Starting to write this on an airplane, so not able to verify if anything I say is accurate by looking at screenshots/video
Qualifying
So this week, even more than the last two, I focused on strategy so much more than setups or qualifying pace. I think I grabbed Megaman's TT setup on Sunday night when I did my first laps here, and then I tried the top two guy's setups from the overall leaderboard, then I somewhat combined the #2 guy with Megaman's setup, and went with it from that point forth, but qualifying practice didn't really come until race night. I was finally able to jump into an online session with my Renault for the first time about 40 minutes before the race, and managed a 1:31.1. I was super happy with this, because it was way faster than what I had done up until that point, and faster than what I expected.
When we got the lobby loaded, and I got to track for real, I went out and managed a 1:31.5 on my first hot lap if I recall correctly. This felt like a good banker, and I was 2nd to Dark, surprisngly, for quite a while until Sucuri took 2nd. My second hotlap started off badly, and though I encoutered some traffic, it didn't matter as I wasn't going to better it. My third lap was up by as much as 5 tenths at the mid point, but I ended up losing it somewhere, and only marginally improved to get to a 1:31.4 for 3rd. Even if I had managed to match my PB, it wasn't going to move me further up the grid, so I was super happy to be 3rd, which was a huge step up from my previous qualifying best of 6th in the last race at Bahrain, and way beyond the expectations I layed out in the pre-race interview.
Race
My start off the line was decent, and though I feel like I had a bit of a threat for behind, I really didn't have time to look at who or where from, so I went hard into turn 1, and was able to hold onto third. I had a really good opening lap, and felt faster than Sucuri's Ferrari in front of me at times. By lap two, I was thinking of opportunities to make a pass. Unfortunately, I was a bit too eager. I ended up spinning coming out of turn 7 (trying to remember turns from memory, so might be wrong). I hadn't spun there one single time in practice, so it was a weird one. I was really mad at myself, and had fallen half way down the field.
As I got going again, I was super eager to get back past whoever was in front of me - he's holding me up! - and gave it too much throttle coming out of the last turn on lap 2(?), and right into the wall; again, had never spun there once in practice! Front wing totally gone. I had to do a whole lap with no front wing to get back to the pits. Super painful, and I really thought my race was destroyed with no chance of points. My original plan was to run the Ultra's until lap 5, then pit and run the Mediums the rest of the way. I debated switching to Soft-Soft since I was pitting earlier, but ultimately decide to stick with the 1 stop on Mediums. I felt like 1 stop was the only way to make up for my two massive mistakes I had made, and I'd be able to deal with the extra tire wear at the end of the race. I think that was me 2nd last.
During that long Medium stint, I had a great battle with Megaman in the early part of it, and I really had to strategize to find a way past. Initially, I just went for it and I couldn't pull it off, but I had actually started this race with only a half lap of extra fuel, and I was near empty on my ERS, so after a failed attemped, I fell back to charge up and save some fuel. We ended up catching someone else, though it escapes me who it was. This seemed to hold up Megaman to my advantage and I was soon behind him again, but coming out of turn 10, he seemed to lose the back end a little, and a gap appeared on the inside. I went for it to make the pass, and though there ended up being contact, I'm fairly certain it was a clean move on my part. After that, I had to find a way past the other driver that had been holding up Megaman. At this point, it's worth noting that I'm a bit like Daniel Ricardo (less smiling) in the sense that I'm the latest of the late brakers, and so far this season, it has caught me out a little bit. Whoever was ahead was way earlier on the brakes than me, and while I was doing everything I could to avoid hitting him, I feel like my excessive braking to avoid doing just that resulted in Megaman hitting the back of me. I hoped he had not damaged his front wing, because that exact scenario happened at Bahrain when he was behind me and I was trying to avoid hitting the car in front of me.
After I got past Megaman, I was able to pull out a gap, and had a relatively quiet race the rest of the way. I was REALLLY surprised when i found myself in 6th mid way through the race, and I was sure I'd have some cars on fresh tires catching and passing me before the end. Turns out the only other action I saw was when I lapped Pat Lessard, and at that point, my tires were so worn, that I think I was holding him up, but that was just a couple of laps from the end, and I got to the checkered flag still in 6th!
Summary
Amazing Qualifying. Amazing 1st Lap. Horrible 2nd Lap. Surprising recovery. That's pretty much it. After my two spins and missing front wing on lap 2, I really never thought I was going to be back in the points, never mind 6th. Oh what could have been of course. Race pace wise, I should have been able to finish where I started in 3rd if not for that 2nd lap. Oh well, onto Baku. Unfortunately, I'm away until Tuesday, so my practice will be minimal, and I likely won't have great pace there as a result. It's also a circuit I'd never raced at until I did a career race when the game came out, so missing practice time will hurt more than normal.
