Qualifying
Went horribly wrong and ended up 6 seconds behind the leader. Managed 11th which was the worst of anyone who actually set a time.
Race
Average start, went to outside of turn 1 to avoid any carnage and ended up getting shunted off the track from someone behind, not sure who but it can only of been someone who started 12th or lower as I did not pass anyone leading up to turn 1, I'm now in last place and make up a few positions from other people's incidents on lap 1.
Begin lap 2 and again approach turn 1 when dejavu occurs and I get shunted from behind again straight off the track. This time I am fairly sure it was askanishkillo that shunted me but I can't be 100% certain (I apologise if it wasn't you). Now that's twice in 2 laps Im shunted from behind off the track and no one waits and gives the place back, I realise I was fairly slow today but at the same time trying a manoeuvre at turn 1 is pretty stupid especially as there are plenty of places to overtake safely after turn 1.
Moving on, I'm now last again and only making up places due to disconnections, towards the end of lap 4 and I approach the second to last corner after the long straight and as Im driving around I suddenly come across Oshinho75 (who I'm guessing must have spun as I was a long way behind him previously) who decides to drive into me head on damaging my front wing and spinning me out for a now third occasion in 4 laps, to be fair it obviously also sent him off the track too but he then recovered pretty much straight away and drove off into the distance. I actually thought about quitting at this point but decided to carry on in the hope of further disconnections and maybe get a couple of constructor points.
I drove around the track for the next 9 laps losing time on those in front each lap until I pitted for a set of primes. Carried on racing by myself in what must have been the most boring race I have experienced for a while, got up to 10th place after a few more disconnections so was glad i stuck it out.
Reached the last lap and about halfway round i managed to get past both f1-kimi-wrc and racing 28 who must have ever collided or both spun on worn tyres within a corner of each other to clinch 8th place and 4 points.
Didn't enjoy this race one little bit.
-- Edited by Pagey_80 on Sunday 2nd of December 2012 08:40:26 PM
Well... What can I say? I'm extremely happy with my race.... After not being able to really test the patch since when It came out I was out of town. Today was the first time I tested it, alongside my online setups that I had no idea how good they where.
In out practice races I was totally out of pace compared to most of the times, but as I keept moving a little my wheel settings I got a hang of it. Or at least I thought I had got it. When we started Qualy, I came out on primes just to test my last wheel setting tweaks and was about second and a half of Linden when he was on options, so I thought I was about 4 or 5 tenths of his pace. When he said he was able to go 4 tenths quicker before messing up his lap, I thought it was the end of it. But then I came out on the options and messed up my lap so I had to go back to the pits, and change tires. I finally got a lap in on my options and for 4th on the grid, 4 tenths of pole position.
When the race started, I was slow of the line. Richard passed me almost instantly and somebody touched me on the back and as Andrew was passing me, I think I touched him a little.
Byt the end of the first lap I had gone from 4th to 6th. I made 2 mistakes in lap 2 and was second to last byt the end of that lap, but fortunately I had no wing damage. So when everybody started to pit to fix their wings, I could pass them and not loose to much time behind them.
By lao 4 I was on the back of the battle for 3rd, me standing 7th I think. Then people started to pit way before I had mine planed so I instantly knew they would probably need a second stop or they would be in very old primes by the end of the race.
And so I was right, by lap 18, I was second closing up on Jake around 3 or 4 tenths a lap and only 2 seconds behind him. Then he got disconnected and I couldn't help but feel happy for my race. I had no more stops planned and I was managing the gap to Owen and Linden who where 2nd and 3rd (I Think Linden was already 3rd by then). Then Owen pitted and after the slight rain started to fall, I don't know how, but for about 4 laps I was doing the same lap times on primes, as Owen was on options.
Then he started to push and I had to take care of my tires if I wanted to finish well and not end up like Alonso in Canada. So I went back to standard revs and didn't push the tires except for one or two laps here and there.
When it started to rain I was hopping I could stay on slicks for the last 6 or 7 laps. It started to be slippery in some points so I backed off as I was more than 20 seconds infront of Owen who was second, and Linden was like 7 seconds behind him. I saw Owen was struggling somehow and was making small mistakes and falling back and Linden was catching him. So I knew I only had to bring it home and not make anything stupid on a wet track.
In the end I saw Owen made his last mistake in the last lap and Linden past him, which is good for the championship, I think....
It's good to be back on track and win for the 4th time in China, out of the 4 races I've done there
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Qualifying messed up last lap, started second. First lap got past Linden, and was battling Josh side by side into turn 5 I thankfully stayed infront. Jake got past me after a mountainous climb from 14th up to 1st, I pitted and he lost connection. I had to battle my way through Orldando and Alex after I came out of the pits. Then Juan was managing the gap on me and came out alot closer than I was comfortable with. Then he closed right up and passed me before the DRS zone. Then I pitted for options as a gamble. I closed up and passed Linden quite quickly which was good. I then hit the bollard which nearly slingshot me into the wall. Lost loads of time but not any places. Then final corner penultimate lap, I hit the bollard again, which slingshot me to the other side of the track. I had to then go onto Lean fuel and Linden passed me before the DRS zone and I just had to hope that something strange happened. Not a bad race overall. Happy with third but did hoped for a little bit more. Maybe I'll regret it later in the year.
Congrats to Juan.
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orbking
LHFTW!
Itwould be fantastic, good for London, good for England … a lot better than the Olympics. - Bernie Ecclestone on Londons bid for a Grand Prix.
Was happy getting Pole but was short lived got hit a couple of times through first couple of laps then pitted early for primes hoping to come out in clean air which i didn't had Mate in front and Martin behind then Josh pitted so Josh was right there at this point it was costing me a lot of time and i was down in 7th but eventually guys in front pitted so i got to 5th with Orlando in 3rd but he made an error which put me into 3rd and at this point Owen were 8 seconds in front with few laps to go but on the final corner before final lap Owen made and error so i just went flat out to chase him down and took 2nd place so it wan't a bad comeback after a dreadful first stint bring on Bahrain.
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"I was born to race and to win." Lewis Hamilton After sweeping to the first pole position of his career.
Not a good qualifying as usual, but what can say, i'm like Ferrari were in 2012, slow qualifying but nice race pace, at the start i gained a few positions through turns 1 and 2 then got hit dont know who by, dont really care either. Was down to last, but i knew i'd get up to 3rd/4th position from experiences in the last 2 races where ive been in the exact same situation. Battled through everyone up to 3rd, nice battle with Owen which i eventually lost, then the rain came and it got too slippery for me at the hairpin after the long DRS straight spun 2 or 3 times there which allowed Linden past. Then on the last lap, for the 3rd time in the race, the redbull of the much despised Josh Malin hit me... thats got to be the 5th or 6th time ive been hit by him this season and we're only 3 races in... 4th should have been mine for the 3rd race in a row, but we have to contend with idiots like him not being clean or giving the position back.
Overall i'm happy with my performance and i scored some good points again being consistent, but not too happy with other peoples performances. Onwards and upwards.
Looking forward to Bahrain, its a track I like, and im sure i'll have a bad qualy but a good race pace once again there, also mastered how to have decent straight line speed but with enough cornering grip for my liking too.
