[NoSkillz]

RACE SEVEN: Canadian Grand Prix, Vancouver (June 2, 2019)

Track Layout A
Track Guide – Medium Speed Corners and High Speed Corners Crucial; Top Speed Useful
Track Info - Fuel Burn (High), Tyre Wear (High)
Laps - 44 (3.39 miles each)
Tyres Available - UltraSoft, SuperSoft, Soft, Intermediates, Wets
Weather Forecast - Practice (Partly Cloudy); Qualifying (Partly Cloudy); Race Day (Mostly Sunny)

Well, no one ever said it would be easy. South Africa was unquestionably a low point of the season and we need to do much better in Canada, essentially a home race for our team, as owner Lawrence Stroll and his son Lance are both Montreal natives.

We get a new set of brakes completed and we begin work on performance and reliability improvements. In the meantime, our design team begins work on building a new gearbox.

The drivers race has been dominated by Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, with the two racers exchanging wins. Hamilton is the betting favourite in Vancouver, with Red Bull also expected to impress.

My scout tells me that there is a 40% chance of rain on race day but the forecast shows mostly sunshine. Interesting. The Vancouver track is tough on tyres so that might help us a bit – I think I’ll need to go with a long strategy to have any chance so we’ll have a balanced set of tyres for the weekend, with both racers having 6 Ultras, 5 Supers and 4 Softs.

PRACTICE –

For the second consecutive race, I have major issues getting Perez’s car optimized but thankfully, it only takes me a couple of cracks to get Stroll to 99% optimization. The best I can do with Perez’s car is 96% so we’ll continue our attempts to dial it in during qualifying. Stroll finishes with the fifth best time in practice while Perez can only nab the 8th best time.

We gain Level Three Knowledge of Qualifying and Lap Trim, UltraSoft and SuperSoft Tyres and Level Two Knowledge of Softs.

QUALIFYING –

The sun is shining in Q1 and we will go with Level Three Qualifying Trim knowledge for both drivers, while using the Super Overtake Mode (Level Two) for Stroll and the Level Three UltraSoft Tyre knowledge for Perez.

I continue to tweak Perez’s setup and it works, as he gets to 98% optimization after his first qualifying lap. However, his time is a mediocre 14th. Stroll’s time is slightly worse and he’s on the bubble in 15th, so both racers will need to give it another shot. As usual, neither driver is able to improve upon their time on their second timed lap and unfortunately, two drivers in the bottom five DO improve, dropping Perez to 16th and Stroll to 17th and they are both eliminated. That is the first time we’ve seen both drivers fail to advance to Q2 and it’s apparent that despite our steady car and part improvement, we’re not improving as quickly as the other teams.

Sebastian Vettel sets the fastest time in Q2, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen right behind.

In Q3, it’s Vettel once again setting the pace and winning the pole, with Hamilton starting alongside him on front row and Charles Leclerc starting third.

THE RACE –

We could probably use some rain today but the forecast looks perfect. It’s a 44 lap race and I should be able to make this a one pit race for both drivers, utilizing Softs for Stroll and Supers for Perez. We utilize Level Three race trim for both drivers, Level Three Super Knowledge for Perez and Level Two Soft knowledge for Stroll. Hopefully we can make up some ground early and get at least one of our drivers into the points in our “home” race.

Stroll has a brilliant start, moving all the way up to 13th on the second turn while Perez drops to 20th. By the time we finish the first lap, Stroll is up to 11th and Perez has recovered to 14th.

Things are going quite well early and through ten laps, Stroll is up to 7th and Perez is right behind in 8th, as a couple of drivers have already had to go to the pits due to worn tyres.

On lap 19, Stroll is up in 2nd (!!!) while Perez runs 4th, with Lewis Hamilton right in between. Hamilton has already pitted and Perez is down to 22% on his tyres, while Stroll is doing better with 33% on his softs. I’m going to need to pit with Perez and I don’t see how I can keep him on SuperSofts but I’m going to try. He pits on lap 21 and re-emerges in 16th position. Stroll is now down to third after being passed by Hamilton.

Stroll makes it to Lap 24 before pitting and comes out in 10th, a pretty solid result. Perez is back up to 13th by this time.

We get to lap 30 and Stroll is now running an impressive 6th, while Perez is in 9th. Stroll’s just running a beautiful race and we’re conserving Perez’s tyres right now and that might actually be helping keep faster cars behind him and Stroll. There is a high likelihood that a few racers ahead of Stroll will need to pit again so we have the potential to hold on to this position, at the very least.

On lap 34, Ricciardo and Verstappen both pit and that allows Stroll to move up to 4th! Both are on Ultras now and it will likely be tough to hold this position on slower tyres but we’ll try! Perez is currently up to 6th.

With five laps to go, Stroll is in an incredible battle with Ricciardo for 4th and I don’t know how much longer he can hold him off. Perez continues to hold of Verstappen for 6th as I’m freaking out at all the action right now!

We’re down to the final two laps and Stroll’s tyre wear is low, as he CONTINUES to somehow hold off Ricciardo on his fresh Ultras. Perez continues to hold off Verstappen and we continue the beautiful racing right to the end, as Stroll hits the checkered flag in 4th position while Perez nabs 6th.

Simply a BRILLIANT race from Racing Point!!! Double points!!!

Sebastian Vettel continues the back and forth affair with Lewis Hamilton, taking the Canadian Grand Prix by 15 seconds over his Mercedes rival. Valtteri Bottas finishes third.

Lance Stroll picks up his first points for Racing Point and in his home race, no less! Simply superb driving all race long, coming from 17th in a brilliant performance. Perez had a tough start but did a great job to nurse his second set of Supers to the end of the race, holding off faster cars behind him the whole time.

June 2, 2019
Canadian Grand Prix - EVENT RESULTS

1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 44 Laps, 25 Points
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 44 Laps, +15.075, 18 Points
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 44 Laps, +29.667, 15 Points
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4. Lance Stroll, Racing Point, 44 Laps, +44.611, 12 Points
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, 44 Laps, +46.405 10 Points
6. Sergio Perez, Racing Point, 44 Laps, +47.799, 8 Points
7. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 44 Laps, +49.716, 6 Points
8. George Russell, Williams, 44 Laps, +53.359, 4 Points
9. Lando Norris, McLaren, 44 Laps, +56.644, 2 Points
10. Robert Kubica, Williams, 44 Laps, +60.111, 1 Point

** Max Verstappen hit with a 10 second time penalty, dropping him from 9th place to 11th.

Sergio Perez stays in 7th in the Drivers Standings while Stroll vaults all the way up to 11th after this performance. Racing Point stays comfortably in 5th position in the Constructors Standings.