ATG Increasing Difficulty (team 4 - McLaren, reduced weight)

[unborn stratus]

Lap 32: tsunoda and Albon are holding the Ferraris back now, Victor P5

Lap 39: Leclerc managed to get past both of them... but Verstappen did it faster

Lap 36: Victor ahead of Pourchaire, P3

Lap 37: just as Verstappen got ahead of Pourchaire, Victor got ahead of Sainz, 1-2

You can also see how close and exciting it still is, what a good idea FIA

Lap 38: Verstappen ahead of Sainz, chasing Victor now

Lap 39: Verstappen got ahead of Victor, 1-3

Lap 40: Victor manages to get him back

They are locked into a battle for P2

Lap 42: Victor pits and emerges P12, doesn't look like anyone ahead can reach the end

Lap 43: Isack pits and just abow emerges P2, Verstappen ahead has not pit

Meanwhile Victor slips past Perez for P11

Vesti must've got the damage bad, Victor just lapped him, in P11

Lap 45: Red Bull refuse to pit Verstappen, he must've attacked too much to get thethe front, Isack P1 again

It's pretty much guaranteed he wins now, everyone else is a pit stop behind

Lap 50: after Russell's pit, Victor is back up to P2

Verstappen has pit now, he's P4, around 5.5 seconds behind Victor and Maloney is in the way too (he needs to pit still)

Lap 62: Verstappen has caught up to Victor once again

But our tyres can just about make it to the end, so his can't

Verstappen's tyres have died on the final lap, now or never

Nope not enough

Isack Hadjar wins

[unborn stratus]

What a race that was, very exciting, the grid stayed close throughout most of the race as it flipped
F for Maloney who flunked his best chance at points

The gap to Ferrari forever gets smaller

[unborn stratus]

#Austria 2028
Austria, the Red Bull Ring, home race of Red Bull Racing, a lot of eyes will be on Verstappen and Vesti
Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams and Racing Bulls have brought upgrades while it looks like McLaren have brought downgrades, the rest of the teams have stayed the same
Norris gets sprint pole, where it's a shock to see Max Verstappen out of SQ1, Alpine couldn't repeat their efforts in Spain when they needed it more, but maybe the main quali with the soft tyres will be more beneficial to them

Good starting place for us, let's use tyre advantage to keep it

Maloney gets turn 1'd, finding himself P19

And Lawson has a massive spin taking him to the back, even behind Pourchaire

The best sterter is Perez, who is up to P13, Verstappen P12 too

And we hold position

Lap 3: Antonelli has dropped off our DRS for a clear P4

And vesti had a massive spin taking him down to P13, with a harde of cars with DS behind waiting to get by

Lap 5: only Gasly got by Vesti, and he'll get him back probably

Lap 7: Vesti hit Gasly on his way by, Gasly P18 with yellow damage, Vesti penalty

Lap 11: the tyre advantage is starting to come into play, Norris tries his hardest to clear us but can't

Lap 18: Leclerc ran wide, and Albon hit him on rejoin, leclerc P15 both orange damage

Both pit, Albon P19 Leclerc P20

Lap 20: Victor is past Norris, he's taken the lead

Lap 22: Isack past Norris too, it's a 1-2 for us

And Norris is pinned to Leclerc, did you know blue flags aren't coded for sprints?

Victor Martins wins

What more could we really want than that?

It's a Ferrari 1-2 for the main race, Verstappen redeems himself and you can see the McLaren downgrades

Victor will do what I planned, Isack will simulate a sprint then attack more to get up with him

No one got turn 1'd, but this pattern happened for every position except p1 and P20, crazy

And we didn't stop there, we gained another position each for 3-5

Similarly lots of drivers have gained and lost 2 places now

Lap 2: Leclerc gets turn 4'd, 3-4

Poor Leclerc is down in P12, he'll make it up

Lap 3: Doohan locks up at turn 1, to the back

Lap 4: Victor gets turn 3'd and ends up P11

Lap 5: Tsunoda gets past Victor, P12

Lap 7: Victor gets Tsunoda back

As perez spins on turn 1, taking him to the back

Lap 16: like his teammate, Isack gets turn 3'd by Antonelli, but only drops to P4

Lap 23: we both pit, Isack P7 Victor P11 managing to overcut Vesti, Norris is the only one to pit ahead of Isack, everyone in between has pitted

lap 24: Isack is doing better at getting past those who haven't pit than Norris, and he's on softs - there might be a chance

And Victor got turn 3'd again, down to P12

Lap 30: Victor has caught up to Vesti again, revenge time

Lap 32: with Pourchaire turn 3'd, Victor slips by Vesti and Russell (who hans't pit yet) at the same time, P7

Everyone ahead has pit now

Lap 35: Victor ahead os Lawson, P6

Meanwhile Isack is chilling alone in P2, Norris leads

Lap 39: Verstappen turn 4'd, down to P7, Victor P5

Lap 40: Bottas also turn 4's Victor, he doens't want to give up that P4, Victor P7 now

Lap 42: for some reason, Verstappen without DRS is just as fast as Victor with DRS

But he gets turn 4'd so Victor has a clear P5

lap 44: Victor finally makes a clean overtake on Bottas, P4

Lap 46: Isack has a pit issue, energing P4, Norris 13 seconds up the road

Lap 47: Victor pits and emerges P8

Only Bottas and Leclerc in between the two need to pit again

Lap 51: the McLarens come together, Albon (the one in front) has yellow damage

No penalties

Lap 54: after a tussle with some lapped cars, Victor is ahea dos Lawson for P5

Lap 56: new soft Victor vs old hard Verstappen, easy P4

Lap 60: Bottas gets a puncture, sad

Lap 65: catching Norris is probably impossible, but catching Antonelli for P2 is possible

Lap 70: P2 achieved

Lando Norris wins

We tried our best, especially given the circumstances and the turbulations of Austria, still very good race

Norris retakes the WDC, but despite Ferrari winningt he race, our sprint dominance sees us close the gap further

[unborn stratus]

Hungary 2028

The next round of the championship is Hungary - a race where we see some pretty significant upgrades form Ferrari, Williams and Racing Bulls - the rest of the teams stayed the same or moved slightly
With three different 1-2s in practice, it could be anyone's game... but that didn't happen in qualifying as Norris takes pole as Vesti crashes out of Q2 (needing a pit lane start) and Leclerc crashes out of Q3
Our position is pretty nice, would like to pass Norris ASAP since overtaking is a challenge here

And this is how we do it, gain a tyre advantage to pass everyone, then attack at the end to ensure we stay ahead

Leclerc has joined Vesti in the pits unannounced but expected

We didn't pass anyone turn 1... in fact Isack got passed by Bottas

Bearman (the further back Haas) has scrubbed tyres, that usually doesn't bode well

Victor maintained position, Isack lost the one

Anyone gained or lost a maximum of one

Lap 2: Norris is already clear, at elast Leclerc is right at the back

...But Norris has a bit of a problem

Lap 4: verstappen gets past Victor with the DRS, P3

Meanwhile Isack got Lawson for P6

(Bottas got him before)

Lap 6: Isack fumbled, letting Lawson pass again

And Pourchaire gets him too, P7

Lap 9: Antonelli gets Victor, P4 - this is going very wrong very quickly

Lap 10: Sainz spins into the barrier, P19, Perez behind idk what happened to him

LAp 14: tyre advantage is coming into play, with Isack getting Lawson for P7

Lap 21: Isack pits, P7, just ahead of Lawson and Bottas, Pourchaire ahead

Lap 22: Victor pits, P5 ahead of Pourchaire, only Verstappen ahead has pit

Lap 24: Victor pins Pourchaire to Leclerc (who hasn't pit yet) for easy P4

Norris has pit and emerged ahead of Victor but behind verstappen, there goes our win hopes

Lap 29: Norris got past Verstappen, Pourchaire caught up and got past and just the wrong moment, he now has verstappen's help instead of Victor

Lap 31: Verstappen conveniently pit, so Victor got Pourchaire back

But Antonelli got Isack for P5

Lap 40: Antonelli charges up the field, taking P2 from Victor

Lap 43: Verstappen gets Isack for P4

lap 47: Victor pits, P5, Antonelli ahead Pourchaire behind

Lap 48: Isack fails to jump Verstappen in the pit, he emerges P7 and the driver behind is Leclerc, that's not good

Lap 50: Verstappen easily past Bottas, Isack struggles because Leclerc is in the way

Lap 52: Isack got past, but not before Verstappen created a 3 second gap

Meanwhile Victor is P2, Antonelli clear ahead Norris exited the pits behind

Lap 55: Antonelli gets held up by backmarkers, Victor catches up and takes the lead

Lap 60: with Victor ahead, attention turn to Isack, who is P5 chasing down Norris and Verstappen

Lap 61: easy past Norris with his mechanical issues, P4

Verstappen is a bit ahead, but we try

Isack caught up on the final lap, but it wasn't enough

Victor Martins wins

Pretty good going for us I'd say

Ferrari rn:

Speaking of championships... they're ours now

24 year old Liv Nyman, Ferrari's reserve driver, has announced retirement, likely moving to another series

The next track next time is even harder to overtake - we're going to Monaco

[unborn stratus]

Monaco 2028

Ah Monaco, the track everyone loves before/after, and hates during the weekend. However some wet weather is sure to spice things up this time around
Perez used up all his talent in FP1, staying at the back afterwards, home hero Leclerc has been at the top a lot but didn't have an ideal Q3, neither did Isack but Victor should be okay
Norris claims pole and Antonelli joins him on the front row

There looks to be rain, this is the way

It's us two on softs, Norris and Pourchaire take the mediums, everyone else is on hards

In classic Monaco fashion, we can't overtake at the start

In fact the only two were Bearman getting past Sainz...

...and Doohan getting past Tsunoda

Lap 3: Victor is already alone in P3

Lap 9: Isack is now alone in P7, the only other overtake to happen was verstappen getting ahead of Vesti, very boring

Lap 31: it's inter weather now, Piastri had a pit issue and Isack jumped him for P6

And now: more nothing until the end probably

Lap 61: Yep, no action until lap 61
Doohan hit the barrier undoing his lap 1 overtake

Lap 73: Sainz locks up and hits Verstappen on rejoin, both out, red flag

4 lap shootout, Victor P3 Isack P6

Antonelli has a terrible start, and after being side by side all lap Victor emerges P2

Isack stays P6

A mysterious glitch put Perez and Gasly 1 lap behind, but oh well

Lando Norris wins

Very boring race and Ferrari beat us, big shame

We are tied with Ferrari at the top, they have 6 wins to our 3 so are ahead

[unborn stratus]

Belgium 2028

The last race before the summer break, Belgium is a track known for it's low degradation, attacking all the way is doable here, and often encouraged as it prevents random attacks catching you off guard
Red Bull, Alpine and Williams have upgrades for this one and Tsunoda reaching Q3 is poof of that fact, but you wouldn't see it with Williams where it looks like their upgrades backfired
As the fight between Mercedes and Ferrari heats up like it did 10 years ago, Norris gets pole and none of the other cars get a desirable position, can they turn it around?

This is the way, full attack

It's crazy: Norris has to start form the pits

This puts Antonelli on pole, and both of us ahead of both Ferraris

This doesn't last long as Leclerc gets a great start, getting ahead of Victor, Isack remains P3

But all is not lost as Victor gets him back lap 2

Lap 3: it's 2027 all over again, with Verstappen and Antonelli duking it out at the front, no one else stands a chance

Lap 4:Leclerc is dropping back, Vesti gets ahead, Victor is safer

Lap 5: after being dropped by Maloney (who is also surprising to be up here), Victor gets past Tsunoda for an even safer P5

And Albon brushes Bottas at turn 5 sending him off the track and to the back

Lap 9: those behind Victor can keep up, but maloney is added to them, 3-4

Lap 10: looks like Maloney is now the one holding them back, Victor safe, Victor happy

Meanwhile Antonelli drops verstappen and Isack gets past for P2

Despite the records not saying there's upgrades, Isack is trailing the Gigachassis™ that a few expertise exploits meddlings helped me create
(not to Victor because he didn't need as many laps to get 100% setup, so he needed the car part knowledge for 100% preperation)

Lap 12: both first to pit (along with Doohan and Albon), Isack is P5 behind Tsunoda, Victor is P12 behind Norris

Make that P13 because while Sainz didn't get DRS ALawson did, make that make sense

Lap 13: Victor easily got Lawson back

Meanwhile Isack gets past Vesti (who Tsunoda already got past) for P4

Lap 16: Isack also manages to pass Tsunoda for P3 again

And Victor gets ahead of Leclerc for P11

Lap 17: Victor does a double overtake on green cars

That's Gasly and Piastri for P9

Lap 18: Victor does another double overtake on Maloney and Norris for P7, give this man a medal

Lap 19: Antonelli pits and Isack just about emerges ahead, though I don't expect that to last long

Lap 21: Verstappen pit and both of them are way past, so Isack P2 is guaranteed, maybe even P1

It's also worth mentioning Norris and Leclerc have pit, Norris P10 Leclerc P18 (he has a fault)

Lap 22: after everyone pit, Victor find himself alone in P4

Lap 23: Antonelli finally got ahead of Isack, lasted longer than I expected

Lap 26: Victor pits again and emerges still in P4, crazy

Russell behind is on dead tyres, him holding Tsunoda and the lot back helped massively

Lap 27: Isack pits and emerges alone in P3

Lap 28: Vesti locks up into Norris, both of them and the safety car out

And Vesti has a penalty of course

Verstappen and Antonelli pit under the safety car and emerges 1-2, we can forget about winning

Lap 31: we remain 3-4 on restart, and probbaly the whole race

Although, Victor is the one in front

Lap 32: Isack is struggling, Tsunoda got past him too

Lap 33: Isack back past, problem solved

Lap 37: so it turns out, Verstappen pit onto old mediums and those tyres suck, Victor could get past soon

Lap 38: that soon was a lot sooner than I expected, P2

Antonelli is impossible tho

Lap 41: you know who is possible? Verstappen, and Isack is coming

Lap 43: gottem, 2-3

Antonelli wins

What a beautiful race - may have not had the win, but 2-3 with our campionship rivals at the other end of the grid is an amazing result

And with that, to the front we go

Same level? Lawson is by far the worst driver on the grid

Big news coming up...

[unborn stratus]

And now, it's time to discuss 2029

But before we head into the team rumours - let's discuss one man what everyone had on their minds:

Max Verstappen

Four time world champion, the man Red Bull search high and low for another driver that can keep up with him - it's safe to say Max Verstappen is a brilliant driver
And he's not ashamed to admit it
Several teams opened up talks with him but as soon as they heard even the smallest hint about his wage demands, talks pretty much instantly ended, no one wanted to pay that much for him
That left Red Bull with no competition for signing Max... Except Max himself
Even to his current team, Max Verstappen's wage demands were high, something not even Red Bull could afford - this leaves us with the most shocking story of 2029 right off the bat...
Max Verstappen will not have a race seat in 2029

Alright, let's get into team rumours now:

Red Bull

Verstappen is leaving, this turns Red Bull from trying to find a compliment to Verstappen to trying to find a new Verstappen - but who? A few drivers are available but so are seats
On top of that, Vesti's contract is up too, what will they do there? Vesti has been performing decently recently, can he become a new leader? Or is even that not enough?

Mercedes

Mercedes are right at the top, coming for the championship - their one problem is both their drivers are pretty meh, so they'll want someone strong to compete in the future... or do they? There's words the current boss isn't looking too much in case they win and the challenge proceededs to the next team, but if they don't get the championship they'll need someone good... who ticks both boxes? Someone they know? Or a gamble?

Alpine

Doohan is... oh come on not another Doohan pun...not Doohan too great sigh
But what can Alpine do about it - currently at the back end of the standings, if I was Alpine's boss I'd be focussing on the car, finding someone cheap who can help - but I'm not Alpine's boss

Haas

Who had the Perez idea? Clearly that didn't work as someone who needed to be the next Hulkenberg
Perez also has a tradition of not doing odd numbered years, so there will probably be a driver swap... but no one available comes close to Bearman, who can be a stable second fiddle?

Sauber

Poor Sauber, in basically crippling debt and only occasional flashes of decent performance - they're going for a double rookie lineup in the hopes of building themselves back up form the ashes soon, there are some pretty strong rookies available after all

[unborn stratus]

Zandvoort 2028

Home race of Max Verstappen, whose greed has kicked him out of the sport, he'll be one to watch - he has said in the press conference that he wishes to be back next year when teams understand how important he can be to them after the first year since 2015 without Verstappen racing
Another man with a strong opinion in the press conference was Isack Hadjar - he doesn't like how he's being outdone by Victor Martins, and will look to turn that around in the second half of the season
No one is running Belgium spec on their cars, and most have gone up except Ferrari and Alpine seemed to go a bit down, which can't be seen with the fast Ferraris anyway
Another team to watch is Williams, which after a disaster in Belgium got both cars into Q3 here
Antonelli takes pole and Isack joins him on the front row, Victor has a challenge to get past the Ferraris

Strategy wise we're opting for Ol reliable - if you want to attack with the mediums at the start you can, but I'm not gonna

Piastri locks up turn 10 and finds himself at the back

As for us, we got a Ferrari but a Ferrari got us too, so we essentially swapped

Pourchaire and Russell also got past someone who was not Piastri

Lap 2: Leclerc already got away, this is going very wrong very quickly

Lap 3: Victor takes over P3 and lets Isack use his DRS to remain safe from Norris

Until Victor clears too

Lap 5: Norris easily gets past Isack and Verstappen is looking for the same

Lap 6: Norris pulls a fastest lap to easily get past Victor too, Ferrari 2-3 and lots of problems for me

And Verstappen past Iaack, P6

Lap 8: there was no replay for it, but Verstappen caught up to Victor, hit him, sent him down to P6 (ahead of Isack) and got a penalty, just great

There's the replay

Victor also has this

Lap 15: with isack ahead, the duo work together to clear Pourchaire, 6-7, which is not ideal

LAp 21: Norris is right behind is and we haven't pit yet, that is not a good sign

Lap 24: Isack pits and emerges P8, everyone ahead but Victor has already pit, Pourchaire ahead

Lap 26: Victor pits and emerges P9, behind Tsunoda, this race sucks

Lap 29: Oh no, Norris just cleared Antonelli for the lead

But Victor is ahead of Tsunoda for P8

Lap 33: Isack is ahead of Pourchaire for P6

Lap 34: Victor also gets past Pourchaire, 5-6 since Norris just pit again

Lap 37: Norris has turned up again, let's just call it 5-6 (Verstappen has pit so we're 4-5)

Lap 43: Isack pit and emerges P8, behind the Williams' again

Lap 46: Victor pits and emerges P7 ahead of Isack, we need to get the Williams' for this to be salvegable

Lap 52: Pourchaire pits, 6-7

Lap 54: Norris and Verstappen pit again, Norris is still ahea dof us but Verstappen is behind, 5-6

Lap 56: leclerc pit and emerges behind us, 4-5

LAp 59: Bottas pit, 3-4

Lap 60: Albon in the berriers, he's out

Lap 62: isack is slow, Victor got away and leclerc caught up

And he gets ahead, Isack P5

Lap 65: Leclerc ahea dof Victor too, 4-5

Lap 67: to put into perspective how slow Isack is, a bunch of lapped cars are forming up behind him, he's the slowest car on track, even slower than damaged Victor or orange fault Doohan

Lap 69: Isack drops to P6 as Verstappen gets by

Lap 70: once again, Antonelli is challenging Norris for the lead, and I'm cheering him on

Lap 71: Isack P7 as Bottas got by

Antonelli wins

Not the best race for us - while it wasn't Victors fault, Isack has no excuse, hopefully he can evaluate what went wrong
Also Vesti last to points well done

Antonelli rises up the standings as Ferrari close the gaps

[unborn stratus]

Oops there's a mistake here - Perez is P18

[unborn stratus]

Lindblad finally steps in

After the FIA's superlicense system was fixed, Arvid Lindblad was one of those who benefit and were entitled to enter Formula 1
He was always perceived as the next Verstappen, and although he's no superstar in Formula 2, Red Bull have put their trust in him as the man to lead Red Bull into 2029 and the new 2030 regulations
He has affiliate experience at Ferrari and McLaren too, will that help him?
Lindblad is also the first promoted affiliate since 2025, where Red Bull promoted Lawson... and that didn't go well
Can he turn things around?

[unborn stratus]

Bahrain 2028

Bahrain, back to where it all began - also known for being an average track, this will be a great showcase of where teams are
Red Bull, Ferrari and Racing Bulls have brought upgrades here and each got a top 3 in most of the sessions, with Mercedes relegated to 4th best car
Despite that they're not in a bad position, with hopes they can make up a few places at the start and go for the podium
Leclerc scores the pole

For some reason Isack only has one set of softs available, so has to do a 1 stop - because of the low degradation of this track, Victor can run his softs on neutral for a bit more safety

[unborn stratus]

It crashed, gotta restart

Vesti somehwo locke dup turn 2, to the back he goes

Mewnahile we had a terrible start, with Norris and Bottas getting ahead for 6-7

Lap 5: Victor and Isack are separated - Victor is chasing Bottas and Antonelli whilst Isack is holding Piastri off

It crashed again but I have a save at that point, let me see what's going on

[unborn stratus]

Lap 6: we're back, but Isack lost out to Piastri and Tsunoda, P9

Very embarassing

Never mind, he just locked up, P11

Lap 8: Isack loses out to Gasly, P12

Lap 9: Perez past, P13

At least Victor got Bottas for P5

Lap 10: Gasly spun, Isack back to p12

Lap 13: Isack is ahead of Albon for P9 (Verstappen pit and is behind)

Lap 15: as Antonelli pit, Victor got Leclerc for P2

We have a surprising tyre advantage and deg is lower than expected, good

Lap 20: Victor pit and emerged P5, ahead of Isack, but behind our top 3 starters who has pit already (and Norris, who hasn't)

Lap 24: Victor has caught up to the top 3 starter gang

meanwhile Isack pit and emerged P16, everyone except Norris has pit, he has a trek ahead of him

Lap 25: Victor is ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen for P3

Lap 26: Norris pit and emerged P5, Victor P2

Antonelli is in sight for P1

Meanwhile Isack breezes past Maloney for P15

Lap 27: Victor is currently... sigh the victor

Lap 27: Vesti and Albon touched at the final turn, Vesti P15 Isack P14

No penalties

And Victor is fast

Oh yeah and isack is ahead of Albon already, P13

Lap 32: Isack ahead of Russell for P12

Lap 33: after a few driver pits and the passing of Tsunoda and Bearman, Isack finds himself P7, suddenly this was a good idea

Would've been nice if Verstappen emerged behind but can't ask for everything

Lap 35: Albon gets the goofy man of the save award for spinning, and spinning again into a barrier when rejoining, not even back on track, I didn't even know that was possible

Lap 36: Victor pits and emerges P2, Norris ahead but it looks like he's doing a 1 stop, Victor will be faster

Lap 38: Pourchaire gets ahead of Isack, P8

Meanwhile Victor certainly is faster

Lap 45: piastri also gets ahead of Isack, P9

Lap 47: verstappen has a problem, Isack back to P8

Lap 49: Victor has caught up to Norris, the battle for the lead begins

Lap 51: with a clear tyre advantage, Victor is pretty much guaranteed P1 now

lap 54: Similarly, Isack is past Piastri for P7 and looks towards Pourchaire for P6

Lap 55: Isack is now on the back of Pourchaire, but he does not have tyre advantage this time

Lap 56: but he does have strategy advantage, P6

Bottas is too far ahead

Victor Martins wins

I know Bahrain well, but Victor still did an amazing job, look how he pulled 12 seconds in 7 laps
Isack wasn't the worst, especially given the circumstances
I didn't sven notice Pourchaire started so far back, wow for him

We pulled away slightly

No you definitely won't

[unborn stratus]

Once again, for some reason Perez P18 refused to appear

Anyway:

Piastri jumps to Mercedes

Piastri's last team jump was to Sauber, the reigning WCCs, but You wouldn't have known that during the Piastri era
With his Sauber contract up, he's jumping to Mercedes in the hopes of actually keeping the WCC this time
(if Mercedes don't get WCC, he's a great driver that will do it for sure, if not I will sabotage them as usual)

[unborn stratus]

Vesti stays

Max Verstappen has had many teammates over the years - Alonso the best but he retired, Perez second best but he's preoccupied with something else, Vesti third... 3/4 is better than last
with a surprise Verstappen exit and Vesti being actually decent, Red Bull have put their faith in him as a stable second driver
Rosetta Gambling tips Lindblad to be the one competing up top in his rookie season, but who knows how things will pan out

[unborn stratus]

Mexico 2028

After a long wait, we're back with Mexico - a track known for something I'm now, straight line speed
Also the high altitude will have an impact on the engines, but idk if it's a thing in this game and even if it is, not much a factory team can do about it
Only Red Bull and Alpine have the same cars as Bahrain, while Sauber and Williams have downgrades
Ferrari impressed in practice but where did it go in quali? it's the 2027 duo on the front row as we do pretty well

Also F to Perez last at home race

This is the way, we attack first to get ahead, pit early and chill on softer tyres to stay ahead

Massive turn 1 crash

Bottas, Sainz and Tsunoda out, Bearman damaged, Tsunoda penalised

Red flag

The second turn 1 goes much better, we're 2-3

Lap 4: still 2-3, but hey both of us are ahead of both Ferraris that's all the really matters

Lap 5: the lap 1 red flag basically undid Maloney and Lawson's penalties, so Maloney (under the bridge) spun and stalled Lawson too, so they essentially have it back

And Isack gets ahead of Verstappen for the lead

Lap 7: Victor also gets ahead of Verstappen for the 1-2, took a while but happened

We are fast, we are very fast

Lap 9: actually it's Verstappen is very slow, with Antonelli past hey may come and cause some issues with his softs

Lap 11: it seems Antonelli is prioritizing holding off the Ferraris than coming for us, how wonderful

Lap 20: in comes Isack, he emerges P8, no one ahead has pit

Lap 21: Victor has a pit issue, emerging P9, but only Isack ahead has pit, Leclerc couldn't get the jump

Lap 26: we're 3-4, Piastri (whom Isack has just caught up to) is definitely on a one-stop strat, Norris maybe maybe not, if he pits he'll emerge behind

Lap 27: ez P2 on the main straight

Lap 30: Victor also catches up and ez 2-3

Norris is definitely on a one-stopper

Lap 33: Norris pits

He emerges P7, ez 1-2

Lap 38: it's not so easy anymore, Antonelli has caught up to Victor

But Vesti smashes into Pourchaire, both out, there's a safety car, Vesti penalised

Terrible timing, but we gotta do what we gotta do

Okay never mind

I mean, if we get away again it should be fine... right?

Antonelli has mediums though, I'd rather have them but I just used them

It's a terrible start for Victor, he's down to P5

It's also a bas start for Antonelli, as Verstappen and Norris are past

Lap 41: Perez ended his race with a bang, Maloney and safety car out too

Lap 45: safety car was about to end but Doohan decided no make it longer

No wait it's another red

What is going on

12 cars standing

Thanks Doohan, Victor makes up for his previous terrible restart by getting back up to P2 this time

This is also great for me because I have a fresh set of softs that I can no have a decent pace on - in fact everyone is on softs except for Albon's scuffed hards (Verstappen and Bearman's softs are scuffed too)

Lap 48: back to normal racing, Isack leads followed by Victor and Norris

lap 49: Norris has lost the DRS, ez 1-2

Lap 68: Isack was too aggressive into turn 1, a little battle happened and now Norris and Antonelli caught up

Lap 70: Isack got his P1 wish, how hopefully they'll behave and pull away

Isack Hadjar wins

What a crazy race - gotta be the most DNFs I've had in a race

But it was a very good race for us

Imagine going up a place in the WDC with a DNF

[unborn stratus]

Jack's still Doohan F1

Did I miss something at Alpine?
They're putting their faith in Doohan for the long run with a deal until 2032... crazy
I'd get it in the short term while they're building the car up as he knows the team, but for that long isn't what I'd do, I wonder if it'll pay off

[unborn stratus]

Singapore 2028

Singapore - the oldest night race in F1, yet despite that one of the hottest
It's close at the top 4, while the gap between them and the rest has reduced - you wouldn't think Williams had the second worst car with their double Q3
Norris takes pole, Isack fumbled Q3, it's not looking the best for us

Usually the play is SMS here, but default strategy B was 5 seconds quicker, this variation is about 8 seconds quicker, so why not, Isack needs the gamble anyway

We get off the line well, gaining a place each

In fact Isack also gets past Piastri so 3-8 at the start

Lap 4: Pourchaire in the barriers, safety car out, Isack P7

Many cars decided to pit, we and Verstappen were not any of them, so 2-3

Russell, Maloney, Vesti, Doohan and Tsunoda stay out too, so the pitters will have traffic

Lap 8: we're back to racing, we maintain position and Norris could only get past Tsunoda, staying out was the right call

Lap 14: speaking of Alpine, they come together, no notable damage but Tsunoda was penalised

Lap 15: Verstappen has escaped our DRS

He's on mediums which are faster now

And behind us... Norris

Lap 17: a red flag, Bearman locks up and crushes in front of Piastri

Both out, Bearman obvious penalty

Lap 19: there is another red flag, same thing happened... guess who

If you guessed both of us... correct

Victor has a penalty to go with it

Lap 21: it's currently a Red Bull 1-2, I'm cheering them on to hold back Ferrari from exploiting this

Ferrari themselves are 3-4, Antonelli P5 may be able to cause some upset too

Lap 26: Verstappen has left poor Vesti to fend for himself, he won't last long

Lap 29: it's a Ferrari 2-3, any more and they overtake us in the WCC

Lap 33: and that's happening - Verstappen is an easy target for Norris, who is leading

Lap 40: Leclerc is slowing, Antonelli has caught up and is trying to get by

A Ferrari 1-4 still puts them P1 however

Lap 42: Verstappen pits and emerges P6, Maloney ahead then the frontrunners, he needs a massive undercut to win

Lap 46: Norris pit and emerges ahead of Verstappen, it's over

Lap 57: Antonelli and Leclerc are in a fight again - Antonelli has also took fastest lap, so if he stays ahead fo Leclerc, we still have a 1 point lead in WCC

He has 60% softs Leclerc 50% mediums, pray for him

Shame it didn't crash

Lando Norris wins

I would say could be worse but... literally could not be worse
Well, to quote Bob Ross: "Gotta have the bad times to know when the good times come"
Also nice points hall from bottom of the WCC McLaren

The championship battles are more interesting, one point each

[unborn stratus]

McLaren have one of the best sidepods?

Actually let em cook

Tha's like 2nd-5th in everything

What except the 235 point gap?

Anyways, luckily we have a lot of spares, it hasn't impacted our finances too badly

[unborn stratus]

Anyway...

Las Vegas 2028

Vegas baby!
This is one I'm not looking forward to due to our terrible top speed, and Victor's penalty
We're also slipping away from the frontrunners, I'm starting to worry
Another interesting thing to keep an eye on is the battle between Bearman Sainz and Russell, all three are level on points and two are in prime spots to earn more
Leclerc takes pole and Antonelli joins him on the front row, with the penalty we occupy the third row

This is the Vegas way - be aggressive and use harder tyres to do it, saving two meds for the race

Hold up, crashed before it started - I'll fix it rq

[unborn stratus]

Alright let's get to it

Victor gets Piastri off the start for a 4-6

Doohan is starting on scuffed mediums... strange

Victor remains P4 but Verstappen and his softs got Isack for P6

Lap 3: Verstappen is fast and clears Piastri, Isack makes an easy pass to reclaim P6

Lap 6: Verstappen crashes out at turn 2, safety car

Victor has a successful stop which sees him jump Leclerc for P3

Isack not so much, down to P8

Lap 11: we're racing again, maintaining position for now

Lap 12: Victor so slow, Leclerc easily past

Lap 15: Isack is finally ahead of Bottas for P7

Lap 17: Isack past Piastri to reclaim P6

Meanwhile Victor and Leclerc have a fight for P3, Norris and Antonelli have a fight for P1

Lap 18: Gasly misjudges the barrier and hits it

Lap 20: Isack will now be in a fight with lawson for P5

Lap 22: the AI decided to go fast, both Leclerc and Lawson have cleared now

Lap 24: even Bottas caught up to Isack again

And I've been called in for a work emergency, rest soon

[unborn stratus]

Okay we back

Lap 28: we both pit, emerging 10-11, only Norris ahead doesn't need to pit again

Lap 29: almost instantly Victor catche sup to a pack and overtakes them for P6, Isack is still working on it in P8

Lap 31: Vesti triggers crashgate, inconvenient safety car

We're P5 and P7, the frontrunners got a free stop, terrible timing

Lap 35: we maintain position at restart

[vagrant frigate]

I guess this is why Vesti is staying at Red Bull

[unborn stratus]

He's good at crashgate he is

does it a lot

Lap 40: Isack is isolated in P7

Being stuck on hards does mean free tyre advantage, I hope that plays well in the last laps

Lap 43: Victor is past the Racing Bulls' for P3, and beady eyed people can see Isack caught up to the pck somehow

Unfortunately we got a Ferrari 1-2 way ahead

Lap 46: Sainz crashed, triggering a race ending safety car

That saved Leclerc, his tyres were shot

Actualy wait - there's one more lap of racing, it was a short one

Victor gets Leclerc on the final turn

Lando Norris wins

And there you have it, definitely a could be worse moment (see Singapore) - it's a shame Ferrari did so well

They top the tables now

[unborn stratus]

Qatar 2028

Qatar is a hot track which caters to us well - as can be seen with our SQ result
The only team to bring upgrades really is Alpine, who are still masses a the back, poor them
We take the front row with Ferrari taking the second row, we look to take that WCC back

Usually light soft is the play, but I wanna run SMS in the race so I need to medium here, I can attack even more at the end

We maintain 1-2 at the start, but Perez spins and ends up P20

Norris is the only soft runner

And there's a lap 1 safety car, Piastri turned in on Albon, both out, Piastri penalty

Lap 6: back to racing, still ahead

Lap 8: Victor is clear, with tyre advantage Isack can build enough gap around the track to make overtaking under DRS impossible, we got this

Lap 11: ferrari give Leclerc ago and he can actually get Isack

Lap 15: Bottas beaches it, down to P16

Lap 16: Isack takes P2 off leclerc again thanks to tyre advantage

Victor Martins wins

How very nice, hopefully good sign for the race

[unborn stratus]

The quali also went well for us, but Verstappen is in between us - a shock to see is Norris out of Q1, but that's great for us

This is the Qatar way, ol reliable with aggresive medium

Verstappen has a terrible start, Victor gets him off the line, 1-2

In fact, we sail off way into the distance

Lap 16: the gap is around 5 seconds now

Lap 19: Victor pits at the same time as most behind, emerging P5, no one ahead has pit

Lap 20: Isack pits, P3, Victor behind, Pourchaire and Lawson ahead on dead hards

Lap 21: after overtaking Lawson on the road, the front 2 pit and we're 1-2 again by 8 seconds

Lap 26: Doohan parks on the road, safety car

We don't have the tyres to pit, but everyone else does

Lap 30: we maintain position... just, verstappen on fresh softs is right behind us now

He gets Victor turn 1 to reclaim P2

Lap 34: verstappen also gets Isack for the lead

Lap 35: Antonelli parks, by actually going into the pits

Lpa 36: Victor pits and emerges right at the back, he has a climb but with much fresher softs and I'd say most of the pack still has to pit again

Lap 37: Isack pits and emerges just ahea dof Victor, same situation

Lap 39: verstappen pits and emerges at the back, very good

Lap 42: Victor is doing his thing of not being able to overtake, so verstappen gets by

Lap 44: leclerc pits and emerges ahead of Isack... oh no

Lap 46: Leclerc chose hards, Isack gets by

Lap 47: as they fight, Norris emerges from the pits behind them

Lap 49: The Ferraris and Verstappen struggle against Tsunoda, this makes Isack's life easier

Lap 53: once they got past, literally no competition

How are we supposed to compete with that

Lap 54: it's not officially a Ferrari 1-2

Lando Norris wins

That Ferrari is just something else

4 races to go, the gap increases

Is it now?

Actually yeah looks like it

Ours sucks

See this is something doable, they have a bit of a gap to Racing Bulls but never say never

[unborn stratus]

Brazil 2028

A fan favorite track with a sprint weekend, Brazil is sure to be fun - with a dry sprint, we're looking at a wet race
Sauber and Aston martin brought upgrades, hoping they can contend at the front of the midfield... uh yeah
Ferrari 1-2 in SQ, us 3-4, hopefully we can have a good start

And this is the way to do it

I thought Bittas would take a pit lane start, even though it wasn't on the grid, he did

Massive turn 1 crash

Maloney and Piastri out, Russell heavily damaged

There is a safety car, and Victor got into P2

Russell penalised

At the restart, Isack also passes Leclerc for 2-3

Lap 7: Norris has cleared

Lap 10: Antonelli got ahead of leclerc, meaning we're winning on points

Lap 14: we've cleared Antonelli for a secure 2-3, let's hope Leclerc doesn't overtake again

Lap 19: leclerc cleared Antonelli... great

Lando Norris wins

Well it could be worse
No one actually got lapped, it just ended before everyone crossed the line

Norris takes pole again in the main quali but Victor splits the Ferraris, in exchange for Isack dealing with Antonelli too

It looks like an inter all round race, so this is what we're going with

[unborn stratus]

Massive lap 1 crash: Tsunoda hit Sainz off, then he rejoined into Albon who's now off too, Tsunoda penalised

We maintain position at the start, Leclerc almost has Victor but not quite

Lap 3: my PC really struggles with the heat and so is Isack, trailing a car ahead is not a very good idea

Lap 4: Leclerc ends up getting past Victor, Ferrari 1-2

Lap 5: Leclerc gets away after Victor gets the same heat problems, this sucks

Lap 9: Isack got past Antonelli, he locks up anyway, 3-4

Lap 20: Victor can't get past Leclerc despite clear tyre advantage, Isack has caught up now too

Lap 29: Victor is FINALLY past Leclerc - and Isack gets past easily, I need to work on Victor's overtaking

Lap 33: Isack pits and emerges P6, Leclerc undercut us dang it

Lap 34: same happens with Victor, 5-6, Antonelli undercut us too, top 2 yet to pit

Lap 36: Norris pits and emerges P1, it's congrats on WCC at this point

Lap 44: after Bottas refuses to pit and gets in the wa, Victor gets past leclerc for P3

Lap 49: as Victor catches up to Antonelli, Isack gets past Leclerc, 3-4

And for 21 laps, Antonelli could hold them up, marvellous

Lando Norris wins again

Our inability to overtake is just embarrassing, that's Mercedes engine I suppose

Ferrari's lead extends - Singapore may become the biggest what if ever

[unborn stratus]

Perez is gone for 2029, no seat for him, he continues the on/off pattern

Next poll when I next get a chance

[unborn stratus]

And since I didn't mention it here - because my PC is regularly crashing, this save is on hold until I figure it out

[unborn stratus]

Good news, I found the solution - my GPU was faulty so I'm not using a different one and we can continue

[unborn stratus]

Great Britain 2028

We're finally back, and to the home race of many people in F1, and myself
We and McLaren have brought upgrades here, hoping for better results as we go after WCC
Leclerc fumbled Saturday which is welcoming to us, Victor has Pole and Isack is up there, just gotta watch out for Norris

Here's our game plan, Ol Reliable

We maintain position at the start, not much action happened

Albon has gone up 2 places and Gasly down 3

Lap 2: Norris hit Victor on his attempt to pass on the DRS straight, Victor walks away free while Norris has yellow damage, no penalties

Lap 4: Antonelli caught up to Victor at the front

Lap 7: Antonelli takes the lead

Lap 10: Isack past Verstappen for P4, next up is Norris who is slow, should be easy

We have tyre advantage over Antonelli and Norris, but Verstappen is managing well

Lap 15: Victor retakes the lead after conserving behind Antonelli a lot

Lap 18: Norris locks up on the lap we pit, hopefully no undercut

And Leclerc isn't looking too hot either

Vicotr emerges P3, top 2 haven't pit, Antonelli is stuck behind Lawson and Russell, who also haven't pit yet

Isack emerges P8, which is net P3, ahead of both Ferraris and behind Antonelli

Make that P7, he gets Maloney on the DRS straight

Lap 21: Victor is P2 and Antonelli P3 now, we have a little tyre advantage already but we may need to use it to stay ahead

Lap 22: Victor takes the lead again after Verstappen tries to go way too long on a set of softs

And Isack takes P4 from Lawson doing the same on mediums, Norris is right behind and somehow gaining

Lap 25: things are suddenly looking more promising

Lap 34: we pit again, Victor emerges P2 Isack P3, Norris pit 2 and emerged P8 behind Verstappen

(Antonelli is P1, yet to pit)

Lap 36: Antonelli pit and emerged P2, back to where he was between us

Lap 39: Leclerc is last and Victor lapped him, satisfying

Just as fastest lap went to Doohan, maybe tha's why Alpine are keeping him on

And Norris is ahead of Verstappen now for P4

Victor Martins wins

A very nice return, no complaining about that

We close the gap, the dream is alive

Red Bull's Dunne wins the 2028 F3 championship (while McLaren's Dunne is leading 2025 F2, crazy)

[unborn stratus]

Meanwhile in the world of driver rankings:

• Hauger dethroned, Barnard takes the top spot yet again
• Only four F1 drivers (Bearman, Tsunoda, Verstappen, Norris) are actually rated F1 viable - but only 15 drivers total are, taking that up to 20 adds Martins and Bottas
• Maloney and Lawson aren't even viable reserve choices apparently, Albon is just about (70 non-F1-viable drivers make this list)

Now we can talk again about 2029: not many options left, last time we learnt Perez won't be renewed at Haas

We know Sauber have a double rookie lineup, so if Sainz isn't going to Haas he's not going anywhere

[unborn stratus]

Sauber unveil their double rookie lineup

After a long wait, we have compensation, Sauber have revealed both their drivers for 2029

The first driver is Jak Crawford, who used to be an Aston Martin "Young Driver" (whatever that meant, he wasn't in the academy or a reserve) then fell off the radar until Sauber picked him up now, he signed a contract to 2030 so he'll be around a while at least

The second driver is Wiloughby Watson - remember him? He's a regen that's been in F3 and F2 for a while, recently picked up by Red Bull but Sauber have snatched him for 2029... and only 2029 for now

Still, this save has its first regen F1 driver

Sainz, it's Haas or bust

Canada 2028

The host of the Quebec GP last year, Canada seems to have rather taken the Quebec slot they had before - Victor takes pole in a wet quali, Isack is up there and Ferrari are not, what more could we want?

These are the plans, Victor will trust in the 1 stop while Isack will be more aggressive

We maintain position at the start

There is a pattern at the back

Lap 2: Antonelli steals the lead

Lap 5: Victor in his classic ability to not overtake, can't get it back

In fact he fumbled the DRS and Isack and Verstappen got past, P4

Lap 6: Isack takes the lead first try

Isack has 80 overtaking and Victor 76, how is there such a difference?

Lap 7: With Lawson dropping off, the top 4 are guaranteed at this point

But we're at the tail end as Antonelli and Verstappen get ahead with DRS

Lap 11: the top 2 got away as Norris has reached P5 already, this isn't good

Lap 14: Norris is right on our tail, with tyre advantage somehow

Lap 15: not all hope is lost, the top 2 started going slower and we can hang off them again

Lap 17: as they pull away again, Norris is past Victor for P4

...and immediately past Isack for P3, this is going very wrong very quickly

Lap 19: with Norris taking the lead, we attack to get ahead of verstappen, the chase is on

Lap 22: Isack pits, emerging P7, behind Antonelli

At leats ahead of Lawson

Lap 25: somehow Bottas and Lawson catch up,fighting isack for P5

Lap 27: as Isack is struggling with Bottas, Norris pits and emerges ahead, oh no

Well how are we supposed to compete with that

Lap 31: Isack is finally ahead of Bottas again, 6 seconds behind Norris

Never mind he gets it back lap 32 I hate this

Lap 35: Victor does his stop and emerges P7, everyone ahead needs to pit again

Lap 42: Victor is now on the tail of Verstappen with much fresher but harder tyres

Nevermind he pits

Lap 47: Isack is ahead of Antonelli... but Antonelli has pit already, how did it go form fighting them to being a pit stop behind?

And Norris just pit and emerged in the lead, goodbye WCC

Lap 48: Isack does his final pit, emerging P5 just behind Lawson

Lap 50: Isack Lawson and Verstappen are in a heated battle for P4

While Norris Victor and Antonelli could technically win

Lap 52: with the help of a lapped car, Norris broke away to guarantee the win

And Tsunoda crashed at a very inconvenient time, the VSC screwed us over

Because now there's a lapped car between Victor and Antonelli, so it's P3 for him

Never mind, Perez broke too hard and Victor went straight into him

Lap 56: Victor pit for a new front wing, emerging P9, behind Leclerc, which sucks even more

Lap 61: as Victor caught up to Leclerc, he pulled that and somehow got past a bunch of cars, just great

On a positive note, isack won the battle with Lawson so P3 for him

Lap 68: Victor finally got past the Williams for P7, getting Leclerc is impossible

Lando Norris wins... and he wins the WDC too
First try at Ferrari

And Pourchaire did something insane at the end too, how are AI like this

The WCC is technically possible Copium

[unborn stratus]

Abu Dhabi 2028

Here we go, one last dance
Nyman almost topped her final session before Pourchaire ruined it
Perez crashed out of what could be his last Q1, he hasn't announced a pit lane start but don't be surprised if it happens, Victor is up there on the front row with Verstappen, but the Ferraris are right behind and Isack didn't do well in Q3... we have one goal, it's not enough for us to succeed, Ferrari must fail

This is our plan, the only one that really works here, let's pray for it

Perez is on the grid, no pit lane start for him

Isack stayed where he was... but Victor has taken the lead

Mercedes and Ferrari are tied on points (scored this race), it's not enough

Double points here btw

Lap 2: with DRS, Verstappen retakes the lead

And Bottas divebombed Isack for P9

Lap 6: Isack gets Bottas back, but it's still not enough

Lap 7: with tyre advantage, Verstappen and Victor have cleared the Ferraris, Lawson is on their backs hopefully he can help

Lap 14: Bottas and Lawson are past Leclerc and Victor is back in the lead, we are outscoring Ferrari, but not by enough

Lap 15: Norris has pit and Isack has made it past Leclerc, we are presently winning

Lap 16: with Leclerc's dead tyres, I decided to pit now to prevent any undercut business, Victor emerged P8 5 seconds ahead of Norris

Isack emerges P12 behind Norris and the Alpines

Lap 17: Leclerc pit and emerged P11, behind Isack

Lap 21: everyone has pit now, Victor P1 Isack P5, each with a Ferrari behind, this is not enough

Leclerc has Antonelli challenging him and if he gets ahead WCC is ours

Lap 22: disaster as Norris takes thelead, not much we can do about it

Lap 26: Norris is gone

As for Leclerc and Antonelli, both ahead of Isack

Lap 32: Verstappen caught up to and passed Victor, it's fading away very quickly

Lap 37: we pit again, Victor P5 Isack P6, but no one ahead has pitted again (they all need to)

Lap 38: Norris pits on the very next lap and sadly emerges P3 ahead of Victor

But Leclerc is P10, way behind Isack

Even if Victor was ahead of Norris, not enough

Lap 40: Antonelli hindered us and handed Norris the win, welp maybe next year will be our year

Lap 41: their teammates have it swapped, with Lawson hindering Leclerc allowing Isack to get away to P7

Lap 43: Bottas decided to hinter Isack letting Leclerc take P6

Lap 51: Vesti once again triggers crashgate, but he survives while Piastri took the hit, safety car

Victor is P3 and Isack P8 as no one else at the front decided to pit again

Don't give me hope...

Lap 56: Pourchaire runs wide on restart which is P7 for Isack, 3 laps of full push with much fresher softer tyres

Lap 57: Victor in the lead, Isack P6, presently not enough, come on Isack

Leclerc fumbled the final DRS as Verstappen and Isack passed, THIS IS ENOUGH WITH FASTEST LAP

Victor Martins wins... now who got fastest lap?

IT WAS ONE OF US

Weird decision from AI not to pit, they usually like to do so, but we take it

What an absolute miracle this was, I'm lost for words

With our third WCC, here's how the save is going

Liv Nyman won F2 before she goes off to FE forever

ATG Increasing Difficulty (team 4 - McLaren, reduced weight)

Reduced weight, this is where we start meddling with triggers

At this difficulty, AI opt for generally lighter parts, not lightest just lighter

Additionally, with the fact I've had issues side to side and we're at the back anyway, I'll try out RBPT engines this season

Same lineup as last year, liking them engineers

We have a lot of affiliates, only Kaiser is contracted next year though

The staff are good how did this team lose

Even the car is good what

[unborn stratus]

And now: the Rosetta Gambling prize giving ceremony of 2028:

Best driver in F1: Ollie Bearman

Kinda in the title fight in his rookie season, then Haas fell off - but that doesn't stop him from performing against his experienced teammates - although it didn't go quite as expected sometimes, he still did well enough for the top spot

Best driver in F2: Taylor Barnard

It has to be one of the DAMS drivers, the best duo around currently, and their tussle together saw Hauger emerge the GOAT once again (hope he's having a good retirement), Barnard came out on top by a sliver

Best driver in F3: Daegan Fairclough

Fairclough's competition was a low bar, but he still smashed it, staying put for 2029 he's hoping for more

Biggest flops of 2028

5. Pepe Marti
   Marti went into MP expecting a fair fight for the title... which got turned into a one sided slaughter, very embarrassing

6. Martinius Stenshorne
   Almost same story, a confident win for him turned into a one sided slaughter, against Colapinto of all people (although he's actually held in decent regard now)

7. Laurens van Hoepen
   Expected to be the dominant force against two generated drivers... he wasn't, he was mid at best which in that context is terrible

8. Pierre Gasly
   Not the F1 return he wanted, he lost his Tsunoda and Ocon form and is the clear number 2 at Aston Martin (better than Stroll at least)

9. Christian Mansell
   Wasn't this guy on the list in 2027 too? Yeah as you can tell things aren't going well for him, one of his teammates Alex Dunne has been a rising star to be reckoned with, tuning into his irl form, bad news for anyone who wish to challenge him
   (By the way, Mansell done a Shields and went up to F2)

And now, ranking the 2029 F1 lineups:

10. Racing Bulls
    Once again, the standard babble of how Antonelli is decent but Lawson is the worst driver ever dragging the rankings down... but they have the best car this year
    WCC target: 3rd

9. McLaren
   We have a well-oiled machine except the drivers it seems, maybe an upgrade is needed for that 2030 WCC, and there is a particular driver on the market...
   WCC target: 7th

8. Red Bull
   Why do they have a junior team when both their drivers made their debut at Red Bull?
   WCC target: 4th

7. Haas
   Bearman the best driver in F1 is alongside Car... wait what?... LANCE STROLL?
   WCC target: 5th

6. Aston Martin
   Gasly stays despite the dismal performance, hoping to turn it around
   WCC target: 7th

5. Williams
   Bottas was close to being on the flop list, Pourchaire is improving fast, will he be number 1?
   WCC target: 5th

4. Alpine
   The other backmarker, spoiler alert their car sucks terribly this season, they're probably my next project
   WCC target: 9th

3. Sauber
   The double rookie lineup, they're rated this high because of Watson, I'm sure everyone would love to know how he gets on
   WCC target: 2nd

2. Mercedes
   Leaving them with Piastri to bring him down with them, or dominate with him just in case I didn't win
   WCC target: 1st

(they are also millions in debt tho)

1. Ferrari
   Norris was a good choice wasn't he? They almost beat me
   WCC target: 2nd

Career history by team

Career history by driver

2030 will be a hell of a silly season

Lastly, meet the calendar for the 2029 season
Something that shocked me is the fact that Miami isn't a sprint, and Monaco is, so they do swap

[unborn stratus]

COTA 2029

Right, season opener, let's do this
There's only one practice session, but as Jeremy Clarkson said, do they need to practice? They're good enough already
That practice session looked good for us, but practice absentee Antonelli dominated the quali until he fumbled SQ3, Alex almost had pole but Piastri snatched it, impressive considering his teammate was out in SQ2
At the back of the grid we see Stroll outdoing Bearman and Doohan way at the back, Ferrari are nicely behind too as Williams shocked with their result

So this is the plan, harder tyres work best round here, so we'll use those in the races

And we're off again! We maintain position at the start

Lap 2: Piastri gets away as Bottas causes some trouble

Lap 7: the top 5 have cleared the Ferraris, no action between them

Lap 11: Zane is struggling as the Ferraris catch up to him

Okay never mind Norris spun on the last turn, to the back he goes

Lap 14: Alex has dealt with Bottas and the pack and can go after Piastri

Lap 18: Watson locks up into Martins on his debut, not a good start, safety car out to end the race on

Oscar Piastri wins

Alright start, shame about Zane but I'm learning his weaknesses and will build around them

And now the main event: no idea what happened at Q2 but Zane took the Ferraris down with him, Piastri gets pole again as Alex does decently and Watson starts form the back

This is the play around COTA

Alex got ahead of Vesti at the start

In exchange for Norris getting ahead of Zane (but he has softs)

Lap 5: Alex is slow, losing out to Vesti

And Bottas while we're at it why not

Lap 7: why not let Bearman and Lindblad past too?

What is happening?

Lap 12: Pourchaire is off, and he's out

Also Stroll knocked crawford off, but he survived

Lap 15: thanks to the adjustments the VSC did, Alex is past Bearman and Lindblad for P5

Lap 18: Maloney locks up wrecking his right tyres

He pits early and emerges P16, which is ahead of Norris

Lap 21: with cold hards, Norris gets away easily

Lap 22: Alex pits and emerges P7, everyone ehad has pit

Lap 25: with tyre advantage, Alex easily slips by Bearman

Lap 27: took a little more to handle Vesti but it's done, P5

Meanwhile Zane is struggling aginst Gasly who has softs

Lap 31: Lindblad down, P4

Bottas' tyres are better, not looking realistic for now

Lap 35: while focussing on Zane, Alex got past Bottas, very sneaky

Lap 36: as already pitted cars line up behind, Zane gets away from Gasly

Lap 38: Zane pits and emerges P16, 4 seconds ahead of Gasly who is now also on hards, so that won't be an issue

(Norris is yet to pit)

Lap 39: Alex pits and emerges P4, ahead of the Red Bulls, Bottas ahead is yet to pit

Lap 40: Bottas pit, Alex is P3

And it's terrible for Crawford who just pit and emerged with a puncture

Lap 42: Alex has caught up to Antonelli for P2, but he has softs

...yeah I didn't think so

Lap 51: like Stroll and Crawford in the sprint, Bottas hits Lindblad off as both survive

Lap 52: Alex catche sup to Antonelli once more

Lap 54: Alex is past Antonelli, and that Mercedes is Piastri in P1

Anyway he was too far ahead, Oscar Piastri wins

A decent opener, looks like I went overboard with the Mercedes research, but I wasn't sure if I'd lose or not

Shame Zane couldn't do what the Ferraris did, but we move

Starting standings, good start

[unborn stratus]

Azerbaijan 2029

The first conventional weekend of the year sees us go to Azerbaijan
It's Antonelli's turn on pole as Alex lines up alongside, Zane couldn't make it out of Q2
End of Mercedes dominance already?
Pourchaire didn't set a time in Q2 opting to start in the pits

The strat UI looks a little different now as there a few more little difficulty increases, including uncertancy on stint length, I'm playing it safe with Alex while taking a risk with Zane

Lap 1 red flag after Doohan blocks everyone after a crash

Zane is up to P10, but Alex is down to P3

Lap 3: we're racing again, Zane gets up to P9, Alex stays P3

Lap 4: the top 2 turn into each other, Vesti out, red flag

Also Alex P1 since he got by so fast

Lap 6: can we get a full racing lap? Alex P1 Zane P8 (after Vesti DNFd ahead)

Lap 8: well well well guess who it is, Alex P2

Lap 11: Alex and Norris are a clear P1 and P2, Zane is struggling to overtake Martins for P7

Lap 15: Zane pits and emerges P17, Stroll behind is the only other driver to have also pit

Lap 16: in comes Alex, he comes out P12, no one else pit

Lap 20: at this point Alex has past most non pitters and is P5, Zane is up to P11, Piastri in between them has pit, no one ahead of Alex has

Shoutout to Crawford for keeping Lindblad back letting Zane get away

Lap 22: that was short lived, Lindblad gets ahead of Maloney with his softs

Lap 23: Ferrari are on a goofy strat, Alex has overtaken one of them for P2 and the other is 6 second ahead, neither pit yet

Lap 25: with Norris on much better tyres than Leclerc, they pitted... both in a double stack, Norris P6 Leclerc P9, Alex P1 Zane P4

Make that Zane P5 Bottas got ahead

Lap 26: Norris quickly catches up to and gets past Zane, Zane P6

Lap 17: Zane is a sitting duck, Russell is past for P7

It's worth mentioning Antonelli is last with lots of damage, one less threat this race

Also it looks like I was right on the risk levels

(Zane top Alex bottom)

Lap 34: not what we want to see

Alex emerges P7 behind Watson and Leclerc, Zane was just ahead of those two

Zane emerges p15

Two in front and three in between them at leats need to pit again

Lap 38: Watson crashes (again), Leclerc and Albon get past but Leclerc 3 seconds before

The whole thing allowed Norris to pit and emerge P2, he's won

Lap 41: Bittas pit and emerges P4, Alex caught up to and overtook Leclerc, so back to P2

(Norris 10 seconds up on much fresher softs)

Meanwhile Zane got past the pack he emerged behind led by Watson now for P8

Lap 42: Stroll hit a barrier, classic Stroll

Lap 44: How did Tsunoda get so high? Anyway Zane overtakes him for P7

Lap 46: Bottas on much fresher tyres catches up to Alex and gets past him, Alex P3

And somehow Bearman also gets past Zane on the last lap

Lando Norris wins

I have no idea how some of them do it, at least it's double points

Just as I thought oh yeah we're beating Mercedes we got this... Ferrari pull this

[unborn stratus]

Australia 2029

A different person topped each session of each day, and of course Norris comes out of nowhere for pole - good for Zane, could be better for Alex, F for Aston, Watson is Watson

[unborn stratus]

And it crashed

This better not be the start of more issues

I don't have time today now but I tried

[unborn stratus]

This time around I decided on hards for Zane even though he's at the front, if he follows someone it won't be that bad

It seems an odd numbered grid position was the best place to start

Lap 2: Zane also loses out to Lindblad on softs

Lap 3: Zane also loses out to Piastri

Yeah this isn't looking good

Lap 5: Zane is now P8, just about able to kepe up with Vesti

Albon is P6, don't know what happened to Martins but he's P11

Lap 6: Vesti pushes Albon off and damages his underfloor

Lap 12: Alex takes P5 back from Vesti (Lindblad pit for some reason)

Lap 26: we pit for inters and... Alex in front had an issue
Alex P9 Zane P12, all that effort deleted

Lap 28: make that Alex P10, Pourchaire got by

Lap 31: the other Williams overtakes the other McLaren

We're the two slowest cars currently

Lap 45: we're faster now, able to break away, but the gap ahead is just too much

Lap 55: Martins was going slow, and Alex could eventually overtake for P9

And of coruse Lando Norris wins

So yeah that sucked, I thought one would go up but the other went down instead

This is going very wrong very quickly

[unborn stratus]

Japan 2029

Japan, a race which historically went well, I hope that can be the case here too
Antonelli upsets Norris to grab pole at the end, and we did meh, it's probably a 2 seasoner again
Stroll qualifies at the back but Pourchaire starts there due to a pit lane start

This is the plan, I wanted to split the strats as they're close together so I want them to pit at different times

Gasly and Crawford come together turn 1, both damaged and P18-19, Pourchaire still behind

For soem reason, the penalty went to Bearman, maybe he was involved too

We didn't make any gains at the start, Norris did

Lap 4: by now, Pourchaire is ahead of Gasly and Crawford thanks to their damage, we know who's coming last

Lap 7: Leclerc falls off DRS and Zane gets ahead for P7

Lap 8: Zane couldn't get the DRS back and Leclerc passes back

Lap 12: deg is much better than expected, new plan go all out with Zane

Lap 15: Zane can't get past Leclerc, so Alex decided to take over and ram into the back of him, both of them and the safety car out

sigh

Zane pits at this time along with everyone else, presently P7 between the Red Bulls

Lap 19: make that P8 behind the Red Bulls, it's no competition

Lap 21: maybe there is competiton, Lindblad is slow now

Lap 22: Pourchaire rams Stroll in the same place as before, yet another safety car

Many drivers make the choice to pit, leaving Zane P1

[unborn stratus]

Lap 25: we maintain the lead, and Watson behind is on hards, hopefully we can keep it a while

Lap 26: Antonelli on fresh hards has got Russell and is hunting Zane and Watson down

Lap 28: Antonelli takes the lead, oh well nothing we can really do

Lap 29: Watson pushed Zane off giving him floor damage, P4 now

Lap 33: Zane pits for the final time and emerges right at the back, I don't think many others ahead can handle 20 laps

Lap 40: Russell, who has pitted since, has caught up, with Zane's damage it isn't looking good, he's presently P11

Lap 43: Crawford and Tsunoda are the next duo out

Zane is P11 again, chasing Martins on dead tyres

Lap 46: Zane breezes ahead into the points

But Watson's gamble paid off, going from dead hards to fresh softs int he VSC, he's closing in on Zane rapidly

I mean there's no competing with that

Lap 52: Zane's last hope of points is damaged Bearman on hards

And he gats by on the final lap

Antonelli wins

They say it be like that sometimes

But lately it be like that all the time

And things won't get better thanks to all the damage

[unborn stratus]

I saw that Daley

I haven't been here because I've been so busy with work

[hearty bison]

Okay I hope that you can win the title

[unborn stratus]

I'll get to it eventually