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[k-racer]

2021 Alternate F1 Universe: Round 2 Austin

So, welcome to the second round of this season. The F1 paddock is at Austin for the United States GP. Expect it to be cold for this one! Anyways, here’s the recap.

Qualifying Results

So, another Ferrari front row lockout which is not a surprise. But a chance of rain for the race will be a welcome sight.

SURPRISE! Stoffel Vandoorne gets on the second step of the podium for Lotus. We barely missed out on points with Latifi finishing 11th. Stroll being four laps down is NOT a good sign. Other than that, there was no obvious news to note here after this race. Hopefully, I can post the next round eventually!

[k-racer]

2021 Alternate F1 Universe: Round 1 Abu Dhabi

Before I can start this, I decided to take control of one of the three new teams for the duration of this simulation. After much debate, I have decided to take user-control Racing Point, since they were the only new team of the bunch to have no bugs with their driver contacts. Anyways, off we go to the season opener.

No shock that Ferrari got a front row lockout. Kubica being way-off for Lamborghini wasn’t really a surprise either. However, Nicholas Latifi being 2 seconds slower than Rio Haryanto was a shock, but he did qualify within the 107% time with ease. Felipe Nasr somehow missing out the top 10 for Mercedes was disappointing. Onwards to the race

It’s a Ferrari 1-2 with Vettel winning and taking fastest lap of the race. Alexander Rossi somehow finishing on the podium for Penske was a pleasant surprise. Kubica managing to have way better long run pace on route to 6th. Sirotkin scoring a couple points for newcomers SMP was also quite amazing. As for Racing Point, Latifi finished 2 laps down and Stroll spun off on his own and stalled the car causing a DNF. Despite this, Latifi finished ahead of both Alpine’s and both Mercedes’ cars.

After the race however, this happened:

Disregard that Toro Rosso livery car in the screenshot. Anyways, Ford were fined an unknown amount of money after the race for some odd reason. Anyways, that does it for Round 1 of 16 for the season. Stay tuned for more stuff on here! 

[k-racer]

The re-written 2021 F1 entry list

This is a follow-up from the previous post. Now with 2021 officially here, let’s see what the re-written entry list looks like and the new-look 16 race calendar for this experiment with Grand Prix Manager 2.

The rewritten 2021 Entry List

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel

Lewis Hamilton

(T) Mick Schumacher

Lamborghini

Max Verstappen

Robert Kubica

(T) Luca Ghiotto

Ford

Nico Hulkenberg

Sergio Perez

(T) Pietro Fittipaldi

Farina-Alfa Romeo

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniil Kvyat

(T) Antonio Giovinazzi

Chrysler

Carlos Sainz Jr.

Paul Di Resta

(T) Lando Norris

Maserati

Kevin Magnussen

Valtteri Bottas

(T) Robert Shwartzman

Penske-Cosworth

Alexander Rossi

Marcus Ericsson

(T) Max Chilton

Dallara-Honda

Charles Leclerc

Sebastien Buemi

(T) Naoki Yamamoto

Lotus-Toyota

Stoffel Vandoorne

Rio Haryanto

(T) Brendon Hartley

Mercedes

Felipe Nasr

Jehan Daruvala

(T) George Russell

Alpine-Renault

Pierre Gasly

Esteban Ocon

(T) Jean-Eric Vergne

SMP-BMW

Esteban Gutierrez

Sergey SIrotkin

(T) Nyck de Vries

Racing Point-Mercedes

Lance Stroll

Nicholas Latifi

(T) Pascal Wehrlein

The 2021 Alternate F1 Universe Race Calendar

1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix –Yas Marina Circuit

2 United States Grand Prix – Circuit of the Americas

3 Mexican Grand Prix – Circuit Hermanos Rodriguez

4 Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring

5 Spanish Grand Prix – Circuit de Catalunya

6 Monaco Grand Prix – Streets of Monte-Carlo

7 Russian Grand Prix – Sochi Circuit

8 Canadian Grand Prix – Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

9 British Grand Prix – Silverstone Circuit

10 Austrian Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring

11 German Grand Prix – Hockenheim

12 Singapore Grand Prix – Marina Bay Street Circuit

13 Belgium Grand Prix – Spa-Francorchamps

14 Italian Grand Prix – Monza

15 European Grand Prix – Nurburgring Grand Prix Circuit

16 Japanese Grand Prix – Suzuka Circuit

The first race of this new experiment will be conducted eventually. Stay Tuned!

[k-racer]

A F1 history rewrite 1950-Present . . . using Python

So, Let’s rewrite F1 history from the very beginning!

Prologue: What happened during these seventy years?

So, I have decided to rewrite Formula 1 history using a python simulation and only running it one time and this is what transpired! Be prepared for a lot of odd things!

The 1950’s

Alfa Romeo was the dominant team in the early part of this decade but by the end of 1956, they withdrew from the sport. Oddly enough, in 1959, the driver’s championship was decided on countback for the first time in the sport’s history because Mike Hawthorn and Jack Brabham were tied on points at the end of the year, but Hawthorn won his second title of his career thanks to one DNF compared to Brabham’s two DNF’s. Obviously, the Italians dominated the sport this decade, winning eight of the ten team’s titles in the decade.

The 1960’s

The 1960’s begin with a big technical revolution when newcomers Team Lotus entered F1 full-time with a purpose built mid-engine F1 car, however, it was full of flaws and Team Lotus barely made it through the season before leaving the sport altogether. However, the Cooper team decided to try their hand at a mid-engine F1 car the following season with excellent success with Tony Brooks winning the 1961 and 1962 driver’s championships. Ferrari then made the long-awaited switch to mid-engine cars for 1963 and tasted success that year with Bruce McLaren behind the wheel. By the start of the 1966 season, the FIA have decided to only allow mid-engine cars to compete in F1, leaving the few privateers that were remaining to switch to mid-engine cars after years of resisting the switch. In 1968, Alfa Romeo came back into F1 as an engine supplier for the newcomers Farina Racing team, who was headed by Nino Farina, who won the WDC in 1952. In one of the most fairy-tire endings in the rewritten history so far, the newcomers won both the driver’s championship with Peter Revson, and clinching the team’s title in dominating fashion in the first year of existence. Jackie Stewart finished off the 1960’s by winning his first title for Citroen. Another theme is bold new teams coming and going during this decade in addition to the decline of the privateers and Team Lotus, Lamborghini and Bugatti also tried their hands at F1 but failed as well.

The 1970’s

By the start of the 1970 season, the FIA has effectively banned the independent “Privateer” teams from competing in the championship. Now, all of the remaining teams must pay all associated FIA entry fees before acceptance into the championship itself. In 1974, the second driver’s championship decided on countback occurred between now three-time WDC Graham Hill and Emerson Fittipaldi, both of whom were driving for Ferrari. Fittipaldi won his first title due to more race wins. Before the start of the 1977 season, the FIA implemented the modern-day two cars per team rule that is still with us to this very day. In addition, Renault also entered Formula one with the very first turbocharged engine in a Formula 1 car. Oddly enough, John Watson accomplished a three-peat of driver’s titles during 1975-77 driving for Mercedes.

The 1980’s

Niki Lauda had to wait a little while, but he did win a WDC to his name in 1980 for the Ford Grand Prix team, who somehow is still hanging on for dear life with the aging DFV engine. In 1981, Mario Andretti won his second driver’s title. Before the start of the 1982 season, the FIA had decided to make Turbo-charged engines mandatory. This caused panic among some of the once-great teams, most notably BRM and Cooper, but they somehow got contracts with independent engine makers in time. Furthermore, in 1982, the calendar finally expanded to 16 races. Despite all of these changes, BRM (with the help of Zakspeed suppling them engines) won the team’s championship and Keke Rosberg won the driver’s title. By the end of the 1983 season, Renault left the sport altogether. By the end of the 1988 season, Engine power was obviously at an all-time high and thanks to that, Alain Prost won four driver’s titles for Ferrari. Obviously, wanting to slow down the cars, the FIA banned the turbo-charged cars before the start of the 1989 season, in favor of a 3.5L NA formula. Despite their efforts, Prost was able to secure his fifth driver’s title to finish off the 1980’s.

The 1990’s

Somehow by the time we get to the start of the 1990’s, the F1 calendar has reached 18 total races. At the end of the 1990 season, there was the third time a driver’s championship was decided on countback. This time it was Ayrton Senna, who was driving for Farina-Alfa Romeo, and Elio De Angeles, for Mercedes. De Angeles won due to more race wins 4 to 2. The following year, Senna got the last laugh and he won his first driver’s title by two points over Nelson Piquet. Gerhard Berger returned the favor for Mercedes winning his only driver’s title in 1992, and Senna responded with a second driver’s title in 1993. At the end of the 1994 season, Mansell has won his second driver’s title. In 1995, Mika Hakkinen won his first driver’s title for Dallara. By the time we reached the 1996 season, track safety became a huge point of emphasis and as a result, the FIA had to take a hard stand on this issue, the end result being that the calendar was reduced to 17 races by this time. Oddly enough, it was Ivan Capelli winning the driver’s title that season, for the Ford Grand Prix team, who by this time are using V10 engines after finally scrapping the proven V8 engine re-introduced in 1989 and had its roots in the mid 1960’s. Before the start of the 1998 season, the FIA made a massive set of rule changes which included grooved tires, narrower width, and reduction of engine displacement to 3 liters. By the end of the 1990’s it was obvious that the Lamborghini F1 team, who re-entered F1 in 1983, first with a crazy 1.5L V12 turbo engine before the turbo ban, before switching to their signature V12 engine for the 1989 season, had become the team to beat, thanks to Michael Schumacher winning two driver’s titles to his name.

The 2000’s

Before the start of the 2001 season, the Lotus name was back in F1, but this time under partnership with Toyota to supply them state-of-the-art V10 engines. The 2002 season was a nail-biter but Jacques Villeneuve prevailed over his Dallara teammate Mika Hakkinen by one point. At the end of the 2004 season, Michael Schumacher did the unthinkable, breaking Alain Prost’s driver’s title record with his sixth title. The following season, which was the last of the three liter era, Giancarlo Fisichella somehow won a driver’s title for Mercedes. Before the start of the 2006 season, the FIA finally got with the modern times, and introduced 80HP Hybrid Systems to the cars and switched the engine formula to 2.4 liter V8 engines on top of that. Despite this, Michael Schumacher extended the driver’s title record way out of reach by the end of the 2008 season, winning nine total driver’s titles. Before the start of the 2009 season, the new era of aerodynamics took effect and did it’s intended job shuffling up the pecking order.

The 2010’s and last season

The FIA had finally did the unthinkable before the 2010 season, they finally overhauled the points system to the modern top 10 finishers system still being used in present day. By the end of the 2013, a possible new force had emerged, Nico Rosberg for Ferrari, who somehow won three straight driver’s titles up to that point and was on top of his game. However, for the 2014 season, they bought in the V6 turbo-hybrid era, with the hybrid systems doubling in power output to 160. By that time, the calendar has expanded to 21 races. By the end of the 2015 season, Nico Rosberg had managed to claim his fifth straight driver’s championship. In the 2016 season, Kimi Raikkonen managed to claim his third driver’s title after winning back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010. The following season, Lewis Hamilton finally broke though and claimed his first World driver’s championship. Also, for Ferrari, they had claimed their 25th team’s championship in their long history. In 2018, Max Verstappen made history by becoming the youngest ever driver’s champion for Lamborghini. In 2019, Sebastian Vettel finally secured his long-awaited world driver’s championship for Ferrari. In 2020 however, Lewis Hamilton reclaimed the driver’s title for Ferrari.

Now, what’s next: Well, most everything has changed. First, the cars will become more futuristic than ever before thanks to the now-mandatory Halo device. Second, the engine formula has been changed again. This time it will be 2 liter V8 Turbocharged engines with the hybrid systems making even more power than ever now to 250HP. There’s also a new commitment to wellness and health, this has caused the race calendar to shrink from 20 races in 2020 to 16 races in 2021. Finally, in an effort to attract promising new teams to the sport, the FIA have finally expanded the entry list to 13 teams for 2021 and forcing all of the teams to abide by a hard spending cap of $150million per year. So, in this next post, I will unveil the entry list for the re-written 2021 season.

[k-racer]

Let’s rewrite F1 History: 1996 Round 1

So, after the preparations were complete, the 13 F1 teams flew down under for the season opener in Melbourne. I honestly have no clue what the pecking order would be because of the random nature of the changes that I made. So, let’s see who’s on top after qualifying, shall we.

Well, guess the AI really got it right this time, as F1 rookie Burt took the world by storm by scoring pole position in the Lamborghini powered Tsunami. Pay Driver Diniz made it a front row lockout for the newcomers. Benetton qualified 4th and 6th. McLaren only mustered 12th and 16th out of their drivers. The biggest surprise is that Olivier Panis in a Williams was outside of the 107% time by a full second. So, Frank Williams only has one car in the season opener. Collard for Footwork also missed out on the 107% time but by just a tenth of a second. So, let’s see what happens in the race itself.

Well, so much for only having one driver in the race itself, Damon Hill for Williams wins the Australian GP, with Coulthard 2nd and Herbert 3rd. Give a nod to Magnussen driving the Ligier, scoring a sole point for 6th. Unusually, the race didn’t have a high DNF rate, only three of the 23 cars DNF’ed. So, I guess reliability is better than expected? Anyways, the next race will be posted eventually. So, stay tuned for what else can happen during this journey!

[k-racer]

Let’s Rewrite F1 History! 1996-?

Just in case, you are wondering what has happened to the second season of the Alternate F1 Universe using the 2019 mod, there was a technical issue with the actual save file that prevent it from working as intended. Mainly, due to the driver’s being in the wrong positions within the team and the inability to fix it as I wanted to. So, sadly we never get to see the follow-up to the 2019 mod series. Thankfully, I was thinking about doing another series like the first series, but this time using the “default” GPM2 game itself as a base, and actually controlling all of the teams excluding one team, which must be left as AI Controlled. So, buckle up, and get ready for a brave new world of Formula 1! 

It’s 1996 and the FIA has finally decided to officially streamline the engine formula for the next decade or so. This new engine formula will be three liter V12’s only, so no more V10’s or V8’s are allowed. This was done to ensure that the racing will still be exciting at all times and requires driver skill above everything else. This also means that many notable engine makers of this era were forced to exit F1 and some previous engine makers have returned back to this loud new era along with new suppliers on top of it! In conclusion, we have six total engine makers in F1. They are Ferrari, Honda (who returns to F1 officially after three years of being Mugen-Honda and suppling customer V10 engines to various teams during that time), BMW (back in f1 officially for the first time since the end of 1987. Yes, the Megatron-badged engine in the 1988 Arrows was in fact based on the BMW M12/13 I4 Turbo engine), Rolls Royce (first time ever in F1), Maybach (first time ever in F1), and Lamborghini (back in F1 after two years away from the sport, was almost an engine supplier with McLaren in 1994 before Ron Dennis decided to try the Peugeot engines that ill-fated year with lackluster results at best). 

The Race Calendar:

It’s the same one used as in the real-life 1996 F1 season with one change, the Nurburgring gets dropped in favor of the Kyalami circuit in South Africa which last appeared in 1993. Other than that, no other changes were made.

The Points system

It remains the classic: 10-6-4-3-2-1, as it was in real life

After a lengthy process of reshuffling drivers through the draft lottery and a fantasy driver’s draft and reassigning engine contracts, here’s the new 1996 entry list, and be prepared for a lot of changes up and down the grid!

1996 Entry List

Benetton-Honda

1 Michael Schumacher

2 Johnny Herbert

T Vincenzo Sospiri

Williams-Rolls Royce

3 Damon Hill

4 Olivier Panis

T Chris Moore

Ferrari

5 Gerhard Berger

6 Mika Salo

T Gianni Morbidelli

McLaren-BMW

7 David Coulthard

8 Rubens Barrichello

T Fernando Sainz

Ligier-Maybach

9 Jean Alesi

10 Jan Magnussen

T Eric Kasee

Jordan-Rolls Royce

11 Eddie Irvine

12 Martin Brundle

T Marco Capelli

Sauber-Ferrari

14 John Newhouse

15 GC Fisichella

T Pedro Lamy

Tyrrell-Lamborghini

16 Mika Hakkinen

17 Ty Schitarelle

T Andrea Montermini

Footwork-BMW

18 HH Frentzen

19 Emmanuel Collard

T Ricardo Rosset

Minardi-Honda

20 Jos Verstappen

21 Ukyo Katayama

T Taki Inoue

Forti-Lamborghini

22 Nicola Larini

23 Norberto Fontana

T Giovanni Vallie

Cassini-Rolls Royce

24 Gino Laytoh

25 JC Boullion

T Yasuo Hiddaka

Tsunami-Lamborghini (Controlled by the AI)

26 Kelvin Burt

27 Pedro Diniz

T Luca Badoer

So, the first round of the season will be posted eventually, as soon as I finish creating the save file itself and doing all of the initial pre-season testing set-up stuff of course. Who do you think will be the early favorites? Comment Below!

[k-racer]

Alternate F1 Universe: GPM2 2019 Mod: Season Finale at Abu Dhabi!

Can this race be Fernando Alonso’s farewell ride? There are rumors that if he successfully wins his third WDC title at Abu Dhabi, he will retire from F1 altogether! Let’s see if his wish comes true tonight! Standing in his way is the rookie standout Antonio Giovinazzi for Ferrari. This would be an epic ending either way so let’s go to the track!

WOW! Albon gets his first pole position of his career, spoiling Fernando Alonso's bid to get one last pole position. For Alonso, though, starting 2nd isn’t exactly the worst thing in the world because Giovinazzi starts 6th. In a rarity, in the desert, Rain has a possibility but even though that’s relatively slim to say the least. So let’s see what happens during the final race of the season!

Fernando Alonso did his job by winning the race! Now let’s see who comes in behind him, it happens to be . . . Albon in the Toro Rosso finishing 2nd, that means Alonso gets his ultimate wish and fairy tale ending, winning that elusive 3rd WDC and with that he is almost certain to retire from F1 as the best driver in the world! Similar to what Nico Rosberg did at the end of 2016! It’s a shame that Mercedes will not get the team’s title because Ferrari already stole that trophy away from Brackley last race in Brazil, but keeping the WDC trophy in their hands was more important to them anyway for the brand image! As for Giovinazzi, a third place finish isn’t exactly the best performance that he was hoping for, but hey he gets to at least celebrate with Alonso on the podium fair and square! Here is the final driver’s standings

There were some disappointing performances up and down the grid this season. I would cover that at a later time! In the meantime, here’s the final team standings!

Just in case you have not been keeping track of the tiebreakers at home. Racing Point wins the tiebreaker over Alfa Romeo for 8th thanks to a higher points finish 9th vs. 10th. Sadly for Panthera, I lost the tiebreaker for 11th place in the standings to SMP thanks to SMP getting one more 11th place finish than us. But hey, that one point in the season opener was important for us to begin with, that allows us to stay ahead of Williams, who managed to score nothing despite drafting Kimi Raikkonen and Lando Norris in the fantasy draft! 

Stay tuned for the end of season awards, and a sneak preview of what to expect for season 2!

[k-racer]

Alternate F1 Universe: GPM2 2019 mod: Round 15 Brazil

With two rounds left to go, it’s anybody’s guess what will happen. Off to Brazil we go!

YES! Stroll on Row 2, and Leclerc somehow qualified 12th. It’s Alonso taking pole position, but Giovinazzi is right next to him! This ought to be good entering the race!

Alonso has another win to his career totals. Thankfully for him, his rival that he is chasing after, only finished 4th, so it’s going to be a showdown between the often-rejected veteran that only has two WDC’s to his name or the upstart rookie that only made two f1 starts prior to 2019 and didn’t race at all in 2018! Here’s the standings for the drivers with just one round left!

Essentially Giovinazzi leads Alonso by just seven points heading into the finale in Abu Dhabi. Here’s the easiest clinch scenarios for your amusement

Giovinazzi makes history by become the first ever rookie WDC in the FIA modern era (since 1981 when the FIA took full control of the sport itself) if he wins the final race regardless if he scores the bonus point for fastest lap or not. 

Alonso wins his long-awaited third WDC outright on points if he wins the final race AND gets the bonus point for fastest lap and Giovinazzi finishes 2nd or worse. 

If both drivers are somehow tied in points after the final race. In this scenario, Alonso will win the WDC based on more race wins in the season, Alonso has 5 wins compared to Giovinazzi’s 3 wins. 

Sounds simple enough, right? On to the team’s championship results with one race left to run.

It’s now official, Ferrari has clinched the 2019 constructor’s championship, ending the Mercedes AMG dynasty in the turbo-hybrid era! With a 1-2 finish only bringing in a maximum of 44 points, when one of the driver’s gets the bonus point for fastest lap of the race. Ferrari has a 58-point lead entering the final race of the season, their constructor’s championship has been mathematically clinched! Congrats to Scuderia Ferrari for saving the sport at least for now! 

See you in the season finale at Abu Dhabi!

[k-racer]

Alternate F1 Universe: GPM2 2019 Mod: Round 14 USA

This is promising to be an interesting finish let’s see what happens in the lone star state!

A WET qualifying session, this ought to be interesting. Thankfully, Alonso got pole position, keeping his dwindling chances alive. 

Alonso led flag to flag for a much needed race win! With just two races left to run, here’s the standings for both championships.

Only 21 points separate Giovinazzi and Alonso at the top with two rounds left.

Ferrari is still technically haven’t clinched the teams title yet, but it’s getting very close indeed! The next round is at Interlagos, see you guys later!

[k-racer]

Alternate F1 Universe: GPM2 2019 Mod Round 13 Mexico

We are now south of the border in Mexico city, for the next race of the season. It’s seems unlikely that either title can be clinched here. But you never know!

Hulkenberg gets pole position. The driver’s championship leader Giovinazzi will start alongside his teammate. Let’s see what happens during this race

Alonso Wins the Mexican GP, with Ferrari finishing 2-3. Let’s see if this race brings any changes to either championship.

No big changes here in the driver’s championship, moving on to the team’s standings.

Ferrari are still leading the team’s championship with three races left to run! The next race is at Austin, USA, so the paddock will have a limited amount of time to prepare for a possible showdown in the lone star state!

[k-racer]

Alternate F1 Universe: GPM2 2019 mod round 12 Japan

Well, Suzuka Circuit is the next race track this season. Let’s see what else can happen during this season.

Qual. results

It’s a Mercedes front row lockout. The Racing point of Wehrlein will start 3rd and as for Stroll he will start 7th on the grid for Panthera. On to the race itself

Stroll DNF’ed with a brake failure and Leclerc managed to finish the race 1 lap down in 13th. As for the front runners, Russell wins for Mercedes AMG with the three title contenders finishing 2-3-4. With just one quarter of the season left to go, let’s see the driver’s championship standings

If Giovinazzi can hang on in there for just four more races, he will be the first rookie world drivers champion ever in the modern FIA era (which started in 1981). However, Alonso will need a massive break or two to say something about it. The team’s championship looks like this.

Ferrari are looking like your 2019 team’s champions, if they can keep this up for a couple more races! Elsewhere, you notice that Renault are catching up to Toro Rosso-Honda for 5th, the Enstone-based team is just five points off from the Faenza-based team entering the last quarter of the season. The next race is in Mexico City! See you there for perhaps an epic ending of the season, let’s hope!

[k-racer]

Alternate F1 Universe: GPM2 2019 Mod Round 11 Singapore

So, here’s the make or break for all of the teams, the closing flyaway races. First up, the night race at Singapore. 

Qualifying results

Another Pole Position from Hulkenberg. Let’s see what happens in the race, but don’t get your predictions hyped up because almost anything will happen in this safety-car heavy circuit!

JUST AMAZING! Bottas got a race win for Renault! Their first of the season. Meanwhile, Panthera got both cars home but they were kind of struggling to begin with. Here’s the driver��s standings with five races left to run

With Hulkenberg and Alonso managing not to finish in Singapore and Giovinazzi finishing on the podium in 3rd. This could be the one race that seals the deal for Giovinazzi, if it happens to be the case. The team’s standings are like this with five rounds left to run!

Ferrari is looking squarely at their first teams title in the turbo-hybrid era, they are at least some steps closer to finally realizing their goal in toppling the Mercedes AMG dynasty! Racing point scoring a point in Singapore means that they are in sole possession of 8th. Next race is from a driver’s favorite, Suzuka in Japan. See you later!

[k-racer]

Alternate F1 Universe: GPM2 2019 Mod Round 10 Monza

Now we are Monza, another speed and power track. This should be perfect for us to get at least a point for Panthera!

Qualifying results

OH SO CLOSE! Stroll had pole position until Nico Hulkenberg stole it away from us, damn it. But I take a 2nd from Stroll and 6th from Leclerc in qualifying and take our chances from there to score at least one point between either of our drivers. 

Race Result

OH NO! A Double-DNF for Panthera, which is our first in this lets play! it could not have come at a worst time as well! Leclerc retired with a second steering-related failure and Stroll retired with an unknown issue. So much for that plan! Anyways, Hulkenberg and Giovanazzi took a Ferrari 1-2 on their home soil, yay for the tifosi! So, here’s the drivers standings with just six flyaway races left to run.

Looks like it’s both Ferrari drivers against the Mercedes of Alonso for the Driver’s championship. Now for the team’s championship entering the stretch run of flyaway races.

When will Panthera get more points on the board? In addition, will Williams score a point before the end of the season? Either way, it’s going to be an interesting scrap in the bottom of the pack, that’s for sure! The next race will be Singapore! 

[k-racer]

Alternate F1 Universe: GPM2 2019 Mod Round 9 Spa

Before we can start the second half of the season. I must fill the staffing and driver vacancies for next season. First my three drivers for 2020.

Charles Leclerc would get replaced by Lando Norris for 2020. This move would save us $1million in salary payments. Lance Stroll’s $5million in funds will be kept by us for next season. In addition, Naoki Yamamoto will still be our reserve driver in 2020 in the hopes of keeping our customer Honda engines, after Toro Rosso has success in using them this season. In regards of staffing here’s the breakdown

I managed to convince Head Designer Andrew Green to leave Racing Point and Chief Engineer Pat Symonds to leave Williams and signed them to 1 year deals. As for the Head Mechanic and PR Manager spots, they will remain the same for 2020. 

In addition, I decided to conduct an in-season test at Silverstone to test new components on the cars most notably the new turbo that Honda gave to us, the improved DRS system that we made ourselves and a further improvement to the stepped floor that we developed as well. The test itself went smoother than I would had anticipated. So, with these things out of the way, it’s time for the start of the second half of the f1 season from Belgium!

Qualifying Results

Just exactly what I need to start the second half of the season in qualifying! I am now just a couple tenths off Alfa Romeo on one-lap pace. These new upgrades sure helped right away at Spa which is a power and speed track as Stroll qualified 9th and Leclerc 11th. Hopefully, we can stay there during the race!

Not exactly what I was hoping for, but hey both cars did finish the race even though we are now 1 lap down instead of 2-3 laps at the end. Moving on upwards I guess. Anyways, Hulkenberg won another race for Ferrari with Alonso 2nd and Giovinazzi rounding off the podium. Hamilton 5th is a pleasant relief for the defending champion, who is still treading water in his highly unlikely title defense this season. Here’s the latest driver standings now.

Giovinazzi is still leading the championship but by 17 points over Alonso. Hamilton looks like he will have to give up his crown soon to someone else, which is a good thing for the sport itself! The team standings are looking like this now.

It looks a little more certain that Ferrari will NOT choke away the teams title for once. Haas has just slowly pulled away from the rest of the back-markers by scoring two more points at Spa. My hope for Panthera is to score a few more points by the end of this season, so that way we can build on it. Next round is from Monza, Italy which happens to be the last round in Europe before the closing flyaway races around the world. See you guys later!

[k-racer]

Alternate F1 Universe: GPM2 2019 Mod Round 8 Hungary

WOW! After this race is done, we are now halfway done with this first season of this let’s play. Let’s see what’s going on at the race track!

Qualifying results

Giovinazzi steals Pole Position away from Alonso.

SURPRISE! Toro Rosso returns to the winner's step for the first time since Vettel’s shocker at Monza in 2008. This time, it’s Pierre Gasly, who is also experiencing his first ever f1 win to boot! He barely held off Alonso's Mercedes for the win. Now, for the driver’s championship standings at the halfway point of the season

Can Antonio Giovinazzi be the first ever “rookie” in Formula 1 history to win the driver’s title in the modern FIA era? (since 1981 when the FIA officially took over the championship for good) Anyways, here’s the teams standings after the halfway point of the season

Now will Ferrari NOT choke this time please? That’s the billion dollar question everyone wants an answer to right now! 

Anyways, the silly season rumors are about to start right now, so in the next post I will update you on that portion of the news!

[k-racer]

Alternate F1 Universe: GPM2 2019 mod Round 7 German GP

So, we are at the Nürburgring for the next round. What happens next in this season? Let’s go on the track and see what’s going on!

Qualifying Results

Racing Point taking row 3 on the grid was probably the only surprise during this session. Moving on to the race now.

SHOOT! So close for Lance Stroll scoring his first points of 2019. He finished 12th and 1 lap down. Anyways, Giovinazzi has won yet again with his teammate Hulkenberg and the red bull of JEV rounding off the podium. The driver’s championship now looks like this:

The lead for Giovinazzi has now increased to 23 points. Let’s see what the team’s championship looks like

No changes to note here. Likewise, note that from 7th downwards, it’s very fluid right now, any big break from any of the teams on the bottom half would be huge for them! So, the next race is from Budapest. See you guys later!

[k-racer]

Alternate F1 Universe: GPM2 2019 Mod Round 6 Silverstone

So, the teams are back home at Silverstone for the British GP. Let’s see what happens on track

Qualifying results

Alonso finally takes a Pole Position for Mercedes AMG, Kvyat for SMP amazes with an improbable 3rd place starting position. Renault were also pretty fast, they will start 4th and 5th. As for my Panthera team, Stroll will start 20th and Leclerc can’t seem to escape stone last in qualifying! Let’s see what happens during this race.

Alonso wins his second race of the season for Mercedes AMG. Magnussen missed out on his debut f1 win by 5 seconds. Hamilton had to settle for 4th. Great news for Campos and SMP, they are finally on the scoreboard with points, thanks to Sainz Jr. (Campos) and Kvyat (SMP) finishing 9th and 10th respectfully. At least stroll finished the race but 1 lap down. Ditto for Leclerc who was the first one to DNF. Here’s the updated driver’s standings

Now this is more like it! Giovinazzi’s lead in the driver’s championship got trimmed down even further, it’s 8 points now. As for the team’s standings

Ferrari still leads the team’s championship but Mercedes AMG is gaining momentum slowly but surely. Red Bull looks like they are stuck on 3rd place for now. McLaren is fourth and Toro Rosso round off the top 5. Renault looks destined for 6th but outside of these top six teams, it’s anybody’s guess who will pull ahead and separate themselves from the rest of the pack. Note that Williams is still the only team that has not scored points yet, they were close on quite a few occasions this year, do not lose hope Claire, your break will surely come eventually! next round is from the Nürburgring, so anything will happen. Stay tuned!