Bahrain Grand Prix

Darn it, terribly sorry Kevin about crashing into the back of your car. Wanted to stay as close as possible to get a run on the straight and I screwed it up bigtime :(

Went with a two stopper on mediums using Tim's latest setup, surprised to find myself in fourth, so surprised in fact I span and lost the front wing, dropping me down the field.

Fortunately it was roughly pit stop time anyway, so set about seeing who I could catch.

Made my way up with some great racing along the way, towards the end was catching George by a couple of seconds a lap, but unfortunately he was just too far ahead, and Tim lapped me on the penultimate lap so I was one short. Would not have made up 5 seconds so happy with sixth, but without the spin could have been 5th even 4th maybe.

Glad to be getting back into these cars, and may make a season of it soon.

Great racing guys, enjoyed it a lot.

Congrats to the finishers. My race was not very great. Laden with mistakes and just didn't have my practice pace. I quickly saw that tire wear was going to be a serious issue. I hadn't tested at all beforehand to check wear, so I ended up pitting 2 laps early because I had only a sliver of red remaining and was about 5 seconds off pace. I took on more fuel and lowered front wing a few clicks to finish the race but in the final stages I still found my tires almost shot. I pitted on the penultimate lap just to be safe because I had a good size pad for 8th and finally took my first finish in 5 races with a point.

Grats to Tim on the win, as well as securing another team championship for Vindex and another 1-2 finish for the season :).

Race could have been a whole lot worse for me today. Had a great car here last season but the whole week, I couldn't get it to grip properly. Was also having track issues where the screen would skip at least once a lap, making my driving a bit unpredictable at times. Almost wrecked it a few because of it.

Had another terrible qualifying session but luckily I still was able to start in the top 5. Had I not screwed up on my final lap, I could have only gain one position anyway.

At the start of the race, I got a nice jump which moved me into 3rd before T1. Trailed David and Tim for a while until they pulled away a couple of seconds. At the very same time, I was pulling away from the rest of the field so before I knew it, I was alone on the track.

Pit stops came and went I found myself closer to David than the first stint. He was faster than me so I didn't apply too much pressure on him but I grabbed second after he had a little incident with a lap car in the first chicane. Never let 2nd place go after that. He kept it close to me but I managed to stay in position and secure the 2nd place finish.

The driver's championship is really coming down to the wire! Cya guys at a drama filled Jiading, next week :)

Bloody engine failure on lap 41... I was really determined to finish this race. I opened up the brake ducts and put the discs to max. I was even being restrained with the boost.

Had a strange incident with Connor in qualifying, following him on my second timed lap he had slowed sligthly and I caught him. Next thing I know, I'm passing him on the front stretch and he veers right into me towards pitlane. I can only assume he didn't realise I was there. I took front suspension damage and pitted then as well.

Unfortunately this compromised my speed on my remaining hot laps and didn't hit the mid 1:28 I was aiming for. Ho hum.

Got a reasonably good start in the race and despite being fairly cautious under braking for T1 I caught Vikz very quickly. I went round the outside and pinched him on the exit of one, sorry mate. To make matters worse for Vikz he ran into my rear when I had to lift to avoid punting Justin into 2.

My race then settled down for quite a while. I knew that my overall strategy of being a nuisance to the top 3 guys was buggered following my qual performance and after the first corner shinanegans I had taken rear wing damage, this was causing fairly spectacular oversteer through the faster corners!

In my first stop I decided to try to switch to a two stopper and see how the rest of the race would pan out. This probably led to my engine failure as I was driving right at the limit to make up for the extra fuel load. Unfortunately, I the oversteer I was experiencing exacerbated the tyre wear I was seeing. Net result: losing time. I spun a couple of times trying to keep the distance to Chris Melton at a pitstop size.

Took my second stop and was just trying to settle down into a rhythm and see out the race. Engine went boom and spat me across the track at the chicane. Race over and done with.

Why in god's name am I having so much bad form recently?

Yeah Jon, that incident in qualifying happened because I had a major stutter. I was cruising along and headed for the pits when it skipped and all of a sudden, I saw your car and the wheel jerked like I hit something. Took on damage as well. Weird.

Doh, just so you know, Jon, you are permitted to reset and grab a new car during qualifying if you get into your pit stall. You don't have to wait for repairs and go out with a half-patched up car.

Whew, I thought I was going to go another season without my usual single-win. I knew Bahrain was my best chance at it... thank god Conor was struggling all week with the setup.

Qual was actually a surprise for me. I did roughly the lap I was aiming for but really never expect to take pole. Still seemed that Fisher had the advantage with the inside line for qualifying 2nd though :-)

Race was great. Kept the lead in T1 (barely) and did a first stint of hot laps trying to build a gap. I was playing a little poker by switching up my pit strategy this race. I had been 2 stopping all season and i knew David would assume I was 2 stopping again (last season the 2 stoppers beat out the 3 stopping David). So, I used his assumptions against him by going with a light car and 3 stop strategy.

Built up a fair lead in first stint and by the end of my 2nd stint I had enough over both Conor and David to keep the lead in my final two stops. Conor was close though. I came out of the pits directly in front of him and charged in to T1 with him beside me. I was lucky to complete that lap still in the lead.

Clean sweep for me today; Pole, track record, fastest race lap, and race win. Brilliant!

Traffic... you guys were fantastic. Great job either holding a steady line or making your intentions known well in advance.

Now that the team title is locked up again (go VWI!) I am having a hard time hoping to win the drivers title again. Only way for me to win it is for Conor to have some bad luck in China. Not wanting to wish bad luck upon my team mate I will have to settle for a battle between Fisher and myself for 2nd in points. It would be great to have the team title *and* a 1-2 in the drivers points for VWI. Couldnt ask for much more then that.

Sorry about bumping into you on the opening lap Jon, but I got a bit of stuttering as well on the opening lap. Happened at the start and then through the first couple of corners which is one of the reasons I lost 4 positions. Very strange indeed, I had over 200 FPS for the rest of the race.

No worries Vikz and Connor, these things happen. I just hope I can actually finish the next race! I don't know Jiading at all so it will be the third new circuit for me this season after Bahrain and Fuji.