[h=2]Career race: Pipped by Webber in a Rain Affected Malaysia[/h]
Just had my first 100% race without fuel simulation. I race 100% all the time, and this is a new career with 100% races. Quite happy! Lots more fun than the awful fuel sim being on. Story seems mightily similar to one I just saw on the forum in China as well!
Quali: Qualified 7th, which I managed before I turned fuel sim off (although I have a feeling it has far less effect in qualifying). Was very pleased with the qualifying as its far from my favourite circuit.
Opening laps: Having been ruined at the start by 3 guys behind me, I managed get lucky with a line that took the positions back at the 1st corner, and darted across Button to the inside line at the 2nd corner to move into P3. At the next I managed to get Vettel out of the way and made my chase for Webber.
Managed to take Webber after a few inconsistent laps, but was unable to create a gap of any kind, Webber staying within a couple of seconds all the time.
Middle: Come lap 19, the engineer tells me of some light rain, and a couple of laps later, i'm ready for my scheduled stop. I didn't pit though, and instead stuck it out to see how intense the rain was going to get. By this point, the top guys had already moved onto the Primes, and I was ahead by a fair distance, but not putting in great laps. I decided to make the move for Inters at around lap 25. Unfortunately, when I came out of the pits I ended up third behind Button and Webber. Obviously, I knew that they still had to pit, but I was a little disappointed i'd dropped in pace so much as to lose the places.
Finale: about 15 laps to go the rain stopped and the track started to dry. Nobody was pitting for primes until about 10 laps to go - I left it another lap longer as to avoid pit frustration. Again, I'd obviously dropped pace a little more and had to settle dropping in behind Webber, but ahead of Button. There was a gap of about 4 seconds, but I just couldn't close it. I managed to get it down to about 2, pushing as hard as I could but a solid podium finish is what I had to settle for. It was a great race, and a great advert for 100% races to be honest.
The only thing that's annoying me is lack of random retirements. It's so rare, unless i've smashed them against a wall. Hopefully that'll improve for 2011!
Quali: Qualified 7th, which I managed before I turned fuel sim off (although I have a feeling it has far less effect in qualifying). Was very pleased with the qualifying as its far from my favourite circuit.
Opening laps: Having been ruined at the start by 3 guys behind me, I managed get lucky with a line that took the positions back at the 1st corner, and darted across Button to the inside line at the 2nd corner to move into P3. At the next I managed to get Vettel out of the way and made my chase for Webber.
Managed to take Webber after a few inconsistent laps, but was unable to create a gap of any kind, Webber staying within a couple of seconds all the time.
Middle: Come lap 19, the engineer tells me of some light rain, and a couple of laps later, i'm ready for my scheduled stop. I didn't pit though, and instead stuck it out to see how intense the rain was going to get. By this point, the top guys had already moved onto the Primes, and I was ahead by a fair distance, but not putting in great laps. I decided to make the move for Inters at around lap 25. Unfortunately, when I came out of the pits I ended up third behind Button and Webber. Obviously, I knew that they still had to pit, but I was a little disappointed i'd dropped in pace so much as to lose the places.
Finale: about 15 laps to go the rain stopped and the track started to dry. Nobody was pitting for primes until about 10 laps to go - I left it another lap longer as to avoid pit frustration. Again, I'd obviously dropped pace a little more and had to settle dropping in behind Webber, but ahead of Button. There was a gap of about 4 seconds, but I just couldn't close it. I managed to get it down to about 2, pushing as hard as I could but a solid podium finish is what I had to settle for. It was a great race, and a great advert for 100% races to be honest.
The only thing that's annoying me is lack of random retirements. It's so rare, unless i've smashed them against a wall. Hopefully that'll improve for 2011!