F1 Fanatic

Quali: 2nd
Qualifying was mainly just getting used to 2011 again. I had planned to do some practice, but I had too much to do for that to happen. My lap times tumbled, but I was never able to match Shane, who beat me by about 7 tenths of a second.

Race: 3rd
I got a pretty good start off the line, @shaneb12345678910 took the inside line, but I was able to get a better exit, which combined with half of my KERS, pulled me alongside him, I thought about backing off, but I had the inside line going into Eau Rouge, and with my better exit, was almost positive that I could pull in front.
We entered the corner together, I moved as far to the left as possible, without running off the track too much, though I still had two wheels off the track, but nevertheless, on the exit, Shane swept to the left, hitting into me and sending me crashing into the barriers. I was lucky to only lose my front wing, but I knew that it was my race over, after 3 corners…
I lost at least 10 seconds on that lap alone as I trailed back to the pits, with huge amounts of understeer, and pitted for options, hoping that with a fresh set, I would be able to close the gap for when the others stopped. This worked to some extent, as on lap 5, I was able to pass Electrolite, though I think this was partly due to him having troubles and eventually crashing out. I was still 30 seconds down on @Abboracing, but I was closing the gap. Some laps quicker than others. This could have been due to the two front runners fighting, or Abbmacher making mistakes, I’m not sure.
I think I pitted on lap 9 for Primes, so that I could run to the end, but I was never able to get that close. At one point, I was 5 seconds behind @Abboracing but with him on fresh tyres, I had no real chance of catching, and as my tyres started to wear, I found myself pushing too hard, and having a couple of off-track moments, meaning that I finished 20 seconds behind second place.

Congrats to Shane, he was pretty fast today. Little bit confused about the lag, as he wasn’t lagging to me whatsoever, and since moving, I have much better connection now (In the region of 15-19Mbps), so I don’t see how I could have been lagging, but oh well. Little bit of a disappointing race, as I think I could have done more to challenge for the victory.

Looking forward to 2012!

Fuming I missed out. For some ridiculous reason my PS3 wouldn’t reconnect to the internet after last time!!! ARGH!

Great race, unfortunately I made the choice to pit twice, this cost me a shot at t he win. However, from the start, I got off the line well, took turn 1 gently too avoid running into @JamieFranklinF1 and team mate @ShaneB457 . I followed the pair down to Eau rouge and from what I could see and remember thinking it was not going to end well. Both cars looked to be going into the right hander next too each other. Hence I was not surprised to see JamieFranklinF1 hit t he wall. I was close enough to get a good tow from @ShaneB457 down the Kemel straight and set me up for a good battle with him until I pitted early on lap 5. Much respect to you @ShaneB457 we had quite a few corners running side by side with minimal wheel rubbing, I would say perfect, fair, great racing. congrats on the win Shane, Glad we could bring it home for the 1-2. I just regret opting for the 2 stop. I cost me the chance to run with Shane throughout the race.

@bradley13 I remember it was definitely one or the other driver’s fault…but I can’t remember which :(

Pretty sure I can do next weekend!

@electrolite – Ok, well, seeing as we now have three counts of them being side by side, and only one of Jamie going off on his own. I’m now going to look into this. I’ve heard both sides so will look into things a bit more and see what will happen, but this certainly doesn’t seem like LAG.
@formula-1 – Via the power of Facebook! Sure thing, if we have poor attendance :)

James Calado! That’s going to be great fun…as long as none of us have a Grosjean moment ;)

Really looking forward to this one. The last time I raced at Hockenheim in this league I was fighting for the podium, so I hope to be up there again, securing as many points for Lotus as possible!

@bradley13
Im not going to make a big deal out of this and believe me, I could not care less if I cant qualify this weekend. But I still think I’m being blamed in the wrong here. Through Eau Rouge I kept right as much as I could as I was aware that he was near me to the left. I kept a straight line just up over the hill. I saw Jamie was directly behind me because of the indicator arrow and then I saw him spin into the barrier to the right and then spin across the track hitting the wall on the left. There was no vibration on the controller and I did not feel any touch whatsoever. I feel as though a penalty is harsh.

Even though I strongly disagree with you on this, I guess you’re the boss and the decision is final.