Donkey Fuzz's 2010 World Championship Bid: Featuring Karun ChandhokF1 2010-2016

[DonkeyFuzz]

Hello everybody! Tombrooks97 reminded me I did something like this for F1:CE where I tried to put my skills to the test and battle for the title in a Super Aguri, driven by Yuji Ide. So, I have decided to do a 2010 version, except this time it will be done driving the HRT of Karun Chandhok. I'm doing this on expert mode so lots of the races should be very tricky, but hopefully I can prosper in some. I hope you enjoy my Grand Prix season with Karun Chandhok.

So far I have done all of the Bahrain practices and qualifying. Here is how qualifying went:

After the practice session I was very confident heading into qualifying as somehow I managed to put the HRT in the top 10 for each and every session. Whether this is because the AI are bad at Bahrain or whether my setup is just a good setup is unknown. I loaded my setup and went out on options to be on the safe side and put in a respectable lap time, however, I could see myself slipping further down the time charts so I decided to go out again on the same tyres. 1.2 seconds faster! Wow. This was enough to place me 6th overall, 0.888 behind Mark Webber's Red Bull, which I thought was pretty good.

The car felt great, strangley, and even though all assists were off, I felt as though I could really nail the corners, maybe it's because HRT is so slow! In Q2, needless to say it was bone dry and I decided to chance my luck on primes. I was in 9th with 4 minutes left so I had to go out on options and put in a really good lap, and that's exactly what I did, as I ended up leaving the session in 1st place, 0.157 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Sebastien Vettel, which was very satisfying. No shock suprises throughout the session, with both McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes drivers making it into Q3 alongside me and Robert Kubica.

Unfortunately, when I went to my tyre selection, I had already used up all my option tyres available to me, and they weren't in spectacular condition, so I went out on primes. The positive thing about this is, I could get myself into the mix in the race provided I have good race pace. Anyway, I managed to get through Q3 okay, although I could of had a little more help from drivers on out laps. My first lap was ruined by Kubica going through the new infield section and my 2nd run was ruined by Vettel who cut in front of me and caused me to spin. Hardly any time left and it was all or nothing, I was on fresh primes and went through sector 1 6 tenths faster! However, coming out of the new section I lost it and went wide and bashed the wall which cost me lots of time. The Ferrari's were very useful, as both of them gave me slipstreams on the final 2 long straights which gave me some decent top speed, for and HRT. I managed 6th overall, but I think that was the maximum I could achieve because the top 5 were separated by 4 tenths only, then from me downwards, it was a 2.5 second gap from pole position.

Hamilton took pole, and I know I'll be mugged into turn 1, but hopefully my trusty HRT with Karun at the wheel can help me regain places throughout the race. I think I would be pleased with a top 5 or 6 finish

 

[Tom]

Sounding great mate, cannot wait to hear the rest of the championship!

 

[pgagoober]

Cool idea. I'm new to the game so I'll be following your comments to pick up some tips....

 

[DonkeyFuzz]

Race Report

As I said in my qualifying race report, I knew I was going to get mugged into turn 1, so I slightly adjusted my gear ratio's to give me a better advantage off the grid. I was starting in 6th, which I was pretty pleased with on primes. On the front row it was Hamilton, followed by Mark Webber and his Red Bull. Tension on the grid started to build up, as this was Karun's debut race, and I could do well for him. The 3rd light was lit, 4th and then the 5th went up before it was go go go! I still had terrible acceleration, but I knew I could regain position in the new tight section. At turn 1 I was down into 9th, but I had a good line for turns 2 and 3 and that moved up to 8th, just ahead of the Mercedes duo. I then made up tonnes of places at the start of the new section, as the AI were braking where they didn't need to. I was up into P4 already! This was incredible, if only the real Bahrain GP could be like this!

On lap 2, I was right behind Massa, but I could see Lewis and Mark were faster than Massa on the straights, here there and everywhere so I had to get past him, so sorry to say Felipe, but Karun is faster than you. He confirmed the message and I got by in the new section, again. This meant I had to do the best I could to keep my times level with Webber and Hamilton, and I kept the gap at around about 3 seconds for the rest of the lap. The AI were amazingly slow in the new section and I managed to perform a camikaze attack on Webber, as we locked wheels, but I came out on top.

Natuarlly, my straight line speed was dire compared to the likes of Hamilton and Webber, as Lewis extended the lead, whilst Webber was only a tenth or so behind me. I kept Webber at bay, and turned my engine up to fast. I caught Hamilton by 1.5 seconds on lap 4 and he must of been fuel saving for a latter stage because his straight line speed decreased immensely. My primes were holding out well, and I thought the options must of started to lose their maximum potential by now, and coming out of the new section, me and Hamilton were side by side. For the next turn, I had the inside line, the McLaren on the outside, but he had better traction and managed to slip ahead. I broke late for the next couple of corners and got right behind him for the final and start finish straights. I kept pretty close to him and pulled an overtaking manouvre at turn 6 I think it was. I locked wheels, but got by! Yes, an HRT was leading a race. I knew I would have the upper hand in the later stage of the race because I would be on options.

Hamilton stuck very close to me, and down the start finish straight, he almost pulled a move, but I pulled a Schumacher-Barrichello Hungary situation and just kept 1st place into turn 1. I then pulled out a gap of 2 seconds overall from the first 2 sectors. The gap stayed about that size and Hamilton and Webber pitted for primes. I was suprised as to how late they pitted, so I thought the options must last well so I pitted a lap earlier than I was going to. My pit stop turned out to be as quick as 4.3 seconds, and I came out in the lead. I should note, on my inlap, in sector I somehow managed to find 7 tenths of a second which meant I would of had a new FL, but nonetheless, the options would give me that oppurtunity. I encountered no other cars on my outlap as I kept the lead, and turned my engine down to standard. Just before the start of the next lap, I turned my engine back up to fast as I wanted to put in a blinding lap. I nailed every corner and went 3.3 seconds up overall to give a time of 1:55.6, which was not what I was expecting from an HRT!

I then turned my engine down to cruise, and kept it there for the closing laps, and still, my engine indicator went red about half way round the final lap. I didn't run out of fuel, but had there of been 1 more lap, I would of been out. I crossed the line in 1st place to take the chequered flag and the victory with Karun and the HRT. Brilliant stuff. It was quite an exciting race, espescially in the opening stages where I had battles with the front runners. On the position indicator I saw Webber get past Hamilton on the final so they finished 2nd and 3rd respectively with Alonso 4th. I was very very pleased with that result, and needless to say I'm leading the championship. I knew this wasn't the AI's greatest track, but I'll need these valuable points, as I'm sure I'll lose out in Spain and Monaco in particular.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, I certainly enjoyed racing it! More of the same please in Australia

 

[juniordee]

On lap 2, I was right behind Massa, but I could see Lewis and Mark were faster than Massa on the straights, here there and everywhere so I had to get past him, so sorry to say Felipe, but Karun is faster than you. He confirmed the message and I got by

That made me laugh!

 

[Akmuq]

This still going on? That was quite a good read.👍

 

[kcheeb]

This still going on? That was quite a good read.👍

I hope so, enjoyed the read too. 👍

 

[Christian_C]

I'm trying to do the same, not going as well as you are though 👍 my best result so far is 6th and a worst of 14th

 

[Peter.]

I took a drive with Sauber on expert and took a whopping 14 out of 19 wins, and wrapped up the drivers title at Singapore. It was incredible, most of those races involved me starting somewhere low in the top 10 and making a few places at first on options then demolishing the AI on the primes. I was always much faster than the AI on the prime tyres, so if the racing is tough on options at first, I always catch the leaders at a rate of knots on primes and pass and win. In that season I had no wet races unfortunately, except for some rain coming down in the late stages at Suzuka on my charge to the lead, on primes of course, and 2 laps from the end at Montreal, but by then I was a million miles in the lead.

 

[F1 fan]

I took a drive with Sauber on expert and took a whopping 14 out of 19 wins, and wrapped up the drivers title at Singapore. It was incredible, most of those races involved me starting somewhere low in the top 10 and making a few places at first on options then demolishing the AI on the primes. I was always much faster than the AI on the prime tyres, so if the racing is tough on options at first, I always catch the leaders at a rate of knots on primes and pass and win. In that season I had no wet races unfortunately, except for some rain coming down in the late stages at Suzuka on my charge to the lead, on primes of course, and 2 laps from the end at Montreal, but by then I was a million miles in the lead.

I also feel more comfortable on the primes. I could put out better lap times on them and I could make them last a long time.

 

[Peter.]

I also feel more comfortable on the primes. I could put out better lap times on them and I could make them last a long time.

I'm not so sure about better lap times, but I did all my tuning in practice on primes. I used to try to use primes in my season with HRT in qualifying to start the race on. It didn't go very well for me, as I was a sitting duck at race start and would be unable to make enough of a gain on the options later on. I could gain a few places from where I started, but often lost places, and when I decided to go the normal way with options for the first time, I cracked a 2nd place which could've been a win. Then pole positions, podiums and wins came in their numbers. If I wasn't such an idiot I could've challenged for the title -_-

The AI is seriously slow on primes. They are probably even slower than they are on full fuel on options at the start, I kid you not.

 

[F1 fan]

Therein lies my speed . I would start on options (racing on expert, no aids all simulation options on etc), pit reeeeeally early and get some clear air. Personally, the handling on the primes just suited me. Had some really easy victories in career mode (20% race distance), pitting at the end of the first lap. I didn't even have to push too hard, most of the time I ended up at the front or near it.

Then it was just became a fun game of seeing how many cars I would pass every lap when they were in the pits. I prefer to have battles in traffic, but in career mode, I'd use my "optimum" strategy. Occasionally, to mix things up a little, I would decide on a different strategy before a race.

The only time I had trouble with my strategy was at abu dhabi... Don't know if it was purposefully excessive on tire wear or whether I was particularly hard on my tires. I found the simple 40% option 60% prime worked best for me