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After months of development and millions spent reaching this point, the race was finally it. Aquendwato Racing's F1 debut in Tokyo. The team had met nothing but success at every step, but now it faced it's most formidable challenge to date: Formula 1. The teams here lived for just these cars, spending countless hours in testing to make them fly. By comparison the Aquendwato machine was pitiful. It weighed 200 kilograms more than the competition, although much of the bodywork was similar. Still, it as sure to propel the company further into the spotlight. So here it was, rolling out for it's inaugural ten minute qualifying session.
AqF1 may be in it's debut race, but the team has plenty of experience in lower series, and it showed during qualifying. The five frontrunners all bunch of and battled each other throughout the session, while the purple car had clean air aplenty to run in, setting a pole time of 1'59.838. However despite a starting spot up front, the extra weight on the car would make this a very difficult start.
The start goes as expected, with the lighter cars jumping ahead down the straight. Into turn one the Jordan and McLaren both grab a spot, dropping the Aquendwato into third. The other group plows into the purple car's back, forcing him off the racing line and into sixth by the first split, 1.7s behind the leader. The cars begin to spread out after this with the except of the Spyker and AqM battling in the back. The opening lap ends with the rookie team's car four places back of where it started, 2 seconds shy of the lead.
By T5 of lap 2 the young driver has pulled up behind the McLaren. The two duel for several turns before the Aquendwato slingshots by on the straight, taking fourth posistion. Lap 3 is marked by the leading Jordan pulling away, stretching the gap to 4.4 seconds. Thankfully the following go around heralds a battle for first resulting in the Ferrari grabbing the lead, as well as the AqM setting a new fastest lap at 1'19.269. The succes would be short-lived.
The Aquendwato undershoots T1, allowing the McLaren to catch up. This would prove more costly than expected as the overaggressive silver arrow would drive the purple car into the wall, stopping it dead sideway on the track. The #6 Spyker then failed to make any effort to dodge it on it's go around, pushing it farther. Thankfully the car is built strong enough not only to protect the driver, but to be in working condition. The visibly shaken driver continues on, now 17 seconds back. The next two laps mark the end of the first set of tires grip, and the distraught purple car pits at the end of lap 7 now 20 seconds back of the lead. By the end of the outlap the gap is 57 seconds.
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This is as far as I got before I gave up. The AI all completed 11 laps and counting before stopping whereas I could only do 7. If I remove the ballast I'd last as long, but I'd be too fast for an interesting race; if I don't then I'll have to stop 2-3 times more than them. Is there any way to actually make this series competitive?
AqF1 may be in it's debut race, but the team has plenty of experience in lower series, and it showed during qualifying. The five frontrunners all bunch of and battled each other throughout the session, while the purple car had clean air aplenty to run in, setting a pole time of 1'59.838. However despite a starting spot up front, the extra weight on the car would make this a very difficult start.
The start goes as expected, with the lighter cars jumping ahead down the straight. Into turn one the Jordan and McLaren both grab a spot, dropping the Aquendwato into third. The other group plows into the purple car's back, forcing him off the racing line and into sixth by the first split, 1.7s behind the leader. The cars begin to spread out after this with the except of the Spyker and AqM battling in the back. The opening lap ends with the rookie team's car four places back of where it started, 2 seconds shy of the lead.
By T5 of lap 2 the young driver has pulled up behind the McLaren. The two duel for several turns before the Aquendwato slingshots by on the straight, taking fourth posistion. Lap 3 is marked by the leading Jordan pulling away, stretching the gap to 4.4 seconds. Thankfully the following go around heralds a battle for first resulting in the Ferrari grabbing the lead, as well as the AqM setting a new fastest lap at 1'19.269. The succes would be short-lived.
The Aquendwato undershoots T1, allowing the McLaren to catch up. This would prove more costly than expected as the overaggressive silver arrow would drive the purple car into the wall, stopping it dead sideway on the track. The #6 Spyker then failed to make any effort to dodge it on it's go around, pushing it farther. Thankfully the car is built strong enough not only to protect the driver, but to be in working condition. The visibly shaken driver continues on, now 17 seconds back. The next two laps mark the end of the first set of tires grip, and the distraught purple car pits at the end of lap 7 now 20 seconds back of the lead. By the end of the outlap the gap is 57 seconds.
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This is as far as I got before I gave up. The AI all completed 11 laps and counting before stopping whereas I could only do 7. If I remove the ballast I'd last as long, but I'd be too fast for an interesting race; if I don't then I'll have to stop 2-3 times more than them. Is there any way to actually make this series competitive?
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