Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?
It's been too long.
So as I said, I had to take a grid penalty because of already needing to put my 5th ICE in my McLaren (and we're just past halfway...damn you Honda!). Then I thought what the hell, and went ahead and ordered 5th parts of everything else. Gamey? Sure, but if I'm going to start last because of grid penalties, might as well go all out. As for strategy, I opted for a two-stop race, going with two sets of soft tires and finishing the race on super softs.
So the funny thing is I completed practice and qualifying on 1.7. In between when I completed qualifying and when I started the race a couple days later, 1.9 came out. Apparently, something was tweaked with the handling, cause boy oh boy, this car became LOOSE. I was constantly having to counter steer as the backend just kept wanting to jump out.
But it was quick, and thanks to a lovely dive bomb going into turn 2 on the opening lap, I quickly found myself in the top ten. Points leader Bottas got booted by his fellow Finn Raikkonen which allowed me to move up another position. Bottas suffered heavy front end damage and was a non-factor the rest of the race. But Bottas would at least get the last laugh, as Raikkonen suffered a second straight mechanical failure, and the former points leader would slip to the fourth position in the drivers standing because of this setback.
Anyways, it was smooth sailing as 8th place was about as high as I could climb. Well, smooth sailing until I lost 3rd gear and nearly wrecked the damn car when the back end jumped out. But, I was able to keep the Haas of Romain Grosjean behind me, and 8th place was where I finished.
Lewis Hamilton ran away with the race and moved to within 22 points of Vettel in the driver's standings. Bottas is 27 points back. Raikkonen is in fourth place thanks to his back-to-back DNFs.
EDIT: One thing I did forget to mention, and it was a thing of beauty. I already enjoyed racing the AI before the patch. But they've tweaked a few things, and it's just.....GLORIOUS. For example, before, the AI would for the most part stick to the racing line and when trying to pass, they would mostly go to the inside. Only time you would see them go to the outside was to create a 3-wide situation. Because of this, if you were looking to pass someone, they never protected the inside line. Late in this race, I was running 9th and chasing down Hulkenberg, who Jeff mentioned was suffering a mechanical problem and was slow. I caught up with him on the front stretch, and as I closed on him, he moved off the racing line to the inside, forcing me to have to pass him on the outside of turn one.
It was beautiful defensive driving by the AI. Had he not been suffering from the mechanical issue, he probably could've kept me at bay.
It's been too long.
So as I said, I had to take a grid penalty because of already needing to put my 5th ICE in my McLaren (and we're just past halfway...damn you Honda!). Then I thought what the hell, and went ahead and ordered 5th parts of everything else. Gamey? Sure, but if I'm going to start last because of grid penalties, might as well go all out. As for strategy, I opted for a two-stop race, going with two sets of soft tires and finishing the race on super softs.
So the funny thing is I completed practice and qualifying on 1.7. In between when I completed qualifying and when I started the race a couple days later, 1.9 came out. Apparently, something was tweaked with the handling, cause boy oh boy, this car became LOOSE. I was constantly having to counter steer as the backend just kept wanting to jump out.
But it was quick, and thanks to a lovely dive bomb going into turn 2 on the opening lap, I quickly found myself in the top ten. Points leader Bottas got booted by his fellow Finn Raikkonen which allowed me to move up another position. Bottas suffered heavy front end damage and was a non-factor the rest of the race. But Bottas would at least get the last laugh, as Raikkonen suffered a second straight mechanical failure, and the former points leader would slip to the fourth position in the drivers standing because of this setback.
Anyways, it was smooth sailing as 8th place was about as high as I could climb. Well, smooth sailing until I lost 3rd gear and nearly wrecked the damn car when the back end jumped out. But, I was able to keep the Haas of Romain Grosjean behind me, and 8th place was where I finished.
Lewis Hamilton ran away with the race and moved to within 22 points of Vettel in the driver's standings. Bottas is 27 points back. Raikkonen is in fourth place thanks to his back-to-back DNFs.
EDIT: One thing I did forget to mention, and it was a thing of beauty. I already enjoyed racing the AI before the patch. But they've tweaked a few things, and it's just.....GLORIOUS. For example, before, the AI would for the most part stick to the racing line and when trying to pass, they would mostly go to the inside. Only time you would see them go to the outside was to create a 3-wide situation. Because of this, if you were looking to pass someone, they never protected the inside line. Late in this race, I was running 9th and chasing down Hulkenberg, who Jeff mentioned was suffering a mechanical problem and was slow. I caught up with him on the front stretch, and as I closed on him, he moved off the racing line to the inside, forcing me to have to pass him on the outside of turn one.
It was beautiful defensive driving by the AI. Had he not been suffering from the mechanical issue, he probably could've kept me at bay.
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