I want to make a post on the forum as eloquently and fair as I possibly can and I will make a separate incident report to Stiggy.
After multiple checks of who can see each other on track and clear indications by anyone who couldn't I was confident going in to the race that I could trust the people that I was racing with. After the start I could see everyone behind me on their grid slots which normally indicates that they can also see me. However if thats not the case then I feel that I was unfairly penalised either way.
From watching the replay again these are clear facts about incidents during my first 3 laps; I had a relatively good start and defended the inside line going in to t1, but on exit of t2 I was initially tapped by the driver behind. Moving on to t4 and t5, I was repeatedly hit off line causing my tyres to overheat and was hit onto the gravel at t6. Which caused me to lose p1.
That led to the most fun/frustrating 4 laps I've ever had at Suzuka. It's clear from the replay that I had good pace during the first few laps and caught up with p1 fairly quickly. However, on the back straight I managed to get into the slipstream and followed a weaving car in front of me which normally indicates that they can see me and defending. I managed to get alongside just after 130R and was pushed onto the gravel, causing me to slide and overheat my tyres again. I then caught up again by lap 3, and this time I positioned myself on the inside for the final chicane and took the place. However I was then hit off line again towards the gravel and lost the position.
I was initially planning 8-9 lap stints, however these incidents caused me to slide and remain in the turbulent air of the car in front in p2, a position which I was unfairly put into either deliberately or because of connection. I had to pit on lap 5 because my tyres were completely gone, which ruined my race strategy as I needed an additional pit stop. Looking at the end split time, including a spin that I caused on my own I was 27s behind. Pit stop took around 28s, so this clearly lost me the race.
I'm not a steward and I don't know what the right thing to do is, but this race was unfairly lost where the replay explains everything you need to know really. At this point I'm honestly considering retiring from the championship because I had to take time out of studying for uni to practice and take part in this race, which I was hoping would be fair. It wasn't and I hope something can be done about it. P.S Sorry for the long rant, but I feel it had to be said and I'm obviously not too happy atm
Thanks everyone else for a fun race though, it's always a lot of fun and I hate to take things too serious; but I hate losing due to unfair circumstances.