F1 Games

Sorry @sirspuddington – We waited 10 minutes and as you know I sent you an invite and everything, just a shame it didn’t work.

Qualifying – 2nd
Having done minimalistic practiced I found my fastest time would be around a 1:40.8xx, so my first lap of a 1:41.1 was slightly disappointing. @shaneb12345678910 then posted a 1:40.9xx so I knew I had to do a perfect lap to take it. I nailed the first two sectors but slightly scuffed the first bit of the final sector. I kept my foot in however and crossed the line with a 1:40.8xx… on to see Shane had done a 1:40.2xx… oh well.

Race – 1st
A great start – coupled with a poor one from Shane – gave me the lead into turn one from @JamieFranklinF1, which is exactly what I needed to happen. I was able to open up a four second-ish gap to Jamie before Shane found a way past him on lap three. I was expecting the Options to last seven laps, and was going to try and take them eight to do a 2-stop strategy, but they rapidly degraded on lap 5 and I should have pitted – but held out until the end of lap 6 when the tyres had gone completely and Shane had passed.

He held a slender 3 second advantage but made a mistake on the pit exit in the tunnel. I made to pass him going up the hill but he blocked me and we came out side by side with Jamie. I made to overtake Shane into the chicane but braked too late – and passed Jamie as well – managing to – somehow – turn it in for the corner, taking two positions in one, albeit with a slight bump to my teammate.

I then set about opening another gap over Jamie that became roughly six seconds before Shane passed and started to catch me. I’d already decided to do two stints on Primes – 8 laps a piece – and then a final stint on Options of six laps, and save my fuel for the final sprint. I kept the lead until my pit stop and Shane pitted a lap later. This helped me regain the lead and in fact extend the advantage to five seconds.

I set about the next eight laps but by the end Shane – on his one lap fresher tyres – had closed the gap to nothing. I pitted for my Options and just floored it from the pit exit, fuel on rich. I took two seconds out of him on the lap and was shocked to see he hadn’t pitted, especially as there were now only five laps to go, and I’d already gained back enough time to make the undercut work – barring any mistakes.

It then dawned on me – Shane wasn’t going to pit again! I knuckled down and started reeling off fastest laps, cutting the margin by between 1 and 2 seconds per lap, but it wasn’t enough. With 3 to go he still held a lead of 10 seconds and I thought it was over, but refused to give in. I was desperate for a win and – knowing his tyres would just get worse and worse – made the final few laps of the last race really count.

With 2 to go the gap was eight seconds but I suddenly cut it down to five – almost all the time being gained in the last sector – which made me realise his tyres had gone. I gained two seconds in the first sector and by the end of the second was on the back of his Ferrari. He squirrelled through the chicane – running slightly wide on the exit – and I nipped through. My tyres weren’t in the best condition themselves so I tried to calm myself down and carefully took the final few corners – taking seconds out of Shane per corner as his tyres were now practically non-existent – to take a hugely satisfying first ever win.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable race and we were both flat out the whole race. Kudos to you Shane – a fantastic effort to make the tyres last so long – and it very very nearly paid off!