From the Cockpit - AL2 - Season 8 - Season Review

If you look deep into the archives, you might find some posts from a certain 'RossTheIcon', who three or four years back would do a blog type column after most races that he attended, calling it 'From the Cockpit'. After stealing the idea a few years back, I might as well bring it back for one last time..(unless someone else wants to carry this on xD)

Anyway, I'm not going to go into much detail on every single race, just brief key points that occurred throughout the season, as well as giving out awards (from my opinion) afterwards.

Now normally you'd start at Melbourne, but I just want to mention the Test race that occurred at Bahrain. All I'm going to say is I'm glad that I didn't lag and jump around in that race, otherwise I know I wouldn't be writing this topic right now. I even said to Marc, if I lag around and cause incidents then I'll not bother with the season, as the last thing you want when you're racing is a mobile chicane.

Anyhow, Looking back at Australia, the race itself was quite..weird. Badman crashing out within 4 laps, safety car glitches (which in hindsight, probably should've voted to get rid of the safety car after Spain   ) and opposite strategies made it interesting. Quick mention to Gunner who picked up his one and only podium of the season in Melbourne.

Bahrain was a great race, although I feel as if the safety car towards the end of the race did spoil the strategic side of things. After bottling qualifying, starting P9 wasn't ideal, however a clean 1st lap was important, and after that I could slowly find a consistent pace after qualifying on the soft tyre. Badman picking up a drive-through at the final pitstop phase meant that it was a two way battle between myself and Chewy, with Chewy catching me lap by lap. Another couple of laps and he'd of got me, as there was only 0.2 between us at the chequered flag.

China in mixed conditions was another interesting one. A good start meant that I was leading by Lap 3, however the safety car came out, which made it awkward because rain was looming in the air. Fair play to all the drivers who stuck the inters on whilst the safety car was out, as that was the right time to put them on. The phrase 'Oh Cock' was invented for that kind of scenario, as I can remember myself, Lee, Marc, and a gaggle of cars trundle into the pits   After the rain it went back to dry, and towards the end of the race I put the mediums on and managed to catch Badman and overtake him on lap 52. Again, the margin of victory was close, with 1.5 seconds separating us.

The Russian Grand Prix wasn't brilliant from where I was sitting. I managed to snatch pole position from Badman, however in the race he was on a different level. Having locked the fronts and damaging my wing on lap 5, I was battling Snoop and TheDude for most of the first stint. With The Dude crashing out, and myself making a cock up in the pitstop, Snoop was in a pretty comfortable second by the race end, and I trundled round to finish P3, only then to be promoted to P2 due to Snoop's penalties.

Spain was another race where the conditions were changing throughout. Only 0.002 separated Badman and myself in qualifying, so the race was going to be close. Indeed it was, the only reason I won the race was because I was bang on perfect with the call in the final pitstop to go from inters to dry tyres, whereas Badman did an extra lap on the inters and lost around 8 seconds. Dastardly had good race pace as well, and if he didn't whack my rear wing in the opening phase, he could've been in with a shout.

Monaco, a race that if you finish you should get a trophy. Dekkadent was proper quick round here, and was at times pushing me round the circuit in the opening stint. However both Renault's plonked their cars in the wall at Casino Square. Chewy wasn't a slouch round here either, and when he tried the undercut cut on Lap 55, I knew it'd be close coming out of the pits. For the next 20 laps, it was just about keeping it out of the barriers, because it's near enough impossible to overtake round Monaco. Doing 78 laps round there on a pad doesn't half kill your hands afterwards, but it's a good feeling when you win round Monaco!

Canada was another race full of mixed conditions. One contender for drive of the season could've been Bloodandsand, as his pace round Canada was brilliant. I was gutted when he crashed out, as had the safety car not of come out, he'd of probably picked up a well deserved podium. Also shoutout to Chewy for coming in too early for Dry tyres as he thought it was Lap 55, not 65  

Baku, the less said about the track the better. I was over the moon with the win, because I'm not a big fan of the circuit, at all. It speaks volumes about my pace when everyone from 7th upwards had a faster lap than me during the race. My pace wasn't great at all, I just managed to keep it out of the barriers, and thankfully Dekkadent was too far back by the end to launch a last minute attack.

Austria was the start of the lag fest for me anyway. Looking back at that, it was pretty horrific, so apologies for you guys having to put up with that during the race. The ending of the race was quite crazy, with battles happening all over the track. Lee and Chewy were quicker on the inters initially, but then the wets were the right choice in the end, and I managed to win my 5th race in a row.

Britain was just a mess from my point of view. Lag causing Max to crash, and the safety car glitching out made it a forget race from my point of view. However, it was a good race for others, most notably for Chewy and for Devils, as Chewy picked up his first win of the season, and Devils grabbed a brilliant second place! Well done guys!

Moving on to Hungary, and in a way I'm glad the safety car stayed, otherwise I wouldn't have won the race if it wasn't brought out. After the crash with The Dude on Lap 3, I was expecting a recovery drive to pick up a few minor points. However with the help of the safety car, I was able to get back into contention. After battling with Dastardly, Lee, Dekkadent and Max, I managed to sneak my way into the lead and take my 9th victory of the season.

Germany was another bonkers race. Another tangle in the opening stages of the race put me well out of contention. By strapping the mediums on, I was able to go long into the race, and hopefully maintain a solid race pace. Whilst Dek, Badman and Dastardly were squabbling for the lead, I somehow managed to make up all the ground that I had lost at the start. Given that there was no safety car after the incident I had, I couldn't work out how I managed to win the race. Another solid drive meant that Dekkadent came 2nd, with Dastardly picking up another 3rd place.

Belgium, a track that a lot of people love. With drivers lagging all over the shop, it wasn't exactly the most enjoyable race, but the rain added to the race, with it being dry to wet, and then back to dry again. One of my favourite parts of the race was the move on Dastardly going into the bus stop, that was great

Italy, from my cockpit, was an enjoyable race. The battle with Badman was fantastic, proper wheel-to-wheel stuff. It was a shame that he picked up the penalty in the end as it denied a really good finish to the race. Well done to Dave as well for picking up his only podium of the season, as he finished in 3rd place.

Singapore, a track that I've had trouble in the past. I needed to be within 5 points of Chewy to win the championship, and I knew given that anything can happen on a street circuit, it wasn't going to be easy. Having the last lap to myself was quite cool, and picking up my first grand slam of the season as well as securing the drivers' championship topped off a perfect race.

Malaysia, Sepang is a great circuit. It's a shame that it won't be on the 2018 calendar, as I do enjoy the track. I was enjoying the race up to the point I disconnected as the race pace was similar to the guys in front and behind so I knew it'd be a close race. Well done to Max though for winning his first race in the league, was a great drive given that Chewy was all over your gearbox for the last stint or so!

Japan,   Back to back races where I disconnect. Again the pace was decent, just a shame I didn't see the chequered flag. Chewy took his 2nd win of the season, and Lee grabbed his best result of the season with 2nd place at Suzuka, with Dastardly racking up another 3rd place.

USA, Wow. By far and away the best league race I've been part of in terms of action and wheel-to-wheel battles. I struggled to trim my highlights video from 25 minutes, because of the amount of overtaking/battling that was going on. Easily the best race of the season in my opinion. I could've finished 12th and that would still be one hell of a race, so thanks for the great racing guys!

Mexico, another track that I'm not the biggest fan of, however the setup I had was pretty decent. Gonk, Badman and Dave had really good pace round Mexico as well, so I was surprised to see the margin at the end of the race. With Chewy finishing in 4th place, and myself and CHM1945 finishing in 1st and 7th respectively, Scuderia Ferrari sealed the Constructors' Championship.

Brazil is a popular track on the calendar, and I decided to not take part in One-Shot qualifying after the problems on the initial start. For me, the start was great, as after starting 12th, I was up to 5th by the end of Lap 2. After the restart on the 2nd safety car, I was spun round at turn 1, which then caused a domino like effect, with Chewy and Stealth being victims of my spin. Once the rain had dried up, the battle of the lead was between Gunner, Myself and Badman, with Gonk not too far behind. Within a few laps, I damaged my wing on the rear of Gunner, which wasn't ideal, and compromised me for the rest of the race. I managed to finish in 3rd place, behind Badman, who picked up a 10 second time penalty and Gonk who won his first race of the season!

The final race of the season at Abu Dhabi wasn't the most interesting by any stretch of the imagination. Qualifying was tight between myself and Gonk, but when it came to the race it was far from close as the field was spread out for the majority of the race, with only a few battles occurring such as Gunner and Lee, and also CHM1945 and Dastardly. I managed to win the race by just under a minute, taking my win tally to 15 for the season, and a new points record of 424.

Here's a few awards from my personal perspective:

Driver of the Season - Chewy241073
Race of the Season - United States Grand Prix
Drive of the Season - Devilsarmpit666 - British Grand Prix
Unluckiest Driver - Bloodandsands15
Rookie of the Season - Bad-Man-4Life
Most DNF's of the Season - Kev_Counter

Thanks for the season guys, we've had some fantastic racing, and I wish each and every one of you the best of luck in the forthcoming season.

Thank you,

Chaz.

Good review of the season bud, it's a shame you're moving to al1 next season as i was hoping to have a good battle with you next season when i start using the wheel

Then you should move upto AL1 aswell Lee if you think your gonna be competing with him.

Haven't earned it yet, i think it should be whoever wins the al2 championship goes into al1. This was my 1st season doing this so i would want another season in al2

Its not about earning it its about if your going to be competative that matters, most of us in AL1 started there first and didnt have to work our way up. In my opinion the top 5 in AL2 should move up.

I finished 6th this year so maybe next year I'll move up

Top 6 then. Especially as you say you will be competing with Chaz on a wheel!

Stevo_F1 wrote:Its not about earning it its about if your going to be competative that matters, most of us in AL1 started there first and didnt have to work our way up. In my opinion the top 5 in AL2 should move up.

A bit Misleading Stevo, your the only current driver from early days who 'started' in AL1, every other driver signed up for S8 has either moved up from AL2/3 in previous seasons or been inducted & placed straight into AL1 because of their pace.

Re your opinion, your allowed it (i suppose   ) but any new drivers that have come in this & the last few seasons need to be put in the split we think they will get to 'race' in, ie. Mich was never gonna get a run in AL2 just to see what happened was he?  likewise with some of the AL2 drivers not racing with you guys on a Wednesday, it wouldn't have helped them or you if you end up lapping them week in week out.

So after we run a few practice races, hopefully we'll all have a better idea of everyone's pace,  F1'17 being a new game, with no doubt, new characteristics, i wouldn't go shouting out about who's moving where yet anyway, you might find it's you asking to get moved to a Friday if your lapped 3 times in a practice race  

Nice write up Chaz, it was a good read, sorry your Season Review has turned into another chat session

Yes sorry Chaz it was an excellent write up or type up lol. And yes Dastardly i agree i shouldn't have said that as it is about earning to drive in AL1 to an extent but i only know a few drivers who have moved up from AL2 in recent years. I didn't like the look of the results this season in AL2 where in several races the same drivers wernt able to compete for points but hopefully that doesnt happen in AL1 although there will be upto 18 seats per league on the new game but hopefully if we get too many AL3 will make a return.

S8 was a bit unusual in that both splits had healthy grid numbers signed up at the start, a fair number of AL1 drivers drifted off for whatever reasons during the season so you all ended up doing 50% races on a few occasions due to poor turnout, where as AL2 kept running near full grids (a 1st since i've been here) meaning anyone finishing outside the top 10 got no points for finishing the race, it's not unfair, it's just the sport's rules. Yes, a few were new to 100% league races but not enough to start AL3 up again with healthy grid numbers so they went into AL2.

I know Marc's spoke about reviving the Pro League for zero assists drivers & if we had the numbers signing up to run 3 Assist Leagues, we probably would, wouldn't like to see only 8 or 9 drivers in each split tho, needs 16 minimum i would say, & as you've seen in AL1 this season, they need to be committed & able to turn up every week to race, & that can sometimes be difficult due to RL.

PS. As far as i'm aware, on F1'17 there's still 20 seats/10 teams available per split, 2 spots for Stewards as well in Spectate mode.

Yes i should have said "it's just the sporting rules' regarding driver's not finishing in the points also i thought as Manor has left F1 there would inly be a maximum of 20 seats available meaning only 18 for drivers as the Stewards need seats to spectate.