F1 2021, Co-Op, S01, R03, Portugal

As I get older, racing on a new track for the first time is less exciting. Maybe 10-20% of that is due to the catalog of tracks I've raced becoming larger, so it naturally would be less novel to drive in a new place. But I think the rest of it is just getting older and worn down by having to learn new things. What a sad way to be at 34, isn't it?

I will say that I enjoy the idea of the track; very polished surfaced, very sterile, and yet with a fair amount of elevation change and corner variety. That's an unusual thing amongst the resto of the F1 calendar, so I'm glad it's around. And, being a new track, it doesn't seem all that difficult. It will probably be harder in the next edition of the game as more users will have supplied feedback by that time.

Back to back wins for Perez at this point, and Red Bull out to a surprising and comfortable lead for so early in the season. Strange race results here, though--6 sets of teammates finishing consecutively.

I've gotta say, I don't remember this round AT ALL. Obviously Brett had a problem; looks like he started decently enough to get in front of me but it didn't last long a couple of shemozzles (TM David Hobbs) followed by a crash out or some such. I toiled around at the back the rest of the way, it looks like. Not much else happened for anyone else, so far as I can tell, either. Except for Russell, who briefly ran 4th by pitting later than everyone else.

Technically, I guess I don't know for a fact that Brett had the problem: I didn't get a full listing of the results from the game, I only got the top 14 finishers (all that is displayed at a time within the game). The telemetry app I use doesn't distinguish between drivers of a team in the views that I have been pasting here. However, the driving of the lower-place white mark in the above is erratic enough to be confident that it is Brett (not much different than my own green, which as the user with the app, is the only one that is distinguished from its teammate).

Actually, I guess I have two reasons to believe it was Brett. Looks like he started on the medium tyre--British spelling alert!--and then presumably had some wing damage so pitted early for the hard compound. What a drag.

In any event, I had to use these telemetry screenshots to guess at the finishing orders of the last six runners and made up fast lap data (which doesn't matter since we know none of those drivers got Fast Lap).

I think it was at this point we realized we needed to turn the difficulty down a touch, from 85 (!) or so. Probably took it down to 80-82 at this point, even though I knew the next round was going to be tough as well. Better to undercorrect than overcorrect, I guess.