Round 15: Spain - Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (27Jul17 @ 9pm EDT)

[AaronWebb85]

Pre-Race Interview
1. How was your race last week at Abu Dhabi?
2. This week we are in Spain where Pastor Maldonado won his only race holding off Alonso.  What are your opinions of this ex F1 driver?
3. Spain is usually where pre-season testing begins.  Do you think there should be more testing in F1 than we currently have?

 

[nickthequick]

pre-race interview is up!

 

[porq_chopz]

[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]1. How was your race last week at Abu Dhabi?[/font]
I missed last week due to being out of town. I wish I could've raced though as it is one track I'm pretty decent at.

[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]2. This week we are in Spain where Pastor Maldonado won his only race holding off Alonso.  What are your opinions of this ex F1 driver?[/font]
Truth be told I have no opinion of this driver. I only followed F1 loosely until a few years ago when I really started to get involved with following it closer.

[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]3. Spain is usually where pre-season testing begins.  Do you think there should be more testing in F1 than we currently have?[/font]
I think the current testing is decent. If anything I wish they'd do something more for the little guys to try and even the playing field just a tad more to create some more competition up front instead of Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari. But until then my only option would be to limit the top teams testing time as they seem to have things figured out already and are ahead of the curve. 

 

[nickthequick]

1. How was your race last week at Abu Dhabi?
The race went pretty well except for the final lap where I just made a slight mistake where I may have been able to get P2 but instead spun and got P4.

2. This week we are in Spain where Pastor Maldonado won his only race holding off Alonso.  What are your opinions of this ex F1 driver?
Man this guy was something else.  I think if the car really suits him he can be fast, but other than that he just does so many bonehead things on track it is unbelievable.  I still can't believe he won that race actually and it was on merit.

3. Spain is usually where pre-season testing begins.  Do you think there should be more testing in F1 than we currently have?
I think it should be on a few different tracks instead of mainly at Spain, I think that would help the data collection more and it gives us more to pay attention to in the offseason.

 

[El_Majacko]

1. How was your race last week at Abu Dhabi?
Was going very well until the final stint. Still not happy about it.
2. This week we are in Spain where Pastor Maldonado won his only race holding off Alonso. What are your opinions of this ex F1 driver?
I'm glad he's gone. He was a liability to the rest of the field. They bang on about safety nowadays, the best fix was just to remove his license.
3. Spain is usually where pre-season testing begins. Do you think there should be more testing in F1 than we currently have?
Absolutely. Teams should be able to test freely like they used to. That way new drivers stand a chance with some proper track time before getting a full time seat.

 

[AaronWebb85]

1. How was your race last week at Abu Dhabi?
Race went ok, I used the SC and VSC periods to stretch my tires for a 1 stop. Pace was a bit down, so I was happy with a 6th place finish.

2. This week we are in Spain where Pastor Maldonado won his only race holding off Alonso.  What are your opinions of this ex F1 driver?
Never liked him, constantly crashing into barriers or other cars. Can't imagine he had much of any respect in the paddock.

3. Spain is usually where pre-season testing begins.  Do you think there should be more testing in F1 than we currently have?
I've never really understood why testing is always done at Spain. I guess they restrict to control cost. To me though, F1 has always and will always be expensive. Wouldn't they rather have the best product put on track with additional testing than save some money?

 

[Sassafrass_3]

1. How was your race last week at Abu Dhabi?
I thought it went well. Was held up severely in the first few laps which killed my chances at a top 10. I targeted a top 10, my strategy went as planned and got 12th. Mostly due to attrition but that's ok.

2. This week we are in Spain where Pastor Maldonado won his only race holding off Alonso.  What are your opinions of this ex F1 driver?
Terrible, embarrassing. Please don't ever come to Indycar.

3. Spain is usually where pre-season testing begins.  Do you think there should be more testing in F1 than we currently have?
I don't mind testing in Spain. Top teams go testing in Spain and just get better at what they're already good at with the best equipment. Small teams go testing and know where they can improve but have limited means of doing so. I just wish the money for teams would distributed with a little more balance. The top teams deserve more money of course but the small teams should get a better chance at that money. And maybe attract more manufactures to F1. Make them more competitive and put on a better show throughout the field. 

 

[El_Majacko]

Q: 4th
Had that lap on mediums, so I decided to back out of my soft lap which was 7 tenths up and surely a pole time.

R: 8th
Well with mebbe and I the only 1 stoppers in the top 10, and Forza the only car catching up on the 2 stop, I was pretty much guaranteed 3rd until the SC was deployed. The timing was shocking as Dubzzy was yet to pit so I had to stack. I restarted 11th and escaped the restart melee. I was working on Dubzzy for 4th and looking at getting a Renault after for 3rd, but another SC was deployed. Pitting would likely have dropped me back a lot, but Forza came in for softs and ended up right behind me! Why 2/3 of the field pitted I don't understand but that made my a little angry. On the restart I tried passing Dubzzy but he was having none of it. Contact between us sent me backwards before further contact with HSV put me right down the order. Salvaging 4 points was the best I could do. I don't know why I bother every week if I'm just going to get taken out. Championship is essentially gone now through no fault of my own. Can I get some good luck at some point?

 

[dszman]

1st lap incident
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0ME836D2Ic

after 2nd SC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIT3xriwfSA

 

[Hootius]

Q: 15th

F: 17th

I didn't have any pace so I wanted to try to tyre strat my way into a few spots better than what I deserved. However someone's careless evasive maneuver in T2 of Lap 1 sent me into the wall and somehow did not full out kill me, only took my wing off. From there, the safety car caught me a lap down from pit cycles and I just had to give up any hope and stay out of everyone's way due to blue flags.

 

[porq_chopz]

Well, I tripped a breaker in the room I was playing in at like lap 2, lost power to everything in there. And that was the end of my race. 

 

[Coopersonic]

Q: P8
Never had decent qualifying pace in this game so I wasn't expecting a whole lot differently from this week. Got my time up to fourth for a little bit but got dropped from there. 
R: P3
The lights went out and I "stalled" the car because I let off the clutch just a bit too early without enough throttle, and that didn't drop me back too badly. After just narrowly avoiding a few incidents into turns 3 and 4, I found myself at the very back of the point scoring positions. My race engineer suggested that I go from softs to mediums to hards, so I went with it since I'm sure he knew better than I did. After my good, productive stint on the mediums, I went in for the hards a couple laps after the game suggested, and it paid off. As I pulled into my pit box, the safety car came out. I thought to myself, "This is finally my big break." After catching up to the queue, which was chaos, I made it up to fourth. Once the safety car went in, I drove on rails to avoid getting damage from passing the cars who were positionally behind me, but literally in front of me. I passed Brian on the green flag for third, and matched Alonso's pace, both of us on hards, until the second safety car. He dove in for softs, which was questionable at the time, but that put me in second right behind Mebbe. I was pretty excited for my first podium finish since, coincidentally, Spain of last season. When the green flag flew again, I knew Mebbe was going to pull away, but also I knew that the hard charging Dubzzy was behind me on mediums. Made me nervous considering I was still on hards, but I wasn't worried. I reminded myself that I created a gap between him and I during the stint before the second safety car, so I knew I'd be okay. Going into the first corner, he dive bombs me from out of nowhere. We touch, but I maintain the position. From there it was just trying to maintain the gap between him and I as Mebbe was in a league of his own. To summarize the rest, Alonso pulled off his final stint to take second place from me going into turn 1 on the final lap. I was more than happy with third. 

 

[AaronWebb85]

Q: 3rd
I had a decent lap, lost a few tenths off my best, but with a couple going for tire strat it put me 3rd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl7Uzj11Zi8

R: 12th
Very disappointing finish for the speed I showed. It started out ok and and with no SC I was looking at Soft, Med, Med and likely a 5th place finish at the worst. Unfortunately with the SC bunching up the field I was involved in a number of incidents some of which were my fault and others no so. I am ready to put this one behind me and move on, but it will certainly be a race in which we reference to potentially be a catalyst for changes in the next season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipKUllVRv-c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlrqSRjNPDI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbl-KUg04ds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGYnOXelIB0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMQUGh33heg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahEWr50Lylg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj0s4Zg6b1A

 

[Sassafrass_3]

Apologies for stacking the field up on that restart after the safety car. It put me at the front and I just couldn't get out of the way fast enough.

 

[El_Majacko]

[youtube]ZGVqKT5iHqA[/youtube]

 

[McSendit]

Well, I guess I have some explaining to do!

1) I fully agree with myself getting penalized, even DQ'd from the race for cutting the last chicane every lap. That is 100% on me for not understanding the rules you guys race by. I thought the line I was taking was allowed since corner cutting was set to regular. I apologize for that, and it won't ever happen again. However, in my defense, I was taking that same line during the two practice sessions before the race, so it would have been nice to have been informed that taking the turn like that was not allowed. I raced plenty of laps in practice with aaronwebb, taking the same line I always did through the last chicane, and was never informed of this. Either way, it's on me for not understanding the racing rules of PRL, and I completely agree with myself getting penalized or even DQ'd from the race for it.

2) On lap 8, I went for an overtake on aaronwebb, see 0:55 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbl-KUg04ds 
and we became stuck together mid hairpin. I have no idea why this happened. It was a simple overtake and there was no risk I was going to run Aaron wide. I was doing everything I possibly could to get us un-stuck. I was NOT trying to run you off the track aaron, but the fact we were stuck together would NOT let me turn back onto the track. I was doing everything I could.

3) First safety car restart: What a complete disaster! A lapped car (I think Bubba18..?) was trying to let everyone pass when the race restarted, and it caused a huge chain reaction. Webb, I did not turn into you. Here's what happened: AaronWebb, Bubba18, and I, were three wide during the restart and I was pinched between AaronWebb and NickDahy as soon as I was past Bubba. I had absolutely no where to go, see 0:05 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGYnOXelIB0 
There was nothing I could have done differently there. I was going straight holding my line and was pinched between Nick and Aaron. Overall, I don't think anyone is to blame for that incident, other than the game for putting a lapped car in the front of the grid for the restart, and causing such a massive chain reaction.

I really enjoyed racing with you guys, and now have a clear understanding of the way races are run.