotus the constructors championship. But with only an 8 point lead over Mercedes in the final 2 races its not looking good. Whole season i had to make up for Raikonnen's sub par performances race to race. However for next season im moving to Sauber since ive seen Perez and Kobayashi finishing in the top 5 recently.

Seems like since the update the professional AI is alot faster. Before the update i beat Schumacher at India by 20sec but the last race at India i couldnt break into his 7sec lead.
 
Season 1: Round 2-Sepang (Practice)

One of my favorite tracks has arrived. I was feeling good about this before I even got on track. Rain was forcast to arrive in about 15 minutes so I went out while it was dry. My times were off the leaders but only by the slimmest of margins. First three laps were improving each time and I managed to get in the 1'40s. As I completed another lap, it started to rain and as the lap went on, I could feel the track getting slippery. I managed to get in the pits before I got in serious trouble. Overall, very happy with the result. As opposed to the terrible 22nd I had before, I was now 10th fastest and only slightly off the likes of Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Raikkonen and others and my teammate could only manage 14th. So far so good, My confidence has gone up alot and I'm hoping to now make some gains in qualifying and in the race.
 
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Silverstone. One of the tracks I have never been quick on in any game.
Practice - 24th on the primes. 2sec off 23rd.
Oualifying - 18th - Made a couple of mistakes but still 1.2sec off 17th.
Race - 11th - Poor start but there was cranage at turn 1 when Massa was turned around. Managed to get myself to 9th with some clever moves on lap 1. Passed by Rosberg on Lap 4. Pit from 2nd on lap 8 and re-join in 12th. Pass Riccardo on lap 10. Hang on until the race finish some 20sec behind 10th. On lap times I was faster than only Riccardo and the back-markers.
Strategy - Primes first, Options last.
 
Final race with Lotus at Interlagos trying to hold onto the constructors lead. Poor qualifying to start out with but i wasn't worried. Started 17th but by lap 8 i had a 3sec gap on 2nd place Button. After pit stops i had a small lead on Button that vanished by lap 28 and it was an all out duel until the end. But on lap 34 Button switched to the Lean mix and fell back and i went on to win with only a 9 point lead over Mercedes to win Constructors. On to Australia with Sauber, hopefully Perez performs better then Raikonnen did.
 
Season 1: Round 2-Sepang (Qualifying)

Qualifying was about to begin and before I went out, the weather forecast showed rain was coming. Going out, I was only able to do at most six laps before the rain really came down. While I went from being 4th to 14th on the board, I managed to make on to Q2. Unfortunately, that session had nothing but rain and because I'm terrible with rain, I could not do any better so I was stuck in 15th unable to go any further. Its better then the 20th from the last race so again things were looking better.

Season 1: Round 2-Sepang (Race)

Strategy for the race would be the same: Primes for the start and Options to the finish with a 1 stop strategy. With this being a track I do very well at, I felt I actually would gain abit more this time. Lights go out, into turn one and as usual, the Turn 1 bunch-up. I made a ton of spots and got all the way to 6th spot. For about 7 laps, I was battling Sebastian Vettel for 6th, repeatidly trying to defend my position. There were a few times where he got by but usually I braked deep enough to get right back on by. Raikkonen was another I had to defend vigorously from. Eventually both would pit and I kept my now 5th position as another car ahead of me pitted. Laps later, I would come across Schumacher after he came out the pits and at the same time, I was being caught up to by Nico Rosberg. Now I was battling to keep him off me five laps before I had to pit for options. Finally, I pitted in for Options and came out, dropping to 13th. I was now just pushing all the way to the end and meanwhile, was caught up to by both Paul De Resta and Bruno Senna. If I wasn't watching my mirrors for Senna, I was doing it for De Resta. And then to make things more interesting, a third car managed to join and it was non other then my teammate, Daniel Ricciardo. Now I had to watch my mirrors with him as well and of the three, he was the most aggressive. There were several times were we leaned on each other in the corners. On the last lap, He passed me going into 15, but I managed to set up a crossover pass and fly by just as I hit the DRS zone and blasted off, pushing the KERS button as well. I managed a 13th place finish while Riccardo got a 15th place finish (apparently was snagged by Senna at the line). Incredible race, Alot of battling with other cars and I didn't go laps down. Quite the turnaround, hoping to do more of the same at the next race now that I have some car updates on the way.
 
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It seems that my engine is getting damaged all the time - and I don't know why. I couldn't see any smoke so it's for no apparent reason like shifting too quickly. Mostly running normal mix and having used a wet setup (first 40 laps were dry) I can't imagine overreving too much.

Granted, this was the third race for this particular engine (was at 94% in practice, didn't check in qualifying / before the race) but I didn't notice a decrease in performance at any point during the race. The color changed from light brown to this to this over the course of the race.

YmRDf.jpg
 
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Mr. S
It seems that my engine is getting damaged all the time - and I don't know why. I couldn't see any smoke so it's for no apparent reason like shifting too quickly. Mostly running normal mix and having used a wet setup (first 40 laps were dry) I can't imagine overreving too much.

Granted, this was the third race for this particular engine (was at 94% in practice, didn't check in qualifying / before the race) but I didn't notice a decrease in performance at any point during the race. The color changed from light brown to this to this over the course of the race.

111111-jpg.35162
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Pic isn't showing up for me.
 
Currently on my first season eith Marussia. Wanted to drive for Marussia so I can really work my way up in the 5 seasons.
Anyway, I'm now in Silverstone in 18th position in the championship, 1 place up from where the team expect me to be.
The Caterham's are a handfull to race because they have KERS and the Marussia (still) not.
Altough I'm racing at the back of the pack I enjoy this season alot.
 
Season 1: Round 3-Shanghai (Practice)

Now on to China and what I've always thought was abit of an awkward track. In abit of a short-handed summery, it seems like a series of winding corners with Long straightaways and maybe a fast corner or two thrown in for good measure. Thankfully, no rain for this session but something else had my attention: a new update for the STR7, in the form of new rear downforce. My R&D Objective was to beat the overall time composed from five laps while carrying a full fuel load. I went to do so and the first two laps were slightly troublesome as turn 14-15 proved problematic for me to brake and get the car through in one piece without sliding off. The rest of the laps were better though and I managed to beat the target time by an incredible 15 seconds. I afterwards got to regular practice and finished the session in 12th.


Season 1: Round 3-Shanghai (Qualifying)

In Qualifying, I had mixed results. Q1, I was finally able to get abit more out of the car and got to 14th, only before the rain came. Q2 however, the rain was here and I once again qualified in a terrible starting spot, this time 17th. two spots behind my teammate.
 

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