GTP 7th F1 World Championship - Round 1 - Bahrain
Weather - Dry
Qualifying Results:
Pole -
Shaggy Alonso -
1:52.213
2nd. darkpsi - 1:53.011
3rd.
Baumi27 -
1:53.265
4th. DOUQA - 1:53.546
5th. -
Mutu20 -
1:53.604
6th. NumbPhase - 1:53.967
7th.
Jerry786 -
1:54.007
8th. upuaut - 1:57.838
9th.
tombrooks97
10th. manios22DC
Race Results:
1st.
darkpsi
2nd.
Baumi27
3rd.
Shaggy Alonso
4th.
NumbPhase
5th.
Jerry786
6th.
Internet_User
7th.
DOUQA
8th.
upuaut
9th.
manios22DC
10th.
tombrooks97
Race Report
Qualifying:
Qualifying went according to plan for me. I did 3 laps altogether - first a 1:52.9, followed by a 1:52.6 then on my final minimum fuel run, I did a 1:52.2 which earnt me pole position and 10 points in the bag thank you very much 👍
Race:
Bahrain threw us a bit of a curved ball in that your fuel consumption here is as important as your outright pace. There's no point in running 95% of the race with the engine turned up, maybe earning you 20 seconds or so in race time if you're then going to lose about a minute and a half crawling round the final lap on an empty tank. Therefore, a degree of compromise had to be made by all racers in order to not get caught out by this - whoever made the most efficient trade off between flat-out pace and fuel conservation could be rewarded handsomely come the end of the 25 laps. One racer in particular had an ace up his sleeve in this regard and seemed to have found a way of running almost the whole race with the engine turned up. Such was the value of this that he also turned out to be the eventual winner.
I had worked out that I could only run 5 laps with the engine turned up, 14 with it back on standard and 6 with it turned down to cruise. With the knowledge in mind that
darkpsi would have this distinct advantage over me in race pace, I felt my only chance of winning would be if I was able to build up enough of a gap in the first stint before I had to turn the engine back down, and then hopefully, hold on to the win with some robust defensive driving.
However, come turn one on the first lap, these plans were instantly made redundant. I got off to a great start, just as I did in the practice race last week and gained a car and a half's length over the chasing pack. I took a slightly defensive line so as to discourage any desperate lunges up the inside, then as I rotated the car round the corner I was tagged and spun 270 degrees, which required a quick donut to get pointed in the right direction again. (see bottom of post
1) This was catastrophic for my race as it put me dead last as
DOUQA, who lined up 4th on the grid became the main beneficiary as he sailed past avoiding all trouble to take the lead.
Ahead of me was
tombrooks97. I swiftly caught up with Tom and he went extremely deep into turn 7, off track completely. I drove past but as Tom came back onto track he spun me as I was going through turns 8 & 9
(see bottom of the post
2)
After I got the place back, I started chasing down
darkpsi. I gradually caught up when he had a massive oversteer moment coming out of turn 13. I followed him all the way round the lap and just as we hit the main straight, I took just a fraction too much kerb on the run off of turn 23 and spun
There goes dark!
I now had to start chasing down the Lotus of
Jerry786. We had a couple of laps of hard battling but it was mostly fair (see bottom of the post
3). This was put on hold when I caught the back of Jerry coming out of the final corner, nudging him forward but spinning myself 360 degrees! I caught up to him again just before the pit stop window. I saw he pitted on lap 8 when I had planned to do so, so I stayed out another lap to try and leapfrog him. This was all going according to plan as I was banging in green sector times in clean air until I dropped it trying to lap Tom at turn 16. This wasn't Tom's fault, but in trying to avoid him I spun myself
no.2
Miraculously, when I exited from the pits on lap 10 with a fresh pair of boots on, I had jumped Jerry anyway. However I had lost position to
NumbPhase and
Internet_User and I don't know how many others.
Then came the most critical point in the race for me. There was an epic battle between several of us, I can't quite remember who, but I do remember that I managed to get a run on a couple of cars squabbling for position coming out of turn 21, I think they were
Baumi27 and
darkpsi, and I had bypassed both Dark and James by turn one the following lap. I thought I was in the clear but as I turned into turn 4, my team mate James, braked late and tagged me, allowing the others through. As a result, Tyrrell racing has ordered Internet_User to watch the 2010 Bahrain GP on repeat as punishment. Suffice to say, our race was a million times more exciting 👍
Somewhere amidst this chaos
DOUQA got a puncture and the extra pit stop well and truly ruined his race as he came home in 7th when he was the logical winner.
By lap 19, I cautiously decided to turn the engine down a lap early just in case the intensity of the previous 18 laps had burned through more fuel than normal. I profited from NumbPhase turning down his engine as he slipped from the lead down to 4th as I occupied the final podium position.
Congratulations to darkpsi on the win. He skillfully picked his way through the field and once he was in clear air no one was going to catch him.
The tables will be uploaded some time soon 👍
Race Footage
courtesy of DarkPSI:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Class bollocking:
It's with a tinge of regret that I have to do this, but it'll only be for this race as it is the first in the series and I just wanted to clear the air for going forward.
1. This was clearly an accident, but it is required of all of us to concede position to anyone who you have crashed into. This means that even if you come out in the lead and the guy you have crashed into is last, you need to let everyone through until the guy you're letting through has re-passed. This is arguably the most basic fundamental of fair racing on GT Planet. We should all make efforts to
avoid comings together, but when they inevitably do happen, the least we can do is try and make up for them. I won't penalise Dark for this but simply issue him with a
warning. He understands the mistake and I know he didn't profit from this intentionally.
2. Honestly, this was a dire piece of racing and should not be repeated - people cannot simply scamper back onto the track and wipe out someone who's coming through on the racing line. You can't drive out onto the track without checking it's clear any more than you can drive out on a motorway without checking. I realise this was not Tom's intention as he duly gave me the place back, although even this was laboured as he slowed down on the apex of turn 12 so I had to brake to avoid him and then he didn't cede position as we went side by side into turn 13 👎
I know you had a frustrating race Tom but you really need to work on this. I had reports of your driving being extremely erratic by others too so please take care in future. At the same time I don't want to be too harsh because I understand that none of this was deliberate or malicious and you did offer the place back to me in accordance with the rules which I appreciate. All I will say further on this incident is that everyone who joined is required to adhere to the
OLR and if we all read it, we will all know what is and isn't acceptable.
3. You were actually a bit Schumacher esque at one stage Jerry. I had got a good run on you through turn 19, going round the outside which then became the inside of turn 20. As I held this inside line, you then began to squeeze me off the track and I had to back out of the throttle completely to avoid a nasty coming together. This was a bit naughty.