F1 2021, Co-Op, S01, R14, Brazil

Finally, finally, finally onward to the final push of the season. We run through Brazil (love it), Australia (fairly comfortable there because I've run more laps there than anywhere but I find it difficult in the game) and Abu Dhabi (terrible at it but want to get better). Wish I'd asked Brett to give a season recap at some points in the season, because I know he'd have put some effort into the response and it would have been nice to have at least some of his thoughts written amongst all of my garbage...this would have been a good time for a response from him, I think: tail end of a crummy rookie campaign, a few bright spots amongst far too many dark ones and looking to improve considerably over the offseason, etc.

Anyway, here we go:

Another time where the qualifying times are bullshit thanks to the game but are not misprints; those times for Norris and Bottas are the times that were listed.

Bummer of a race for me. I had a nice fast lap (7th best) but finished last. Brett had a solid finish but took interesting route to get there. More on that later.

Chalk up another kill for the Haas strategists, amongst others--hard tires, really? For a shorter distance than the softs were used?

Looks like Brett was running fifth before having an off or something, and ended up pitting early for damage (I assume). I was running around 10th before having an off of my own and pitting as well. We were running 16th and 18th, it appears, before the pit stops shook out and moved us up to 12th and 14th. Then, another Safety Car...can't say why at this point, but it could have been either of us or some damage to someone else, but no one retired so I'm not sure. Looks like we both took the chance on another set of soft compounds with a goal of moving up quickly in a dash at the end.

Brett sure is a lot better at that stuff than I am. He's just more aggressive. I have consistency (relatively) and he has a few laps at most rounds that I just can't touch. So I suspect he'll be getting a lot of poles and fast laps if we can move forward on the grid a bit.

Looks like we both had penalties (Brett 3 seconds' worth, me 6 seconds' worth) and that butchered my final position. We appear to have been running 12th and 14th, respectively, at the line.

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.

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?

F1 2021, Co-Op, S01, R11, Italy

Onward to Italy, a track that I don't think either of us really suspected would be difficult. I don't know about Brett, but I figured I would be able to hang with other cars and let them drag me forward (as can be done at many tracks with two DRS zones). But I underestimated (heavily) the degree to which the DRS train made things a nightmare for someone with a car as bad as mine...when there are three cars closely lumped together in front of you, it's hard to use that next car ahead to keep the gap close because they too are getting DRS the whole time. What I really needed was only one car in front of me...someone fast enough to really help me but slow enough to be able to hang with.

And, well, I don't think anyone checked off that last bit except for Brett, who was slower than me.

Huge win for Ricciardo, especially after his DNF at Spa. McLaren have really pulled themselves together and are maintaining a slight gap to Ferrari in performance, I think, and at Monza it really paid off. Eerily similar to what happened at the real 2021 Italian GP. Hmmm.

Anyway, Ricciardo appears to have fewer problems of speed and reliability than he did in the 2019 edition (where he was a woeful teammate to have). He brings himself well clear of Sainz, which I suspect also induces a few phone calls/meetings/e-mails to occur at Maranello with an eye toward replacing the Smooth Operator.

Great day for Leclerc, too, who puts himself almost equal with Norris in the race for P5 in the Driver's Championship.

Looks like the Mercedes duo pitted right as the Safety Car was coming in and that ruined their race, on furhter review. I don't know what brought out the SC. Looks like we had two of them, actually. Both he and I went back to the soft compound for a late attempt to make up places, but it appears not to have worked AT ALL. Don't know what our problem was, really.

F1 2021, Co-Op, S01, R10, Belgium

I was very excited for our first career trip to Belgium; always a track I've thought I was decent at, and I'm not sure the track is as difficult as the average locale in this game. I'm sure Brett was looking to get things turned around for himself as well, as he'd had a rough time of it lately, while I had recently picking up (small numbers of) points on a semi-regular basis.

Well, it wasn't much better a day for him than the recent rounds (bar Silverstone). Looks like he only made it until Lap 6 or so and was out after that.

Huge win for Hamilton here; that's actually three in a row for him. He has totally erased the gap to Perez that was pretty large at the end of Round 5 (at which point Perez had won 4 in a row), and has now opened up a considerable lead over Perez and Bottas and the rest of the field, with only Verstappen within immediate striking distance. While Perez and Bottas aren't out of it technically, it would take a large amount of luck for them to beat Hamilton now.

+

Looks like something brought out the Safety Car for this round; it saved Gasly's race after some early damage brought him in for a pitstop at the end of the first lap.

As for myself, I was having a great run again and was running 10th (behind Brett) until Brett's DNF. I pitted during the SC and wasn't in a good spot until I confirmed that a bunch of drivers hadn't pitted by the restart and then pitted a lap later (!). I was moved up to 7th momentarily, and ended up letting Gasly after a scuffle with Russell. I slowly faded back (I think I had a touch of damage) into the clutches of Sainz, Mick, Tsunoda, Alonso and Vettel (I had a 3 second penalty too). On track, I was 9th, but with the penalty I was back to 14th. 

All in all a terrible day for Brett. He DNF'd after leading me for the first half dozen laps, and then, while I didn't score, I let both my teammate and his teammate score points. 

F1 2021, Co-Op, S01, R09, Hungary

If Brett had a second favorite track to drive in the old days, it was probably Hungary (or Magyar Nyadij, as we say). That too has soured, even more than his favour towards Canada, and I don't think it will be on the calendar after S2 is over (which we're in the closing stages of now). Not sure why he's lost interest in it, exactly, but it seems harder to me than it used to be too and that middle sector or so is just rough, as is the carousel-like turn at the top of the hill.

That's another race down and another points finish for me! The high point of my momentum for the season, I believe...three points finishes in four rounds. I'm opening a lot of eyes and have the full attention of Ferrari (where I have been dreaming of going and which determined my start at Haas). 

Another DNF for Brett, meanwhile; looks like he had a solid start and ran as high as 12th or so, despite not setting a competitive laptime in qualifying, and then it was over for him at some point. Well, it wasn't a huge shock.

And what a drive from Mick! It didn't result in points, but he ran as high as...4th? By not stopping for tires until well after everyone else, but still. Pretty impressive, how did he do that?

Also, before I forget about it. What a run of qualifying 14thfor Ocon! He wasn't in 14th at the first two rounds, but since then: 14th, 14th, 19th, 14th, 14th, 14th, 14th. Very strange. Wonder how long he can keep that up? I suppose it's really an indictment of him...he's ahead of the two Alfas, the two Williams, and at least one of the Haases most of those occasions, I imagine.

F1 2021, Co-Op, S01, R08, Great Britain

 Following Austria, we prepared for a track that we don't feel we are too good at (and one that Brett doesn't care for much). Ever since the addition of the Wellington Straight in, what, 2011, we have been a little less enamored with the track. Also, I think the Copse/Abbey/Chapel sequence has gotten harder within these games in the past decade. While they should be difficult, it makes them perhaps less enjoyable to drive. Of course, it's really just one more section of track during the F1 calendar that might be far easier and more enjoyable with a wheel.

Another great day! Brett maybe didn't feel it at the time, and might not when he thinks about it later, but he had a great run too. Very solid and didn't put any wheels wrong the whole way. Was mking slow progress forward and ran consistent times from lights out to checkers.

I myself was running with Gasly and the Ferraris for the first stint, and managed to get Gasly shortly after my pit stops. As I recall, Sainz started to slip away up with the next grouping, but Leclerc couldn't hang with them and I was maintaining a gap of 3-5 seconds the rest of the way.

Looks like I didn't get the right screenshot from my telemetry app (actually, I think it was showing Austria in error still) but I did manage to grab another one as shown above.