Team: Red Bull
Participants: 4+7 Legend AI
Qualifying: P4
Race: P2
Qualifying:
We had wet weather for qualifying, on inters. I decided to go with my dry setup as it would be a dry race, so my times were going to be a bit compromised. Run 1 After spending 4 laps getting tires warmed up and feeling out grip levels I did a hot lap on mix 3 to get a 1:35.926 Run 2 Went back out on the scrubbed inters from run one since I knew I wouldn't need them for the race. I had enough time for 1 warmup lap and 1 mix 3 hot lap and improved to 1:34.610, P4 but last of human drivers.
Race:
Lap 1 Get Jaegermeister on the inside under braking going into turn 3 to steal P3. Lap 2-3 Defending against Jaegermeister. Lap 4 Jaegermeister gets me when I go wide braking too late into turn 15. Drop to P4. I almost get the position back at turn 16, but I can't quite get the advantage. Lap 10 Pit stop for primes. Come out P5. Lap 13 Jaeger has had an off at turn 3 or 4. I go past for P3. My hope at this point is to stay in front of him and out run his next pit stop. Lap 18 Pass Warleb while he is in the pits for P2. Lap 20 Warleb is hot on my tail, but I keep him behind me at turn 15. Lap 21 Warleb makes contact with me coming into turn 6 and upsets my car, sending me off track. Fortunately car is undamaged and I only drop to P3. Lap 23 Warleb is disqualified over an incident with the AI, and I move back up to P2. Lap 28 I've been keeping a gap of around 10-12sec over Jaegermeister behind me in P3. He pitted at the end of lap 27, and I have cranked up my engine to mix 3 to try and get even more of a gap for the stop I will make at the end of this lap in immediate response to his. Jaegermeister is 40sec behind when I hit the pit lane for my final stop, to fit options. I come out still in P2, with Jaegermeister around 13sec behind. Lap 39 Jaegermeister had gotten as close as 7sec, but I'm able to hold him off until the finish, taking P2 with a nice 11sec cusion.
This race was a rematch of the Random Fun race between Eric and I, so I was keen to beat him. I knew what I had done wrong last time, my setup was tuned, and I had an improved tire strategy. I needed him to make a mistake as well, but I have learned that he frequently does, and I was really ready to pounce on him this time if and when he did. I was really proud of the job I did this time around. Let me tell you, he kept me honest in the 2nd and especially the final stint. I was doing a lot of fancy fuel mix switching to give me a little boost where I needed it every single lap during that time. I still thought for sure he was going to catch me, but he never did. It was almost a perfect reversal of our last race against each other here. Key decision of the race was outlasting his pit stop and then making mine immediately after on the next lap while he was still slow on cold tires. I had to be quick on that lap as well, and I was able to pull off the gap and get back out before he could get too close. That was THE moment where I beat him.
After the race there was a big tantrum from someone about how they didn't join RD to race AI and how they were refusing from this point to participate in any races with AI. They're sick of getting crashed into blah blah throwing their toys. My response to people that whine about the AI is that you have to learn to drive around them safely. That's the game. We all know how they behave. It should be in your skill set to be able to overtake them with enough care not to have an incident. To me a driver that's always getting into it with the AI can't adjust to the difference of their driving, and its just not that hard. To me, if you can't do that, then you aren't as good a driver as you think you are. I'm no hotshot, but I'm able to deal with the AI just fine and usually it causes barely a ripple in my race. But I have the discipline to use the proper care, and the ability to respond and adapt to the way the AI behaves. Now of course I would rather race with all humans and no AI, but when the grid is small I feel like some AI need to be there or its just too easy for the fastest guys to run away with it. If they are so good, dealing with the traffic should be no problem. And if they can't do that, they deserve the consequence of their inability to handle it. Plus an empty track is just way too boring.
Race Department Weekly Fun Series Stats
Starts: 5
Finishes: 4
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P2
Podiums: 1
Wins: 0
Points: 37
Random Fun Series 9 Brazil
Team: HRT
Participants: 3+8 Legend AI
Qualifying: P3
Race: P3
Qualifying:
Took two different runs in dry conditions and just could not do better than P3, last among human drivers. Though my setup was good the other two human drivers were 1-2sec better than me on dry pace, even the driver that was on primes like me. I didn't make major adjustments for the wet race since the forecast said 27% chance of rain.
Race:
Lap 1 Mistake at the start as I carry a bit too much speed through the Senna S while trying to safely pass FrenziedSine who has gone off and is re-entering. I bump the wall and spin. Down to P11, dead last. Lap 7 I've made it back up to P3. Ahead, FrenziedSine is making mistakes. My wet pace is good. I'm catching up, and he gets wide at turn 12, letting me past for P2. Lap 25 I've kept FrenziedSine behind me. I pit and ask for inters since its still very wet on track even though the rain has pretty much stopped. Its just too wet for me to risk primes. I come out still in P2. Lap 36 The drier it gets, the more pace FrenziedSine is finding. He's been reeling me in all through the stint. Benny has long ago disappeared into the distance, so I know at this point my race is for P2. I pit at the end of the lap for primes to go to the end. FrenziedSine goes past, and I come out in P3. Lap 39 Fast lap! Lap 40 Improve fast lap and pass FrenziedSine while he's pitted to take back P2. Lap 41 Another fast lap! Lap 43 FrenziedSine gets DRS on me down start/finish and make the pass under braking down the inside going into turn 1, putting me back to P3. I just don't have the pace now that its dry. Lap 53 Finish 1 lap down.
I would have of course loved to beat a real human driver in this one, but I'm not disappointed because I had great fun racing FrenziedSine this time around. I held him off all race until there were just 9 laps to go. I can't be too upset about that when I know how much better he is than me. It was just a shame that I suffered from such lack of pace once it was dry. I also got another great compliment from FrenziedSine post race:
"I had a great enjoyable battle or battles with SLIDERZ for pretty much the rest of the race. I spent probably about 15 or 20 laps on your tail trying to get by or hoping I can pressure you into a mistake but that never happened. Beautiful defensive driving on your part."
So next week is the 10th and final race in the series, and there's a nice little 3 way battle for third place in the standings which I currently occupy. Depending on whether or not the one guy shows up (I'm thinking not), its pretty much going to be between me and benny to duke it out, but as long as I don't DNF and finish say top 3, third place should be mine.
Race Department Random Fun League Stats
Starts: 7
Finishes: 6
Best Grid: P3 (x2)
Best Race: P2
Podiums: 3
Wins: 0
Points: 83
League table rank: 3rd of 10
--------------------------------------------------
Race Department Lifetime Club Stats
Starts: 12
Finishes: 10
Best Grid: P3 (x2)
Best Race: P2 (x2)
Podiums: 4
Wins: 0
Points: 120
No comments:
Post a Comment