GP3 Career Thread
Posted by Diax F1
You're right - it was way too much dominant. This is why I'm switching back to road track championships as F1, GP2 or something.
I have had several electrical issues and I remember that out of, say, 5 issues I managed to get to the pits only once or twice. Electrical failures were quite nasty to me. The best you can get, in my opinion, is a loose wheel. You lose lotta time but you'll surely pull through.
<<EDIT>> As I said, I ecided to take one of the modern F1 seasons. Ladies n' Gentlemen - I have joined Williams F1 as Nico Rosberg's teammate for season 2007.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2010 08:07PM by abdelkader.
I have had several electrical issues and I remember that out of, say, 5 issues I managed to get to the pits only once or twice. Electrical failures were quite nasty to me. The best you can get, in my opinion, is a loose wheel. You lose lotta time but you'll surely pull through.
<<EDIT>> As I said, I ecided to take one of the modern F1 seasons. Ladies n' Gentlemen - I have joined Williams F1 as Nico Rosberg's teammate for season 2007.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2010 08:07PM by abdelkader.
Race 1 - Albert Park, Australian GP
It's the second time I try to deal with Williams team. In 1986 I didn't succeed but now I decided to be more competitive. However, the qualifying session wasn't succesful for me and one more time I underperformed at Albert Park. I came 22nd and I didn't expect much from the race. McLarens took first two positions with Hamilton on pole. Massa third while Kubica 4th.
The race start was an amazing one for me. Within first two laps I got 7th and got stuck between Kubica and Heidfeld. Kubica started pulling away while I increased the gap between me and Heidfeld. After 5 laps I noticed that Nick was decreasing the gap and he finally passed me three laps later. From now on, it was a downhill. I got passed by Coulthard, Rosberg and both Toyotas. When I was battling Button for 12th position I lost traction and landed in a gravel trap. My engine stalled and the race was over for me. In front there was Massa who was making flying laps and was a real threat to Alonso and Hamilton. After second round of pit-stops he finally took the lead and kept it until the flag. After Kubica retired, Raikkonen started pushing more and more to finally pass Alonso and take 3rd position. This is how the season starter finished. I hope I'm gonna do a bit better at Sepang.
The winner - Massa, 2nd - Hamilton, 3rd - Raikkonen
It's the second time I try to deal with Williams team. In 1986 I didn't succeed but now I decided to be more competitive. However, the qualifying session wasn't succesful for me and one more time I underperformed at Albert Park. I came 22nd and I didn't expect much from the race. McLarens took first two positions with Hamilton on pole. Massa third while Kubica 4th.
The race start was an amazing one for me. Within first two laps I got 7th and got stuck between Kubica and Heidfeld. Kubica started pulling away while I increased the gap between me and Heidfeld. After 5 laps I noticed that Nick was decreasing the gap and he finally passed me three laps later. From now on, it was a downhill. I got passed by Coulthard, Rosberg and both Toyotas. When I was battling Button for 12th position I lost traction and landed in a gravel trap. My engine stalled and the race was over for me. In front there was Massa who was making flying laps and was a real threat to Alonso and Hamilton. After second round of pit-stops he finally took the lead and kept it until the flag. After Kubica retired, Raikkonen started pushing more and more to finally pass Alonso and take 3rd position. This is how the season starter finished. I hope I'm gonna do a bit better at Sepang.
The winner - Massa, 2nd - Hamilton, 3rd - Raikkonen
Race 2 - Sepang, Malaysian GP
This weekend was similar to the one I had last time in Australia. I underperformed in the qualifiers and had to make up for it during the race. Pole position went for Hamilton having, surprisingly, Coulthard right behind him and the Alonso-Massa duet in the 2nd row. This time I was starting from 17th position and soon saw myself in the top 5 right behind Kubica. However, I started losing pace while Alonso and Raikkonen started appearing in my mirrors. I have made a couple of mistakes and the both passed me shortly afterwards. Now I was battling Sato and Ralf Schumacher. The situation repeated itself once more and after my mistakes and due to the lack of speed on the main straight I got passed by both gentlemen. After this, I had Kovalainen charging from behind. This time I managed to keep the position after Heikki, after one of his brave-but-careless moves, spun off and rejoined the race in 12th position. I had a couple of peaceful laps during which nobody was charging behind me and I was not decreasing the gap in front of me. I was running 9th having Coulthard right on my back. I was really impressed by peformance of my teammate. Rosberg was in 2nd losing it only to Hamilton. Meanwhile I made another series of mistakes and lost my position to Trulli, Kovalainen, Massa, Heidfeld and Button. There still was Liuzzi behind me being the last of the running drivers as before there were a couple of retirements ruling out such drivers as Webber, Sutil and Barrichello. In lap 20 Liuzzi passed me at the main straight but I soon regained 14th position after he run wide a little bit and i could take advantage of it. 14 laps from finish Hamilton had an accident and he had to retire from the race. I was 12th, completely off the pace of the other drivers. I had Liuzzi behind but unfortunately, I had to pit some 2 laps from finish as I had wasted too much fuel and wouldn't have made it to the flag if I hadn't pitted. All in all, Liuzzi passed me which sealed another nightmare race for me. My position - 13th. Well, at least Nico is doing fine. I think Sir Frank is gonna be pretty angry with me.
The winner - Raikkonen, 2nd - Alonso, 3rd - Rosberg
Race 3 - Sakhir, GP of Bahrain
The nightmare goes on...The qualifying session was a disaster to me. I tried several setups and only managed to reach 17th starting position. Only Webber, Spykers and STRs were below. However, at the end of the session I invented quite a good setup which helped me gain some extra miliseconds here and there. Anyway, I still lacked grip and acceleration at corner exits. Massa won pole position distancing both McLaren drivers. 4th place for Kovalainen who made a great surprise with this result.
Unfortunately, some 10 minutes before the start of the race, a tiny shower started above the circuit. We all started on soft drys but after a couple of additional laps, after the tiny shower had turned into a raging downpour, everybody went back to the pits for full wets. Of course, I dropped to last position after extensive drifting and spinning. I decided to retire early on, throwing the steering wheel out ofthe cockpit. On the circuit, Hamilton couldn't stand the pressure as he crashed out early in the initial part of the race leaving Massa on the lead. However, the Brazilian wasn't consistent enough to keep leadership and soon gave it to Raikkonen who made an impressive start from 8th position. Kovalainen's surprise didn't last long as he lost the wheel and had to retire from a great 4th position. Meanwhile, Alonso passed Massa and took 2nd position. 8 laps from finish, after all the pitting was done Massa made a couple of unnecessary mistakes and got passed also by Trulli who climbed up to third position in his Toyota. My teammate reached 7th place starting from 12th and I really start looking up to him. Raikkonen won another race and is the firm leader of the standings.
The winner - Raikkonen, 2nd - Alonso, 3rd - Trulli
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2010 01:19PM by abdelkader.
This weekend was similar to the one I had last time in Australia. I underperformed in the qualifiers and had to make up for it during the race. Pole position went for Hamilton having, surprisingly, Coulthard right behind him and the Alonso-Massa duet in the 2nd row. This time I was starting from 17th position and soon saw myself in the top 5 right behind Kubica. However, I started losing pace while Alonso and Raikkonen started appearing in my mirrors. I have made a couple of mistakes and the both passed me shortly afterwards. Now I was battling Sato and Ralf Schumacher. The situation repeated itself once more and after my mistakes and due to the lack of speed on the main straight I got passed by both gentlemen. After this, I had Kovalainen charging from behind. This time I managed to keep the position after Heikki, after one of his brave-but-careless moves, spun off and rejoined the race in 12th position. I had a couple of peaceful laps during which nobody was charging behind me and I was not decreasing the gap in front of me. I was running 9th having Coulthard right on my back. I was really impressed by peformance of my teammate. Rosberg was in 2nd losing it only to Hamilton. Meanwhile I made another series of mistakes and lost my position to Trulli, Kovalainen, Massa, Heidfeld and Button. There still was Liuzzi behind me being the last of the running drivers as before there were a couple of retirements ruling out such drivers as Webber, Sutil and Barrichello. In lap 20 Liuzzi passed me at the main straight but I soon regained 14th position after he run wide a little bit and i could take advantage of it. 14 laps from finish Hamilton had an accident and he had to retire from the race. I was 12th, completely off the pace of the other drivers. I had Liuzzi behind but unfortunately, I had to pit some 2 laps from finish as I had wasted too much fuel and wouldn't have made it to the flag if I hadn't pitted. All in all, Liuzzi passed me which sealed another nightmare race for me. My position - 13th. Well, at least Nico is doing fine. I think Sir Frank is gonna be pretty angry with me.
The winner - Raikkonen, 2nd - Alonso, 3rd - Rosberg
Race 3 - Sakhir, GP of Bahrain
The nightmare goes on...The qualifying session was a disaster to me. I tried several setups and only managed to reach 17th starting position. Only Webber, Spykers and STRs were below. However, at the end of the session I invented quite a good setup which helped me gain some extra miliseconds here and there. Anyway, I still lacked grip and acceleration at corner exits. Massa won pole position distancing both McLaren drivers. 4th place for Kovalainen who made a great surprise with this result.
Unfortunately, some 10 minutes before the start of the race, a tiny shower started above the circuit. We all started on soft drys but after a couple of additional laps, after the tiny shower had turned into a raging downpour, everybody went back to the pits for full wets. Of course, I dropped to last position after extensive drifting and spinning. I decided to retire early on, throwing the steering wheel out ofthe cockpit. On the circuit, Hamilton couldn't stand the pressure as he crashed out early in the initial part of the race leaving Massa on the lead. However, the Brazilian wasn't consistent enough to keep leadership and soon gave it to Raikkonen who made an impressive start from 8th position. Kovalainen's surprise didn't last long as he lost the wheel and had to retire from a great 4th position. Meanwhile, Alonso passed Massa and took 2nd position. 8 laps from finish, after all the pitting was done Massa made a couple of unnecessary mistakes and got passed also by Trulli who climbed up to third position in his Toyota. My teammate reached 7th place starting from 12th and I really start looking up to him. Raikkonen won another race and is the firm leader of the standings.
The winner - Raikkonen, 2nd - Alonso, 3rd - Trulli
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2010 01:19PM by abdelkader.
adjust Wurz/Nakajima's perfs to the same ones as Rosberg has. Then you'll be fine and you ownt be faking something cuz thenyou can make use of the possibilities of youre car.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If in doubt, Flat out."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If in doubt, Flat out."
Thanks for that piece of advice, Rico. That's what I'll do before Monaco
Round 4 - Circuit de Catalunya, Spanish GP
I thought I'd finally show off here. I've had several races in Barcelona before and I quite liked the track. However, I was struggling in the qualifying session one more time setting 14th fastest lap. Traditionally, pole position for Raikkonen, 2nd place for Heidfeld and third position for Hamilton. At the start I elbowed through to 8th position but only for a short while when I got pushed off by Trulli who was passing me. I fell down to 14th position right in front of Rosberg. I passed Barrichello and when I was closing the gap to Schumacher, I got sent off to the gravel trap by Coulthard when he attacked me from behind trying to pass me. One more time this season, my race was ruined and I'm on the best way to win Public Menace Award this year. In front of the race, there were Raikkonen and Heidfeld whose positions were quite safe as the two had pulled away pretty much from the rivals. Massa passed Kubica to drive in 3rd position. Meanwhile, Alonso crashed into the barriers and had to retire from the race when he was battling Hamilton for 4th position. Only 10 drivers finished the race, There were two mechanical issues while the other retirements were caused by racing incidents. Nothing changed in the top three as there was not much passing in the second part of the race. Raikkonen won his third consecutive race and is pulling away in the standings.
The winner - Raikkonen, 2nd - Heidfeld, 3rd - Massa
Round 4 - Circuit de Catalunya, Spanish GP
I thought I'd finally show off here. I've had several races in Barcelona before and I quite liked the track. However, I was struggling in the qualifying session one more time setting 14th fastest lap. Traditionally, pole position for Raikkonen, 2nd place for Heidfeld and third position for Hamilton. At the start I elbowed through to 8th position but only for a short while when I got pushed off by Trulli who was passing me. I fell down to 14th position right in front of Rosberg. I passed Barrichello and when I was closing the gap to Schumacher, I got sent off to the gravel trap by Coulthard when he attacked me from behind trying to pass me. One more time this season, my race was ruined and I'm on the best way to win Public Menace Award this year. In front of the race, there were Raikkonen and Heidfeld whose positions were quite safe as the two had pulled away pretty much from the rivals. Massa passed Kubica to drive in 3rd position. Meanwhile, Alonso crashed into the barriers and had to retire from the race when he was battling Hamilton for 4th position. Only 10 drivers finished the race, There were two mechanical issues while the other retirements were caused by racing incidents. Nothing changed in the top three as there was not much passing in the second part of the race. Raikkonen won his third consecutive race and is pulling away in the standings.
The winner - Raikkonen, 2nd - Heidfeld, 3rd - Massa
No worries, youre season will only start now mate 
I really expect you to be top 10 now good luck in monaco.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If in doubt, Flat out."
I really expect you to be top 10 now good luck in monaco.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If in doubt, Flat out."
Round 5 - Streets of Monte Carlo, Monaco GP
To my enormous surprise, the qualifying session was an epic disaster to me. I've always performed well at this circuit but it certainly wasn't the case this time. Needless to say, I came 22nd which I found humiliating. I promised to myself I was going to do my best in the race. Alonso took the pole with Hamilton and Raikkonen behind.
At the start, although I don't how I did it, I reached 8th position starting from 22nd. I had Kovalainen in front but he pulled away quickly so I soon stopped thinking about passing him. I had Kubica and Heidfeld right on my back, only 0.1 sec behind. They kept swapping positions. In lap 11, Heidfeld tried to pass me from the right hand side at Nouvelle Chicane but he didn't brake out on time and crashed into the wall ruining his race. Now I was being chased by Kubica. Two laps later he tried the same manoeuvre at Nouvelle and he succeeded in it. I was now 9th but Kubica's luck didn't last long as in the very next lap he kissed the barriers damaging the right front wheel at Beau Rivage and retired as well as Heidfeld. Hamilton was in the lead having Alonso and Raikkonen right behind, then there were Fisichella, Schumacher, Kovalainen and me, 40 seconds behind the leader. Trulli was pushing and I knew he was a bit faster than me. In lap 21 we had a contact thanks to which he passed me at Nouvelle. Also Coulthard and Barrichello who were right behind me managed to take my position. However, two corners further, Barrichello involved in a fight against Coulthard, crashed into the barriers and retired. Then Massa and Button retired so I gained two positions and now I was running in 8th position so it was going to be my first point-awarding position in the season. Webber was very strong behind me and during the following 15 laps I didn't manage to build up a safe advantage. He was around 1.5 sec behind me. Luckily, Hamilton and Raikkonen, while lapping me and Webber, made him slow down at some corners so I could gain some extra factions of a second of advantage. After my only planned pit-stop I got back to the race in 8th position and I knew I was going to have my first points here in France. Meanwhile, Webber crashed out and now I had to battle Sato who was just as strong as Webber before. However, I was once again conned by the fate as in lap 58, while lapping me, Alonso made a mistake and we both landed on the barriers of Nouvelle Chicane. The race was over for Fernando and for me as well. Bad luck is still with me :/
The winner - Hamilton, 2nd - Raikkonen, 3rd - Schumacher
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/2010 06:39PM by abdelkader.
To my enormous surprise, the qualifying session was an epic disaster to me. I've always performed well at this circuit but it certainly wasn't the case this time. Needless to say, I came 22nd which I found humiliating. I promised to myself I was going to do my best in the race. Alonso took the pole with Hamilton and Raikkonen behind.
At the start, although I don't how I did it, I reached 8th position starting from 22nd. I had Kovalainen in front but he pulled away quickly so I soon stopped thinking about passing him. I had Kubica and Heidfeld right on my back, only 0.1 sec behind. They kept swapping positions. In lap 11, Heidfeld tried to pass me from the right hand side at Nouvelle Chicane but he didn't brake out on time and crashed into the wall ruining his race. Now I was being chased by Kubica. Two laps later he tried the same manoeuvre at Nouvelle and he succeeded in it. I was now 9th but Kubica's luck didn't last long as in the very next lap he kissed the barriers damaging the right front wheel at Beau Rivage and retired as well as Heidfeld. Hamilton was in the lead having Alonso and Raikkonen right behind, then there were Fisichella, Schumacher, Kovalainen and me, 40 seconds behind the leader. Trulli was pushing and I knew he was a bit faster than me. In lap 21 we had a contact thanks to which he passed me at Nouvelle. Also Coulthard and Barrichello who were right behind me managed to take my position. However, two corners further, Barrichello involved in a fight against Coulthard, crashed into the barriers and retired. Then Massa and Button retired so I gained two positions and now I was running in 8th position so it was going to be my first point-awarding position in the season. Webber was very strong behind me and during the following 15 laps I didn't manage to build up a safe advantage. He was around 1.5 sec behind me. Luckily, Hamilton and Raikkonen, while lapping me and Webber, made him slow down at some corners so I could gain some extra factions of a second of advantage. After my only planned pit-stop I got back to the race in 8th position and I knew I was going to have my first points here in France. Meanwhile, Webber crashed out and now I had to battle Sato who was just as strong as Webber before. However, I was once again conned by the fate as in lap 58, while lapping me, Alonso made a mistake and we both landed on the barriers of Nouvelle Chicane. The race was over for Fernando and for me as well. Bad luck is still with me :/
The winner - Hamilton, 2nd - Raikkonen, 3rd - Schumacher
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/2010 06:39PM by abdelkader.
But you have adjusted the perf? Then its rlly shocking :O
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If in doubt, Flat out."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If in doubt, Flat out."
Yup, I did. Anyway, Canada is waiting now.
Good Luck ! If youre still uncompetetive i dont know what tod o ! :p
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If in doubt, Flat out."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If in doubt, Flat out."
Don't worry. I'm currently in the middle of the race and it's looking perfect for me I'll finish it at the beginning of the next week
I'll finish it at the beginning of the next weekAfter a while I'm back on track again. I'll be driving as trulli in the Toyota
Formula1 2009 - race 1 - Melbourne
New format for the qualifying based on the Q1 session: 20 minutes with almost all cars on track for the time attack.
The session has been interesting with the drivers trying to find their way through the traffic. Hamilton took the lead followed by Trulli (2nd and 3rd at the end) while Button and Barrichello have been unable to put together a clean lap (7th and 6th). Vettel did some quiet attempts to find a proper confidence with the car but at the last try he shot a very fast lap to catch the pole. Bad show for both ferrarists finishing 8th and 12th in grid. Excellent performance instead for Rosberg (5th) and Buemi (9th).
The race had a very cahotic start. The young german took easily the lead but Webber had a restless jump from the 4th position. He sided Trulli and both passed Hamilton who had an hesitation. By the end of the straight the aussie braked way too inside the chicane forcing the italian to run wide in the gravel and falling in 8th place. In this meyhem Button got a huge advantage raising to 3rd while Barrichello, slowed by the fight at turn1, fell in 9th place. At lap 3, a very fast and impatient Button attacked Hamlton at turn 6 but the aggressive move made him spin off the track to last place. At lap 7 Barrichello tried an attack at turn 3 on Trulli, which was heavily slowed by Massa. But the experienced brazilian this time misled the breaking point literally pickin and dragging Trulli off the track. After 7 laps both Brawns were down the field with Trulli slowly tring to recover in pits with a broken front wing. Soon the gap freezed in front with Button involved in a furious climbing and Barrichello out of the race by a transmission failure. An oil leak took out the race Alonso from the last positions. With 20 laps to go Trulli abandoned the race after a spin off at the Ascari, followed in few laps by both Mclaren by the same transmission problem. Button pushed really hard and when he made his second stop found Massa and an incredible Buemi only few seconds in front of him. Nothing to do for both Ferrari powered car which had to give the place to the british. Race final with Vettel comfortably winning, followed by Button, who marked a great recover after the mistake. Massa to close the podium followed by Buemi finalizing a solid 1 stop strategy. Points also for Webber, Rosberg, Raikkonen and Glock.
Vettel - Simply dominated for the entire weekend. Never an hesitation, supported by a solid mechinery.
Buemi - Indirectly helped by the traffic to save his position on saturday, took home the heavy weighted Toro Rosso with also the taste for few laps of the podium.
Ferrari - Terrible qualifying. Massa did his part to save the team but Raikkonen marked a very anonymous race.
Brawn GP - Too many errors, in and out the track. The great recover made by Button can't hide the fact that the team was too nervous after the disaster made on Saturday.
McLaren - Both cars retired in the space of 1 minute by the same broken component is not a good sign for the silver arrows
-------------------------------
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2010 02:43AM by R_Scandura.
Formula1 2009 - race 1 - Melbourne
New format for the qualifying based on the Q1 session: 20 minutes with almost all cars on track for the time attack.
The session has been interesting with the drivers trying to find their way through the traffic. Hamilton took the lead followed by Trulli (2nd and 3rd at the end) while Button and Barrichello have been unable to put together a clean lap (7th and 6th). Vettel did some quiet attempts to find a proper confidence with the car but at the last try he shot a very fast lap to catch the pole. Bad show for both ferrarists finishing 8th and 12th in grid. Excellent performance instead for Rosberg (5th) and Buemi (9th).
The race had a very cahotic start. The young german took easily the lead but Webber had a restless jump from the 4th position. He sided Trulli and both passed Hamilton who had an hesitation. By the end of the straight the aussie braked way too inside the chicane forcing the italian to run wide in the gravel and falling in 8th place. In this meyhem Button got a huge advantage raising to 3rd while Barrichello, slowed by the fight at turn1, fell in 9th place. At lap 3, a very fast and impatient Button attacked Hamlton at turn 6 but the aggressive move made him spin off the track to last place. At lap 7 Barrichello tried an attack at turn 3 on Trulli, which was heavily slowed by Massa. But the experienced brazilian this time misled the breaking point literally pickin and dragging Trulli off the track. After 7 laps both Brawns were down the field with Trulli slowly tring to recover in pits with a broken front wing. Soon the gap freezed in front with Button involved in a furious climbing and Barrichello out of the race by a transmission failure. An oil leak took out the race Alonso from the last positions. With 20 laps to go Trulli abandoned the race after a spin off at the Ascari, followed in few laps by both Mclaren by the same transmission problem. Button pushed really hard and when he made his second stop found Massa and an incredible Buemi only few seconds in front of him. Nothing to do for both Ferrari powered car which had to give the place to the british. Race final with Vettel comfortably winning, followed by Button, who marked a great recover after the mistake. Massa to close the podium followed by Buemi finalizing a solid 1 stop strategy. Points also for Webber, Rosberg, Raikkonen and Glock.
Vettel - Simply dominated for the entire weekend. Never an hesitation, supported by a solid mechinery. Buemi - Indirectly helped by the traffic to save his position on saturday, took home the heavy weighted Toro Rosso with also the taste for few laps of the podium. Ferrari - Terrible qualifying. Massa did his part to save the team but Raikkonen marked a very anonymous race. Brawn GP - Too many errors, in and out the track. The great recover made by Button can't hide the fact that the team was too nervous after the disaster made on Saturday. McLaren - Both cars retired in the space of 1 minute by the same broken component is not a good sign for the silver arrows-------------------------------
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2010 02:43AM by R_Scandura.
Situation after Silverstone: Jenson and BrawnGp are confirming their dominant position but Barrichello is doing a massive disaster. Spun twice from the lead at Sakhir and Silverstone when in a good strategy. Ferrari is incredibly doing well even with a low reliability while Red bull are constantly punished by their poor mechinery vs. their high pace. McLaren is givin no sign of life since the start of the season. Hamilton woke up at Silverstone pushed by the homerace boost but retired from the lead. Down the field Toro Rosso and Super Aguri earned more credibility by some huge updates and now they can luckily aim for some points. Finally, Alonso got some great results when riding the weather conditions but in 'normal' races his Renault has still no chances.
About me, my teammate Glock is givin me hard times but when the car is ok I can fight with everyone. Despite some mechanical issues that slowed me sometimes, only at Istanbul I had a difficult race under a variable storm and at Silverstone where Massa hit me taking me off track.
Monaco has been a friiggin cool race. Started dry ended under a storm with several shuffling of the standing. Has been a constant time attack to gain from extra laps before to pit or antipicated pitstops to dare the fate. At the end the race has been red flagged at the penultimate lap because of the 2h limit!
-------------------------------
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2010 06:54PM by R_Scandura.
About me, my teammate Glock is givin me hard times but when the car is ok I can fight with everyone. Despite some mechanical issues that slowed me sometimes, only at Istanbul I had a difficult race under a variable storm and at Silverstone where Massa hit me taking me off track.
Monaco has been a friiggin cool race. Started dry ended under a storm with several shuffling of the standing. Has been a constant time attack to gain from extra laps before to pit or antipicated pitstops to dare the fate. At the end the race has been red flagged at the penultimate lap because of the 2h limit!
-------------------------------
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2010 06:54PM by R_Scandura.
I also decided to get back to racing after a while.
Round 6 - Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian GP
The weekend started just as the previous ones. I was weak in the qualifying session and came 18th. Pole position for Alonso with Hamilton and Raikkonen alongside.
The race day started with a heavy rainfall which continued throughout the whole race. As I once was advised here, in this forum, I took three-stop strategy for a rainy race. Initially I didn't manage to gain positions as I kept making various mistakes, I swerved andsuffered from a huge loss of traction. Coulthard, Webber, Kubica and Alonso were involved in a major shunt at the early stage of the race and they retired. It was good for me as I had a couple of rivals fewer to battle. Somewhere around lap 25, after my first pit-stop, I suddenly found myself the fastest on the track. I kept passing the rivals and I even found myself in the lead at certain point having Heidfeld and Schumacher behind. Meanwhile I decided to change strategy and went only for two-stop strategy. My second stop was the last one here in Montreal and I left the pits in fifth position. Heidfeld was in the lead having Schumacher and Massa behind. First I had to beat Liuzzi who was just in front. I managed to do this and from now on I was in fourth position being considerably faster than the guys in front. At this stage, a lot of the drivers kept retiring due to the loss of traction as they couldn't stay on the track, including Hamilton, Fisichella, Raikkonen and Barrichello. I soon passed Schumacher and a couple of laps later when I was just about to start up a fight against Massa, he didn't break in time and landed in the gravel trap at turn 1. He managed to escape it and rejoin the race but he never regained his former pace.Anyway, I was now second, still around 2 sec. faster than the leader - Heidfeld. However I was 18 seconds behind having only 9 laps to cover. The calculations were cruel - I would be some tenths of a second behind Heidfeld before the flag. Moreover, I made a couple of mistakes which cost me some 3 seconds withing remaining few laps. I lost hope for the victory as I was 13 seconds behind Heidfeld having only three laps to cover...and here we have a miracle - Heidfeld landed in the same gravel trap as Massa a few laps earlier. I ultimately took the lead 2 laps from finish. Of course, I kept it to the finish and earned my first points this year. What a race!!!
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Schumacher, 3rd - Massa
Round 6 - Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian GP
The weekend started just as the previous ones. I was weak in the qualifying session and came 18th. Pole position for Alonso with Hamilton and Raikkonen alongside.
The race day started with a heavy rainfall which continued throughout the whole race. As I once was advised here, in this forum, I took three-stop strategy for a rainy race. Initially I didn't manage to gain positions as I kept making various mistakes, I swerved andsuffered from a huge loss of traction. Coulthard, Webber, Kubica and Alonso were involved in a major shunt at the early stage of the race and they retired. It was good for me as I had a couple of rivals fewer to battle. Somewhere around lap 25, after my first pit-stop, I suddenly found myself the fastest on the track. I kept passing the rivals and I even found myself in the lead at certain point having Heidfeld and Schumacher behind. Meanwhile I decided to change strategy and went only for two-stop strategy. My second stop was the last one here in Montreal and I left the pits in fifth position. Heidfeld was in the lead having Schumacher and Massa behind. First I had to beat Liuzzi who was just in front. I managed to do this and from now on I was in fourth position being considerably faster than the guys in front. At this stage, a lot of the drivers kept retiring due to the loss of traction as they couldn't stay on the track, including Hamilton, Fisichella, Raikkonen and Barrichello. I soon passed Schumacher and a couple of laps later when I was just about to start up a fight against Massa, he didn't break in time and landed in the gravel trap at turn 1. He managed to escape it and rejoin the race but he never regained his former pace.Anyway, I was now second, still around 2 sec. faster than the leader - Heidfeld. However I was 18 seconds behind having only 9 laps to cover. The calculations were cruel - I would be some tenths of a second behind Heidfeld before the flag. Moreover, I made a couple of mistakes which cost me some 3 seconds withing remaining few laps. I lost hope for the victory as I was 13 seconds behind Heidfeld having only three laps to cover...and here we have a miracle - Heidfeld landed in the same gravel trap as Massa a few laps earlier. I ultimately took the lead 2 laps from finish. Of course, I kept it to the finish and earned my first points this year. What a race!!!
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Schumacher, 3rd - Massa
Back on track with my 1972 F1 season!
Round 7: Belgian Grand Prix - Nivelles
Qualifying:
Having never turned a wheel in a competitive session at this track - excluding some hotlapping I did four years ago IIRC - Nivelles was a great unknown for my BRM as 1972 season reached the half-way point. My championship challenge was not neccessarily very impressive with Monza and Mosport - potentially my two strongest track still some way down the road.
Nivelles - built for GP3 by the maestro Roberto Scandura himself - was a nine turn 3.715 km circuit which to me seemed very similar to Zandvoort, only without the changes of terrain. First three corners flat out, then a couple of chicanes, one left-hander between them and then Turn Nine, the only heavy-braking zone on the circuit.
Boosted by the shakedown I went for the low downforce setup looking to make some great speeds around the flat-out bends. Indeed my first run of 1:05.089 was almost half a second quicker then Mario Andretti's 1:05.553 benchmark. I sat in the pits waiting if anybody could top that but as it turned out no one was even able to break 1:06. min. barrier let alone challenging for pole. So I scored my second pole of the season after Argentina and was very surprised by it's comfortable manner. BRM was threatening to break the Lotus/McLaren/Ferrari stranglehold on the 1972 proceedings!
Elsewhere behind Beltoise and Andretti, Jackie Stewart and Jacky Ickx filled row two with McLarens of Hulme and Revson on row three. Emerson Fittipaldi was only seventh whereas the last row featured the familiar sight of two Williamses with Graham Hill barely beating them in 20th.
Race:
I got a jump on the field and breezed through the fast bends to open a four second lead at the end of the first lap and that was basically the story of the race. Thanks to low downforce I was able to top the speed charts and not lose much traction in the two chicanes and Turn Nine too. Behind me, Andretti and Stewart developed a great duell for second place while fourth was being contested by no less then five cars with Revson, Hulme passing Ickx off the line and Cevert and Fittipaldi in the mix as well. On lap 21 Ickx's Ferrari caught fire after a massive engine failure which left four cars battling among themselves.
In the meantime I opened a 15 secs. lead over Stewart who passed Andretti in Turn Nine on lap 14 and pulled away slightly. However any challenge the Tyrrell man had planned went awry on lap 34 when the Cosworth engine expired on the main straight sending Stewart on the sidelines. This was another powerplant failure of the race as to my great surprise, Nivelles took quite a hammering on the engines. Both Brabhams of Reutemann and Hill also suffered engine trouble and the field was down to 17 cars after 34 laps.
Traffic barely became an issue for me and by half-distance I opened a 33 secs. lead over Andretti with Revson third and holding up Hulme, Fittipaldi and Cevert behind him. Further back Clay Regazzoni spent the entire race behind Howden Ganley's BRM before getting fed up with this and punting Ganley off in Turn Nine on lap 50.
Few laps later there was a major shunt at the exit of the second chicane. I was approaching the chicane when the marshalls suddenly began waving yellow flags which suggested trouble. Indeed just seconds before I arrived there Dave Walker spun out from 14th place and became stuck in the middle of the road. Next up were Reine Wisell and Tim Schenken who battled for 11th spot and whilst Wisell was able to move around the stricken Lotus, Schenken clattered Walker at full-speed and both cars slid to the side of the track opposite each other. I navigated the mess and looked to be safe when suddenly I saw Carlos Pace slowing down with a blown engine in Turn Nine. I managed to squeeze underneath the Williams and dodge another bullet but during that lap I had more action then during the entire race.
Luckily for me that was the only close call all day and after 85 laps I could celebrate my first victory of the season. Mario Andretti finished second the only other car on the lead lap with Peter Revson third. Denny Hulme passed Emerson Fittipaldi on lap 67 to claim fourth while Francois Cevert was set to grab sixth when his front suspension failed on lap 76. Thus Ronnie Peterson inherited the final point allthough Niki Lauda could have been the one scoring it as he'd run ahead of Peterson until engine failure put him out on lap 59.
Mario Andretti leads the championship at half-distance but I might have something to say about that in the later stages. Worth noticing was the fact that for the first time this season neither of the BRMs suffered a mechanical retirement. Howden Ganley was punted off by Regazzoni so he might have well finished too while Reine Wisell had an electrical glitch after 20 laps but managed to nurse the car back to pits and rejoin the action. Peter Gethin finished only the second race of the season but still I'm the only BRM driver to score any points this season (same goes for Lotus where Fittipaldi does all the heavy-lifting and Dave Walker's place in the team is very much under threat).
Tim Schenken clatters into Dave Walker on lap 55 of the Belgian Grand Prix. JP Beltoise's BRM could be seen in the last pic moments after the crash occured
Championship: 1.Andretti 32, 2.Fittipaldi 27, 3.Hulme 25, 4.Beltoise 20, 5.Revson 13, 6.Ickx 10, 7.Regazzoni 7, 8.Cevert 6, 9.Stewart 5, 10.Amon 3, 11.Peterson 2
Next up: French Grand Prix @ Rouen-les-Essarts
Round 7: Belgian Grand Prix - Nivelles
Qualifying:
Having never turned a wheel in a competitive session at this track - excluding some hotlapping I did four years ago IIRC - Nivelles was a great unknown for my BRM as 1972 season reached the half-way point. My championship challenge was not neccessarily very impressive with Monza and Mosport - potentially my two strongest track still some way down the road.
Nivelles - built for GP3 by the maestro Roberto Scandura himself
- was a nine turn 3.715 km circuit which to me seemed very similar to Zandvoort, only without the changes of terrain. First three corners flat out, then a couple of chicanes, one left-hander between them and then Turn Nine, the only heavy-braking zone on the circuit.Boosted by the shakedown I went for the low downforce setup looking to make some great speeds around the flat-out bends. Indeed my first run of 1:05.089 was almost half a second quicker then Mario Andretti's 1:05.553 benchmark. I sat in the pits waiting if anybody could top that but as it turned out no one was even able to break 1:06. min. barrier let alone challenging for pole. So I scored my second pole of the season after Argentina and was very surprised by it's comfortable manner. BRM was threatening to break the Lotus/McLaren/Ferrari stranglehold on the 1972 proceedings!
Elsewhere behind Beltoise and Andretti, Jackie Stewart and Jacky Ickx filled row two with McLarens of Hulme and Revson on row three. Emerson Fittipaldi was only seventh whereas the last row featured the familiar sight of two Williamses with Graham Hill barely beating them in 20th.
Race:
I got a jump on the field and breezed through the fast bends to open a four second lead at the end of the first lap and that was basically the story of the race. Thanks to low downforce I was able to top the speed charts and not lose much traction in the two chicanes and Turn Nine too. Behind me, Andretti and Stewart developed a great duell for second place while fourth was being contested by no less then five cars with Revson, Hulme passing Ickx off the line and Cevert and Fittipaldi in the mix as well. On lap 21 Ickx's Ferrari caught fire after a massive engine failure which left four cars battling among themselves.
In the meantime I opened a 15 secs. lead over Stewart who passed Andretti in Turn Nine on lap 14 and pulled away slightly. However any challenge the Tyrrell man had planned went awry on lap 34 when the Cosworth engine expired on the main straight sending Stewart on the sidelines. This was another powerplant failure of the race as to my great surprise, Nivelles took quite a hammering on the engines. Both Brabhams of Reutemann and Hill also suffered engine trouble and the field was down to 17 cars after 34 laps.
Traffic barely became an issue for me and by half-distance I opened a 33 secs. lead over Andretti with Revson third and holding up Hulme, Fittipaldi and Cevert behind him. Further back Clay Regazzoni spent the entire race behind Howden Ganley's BRM before getting fed up with this and punting Ganley off in Turn Nine on lap 50.
Few laps later there was a major shunt at the exit of the second chicane. I was approaching the chicane when the marshalls suddenly began waving yellow flags which suggested trouble. Indeed just seconds before I arrived there Dave Walker spun out from 14th place and became stuck in the middle of the road. Next up were Reine Wisell and Tim Schenken who battled for 11th spot and whilst Wisell was able to move around the stricken Lotus, Schenken clattered Walker at full-speed and both cars slid to the side of the track opposite each other. I navigated the mess and looked to be safe when suddenly I saw Carlos Pace slowing down with a blown engine in Turn Nine. I managed to squeeze underneath the Williams and dodge another bullet but during that lap I had more action then during the entire race.
Luckily for me that was the only close call all day and after 85 laps I could celebrate my first victory of the season. Mario Andretti finished second the only other car on the lead lap with Peter Revson third. Denny Hulme passed Emerson Fittipaldi on lap 67 to claim fourth while Francois Cevert was set to grab sixth when his front suspension failed on lap 76. Thus Ronnie Peterson inherited the final point allthough Niki Lauda could have been the one scoring it as he'd run ahead of Peterson until engine failure put him out on lap 59.
Mario Andretti leads the championship at half-distance but I might have something to say about that in the later stages. Worth noticing was the fact that for the first time this season neither of the BRMs suffered a mechanical retirement. Howden Ganley was punted off by Regazzoni so he might have well finished too while Reine Wisell had an electrical glitch after 20 laps but managed to nurse the car back to pits and rejoin the action. Peter Gethin finished only the second race of the season but still I'm the only BRM driver to score any points this season (same goes for Lotus where Fittipaldi does all the heavy-lifting and Dave Walker's place in the team is very much under threat).
Tim Schenken clatters into Dave Walker on lap 55 of the Belgian Grand Prix. JP Beltoise's BRM could be seen in the last pic moments after the crash occured
Championship: 1.Andretti 32, 2.Fittipaldi 27, 3.Hulme 25, 4.Beltoise 20, 5.Revson 13, 6.Ickx 10, 7.Regazzoni 7, 8.Cevert 6, 9.Stewart 5, 10.Amon 3, 11.Peterson 2
Next up: French Grand Prix @ Rouen-les-Essarts
Congratulations, man
I really hate such situations in which you make a fast corner and suddenly you see a pile up in front. IfI manage to pull through, I always have problems controlling my trembling hands throughout following 10 minutes. While racing in IRL I once had the same situation - during a practice session I hit one of the rivals in the back when he suddenly emerged from the pit-lane and didn't merge properly. I'm even more happy about your victory because I seem to have found the right rhythm myself in my campaign. This way I'm not jealous of your win :P
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2010 07:38PM by abdelkader.
I really hate such situations in which you make a fast corner and suddenly you see a pile up in front. IfI manage to pull through, I always have problems controlling my trembling hands throughout following 10 minutes. While racing in IRL I once had the same situation - during a practice session I hit one of the rivals in the back when he suddenly emerged from the pit-lane and didn't merge properly. I'm even more happy about your victory because I seem to have found the right rhythm myself in my campaign. This way I'm not jealous of your win :P
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2010 07:38PM by abdelkader.
Round 7 - Indianapolis, American GP
Since the completion of my first lap on this circuit I knew I was going to have a great fun racing here. Indeed, I dominated the qualifying session and I suppose I've once and for all said goodbye to my previous weakness in the previous races. Raikkonen took 2nd position with his teammate, Massa, behind. Surprisingly, Sato took 10th position which was quite a big shock considering low performance of Super Aguri this year.
The race was a boring one as the conditions were perfect and I was way faster than the others. Raikkonen was extremely unlucky as in lap 8 he broke his suspension which made him retire. Shortly before my first and the last pit-stop I found myself in the situation which was described in the two previous posts. I was approaching the final flat-out right hander while I suddenly saw Sutil with damaged suspension. I barely managed to pass him only by inches. As it comes to the top of the classification, there was not much going on apart from Alonso who passed Heidfeld in the final part of the race to claim third position.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Massa, 3rd - Alonso
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2010 11:39PM by abdelkader.
Since the completion of my first lap on this circuit I knew I was going to have a great fun racing here. Indeed, I dominated the qualifying session and I suppose I've once and for all said goodbye to my previous weakness in the previous races. Raikkonen took 2nd position with his teammate, Massa, behind. Surprisingly, Sato took 10th position which was quite a big shock considering low performance of Super Aguri this year.
The race was a boring one as the conditions were perfect and I was way faster than the others. Raikkonen was extremely unlucky as in lap 8 he broke his suspension which made him retire. Shortly before my first and the last pit-stop I found myself in the situation which was described in the two previous posts. I was approaching the final flat-out right hander while I suddenly saw Sutil with damaged suspension. I barely managed to pass him only by inches. As it comes to the top of the classification, there was not much going on apart from Alonso who passed Heidfeld in the final part of the race to claim third position.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Massa, 3rd - Alonso
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2010 11:39PM by abdelkader.
NICE JOB ! Told you this would eventually work Great race in Canada. And domination in the US. This in quite a weak Williams ! Congratulations ! What are the standings now? I mean you took some good points
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If in doubt, Flat out."
Great race in Canada. And domination in the US. This in quite a weak Williams ! Congratulations ! What are the standings now? I mean you took some good points --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If in doubt, Flat out."
Thanks for that
The standings are as follows:
1. Raikkonen 44
2. Massa 40
3. Alonso 27
4. Hamilton 27
5. Heidfeld 23
6. Kosewski 20
It looks that we have two inside-team battles, in Ferrari and McLaren.
1. Ferrari 84
2. McLaren 54
3. BWM Sauber 33
4. Williams 32
5. Toyota 29
6. Renault 23
Ferrari have pulled away from the rest but if Alonso and Hamilton join forces (yeah, sure) they may quickly catch up. If I keep my current shape and have Rosberg scoring too, we'll surely pass BMW as Kubica isn't performing particularly well while Heidfeld's efforts are not sufficient.
The standings are as follows:
1. Raikkonen 44
2. Massa 40
3. Alonso 27
4. Hamilton 27
5. Heidfeld 23
6. Kosewski 20
It looks that we have two inside-team battles, in Ferrari and McLaren.
1. Ferrari 84
2. McLaren 54
3. BWM Sauber 33
4. Williams 32
5. Toyota 29
6. Renault 23
Ferrari have pulled away from the rest but if Alonso and Hamilton join forces (yeah, sure) they may quickly catch up. If I keep my current shape and have Rosberg scoring too, we'll surely pass BMW as Kubica isn't performing particularly well while Heidfeld's efforts are not sufficient.
abdelkader Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Congratulations, man
> I really hate such situations in which you make a
> fast corner and suddenly you see a pile up in
> front. IfI manage to pull through, I always have
> problems controlling my trembling hands throughout
> following 10 minutes. While racing in IRL I once
> had the same situation - during a practice session
> I hit one of the rivals in the back when he
> suddenly emerged from the pit-lane and didn't
> merge properly. I'm even more happy about your
> victory because I seem to have found the right
> rhythm myself in my campaign. This way I'm not
> jealous of your win :P
Yeah, I usually lift off when I'm not sure where the car rejoining from the pits will go, sometimes they go to the outside immediately after rejoining, sometimes they stick to the inside. Same thing goes when somebody tries to divebomb me after picking up the slipstream, several times I'm forced to break later then usual and that's not good for the tires. So I usually choose low downforce setup to pull away on the straights and prevent from AI catching me up. At Rouen there is a torrid Esses section where I usually lose a lot of time and I must go for broke on the straights to built a huge gap so they won't get me there, but I don't always succeed...
-------------------------------------------------------
> Congratulations, man
> I really hate such situations in which you make a
> fast corner and suddenly you see a pile up in
> front. IfI manage to pull through, I always have
> problems controlling my trembling hands throughout
> following 10 minutes. While racing in IRL I once
> had the same situation - during a practice session
> I hit one of the rivals in the back when he
> suddenly emerged from the pit-lane and didn't
> merge properly. I'm even more happy about your
> victory because I seem to have found the right
> rhythm myself in my campaign. This way I'm not
> jealous of your win :P
Yeah, I usually lift off when I'm not sure where the car rejoining from the pits will go, sometimes they go to the outside immediately after rejoining, sometimes they stick to the inside. Same thing goes when somebody tries to divebomb me after picking up the slipstream, several times I'm forced to break later then usual and that's not good for the tires. So I usually choose low downforce setup to pull away on the straights and prevent from AI catching me up. At Rouen there is a torrid Esses section where I usually lose a lot of time and I must go for broke on the straights to built a huge gap so they won't get me there, but I don't always succeed...
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.