Heres a look at the S19 races and their winners.
1. Turkey - Istanbul
Sow Oneplus
2. Bahrain - Sakhir
Vitor Ribero
3. China - Shanghai
Joakim Sjoblom
4. Monaco - Monaco
Rui Ferrera
5. France - Magny Cours
Rodrigo Coutinho
6. Belgium - Spa-Francorchamps
Rodrigo Coutinho
7. Portugal - Estoril
Vitor Ribero
8. Canada - Montreal
Rodrigo Coutinho
9. USA - Indianapolis
Sow Oneplus
10. Great Britain - Brands Hatch
Sow Oneplus
11. Italy - Monza
Rodrigo Coutinho
12. Sweden - Anderstorp
Sow Oneplus
13. Netherlands - Zandvoort
Felipe Miranda
14. Brazil - Interlagos
Rui Ferrera
15. Argentina - Buenos Aires
Sow Oneplus
16. Australia - Adelaide
Vitor Ribero
17. Japan - Suzuka
Alexander Bracko
There were a total of 7 different race winners and that too the
first five were won by five different managers. Sow had the most
number of wins-5. RC had 4, Vitor - 3 and Rui - 2. Eld, Felipe
and Lex had one victory each.
In terms of Podium spots, Sow and RC had 12 while the next best
Lex had 6. Sow and Lex had three third spots in a row. Sow had
a good start when he got 9 Podiums in the first 10 races. RC
had a slow start and he had a good middle season when he had
8 podiums in a row from Race5 to Race12.
The Last Race of the Season. C1 Battle still on. Sow had
the misfortune of dropping in last race. RC now leads by
just 2 points. In case of a tie between RC and Sow, Sow
still would have the upper hand on the basis of more wins.
A win would definitely secure the DC for Sow and RC needs
to keep Sow out of his way in this last race. A flurry
of action was seen in other groups as well as managers
try to avoid the relegation and some trying for that
glamourous promotion to the higher classes.
Sow slightly confused everyone but not for sure RC with
his sandbagged time in WU. But he was almost half a second
down on RC. But the Qualify showed the real pace. But Sow
was in a shock when he realised that Lex, his former teammie,
is running on a favourite track. Lex took the POLE and Sow
was closely behind. RC was lying fourth in the grid. Three
stop strategy was the order of the day and Lex came into pits
first on Lap12, followed by Sow on Lap13 and RC on Lap14.
But the order stayed the same. It was interesting to note that
both RC and Sow kept up with Lex all through the race though
Lex was on favourite track. The Second Pit stop window was
from Lap 26 to 28 and because of the tyre wear for RC and Sow,
Jerusevicius got himself sandwiched between Sow and RC. RC was
quick on the Pits but the tyrewear didnt help his cause.
His third pitstop on Lap41 was faster than everyone else by more
than a second and he used that to regain the third spot. He
wasnt close enough to Sow to catch him though. The positions
stayed the same till the end. That means that we have two
managers tied on same points for the coveted C1 DC and Sow
has won it by virtue of his more wins. It was a brave battle
by RC and a great comeback by Sow inspite of his bad lucks.
This Season will be in the F1Time History books for long.
The last race in c2g1 can also decide my group for next
season. I am lying in 21st position currently and that can
easily come down to 23 if some of the managers decide to race
hard. I didnt take the risk and went all out this race and
secured another 3 points which proved to be of no use at the
end. edi had it easy this race as he won the race followed
by teammie Thomas. Promotee Irman came third. Lanca followed
the win in Adelaide with a fourth place here and that
effectively mean a Top15 finish in c2 with 15 races saving
and racing 2. Some might find it quite hard to digest, but
thats how this game is set. Like the real world, money matters!
The Delayed Race16 of the season hurt the Current c1 Leader the most.
The Engine Explosion in the Adelaide which forced Sow to retire in
the second lap mite prove costly this season. The 6 point lead he had
has now turned out to be a 2 point trail. If he wins from here, then
that would be a true Champion's trademark. But i guess his brother
has to give him a helping hand here. Coz..Even if he wins the last
race and RC gets second, then both will be tied at 110 points. As
per F1Time rules, RC will be crowned as he has more wins..
Will Sow do it? Or Will RC prove its not just luck?
Lets wait and see..
All eyes are on Suzuka now..
We are into the last week of Season 19. With a 6 point lead
over RC, Sow still leads the Championship. Not only RC has
to produce his magic touch, but also hope that Sow doesnt
finish close to him in the remaining races. The F1Time
community was kept waiting when TaBu postponed the Mondays
race to Wednesday causing the Season end to be on Friday.
If we thought either RC or Sow would be on Pole, then we
are proved wrong by 'Bad Boy' Vitor. Vitor took the pole
with Felipe and RC behind him. Sow took a conservative 10th
place on the grid; mebbe an indication of different strategy.
The Race started and immediately Felipe took the lead from
Vitor. Jonny also made a good start gaining two positions
and with that pushing RC to fourth. But oh! oh! oh! - Sow
dropped on the second lap and thats damn unlucky for Sow.
I ve heard that if something can go wrong, it always does
at the wrong moment. Now RC has to just finish the race and
Sow hopes that RC doesnt finish that high. But RC again
lost position and he was running fifth. Felipe was running a
5 stop strategy while Vitor and RC were on 3 stops. Vitor
took the lead when Felipe pitted and then kept the lead till
the end. The race saw Gimbutas and Su leading for some laps
as they were on an extended 3 stop and 2 stop strategies
respectively. RC also made up his lost postions in the pitstops.
Vitor won the race comfortably with almost half a minute gap
from RC. RC in doing so became the DC leader over Sow by 2
points. Sow's brother Su claimed the remaining podium spot.
With the Promotion spots already under them, the Stephen-Nezam
duo just relaxed in Adelaide. Teammie Thomas got the POLE
followed by Reindl, Bakas and R Mandler. Lanca also got into
the action after the 15 race layoff. He had spent around 40M
for this race and also got the best driver in c2. The result
was a good fifth spot on the grid. But the time was much more
good considering the fact that he was on two stops compared to
others' three stops and Thomas' five stops. The money mattered
and the strategy and Lanca pocketed his first points and first
win of c2. Reindl came second and R Mandler was third, again on
two stops. Stefan, Thomas, Bakas, Tej and Ivan took the remaining
positions.
RcDaDood alias Rodrigo Coutinho is a two times champion in F1Time. Hailing from Brazil, RC was once the 'Barrichello' to 'Schumi' Arus. But he proved everyone wrong when got his First Crown in S12 alongside his countrymate Kevin. He repeated that last season with a different partner Lex. Now with just one more race to go, hes leading c1 again and this mite well be his first back to back Championship Wins. A Friendly character, one of the most friendliest managers whom i havent seen shouting at all, RC is one of the coolest managers in the game beyond compare. Here he is seen with his Girl Friend Gigi at the TGI Friday Restaurant in his hometown Brasilia.
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RcDaDood - Rodrigo Coutinho
Rui Ferreira, known as Xico, is from Portugal and is relatively new to c1. Since Season8 when he joined F1Time, he always managed to stay or promote. No relegation and saving tactics have been seen from him. Though playing second fiddle to Vitor Ribero this season, this future MBA managed to pocket two wins in c1.
xico%20%40%20Pedras%20del%20Rey%20Agosto%202004.jpg)
Rui Ferreira
The Title Fite is closer than ever. With jus one point between them,
its a do-or-die battle for Sow and RCdaMan. Will the GoldStar go to
a new manager or will RC double up his stars? We donno yet. But one
thing we know is the battle is not over yet!
Though RC topped the WU times, he could only manage a 5th place in
the grid when it mattered. Eld was the pole Stealer this time as he
went in with a 3 Stop Strategy. Sow on 2 stops was second in the grid.
Jerusevicius and Osterloh, both again on 3 stops, shared the second
row. Now the only way RC could get ahead of Sow is his shrewd tactics,
which we have seen in many races this season. But the race fate was
seen in the initial laps itself when RC lost a position to Felipe and
then another spin in Lap8 putting him down another four positions.
Arus in the meantime made smart gains as he put his car into sixth
position behind Felipe. RC in the meantime got frustrated and on
trying a move on Joe, lost another position to Petri. Jerusevicius was
the first to pit on Lap18. Eld and Osterloh pitted on Lap20 which
put them into seventh and tenth positions. Sow pitted on Lap24
followed by Felipe in the next lap. RC and Nuno pitted on Lap26 while
Arus was at the top of the field for a couple of laps before he pitted
on Lap28. With that late stop, Arus moved to fifth spot and RC was
running a better seventh. Eld was still leading but his lead came down
to 13 secs before he went to the pits for the second time on Lap38.
Sow completed his pit routine on Lap48 while others did it in the
49-53 window. Eld had his last pit on Lap 56 and he ran second to Sow
and ahead of Arus. Jerusevicius, who was also on a 3 stop messed up
as he had tyre wear which put him out of points. RC too moved into
fourth position, thanks to his pitcrew. But the fourth position meant
that he lost another 5 points to Sow and with just 2 more races to go,
these 6 points mite be vital. Who knows.. If Tabu's game engine decides
to play havoc.. we mite have a twist to this title fite.
L Mandler now wants to race. He dropped when he could have got
Podiums and now when things tightened.. he s racing. Amazing
manager.. Is he creating pressure for himself so that he can deliver
quality stuff? I donno..But his tactics still amaze me. He was on
Pole for this Round 15 of F1Time Season19. Tej, Edi and Stephen
completed the first two rows. Edi and Tej were on a 3 stop strategy
while L Mandler and others were on 2 stops. Mandler, edi and Tej kept
on putting fastest laps but the lead was still with L Mandler. Tej
was the first one to pit on Lap17, while edi had his first stop on
Lap20. But that resulted in a tyre wear for 2 laps and that put him
down to 9th posn. The two stoppers had the first stop between Lap24
and lap28. Bakas was the last one to pit and with that pit, he put
his car into third posn behind Mandler and edi. Both Tej and edi had
tyre wears running 3 stops but still they managed to run for points.
After the second and last round of pits triggered by Mandler in Lap48,
Mandler was still leading and Stefan, Bakas and edi were behind him.
On Lap65, Stefan lost that second place of his to Bakas and then came
the mistake from Tej. He obviously put a lil less amount of fuel and
that made him do an extra pitstop on Lap71. His points are gone now!!..
Mik was obviously delighted as he moved into 8th to score again.
'Waiting for Next Season' again had a bad race.. While i had my second
engine explosion in that many races, Thomas could manage only 12th
with his Frod. But he sure is saving which is good news. He s got a
balance of 24M now.. And that mite be enough for him to push him to
c1 next season.
A New Poll has been created in the HP to vote for the
Champion of this season. Sow and RC are the only candidates
and at the point of writing this, Sow got about 58% of the
votes against the 40% of RC. But where did the 2% go? Noone
knows.
With an InOut Time of 24 secs, few would go for Pole with a
low fuel level. Lex did that got the POLE with RC jus .008 behind.
We thought RC too was with Low Fuel Loads, but we were wrong. Sow
and his brother Yih shared the second row of the grid. There
was some interesting action at the start when both Malaysians got
ahead of RC. RC was not ready to give up as he pulled out an
amazing lap to regain his position. Jerusevicius too had a good
start as he stationed himself between Lex and RC. Lex had to pit
as early as Lap9. he didnt last long as his Engine let him off
on Lap19. RC in the meantime got ahead of Jerusevicius and Sow
moved to third. The First Pit Window was between lap 23 and Lap27.
RC,Sow and Yih pitted first but Rui Ferrera was the last one to
pit on Lap27. RC still kept the lead with Gimbutas, on a single stop,
behind him. Jerusevicius was third with Rui and Sow behind him. Jonny
again on a single stop strategy moved to seventh ahead of Yih.
Jonny and Gimbutas stopped at Lap 36 and 37 respectively. Among the
two stoppers, Sow was the first to pit on Lap 47. Others came in on
Laps 48 and 49 except Rui who again had a long stint till Lap55. Rui
gained from that as he moved to second position behind RC. Jerusevicius
was third and Sow was jus fourth. RC must be cursing his bad luck in
Lap64 when his driver spun giving Rui the lead. Rui got a 5 sec lead
which he held despite some fast laps from RC. The order stayed the
same for the results. It was a disappointing race for Sow as he lost
3 points to RC this time and his lead in DC is cut down to just 1pt.
With 3 races to go, anything can happen. Its still anyone's game.
Cristian Reindl showed his class as he lead the race from start to
finish and won the race with more than 30 secs gap to his nearest racer.
The Grid had Tej at the front row with L Mandler and Kosev in the second.
L Mandler was jus running a 30l stint as was evident in his Lap9 pit. While
Cristian, Tej, Irman and Ivan went in for two stops, managers like Kosev,
Bakas, Benjamin and Schmied opted for a single stop. The Two Stoppers
had their first pit between Laps 23 and 25 and their second between
Laps 47 and 52. The One Stoppers pitted between Lap 35 and 41. The
one stoppers did use their stops to their advantage. There was no
question about the winner of the race. Kosev came in a distant second
place followed by Tej and Bakas. Benjamin also scored some useful
points with his fifth place. Irman settled for 6th posn. But the
disappointing pair was Stephen and Mik who finished 11th and 12th
respectively. For the 'Waiting for Next Season' team, this one was a
real bad one to forget. Thomas had a good start but he kept loosing
positions and later had a DNF due to a collision with R Mandler. And
for me, I had my first Engine Explosion for the season. And i hope
its the only one!.
Cristian Iorga from Romania is relatively new to this game. Though been here only for a few seasons, he has learned it for sure as he secured his first promotion last season. He got married to Delia recently and here comes a nice foto sent by him.
Cristian Iorga
Thirteen is not a good number to many. Some even avoid
13 in a sequence with numbers like 12A, 12X . etc. If we
thought F1Time would be an exception, then we are in for
a surprise. Eventful? Happening? Tragic? Doom4? Racing Hell?
What should i call this race? One of these descriptions fit
well to each and every racer who went into Zandvoort for the
13th Race of the Season19. Surely '13' had played its role.
This race was a race of attritions. People went down from
Podium positions and even victories. Noone would have expected
the race to go this way. Even Tabu who had a look at the HP
after the race thought that the Game Engine blew it Big time
today.
Felipe Miranda decided to play spoil sport in c1 where the Big
Guns RC and Sow were the favourites. He topped the WU as well
as the Starting Grid. Sow and RC closely followed him in the
Grid. Eld was there in the second row. Lex was a disappointing
9th on grid while Vitor could manage only 13th. In the opening
straight, Sow immediately pulled ahead of Felipe. In the meantime
Lex was the quickest man off the blocks surging into third posn.
And in another 3 laps, Lex took the lead. In a season where he
was very competitive and settle for third best all the time, this
was a welcome sigh of relief. Eld too got past RC into fourth posn.
As far as the Pit strategies, most of them were on 4 stops while
Felipe's heavy load proved to be a 3 stopper,the same true for
Karen Miller Pace too. Nuno Duarte as usual did not put high
hopes on his Pitskills as he went in for 2 stops along with
Joe Himeji. So that meant Lex going into pits first as was the case
in Lap12. Sow took the lead with Felipe,Eld and RC behind him. Sow,
Eld, Vadim, Jerusevicius and woodi pitted on Lap15 with RC and Arus
following suit on Lap16 and Lap17 respectively. RC managed to get
ahead of Eld and is now challenging Sow neck-to-neck. The second
round of pits for the 4stoppers were in the 28-33 window where Lex
again came in first. The Third Stop window was 44-48. But Disaster
struck 'SloBrazilian Racing' on Lap 54 when both the managers had
to DNF due to Engine Explosion. That was good news for Sow and Eld
as they were the beneficiary. But they never made use of that when
both them crashed on Lap57. The Channel witnessed a furious Sow
who vowed to fly down to Sweden to sort out the matter with Eld.
Felipe in the mean time pitted on Laps 19,39 and 57 respectively
which gave him an easy win. Nuno Duarte with pits on Lap 27 and 51
came second with Vadim joining them on the Podium. Jerusevicius, Arus,
Woodi, Joe and Karen completed the points table. This race witnessed
a very high Drop Percentage of 36.6%. Again the gap remains to be 4
between Sow and RC with jus 4 more races to go.
Our Group was not different in Drops when 40% of the racers Dropped.
The Grid had a new look at the front when R Mandler and Katergaris
shared the front row. Stephen and Schmied followed them. The Mandler
Brothers had a good start when Rogerio kept the lead and Luciano
stormed to second place. Luciano got ahead of Rogerio in Lap 12 but
Lap14 saw Rogerio crashing with Katergaris. The hopes of Podium and
points were gone into thin air. Two more racers had this ill luck
when they dropped while looking good for a win or a Podium. Irman
dropped on Lap63 when leading the pack while my teammie Thomas
dropped when looking good for a second place finish on Lap64. Edi
won the race with his 2 stop strategy. Bakas and Stefan were also
on 2 stops and came second and third respectively. Stephen, on three
stops,was fourth,while L Mandler, on four stops, came fifth. The
results would have been totally different if the front runners didnt
drop. I had a terrible race where i was forced to change my strategy
due to an error made in the Fuel Column. I planned for 3 Softs and
put my money on Pitcrew. But the fuel thing made me go for 2 stops
and even with 30DRP less, i had 18 laps of tyre wear which effectively
sealed my hopes of points. Still there was a glimmer of hope when i
was running 8th till my last but one lap. But Nelesh couldnt believe
his luck when he saw me wearing out and got ahead and again i lost
position in my final lap.
And Congratulations to the 'Unknown Team' of Stephen and Nezam on
winning their TC. My Cup Hopes were also shattered when i finished
behind Stefan.
At times i feel like this game is a real example of our life as well. We make mistakes and never learn from it. Some mite be silly but it really matters. Same thing happened last race when i put the mileage data in the Fuel column and the result.. i finished out of points with lots of wear in a race where i was expecting for a good point finish. It really hurts now as i had put in all my resources and its now like a line drawn in the water!
With just six more races to go, the whole of F1Time was awaiting
the c1 battle where RC and Sow are tied up at exactly the same points.
Sow this time made up for his drop last race at Monza and won the race
and became the sole leader. Osterloh further helped Sow by coming in
second place. RC had to settle for third. Also my Cup Battle with
Stefan was my interest in this race. But i quickly pulled out of the
duel and gave Stefan an easy win. After the Cup is not as exciting as
the real c2 championship. Our Group had a totally different winner and
challenger this time. The victory was made more sweet for Cristian as he
managed to pass the leader only in dieing laps. Though lost a win, Rinat
made it exciting in the group.This is how the events turned out.
The current season is full of wet races and everyone now knows that
noone likes wet more than Sow. He lead the Warmup as well cameup
with the POLE. RC was alongside Sow in the grid ready to pounce
on him at an oppurtunity. Vitor was in second row with Arus, who
finally seems to race again. But Arus had a poor start as he
dropped to seventh in the very first lap. Sow pulled out from RC,
who also lost places to Vitor, Lex and Nuno. RC and Arus regained
some positions by Lap7 and they were running fourth and fifth
respectively. Vitor was the first one to pit among the front
runnners in Lap17. Lex then pitted on Lap20 followed by Sow on
Lap21 and RC on Lap22. Now Sow was leading followed by Arus,
Timoshenko and Osterloh. RC was fifth at that time. Arus and
Timoshenko pitted late in Lap25. Now the leaderboard read Sow,
Osterloh and RC. The Race had a Dry portion in the Last 9 laps and
only Osterloh pitted for Dry Tyres. He was running second with a gap
of 10 secs from Sow. Osterloh put on a series of fastest laps but
could manage the difference between him and Sow cut down again to
10 secs. RC finished third while Arus came fourth. Vitor and Lex
finished fifth and sixth respectively. Vitor seems to have lost the
bite and is now steadily pulling away from Sow and RC. Its become
a Cat-n-Mouse between just them now.
Though Stephen once again came up with the fastest time in WU, he
faultered again in the Qualifying. And mebbe strategy as well!.
C Reindl took the POLE with Ivan and L Mandler closely behind him.
Within the first few laps of the race, L Mandler got ahead of Ivan
to run second. Rinat also made good progress through the field to
run fourth. L Mandler pitted as early as Lap10 and now Rinat was
in Podium spot. He then overtook Ivan to chase Christian.
Christian pitted on Lap21 and Rinat was leading then. Stephen who
was fourteenth on the grid progressed to sixth posn by then. Rinat
ran with a heavy Fuel Load which enabled him to run till Lap43 before
he pitted. Christian too pitted the same lap but Rinat held the
advantage. Schmied was third. Benjamin, Stephen and Stefan followed
them. With jus 8 laps to gom the weather changed and Christian,
Benjamin and Stefan pitted. This put Benjamin down to sixth while
Stefan was down at tenth position. But the Dry Tyres definitely
helped as all three made up positions. Benjamin finished fifth
while Stefan stormed back to sixth. But the big Winner was
Christian who managed to pip Rinat down the straight line in the
last-but-one lap. Schmied finished third and Stephen was fourth.
'Waiting for Next Season' was changing positions between themselves
in the middle of the pack and we finish fifteenth and sixteenth
respectively. Also it was 0-1 for my Cup 'efforts'.
Round11, F1Time Season 19, was at the fastest circuit of Monza, Italy.
Sow has a full 10 point lead over RC going into this race and one knows
that RC is not the one who gives up so easily. And what awaited in Monza
was an absolute surprise to many and Shock to some.
The weather was a tricky one in Monza. Mild rain of 3mm was forecasted
in the early parts of the race followed by temperatures of 27 Degrees.
This prompted most of the c1 to go for a 3 Stop strategy while RC and
Nuno Duarte opted for 2 and 1 stop respectively. Though the WU was
topped by Sow, Vitor had some other plans for Qual. He came with the
POLE position while Sow had to settle for second. V Nogtev found some
pace in this track as he came up with the third best time in Qualifying.
Eld joined him in the second row while RC had to settle with the fifth
best time. When the race started, Nogtev immediately got past Sow and was challenging Vitor. RC again had a poor start in the rain as he lost a
position. Jerusevicius who was seventh in the grid made a lot of
positions in the initial laps as he started challenging Sow for the
third spot. Vitor was the first to pit in Lap14 and also the first to
Drop Out as his engine blew while coming out of the Pits. Nogtev, Sow
and Jerusevicius - all three then lead one lap each and pitted the
next lap. The Race leads were changing every lap!!. When all the three
stoppers done with their pits, RC was leading. Sow, Eld and Jerusevicius
was behind him that order. RC immediately put some fast laps and when
he pitted on Lap24, he still came out first. Perfect one from RC and that
made the difference. Eld in the meantime overtook Sow and eventually the
racelead on Lap27. But again the lead stood for jus one lap and Eld
pitted. Sow pitted on Lap31 and RC regained his lead. Nuno Duarte,
the only man on 1 stop pitted on Lap 27 and that made him a point
contender. RC and Eld had their last pit on Lap41, Sow had it on 42.
With RC sure to win this race and balance the 10 point lead which Sow
had, now the question was the points which Sow would get as those will
also be his lead against RC. He was running good in his second place
as once again tragedy struck Sow. He had an Engine Explosion with just
2 laps to go. RC got the win with Eld and Jerusevicius sharing the
Podium. Nogtev came fourth. The win made RC equal his tally to that
of sow and also take the DC lead by virtue of his more wins. Now we
have a real fight in hand in c1.
c2g1 story was evident from the WU and the later qualifying when Stephen
topped the first and took the POLE. L Mandler was the only one
challenging Stephen, but we guys were not sure if he would resort
back to 'unusual' saving methodology used in the previous couple of
races. Nezam was back in pace after a while and was third in the grid.
And me..! I was fifth, the best i cud achieve this season. When the
lights went green, Stephen jus pulled out of the rest. I made a good
start and was challenging L Mandler unsuccessfully for that second spot.
Eventually i got hold of him and moved to second. Irman too made a good
start and was running third. Our team was in a three stop strategy while
most of the others were with two stops. I had to pit on Lap15 which put
me down to 9th place. By Lap21, when the two stoppers had their first
pit done, Stephen was still leading with Irman and Tej behind him. I
was running a good fifth. The order stayed the same after the next round
of pits as well. But with Irman having tyre wear,Tej was able to get past
him and finished second. Bakas's wear helped me as i finished fourth
overtaking Bakas in the very last lap. The result was a very good one
for me as well as our team. Thomas though could nt finish in points
and came nineth. Once again I made the wrong strategy, but this time
it didnt prove that costly.
Mebbe the most known manager of F1Time. Arunas Babrauskas, known as Arus, is one of all time greats in this small management game. He was the first to join this game in the Beta Season. He ruled the game in the initial seasons, when he bagged 6 Tees from TaBu. He had almost records in his name until Vlad broke a few. Because of his good friend Vaidas, he then went back to c4,which was the lowest group at that time. Now he s back to c1 and its a matter of time we see another GoldStar against his name. The 'All Conquering Manager' is seen with the 'All COnquering Ferrari' in this snap.
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Arus - Arunas Babrauskas
Good Start by Sow running away from the Field. Good
catch up by RC. On seeing him in his mirror, Sow responds
and pulls away again. Seems like a Schumi-Mclaren ..Fite..Rite?
But this is whats happening in C1 this season. 'The Season'
to watch in my opinion. One Champion Fighting with two
Hopefuls. Vitor too is having a good time there, but i think
he should be more aggressive otherwise RC and Sow will run
away. Lets hope he responds well in Monza.
The Big Lebowskis are rapidly becoming a force to recogn in c2g1.
C Reindl showed that he got pace in two-three races now, but he was not
able to deliver that into a result. Finally at Brands Hatch, he put that
pace into the Results sheet when he came in second position. Stefan,
for two continous races finished in fourth position. He was one manager
who always fought till the last races, to stay back in c2. Now with an
impressive collection of 18 points from 2 races, they are as good as any
other team. Others.. watch out!!
This inturn brings me into Cup Battle with one of the Lebowskis. I for one
had Luck all through the season in terms of Cup Wins and am surely
hoping for more luck if i have to win again Stefan.
We are into the second half of the Season19 in F1Time. The Big Fight
is continuing in c1 and i hope it continues like that till the end of
the season. Sow had an early advantage, but with RC with consistent
performances and wins, cut down that advantage. Sow responded to RC
by winning the Indy GP. Lets see who had the Final Laugh this time
around in Brands Hatch,GB
This race was a mixture of wet and dry conditions. We saw that Sow really
ruled the Wet Race in Indy and this should be a decisive factor in this
race as well. But RC showed that he was equally good in Wet conditions
when topped the Warmup in c1. Sow came second and Nuno Mendes
was third. RC made that advantage into Pole Position in the Grid.
Sow was a bit slow in Qual and still came second. Lex came in third
and share the second row with Yih. Eld was superb in the starting
line, when he drove to fourth position. Sow overtook RC on the fourth
lap with a superb lap which saw him drive almost a second faster than
RC. Eld pitted at Lap10 which shows that he was running a Very Light
for that 1M Pole. RC was again down a position when Lex overtook him
in the 11th Lap. RC had his Pit at Lap19 a lap before the weather
changed. And that mistake saw him loose another position over to Eld
this time. There was a mass pit at Lap20 and Sow was still leading
from Lex and Eld. But then Eld had to pit again and RC regained his third
place. By this time, the Top3 seperated from the next group of 3
comprising Yih, Osterloh and Eld. After the second round of stops,
Eld and Osterloh switched positions and further lost a posn to
Nuno Mendes who was running a different strat. Lex was still
holding RC to Sow's advantage. But that didnt last long. During
the third pits, RC got in front of Lex. But there ends the story.
He couldnt challenge Sow at all as Sow cruised to his second
consecutive win with a 17 second difference over RC. Lex got another
Podium finish. I think its hightime he presses for a win. A Season
like this comes in a while and one has to fully utilise it. As far
as others, Yih once again had Bad luck and he got an Engine Explosion
and had to pull out. Vitor was in a Saving Mode and running 11th till
the last lap. He had an accident in his very last lap which saw him
finish in 18th position.
c2g1 race was unusual in many ways. The Warmup was as usual
dominated by the Big Stephen. Once again he showed that he could
not handle the single lap qualifying pressure when he had to settle
for 2nd place in the grid. Kondrat took the Pole while Schmied and
Reindl shared the second row. The First Lap was a tragedy for Kondrat
as he spun and went down to 20th place. He later had an accident
with Ivan and his race ended with jus 7 laps to his name. The First
few laps saw the Lead changing between Stephen, L Mandler and
C Reindl. When Schmied had an Engine Explosion in Lap8, that gave me
another Cup Win by luck. There were numerous reshuffling happening
in the race positions and once it settled, L Mandler was leading
followed by Irman, Stefan and C Reindl. The Weather changed in
Lap21 and Stephen made a mistake of pitting one lap early.
Surprisingly L Mandler continued and pitted only 4 laps later.
Irman took the lead while Reindl came in front of his teammie
Stefan by virtue of his good crew. But Reindl made a mistake of
going for 4 pits as everyone else went in for 3 and i think that
was the best in this situation. Obviously he was tempted by the
short In-Out time of 4 secs in this track. Stephen overtook Stefan when
the latter had tyre wear. The Real Surprise was when L Mandler ran out
of Fuel in Lap49. I know some of those guys trying 150l Fuel as a
Saving Strategy, but with a race under his control, i really donno
how much it helps him. But hes ex-c1 and knows more than me and i still
need to figure out why he did so. In the end, it was an easy win for
Irman with Stephen coming second. The 'Big Lebowskis' (Reindl and
Stefan) finished in third and fourth positions, which was obviously
the best result for them. They really made their Engines work for
them. Thomas had a decent outing in which he finished 8th. I could
have finished 9th or atleast 10th if not for the 'Blocker' Mikhail
in front of me. A Spin in Lap72 even ruled out the chance for overtaking
B Fischer at a time when he was wearing.
It was a really sad day in Indy when my current Driver N Karthikeyan
had to quit the team. The team was looking for Fresh Talent and found
Karthikeyan to be a bit Old to work for team. Also his Salary and Bonus
demands were huge. Now that the team went in for another Indian Driver
A.Ahuja, its pretty much back to Basics now. Ahuja is new to F1Time
driving and he was the Under16 Karting Champion held in Mumbai, India.
He needs to be trained much to be 'F1Time competent'.
With the Season into its midstage now, certain patterns are
forming across the groups. The Title for c1 is limited to 3 racers
now. The Current Top3 seems to be the only challengers. Eld who was
considered a Big Favourite, isnt matching his fans' expectations.
The Teams were greeted with Wet Weather through out the weekend.
Mebbe the Hurricanes came from Florida direct to the F1Time track.
The track was dry for sometime when the Practice and Qualifying
happened.
If the Start of the current week was dominated by RC, Sow had the
latter half in his control. Eld who was battered a bit this season
by the 'New Challengers', showed what he was made of when he came
up with the fastest time in Warmup. Vitor had the second best time
followed by Sow. But RC made amends in the Qualification when he
stormed to pole beating Sow by just five-hundredths of a second.
Vitor was third and .083s was all that differentiating the three.
Sow had a great start when he came out first in the opening lap of
the race. Donatas Staukaskas also made a great start when he moved
up 7 positions to come behind RC. RC lost another six positions
in the next five laps. Mebbe his driver dont like wet track at all.
Staukaskas was on a 3 stop strategy while the others were on 2.
He pitted on Lap 18 and the top3 now read Sow,Eld and Lex. Sow and
Lex pitted on Lap24 . Then RC did his pit followed by Eld and woodi.
Vitor was the last to pit among the leaders and after the first round
stops, Sow was still leading with Eld, RC and Vitor behind him in
that order. But Vitor was slow in his second set of tyres. He lost
positions to Lex, Staukaskas and Woodi. Disaster struck for Eld on
Lap38, when he had to retire with an Engine Explosion. Lex managed
to get ahead of RC to move into second place. After the second
round of pits, RC regained that posn from Lex. But with Vitor
pitting late again, he managed to stay ahead of RC for the second
place. Vitor, RC and Lex were too close and was fighting for each
inch available. Sow in the meantime pulled out more than a minute
gap on them. Action started from Lap69,with jus 4 laps to go. Lex
and RC managed to get ahead of Vitor and those two were switching
positions as frequently as the traffic lights. The Last Lap
overtaking from RC saw him finish second and poor Lex had to
settle for third. But then its a remarkable season from Lex this
time around and i am quite surprised. Woodi came in fourth while
Vitor came in a lowly fifth.
Irman, who was my favourite for winning this season's DC in our
group, topped the Warmup charts in c2g1. He was followed by
C Reindl and L Mandler. But the Qualification saw JTix took
the pole from Irman. JTix who couldnt come to terms with any
CDs out there in the market and as a result was without some
of his sponsors. This Pole would give him some relief in that
perspective. My Teammate Thomas was in the second row of the grid
alongside L Mandler. Irman stormed into the lead when the race
started. edi, F Schmied and Stephen too made good starts which put
them in second, third and fourth positions respectively. But Schmied
had a short race at Indy, when he crashed with C Reindl. Only
Thomas was in a three stop strat as others went in with two stops.
Irman and L Mandler were the first to pit followed by Kondrat,
Mazeikis and Stefan. edi and Bakas stayed on a couple more laps to
minimise the Pitcrew advantage for Irman. Irman was leading followed
by edi and Bakas. The positions stayed the same after the second
round of stops as well. L Mandler who was running a strong 5th
had to bow out of the race due to an Engine Explosion. When Thomas
pitted for the third and the last time, he lost a position to Stefan.
And the race finished in the same order. Mikhail who ran a one stop
strat came sixth to add another 3 points to his impressive c2 season.
Lots of discussion have happened and are happening about
the greatest driver in F1. Some say its Schumi while some
say its Senna. I am not really interested in that as they were
legends in their own time. Also some of us werent even there
when greats like Mansel, Prost were racing.
But Now, I am now looking for the Greatest Managers of F1Time.
I am not looking for one single name, but a group. Those of
who read,if at all you read :), this blog can post their comments
about the same.
We are into the eight race of this F1Time season and we have moved
to the American Continent. The Montreal GP was not as cold as
expected with temperatures of 25 warm enough for most of the Drivers.
c1 is getting more and more close and it seems like Sow would have to
eventually give way the Top Position in DC to either RC or Vitor.
It was evident in the WU places as RC took the top spot from Vitor.
Lex was third while sow could manage only 4th spot. But Sow went in
for a shorter first stint and thus was on POLE. RC shared the First
Row while Lex and Eld put their cars into the second row. Sow once
again shot to the lead. But RC was close behind him as he matched him
lap to lap. So again what counted was their crew. RC had pittimes at
5 and sub5 while Sow had it 6+. Still, Sow came out ahead of RC in
the first two pits. But when they pitted the third time, they were
too close enough to have RC the advantage. Sow desperately tried to
overtake but he could nt. He lived upto his name earned a couple of
seasons back as 'The Shitty Overtakers'. This is really hard to justify
as Montreal has not much corners to overtake and even there its very
hard for overtaking. RC won the race from Sow with jus .2 seconds
seperating them. Lex was third and only 2 secs from the leaders. Vitor
cameup with 4th position and thus equalling RC's points in the DC.
Sow still leads the DC, but the question is 'How Long?'
The Domination of Stephen in c2g1 continues and the only resistance
is coming from L Mandler. Jesper also seemed well prepared for this
race. The Race was not exciting keeping aside the accident between
Jesper and L Mandler. They were running 4th and 5th when they collided.
JTix's miserable season continues where he DNFd for the fifth time
and missing one race. That accident made Stephen's task easy as he
won with more than half minute difference from Irman. Mazeikis came
in with an impressive performance to finish third. My Teammate Thomas
also came in points as he finished 5th and added 4 more points to our
Team kitty.
These days more managers quit the game due to personal constraints.
Certainly in a dilemma of career(studies) and game, the former
should take preceedence. But i hope that these guys return back
when it is possible for them. We saw Kostya and Vlad returning
back to c5 when they had tight schedules and couldnt concentrate
much on the game. Also see Kevin, Poley, Acar ..etc returning.
So the game still looks decent proposition for many.
Well as far as the race, the 7th round of this season was held at
Estoril. C1 Championship is closer than ever and we havent seen a
more neck-to-neck competition for some seasons as we have now.
Vitor obviously due to his Home GP was speculated to try win this
round. And as expected he topped the WU. RC with his recent return
to form, was behind Vitor with Eld third. The Championship Leader
Sow was just fourth. But the Qual saw a slightly different grid
positions as Sow and Eld changed positions. Sow didnt waste much
time overtaking RC as he did it with ease on the very first lap.
RC, certainly faster than Sow, tried overtaking many a time but
with no success. The Temperatures were around 32 Degree mark and
everyone went for 2 Stop Strategy. Jonny was the first victim of
Engine Explosion as his engine went out on Lap14 when he was running
a strong 6th. Vitor pitted on Lap 24 which enabled Sow to take the
lead. Sow and RC pitted the very next Lap, but the Brazilian pitcrew
outclassed the Malaysians. So it was now Sow's turn to overtake
but he too couldnt. The Order stayed the same when they pitted
for the second and final time. Again sow had a slow Pit. In the end
VItor won it from RC with a 20 sec advantage and what a victory
for Vitor in his Home GP. Sow came in 5 seconds behind RC and the
thing that mattered today for Sow was his Pitcrew. If not for his
Pitcrew, he could have secured the 2nd position. Sow's ex-teammie
Lex came in 4th followed by Eld at 5th.
C2G1 is witnessing a dominance from Stephen Mawson this season.
He once again topped the WU with L Mandler and Irman coming behind.
Christian Reindl came in a strong fourth showing signs of a
renaissance. But Stephen faulted again in the Qualification
as he slipped to third. L Mandler took the POLE followed by
Christian Reindl. Irman slipped to 5th as edi took the second row
of the grid. My Teammie Thomas is on a Cup Battle with Mikhail
and he was also up there on 8th place. He went in for 2 Stop
Strategy while Mik went in for a single stop. The Double Overtake
Bug and a Spin made Thomas slip to 13th position but still he
was ahead of Mikhail. But things changed after the First Pit.
Mikhail, who was slow at the start, changed his pace and he
was running a Strong second behind L Mandler. Stephen was third.
After his Scheduled Pit, he dropped to 11th place. Thomas didnt
had luck this race as his engine exploded on Lap 42. After the
second round of pits, L Mandler was still leading from Stephen.
But Irman made use of his Perfect PitCrew to storm to third place
ahead of Christian and edi. Christian made a blunder when he raced
with the wrong amount of fuel. He ran out of Fuel in Lap65 with
six more laps to finish. In the end, the Top 3 didnt change. I
was running unrepaired and was able to finish the race in 14th
place.
Two DQP changes in the last two races and everyone was expecting
the same with the 6th race of the F1Time season at Spa. But TaBu
surprised everyone by keeping the DQP of previous season. It was
time for me to score some points otherwise i would risk the chance
of relegation which i dont like to see.
Sow was determined to retain his Lead in his DC with a win in Spa.
But RC who was fresh from his last race win at France was not ready
to give way that easily. The WU was headed by sow followed by RC and
Rui Ferrera. Eld and Vitor followed them. Sow had a blistering pace
in the Qual and was more than Half a second faster than 'Pole Stealer'
Eld. RC was 4th more than a second off sow. But RC had different
strategy . HE went in for 2 Pits while the others tried 3 Pits. In
the End, the 2 Stops proved to be the winner . RC won the second race
in a row with Sow coming in second and Eld third. Sow, though with just
1 win in this season, still leads the DC positions. Vitor came in sixth
to add another 3 points to his tally. But RC closed the Gap with the
last two-in-two wins.
In our group, i was desperate to score some points this time. Since Spa
is a shorter race in terms of laps; just 44 laps; many guys didnt 'race'.
And that was a Boon for me. Well. I was 6th in WU, which was topped by
Stephen. L Mandler and Nezam was behind Stephen. The Top6 in the WU
stayed the same in Qual as well, though a couple of reshuffles happened.
Stephen was obviously planning for the Pole, but the Driver error
costed him the Pole Money. I was still 6th in the Grid. Though i gained
a posn in Lap1, i gave away that advantage in Lap5. I was on a 1 Stop
Meds strategy while most of the others were with 2 or more stops. In
Lap8, i lost another posn to JTix, who was on 2 Stop strategy. Everything
was looking good. atleast not bad if not exciting. Then came a damn spin
in Lap10, which put me down to 10th posn. I was behind Mikhail who too
was on a single pit strategy. And our Pitcrews were similar in timings
and that spin meant disaster to me. What i was hoping was a Spin to
Mikhail, but that never happened as his Driver was Full of Concentration.
That Spin also caused me a Lap wear before i pitted and that didnt help
either. Mikhail pitted a lap later than mine and when he came out there
was still a 2 sec advantage for him. With the second set of tyres, i was
faster than Mik, but he was not ready to give away. In the end, i had to
settle for the 6th posn. But if not for the spin and my Driver's
'reluctance' to overtake, i could have a posn higher. But still i am very
happy to score and i hope this is the start of many more this season. The
Race was won by Stephen with L Mandler and Kondrat settling for the other
Podium spots.
Today the October 2nd, is the BirthDay of our 'Father of the Nation'
Sri Mahatma Gandhi. But it means more to our Fellow F1Time r Cristian
Iorga from Romania. He is getting married today. I am just waiting
for his pictures to be posted in his
Blog.
Congrats Cristian.. and All The Best
The Race 5 of this season was at MagnyCours, France. Many F1Time-rs
who missed the last race did not seem to repeat the mistakes. Most
of the DO s were done way before the last few hours. But as always
there were some who were ready to take risks at whatever costs it
may take. The HOT Discussion in F1Time is still Data Sharing. Seems
like the thread is never gonna end.
C1 proved to be more balanced this time. Though the DQP has been
changed for Magny Cours as well, this was easier than the difficult
one in Monaco. Current CHAMP RC seems to be getting into the groove
now. He had a faultless race to get his first win of the season.
Vitor Ribero is changing his image significantly this season. He
came in a close second to retain his 2nd position in the Driver
Standings. Lex took the remaining podium spot almost half a minute
back. Sow and Eld came in 4th and 5th positions. Eld now-a-days go
for jus Pole Money and that certainly hurts his Points Scoring. The
DC is still lead by Sow Oneplus.
C2G1 saw a different pattern when compared to the previous races. The
Stephen-Nezam backed out this time. Nezam went in for complete saving
while Stephen still was racing for points. L Mandler took the win
followed by Bakas and edi. 'Waiting for Next Season' tried different
options this time. While Thomas went in for Points, i decided to resort
to the Saving Option. Thomas came in 5th position and that was good
enough, while I came in a lowly 19th position.
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