GP3 Career Thread

Thank you for the shelf )) I hope I'm not gonna need it anymore. This trophy is way too heavy to put it on a shelf. It'd do nothing but gathering dust, anyway. However, the first race showed me my position on the grid. I have never felt so helpless while racing.



Racer#73

I know what you feel. I'm also not much of a competitor right now. It's time for both of us to stop dreaming - WE SUCK and it's up to us if we change it or not Good luck!!!

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2009 12:06AM by abdelkader.

Race 2 - Jerez, Spanish GP

This time I performed better in the qualifyings but it still wasn't the best I could get out of my car. I qualified 9th after quite good driving. Senna took the pole having Arnoux and Prost behind. After the start I made it through to the top and when I wanted to pass Senna he slowed down which resulted in me pushing him off the track and his retirement. I was the race leader however now there were two McLarens behind - Prost and Rosberg. For 5 initial laps I managed to keep leadership but in lap 6 Prost passed me and now I was in a McLaren "sandwich". I couldn't pull away as I could constantly hear Rosberg's engine. While I was trying to speed up and was looking in the mirror to see where Rosberg was I forgot about braking, run wide and lost a couple of positions. Now I was driving in 9th. Luckily I managed to pass Johansson, Alboreto, Fabi, Berger and a few more to get back to 3rd place. After my both stops I was still in 3rd but already 57 seconds behind Rosberg. I was pulling away from Berger but some 10 laps from the flag bad things started to happen. Suddenly, Berger got his second life tightening the gap by 1.1 sec per lap. Somehow I managed to finish third but Berger was only 2.7 seconds behind. Now Imola - my favourite venue of the season.

The winner - Prost, 2nd - Rosberg, 3rd - Piquet

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Race 3 - Imola, San Marino GP

This is what I call improvement. From the very beginning of the weekend I was extremely fast here. In the qualifyings I made one flying lap and got back to the pits only to observe the rivals. I thought I'd have pole position but, literally, a few seconds from the end of the session Senna and Mansell were by a fraction of a second faster than me. It was just like a morale booster. At the start I passed Mansell and Senna easily starting to pull away pretty quick. Meanwhile Prost took vice-leadership but I kept increasing the gap. After 6 laps it was Mansell who got 2nd and from now on the situation on the grid was more or less stable. The race was rather boring to me as having the fastest car on the favourite track was everything I could dream of. What is more, all my archrivals retired from the race: Rosberg, Prost, Mansell, Senna, Fabi and Alboreto. When I was passing the finish line I could see Berger running in 2nd right in front of me. Amazing race, amazing circuit. Now I feel more confident in my Williams

The winner - Piquet, 2nd - Berger, 3rd - Laffite

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Nice to see that ur season is turning around for the best

abdelkader Wrote:
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>
>
> Racer#73
>
It's time for both of us to
> stop dreaming - WE SUCK and it's up to us if we
> change it or not Good luck!!!


I've been last, I've been champion, but now I'm last again, and this time is worse cause I'm the defending champ and I haven't managed to finish in the top 6 once with the same car that helped me earn the title.

Got to turn around this.

Cheers

PS: Welcome back Roberto, how is the season you started earlier in the year going? Did you do more races?

Racer#73 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been last, I've been champion, but now I'm
> last again, and this time is worse cause I'm the
> defending champ and I haven't managed to finish in
> the top 6 once with the same car that helped me
> earn the title.
>
> Got to turn around this.

Yes, you have to turn it around.

BTW. In the Polish football league there was such situation 10 years ago. LKS Lodz was the champion but one (or two) year(s) later they got relegated. You seem to be living through the same stuff right now

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i'd like to inform you guys that i won the 1950 World championship with a Ferrari. where i've scored 31 points,and Fangio 2nd scored 26 i believe. no wonder that i have a new deal with Ferrari for 1951

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"If in doubt, Flat out."

Congratulations on the first ever F-1 title.


Race 4 - Monte Carlo, Monaco GP

The qualifyings took place in terrible flooding. There was not an inch of dry tarmac. I was completely unable to stay on the track and decided to drop qualifiers. As a result I was to start from 22nd. Pole for Mansell, 2nd Prost, 3rd Berger. For the race, I chose one-stop strategy which turned out to be a mistake. The other drivers took two stops while I was incompetitive with heavy fuel load onboard. Meanwhile ,Senna passed Mansell who retired early in the race. I was still a couple of seconds slower than the leaders. In lap 20 I decided to go for two-pits expecting some drivers to retire and make up for the lost time with fresh tyres and light fuel load. Unfortunately, in lap 23 I made a mistake and hit the barriers losing front wing, This time pitting was pointless as I could already see Prost, who took the lead after Senna's retirement, in the mirrors. I retired too having no opportunity for good position.

The winner - Prost, 2nd - Fabi, 3rd - Arnoux



Race 5 - Spa-Francorchamps, Belgian GP

As usually, I was unable to be at the top at Spa but it wasn't that bad. I qualified 10th and knew I'd make a progress at the start if everything goes fine. Pole for Senna, 2nd Prost, 3rd Fabi.
As I said, I started passing the rivals while suddenly Gerhard Berger run into me pushing me into the barriers so while entering Eau Rouge in lap 1 I already needed a pit-stop having no front right wheel. I thought I'd pull it through to the pits but shortly after I spun off while turning and got caught in the gravel trap. Anyway, it all wouldn't have worked out as Mansell also had an incident in lap 1 and I got a communicate that he had the priority in the pits and that I had to wait for my forced pit-stop for one additional lap. I retired not covering even one lap in Belgium.

The winner - Prost, 2nd - Rosberg, 3rd - Senna

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2009 05:20PM by abdelkader.

wow , some good stories there, am almost inspired to recount the tale of my erm "dad"s career which has just begun in 1972! Dont think i can match these achievements tho lol

wellwe ll well, Przemyslaw about bad luck you cant copmplain, you have plenty ! :p
how are the standings now?

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"If in doubt, Flat out."

Oh yeah. I have lots of bad luck...By the way, if anyone wants to have it, I can sell it for a cheap price :P. I can't have all of it while others don't have it at all...apart from Racer#73...You're in a really deep sheet right now

The standings are as follows:

1. Prost 33
2. Rosberg 15
3. Berger 14
4. Piquet 13
5. Mansell 10
6. Arnoux 8


The Constructors' Championship is dominated by McLaren:

1. McLaren 48
2. Williams 23
3. Benetton 21
4. Ligier 12
5. Ferrari 7
6. Lotus 7


@ R_Scandura
I suppose that shelf is on the lurk and is just there, waiting to uplift another Public Menace Trophy.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2009 09:30PM by abdelkader.

my 1951 season started with a doimnatied pole position (1secin front of Ascari) and a race win iwth a fastest lap of 1.5 secs faster then 2nd placed Fangio. that way i scored 9 points again and i could sign my 5 race win out of 7 Grand Prix starts. Never since the start of Formula one i've ever lost the championship lead

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"If in doubt, Flat out."

Race 6 - Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian GP

I was reasonably fast which helped me clinch 4th position in the qualifyings. Pole position was taken by Senna followed by Mansell and Prost. The start of the race itself wasn't a good one for me. The other drivers started to pull away and I dropped to 6th. After first round of pit-stops I was 5th as Fabi retired and I gained one position. I kept losing pace to Dumfries who passed me and I was still 6th. Meanwhile, lots of drivers started crashing out including Senna, Rosberg and Alboreto. I was to be lapped by Mansell. Unfortunately for him, I had a minor spin and when he was trying to pass me he hit the barriers and retired. Some 10 laps from finish I was 5th. The leader - Prost, 2nd Johansson, 3rd Dumfries and Laffite in 4th. I managed to pass Laffite and took 4th place. I thought it was all I could get that day but here the story begins. In the final lap Prost had a crash and didn't finish the race. Then when I was going 3rd, Dumfries lost traction on the very final corner of the track and I easily passed him taking 2nd place.
The race results are very unusual. Johansson made a huge effort winning the race starting from 11th position.

The winner - Johansson, 2nd - Piquet, 3rd - Laffite

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2009 05:05PM by abdelkader.

finished right now to set back the gp3 stuff and decide what season to do. The choise went for F1 1995 as Jean Alesi in Ferrari. Should be a funny season. Will i do better than the real Jean and win more than the Canadian Gp?
I hope to do some reports as the season goes on.

This is the starting overview.


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I also have done 1995 F-1 season and managed to be the champion. I hope you're going to get the same

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1995 Formula 1 season - Race #1 Interlagos, Brazil

The expectations for a funny season have been all confirmed and for the opening venue big emotions didn't missed to come til the last lap of the race.
The season started in the best way for Alesi, who got a small tyre update to reach more grip in race conditions.
Simtek and Forti have been cut by pre-Qualifying under an heavy rain. The qualifying session, ran under a pale sun has been very intense with Hill immediately sitting at the top of the grid and Alesi tryng to win the battle with Coulthard, Berger and Herbert. Schumacher meantime lost many chances in the trafic and the best he got was a 3th place in grid giving to the good Jean the first surprise. At the end:

Hill 1:20.418
Alesi +0.851
Schumacher +1.180
Coulthard +1.341

The race started under an heavy rain with the possibility to become worse. As the light turned off Schumacher boomed everybody and at the Aranja already took the lead against a surprised Hill. Alesi followed the two runners but conscious to be running lighter then the others. At lap 12 he had problems with a tyre and slowly tried to recover into the pits where the team switched his strategy and his tyres to monsoon hoping for good. And the good came 10 laps later, earlier than expected when the whole field has been concerned with a sudden storm. The risk finally payed as in the two laps the pitlane realized the weather change, monsoon tyres did their job. First walzer of pitstops and Alesi came down the "S" do Senna in 4th with Hakkinen coming down the acceleration lane in 3rd. It's not sure what was passing trough his mind in that moment but has been hard to explain the extreme manouvre he did to preserve his position. They battled side to side with Hakkinen still in the pitlane course careless of the new tyres/track conditions. As result, the finnish touched the Ferrari spinning straight into the wall in front of the pitlane exit. Race over for the finnish which didn't proved to be in his notorious state of coolness.
Race went on with Schumacher 10 seconds ahead of Hill but with the clear intent to control the situation. At lap 41 Alesi came in for the second pitstop (10 laps earlier than the main contenders) and decided to keep monsoon. This time the choise has been not so lucky as the rain decreased and who pitted later came back with better tyres. Now Alesi was 3rd but on the eggs and as expected the preassure on him ended in a mistake on lap 52 at Bico de pato where an half tyre on the wet grass made him spin. 30 seconds to recover so Coulthard passed him and run away while behind Herbert was coming up quickly on wet tyres.
With 10 laps to go Coulthard shocked everybody taking the way to the pits with some sort of concerns giving the way to Alesi and Herbert. But the scottish had the strenght to stretch his car and his fresh tyres recovering firstly on Herbert and than on Alesi which saved his podium position only at the fotofinish.

1st Schumacher 71 laps
2nd Hill +16.131
3rd Alesi +1 lap
4th Coulthard +1 lap (+0.005 from alesi)
5th Herbert +1 lap (+5.148 from Coulthard)
6th Morbidelli +1 lap

Irvine: fought with Berger for 30 intense laps to protect his point position til his Jordan gave up.
Morbidelli: did his honest race taking his troubling Footwork to glory
Berger: anonymous race. Got driving lessons from Irvine. Came under the spotlight only when has been surprised by the weather change, making an off track session. A transmission problem took him off the race.
Hakkinen: decided to protect his position from the pitlane causing a collision with an half race to plan the attack.


happy reading

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Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2009 04:49PM by R_Scandura.

Yeah. Choice of tyres has always been a hell difficult issue I like the way you talk about yourself in third person. Keep it up. Congratulations on finishing on the podium

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LOL, i prefer the commentary style than 'i did this, i did that'. makes the report better to read.

Anyway Buenos Aires has been a disaster, no need of serious reports. Started 5th, turned 6th but then made an error at lap 7 and fell down. Been concerned 2 times with Wendlinger which obstacled me in unfair modes. The first time we were fighting and he did weird manouvres, the second one he had to let me overlap him, but touched by the first encounter instead closed the door on a fast turn pushing me off the track destroying the front of my car. Whatever, FIA diqualified the bloody Wendlinger for the next 3 races.
Simtek and Pacific out the PreQ

Qualy:
Hill 1:29.281
Schumacher +0.384
Herbert +0.493
Coulthard +0.536

Race
Hill 72 laps
Hakkinen +1:06.357
Blundell +1 lap
Morbidelli +1 lap
Irvine +1 lap
Panis +1 lap

Morbidelli: did again the job. Good votes for him. I found hard to catch him when behind him.
McLaren: even though the thrilling reliability the team carried both cars on podium.
Hill: won without deserve it. Started lighter than Schumi and has been not able to build a gap at the first pitstop. Got the win by the german's retire after an accident

LOL at least the Race Manager did a realistic prediction. Tyrrell got a tricky update for the engine usage in race (very high additional power but more failure chance for it) and both retired on the same lap at lap 3 by engine

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Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2009 08:27PM by R_Scandura.

When I was simulating 1994 F-1 season, Wendlinger also was a pain in the arse when it comes to lapping and overtaking him.

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Congrats on ur podium finish at Brazil, Rob, and I hope Wendlinger has learned his lesson with the 3 race suspension. BTW, what happened to your series that you were doing earlier in the year? Did you do more races?

Round 9 @ Istanbul (58 laps)

It was the perfect race!

The weekend started slow. Like the previous couple rounds I was last at the end of the first practice session, however my distance to the rest of the field wasn't that big and by the end of practice 2 (thanks to savinaclaudio's tips on how to setup my car) I smoked the competition by 0.7s.

In the qualifying session, I guaranteed the pole and my second point of the season rather early in the 60 minute session, and the 2nd fastest was almost 0.2s behind until on my last flying lap I increased the distance to 0.5s. It was pretty visible that I was pretty dominant. Now I just had to kept it that way.

For the race my team adopted a 3 stop strategy for each car which turned out to be the perfect strategy.

Before the start I was pretty tense. My team still needed 10 points in order to be present at next season's roster and I knew that this was my opportunity to earn those points. However, I was afraid that my super reliable Peugeot would finally brake down in the least opportune time. I was also afraid that I would might screw it all up with a crash due to lack of concentration as it has been happening during the season. Luckily none of my fears turned out to happen.

As I knew I had a dominant car the main goal at the start was to get to turn 1 in first and then keep my s**t together in order to not commit any mistake and start to increase the gap between me and second in order to have a comfortable lead by the time of my first stop at lap 15. By then, I managed to reasonably distance myself from the rest of the field which made me only drop to 4th when I rejoined the race after my first stop. However, the cars in front of me had all yet to pit and I soon regained the lead. 14 laps later I had doubled my lead and when I came out to the track after my 2nd stop I had just lost one place to my teammate who was just under 2secs in front of me. Since he was on a same strategy as me he made his 2nd stop not much after mine and when rejoined the race he was 25secs behind me. The same happened on the our third and final stop. I pitted for the final time, got back to the track in second and soon regained the lead when he also stopped for the last time. It was being the perfect race so far to my team but the prospect of having a 1-2 finish fell apart when the transmition of my teammate car's failed and he was forced to retire 5 laps shy from the checkered flag. Fortunately, my car held through the end and I crossed the finish line in 1st for the first time this season, 48secs in front of one of the Porsches. It was my first victory on a 300km race! I got the much desired 10 points that my team needed and 2 more, as I won 1 for the pole and other for the fastest lap which made me a bit more relieved.

In the end, my team earned the right of being present in the next season (probably without me driving for it). Chivas was also another team that earned enough points to be part of next season's roster. Now, with just 2 races remaining there are still four teams looking to join them.

Now the series will go its season finale probably at Autopolis, since the Korean organizers of Hanghang Park are having trouble on providing a track for the series to race on.

This is it for today.

Cheers, and good luck for your seasons.

PS: Sorry for keep asking over and over again but does anyone has Hanghang Park? I know the track exists since it was once available at [forum.racesimcentral.com] but the link is broken. So, is there anyone there who has this rare track in the deepness of his computer and can kindly send to me at paulo.mota.galante@gmail.com ??? Thank you very much.

yeah, Karl will have lot of time to think about it! FIA accepted the appeal presented by Sauber so the DQ was reduced to 2 races only but at monaco the team (the real one) changed him with Boullion so his gone for now.
Yup, was racing the ERL season but went in stand-by after my pc broke. the real-time calendar is gone to the drain now but should restart soon.

Formula1 1995 - Race 3 - Imola, San Marino
One word to describe the 3rd venue of the season: CARNAGE. The new dress the track had after the dark '94 should have put more safety on the circus but when you are fighting for a position no chicanes can block you at home. This is what Morbidelli was thinking at lap 20 when harrasing Badoer at Variante Bassa before his duty versus the race leader on their shoulders. His attack ended with both drivers stalling right outside the chicane in the exact time when the race leader (hill) and his 'shadow' (Schumacher) were fighting themselves in the same points. Hill got the worst from the carbon orgy on the asphalt being the first one to pass, retiring after a crash with the rear of the Footwork. Schumacher avoided the collision with car bodies but not the dozen of debris on his race line, being forced 2 laps later to leave the race after a puncture made him spin and sink in a sand trap. Same destiny for the other Benetton though. Another battle involved the two finnish on track, Hakkinen and Salo, which in the desperate attempt to determine their national supremacy finished the race outside the first Rivazza. Salo missed the braking point dragging literally Hakkinen on the outside. Ferrari did a silent job. The tifosi asked them a good race and they did their best to please them catching a double podium. The qualifying has been not exciting with Alesi and Berger in 5th and 7th position but the race has been a solid benchmark to test their concentration. On a side note it's causing worries the fact that Alesi suffered for the second time in 3 races of a problem with the wheel support. Again the frenchman had to pit earlier riskng to see his wheel fly off the car. Something the team must care about for the future.

Qualy
Hill 1:28.654
Schumacher +0.781
Coulthard +0.971
Herbert +1.067

Race
Coulthard 63 laps
Alesi +1:24.687
Berger +1 lap
Panis +1 lap

Coulthard: got the best from the race. As the main contenders were off he settled an unbeatable pace for everyone.
Mansell: his comeback was going to make sensation with a podium if his car would have lasted 5 more laps
Boullion: called to replace the sacked Wendlinger and he payed back the team with an 8th place. With Frentzen catching 2 points he completed the giood jof for the swiss team
Barrichello: lights off and he tried a desperate attack at the first turn from the middle of nowhere. Karma took out the race only him

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Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2009 11:04AM by R_Scandura.