F1 2017...How is your career going?

[jasontoddwhitt]

I feel like our discussions were taking over the thread for the review, so I thought I would create this thread.

Round 3 at Bahrain. Dropped a new ICE into the car heading into qualifying as the engine was just horribly down on power. My gearbox started becoming dodgy towards the end of practice, but I didn't feel like taking a grid penalty. Luckily, it didn't give me any issues in qualifying, but I couldn't make it out of round one and qualified 16th. At least I out qualified Alonso.

Go to five red lights and start coming up through the gears, and right out of the gate, lose 5th gear. Oh jeez...this was a long race. Battling issues with the engine. Battling issues with the gearbox. Had more than a few moments of going down through the gears and then miss a gear and the backend would swing out in the corner.

I was running 13th, and I had Magnusson and Stroll breathing down my neck. Towards the end of the race, the gearbox quit acting up, and I owned Magnusson and Stroll in Sector 2. Unfortunately, their straight line speed absolutely trumped mine, so they would just blow passed me on the main straight. Thanks to some dive bombs that would make Daniel Ricciardo proud, I was able to keep Magnusson and Stroll behind me and remained in 13th place.

I've got multiple parts that are now orange....and there is no way this gearbox is going to make it six races. There are grid penalties coming in the near future.

[GoBlue7]

I started a career with Haas. Not great pace in practice in Australia and qualified 16th. I started the race on harder tires and that helped me quite a bit. Ended up finishing 9th and ahead of Grosjean. I was on the SS tire for the last portion of the race and just could not catch Kyvat who was in front of me. Lots of fun trying to chase him down.

Now I am getting ready for qualifying at China.

[Bullit]

Just for information purposes. There is a bug that CodeMasters is aware of with the Mclaren Honda in Career mode. This bug does not allow the engine upgrades to actually have any effect on the car, even if they are placed onto the car. They are trying to get a hot fix out as quick as possible.

[jasontoddwhitt]

So now that Codemasters have patched McLaren and the engine upgrades are working, it was time to head to Sochi. Qualified 15th, and there is rain in the forecast. My gearbox is sitting at 80%. I'm going to try and squeeze one more race out of this hunk of junk.

I make my way up to 8th and the rain is on its way. Front runners are starting to pit for their second set of slicks. I'm able to stretch my fresh ultra soft tires till it's time to slip on the inters. It was a great bit of strategy and/or luck, and now I'm running 3rd. Holy crap, I can put this hunk of junk on the podium. With five laps remaining, I'm still running third. I'm behind the Silver Arrows by about 30 seconds, and the Ice Man is slowly reeling me in. All I've got to do is hit my marks and I'll get my first podium.

Then the gearbox gets stuck in fifth gear.....for 2/3 of a lap.

It's a horrible feeling going down the front stretch at 150mph. Kimi easily passes me, but thankfully the gear box starts working again and though Vettel was able to close, he was too far back and I hang on to a very lucky fourth place.

Definitely going to take the grid penalty in Spain, and since I'm going to have to take a gear box penalty, might as well take an engine penalty as well and go ahead and add my fifth parts.

It's okay...I've got two upgrades waiting for me at Spain.....wait.....THEY BOTH FAILED?!?!?!?!

Welcome to McLaren-Honda.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Amazing post, especially the end. Lol

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[jasontoddwhitt]

Got two more races in. Work really cutting into my racing time.

Spanish Grand Prix was a very frustrating experience. It's a track with a lot of high speed corners, which would bode well for my McLaren chassis. And we did make it to Q3, and I qualified 8th. Unfortunately, and this was an issue for me in 2016, I couldn't protect my tires and maintain position at the same time. Ultimately, I ended up having to make an extra pit stop which put me down to 15th. Then the engine started to wear towards the end, and 15th is where we finished.

So it's on to Monaco. My bogey track. The bane of my existence. P1 and I'm bouncing off the rails. The car just will not turn. I break 3 front wings. Finally, I decide to find a setup online for McLaren instead of using one of the default setups for P2.

Suddenly, I can maneuver the car around the track. My McLaren is sticking in the corners and not sliding all over the place, especially through the swimming pool chicane. Make it to Q3 again, and qualify sixth. Thanks to grid penalties, I move up to 3rd. I'm starting behind Bottas and Hamilton.

I decide I have nothing to lose and go for it going into turn one. I come out side by side with Hamilton, but that Mercedes power out pulls me on the run to Casino, as Hamilton and Bottas both power past me and I settle into 3rd.

That's pretty much where I stay. It's hard to pass at Monaco, and Vettel is getting held up by Magnusson sitting behind me. I'm able to put a gap between us and I'm just riding around the track. Vettel is able to pass Magnusson on pit road, and he is quickly running me down. Unfortunately for me, I'm struggling for grip and in just a handful of laps, Vettel is all over my gearbox. I put up a valiant effort going into turn one and defend the inside. But Vettel aggressively take the outside line, and I gave him the room and he moves into 3rd. But then Hamilton retires from first place with a mechanical failure....

And I cruise to my first podium in 2017...at Monaco. Wow!


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[Lieutenant Dan]

Jason keep these up!

I'm doing Monaco today, and my ONLY goal is to complete the race for the first time ever there LOL. I'm that bad at that track. I've been turning some decent practice runs in Time Trail to get ready but I'm still rubbing a wall somewhere 2 of every 4 laps.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lieutenant Dan

Jason keep these up! I'm doing Monaco today, and my ONLY goal is to complete the race for the first time ever there LOL. I'm that bad at that track. I've been turning some decent practice runs in Time Trail to get ready but I'm still rubbing a wall somewhere 2 of every 4 laps.

Oh I'm usually that bad at the track. Setup I found online went very aggressive on the wings (10 on both the front and rear wings) and the car just stuck to the track in the corners.


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