Spanish GP - Race Reports

post below....

QUALY 7TH not to bad with a 1:23 RACE first corner incidence sees porsche hit the back of me witch resulted me to hitting bob struggled for race pace throughout really wanted to retire but got encouraged to carry on all in all total disaster of a race for me witch in the end seen me finish with a ninth place and after that i really wanted to quit the racing all together but a few comments from rob and redweasel really changed my thoughts and i have decided to carry on with the racing am expecting to much to soon out of myself but ill be on the grid for monaco.

qually 6th..Race lost connection with 13 laps left n doin well was 5 bt catchin porsche n then connection lost ffs

Quali - last. I got a 10 grid penalty for spinning when I was going past Sean. No contact was made as far as I know. Race - 7th (6th if I can get penalty removed). From what Brian says I think I may have suffered from the "lag bubble" at the start as on my screen I had just got my front wheels in front of his front wing when he went around. 1st and 2nd corner was a bit hectic and I shunted rob slightly when he returned to track which got me a 10 sec penalty. After that the race went quite well. I was on prime tyres when everyone was on option yet I was maintaining pace and was even 3rd at one point. I had a battle with mva when he came out of the pits which was good. But by far my favourite part was the last few laps when I was on option. Redweasel made a few mistakes allowing me to take 10 secs off him. So the last few laps I battled with Redweasel whilst rob caught up. Last sector of the last lap I was right on his tail and almost had him last corner but I lost it and went into the gravel which saw rob go past.

qualy 2nd race 5th got off the line well,unfortunatly i was screwed by the bubble glitch,i know it was no ones fault though as we cant avoid close racing at the start.anyway i lost lots of places then on lap3 i think the mask lost it in sector3,he recovered to track but i think he had grass on his tyres and when he applied the throttle he spun unfortunatly this was the point when i was approaching and i lost my wing.when i pitted i was about 14secs off last place and forced into a 2 stop race.i battled my way through the field and i was so pleased with my pace.was expexting around 8th but got 5th with my team mate 6th who also had a dodgy race.decent constructors points scored,well done bob

Qualy - 9th, Didnt really set much of a lap. Race - 6th: Got round the first corner only to have Burty cut off my road and send me off the track as i was overtaking him for 4th then get to end of 1st sector and get hit into the gravel so as well as my team mate was fighting from the back and had to change from a 2 stop to a 1 to stand any chance, made a crucial mistake a lap before i pitted which allowed rob and weasel past came out of pits 7 secs behind Rob and closed it down to 3.2 before making a mistake and giving up and consolidating 7th only for Sean to loose connection to give me 6th. Could of been better but i spose i should be happy with the fightback and resolve that myself and Rob showed to grab some decent constructors points

Quali - 4th
Approx 1:22.5 I think. Pretty slow but ust couldn't get any fasterm, could have been the overcast (ish) conditions.

Race - 4th
First corner carziness! I was in thrid when I turned right makign sure I left Rob plenty of room, it apparently appears that the stupid contact glitch reared its ugly head again me to bubble bump Rob sideways causing everyone to pile into the back of us, from what I understand, at the time of writing I have not seen any replays. Anyhow I ended up at the back of the field except I managed to pass Bob at turn 4 and Brian at the longish straight at the end of sec 2 so was upto 8th by the end of the first lap. Maintained OK pace and a few laps later sped through bits of broken wing in sec 3 that belonged to Rob and Thee Mask while chasing Porsche. Eventually passed Porche as he hit the gravel at turn 5 and started chasing Sean in 4th. Sean unusually pitted early on Lap 10 so went to 4th and pitted on lap 12. Came out behind Thee Mask but got past him afeter he made a mistake at the 1st gear corner after sec 2. Chased down Sean who got disconnected and passed the Prime runners i.e. Porsche when they pitted. Found myself up in 4th and cruising with Porsche 11 secs behind but Burty then MVA 12 secs ahead. Just thinking what a smooth consistent race I was having with only 6 laps to go when when firstly I went deep into the gravel at turn 5 letting Porsche close up to 2 secs behind. He made another mistake and gave me some breathing space but whilst changing my fuel mode I missed my breaking point into sec 3 at the end of the straight, wnet wide and returned just in front of Porsche. Had him all over my rear for the last couple of laps but managed to hold on for 4th position. Not what I would ahve expected after the first corner and in all honesty I don't think I would ahve finished any higher even if the first corner incidents hadn't happened.

A couple of mistakes crept back in but hopefully these won't continue.

Redd.

ye bout pitting early my tyres was done people apparently fort i was quik in the ferrari i dint i fink its cz i cud mek my tyres last n i lyked the tracks i lyk spain bt was slow to slow i believe...N my tyres was gne to early i fink if ive bin moved down fo apparently bein fast but theres other drivers tht deffo need puttin in other cars cos there fast.....

Seanbbb90 wrote:ye bout pitting early my tyres was done people apparently fort i was quik in the ferrari i dint i fink its cz i cud mek my tyres last n i lyked the tracks i lyk spain bt was slow to slow i believe...N my tyres was gne to early i fink if ive bin moved down fo apparently bein fast but theres other drivers tht deffo need puttin in other cars cos there fast.....

Sean; I can't quote the FIA, and I wouldn't dare to, but I believe there is ongoing monitoring between now and up to the season break after Canada when a couple of changes, if not earlier, could be made. I may well be one of these. At the FIA's request I've agreed to test my pace in the Lotus as well as the Ferrari at the upcoming Canadian GP: Monaco is a beast of it's own and obviously does not lend itself to being a good 'leveller/indicator' when it comes to testing but Canada should be OK. You might find me following you into the black 'Mean Machine' in the not too distant future!