[NoSkillz]

RACE FOUR: Russian Grand Prix, Black Sea (April 28, 2019)

Track Layout B
Track Guide – Top Speed, Medium Speed Corners and High Speed Corners Crucial
Track Info - Fuel Burn (Very High), Tyre Wear (Very High)
Laps - 61 (2.41 miles each)
Tyres Available - Soft, Mediums, Hards, Intermediates, Wets
Weather Forecast - Practice (Partly Cloudy); Qualifying (Mostly Sunny); Race Day (Partly Cloudy)

We get a brand new engine finished just after the Chinese Grand Prix and we immediately begin work on performance and reliability. Our design team gets to work on building a new suspension. Once that’s done, we will have finished building a full set of new “Average” rated components and can then start building a set of “Good” components.

Chinese Grand Prix podium finisher Checo Perez comes to me indicating that he’s started racing motorbikes in his free time, which adds +1 to his smoothness rating and +5 to his marketability. He’ll maintain those bonuses for 20 weeks.

Pundits feel Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes team will continue to dominate at Black Sea, with the Toro Rosso’s expected to struggle.

Our design team gets the new suspension completed just before race day but I’m not putting it into a car until the reliability is improved, so Perez will have to wait until next weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix.

Once again, there is a 40% chance of rain on race day. We can choose between Softs, Mediums and Hards and I end up taking 6 Softs, 6 Mediums and 3 Hards for each driver. Perez is considered “Happy” with his current car setup while Stroll is “Content”. Both are improved from last week’s “Content” and “Angry” respectively.

PRACTICE –

From a strategic perspective, we could try to go for a one pit race for Perez if we use Hards, as he’s better with Tyres than his counterpart, Lance Stroll. I don’t see how I can get away from having at least two pits with Stroll, even if the weather is favourable, which is up in the air right now. That all said, I think I’m going to attempt to get Level Three knowledge on the hard tyres and the mediums in practice.

We have a lovely, dry day for the entire practice run and it goes better than I could ever expect, as we quickly get both cars dialed in to 99% optimum balance and not only do I hit Level Three Knowledge in Soft Tyres, Hard Tyres, Qualifying Trim and Race Trim, but I also get the bonus of hitting Level Two Knowledge in Inters, just in case we see rain on race day. Just a splendid 25 minutes of practice!

Making it even better is the fact that Perez’s car posts the fastest lap time, with Lance Stroll doing well to post the fifth best time. Let’s see what we can do in qualifying though…

QUALIFYING –

It’s another gorgeous day for qualifying in Russia and I will utilize the 15% performance bonuses for Qualifying Trim and for Soft Tyres. We are confident after a great practice session but once again, we are foiled in the first lap of Q1, with Perez running 17th and Stroll is at the back of the pack in 20th, both WELL back of moving on to Q2. Geez! Perez is able to improve to 10th on his second attempt while Stroll can only move up to 18th. I’m able to squeeze Stroll out for a third try just before time expires on a third set of Softs but his car is just not up to the task and he can’t improve on that second time. He will start in 18th in the race, while Perez just moves on to Q2.

Q2 sees Perez out on the track first but he can only nab 11th with his first attempt. He’s back out on his second last set of fresh Soft Tyres for his second attempt and is able to squeeze into 9th, barely slipping through to Q3.

Laughably, I send out Perez on Mediums to start Q3, saving his last set of Softs for his second qualifying run. Predictably, he finishes dead last among the ten drivers left in Q3 so I send him back out on his last set of Softs and unfortunately, it doesn’t help, and Perez will start in 10th on the grid on a really worn set of softs. That might be the worst result I can possibly imagine.

Lewis Hamilton wins the pole position and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc starts on front row in 2nd position. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel will start third.

THE RACE –

We have more sunshine to start the race and I don’t see rain in the forecast for the first half but the “fog of war” means I can’t see beyond lap 30. I’m going to need different strategies for both drivers – Perez will be starting on some seriously worn Soft Tyres due to qualifying regulations (he is forced to use the tyres he used to set his fastest lap time in Q2), while Stroll can start on whatever tyres he wishes. It will be at least a two pit race for both drivers and I plan on going exclusively with Mediums for Stroll to get him there, while I plan on using the worn Softs to start for Perez, then move him to Hards for the rest of the race.

Both drivers start well then I finally utilize the ERS power boost smartly for both drivers, getting Perez up to second and Stroll up to 5th (from 20th!!!) by lap three. They are both down to zero power, however, and their engines move into harvest mode.

I quickly realize I’ve made my first GRAVE mistake of the race, not noticing that the game defaulted to having Stroll start on a Soft Tyre – this is going to completely screw up my strategy and I’m going to have to nurse this set of tyres to ensure he can maintain a two stop strategy. My god…

Perez falls to about 6th and has to pit on lap 11, as his Soft Tyres are down to about 18% and he emerges from the pits in 19th place. Not good. Stroll is 7th at this point but his Soft Tyres are quickly wearing as well on a notoriously tough track. I quickly realize my error in not switching him off Softs to start the race is going to mean one extra pit stop and may blow a top ten finish for him. I’ll just let him attack all race if that’s the case. Like Perez, Stroll pits and comes out in 19th.

Stroll just CHEWS THROUGH TYRES and I have to pit again with him on lap 28, as he’s only able to get 13 laps on the Mediums. My goodness. I’ll need to have him baby the next two sets or else he may have to pit four times this race. I look to the forecast to see if rain is coming and my dreams don’t look like they’ll be coming true today. At this point, Stroll is in 17th (Charles Leclerc has crashed and is out of the race) while Perez is rolling along on his hard tyres and is in 4th spot.

Perez pits on lap 37 for a second set of Hards while Stroll pits for a final time on lap 45, as he gets 16 laps out of the last set and should just be able to get to the finish.

We manage fuel and ERS boosts pretty well the rest of the way, with Perez hitting the checkered flag in 5th place, while Stroll hits the line in 14th and out of the points.

Lewis Hamilton wins his second race of the year by 8.7 seconds over Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas finishes third, another 25 seconds back.

I’m quite satisfied with the final results – Lance Stroll only finished about 11 seconds behind 10th place so my huge pre-race mistake in not getting him on medium tyres possibly cost him points. That said, Stroll went through tyres much quicker than anticipated so I’m not sure if there was any way around taking three pit stops.

April 28, 2019
Russian Grand Prix - EVENT RESULTS

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 61 Laps, 25 Points
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 61 Laps, +8.666, 18 Points
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 61 Laps, +33.594, 15 Points
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4. Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, 61 Laps, +42.526, 12 Points
5. Sergio Perez, Racing Point, 61 Laps, +43.252, 10 Points
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 61 Laps, +53.048, 8 Points
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 60 Laps, +1 Lap, 6 Points
8. Lando Norris, McLaren, 60 Laps, +1 Lap, 4 Points
9. Robert Kubica, Williams, 60 Laps, +1 Lap, 2 Points
10. Carlos Sainz, McLaren, 60 Laps, +1 Lap, 1 Point

14. Lance Stroll, Racing Point, 60 Laps, +1 Lap, 0 Points