[NoSkillz]

RACE EIGHT: Russian Grand Prix #2, Black Sea (June 16, 2019)

Track Layout C
Track Guide – Low Speed Corners and Medium Speed Corners Crucial; Top Speed Useful
Track Info - Fuel Burn (Medium), Tyre Wear (Very High)
Laps - 71 (2.08 miles each)
Tyres Available - Soft, Medium, Hard, Intermediates, Wets
Weather Forecast - Practice (Partly Cloudy); Qualifying (Mostly Sunny); Race Day (Partly Cloudy w/Rain)

We come off a very successful home Grand Prix and have a brand new gearbox to work with. We should be able to get it reliable enough to be in a car by raceday. Our design team then starts work on a new suspension but it won’t be finished until shortly after the upcoming Grand Prix.

We still have lots going on at our headquarters, with work progressing on a new Tour Centre, a new Test Track and upgrades are being made to our Wind Tunnel.

My assistant tells me that there is a 40% chance of rain on race day and the track is really tough on tyres. It’s also a whopping 71 lap race so I’m guessing we may need to go with some longer lasting tyres. As a result, we fit both racers with 6 Softs, 5 Mediums and 4 Hards for the weekend.

PRACTICE –

I’m starting to struggle somewhat with setups but in the end, we get both cars dialed in sufficiently and we do well to gain level three knowledge of all three main tyre compounds, along with race and qualifying trim.

Perez nails down the fastest practice time and Stroll comes fifth.

QUALIFYING –

It’s another sunny day for qualifying The sun is shining in Q1 and we will go with Level Three Qualifying Trim and Soft Tyre knowledge for both drivers. I forsake the Super Overdrive mode for Stroll, as it hasn’t helped him whatsoever in the last two qualifying sessions.

I send both drivers out early and it’s yet another disaster, as Perez comes in 17th and Stroll 18th on their first attempt. I send them both out right away, as it looks like I may be able to get a third attempt in if necessary before the 10 minute time allotment expires due to a short track. Stroll does not improve but Perez moves up to 11th and into a safe position. We send Stroll out for one more crack but his car is just not up to the challenge and he’ll start 19th on race day.

Perez makes it to Q2 but I don’t like our chances of moving forward from here. Interestingly enough, the rains come for Q2 and I hold off a couple of minutes on sending Perez out, hoping to take advantage of a potentially drier track. Incredibly, we time it beautifully, as Perez finishes 1st in his first run. I’ve got to imagine that will be good enough to get him through to Q3, even though the track may completely dry out in the final minute of Q2. We fall to fourth with about 2 minutes left so I send Perez out on Softs, hoping the track dries out. A bunch of teams have the same idea but we finish 5th in Q2 and move onto the last stage. Incredibly, Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas all flop in Q2 and are eliminated and will start near the back of the pack.

In Q3, I send Perez out last among the remaining ten drivers, hoping to get the track at its best and he places 7th in his first attempt. I try one more time, on his last set of fresh Softs and it actually produces a faster time, a rarity for us, as Perez finishes with the 4th best time and will start in row two!! Nice!

THE RACE –

Okay this will be a challenging race. It’s raining to start and it looks like we’ll have a wet track for at least the first 25 laps or so based on the forecast, with the race running 71 laps. That means we will need at least two sets of inters and at least two more tyre changes after the rain stops, meaning the best we can hope for is a three pit race. Therefore, for both racers, I’m going with Level Three Race Trim and Hard Tyre Knowledge to try to facilitate the fewest stops possible.

Stroll continues to show incredible first lap racing ability, moving from 19th to 13th with ease while Perez falls back into 5th spot.

By lap 11, Perez is down to 6th and Stroll is languishing near the back of the pack in 18th.

We pit a bit later than everyone else due to going easy on our tyres, with Stroll pitting on lap 18 while in 8th, while Perez pits one lap later in 2nd. Stroll re-emerges in 15th while Perez is in 6th.

By lap 29, the rain has stopped and most of the racers have already pitted for either soft or hard tyres. So we send both drivers to the pits to change to hards and once again, Perez emerges in 6th and Stroll in 15th. However, most of our competitors are now on faster tyres than us…we’re hoping to pit one less time than our fellow racers to move up the board.

With 30 laps to go, many racers are pitting again and will still need one more pit stop to get them to the end of the race. We are starting to churn through our hards a bit quicker than anticipated but we have Perez up to 5th at the moment and Stroll has moved up to 11th.

We’re off to lap 47 and both Stroll and Perez need to pit for hopefully the last time, with Stroll coming out in 16th and Perez in 7th. We’ll really need to nurse these tires to the end.

It’s a pretty uneventful finish, as Perez and Stroll essentially just hold their positions, with Perez finishing a fine 6th and Stroll 15th, a pretty decent result all things considered. This is Perez’s second straight 6th place finish.
It’s becoming pretty boring at the top, as the top three here in Russia are the same top three from Canada, with Sebastian Vettel winning again, Lewis Hamilton finishing second (despite starting 11th) and Valtteri Bottas finishing third after starting 13th on the grid.

June 16, 2019
Russian Grand Prix #2 - EVENT RESULTS

1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 71 Laps, 25 Points
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 71 Laps, +9.159, 18 Points
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 71 Laps, +34.410, 15 Points
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4. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 71 Laps, +37.916, 12 Points
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, 71 Laps, +44.323 10 Points
6. Sergio Perez, Racing Point, 71 Laps, +45.432, 8 Points
7. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 70 Laps, +1 Lap, 6 Points
8. George Russell, Williams, 70 Laps, +1 Lap, 4 Points
9. Pierre Gasly, Red Bull, 70 Laps, +1 Lap, 2 Points
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 70 Laps, +1 Lap, 1 Point

15. Lance Stroll, Racing Point, 70 Laps, +1 Lap, 0 Points

Sebastian Vettel takes over the lead in the overall Drivers Standings by a single point over Lewis Hamilton. Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll maintain their 7th and 11th spots respectively, while our team is very comfortably in 5th place in the Constructors, 14 points behind Red Bull and 38 points ahead of Williams. Toro Rosso is still looking for their first point of the season.