Japanese GP

Qualifying - 2nd

Race - 4th
Started on the primes. Had an ok initial start. Didn't lose position. But couldnt get the jump on BARATASTERN who was options. I knew he'd be quicker so my goal was just not to get left too far behind.

I pitted from 1st on lap 17 and came out 3rd on primes again. My strategy was 2 stops with my 2nd stop being on lap 41.

Even on red tires the car was very manageable. I had about a 12 second gap between myself, BARATASTERN & Chapelfan. They had both pitted a few laps earlier and I was now in 1st. But just as I came around the last corner on lap 40, my front left gave out and I had to limp back around to the pits with a puncture. BARATASERN, Chapelfan and Bogart all passed me. I came out of pits in 4th with options and set engine to mix 3.

I caught Bogart within 2 laps and was on his gearbox for the entire last stint. I didnt have long enough gears and just couldnt get by him. I almost passed him in turn 1 once. But we made contact and he went off. So I gave up the position.

Coming out of Spoon on the last lap I ran out of fuel. I wasnt going to get by him anyway. 4th place is respectable among these drivers.

Most of my race, I was all alone till the last stint. Had I not got the puncture, I could have been battling for the lead. Was a good race. And the puncture produced a great battle with Bogart. Hope I have more races like that but with better luck.

i qualified a solid 4th i was pleased considering i only put in 1 quick lap. At the start i got ran to the inside of the track and totally lost my apex and fell back to 6th, i worked my way all the way back to 3rd but once i got there i was in for a suprise, sMalaske was about 15 seconds infront and BARATASTERN was probably another 5 seconds infront of him. i used my first stint catching up to malaske i got all the way to his gearbox but couldnt do anything with him so i pit to get off my options and onto primes on lap 15. i came back out in 4th behind BARATASTERN, sMalaske, and bogart15. i caught up to bogart and quickly passed him due to the difference in tires and started tracking malaske back down, then i noticed BARATASTERN had also pit and came out behind me then malaske pits and hands me the lead. BARATASRTERN was chasing me down about a second a lap and finally caught up to me like 7 laps before my planned pitstop so i held him up as long as i could hopping that me stopping one less time than him that the time he had lost behind me would give me more of an advantage on my last stint cus my race was a 2 stop strategy and his was a 3 stop strategy but he ended up getting by in the hairpin turn i missed the brake zone and ran a little wide allowing him by so i just started pacing myself knowing that BARATASTERN would have to pit again before i did putting him back behind me and sure enough he did. He came out of the pits like 12 seconds behind me and gobbled that gap up super quick at the point it was malaske myself and BARATASTERN in the top 3 malaske had about a 15 second gap over me that me and BARATASTERN was eating into, then suddenly we are coming thru the esses in sectior 1 and malaske is well off the pace with a blown tire so we quickly pass him up and then were battling for the lead. so i go back to trying to keep BARATASTERN behind me i kept him behind me for another 5 or 6 laps but i slipped coming thru the spoon turn and he came thru. my strategy was to pit as soon as he came by and thats what i did and to my luck BARATASTERN pit on the same lap as me right infront of me and my mercedes crew doing an awesome job on pit road today got me out infront of BARATASTERN again but this time only by .500 lap 34 out of 53 and im going to have to keep BARATASTERN behind me for 20 laps to win this race so i knew i had my work cut out for me. i held him behind me the whole time untill lap 48 i misjudged my braking zone for turn1 and barely ran wide opening the door for BARATASTERN and he stuck his foot in the door before i could slam it shut on him and he got the power down before i did giving him the lead. at that point i knew it as a done deal i just lost the race with a handful of laps to go reminicent of singapore anyone lol only this time it was me running wide not my crew fitting the wrong tires. the race was hardfaught and exciting from start to finish good win BARATASTERN i will beat you one of these races (hopefully) lol but all in all it was a great race