Season 12 Race 5 Shanghai - RACE REPORT

My best Presto qualifying yet at 11th. My first top 10 finish, going as high as 7th. Today's been a really good day. :D

What was especially cool was the final 15 minutes. The racing line was dry, but off line it was wet. So to try and push on that narrow line was really terrifying, since grip falls off so rapidly if you overstep it. It's not often R07 throws that at you, but I wish it did more often!

Thanks for an awesome race, guys. :)
 
qualifying - 1st

couldnt believe i managed to get that lap in at the end, quite a scrappy lap but came at a time nobody else could get time, sean was on a good one which wouldve put me 2nd but missed out by a fraction of a second crossing the line.

race - 4th

great race all, got a good start and led for the first few laps, guus was quite a bit faster than me here so it wasnt too long before he was past me, then sean passed me too, after the first pits id managed to get back in front of sean and behind guus by a couple of seconds, reik was out in front at this point, i then had a battle with sean for a few laps until he passed me again, when i pitted for the 2nd time for wets and 55l i hadnt looked at telemetry, i just took it for granted it would be wet the rest of the race, bad call, i had to pit again next lap for slicks, this put me out of reach of reik and guus and sean, i then had to try hard to stay in front of tim to keep 4th place, i made a number of unforced errors in the last stint which put me well back from the front runner,

all in all a good race happy(ish) with the result which turned out very intresting for the championship, i wasnt fast here by any means wet or dry so got to be happy to still be leading the championship by half way, sean is breathing down my neck and reik is banging in the points, looks like its going to be a good second half of the season.

grats reik for a well deserved win, grats guus and sean too, thanks rd, nico, daniel and all presto members, cya at the next round :)
 
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Next time i complain about being too slow, just say "Shanghai".. Almost embarrassed that i wasn't as slow as i thought, abit odd frame of mind to say the least.. I know one reason why: i was the only one to post time from the back.. Yeah, remembered about 1 minute to race that there is this place called PrestoGP.com that might have some laptimes... :whistling:

Qualy: two attempts, bankerlap and one push. I was 7 tenths up when i spun on tiny mistake in T10.. My third gear was tail happy on few places, i did risk it and it wasn't far from succeeding. That would've took me happily to the midpack.. I was surprised; this time fuel did make a lot of difference, usually i can't feel anything between 50 and 0...

Race: Was mildly confident, i did practice wet more than usual. Started with wet session before going to dry. Paid off.. Very very careful, always tad towards caution: not a single spin. Couple of near spins and two or three long brakes. Last turn was tough, i cut that too often but i tried to lift off afterwards. It was clear from the get go that i had either better setup or better racingline than some, they were really struggling. I felt your pain, it didn't look fun.

First tire change was good, just at the right time. It was early, at lap 10. Managed to undercut a position (sorry, i can't remember who i was racing with, no time for looking at nametags..) Took more fuel on the second stop, just to cover my ass if there were going to be radical sudden changes in the weather. That meant steady.. Just steady, i needed those tires to last as long as i could.

Second stop was bang on, suffered with very very poor tires for three laps before the stop but the drying line compensated a lot. Then at lap 21, to the pits and looked at RTT: 29%. Perfect (well, i could've stop one lap earlier..). The dry line formed quickly, picked up more speed steadily and tried to find dry line.. Suddenly, I was in top10! Well, not because of personal skills, lot of spins from others made that happen.

There were at least two places where i gained a lot by picking a different line than the rest when it was really wet. Exit of T6, took the apex super tight, over rotating a bit. Then almost let go off the wheel, straighten the car, shortshift to third.. Really could go much faster than those who tried to keep it wide and smooth; they had to dance with throttle. When the dry line started to form, had to go to that line and boy, it was tough. Another place was between turns 7-8, most went fast in and struggled when changing directions. I made it so that there was a short straight, all the way to the limiter. Too bad there were no chances of overtaking there.

It was mostly lonely race but that's not bad in the wet. At least i got clear view the whole time. Didn't care about battling, luckily at the end when Nicolas was pressuring, there were no room for him to overtake on a track that was suddenly 5m wide.... If you would've had the chance, i was resigned to give that position away. It's good thing that you can't read minds ;)

Overall, very motivating race. A lot learned. I will do more hotlapping, not a lot. Concentrating on the race and weather did pay up this time.

Next, Silverstone. I think it belongs to top 10 with every driver ever born.
 
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That was intense:confused:

I was very happy with my pace, I usually am a bit behind david reik and sean but this time I was right up there. First two stints went very well, by the end of my second stint I was in 1st with a nice little gap to 2nd. When i went into the pits it seemed wet like the rest of the race, but when I came out with my fresh wets it was suddenly all dried up. I had no idea what to do now and I saw that David went into the pits so I did too. I was in 3rd now, way behind Reik and Sean. Sean stayed on wets and had fuel problems and I managed to pass him in the final lap for 2nd. Im not very happy because I think I would have won if it stayed wet, but I guess changing weather like this is part of prestogp and it certainly made things very exciting. Grats Reik on making the right choice:laugh:

See you next time in hopefully another wet race
 
Q back
R 8th
nice race with many battles until pit really intense pitted in lap 19 and put again wet tires but after 3 or 4 laps the xd say me that If I like cooking some popcorn on tires I can 136C°:roflmao: at end race.
in last laps April easy take on me I tried to resist but me on wet she on dry tires (thought) at end race April was front me about 10sec congrats grats race. and at only 2 or 3 sec Kennett the and race was only thunder and not water poor poor my tires:(:D

Congratulations Reik Guus Sean and All Drivers
Thanks PrestoGp RD and Daniel
 
Yup Valerio, I was on slicks at that stage. I had RTT open, and by the time I passed you, I think the racing line was down to 0% wetness.

I stayed out on the wets a couple of laps too long. I was waiting for the grip to build up before I switched, as I figured even wet tires are faster in the dry than they are in the wet. But, what I hadn't realized is I was overheating them-- Excess of 110C typically. So that's why I wasn't getting the grip :p
 
I actually remembered that F3000 had wider temperature range in wet than dry but it seems i was wrong..

Dry tire temperature range, optimal 90C:
GripTempPress=(2.25, 0.50, 0.30) // Grip effects of being below temp,above temp, and off-pressure (higher number -> faster grip dropoff)

Wet tire temperature range, optimal 85C:
GripTempPress=(2.25, 0.50, 0.30)

But then again, they have these grip values:
Dry tire:
DryLatLong=(1.775, 1.775) // Lateral/longitudinal coefficients
WetLatLong=(1.175, 1.175)

Wet tire:
DryLatLong=(1.475, 1.475)
WetLatLong=(1.675, 1.675)

And this is how they heat up (higher number = more heat)
Dry tire, front: Heating=(0.565, 0.00450)
Wet tire, front: Heating=(0.850, 0.00750) // Heat caused by (Lateral, Long)

That might explain why cold dry tires work better in 30% wetness than hot wet tires.
 
It would explain some things tonight, certainly. :p

I went straight from the overheating wets onto slicks, and just couldn't push the heat into them. They spent the remainder of the race underinflated just because I couldn't get the heat in. I guess because there's some places where the racing line gets kinda fuzzy, and you're still driving on water (like T1, T2, T3 and T11)

Either way... I was way too late changing tires :p Just lucky I had such a huge margin behind me at the time, with Nicolai falling back.
 
Q 9th
R 10th

I started with a full tank (125l) and managed to defend my place a few laps before the lighter drivers could pass me. I was slow in the turns because of fuel and slow in the straights because of high wings, but I had a perfect and very stable setup so I counted on fewer mistakes than others on track to gain some time. I pitted on lap 10 for tires but forgot to unselect the fuel and my crew filled my tank to the max :mad:. I remember also missing my pit box so I lost a lot of time there, and got again a very slow car.
Lap 20 another stop for tires (wets), but I almost decided to put some slicks, since I saw the %wettness decreasing. I saw another decrease a few laps earliers but there was an increase shortly after, so I wasn't sure about slicks and decided to continue on wets.
A few lap later it became clear the slicks were faster, so I put them and finished the race trying to overtake Kennett who passed me after my only big mistake in T6, without success.

Great race all, congratulation to podium & the pilots I battled with.
Thanks Nicolai & Daniel, perfect weather :thumbsup:
 
Grats Reik, Guus, Sean and all Racers!

Q: 16th

R: 14th
Two stops on lap 17 and 23. A lot of fumbling with the pit menu :(
It was the perfect weather, very interesting, seldom a lap with the same tyre-temp and grip conditions. I was lucky and only hit the wall once, the car seemed to be ok. I didn't notice any problem.
It was a lot of fun with cars going off in front ;) and the fast cars lapping. Never a dull moment.
I changed to slicks in the last stop. I thought it would dry up in the end, I was wrong.
Today my arms are hurting like after a gym session.

Thanks Nicolai and Daniel! And thanks all drivers!:thumbsup:
 
Gongrats to Guus for a well deserved 2nd :thumbsup: and sorry for steeling the win. :whistling:

Also congrats to Sean for bringing home 3rd on wets and to all finishers. Was a tough race for everyone.

Qualy (2nd):

I started the flying lap not far behind Sean. I couldn't leave a big gap not to cause a jam behind. Earlier Tim was so Kind to let me pass him. :thumbsup:

Sean was fastest all time so I didn't see a problem, however to my surprise I slightly closed the gap in the flying lap. In a few places it felt like I could have been slightly quicker if I didn't let myself irritate by the car in front. On the other Hand Sean gave me a blasting slip stream on the back straight. :thumbsup: :sneaky: I was happy to manage the braking point well and to finish with a 1:46:4xx.

For a while it looked like I have pole again and in the second outlap I realized I couldn't finish another flying lap. So I watched David and Sean, both being on a quicker second run. Finally David pushed me off the top just before time ran out for Sean to do the same. Very breath taking qualy. ;)

Race (1st):

strategy for dry race: 14/11/11 laps (72/56/56 liters) - I also started like this into the wet race

I had an OK start but Guus had a better one to catch me immediately. It quickly turned out, that I wasn't as fast in the wet as the tup runners. Maybe due to more fuel and/or due to no practise. So Sean quickly made a pass on me too and sent me back to P4. Also Peter made pressure on me and a few laps later he catched me, when I had a little wide in the final turn and I had to lift not to spin and collide with Peter.

Later Peter went in early so it was clear he does a 3-stopper. So considering the rain and my pace it felt like "that's it - P4". However I tryed to stay motivated and not to make a mistake, to keep a little chance if things would change dramaticly.

Then the scheduled stops for us 2-stoppers took place. I came in last in lap 14. Due to the ongoing rain, I reduced the scheduled fuel load from 56 to 53 liters without calculating (I wish I had a Crew to do that properly while I drive) and stayed on wets of course. Maybe I gained a few seconds to Guus, David and Sean because of the lower amount of fuel I had to take but the gap to the front runners was still very high (maybe ~ 15 seconds? Can't emember exactly).

I still thought the race would finish like this. Later I catched up on Peter, who was in front of me due to his 3 stops. However I was a bit quicker now and managed to pass him on the back straight.

When the 2nd stint progressed it got noticebal the track was drying a Little bit, because tyre temps climbed up and lap times got slightly quicker. But my XD overlay still showed "W" for wet, so I expected to stay on wets in the last upcomming stop.

This process continued and I was thinking all time about wich tyre to choose. But the XD again still showed "W". Guus, David and Sean had done their final stops now and I was wondering which tyre they might have choosen.

I was in the last lap now before I would run out of fuel. The wets felt very slipperynow on the racing line and it could only be due to being too dry for them. Now the XD swithced to "H" for humid which was my sign to change on Slicks and so I did.

Leaving the pits I hammered into my brain not to overdo it anywhere and to strictly stay on the racing line at all times. So I didn't realise David already had stopped unscheduled to take Slicks too. Racing was tough now but it felt good and lap times improved. Guus also came in for Slicks now and the gap of more than 10 seconds to Sean in P1 decreased more and more. I finally reached him by 3 laps to go. He defended well and I had a Moment when I left the racing line to overtake him. So I was quicker but it was tricky to overtake on the wet lane. But later this lap I could take more Speed onto the back straight so I finally passed Sean in the hairpin.

I pushed the last 2 laps to be safe if rain would come back and I finally finished 1st with a decent gap to Guus who cathed Sean in the very end.

The result was a big surprise to me and I feel very happy that I had been on the lucky side this race.

Thanks to Nico for Hosting and to all racers for a very good event! :thumbsup:

PS: Sorry for long post. ;)
 
Q:4th I considered abandoning lap when I made a coule small mistake but I had to help Reik out:p, also my 2nd lap I was up .6 so was on for a .2 and was so close just 1 foot from the line, really dramatic q.

R:3rd 59 61 40< Doh!

Start was good just nowhere to go and also Peter was able to sneak round the outside so lost a position. Early laps I managed to get passed Peter and then also Reik as he made slight mistake onto back straight.
I was then able to catch up to David and it took me a few laps chasing to get by I ended up getting a run on back straight and managed to make move stick. Then Gus was next as I closed the gap Gus made a small mistake so I was into the lead.

That lap I decided to pit early having gained the lead unfortunately when I pitted my selection was still on p1 which is fuel and slicks so upon entry to pits I had to slow changed pit selection and then speed up and brake to pit box.
This was enough to loose positions back to Gus and David and having to start again lol.

This stint was pushing also looking at weather and was thinking its probably going to be wet I seen the % go down and back up etc so during this stint I calculated it would be around 32 laps so I also adjusted fuel for last stop to 40 to try and get back what I had lost out on 1st stop.

David just ahead and Gus around 8/9 I pitted and with lowered fuel I was able to gain quite a bit again passing David and Gus came out from his stop just a few secs ahead At this time though id also realised that the % had kept dropping this time so was thinking nooooo! I should have looked more before last stop as slicks would have been the best option with hindsight then instead of wets again. Closing gap to Gus I was just behind now he decide to pit again obviously for slicks I thought with only 10/11 laps left it would be best to just stay out on wets I knew they would last even though they would be a lot slower with gap to Reik around 15 and gap to Gus of 30 I knew this was best option so thought ill end up 2nd most likely with Reik being able to catch up.
Unfortunately as the pace slightly increased this drying part of the race into the last 5 laps I was seeing that I would possibly just run out of fuel upto last corner Doh! I should have put in 45 to make absolute sure I would have enough, anyway decided to fuel save as much as I could in these laps using gaps I had and then try and fight slightly when Reik was on me as I didn't want him to extend race by a lap or that as I wouldn't finish.

Reik got on me I managed to make it slightly difficult for him but he made the pass stick knowing himself he was a lot faster at the time he stuck a good move onto the wet part of the track.
I then lifted cruised using gap to Gus to try and fuel also in last laps but as Gus also got onto rear I decided to just make sure at least I'd finish, if was quite funny at the time as Gus was going for maximum slip stream and I was trying to encourage him to make move for pass so I could lift lol, I didn't want to lift to fast on straight incase I caused Gus to go into my rear.

In the end I was running out just round last turn and made it :) glad to finish still on the podium with wets that were on fire.

Grats to Reik :thumbsup: and Gus keep pushing your win will come :thumbsup:
Well done to all finishers:thumbsup:
Thanks to Nico RD Daniel and PrestoGP:thumbsup:

Cyas all in next Race btw is this Barcelona or Silverstone, Schedule says Silverstone but f1 is Barcelona Should we change this ?
Ps also a long 1 lol sos.
 

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