F1 2021, Co-Op, S01, R13, USA

And from the frustration that is Japan to the misery that is the U.S. Jeez Louise, do I hate running this track (at the moment). The rhythm section is as rough for me as Silverstone would have been 20 years ago, when I was playing my first F1 games, but for the fact that the games in those days didn't have nearly as accurate a track layout or car handling (I'm looking at you, F1 World Grand Prix for the N64). There was no real rhythm required at that level, with the difficulty being so low and the acceleration being far stronger than top speed was.

So, yeah, I hate running this track. I am terrible at it.

Brett, having recently moved to Austin, definitely and understandably wants to run the track as part of our 16-race season. I would rather not, though I don't care enough to put my foot down.

In short, I was right to hate the damn fucking track. Brett was out after a lap, I was out a lap. I also took out Raikkonen, it looks like; he had to pit early for some early damage and took the opportunity to throw on the mediums, it looks like.

I have a vague suspicion that I might not have actually retired, and rather I decided to manually shut it down just so I didn't have to continue on. If that's what happened, I'm sure my perspective was colored by the assumption --almost certainly correct--that I wasn't going to move forward at all.

Meanwhile, Hamilton has another day strong enough to open up the gap on Verstappen a bit and now sits 41 points up on the field in the WDC; the RBs and Bottas are on life support. Ferrari has a very nice day to bring themselves to within 11 points of McLaren. Leclerc, of course, moves himself into 5th in the WDC. 

Forgot to mention it a couple posts back, but Russell's performance in Belgium brought Williams within 1 point of my Haas team, so the competition for the last bit of WCC payouts is as fierce as ever.