F1 2021, Co-Op, S01, R12, Japan

Speaking of tracks we enjoy and/or think we'll be competitive at due to their simplicity (like Monza), Suzuka is a track that we think the opposite. I enjoy the track on a personal level, and while I wouldn't say I don't enjoy a challenge, it's hard to enjoy a challenge when you only turn 15 laps on it every few months...that's just not enough time to get up to speed with the esses and a couple other corners around here.

Mostly I was just hoping not to embarrass myself. I figured there was a good chance I wouldn't even survive the race (something I suspect Brett feared at every track of this season, but I only had that concern at three or four rounds).

Another strong weekend for Mercedes; they put a bit of a gap between themselves and Red Bull and McLaren, I think, and have mostly maintained it the rest of the season.

Nice little bounceback for Ferrari in their fight against McLaren. Not a huge margin between them, but every point seems to count between these two. And Leclerc is even with Norris!

Looks like Brett pitted early and then went off-sequence in strategy the rest of the way. And Leclerc was the only driver to go onto the hard compound--Ferrari strategy team strikes again!

Per the photo I took of the game screen at the end of the race, Brett was classified but was down two laps. If memory serves, he'd had a whole rotten race and finally binned it in the last lap or so, but it's better than another retirement, right?

I didn't have a very exciting race; looks like I switched to the medium compound a lap or three earlier than the AI did. Appears to have worked as an undercut to Ocon, Tsunoda and Giovinazzi, but I then appear to have had an off and ended up behind them all and ran 16th the rest of the way. Not a terrible day, given the track difficulty and the hopelessness of my car (it's been the worst car on the grid all season and slowly lost ground to this point because we had it on "reduced" points for the human participants). But not a great day either. Looking to get back into the points sooner rather than later.

Speaking of the R&D chart, I would like to post on that regularly but the chart doesn't provide enough detail. It's quantified on the chart, but only with gridlines marking off the hundreds. So I can only eyeball it within 10 or 20 points. I'd like to make a ruler of some sort to get a more accurate reading, but I'm afraid I'll scratch up my TV screen in the process. Does a silicone ruler exist?