Tell us about your Career...

  • Thread starter Tom
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Ran Shanghai.
Did practice and quals - managed P12 (Paul Di Resta was only p14)

The problem I have is two fold
1- I am slow
2- I eat my tyres.

Race started well enough... I switched from options to Primes... 56 lap race.. so 18 laps for the first stint... the rest on Options - 3x12 lap stints.

I made my usual sluggish start, got tickled and clunked by a few cars... but no lasting damage to me. I then took bold lines in the twisty first long corners... outside on the left that left me a clear lane to sneak past many who had zapped past from the line. Tur 2 I got a bit of a fight with a Sauber. lost out, but swapped to the inside for the hairpin that starts sector 2... made a couple of places here, that put me in p8!
I then pushed and the guys behind just dropped right back.
But the guys ahead were moving away.
I was in no mans land...
until my tyres went off... and I was miles fomr my stop. I soldiered on and was passed by Paul, who had already stopped (He was behind me before he stopped too!)
I was miles off the pace. Pitted from Primes again and again tried to make them last. and again I was off the pace, and eating my tyres. Just to top it off my kers system failed for a few laps.
I then got my finger out and started lapping solid lap times. But at this point I was way way behind, lapped by the leaders (Hammy and Rosey) - I guess I was too polite with the blue flags.
I had been lapping 1m47 - but dropping howlers every so often. Turn1/2/3 is one I was slow at... Lap a Caterham only to have it try to retake you in these twistiy bits... I really needed to sort my lap out.
Last two stints I did setting solid laps, 1m42.2, two seconds faster than Paul... but I was the best part of a lap down on him, and most of the race my engineer was growling that I was a second slower than Paul.

Got 12th in the end...

more laps more ability in the game I hope to manage the tyres. But I think I am doomed to pull one more pit stop to prevent losing a minute in 6 laps running on worn out tyres.
Not bad on default set up I guess.

Bahrain next...

Looking forward to Silverstone.
"I eat maggots for breakfast."

Actually looking forward to India and Austin as I've yet to run either of them in a Simulator.
I wonder what offers I'll get in my Career... the way I am going I may end up paying for a seat at Marussia!
 
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F1 2013: S1, Lotus-Renault, 100% Race distance, Legend AI.

Melbourne

Qualifying: 10th (Did not run in Q3)

Race:
I decided on a 2 stop strategy: Prime > L22 > Prime > L45 > Option.
My starts still need some work in F1 2013, when the lights went out I bogged down slightly, by turn one I had dropped 1 place to 11th. However by the end of the first lap, I was back into 6th place. For the first 10 laps, I was able to reel in and pass the cars ahead except for Webber, as the AI struggled on the Option tyres they used in Q3.

When Webber pitted I assumed the lead, however with fresh tyres Webber hastily closed the gap. By lap 15, Webber was on my tail. To defend against his DRS, I saved all the KERS each lap until the exit of the final corner. I successfully defended the lead until I pitted as planned on lap 22. After the Stop I emerged in third place, just behind Rosberg. I set about closing in on the Mercedes, and took second place on lap 25.

Not long after this Webber and Rosberg pitted for options - clearing up that they were on 3 stop strategies. Webber emerged from the stop in the lead, smashing the fastest lap, flying away on his option tyres. I decided at this point that P2 was my target, and set about containing the fast closing Rosberg. By lap 34, Rosberg was in DRS range. Despite my aging prime tyres, I successfully used KERS to defend my position until Rosberg made his final stop for Primes. By lap 43, my tyres were destroyed, however I was unsure about the option tyre durability so I stayed out until the scheduled lap 45.

As I exited the pit lane for the final time, I was now in 5th, but that was effectively 4th place with Vettel yet to stop again. I started to kick myself for staying out so long. I started to give up and lowered my target to 3rd place. Now on options, I closed on Kimi in 4th place, saved all the KERS and used DRS to claim what turned into 3rd place as Vettel pitted at the same time. After clearing Kimi, I was stunned to find Rosberg was only 5 seconds up the road and immediately put the hammer down. On lap 51, I passed Rosberg on the run to turn 13 then turned the engine back down. The gap to Webber stood at 11.5s, so I settled into a rhythm to look after the car.

The next lap, I noticed the gap had shrunk to 10 seconds, then 8.3 seconds. I had no extra fuel to crank up the engine, so I resorted to grabbing the car by the scruff of the neck and dragging it around the track. -6.4, -4.9, -2.9, -0.74s on the end of lap 57.... I burned all the KERS on the exit of turn 2 and got onto the outside of Webber, side by side into turn 3. I held my ground on the outside line as it turned to the inside for turn 4... gap across the line at the end of 58, +1.177s. P1! Sorry Mark...
 
Had a peruse of the interweb to find how to keep my tyres intact.
I plugged this into my set up... and hit the beach at Sakhir.

Car was great - I ran 10 laps in the 88 Ferrari - Great V6 engine note. (Brash engine note anyhow.) Chucked it about loads of fun to get to grips with Bahrain.

I then had a go in my Orcendia. The set up was 3/4 aero and everything to help reduce tyre wear - No wheel camber or toe in. Springs softer, Anti Roll bars softened up.

Not sure if it is better or Bahrain is easy on tyres.

Practice went very well, P1 I had time to test 1/1 aero -
Now it may be good but I was consistently off my previous pace... on the same tyres... Maybe low aero and used tyres don't mix... I returned to 3/4 and it was back to being fast. (Certainly wasn't dropping 2 seconds in sector 1 at least!)

Quals.
Q1 I did primes - p1 - all too easy
Q2 - I ran Options - I'm not faster on them - Hesitant into corners costing me lap time. But still got p4. Paul (DIR) only managed p14
Q3 - Ran Primes... and set a real nice time... I joined the track after the other 9 cars so the pole lap was changing a lot near the end of my fast lap... but then I bagged it by almost quarter of a second. - I then cruised back to the pits.
Do we start on the same tyres... or just the same compound?

Race - Engineer suggests a two stop.
On paper the Primes last for 32laps and the Option 24laps. Can I get mine ot last that long? 57 lap race.
I'm stuck with primes on the grid... the question is will they last long.
If I can get over 32laps - then I may be able to get the Options to last 25 and pull a 1 stop race.
I know I will be at least 2 stopping. I got 14 laps out of My primes in Practice and was going fine at the end.
So confidence is high. The Team expects me to get at least second.
Last time they said that, I only placed in 9th.
 
Orcendia
Sakhir 57Laps

Was on pole and Fixed to Prime tyres.
I was pondering just how long my tyres would last. I had used a new tree hugging tyre friendly set up in Quals and was confident for the race.
Who am I kidding? I had my doubts I could run with the fast lads.
Start.

Made a clean get away but dropped into second behind Hammy - but made a pass up the inside at the end of the second straight. I then held a good pace, the top 6 pulling away for the rest - All good. Laps ticked by and the pressure I wa sunder from Ham and Vettel just dropped off. I tried to keep things neat as my engineer would lie to me over the radio
"Ferrari are preparing for a pit stop" - "Massa is due in the next 3 laps"

- My Prime tyres were doing well and the pack behind were pitting... and I was getting close to my race plan.
I guessed that Options would do 75% of the distance that a set of Primes last. If you drive well.
I had a first tyre wear warning pop up. (50% maybe) - I was lapping well - Still in the lead - But If you run deep in a corner you just pick up marbles and end up with even less grip for the next corner.
You need to keep calm and focused. Brake a smidge early and lose a tenth here... run wide and you know what happens.

I pitted after 21 laps... swapped to Options.

I had lost a few places. I closed in on Gonzo and pulled a simple pass with DRS at the end of the pit straight. My car was not good on the straights - so a pass was really just getting on the inside and holding the apex of the corner.
I then had Button ahead. but Engineer was on the radio. Drop down to Lean mix fuel!
I did as instructed checked the car status fuel was down by one lap.
I kept up a nice pace, Button pulled away. Gonzo was shadowing me but not in DRS range.
The leaders began to pit. And somehow I was behind Kimi who was in traffic I made a good clean pass while three back markers were trading carbon fibre. I guess Kimi was involved in the spat before I arrived. (Kimi DNF'd)

I got to the end of the stint. The Options were a good couple of seconds faster and held together well... infact they lasted 19 laps. 17 laps left so I pitted for more Options.
I came back in 3rd - But Gonzo was on primes... easy to pass him again... Hammy pitted form the lead.
I ran as neat as I could for the end. But Ham and Gonzo closed the gap... Hammy was on Options and was on my back like a cheap suit. But Alonso was also in the mix and the pair must have touched... Ham was out but Alonso was feeling frisky after taking out the Ham.

I then came up behind Paul who held me up badly... I didn't really want to just stick it up the inside and force the pass... so I took my time... 4 seconds of it. This let Alonso close the gap right up.
I held defensive lines... Leave a car width on the outside on the main straight, and they will use that line to pass - or at least get along side.
I just held my nerve and hoped they wouldn't try for a round the outside pass - in the marbles.
The Engineer was happy to tell me Alonso was closing up and running full revs.

I did enough first win. by 0.073seconds after 57 laps.
The Irish driver Nick O'Rosberg was 17 seconds further back in 3rd.
My Team mate was in 10th - which is good for he team, and great for me as I dominated him - Not bad for a Number 2 eh?
 
The season is reaching its conclusion. I have a small championship lead going into Brazil over Alonso, however, he out-qualifies me, along with Hamilton and Vettel. Going into the first corner, things go from mildly irritating to bad when I am punted into a half spin by an over-enthusiastic Massa. However, I am unable to believe my eyes as Hamilton smashes into Alonso and sends him flying OVER the barrier, and both of them out of the race. The championship is suddenly mine, no matter what happens.

The race looks set to be Vettel's for a long time, but he fails to make his tyre's last and loses the win to a certain team from Enstone. I finish up the podium.
 
The season is reaching its conclusion. I have a small championship lead going into Brazil over Alonso, however, he out-qualifies me, along with Hamilton and Vettel. Going into the first corner, things go from mildly irritating to bad when I am punted into a half spin by an over-enthusiastic Massa. However, I am unable to believe my eyes as Hamilton smashes into Alonso and sends him flying OVER the barrier, and both of them out of the race. The championship is suddenly mine, no matter what happens.

The race looks set to be Vettel's for a long time, but he fails to make his tyre's last and loses the win to a certain team from Enstone. I finish up the podium.
 
Just finished Season 1 with Lotus. Was a good season, finished 3rd overall and my main stats were:

Wins: 5 - Canada, Britain, Germany, Japan and Brazil
Podiums: 9
Poles: 4 - Monaco, Britain, Hungary and Brazil
Points: 264
DNF's: 1 - Singapore

Got equal status with Kimi after my 2nd win at the British GP. Though with a balanced development of the car so never quite had the pace of the Mercedes and Red Bulls which dominated the season. Mercedes won the constructors title from Red Bull with Lotus 3rd and Lewis Hamilton won the drivers title after needing only a 9th place finish at Brazil to take it from Vettel. I was in a rivalry with Alonso with 7 points separating us into the final round (Alonso 3rd me 4th) But with my race win and his 4th place it was mine to take. Took the Ferrari contract that resulted and am heading into season 2 as Ferrari's number 1 driver.
 
Round 3: Shanghai

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Practice
For this weekend, a new front wing was developed for the car. However, it was a wet practice so I spent little time on track solely just to try the new wing. Afterwards, I just sat out the rest of the session feeling that this would not do a lot for the race.

Qualifying
As much as I enjoyed the surprised Q3 qualification last time, I was not too sure I'd be able to repeat it here. For Q1, I simply used the harder compound and managed to get into Q2 in 14th. In Q2, I waited until about 4 minutes left in the session and came out on my first set of options. On only the 3rd flying lap and with only 20 seconds to spare, I managed to nip into Q3 in a surprising 2nd, right behind Kimi Raikkonen. For Q3, I just did two flying laps and pulled in as I again wasn't sure I would qualify any higher. I managed 9th, my second top 10 start in a row.


Race
Lights went out and away I went on the KERS. I flew into 1 and managed to nab 4th, only to lose it in the next corner. For the next few laps, I would be battling Grojean for it until I pitted for tires. I made a fast outlap and managed to get 6th after the other cars pitted and then I myself moved up one more postion after another car pitted. I managed to hold off a charging Pastor Maldenado for a solid 5th place. I score 10 points in the process for me as well as for Toro Rosso while my teammate couldn't manage better then 16th.




 
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F1 2013

Season 1
Team: Sauber
Aims: To finish ahead of 1 of the Mclarens so I can get a seat with them, or a seat with the Mercedes, if possible
Results:
Australia: Qualified 13th Finished 7th
Malaysia: Qualified 2nd Finished 3rd
China: Qualified 11th Finished 21st (retired)
Bahrain: Qualified 4th Finished 9th
Spain: Qualified 6th Finished 7th

Currently 8th in the championship with 29 points

I played the first race On Legend, but decided to switch to Expert for the remainder of the season.
 
Team: Lotus
Aims: To finish top 4 (don't have a choice... team order)
Next Season Team: Sure, lotus, why not, I wanna be the next kimi
Best Qualifying Position: 1st, Dry. Melbourne.
Best Finishing Position: 1st, Dry. Belbourne.
Drivers Championship Position: 3rd

Currently in China GP practice sessions. Tires lost grip after 2 laps in malaysia, crashed and got a drive through penalty. Fought my way back to 8th the ran out of fuel. Decided to take my failure like a man and no flashback/redos.

Of course it's on amateur difficulty (please don't bash)
Though as I get into the game I will go for more difficult ones.. as soon as i figure out how to deal with the option tires... I literally lose grip after the 3rd lap. Help guys? -_-
 
Two years with Williams (amateur/medium Difficulty) took 6th then 4th. Third year with Lotus took WDC on medium. Currently in my 4th year with Red Bull on hard difficulty. Have been see-sawing back and fourth between P1 and P3 most of the year. Just took over P1 with my 5th win of the season at Sazuka, P2 and P3 are close behind at -5 and -8 points. Looking for an email from Ferrari soon or I will probably have to stick with the bull for my 5th and last season.
 
Round 4: Sakhir


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Practice
A new suspension and ride height setup was experimented with and put to the test. In search of some much better straightaway speed, Gearing was also tinkered with to reduce the amount of redline. The team made progress in the feel of the car and I managed 12th.
Qualifying
In Q1, I managed to barely avoid elimination by qualifying 13th. In Q2 however, I managed to qualify in the top 10 in 7th . In Q3, I could only manage to qualify 10th as I was trying to save my remaining Soft compounds for the race.
Race
Lights went out and away I went on the KERS. Through Turn 1, I managed to pass many cars on the exit of the corner. I was up to 2nd and fought off first Massa and then Grojean to stay there until the pit stops started. For the rest of the race, I was constently defending my position from Jenson Button and a slew of other drivers. They would pass on the straight and I would pass back into turn 1. In the end, I managed 7th

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Australia in the newly joined Lotus F1 team.

Qualified in P3 on option tyres, could have gone for pole if I pushed but was just waiting 'till Q3 to let loose- so next session was P3 again, finally- took P1

Race
Stint one was option
Stint two was prime
Stint three was prime
Had to make an emergency pit for options after a long battle with Webber meant my tyres were dead. I lost a lot of time for that and ended up in P6 after all of that.
 
With F1 2014 coming out very soon, I decided to revive the thread and since I'm about to get F1 2013 (Finally), I figure why not finish up my F1 2012 career just to get me back in the swing of things.

Round 5
: Barcelona

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Practice
With this being one of my worst tracks, I spent more time focusing on race runs then lap times. I also was experimenting with the gears again as I figured this was a track where I needed it most. Finished 14th

Qualifying
In Q1, I managed to barely avoid elimination by qualifying 12th. In Q2, I managed to squeeze in the top 10 in 10th. In Q3, I could do no better then 13th but I had a strategy for the race.

Race
Lights out and on the KERS I went. Through Turn 1, I slightly made contact with some cars but managed to pass some. I was up to 8th before I got in the grass and almost spun. I regrouped and went back for positions. I then tried to get more positions in the final corners when I slipped by Alonso, but I got bumped by Schumacher and had to slow down or risk a penalty for illegal overtaking. I would spend the next lap fending off Massa before finally getting by Alonso and then on the final corner around Schumacher. He blew by on the straight but I went for a over under and got him through the right hander and held position until lap 11 when I had to pit. I got on the options and came out third behind both Mclarens, who spent some time on their Primes. I first got by Hamilton and then later in the lap, got by Button before the final corner. He got around down the straight but I brake deep into 1 and got the lead back and for the rest of the race, held on for my very first win. My teammate could only manage 17th.

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Team Caterham F1
Track Monaco
Qualifying position 22nd position (Couldn't get a clean lap in, damn slow-gos)

Key events
  • Lap 3 got up to 8th position after a battle with Grosjean
  • Lap 12 first pit stops, went from 8th to 14th
  • Lap 18 up to 6th, lapping soon
  • Lap 21 next stops, down to 8th
  • Lap 37 finish
Position 5th, team mate 20th

Top 5

  1. Hamilton
  2. Vettel
  3. Rosberg
  4. Raikkonen
  5. Myself
 
Team: Caterham F1
Track: Montreal
Qualifying position: 18th

Had a brilliant firstvlap as i flew up to 4th on the first lap and managed to hold that.
It was raining from lap one until about lap 43. I'm good in the rain so could hold my position. I managed to overtake Rosberg to get into 3rd but he overtook me in the pits and sped off into the distance. It was a lonely drive until lap 65 when Hamilton and Rosberg both retired (i presume they hit eachother) and i moved up to second only to be lapped by webber on the next lap. I had to drive to my fullest to hold of a fast moving Raikonnen and managed to grab second for our first points finish! I finished 1 lap behind webber and 4 seconds ahead of a flyig Raikonnen! What a race!

1st: Webber
2nd: Me
3rd Raikonnen
4th: Hulkenburg
5th: Vettel
Team mate: 15th
 
Round 6: Monaco

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Practice
Another one of my worse tracks so again, I was not at all bothered with going fast as I just wanted to get around the track with hitting the wall so much at first. However, I ended up finding some speed and decided to put on some Options and have a go at a fast lap and ended up with a 1'19.954, putting me in 10th and far ahead of my teammate in 16th.​

Qualifying
For Q1, I managed to easily get through in 14th. Q2 however, I could do no better as I could only manage a frustraiting 16th. Race looked like it was already gone before it began.
Race
Away I went as the lights went. Out of desperation, I intentionally sqeezed some cars into my teammate to build a buffer and try to keep him behind me as I knew I would not be able to match him on pace for the first lap. For the next 11 laps, I stayed in 6th and tryed to use the strategy of saving the options for last so I could build a gap while everyone wore out their tires. I got to the stop but as I came out, I unfortunately lost alot of positions including 9th which I was supposed to finish in, making the strategy I made all for nothing. The race just got worse from there as not only could I not make up any time but with two laps to go, I let my frustraition get to me and spun just before the tunnel both times and limped home 17th, my worst of the season while my teammate finished 8th.

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Team: BMW Sauber-Ferrari
Aims: It was just to have a decent rookie season, but I started to dominate later on.
Next Season Team: BMW Sauber-Ferrari
Best Qualifying Position: 1st(3 or 4 poles, forgot what tracks)
Best Finishing Position: 1st(6 or 7 wins, forgot where)
Drivers Championship Position: 2nd

I thought it'd be good to add these in:

Difficulty: Medium, but I probably won't play the second season, if I did, it'd be put on Hard.
Game: Still hanging on to F1: 2010
 
F1 2012: Season 1
Team: Caterham F1 Team
Aims: Score points, finish the season above Marussia and HRT
Next Season Team: Stay on Caterham / Mercedes GP
Notes: I'll use NO flashbacks, I'll race in Professional difficulty and all races will be 50%, except Monaco and Yas Marina, those two will be 100% races

I've deleted my previous profile to start all over again and started with Caterham

Race 1: Australia

Free practice gave me the illusion that I had a great setup ending up in 11th place with 15 laps, I've spent the whole "hour" testing the setup and tweaking it, not a lot of notable things happened, only that Kobayashi crashed out of the session, I think the cause of the great finishing position in the session was because I was running on 6 laps of fuel in the Normal Mix, my time was 1:32.654

Qualifying: In my second timed lap during Q1 I spun out and crashed into a wall, making me loss my front wing, making me loss a lot of valuable time, out on the track again, I was in the Q1 knockout zone in last place, because my first timed lap was a relaxed 1:34.329, I was theorically outside the knockout zone based on partial times and spun before the last corner, now I had only the time to make one more lap only, with all the pressure I couldn't make possible what I achieved in my last lap, concluding the session with a lap of 1:31.563.

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Race:
Starting in 19th position, the first thing I had in mind is to recover as many positions as possible, so I opted for a Prime-Option strategy and push as much as I could when using the Prime tires, in the first lap, with the help of very aggresive driving, I got to 15th place, and pushed as much as I could, but the car being a backmarker and in Prime Tires the A.I. eventually overtook me, except for Massa and Ricciardo, they struggled to get around me, Ricciardo overtook Massa and left me and Massa battling for 18th place (My Target), when he was about to overtake me, I saw he backed off for the corner so I took the inside, but he strangely overshot the corner and I teared his Front Wing, and I spun out, I was given a Drive Through Penalty, this on lap 9 , bringing me down to 22nd, ahead of Massa (Kovalainen retired on lap 3 because he had a brake failure, as my engineer said), just behind Timo Glock, I eventually overtook everyone back to 18th position, and by the time I recovered the 18th place, Massa started to attack me again and I just left him go to avoid any trouble, when I did my stop (Lap 16), I started to make my personal fast laps, but that wasn't going to be enough because Massa was doing fastest laps in the 1:30's, so I backed off and started to think that it was over and I wasn't going to accomplish my objective, then I saw that Button retired of the race and I felt happy, then nothing really interesting happened in the rest of the race, only that Karthikeyan started to get closer and closer t me, I finished almost two laps down, a little ver a minute behind Massa, and like 5 seconds Behind Karthikeyan, I am obviously not pleased with this result, but it is inside my Season Objectives.

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Next race is Malaysia, weather forecast says it'll rain a lot in both Qualifying and Race, and I've had great results in wet conditions, so I know this is my first (and hopefully, not the only one) opportunity to score points in the season and make possible both of my season objectives.
 
Update:

Just got F1 2013 and thanks to me playing F1 2012, I was able to skip Day 1 of the Young driver's test and thanks to completing Day 2, I have unlocked Williams as one of the first times to sign with. So upon completion of my F1 2012 Career, I will start on F1 2013.

Also, the Canadian Grand Prix will be posted up tomarrow.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
 
Round 7: Montreal

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Practice
Felt abit more confident about this track as its much more spacious track. First round of business was to do three laps for the team to collect data on the new rear wing. Once that was competed, I went out and did some laps just to acclomate myself. I could only manage 18th before I had a shunt with one of the Ferraris on my outlap, which ended practice for me very early while my teammate was 14th

Qualifying
My worst qualifying by far as I couldn't even manage to get out of Q1 and could only get 20th, while my teammate got 9th. Looking to be another dreadful race.

Race
As per usual, I got off the line on the KERS button. Got into Turn 1 and went flying by under braking and surprising a few cars Through some corners. I managed to fly by Schumacher and Webber through Turn 5 and passed Grojean through 6 & 7. For the rest of the first stint, I was fighting off Webber and Grojean for position using only KERS until they pitted for the Primes. When it was time for me to stop, I came in and got options. I only lost 2 spots I gained through the pit cycle but managed to fight off both Webber and Schumacher for the rest of the race and held on to 5th, while my teammate could go no further then 14th.

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Round 8: Valencia

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Practice
I was now at one of my most hated tracks. For me this is not a circuit, this is a joke slapped on some boring street. Anyhow, I'd have to swallow it and get it over with so I can put this behind me. Unsurprisingly, I could manage 12th at this pile of crap while my Teammate was 8th fastest.


Qualifying
Once again, I could not advance from Q1 as the best I could manage was a disapointing 22nd while my teammate manages to get 7th, adding more frustration. By now I'm already expecting a horrible race and at this point, crashing out will put me out of my misery.


Race
Lights went out and away I went. I piled into turn one and got as many positions as possible and picked up two more in the next corner. It was difficult on cold Primes, but I was determined to make this work since grip wasn't on my side. On the 2nd lap, I attempted to try and get Hamilton, but as soon as the first straightaway was there, he just went away and I had no shot afterwards. For the rest of the lap I was holding off one of the Williams of Maldonado and Massa in the Ferrari. The next lap I held off Massa again but the one after it, he got around me. However, he seemingly straightlined right off into the wall, which gained me back 8th place. I would then hold my position until the pit stop. Lap 8, I was in and then I was out, only losing the five positions I gained form the cycle. I was now however pushing so that I could catch and pass my teammate as he would have to stop a lap after. I came on the straight looking for him and as soon as I saw him exiting, I made an aggressive outside pass to steal 9th from him and for the rest of the race, we exchanged that position several times but I managed to keep it at the finish.

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Round 9: Silverstone

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Practice
Another track I was confident in, For me it this meant putting in laps and trying to get the most out of the setup, even while bits of rain were in and out of the session. In the end, I managed 15th while my teammate was 17th.

Qualifying
I managed to get in a good enough lap for 16th, advancing from Q1. Unfortunately, I could not do the same in Q2 and only managed 17 with my teammate taking 9th.

Race
Off the Line I went and right into 1, I made a very risky pass up the middle. I then bumped into Rosberg going into the next two corners and around more cars heading on to the straight, getting by Vettel in the process. I tried to get button but just wasn't able to keep up with him. From that point on, I was fighting off cars behind me and maintaining position while also keeping an eye out for rain. It would be like this for many more laps until I finally pitted. My sole focus was to see if I was still infront of my teammate Ricciardo and when I came out, I was along with Kamui Koboyashi. I would be fighting him off to hold position for the rest of the race, managing to get 7th. That finish was good enough that I was promoted to equal status.


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Round 10: Hockenheim

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Practice
Another track I felt could lead to a productive weekend and coming off terrific news that I now have been promoted to equal status with Ricciardo. Things didn't start off all that well as I was hit at the back by one of the Marussias while coming out of pit lane (which was baffling). Apart from that bizarre incident, I went on to do 10 straight laps on primes and managed my best lap of 1:20.983, Only 0.932 seconds off the fastest lap in the session and was good enough to be 10th in the session while my teammate Ricciardo could only managed 16th.

Qualifying
At best, I was expecting just to get into Q2 so I pushed hard very early just to get a fast lap in before the rain came and managed a 1:19.744, a lap good enough for 8th and putting me in Q2 along with my teammate in 16th. Then in Q2 (out of desperation), I was stuck in 13th and just two positions back from the safe zone so I pushed extra hard for one more fast lap and managed a 1:19.292, good enough for 7th, good enough to get me into Q3 while Ricciardo could do no better then 16th . I decided to only do one lap in Q3 to save my Options for the race and not to waste time looking for a lap that was unachievable and I would start in 10th.


Race
Lights off and away I went. Got through turn 1 slightly bumping one of the Saubers and made it to 6th, then passed Hamilton and Vettel into Turn 2 and got to 4th. I was then staying on the back of the top three cars and managed to get pass Button and Schumacher for 2nd, with only Alonso driving away in the lead. For the rest of the time, I would be defending from Button and schumacher using the KERS on the long straight every lap and I momentarily lost the lead to button but got on the DRS quickly and went back past for 2nd. I would continue to do the same until cars started to pit and I got a confortable distance before I pitted as well. I managed to get out in third behind the Lotus of Grojean before he had to pit with four laps to go. Then trouble struck as with three laps to go, I was told the KERS system wasn't working and no sooner do I hear that, Hamilton comes charging with DRS on and I had to make a very aggressive defence on the straight, causing wing damage to his car and allowing Button to close up. Going into the last lap, I suddenly was told my KERS was back online, which was great news as I was able to used it to build distance from the car behind, breaking any chance of the car behind using DRS to catch back up and I managed to come home 2nd, my 2nd podium of the year while My teammate only managed 12th.


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This would be my last race with Toro Rosso as I was offered a contract, not from Williams as I initially wanted but from an even better team:

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Drivers standings and Contructors standings after my last race weekend with the team.​
 

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Race 2: Malaysia

Free Practice:
The Weather forecast was saying that it was going to rain during Qualifying and the Race, but the Practice session was dry, so I opted to do a dry setup to get fast times during the first part of the session, and then get a wet setup at the other half, the session went eventless, except that Brunno Senna crashed into a wall.

  1. Hamilton
  2. Alonso
  3. Schumacher
  4. Button
  5. Hulkenberg
  6. Herrera
  7. Raikkonen
  8. Maldonado
  9. Kobayashi
  10. Senna
  11. Vettel
  12. Webber
  13. Ricciardo
  14. Grosjean
  15. Vergne
  16. Perez
  17. Rosberg
  18. di Resta
  19. Massa
  20. Kovalainen
  21. Karthikeyan
  22. Pic
  23. Glock
  24. de la Rosa

Qualifying:
I've had both setup saved, and I was going to load up the one depending on the weather and go out ASAP, the weather was dry, and I loaded the dry setup and immediately went out, as soon as I entered Sector 3 in my out lap it started to rain, and in my timed lap, just before sector 3 the rain got more intense I started to lose grip, but I managed a 1:43.275 and I went to the pits because the tires had no grip at all, so I was sitting there, waiting and hoping to not be knocked out, and what a surprise I got that I got the 11th place when time was over.

On Q2, I chosen that I won't run because there was rain tire weather, and so I did..

  1. Webber
  2. Hamilton
  3. Vettel
  4. Rosberg
  5. Maldonado
  6. Schumacher
  7. Button
  8. Alonso
  9. Hulkenberg
  10. Vergne
  11. Herrera
  12. Kobayashi
  13. Perez
  14. Ricciardo
  15. Massa
  16. Grosjean
  17. di Resta
  18. Raikkonen
  19. Senna
  20. Karthikeyan
  21. Glock
  22. Kovalainen
  23. Pic
  24. de la Rosa

  1. Vettel
  2. Alonso
  3. Hamilton
  4. Button
  5. Webber
  6. Schumacher
  7. Maldonado
  8. Massa
  9. Kobayashi
  10. di Resta
  11. Grosjean
  12. Rosberg
  13. Perez
  14. Hulkenberg
  15. Vergne
  16. Ricciardo
  17. Herrera

  1. Button
  2. Hamilton
  3. Webber
  4. Vettel
  5. Alonso
  6. Kobayashi
  7. Massa
  8. Schumacher
  9. Maldonado
  10. di Resta

Race:

I modified the front wing to try to do something agains the rain that was comingon the race. The race was going to start on dry conditions, so I had a great advantage I was able to use, as soon as the lights came off I set the Fuel mix to the max, and used 3/4 of my KERS, Hulkenberg touched me and lost his front wing, I was 13th by sector one, and 10th in sector 2, but as soon as the pack was to go through the esse it started to rain pretty hard, so I stopped pushing and I was gradually losing positions, I started to lose a considerable amount of grip on lap 5 so I decided to pit in that lap, I came out on 23rd, and by that point it was perfect conditions for intermediate tires, and I started to recover places because the AI was running wide and sliding through the corners, and for some reason the safety car went out, I was in 4th place that when reached the queue, Behind Hamilton, Button and Massa, when the Safety car got out of the way, Hamilton started to get farther and farther, leaving behind a 12 car train, led by Button, Massa and me :eek: but Massa and Button started to leave the train, leaving me as the leader of the train, in 4th through 13th separated by less than 3 seconds, Hamilton retired and the Safety car went out again (wat), we were all together again, and this time, when the Safety car was in, Button and Massa started to leave the train again, it stopped raining and I had a little more advantage once that track was dry, I was able to defend myself in the straights and gain a little bit of time, but the curves were holding me back from leaving the train, unbelievably, the train stood until the last laps of the race, when the tire wear started to make effect in the cars, but the gaps created between the cars were not that big, I was pushing too hard and I started to get out of the train, but I didn't check and at the last lap my back tires were red in the indicator, I did not lost any position from the second safety car, that means I could step on the podium for the first time!

That is one of the greatest races I've ever had in this game!

  1. Massa 53:09.557
  2. Button +2.805
  3. Herrera +38.861
  4. Maldonado +39.055
  5. Vettel +39.229
  6. Vergne +42.200
  7. Schumacher +42.557
  8. Alonso +43.909
  9. Rosberg +44.646
  10. Perez +45.243
  11. Grosjean +45.671
  12. Raikkonen +45.784
  13. di Resta +49.431
  14. Kobayashi +58.159
  15. Webber +1:01.735
  16. Ricciardo +1:03.861
  17. Senna +1 LAP
  18. Pic
  19. Hulkenberg
  20. Kovalainen
  21. Glock
  22. Karthikeyan
  23. de la Rosa
  24. Hamilton RET

  1. Webber - 25pts.
  2. Massa - 25pts.
  3. Alonso - 22pts.
  4. Schumacher - 21pts.
  5. Button - 18pts.
  6. Maldonado - 16pts.
  7. Vettel - 16pts.
  8. Herrera - 15pts.
  9. Hamilton - 12pts.
  10. Rosberg - 12pts.
  11. Grosjean - 8pts.
  12. Vergne - 8pts.
  13. Raikkonen - 2pts.
  14. Perez - 1pt.
  15. Hulkenberg - 1pt.
  16. Senna - 0pts.
  17. di Resta
  18. Kobayashi
  19. Ricciardo
  20. Pic
  21. Karthikeyan
  22. Glock
  23. Kovalainen
  24. de la Rosa

  1. Scuderia Ferrari - 47 pts.
  2. Red Bull Racing - 41pts.
  3. Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 - 33pts
  4. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes - 30pts
  5. Williams F1 Team - 16pts
  6. Caterham F1 Team - 15pts
  7. Lotus F1 Team - 10pts.
  8. Scuderia Toro Rosso - 8pts.
  9. Sauber F1 Team - 1pt.
  10. Sahara Force India F1 Team - 1pt
  11. Marussia F1 Team - 0pts
  12. HRT Formula 1 Team - 0pts
 
Great job 👍

Took abit longer before I got my first podium and you did in conditions I myself couldn't have pulled it off in.
 
I let a lot of time pass by and now I don't remember Round 3 (lost my paper I wrote the report :ouch:) so I will only post the results of it (Except for the race, as there will be a small report there).

Round 3: China

Free Practice:
  1. Hamilton 1:42.098
  2. Alonso +0.391
  3. Schumacher +0.467
  4. Button +0.710
  5. Hulkenberg +1.223
  6. Perez +1.236
  7. Raikkonen +1.298
  8. Maldonado +1.315
  9. Kobayashi +1.421
  10. Senna +1.614
  11. Vettel +1.856
  12. Webber +2.156
  13. Massa +2.199
  14. Grosjean +2.320
  15. Vergne +2.425
  16. Herrera +2.496
  17. Rosberg +2.671
  18. di Resta +2.895
  19. Ricciardo +2.945
  20. Kovalainen +4.612
  21. Karthikeyan +4.778
  22. Pic +5.001
  23. Glock +5.679
  24. de la Rosa +5.737

Qualifying:
  1. Button
  2. Hamilton
  3. Webber
  4. Vettel
  5. Alonso
  6. Kobayashi
  7. Massa
  8. Schumacher
  9. Maldonado
  10. di Resta
  11. Perez
  12. Rosberg
  13. Grosjean
  14. Hulkenberg
  15. Ricciardo
  16. Vergne
  17. Raikkonen
  18. Herrera
  19. Senna
  20. Karthikeyan
  21. Glock
  22. Kovalainen
  23. Pic
  24. de la Rosa

Race:

Lights go out and I try to climb up places, but when the pack reaches the first hairpin at the end of sector one, I had a gearbox failure, forcing me to retire.

  1. Rosberg 48:46.933
  2. Alonso +6.809
  3. Perez +7.797
  4. Webber +11.317
  5. Schumacher +14.965
  6. Hamilton +15.012
  7. Massa +15.687
  8. Kobayashi +15.772
  9. Grosjean +15.857
  10. Button +19.464
  11. Vettel +20.016
  12. Raikkonen +26.212
  13. Maldonado +29.732
  14. Hulkenberg +35.395
  15. di Resta +42.659
  16. Senna +46.798
  17. Ricciardo +1:24.647
  18. Vergne +1:47.109
  19. Pic +1 LAP
  20. de la Rosa
  21. Kovalainen
  22. Glock
  23. Karthikeyan
  24. Herrera DNF

  1. Alonso 40 pts.
  2. Webber 37 pts.
  3. Rosberg 37 pts.
  4. Massa 31 pts.
  5. Schumacher 31 pts.
  6. Hamilton 20 pts.
  7. Button 19 pts.
  8. Maldonado 16 pts.
  9. Vettel 16 pts.
  10. Perez 16 pts.
  11. Herrera 15 pts.
  12. Grosjean 10 pts.
  13. Vergne 8 pts.
  14. Kobayashi 4 pts.
  15. Raikkonen 2 pts.
  16. Hulkenberg 1 pt.
  17. Senna 0 pts.
  18. di Resta 0 pts.
  19. Ricciardo 0 pts.
  20. Pic 0 pts.
  21. Karthikeyan 0 pts.
  22. Glock 0 pts.
  23. Kovalainen 0 pts.
  24. de la Rosa 0 pts.

  1. Scuderia Ferrari 71 pts.
  2. Mercedes GP 68 pts.
  3. Red Bull Racing 53 pts.
  4. McLaren 39 pts.
  5. Sauber 20 pts.
  6. Williams F1 Team 16pts.
  7. Caterham F1 Team 15 pts.
  8. Lotus F1 Team 12pts.
  9. Scuderia Toro Rosso 8 pts.
  10. Force India F1 Team 1pt.
  11. Marussia F1 Team 0pts.
  12. HRT F1 Team 0pts.
 
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