Chinese GP - Race Report

Post below ...

Qualy - 7th

Had two runs on the prime tyres, first lap was quite poor and posted a 1.31.7 I think which put me in about 9th, couldn't get to grips with the primes on this track so wanted to start on them to get them out of the way. Second run I was about half a second quicker which put me 7th on the grid, could have been better but thought not to worry as I could catch people up in the race

Race - 3rd

Terrible start for me, got a half-decent getaway and approached the first corner hoping to run around the outside of a few people, this plan was flawed when there was a Ferrari horizontally in front of and had to go off the track to avoid it. This put me in 9th where I was behind Malaske. I went to overtake him on the first lap on the back straight; however, in the braking zone he moved across slightly and we made slight contact which sent me miles wide at the corner. Then I made a pass on Felipe as I got a better exit than him on the long right hander. Then I followed illskillsvip - great !! I know he's hard to pass because he's quick, and the opportunity I got saw me lock up the brakes and slight contact between us, didn't damage either of our races but I let him back through, only for him to pit next lap. Then I was running consistently with my team mate behind me and for pit stops was promoted to 1st with Chickie about 7 seconds behind me. Pitted lap 11 and got rid of the disgusting prime tyres which were like cancer for my car, and onto the options. Set about being consistent on these and as on the previous stint, made sure they lasted so I could do another stint on the options. I was in 6th out of the pits and followed BlackDevil for a while but wasn't able to pass. He pitted much earlier than me which allowed me to get ahead at the stops; however, I came out of the pits with him right behind me and I set about maintaining the gap. I think I was in 4th at this point, and was closing in on JamesBoro and BK as they were struggling to pull away from each other. On the third to last lap, and pushing in rich mode for a while to catch them, I took James whole was evidently struggling on his tyres, and I followed behind BK about 1 second off him, but had to put my fuel mode into len and noticed that BlackDevil and f1setupblog were fighting so I would be able to maintain the gap. Happy to have come away from a poor track for the Sauber and for myself with 3rd, can't wait for Turkey to steal a setup from Felipe and then sprint ahead of him.
See you all during the week, if not then on Sunday !! Laurence

Quali 5th

Again another terrible qualifying session. i went out on options straight away and decided to save the tryes, so i only did one run. i was on for a good lap time when going around the long right hander and gave it to much throttle and drifted - losing a bunch of time.

Race - An unexpected 1st

Saving the tryes was a great choice. i got a good launch off the line and took 4th straight away. approuching the first corner i dived to the inside when the leading ferrari got took out by their team mate. this stopped BK in his tracks and to my surprize i found myself in second. Turn 3 1st place crashed out running wide for the approuched of turn 4. i couldnt believe i was in 1st. From here i lead the race - apart from pit stops
i had a few moments of panic for example on the double left hander where the car lost control and drifted around both the corners. i thought that was i good time to pit for primes.
Towards the end of the race i was on mix 1 because of low fuel. BK was catching fast but thankfully he left it to late and finished 3 seconds behind.

Great race and looking for a similar result next week.

Chickie

Qualified 11th

Race. 11th


Horrible race for me in every way, could not even get a decent banker qualifying lap, kept on spinning and could not post a time.

Got a decent start and avoided the mess at the first corner only to clipped in the second corner, made up 1 place and set about keeping up with the pack, had a nice little race with Seansri for a couple of laps, I am not a fan of this track and when my team mate came up behind me on lap 3 i let him past because he had a much better set up than me and was flying

Came in for tyres on lap 9 right in front of the flying Ferrari who had just done the fastest lap of the race and me on cold tyres, we had a couple of incidences (see appeal). Apart from that, nothing else happened during the race, was hoping for a mid table position but it was not happening for me,

Turkey should and must be a better race for me to start getting the team some decent points

Qually 9th - Not a great qually for me, Had a lot on my mind with Lotus Renault pestering me to take there spare seat, I declined but the press just will not leave it. Aaarrgghh Bad Saturday for me.


Race 8th - Had a good strategy i thought, and was doing great on my primes, both Sauber 1 & 2 at lap 12 ish yep great for us, then I pit, and my Options are rubbish, traffic everywhere, getting held up losing traction at the front due to them pesky Redbulls, then the mobile goes and I couldn't believe the cheek of the lotus team lol. Totally ruined my race, i meen £55 a week plus a rented Megan 1.4l coupe well it was tempting lol.

Turkey I'm not much good at so I'm hoping for a 11th this time.

Qualified - 4th

Race - 7th

Decided from early doors that I was going to qualify on options aiming for the first two rows in order to avoid the mayhem on the first lap. So when I qualified fourth a was fairly happy with it, I did feel that the car did have unto another second in it but extracting it with to much tyre wear was proving to be challenging.

I must admit I was silently confident that I could challenge for the podium as testing throughout the week had proved encouraging, but what went wrong wasn't anything to do with the car it was driver error as I pushed to hard, blew the first corner and spun out (arrhhhh) when I rejoined the track I was last. I tried to put it outta my mind and get down to nailing competitive lap times in a hope of moving up positions I made up 11 places by the time for my first pit stop and when I rejoined the track I was 5th so at this point I was pleased with my recovery. I had an interesting battle with Lawrence, when I initially past him I thought I wouldn't see him again (big mistake and one I won't make again) he catch back up to me I ended up driving defensively and was taken out on the hairpin at the end of the long straight as he couldn't brake in time after taking the inside line and hit me, his time mate lindenwarden went past but sportingly Lawrence and linden both gave the place but (fair play guys) I didn't see any reason to take the situation any further and pitted on the next lap. On my last stint I made more progress and with 5 laps to go the good news was that I was 2nd the bad news was James, BK, Lawrence to name 3 of the 5 cars were all lining up directly behind me and all had fresher tyre's on and keeping then behind me was hurting my tyre's big time I did well to keep them behind for as long as I did but then distaster on the long right gander bend leading to the long straight I got out of line mean I had to gain control of the car before I could accelerate by the time we got to the end of the straight James and BK were attacking me on the inside to the hairpin I wad looking to undercut both of then and get on the gas early to pinch the position back but a combination of wearing tyre's, a rich throttle map and a driver caught in the moment (eg forgetting the first two points) equal spin out number two which saw me go from 2nd to 7th and life became depressing for the last 4 laps. I mean I'm only writing this report now (after the Turkish grand prix) because I'm mentally able to accept such a disappointing end to what was suppose to be a promising race weekend for me.