F1 2011 Career - Grand Prix of Belgium

Race: Grand Prix of Belgium at Spa - Round 12

Weather Report:
Practice - Light Rain
Qualifying - Light Cloud
Race - Heavy Rain

Results:
Practice - P1 1:46.003 on Option tire (P2 +0.601)
No R&D

Qualifying - P1 1:46.169 on Option tire (P2 +1.222)
Objective - Qualify P4 or better completed

Race -  P1
22 laps
2 stops - Option-Intermediate-Intermediate
Fast Lap 1:47.733
Objective - Finish P1 completed

Podium:
1st - Me  Q-P1 42:13.680
2nd - Maldonado  Q-P13 +11.906
3rd - Webber  Q-P8 +22.015


When would the rain come. That was the question. My first bit of luck in this race came when I was able to make the options I started on last 2 more laps than my scheduled stop. It started to rain during those last 2 laps. When I pitted on lap 7, I asked for inters. Vettel came in right behind me, and though he got into his box first, my crew was speedy and realeased me just in front of him! It was perhaps one lap too early for inters, but it was wet enough not to hurt them, and as it turned out, the cars in front began pitting as I finished up lap 8, giving me back a number of places. The next question was, how long would these inters last? I had 17 laps to go... could I make them go to the end of the race? I got another bit of luck in that some of the field chose slicks at their first stops instead of inters, and so had to stop again within just a lap or 2, helping me get a bit of a gap. Vettel, whom I had been defending against since leaving pit lane, was one of those unlucky drivers. It wasn't long before I jumped everyone while they pitted and regained 1st place.

My perfectly timed pit stop and their tire mistakes gave me around a 20 sec gap to Massa and Vettel, but...I was losing time every lap to them, as I knew I would, a second or more per lap. The AI here is particularly fast, and much faster than me in sector 2, allowing it to always catch me up eventually and keep me defending. As my run on inters is winding down, Massa has caught up to me and is pushing me hard. Its taking my best defending to keep him behind. My engineer has told me that Massa will be pitting soon. I'm hoping that he and perhaps Vettel also will pit before I have to, letting me significantly gap them in preparation for my stop, but it is not to be.

I pit on lap 15 and ask for another set of inters. I drop to P4, with Vettel having just passed me as I was leaving pit lane. I'm close enough to the driver in front (don't remember who it was) to get on him and I blow by on the Kemmel straight. His inters must be pretty worn because he drops back and is never a threat. I'm in a podium position now, and if that's where I'll finish I'm ok with it, but... Vettel has run pretty long on his inters, too, and I'm catching up to him. Eventually I can see him out in front of me, and I'm even getting right up behind him in the slow corners, but he's quick accelerating and I can't quite seem to get close enough. He's just that little bit faster and able to get away. Then we start getting into back marker traffic. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be slowing him up much. He's getting lucky and encountering them in places where he can get an easy pass. Fortunately its much the same for me and I keep driving steady but pushing after him. That's when perhaps the best luck I would get all race comes along, a gift in the form of Trulli, who is the next back marker in line to be overtaken by Vettel. He catches Trulli just as they come up on Eau Rouge...and he lifts, falling in behind! I came flying up on them - I actually thought the car I saw behind was Trulli, that Vettel had gotten the pass...but it was Vettel behind! I almost crash into Trulli as I'm coming out onto the straight. Had to lift a bit to slow down and maneuver around him, but I did it without crashing and left them both WAY behind!!! Full speed Eau Rouge pass executed HAHAHA!Massa is still in 1st, but he is going to have to stop. A few laps to go, and I jump him while he's in the pits to take 1st, but he comes out right behind me. In no time at all he is all over me. I'm frantically defending, almost losing the position going a bit wide in a few turns. On lap 21 he almost gets me coming through Blanchimont. Final lap. Streaking down Kemmel straight. Massa is making a move to go down the outside. I move to shut the door... I don't know if Massa took his wing off or what, but he collided with me, and after that he disappeared. On the penultimate lap!!! I finish the rest of the lap without incident and bring it home for the win!!!Truly one of the best races I have ever had! Thank you Spa...it was EPIC!!! :D

Rival Selection: Button

Contract Offers:
•Torro Rosso renewal
•Virgin

Drivers Championship
1st - Me  261pts
2nd - Petrov  124pts
3rd - Button  108pts

Constructors Championship 
1st - Torro Rosso  272pts
2nd - McLaren  215pts
3rd - Ferrari  178pts

Season 2 Results
Australia: Q-P16 R-P5
Malaysia: Q-P16 R-P1
China: Q-P8 R-P2
Turkey: Q-P15 R-P3
Spain: Q-P1 R-P1 FL-1:21.627
Monte Carlo: Q-P1 R-P1
Canada: Q-P4 R-P1
Europe: Q-P1 R-P1
Britain: Q-P1 R-P1
Germany: Q-P1 R-P2
Hungary: Q-P1 R-P1
Belgium: Q-P1 R-P1

F1 2011 Career Progress - playthrough 1 (season 1 excluded)
Season: 2
Team: Torro Rosso
Nationality: American
Professional AI
Career Starts: 12
Career Best Grid Result: 1 (x7)
Career Best Race Finish: 1 (x8)
Career Podiums: 11
Career Points: 261
Wins: 8
WDC: 0
ABS/Full TCS/Auto gearbox/Dynamic racing line/penalties reduced/damage full/tire sim/short race weekend/50% distance/custom setups

  

F1 2011 Career - Grand Prix of Hungary

"Usual procedure, Heather...P1, deploy finger."

Race: Grand Prix of Hungary at Budapest (Hungaroring) - Round 11

Weather Report:
Practice - Clear
Qualifying - Clear
Race - Clear

Results:
Practice - P1 1:18.313 on Option tires (P2 +2.377)
R&D - Reduce Engine Wear 5.0% Completed

Qualifying - P1 1:18.050 on Option tires (P2 +2.100)
Objective - Qualify P4 or better Completed

Race - P1
35 laps
4 Stops - Option-Prime-Option-Prime-Option
Fast Lap 1:18.778
Objective - Finish P1 Completed

Podium:
1st - Me         Q-P1   40:04.812
2nd - Alonso Q-P4 +54.754
3rd - Petrov   Q-P8 +1:01.291

I knew after testing that I had created a monster of a setup for my Torro Rosso, but WOW. After my first stop I got the lead back on the next lap, jumping everyone in front while they were in the pits. I had the delta easily for every stop after that. Got out front and never looked back. On primes in particular, I was so much faster by comparison that it was almost laughable. Probably could take on Legend AI in this car with this setup here.

Drivers Championship (WDC)
1st -  Me 236
2nd - Petrov 120
3rd - Button 108

Constructors Championship (WCC)
1st - Torro Rosso 245
2nd - McLaren 215
3rd - Ferrari 166 

Season 2 Results
Australia: Q-P16 R-P5
Malaysia: Q-P16 R-P1
China: Q-P8 R-P2
Turkey: Q-P15 R-P3
Spain: Q-P1 R-P1
Monte Carlo: Q-P1 R-P1
Canada: Q-P4 R-P1
Europe: Q-P1 R-P1
Britain: Q-P1 R-P1
Germany: Q-P1 R-P2
Hungary: Q-P1 R-P1

F1 2011 Career Progress - Playthrough 1 (Season 1 Excluded)
Season: 2
Team: Torro Rosso
Nationality: American
Professional AI
Career Starts: 11
Career Best Grid Result: 1 (x6)
Career Best Race Finish: 1 (x7)
Career Podiums: 10
Career Points: 236
Wins: 7
WDC: 0
ABS/Full TCS/Auto gearbox/Dynamic racing line/penalties reduced/damage full/tire sim/short race weekend/50% distance/custom setups

F1 2011 Career - Grand Prix of Germany

So, I've been tracking a bunch of stats during my F1 2011 career, mainly with the aim of having the info for my signature on the F1 2011 game forums. I have this wealth of data, but I have ended up not really registering and participating in discussions on the forums, or having anywhere else to share my career data, so I thought hey why not blog it? I have several friends and that either play F1 2011, or are interested in my progress, so this will be a fun way to share the data with them. I don't plan on necessarily getting into fancy descriptions or anything, but think of the entries as being "baseball card stat-like" snapshots of my career race outcomes and career progress. If there is anything worth talking about from a particular race, you might see me elaborate, but this is pretty much going to be stats sharing. This first entry about the German Grand Prix is going to have a little bit less data since I didn't plan on blogging it. Future entries will show laps completed, best personal laps from Practice, Qualifying, and the Race, race completion time, and the time gaps for top 3 finishers, as well as the drivers and constructors standings after the race. The career stats summary at the end of each entry lists assists used, AI difficulty, race distance, and so on. Note that career totals do not include stats from my first season. I played on Amateur and it was so easy that I don't feel like it counts for anything meaningful lol. Also note that I began to use custom setups at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Without further ado...results from the Grand Prix of Germany:

Race: Grand Prix of Germany at Nurburgring

Results:
Practice - P1 1:29.960
Weather overcast

Qualifying - P1 1:30.106 (setup adjusted for wet conditions on race day)
Weather clear

Race - P2
Fast Lap 1:31.-
Weather 75% chance of Heavy Rain
Podium:
1st Button
2nd Me
3rd Vettel

After starting the race on the option tire, the rain came during my second stint, on the prime tire. I stayed out as long as possible and then pitted for intermediate tires, but had to stop again for wets. I'm not sure if it was the number of stops that I made, or just the timing, but I ended up losing out to Button, not quite able to jump him while he was in the pits. I had P1 by the end of my intermediate stint, but after I pitted for wets and dropped back, Button was able to pit after me for his wets and still stay in front of me. I was gaining on him, within about 4 seconds of him by the end of the race, but just didn't have enough laps to catch him. The Torro Rosso just wasn't fast enough to make up for my slight stop timing mistake.

Season 2 Results 
Australia: Q-P16 R-P5
Malaysia: Q-P16 R-P1
China: Q-P8 R-P2
Turkey: Q-P15 R-P3
Spain: Q-P1 R-P1
Monte Carlo: Q-P1 R-P1
Canada: Q-P4 R-P1
Europe: Q-P1 R-P1
Britain: Q-P1 R-P1
Germany: Q-P1 R-P2

F1 2011 Career Progress - Playthrough 1 (Season 1 Excluded)
Season: 2
Team: Torro Rosso
Nationality: American
Professional AI
Career Starts: 10
Career Best Grid Result: 1 (x5)
Career Best Race Finish: 1 (x6)
Career Podiums: 9
Career Points: 211
Wins: 6
WDC: 0
ABS/Full TCS/Auto gearbox/Dynamic racing line/penalties reduced/damage full/tire sim/short race weekend/50% distance

F1 2011 - Season 2 Canadian GP

YES, BABY! YES! That's how you win the Canadian GP woooo! lol.

Ah what a race...This one was special I think because it wasn't luck or perhaps an overpowered edge from some setup that I looked up online. I actually spent quite a bit of time preparing for this race in Montreal, doing all of my own setup work ahead of the actual race weekend. No engineer presets. No looking anything up. 100% mine.

It started with an afternoon early last week, spent reading some great articles covering the fundamentals of, and the correct procedure for, setting up a car for a track. I really wanted to learn to do setup myself. Looking up other peoples setups can bring mixed results and honestly, its too much like pressing the easy button, ya know? Fine if ya trounce the computer with your own work, but otherwise its too much like plain old cheating for my taste. I distilled all the info down into an easy to follow procedural guide, and the next evening I went to work in the 'simulator' (aka Time Trial mode) and started trying to figure out the setup for my Torro Rosso. It seemed that my guide had worked like a charm, but of course adjustments always have to be made after setup in TT, mainly because in TT the car runs with no ballast, essentially without the weight of any fuel.

Next step was to do some 30% GPs (short weekends) driving as Sebastian Buemi to see how his Torro Rosso behaved with my setup applied. That would allow me to iron out most of the problems. It also gave me a good idea of the tire strategy that I might have to employ due to the nature of the track. The setup definitely needed some adjustment for lapping under fuel load to account for maneuvering with the extra weight in the car. All that ended up needing to be done was a small tweak to the rear wing, and I was pretty sure that I had it.  Of course that wasn't the end, because in GP mode the car is Buemi's 2011 Torro Rosso, unaffected by the changing tiers and R&D that goes on in career mode. But it was the end of my simulator work.

I took a break from gaming for the Christmas holiday, and then today, it was back to racing. I opened up the race report and got some news that wasn't exactly what I had been hoping for. While practice would be dry, qualifying would have heavy rain, and there was a 53% chance of rain on race day. Not unexpected, but dry would have been best, as that is the condition I developed my setup in, and I had not yet had any experience adjusting a track setup for wet conditions. Worst of all, I would have to try to make some of the changes while it was still dry, with no real way to know how it was going to perform until qualifying was under way. Yikes. I finished first in practice, so at least I was on to something in comparison to how the other teams were setting up for the conditions.

Fast forward to qualifying. Heavy rain, with running restricted to full wet tires. I don't want to set up for heavy rain as only light rain is forcast for race day, and I'm also thinking that it won't be wet for the entire race.  That's my gamble...set up to qualify well, but still perform when things are dried out. The best I get out of my car is P4, which all things considered is not bad. 2nd row on the grid is more than good enough, and I've got the car handling the way I need it to in the wet without making too much sacrifice for dry conditions. I also know that setup alone will not win the day. Montreal is a track that, in my experience, is dictated by pit strategy more than all out speed. Armed with what I learned about pitting from my race sims, I moved ahead to race day.

Its raining for the start of the race, and intermediates have been selected for the start. This is good in relation to my setup. If conditions stay wet I have just 2 stops to make, which I will have to time right, on target or otherwise, to catch people in the pits, since simulator experience says I will not be fast enough to get the delta on the guy behind. I also MUST avoid pitting at the same time as the competition, since I am at a disadvantage with my garage at the far end of the pit lane. I get an excellent start, easily taking the lead going into turn 1. I have a second, then almost 2, over Button in 2nd for the entire first stint. Its still raining when I have my first stop, which I take a lap early based on feedback. I also know that the rain is going to stop in 10-15min. I'm able to overtake everyone when they pit over the next few laps, and I'm back in the lead, lapping well on my 2nd set of inters, decently out in front of Button and Massa, my only real challengers. Things are drying out, and I hear the call as I come down the front straight that Button has pitted for options. I've got one eye on the gap I have over him, and its rapidly shrinking. I lose almost 3 seconds of my lead just in sector 2. SHIT. Obviously I have to pit IMMEDIATELY whether I think I'm ready or not, because when I look at the race director info, the 4 cars behind me all have options. I need to get some faster shoes on ASAP! lol. Coming down the back straight I look at the lap counter and realize that I could gamble and put on primes...I know from my testing that I am very fast on them. I COULD be fast enough to keep anyone in front of me on options from getting the pit delta, and leap frog them while they pit during my longer stint. If it could have just stayed wet, the outcome of the race was almost certain for me barring a badly timed stop. Now, its fly by the seat of my pants time, and pray that it works against whatever strategy the other teams are running. I drive straight into pit lane, ask for primes, and fly back out. I come out  JUST in front of Button, but he's consistently RIGHT on my gearbox. He's fast on those options, and I think his team must have gambled on setting him up dryer than me. I'm holding him off but I make a mistake that lets him get a DRS overtake on me down the back straight, and I can't make it up at the chicane, or at turn one. After that Button is just too fast and I can't catch him. Its not long before he's about 10 sec out in front of me, but I'm able to stop the bleeding there. Soon, Button's options are done, and I pass him while he is in the pits. My plan has worked. I'm in the lead again, but...I'm going to have to make one last stop, for primes to take me to the end. I decide to check the race director info again, because surely all those people that had fitted options, including Button, will now pick primes and run to the end of the race, right? Wrong. It seems that I'm getting a belated Christmas gift in the form of everyone that is even a REMOTE threat, once again including Button, is choosing to take another set of options. I should be able to fit my primes and be able to pass them when their options give out, which is guaranteed to be a number of laps before the end of the race. I push hard during this lap, knowing that I can pit immediately to get my primes and easily make it to the end. I come into the pits for the last time, ask for primes. I also need a front wing change from some wall contact when I was duking it out with Button the first lap after coming out of my last stop which costs me a couple seconds. I only drop down to P4, with Massa in P3 just in front of me. I get the overtake on him pretty quickly, but Button in the lead is pretty far out there. He does NOT however, get the pit delta. I catch another guy in the pits. I'm P2. I know Button will have to pit. I'm pushing as hard as I can. Button still does not have the delta. Finally...he pits. I pass him. But he comes out of the pit lane just a second or two behind, and he's still faster than me. 5 or 6 laps to go, and I'm fighting him off of my gearbox all the way down the back straight, through the chicane, and down the front straight, just barely holding him off. I'm still faster in sector 2 but there's nothing in it now. If he gets in front of me its over. But he doesn't. Last lap, I cross start/finish with him almost literally up my tailpipe, having saved just enough KERS to keep him behind me. WOOOO HOOOO! WHAT A RACE!!! P1!!! I WIN!!!

It was an incredible feeling, getting that win all on my own merit, all with my own setup work. My tire strategy couldn't have been more perfect. I made 3 stops...the rest of the field made 4-5. That is most certainly where I won it, and the edge from my setup is what allowed that strategy to work. I was only .6 or so of a sec slower than the fastest lap of the race, which was set on options. I love races like this where you have to figure it out on the fly, and you really don't know what's going to happen until you cross the line on that last lap. All I know is, all the hard work paid off, and it was EPIC.

I have now won two of my personal triple crown of races, which is the back to back series of Monte Carlo, Montreal, and Valencia. Can I win at Valencia and take the crown? I certainly will be putting in the same amount of work that I did this time. We'll just have to wait and see...