F1 Fanatic

Race 7: Turkey
Qualifying: 1st – Race: 1st
I was in the bottom seven with two minutes to go in Q1, and when the timer had reached 10 seconds I still was 19th. I started another lap and with that I reached 4th place. I took the lead of Q2 with my first and not particularly fast lap, and I held it till the end, so I bravely decided to do only one run in Q3, and I started it with 5 seconds left in the session: my lap was 6 tenths quicker than anyone else’s. I kept leading the race on Button until he pitted on lap 3, and I stopped on lap 4 and came out 8th. I immediately overtook a Virgin and an HRT and after turn 8 pulled out of Kobayashi’s tow to overtake him. 5th place became 2nd when the others pitted but I didn’t have Barrichello’s pace, so I settled down and controlled the 5-second margin I had over Button. On lap 8 Rubens pitted and Jenson did so again on lap 9, once he had closed the gap. Rosberg was 7 seconds behind but he cut it down to one second on the last lap, but I won the race.

Race 12: Hungary
Qualifying: 1st – Race: 3rd
Easily I reached Q3 and took pole with my second lap by three tenths on Rosberg. Before the race I chose Button (currently 3rd) as my championship rival. I held the lead of the race but as I was slower than the others who remained on my tail I decided to anticipate my pit stop by one lap, also because my tyres were badly worn out, to avoid being held up in the pit lane. On lap 5 I succeeded in overtaking Button and Massa who were leaving the pits and I reached 6th place, whilst Petrov was leading the race. He remained ahead after his stop but he later pitted again, losing a likely win; Kovalainen and Buemi both remained ahead of me, but the 10th lap was my fastest and allowed me to overtake Glock at turn 1, promoting me to 3rd place ahead of Massa and Button. Alonso was out of the points and this allowed Button to take his place in the standings as my closest rival.

Race 13: Belgium
Qualifying: 1st – Race: 1st
I had no problems reaching Q3 although I wasn’t first in either of the previous qualifying sessions. On my first lap I was quickest in S1, then I lost all of my advantage in S2 but in S3 I recovered to take pole by 1.8s on Massa who was, in turn, 5 tenths faster than Alonso. I remained in the lead as Barrichello attacked the two Ferraris, but nothing changed eventually. I pitted on lap 3 when Massa, who also pitted, was a couple of seconds behind: I wasn’t held up whilst he was, therefore one lap later, when Alonso pitted, he overtook his team mate. He remained around 2 seconds behind me for all the race whilst Massa was a further 6 seconds behind, and the race finished in that order. Button was 17th and lost second place in the standings to Alonso.

Race 14: Italy
Qualifying: 1st – Race: 1st
One lap in Q3 was enough to take pole by 7 tenths on Massa, Alonso and Kobayashi. I had no problems in keeping the lead and extended my lead to 2 seconds in the first four laps before I pitted. Already at the end of the following lap, after overtaking Hamilton, I had returned to 1st place, and Massa, Alonso, Liuzzi and Kobayashi followed behind. I went faster and faster and extended my lead to over 7 seconds by the end of the race which finished with me ahead of the two Ferraris, Liuzzi and my team mate.

Race 15: Singapore
Qualifying: 1st – Race: 3rd
Rain in Q3 meant I was easily on pole, 4 seconds ahead of Kovalainen, Vettel and Trulli, and allowed me to start the race on hard tyres in an attempt to score a Grand Slam. I closed the door on Kovalainen and crucially Kobayashi jumped into 2nd place, and we both ran away from the Lotus which was slowing down the other drivers. Kobayashi pitted on lap 4 and took fourth place, first amongst those who had pitted. Kovalainen cut down his disadvantage within a couple of laps but one lap later he had fallen back behind, before earning on me again. Kovalainen, Alonso and I pitted on lap 8 and my mechanics needlessly changed my slightly-damaged front wing, but I was 7 seconds behind Kobayashi in 2nd place. On cold tyres I spun twice on lap 9 letting Hamilton through, and then controlled Alonso to take 3rd whilst my team mate won the race. I mathematically clinched the title and immediately signed a contract with McLaren for next season.

Race 16: Japan
Qualifying: 1st – Race: 1st
I was doubtful of my setup’s pace, but at Suzuka even more important and harder is to set a clean lap. I used soft tyres in Q1 and the same set in Q2, and on new tyres in Q3 I went one second faster than anyone else. I remained in 1st position on the first laps, until my pit stop on lap 4. At the start of lap 6 Alonso was leaving the pits after his stop and I overtook him, taking 4th place behind three drivers who stopped in the following laps, handing me 1st place back. Alonso remained within a second of me for the remainder of the race but I won the race ahead of him and the two Mercedes, Schumacher ahead of Rosberg.

Race 17: South Korea
Qualifying: 2nd – Race: 1st
I struggled in Q1 but in the end I reached Q2 without using soft tyres. I was fastest there and was on a flying lap when Schumacher slowed down ahead of me. I crossed the line 0.068s behind Massa, and I improved by three tenths on my following lap in sector 2, where I had found Schumacher, but I couldn’t keep the pace in sector 3 so I had to settle for 2nd place. I took the lead by passing Massa on the inside of turn 1 and held it until I stopped. The ones who continued were faster than me and I had to battle with them as they came out of the pit lane, Button first and Webber next. Barrichello was capable of reaching 2nd place ahead of Webber, but I remained the one in front and won the race.

Race 18: Brazil
Qualifying: 1st – Race: 1st
I was easily the quickest car around Interlagos and I topped qualifying by 5 tenths. I led the race until, on lap 4, I took advantage of a spin that delayed Schumacher and my other pursuers to pit without cars in my tow. I came out 11th and as the laps passed I rose back up, reaching 4th place after the first round of pit stops was over. The top 3, Trulli, Hulkenberg and Barrichello, had an opposite strategy where they started on hard tyres, so they remained on track; however, they were around two seconds per lap faster than me, and when they pitted on lap 10 the gap was just enough for me to stay in front. Instead, me and Hulkenberg battled on the back straight with me eventually having the upper hand. The final laps were crazy as there was a train of drivers right behind me and any small mistake would have cost me several positions. I made none, and I won the race; the top 19 drivers were within 10 seconds of my time.

I’m currently on my second season in a 3 year game. I started off with Williams and short race weekends, easy levels and all to get used to the game. I won every race, apart from Monaco, since I played with my keyboard (Grand Prix 4 style, but the lack of auto-steering rather hurt me.)

I selected Alonso as my rival, in hopes of signing with Ferrari. I did, with equal status even. I did a race or two with a wheel, but it kept zig-zaging on the straights, making it very tiring to play. Since I wasn’t having a whole lot of fun playing, I figured I’d let the game be for a while until I got something proper to control the game with. I got a gamepad a couple of months ago and finally, after 4/5 months, got back into the game. I’m still doing short race weekends, but 30-50% race distances, full damage and intermediate AI. I’m still winning, though, so I’m not complaining.

However, after 9 races, Ferrari offered me a new deal. Salary isn’t really a thing if you’re a Ferrari fan, but it was nice to see it increased. However, they were now offering the role of ‘driver 2′. I declined the deal, and I declined it again after race 10. After race 11, my manager informed me the team is letting me go at the end of the season.

While I can imagine declining an offer twice would force the game to do so, what on earth were they thinking with offering the guy who has won the team mate challenge and is leading the championship a worse driver role? This leaves a somewhat sour taste in my mouth, as a Ferrari fan.

*rant over*