F1 Fanatic

Awesome graph by the way @McWoblin

I know its late but here are my videos my India. All are worth a watch but part 3 contains the mega battle between me and y2J

Bloody disaster today. I had a nightmare trying to join, and missed quali.

Looking at the laptimes, I reckon I would have posted a late 1:08, so would’ve been around 6th or 7th. So starting 10th, wasn’t a disaster.

Start was poor, then on the first corner I ran wide, and lost about 4 seconds. Was then running around in 10th, around 3 seconds behind 9th place. Caught up and made a couple of places as people span etc.

I had super fresh tyres due to the no qualifying, so started on Primes, deciding to go Prime/Option/Option. My pace was really poor in the first stint, best lap around 1:12.00 and then I made a couple of big errors too. Spinning at the end of the first chicane, and again after turn 5 (?), losing a bunch of time.

I wasn’t pitting until lap 11, and a sign of how bad my pace / spinning was that when people pitted for their first stops on lap 8 they came out in front of me! Fuck!

I pitted at the end of lap 11 for some fresh options, which immediately got me into the low 1:11s, but again, I wasn’t quick. Not sure if I picked the wrong set up, but my gearing was awful, I know it’s not a track about straights, but I was only hittin 180 at the end of the two straights, losing me loads of time… :-(

My 2nd stint was decent and consistent, but I did have another half spin, and that lost me more time. Got lapped by @lemon on lap 18 – disaster.

Came in at the end of lap 20 for my final stop, which was as planned and then nailed up the fuel mix and maxed it out until the end. This was a cock tease of a stint, because I was immediately in the 1:09.6 – 1:10.3 range for the whole of the stint, which was competitive place for a mid-field 5/6/7th place finish. I caught @McWoblin by 8 seconds in my last 8 laps and after being lapped by @agentmulder actually caught him back up and briefly was close enough to consider unlapping myself from him!! :-)

So I play my dropped 8th place, which is 4 points and takes me over 100 points for the season, which is great really. 12 races, 102 points. That’s over 8 points per race average, which I can’t complain about.

Am really gutted / pissed off about how today went. The qualifying / connection thing got me angry, and then that affected my race. I would have loved to have been able to fight it out properly with the guys that were in the battle for 2nd place in the championship.

As it is, I’m quite delighted with my pace for most of the second half of the season, the improvement from last season, my several podiums and 5th in the championship. Would have loved 4th, but I’ll take it.

Will have to get 2012 now and practice like hell for the new season, whenever that may be.

Well done to @MadDogMolloy for managing a great season so well.

Thanks to @McWoblin for all his statistical prowess and keeping the Wiki up to scratch.

Congratulations to @lemon for his PERFECT season. Incredible effort.

And finally, its been good to have a great team mate in @strunk27 this season. Hopefully 3rd and 5th will be good enough for us to get ourselves in a better team as team mates again next season.

Ps. sorry I didn’t join the sprint race, I was actually really dispondent and pissed off and just wanted to chill out. Very stressful evening! Not going to both upping my videos, there’s nothing noteworthy in terms of stewards, and it’s just a boring and occasionally annoying race with mistakes etc!!

Brazilian GP Result

1.Lemon
2.Snake
3. Strunk
4.Y2J
5. Alfred
6. Kevin
7. Maddogmolloy
8. Ms20
9. McWoblin
10. Infernojim

Pole – Snake 1:07:669
F lap – Lemon 1:08.240

@mcwoblin will update the final championship table. 

Awards

Driver of the season – Lemon! Absolute domination and a clean sweep of wins!
Pass of the Season – sorry it’s mine on y2j at the last corner of Canada.. Absolutely incredible end to that race.
Race of the Season- India, lots of action, crashes and close racing on an amazing circuit
Best newcomer – Snake, 2nd in championship
Best Race drive of the season – lemon from the back to win in Australia.
Gentleman of the season- has to be ms20.. He wanted to give up his 3rd place at Monaco because of the lag issue he had (he was in a different place on our screens to where he was on his)  What a legend!
Moment of the Championship – OKevin leaving us after race 2. May have challenged Lemon to the title, like last season.
Most controversial moment – China and the famous incidents 
Most exciting start – British Gp in the wet
Most exciting Qualifying – Australia with 15 cars I think
Crash of the Season – me and el Timuel at china. At the end of the long straight…. Went so far into that gravel.
Team partnership of the season – The Sauber boys! Swapping set ups and helping each other out. Want to see more of this next season!
Best Strategic call of the season – y2j one stop at Belgium
Worst strategic blunder of the season – Infernojim pitting for wets at the end of a drying British Gp
Funniest moment – ms20 bouncing off walls and crashing at Canada (lag again)
Radio (headset) message of the season – maybe me and kvothe screaming at incidents in china.
The Pastor Maldonaldo award (for driver who loved to collect penalties) – Infernojim had a few penalties this season eg. Australia and Canada to name two.
Most improved driver From last season- Infernojim… Unlucky to finish 5th in the standings.. Could have finished higher!
The romain grosjean award (for driver most likely to be involved in first corner crash) – I remember kvothe taking out lemon at Australia (technically turn 3 but oh well)

Personal questions

Biggest rival – different depending on the stage of the season. From Monaco through to Silverstone it was me and Infernojim. Y2j at Canada and India. McWoblin at Japan.
Any Personal milestones – (thinking)… My fastest lap in India on lap 2
How you can improve next season – better race pace, better at making set ups, communication with team mate, practice circuits to death.
Overall Personal highlight – seeing 15 drivers take part in first 2 races !

Next season

What did you like about this season? The drivers here, the close racing
What could be improved? Longer championship, more drivers, drivers working with teammates
Would you be interested in another championship? Hell yeah!
when would you likely to be getting F1 2012? End of this month
Would you like a full 20 race season or keep it similar to how it is?
20 races baby!!

Awards

Driver of the season – Obviously has to be @Lemon
Pass of the Season – Absolutely no idea, struggling to remember further back than the race in India :P
Race of the Season- Italy
Best newcomer – @agentmulder
Best Race drive of the season – ????
Gentleman of the season-@McWoblin
Moment of the Championship – Can’t really think about it, truthfully, the Championship was over very early in terms of the winner. I suppose the first few laps of Brazil when it looked like @mrgrieves might be able to catch @agentmulder was interesting, it would have made the battle for 2nd go down to the wire
Most controversial moment – Has to be in incident at China with that mental driver who was taking everyone out
Most exciting start – From my perspective, Brazil was very interesting, it was by far my least successful qualifying of the Championship and starting from near the back is rather entertaining! :P
Most exciting Qualifying – Italy, if I remember correctly the gap for first and second was only 0.08 of a second and third was only a few points of a second behind that
Crash of the Season – There haven’t been many large crashes, a few nudges and accidental spins but no big impacts. I suppose any of the crashes during China will do
Team partnership of the season – Sauber! @infernojim and @strunk27 comparing test runs on the forum made me worry that me and @McWoblin weren’t putting enough effort in :P and both drivers consistently raced well
Best Strategic call of the season – @mrgrieves going for the one stop at Japan (I think it was Japan) from what I can remember he managed to pull off a one stopper when pretty much no one else could, changing a poor result in to a very good one
Worst strategic blunder of the season – Don’t really know of too many. I suppose the breakdown in Renault communications at Japan, bringing in both cars for their second stop at the same time.
Funniest moment – Can’t think of any funny moments
Radio (headset) message of the season – @strunk27 friend coming on atHungary to offer some support
The Pastor Maldonaldo award (for driver who loved to collect penalties) – @thevortex or @el timuel
Most improved driver From last season- @mrgrieves
The romain grosjean award (for driver most likely to be involved in first corner crash) – for the last couple of races I think I might have to be brutally honest and vote for myself, in the last 3 races I think I caused one first corner incident and was involved in 2 others

Personal questions

Biggest rival – @ms20
Any Personal milestones – I was hoping to catch and beat my team mate after the large number of missed races in the middle of the season, but a string of unimpressive results put an end to that
How you can improve next season – More practice and consistent results, rather than going in with an all or niothing mentality
Overall Personal highlight – going from 5th to 3rd on the last lap at India (before going from 3rd to 5th after my penalty)

Next season

What did you like about this season? Mid-field battle was close all the way through and involved a large number of drivers
What could be improved? Hmmm, force @Lemon to drive with no assists? :P Personally I think things are being run well, however, at the start of last season we chose teams by putting the top two players together (ie @Lemon and @Powderfinger in the McLaren because they finished 1st and 2nd at the end of the season) rather than this, what about the person finishing first and last join the same team? It would make the Constructors Championship much more interesting
Would you be interested in another championship? Yup
when would you likely to be getting F1 2012? I plan on getting it pretty much immediately
Would you like a full 20 race season or keep it similar to how it is? I’d be up for trying a 20 race season

Anyone who’s planning on getting the game on the British release date (21st) fancy starting a cooperative championship?

Awards
Driver of the season – Lemon
Pass of the Season – I can only remember my overtake on Omorfos in India after the long straight – dodging to the right just before the braking zone and just about staying on track.
Race of the Season- India again because it went to well for me and it was so nerve-racking at the end.
Best newcomer – Snake
Best Race drive of the season – Lemon at Monaco.
Gentleman of the season- I think most people were fair and ‘gentleman-ly’
Moment of the Championship –
Most controversial moment –
Most exciting start – Australia, always fun at the start.
Most exciting Qualifying – Brazil, just getting in the 4th place on my last lap.
Crash of the Season – It was probably at Monaco but I can’t remember any specific ones.
Team partnership of the season – The Saubers both had a good points haul.
Best Strategic call of the season – Anyone who one stopped and pulled it off, I think that happened quite a few times.
Worst strategic blunder of the season – My setup at Suzuka was awful so I had to pit every 4 laps from the tyre wear.
Funniest moment – Can’t think of any in the main championship but in the sprint championship a few weeks ago Lemon caught the curb at Pouhon and flew way up into the air and I heard a funny kind of surprised ‘aaaaaah’ as I went past – I screwed up the whole of the rest of the lap laughing.
Radio (headset) message of the season –
The Pastor Maldonaldo award (for driver who loved to collect penalties) -
Most improved driver From last season-
The romain grosjean award (for driver most likely to be involved in first corner crash) -
Personal questions
Biggest rival – Lt Alfred
Any Personal milestones – A few podiums and a 2nd place was good.
How you can improve next season – Turning up to more races (sorry that I couldn’t do more but I couldn’t really control it)
Overall Personal highlight – My 2nd in India after 1 stopping after a spin.
Next season
What did you like about this season? Good, mostly clean racing.
What could be improved? Nothing in particular
Would you be interested in another championship? Yes
when would you likely to be getting F1 2012? Probably by the end of October.
Would you like a full 20 race season or keep it similar to how it is? Full season – personally I don’t find any of the tracks (even Abu Dhabi) boring so I’d love a full season.

• Awards

Driver of the season – @Lemon – this is a no brainer really.
Pass of the Season – Hard to say without going back through all the videos. However, I was really excited by my pass on @ljkobrien at India in the sweeping sector 3. Honourable mention to @strunk27 passing me around the outside of the first chicane at Monza, without contact. Great clean pass.
Race of the Season- I’m going to go for India – consistent racing, lots of battles, and a dramatic (and rather stupid!) ending on my part.
Best newcomer – @agentmulder aka Snake. 2nd in the Championship.
Best Race drive of the season – There were a few good recover drives. I went from last to 3rd @ Canada, but can’t count this, because the only reason I was last in the first place was because of a stupid error I made, and was penalized for. Based on that, I’m going to go for @strunk27 charge from last, (behind even me!) at Brazil to the podium and 3rd in the WDC.
Gentleman of the season – A few good contenders here, but @ms20 has to be the one due to his aforementioned graceful handling of the Monaco situation. Honourable mentions go to @McWoblin and also @ljkobrien for withdrawing his appeal at India, even though it was down purely to lag issues.
Moment of the Championship – For me, there were a couple of big moments that defined my championship and halted my attack for 2nd place. Firstly, my disastrous first stint at Japan. Having qualified on 2nd place, I had great pace, but made 3 awful errors in my first stint to put me out of the picture, and I finished 7th, but with the pace to easily have battled it out for 2nd or 3rd with @strunk27. And then my connection issues on Monday, which meant I couldn’t qualify for the race, and also gave me no chance to get a bit of rhythm having not played since my long practice on Saturday. I also had to rush my set ups and picked the wrong one, with a dreadful top gear, meaning I maxed out at 180 on the straights! Overall, those two moments cost me in the region of 15 points, which could have been enough to get me 2nd or 3rd in the championship. You know what they say though, IF is F1 spelt backwards!
Most controversial moment – Chinese race in general, but in particular the sensationally aggressive drive from El Timuel – who was never to be seen again!!
Most exciting start – Brazil looked pretty tasty from my grandstand view at the back. Silverstone I also remember being crazy.
Most exciting Qualifying – Was it Monza that was really close? Also Brazil looked pretty tasty up the front. Shame I couldn’t do qualifying, as I would have been in that bunch who were in the late 1:08s / early 1:09s.
Crash of the Season – Any one from China. Me and my team mate had a couple of identikit comedy half shunts with ambitious lunges into the 2nd chicane @ Monza.
Team partnership of the season – Got to be me and @strunk27 in Sauber – a pleasure to work with.
Best Strategic call of the season – I made a stop less than everyone at Canada, which helped me recover to 3rd in spite of my 10 second penalty – I was actually 2nd on track at the end.
Worst strategic blunder of the season – I stayed out for 1 lap too long in my first stint at Turkey and spun, costing me a chance to be involved in the epic battle with @mrgrieves and @infernikus for 2nd place. Still got 4th though. I also pitted for inters toward the end of Silverstone, and the track then dried and ate up my tyres. Lost me a couple of places in the dying laps.
Funniest moment – Most of the sprint races just after the main events were comedy gold!
Radio (headset) message of the season – Can’t think of any.
The Pastor Maldonaldo award (for driver who loved to collect penalties) – I got a couple. One very unfair for corner cutting at Australia (actually got disqualified), and the one for my infamous crash at Canada with @agentmulder. No one was particularly bad for this after China hough.
Most improved driver From last season – Firstly, thanks to those that have voted me on this, it’s a real honour to be mentioned andI am delighted with how much I’ve improved this year. I’m going to go for @ms20. Really impressive toward the end of the season.
The romain grosjean award (for driver most likely to be involved in first corner crash) – @MadDogMolloy or @strunk27, there were a few races where I passed @strunk27 (including Brazil) where he was facing backwards – so he must’ve had some action!!

Personal questions
Biggest rival – @strunk27 – we managed to cope with the inter-team battle well and avoid an Alonso / Hamilton circa 2007 situation. Toward the end of the season we often found ourselves very evenly matched in qualifying and the race.
Any Personal milestones – 3 podiums this year, and could easily have been 4 or 5 but for mistakes at Turkey and Japan.
How you can improve next season – practice, practice, practice.
Overall Personal highlight – Not being a liability backmarker and not getting lapped every race!!

Next season

What did you like about this season? Great banter, fair play, mature discussions over controversial moments, the introduction of the stewards panel. Also really enjoyed the team work with @strunk27 and all of the post race sprint races.
What could be improved? Not a lot.
Would you be interested in another championship? Yes
when would you likely to be getting F1 2012? Probably either end of September or end of October, finances allowing.
Would you like a full 20 race season or keep it similar to how it is? I would be open for full 20 races, but we’d need at least 4 dropped scores in that scenario. I know for instance, that I have a 3 week holiday in February, and the championship would likely still be going then, so would miss 3 races just for that.