In the first pre-season test at Barcelona,
the team showed a well pace which might make them think they can "have the real power like Apex Racing Team does". With Black 9th fastest and Dovizioso 12th fastest,
they described it as "not bad".
The second pre-season test, taking at Donington Park, was met with wet weather and Dovizioso was also 12th fastest in the session. Andy Black
had a bit of a struggle with the wet tyres on his car but he could handle the car "good as it can", with himself being 16th
and ahead of Omer Said and James Chant who did not set a time because of a crash. However, just 15 minutes before the session ended, Black aquaplaned his car at Starkey's Brigge (Turn 5 & 6) but he managed to brake the car and "crash at a lesser impact".
In the first race at Australia, Andy Black
qualified in the Top 10 and managed to finish in 9th place. Andrea Dovizioso
qualified below the Top 10 and finished 13th place. In the second race at Singapore, Black finished in the same place but his teammate finished 18th and last, below the Top 15.
In the third race at Japan, Black's favourite track, Fuji Speedway, it was a bit of a disappointing weekend for the
German squad.
Andrea Dovizioso received a 10 second time penalty during the race for a collision with a fellow racer, meanwhile Andy Black received a 5-place grid penalty for impeding a fellow racer during qualifying. Black has also been issued a drive-through penalty which he served it and then finished 17th.
In the fourth race at Monaco, Andrea Dovizioso scored a solid 9th, ahead of both their rival team, Apex Racing Team. Black finished behind his rivals but it equalled as a low position, not only for him, but Milos and Joel too.
The fifth race at the Nürburgring was a delighted weekend for the team. Considered as one of Black's favourite tracks, he finished on the podium behind Tobi Kederer and Aidan Keranen.
"
Even if we have good speed and good pace for a podium or a victory, we would still have some strong result like a podium finish, the position to lose our a podium and then a Top 5.", Black said in his post-race interview.
The sixth race at Austria was "
nothing much for Merc" with Black 11th and Dovizioso retiring from the race due to
a mechanical failure with the engine.
But, at the seventh race at Watkins Glen at the U.S.,
his team came in a heated discussion against the stewards about Andy Black being too busy in the "thing that he was occupied on". He revealed to have received "no alert" and responded "HONESTLY!" furiously to the stewards, which the stewards replied respectful and honest. His teammate was rumoured to be furious against them but he denied that, stating that he was "not part of the thing because he focused on racing".
(NOTE: I meant about
this post being rated Funny three times. Yeah, I know it was for a "funny" reason.)
A non-championship race
took at Great Britain
at Brands Hatch
, with Andy Black finishing 2nd
and Andrea Dovizioso third
behind Ben Utzer
, their first double podium
at a non-championship race
so far
.
(NOTE: This one is just for fun, and I'm referencing this line to
this.
)
The eighth race took at the fast F1 track, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, or I'll call it
Île Notre-Dame Circuit. Black qualified an impressive 3rd, ahead of Tapio Rinneaho.
The race was met with an unbelievable battle between him and Rinneaho, making side-by-side battles at the main straight, Turn 7 and 8, the hairpin and the Casino Straight in the most of the race, circa 30-45 laps of battles in total. During the safety car period, Rinneaho's team radio said "Come on Tapio, you can do this!" meanwhile Black's said "Try to defend the much faster Rinneaho who is behind you. You can do the best at this track, it's your favourite.". After the safety car pulled in,
an unbelievable overtake from the first corner was unexpectedly seen by all the TV viewers, attendants and from the team's pit garage. Tapio Rinneaho made the most impossible overtake ever at Turn 1, divebombing from the inside line and finally overtaking Black. The Finnish commentators were screaming like this just when Rinneaho made the move.
The team radio from Rinneaho said:
[TAPIO'S ENGINEER: "Great freaking job Rinneaho! This was freaking awesome! Brilliant, superbly and uberly brilliant!"]
[TAPIO: "Wooooooo!!! YEEEEEEEAH!!!!! Woooohoooo!! Aaaaaah, can't describe that!..."
Meanwhile at Black's team radio:
[ANDY'S ENGINEER: "Close enough Andy, however that's still the best result at Canada for us as we're in the Top 5, losing out to a podium after that unbelievable overtake. Well done."]
[ANDY: "That was the most unbelievable race ever. What if that would happen again in the next races...Hehehe, just saying."]
In the post-race interview with Black, he considers Rinneaho as his next rival one day.
Going to the ninth round at Silverstone at Great Britain, Black qualified 6th and Dovizioso 13th. During the race, Black was running 6th and he was involved in an incident with Joel Rautavaara and James Chant, which a slowing Chant spun into the gravel and pushed Black off to the track, where he was on the outside of Joel. Black finished 12th meanwhile Dovizioso finished last.
We are going into the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 10th round and the last of the first half of the season! Andy Black and Andrea Dovizioso qualified 11th and 15th respectively. Everything was going well until the seventh hour of the race, where Andrea Dovizioso goes course-off at the Ford Chicane, gets back to the pits and back to the track. In the 13th hour of the race, Andy Black spun into the barriers at the L'Arche Chicane,
and the team radio transcript was revealed, with Black saying a funny team radio:
[ANDY'S ENGINEER: "Is the car okay? Can you get it back to the track?"
[ANDY: "I'll be back..."]
After the crash, he rejoins the track and
gets on the pressure by gaining positions with an unbelievable car. He finished 11th in the race, meanwhile his teammate finished 14th. That's why he was back after the mistake!