Race Summary
Qualifying was like SIlverstone, it was extremely wet through the whole session, players were changing position all the time, i tried to run long and it was very costly, running out of fuel with 2 minutes to go i had to crawl around the track, which put me down in 5th position.
One of the biggest shockers of this GP was the fact that Lostitsmurf took pole position, he did not even know he was on pole until he was told, he put in a very nice lap under wet conditions, he is the 4th driver to have achieved this in the season so far.
The race had its moments, it was a dry race all the way through, i began from 5th with an amazing start of the line to put me into 3rd place after the first corner, i got the best run off it as the two drivers in front went slightly wide.
My Incident into Turn 2
Lostitsmurf had the racing line, i was catching very quickly, i knew other drivers were just behind me, tried my best to brake late to put myself in front of my team mate off turn 2, for the first time this season i made a vital error, when trying to turn into turn 2 away from team mate i clipped the back of FigjamRACER and made him spin out in front of me, which i am very sorry for, as i was simply trying to slot myself in front of my team mate and behind him so i could race Figjam for the rest of the first lap.
However this failed badly, he span in front of me, i tried my best to nudge him back the right way but it was too late and i ended up stuck, i was hit from behind into him and i picked up a penalty, may i also note that no one stated at this point that i should allow Figjam through, this has not been the case so far in the championship, i can remember in Turkey when i was clipped into the first corner and i fell back to 10th place, this destroyed my race and i could have won that race, but i ended up 4th, nobody mentioned it then, or at any other accident, the rule where you should let someone through is where it is very blatant that it was mostly your fault, when you fight for position.
Example of this was in Valencia, Myself and My3LeggedCat had an accident into turn 1 after i come out of the pits, he pinned me in the wall for 5+ seconds and eventually had to reverse, he allowed me to go through due to his error of pinning in the wall.
It is very clear that on race starts, accidents will and has happened in the past, unless a driver blatantly does not break and causes a lot of damage to another driver then you should ask that driver to let you through, however if the accident was simply due to slightly late braking and bad positioning, this does not count, in my incident it was clear that i was stuck between the drivers behind me, Lostitsmurf and at the very end of my braking point which was on the outside of turn 2, Figjams back wheel happened to be there, it was definitely not something i did on purpose, it is the first time this season i had ever clipped someone from behind like that, even when having close starts with TheEvans7 and Dylan.
Seeing posts from other drivers, they agree that these kind of accidents will and has happened at races, i believe that it was taken well out of proportion, i come here and set up this championship, not just to enjoy racing, but to spend time each week where anything i may be stressed about, can suddenly be left alone, and all i can focus on is winning a race, i will not go into detail about my personal life, but one of the biggest reasons why i made this championship was to enjoy myself with other drivers and to relieve stress instead of making stress, i believe that when you begin to take the rules of the racing way too literally, when we have no such things as stewards or salaries, it really begins to take the fun out of the game and just makes it less fun for other drivers.
Of course i respect that a driver may be frustrated when this kind of thing happens, i know first hand what it is like, however usually those drivers have not been penalized, whether or not i was going to finish 1st by a full minute does not mean i am more inclined to pick up a penalty with the drive through that i received, i did offer a penalty i could take if other drivers really thought i deserved it, but no other drivers felt it was the case so nothing will be done.
This championship is hosted on my own website, this is a 3rd party website for the championship, which i used to recruit some of the drivers, all the rules for the Championship were decided before it began and is situated on the F1 Reality website, therefore this Championship is NOT under Race Department rules, simply because 1) I made my own rules and 2) I have not read those rules in its entirety and have not enforced any of them in the first 11 races.
However as of this rule on the F1 Reality >> 7) If you feel another player caused you to have a big accident, you may file a complaint, an investigation into the accident will be made, if the same player keeps getting complained about, they may be penalized or worse, removed from the Championship.
This rule has been adhered too and the conclusion is that it was a Racing Incident, complaints can be filed in the future, however i would recommend it should be brought to my attention in a way which does not involve a full detailed description of the event, especially if i have witnessed this first hand, if it is between two other drivers which i have not witnessed, i will investigate it and get stories from both drivers.
Race Continued
After my incident, Lostitsmurf took a big lead, i went into 2nd place and served my drive through at the end of lap 3, i was on the Prime tires so i did not reduce the gap to Smurf before serving this, i come out just behind FigjamRACER, who was racing on the Option tire.
We had good racing for a few laps, however it seemed that a couple of attempts we actually came wheel to wheel, specially in sector 3.
F1 Reality Rules
2) Defend your position to a point, if the player behind you is really quicker, it is usually in your best interest to let them through so you can focus on your race, if you do not want to lose your place, drive cleanly and do not weave around in front of your opponent.
Now this is more of a guideline then an absolute rule, but from where i was sitting, it seemed that FigjamRACER lost a lot of time trying to defend the position from me, when he could have allowed slightly more space for me to make an overtaking move in a designated area, however the only way i managed to pass was due to him running wide near the pits, if this did not occur it may have cost us both a lot of time or caused another accident, however he has the right to defend his position to a point, like the rule suggests, so i can respect that.
After getting past, i found myself in 3rd position, i began chasing down My3Leggedcat who was in 2nd place, Lostitsmurf was still running in 1st place, on lap 14 i managed to catch up to My3Leggedcat but he went into the pits, i began to chase down Smurf, but he pitted in lap 18 which put me into the lead.
The race became pretty uneventful for me at this point, however i did spin a couple of times, once on corner 2 and another one on the short left hander halfway around the lap, i was struggling with the cars back end slipping out on me, i can remember Lostitsmurf My3Leggedcat and FigjamRACER still racing high in the first half of the race, DutchFLC had troubles in the first half of the grand prix and i was expecting him to be up there racing with me, or at least in the top 4, i began to catch up the backmarkers, Hammerpgh cruising around in 8th place in a race which i read was pretty eventful.
On lap 44, i was suddenly surprised by a car chasing me down, it was DutchFLC on Option tires, this was pretty scary as this has happened before, like back in Canada, also in Silverstone we had a few fights, but this time it seems he was lapped, also i was on worn out primes and planning to pit in a few laps, no matter how much i attacked the track i was looking back to see Dutch all over the back of me, so i had to do the right thing and allow him to unlap himself, i slowed down on the pit straight and allowed him to race off into the distance.
On lap 48 i come in for option tires, My3Leggedcat was running in a nice 2nd place, Lostitsmurf had an accident after i unleashed DutchFLC on him and dropped down the running order, i come out on my new tires and loved the grip, having plenty of time in front of me, the race pretty much become like time trial for me, trying to beat my best time over and over.
However the race was not over by far for other drivers, DutchFLC managed to catch up to My3Leggedcat and passed him to get a very well earned 2nd place, also it seemed that Monster Gee was chasing down FigjamRACER, i lapped them both and not long afterwards it seems Monster Gee got past, having been on a different strategy.
DutchFLC got another well earned podium, My3Leggedcat got his first ever podium, also Monster Gee finished in his best position so far this season in 4th place, also Bonesmalone1971 picked up his first points after completing his first race.
It was a very interesting race, one where we started with only 8 drivers, and finished the race with 8 drivers, we had no retirements or connections being lost, which is great, see ya in Hungary!