F1 2012 Why such a difference between qualify and race?

kimi_iceman85 · Nov 2, 2012

Hi everyone.

I'm kind of a beginner in formula one gaming ( last game I had was f1 2005)
I play professional level, career with force India.

After 2 races (melbourne and sepang) the thing is:

During the qualifying sessions, I always get to q3, while my team mate di resta always got knocked out in q2. and I'm generally between 1.5 to 2 seconds faster than him during the qualifying.
I generally qualifyed 9th in Australia, and 5th in Malaysia.

But than during the race, it's impossible to keep the pace with the other cars, The only way to win or do a podium is to block everyone behind me. But my times are ridiculously slow. And my team mate Di Resta is 2 seconds faster than me. I won the sepang race, by taking perfect start, and keeping hamilton behind me during all the race at less than 1 second, and using kers in DRS sectors.

Maybe I'm a bad driver I guess....But why SUCH a difference with the qualifying? Is it a matter of setups? ( too agressive, doesn't work with loads of fuel....etc?)
Anyone faced the same situation?

Thx

James Bannister · Nov 2, 2012

Sounds like your set ups are probably brilliant in a Qualifying session. Such as your gear ratios, for instance max speed in 7th maybe only reachable with DRS open on the longest straight. Which is all well and good, but come the race it becomes an issue, as the more fuel you have the heavier your car becomes and the less likely you will be able to keep pace with those on racing setups, until the latter laps when your fuel is going down. If I could remember for the life of me how many more seconds it should be with max fuel to minimum I'd let you know as the best way is to use practice to test it, but I generally can't remember, will try checking it a little later for you.

kimi_iceman85 · Nov 3, 2012

thanks for your answer.
I'm not sure it's about gear ratios. I have an agressive driving style, nearly always full throttle, and strong breaking,but in the same time I never have any problem with breaking or tyres or anything. what you said is true about straight lines with drs ,maybe I have to test setups without drs to find a good pace for the race...anyway I drive exactly the same way all the time, and in Qualifying, Q3 is piece of cake, while during the race, being as fast as my team mate is practically impossible.
Same thing today in China, I qualified 6th, while my team mate got knocked out in q2, I'll race tomorrow but I'im pretty sure I'll have to block everyone behind me again.