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FSONE News
Race-by-race News casts
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| FUN: After race parties in Australia |
Australia - Season 2
Well, after an eventful first season with Team Mclaren I had decided to make the switch to Red Bull Racing,
as this car seemed more responsive to my style of racing - fast and hard. From the moment I stepped into the car and put my
foot on the gas, the roar of the engine behind me, the power under my control - it was just like falling in love. Throughout
pre-season testing we had worked to get the set-up just right with particular emphasis on the first race of the season, as
we knew success here would give us the confidence to go into the rest of the season with a positive outlook. It worked pretty
well, and we claimed first place.
Malaysia - Season 2
We had trouble with car throughout practice and qualifying, as did the rival Hopkins Racing team. It was
found at the end of the race, upon UFIA inspection that all of the other teams were using illegal settings and that the stweards
of the race did nothing to penalise or re-classify the order. A court order rules that whilst as stated under the technical
regulations that decision making at each venue is down to the stewards, their conduct had been negligent and unprofessional,
it is for this reason that the UFIA came to a decision that it will not feature the Malaysian grand prix into next years calender
and have subsequently banned then until the UFIA sees a major change within the managment of the circuit. Alex Hopkins from
Hopkins racing managed to clinch 17th Place with his legal car, and Leo Hopkins was disqualified for not taking a stop &
go penalty within the 3 lap limit.
Bahrain - Season 2
During qualifying I was fastest, however the car seemed suited only for flying laps and didnt have the ability
to hold to the track very well during the middle and last stints due to tyre graining, I would have preferred the win obviously
but had to settle for second place.
Spain - Season 2
During pre-season testing the car worked very well and produced competetive lap-times. We did well during
practice and qualifying, however we had opted for a smaller radiator size for reduced drag and a higher RPM map to increase
the W/N ratio. This worked fine during the shorter practice and qualifying sessions but could not hold out during the race
and we had an engine blow-out during the latter half of the middle stint and failed to finish.
Monaco - Season 2
We dominated the race during the monte-carlo grand prix, from start to finish. It was during this controversial
race that the Owner-Driver of Hopkins racing lodged a complaint with the UFIA regarding Red Bull's usage of the "Steering
Help aid" and questioned its legality. The UFIA ruled that it would be banning Steering Help from next season onwards and
would intruduce the compulsory use of pedal and steering wheels for control mechanisms. However I managed to clinch first
place and win the monaco grand prix, for the second succesive season.
Canada - Season 2
We went into this race using next season's compulsory control package and used the grand prix
as a testing bed. Unfortunately, Hopkins racing / Alex Hopkins continued to use the normal joypad control set, as it is still
legal until the end of this season. It was a mistake we made and cost us dearly in points. We did, however manage to hang
on to a podium finish and clinched second place.
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| SPIN-OUT: Leo looses control at the first corner, as Alex takes the lead at Indianapolis |
United States - Season 2
During practice and qualifying we had the greatest of difficulty finding a set up that was right for the
car. We either had to trade off grip to gain a faster straight-line speed on Indianapolis's long straights and take it slowly
round the corners, or we had to trade off top speed to give us the grip that we needed through the circuits in-field. Unfortunately
it was a balance that we were not able to get and as I spun off at the first corner, I was struggling getting the car back
up through the middle field. And after a contreversial collision with Alex Hopkins, who came to lap me, I had moved my car
into his racing line and he just clipped the back of my car and spun off. One lap later my engine blew-out, possibly as a
result of the collision. The stewards decided to take no further action on my moment of erratic driving, saying they would
have thought about imposing a penalty had I gained advantage from the manouver. I failed to comment.
France - Season 2
Going into the French grand prix at magny-cours, I knew we had a package that would blow the rest of the
field away. During practice, we were testing the car at full-tank capacity in order to get the best possible heavy-set
up. There are not many races of the season which are kind to tyres and enable you to adopt a one-stop strategy; but magny-cours
is one of them. It worked well and we had lapped the second place car during the race to clinch the victory, and won our bonus
points for fastest lap of the race and pole position. You could say that Magny-cours for us was a flawless victory, and this
is another race which we have won for the second season running. We now have a more confident and positive outlook for the
rest of the season, even though we are trailing the championship leader by 16 points. The championship is far from over.
Great Britain - Season 2
Throughout testing we had two different approaches to this race set-up wise, both of which had thier advantages
and disadvantages. We had the "fast" set up option which would give us maximum speed but was found to be not very kind on
the tyres, and it was also very easy to push over the edge; the other car set-up option we developed is what we called the
"safe" set-up; whilst still pumping out fairly competetive lap times we were able to develop a package that was not only
kinder on the tyres but one which also gave me a greater margin of error. Luckily Alex (currently leader of the championship
board spun out on lap 5 and I was able to take full advantage and over took him, and managed to keep him behind. Two laps
later he did try an overtaking manoeuvre in which he tried to outbrake me at Lowes corner, but unfortunately unded up riding
the grass and almost hit me as i turned onto the apex. Luckily he didnt re-fuel enough on his early pit-stop and had to quickly
adopt a two stop strategy. However on lap 27 his engine gave up the ghost and even though he started in pole position he must
have just over-drove his car. I claimed the victory at Silverstone and the point for fastest lap of the race.
Europe - Season 2
We are not entirely sure what happened at this grand prix, other than we started on the front grid, made
a few mistakes and ended up a minute behind Alex Hopkins. We had adopted a 3 stop strategy for the race which didnt work out,
and the engine blew on lap 6, just before I was due to pit and Alex managed to clinch the full 12 points. However, I
have put the events of Nurburging behind me, and I shall look forward to the next race at the Hungaroring. Im 18 points behind
in the championship.
Hungary - Season 2
Going into this race we knew we had to do well to set us up for the rest of the season. Alex Hopkins had
engine reliability problems all through testing and his engine blew on lap 15 of the race. After taking the lead I decided
to switch from a 2 stop to a 3 stop strategy in order to try and beat his fastest lap of the race. Our first pit-stop nearly
ended in disaster when the car jack got stock underneath the body and took almost 4 minutes to release, sparking fears that
the engine would overheat and burnout. Luckily we managed to get away unscathed and took an easy win. The gap between the
current world champion (Alex Hopkins) and myself is now down to 10 points. We just have to remain focused for the rest of
the season.
Turkey - Season 2
From the very beginning we had a clear strategy, and that was adopt a one late pit-stop strategy. The idea
behind this is that as Istanbul park is a very forgiving circuit in terms of error margins, that we would pit at the end of
lap 26 of the 36 lap race. The assumption was that Alex Hopkins would pit on lap 18 (middle race distance) which he did. What
we had planned was that as he started out with the lighter car, it was calculated that he would pull out a gap of around 22
seconds before pitting, therefore allowing me to get infront of him whilst he was pitting and as id be in the now lighter
car, id pull out a gap big enough in the next 8 laps for me to pit on lap 26 and still come out infront. However, this did
not go accoring to plan as I managed to spin the car off the circuit 3 times whilst lapping the field. It was because of this
that we decided to make another pit-stop on lap 30 for tyres and damage repair only, and then I managed to come out and whilst
still clinching just second place, managed to also obtain the fastest lap of the race, breaking last years record and picking
up the extra bonus point. We now trail 14 points behind and really need to start thinking about going for more pole positions
in the remainder of the season.
Italy - Season 2
The italian grand prix at Monza, turned out to be a complete disaster for us, and one which may have cost
us this years WDC. It is still too early to tell, although we really have to pull our socks up and get on with things now.
The car just didnt feel right throughout the whole weekend. We couldnt get the balance right, although the problems have been
ironed out and we will make Monza one of our key testing grounds through pre-season testing.
Belgium - Season 2
We managed to iron out the problems we had at Monza in time for the grand prix at Spa-Francorchamps. The
car was near to perfect, behaved responsively and had enough straight line speed to cope with the long straights. We still
feel we COULD have done better, however we managed to gain pole position and fastest lap during the race and drove the car
to victory. I now trail behind the current WDC Alex Hopkins by 14 points.
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