Jeddah

McKeon

Jeddah is a track that very much divides opinion, both in real life and on the F1 game. One thing is for sure though, it can produce some exciting league races!

Firstly qualifying. Most people were expecting the wheel drivers to be up there (the likes of Corey, ogween, raceroller and jibjab for example). However #teampad as I’m coining it had 5 representatives in q3. Snypz was the fastest of these, only getting 3 tenths off pole and qualifying p4. At a track that’s this wheel dominant (probably second only to Monaco) that lap in itself deserved an honourable mention.

As for the battle of pole, it was between Corey and ogween. Firstly corey set a quick banker time, then ogween beat it. Then Corey went again and lowered the benchmark even further. Then at the death ogween nailed a lap and beat Corey to pole. An enthralling battle that would be sure to keep going in the race. Raceroller was also up there in p3 in quali and would be a big player in the race.

Onto the race where on the formation lap Corey and ogween forgot that F1 isn’t a contact sport, hitting each other and both getting disqualified from the formation lap. This would make their tyres very cold and be sure to spice up the start.

The lights went out and the drivers were away! With it being such a short run to turn 1, Corey and ogween were relatively fine and kept p1 and p2, but with their positions swapped around from qualifying. Pad man Griffiths would have a brilliant start though and leapfrog everyone except the top 2, jumping up to 3rd before turn 1! However, the reserve driver would be re-passed by raceroller almost immediately and would lose touch to the top 3. Further behind multiple people picked up damage, including crispy and snypz, who were both running in a strong position. Griffiths would then join them with damage.

The early damage for several drivers meant that the field spread was massive. This would all change with a mid race safety car however. Everyone pitted under this SC except for bennett, who stayed out and took the lead! Absolute scenes. Notably Riggsey and semm were the only drivers who took a risk with the soft tyres. These two would be ones to watch on the restart as they made a couple of moves initially. Riggsey then unfortunately got caught up by his teammate southerner spinning! An incident that I definitely didn’t laugh at when I was right behind it and saw it happening. I also can’t mention my triple overtake that happened right after that incident, as it’s about the only good thing I’ve been able to write about my driving in these blogs all season.

Anyway, back to the battle for the podium. Corey had to repair his wing in the pits and dropped down a bit, so this allowed raceroller and ogween to streak clear a bit. Corey had exceptional pace though and managed to get within the top 2’s DRS, bringing jibjab with him. The top 4 would then have a classic battle, with it being unclear up until the last few laps who would win the race. They actually went 4 wide at one point into the final corner! It was inevitable that one of them would get damage. That would be Corey, who ended up dropping behind Griffiths and jito with his damage he sustained entering the final lap. The others were fine though. Raceroller entered sector three on the last lap in the lead with ogween hot on his tail. The red bull driver had a lot more battery than the mclaren driver but it was going to be close! Roller defended the inside line going into the final corner but ogween saw this coming! He performed an excellent switchback and with DRS, ERS and a better exit he passed roller on the final straight to take the win!!!! An epic race with a grandstand finish to seal Ogween’s second win in 2 races. Jibjab would finish in p3 to round off the podium. 1 race to go and then it’s time for F1 22!

Qualifying

Pole Lap: 01.26.569

1. SLR Ogween 77

2. SLR Corey

3. raceroller22

4. Snypz SB

5. SLR Griffiths

6. Crispy2001

7. JibJab325

8. Jito DV

9. SLR Southerner

10. ETE Crowding

11. WTurn3r

12. SLR Bennett3810

13. MeRkz47

14. V2 x Combat

15. ETE Semm

16. Riggsey x

17. PaRa Quickz

Race

Fastest Lap: 01.28.648 Snypz SB

1. SLR Ogween77

2. raceroller22

3. JibJab325

4. Jito DV

5. SLR Griffiths

6. SLR Corey

7. ETE Semm

8. SLR Bennett3810

9. Snypz SB

10. V2 x Combat

11. SLR Southerner

12. MeRkz47

13. ETE Crowding (DNF)

14. Riggsey x (DNF)

15. Crispy2001 (DNF)

16. WTurn3r (DNF)

17. PaRa Quickz (DNF)

Incident 1: Crowding vs Jito Lap 9 - NFA.

The stewards believe that this incidents blame lies more so with Crowding than Jito. This is because Crowding is always set to be behind Jito out of the corner and technically cuts a part of the pit exit to attempt to get ahead. Had he have held more to the left of the track, no damage would’ve been taken.

Incident 2: Crowding vs V2xCombat Lap17 - NFA.

The stewards believe for this incident that this incident and manoeuvre is a few turns too late. The move for this turn was never on and space for two cars at the position upon entry was not in a position to take it two wide. Also, the car behind has squeezed a nose in to a gap that doesn’t exist for a known corner where it shouldn’t really be tested for. As we see this as Crowdings wrong doing, we will not be penalising Crowding purely because of the damage he gains from this incident.

Division 1

Qualifying

Pole Lap: 01.27.092

1. LeviKing16

2. SLR Ham19

3. ETSR Jensen2508

4. Ellis37

5. SimbarocksONE

6. SLR Quattro

7. SLR Vandoorne

8. ShutMedal

9. J Lee Menz

10. Simon37M

11. SLR Liamm

12. ethanwright7189

13. CSCMorris

14. MasonGammon05

15. DPT Paul

16. ZachIsBeast25

17. SLR Moley

18. SLR Barlow

19. ELiTE x Riskz

Race

Fastest Lap: 01.29.756 SLR Liamm

1. SLR Quattro

2. Leviking16

3. SimbarocksONE

4. ShutMedal

5. UKBeastAssassin

6. SLR Ham19

7. SLR Vandoorne

8. ETSR Jensen2508

9. ZachIsbeeast25

10. CSCMorris

11. SLR Moley

12. SLR Liamm

13. DPT Paul

14. SLR Barlow

15. J Lee Menz

16. ELiTE x Riskz (DNF)

17. Simon37M (DNF)

18. Ellis37 (NDF)

19. MasonGammon05 (DNF)

20. ethanwright7189 (DNF)

division 2

Division 2 takes its next adventure around the calendar and find themselves at Saudi Arabia.

Qualifying set precedent for the race to come pace wise with the field being so evenly contested.

After final runs in Q3, Ellis37 takes pole by a mere 0.005s from OwenHowell36. But as they say, it is the race where you earn your points.

The first 10 or so laps are quiet for a usual Saudi Arabian race. Not too much contact and our race leader dropping down the pack being overtaken by the cars who started behind.

Pit strategy was a generic 1 stopper & most cars had gone through with this strategy - meaning an all out race to the finish.

Kemence61 after his pit stop unfortunately lost it coming into sector 2 & began to drop down the field compromising his race big time. Meanwhile out in front OwenHowell, SLR Liam and Ellis37 were just aiming to get to the end first.

Moving towards the end, Liam begins to drop off while Ellis and Owen seem to dance their way to the end swapping positions through drs the whole way to the end.

Ellis gains a time penalty through corner cutting while Owen later on would also gain one - while it did not show at the time due to a timing glitch - & on our final lap Owen and Ellis have a sprint finish.

With just a car length in it, Owen takes P1 from Ellis & has Simon37M for company on the podium (before TG).

Next week, we move to the penultimate race of the season where we find out who will be the champions of Division 2 - both Drivers and Constructors up for grabs. Be sure to check it out next Friday at 8pm.

Qualifying

Pole Lap: 01.27.500

1. Ellis 37

2. OwenHowell36

3. Kemece61

4. SLR Liamm

5. VapidCoot74

6. MasonGammmon05

7. bl3in5121

8. CSCMorris

9. SouthRaptor966

10. BadOtterTV

11. IVR46I

12. legendarydannyd

13. LSW L3G3ND44

14. Simon37M

15. ARL PReDaToRZz

16. SLR Morgan

17. Adrian VIII

18. SLR Moley

19. PrimusGaming

20. SLR Allen

Race

Fastest Lap: 01.29.927 Kemence61

1. OwenHowell36

2. Ellis 37

3. VapidCoot74

4. Simon37M

5. SLR Liamm

6. Adrian VIII

7. Kemence61

8. IVR46I

9. ARL PReDaToRZz

10. bl3n5121

11. SLR Morgan

12. CSCMorris

13. SLR Moley

14. MasonGammon05

15. legendarydannyd

16. SLR Allen

17. BadOtterTV

18. LSW L3G3ND44 (DNF)

19. PrimusGaming (DNF)

20. SouthRaptor966 (DNF)

OwenHowell36 Timing Glitch amended - Owen finishes 0.184s ahead of EIIis 37 - on investigation Owen had enough warnings for a penalty, however with the 3 seconds penalty he is still classified P1, 0.184s ahead of EIIis 37.

VapidCoot74 Timing Glitch amended - Vapid finishes 0.734s ahead of Simon37M and had no penalties. He is therefore classified in P3, 5.298s behind EIIis 37.

Division 3

In div 3 this week it was championship leader SLR Jack showing his terrific one lap pace to secure another pole position for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. SLR EVVO joined him on the front row.

In the race SLR xhaka made the best start gaining 4 places in first couple laps. DRaSt1k bLaZe also had a good start gaining 5 places, meanwhile out front SLR EVVO got passed SLR Jack for the in what was a great battle early on.

On lap 7 Jack tapped the wall this allowed EVVO to get away and championship rival Charlie the chance to pass and Jack was forced into an early stop to repair damage. Charlie had THATGUY for company though and they swapped positions a couple of times fighting for p2.

The pit window opened and Alpeh was now leading the way on the alternate strat after starting on mediums.

Thatguy and Charlie renewed there battle now on fresh mediums but this was allowing Jack to catch them both. With Alpeh now on the softs getting ever closer as well.

We had a safety car on lap 16 as SLR Leah hit in to the wall and that was his very faint title hopes also dashed. The whole field decided to head in and go on to new softs.

We got back going eventually and only managed a couple of racing laps before we had a further safety car as Alpeh crashed out.

We then had two racing laps to the end of the race and it was SLR EVVO who took the win on track but dropped to 6th after he had track limits penalties so it was SLR Charlie with the win and SLR Jack in second. How many times have we said that this season?! Thatguy picked up a good 3rd and final step of the podium. RRT justhaze and RRT Codzilla got 4th and 5th. GregersUK P7, Richie chappell P8 dRaSt1k bLaZe P9 and SLR scopezz final point in P10

So we head to Abu Dhabi with 4 points the gap for the title in div 3 which will be a hell of a fight between Charlie and Jack! Good luck to both I can’t wait to watch

Qualifying

Pole Lap: 01.27.774

1. SLR Jack

2. SLR EVVO

3. SLR CHARLIE1

4. Alpeh

5. Gregers UK

6. THATGUY6912244

7. RRT Justhaze

8. SLR Leah

9. SLR James96

10. SLR Xhaka

11. richie chappell

12. RRTCODZILLA

13. SLR Scopezz

14. Active JMC

15. dRaSt1k bLazE

Race

Fastest Lap: 01.30.177 SLR EVVO

1. SLR CHARLIE1

2. SLR Jack

3. THATGUY691244

4. RRT Justhaze

5. RRTCODZILLA

6. SLR EVVO

7. Gregers UK

8. RICHIE CHAPPELL +5 sec

9. dRaSt1k bLazE +5 sec

10. SLR Scopezz

11. SLR Xhaka

12. Alpeh (DNF)

13. SLR Leah (DNF)

14. SLR James96 (DNF)

15. Active JMC (DNF)

SLR James96 vs richiechappel- qualifying infringement - outcome - NFA

SLR James96 vs blaze - lap 2 - outcome - 5s penalty to blaze for causing a collision

SLR Xhaka vs richiechappel - lap 25 - outcome - 5s penalty to richiechappel for squeezing

Division 4

Saudi arabian Grand Prix

lights out race leader Bigbag has a greats start compared to warheads shaky start, but he catches upto bigbag into turn 1 whilst fending off Unrealsalmon. Maxwell, stevobrick, Cxmzn, pazuzu and Beethoven all push up positions in the opening moments. popcornjoe goes wide allowing JPPGaming and Baggiefan past in sector 1. as the second sector hairpin comes up Russell tries to stick along the inside of maxwell but bounces off the inside wheel into a spin catching several drivers in the incident. Warhead and Bigbag speed off on the softs as Unreal salmon on the mediums holds up darkstorm and JPPGaming. Cxmzn loses his front wing and drops down to the back.

lap 2 marsh makes a move on maxwell gaining 8th place. Russell Hicklin and Cxmzn all pit to repair wing damage and Stecobrick spins losing positions trying to get his car turned around. Dakrstorm makes his way past his teammmate unrealsalmon in the last corner, getting a better exit on the softs.

warhead overtakes Bigbag across the line into lap 4 only for bigbag to take it back in sector 2s DRS zone.Warhead spins a perfect 90 degrees to the track and catches a few drivers out in an attempt to correct himself and dropping from second to last.

Lap 7 cxmzn overtakes Stevobrick to get 12th place. Maxwell and Baggiefan battle for 5th changing positions. warhead overtakes Hicklin gaining 16th and into lap 8 he overtakes russell who appears to have some control problems.

Russell spins again and is hit by Hicklin on the last corner of lap 8, the race leader, Bigbag, moments later, also hits russell. the race leader pits leaving the top 3 in lap 10 as DarkstormQC Unrealsalmon590 and Baggiefan 1995. Russell crashes lap 10 and causes a safety car allowing Warhead and hicklin to gain back that 30 second gap to 14th.

Lap 13, Maxwell dives past bigbag on the safety car restart to take 2nd place Unrealsalmon and SLR marsh also making gains. SmitHPDan makes an amazing switchback with DRS on lap 14 to take 12th.

Big bag finds himself sidways in turn 2 taking damge and dropping positions.

Baggie makes his way past Pazuzu in lap 15 to gain 6th place, warhead jumps bigbag who entered the pits. pazuzu appears to have power problems dropping positions like a lead balloon sown to 10th.

The top 5 cars battle for the leadcwapping positions every DRS zone. Popcorn joe out in front with maxwell behind.

Beethoven makes his move to 3rd with unrealsalmon following close behind in sector 3 of lap 17, with the last DRS straight being used by Unrealslamon to take 3rd from Beethoven. Unrealsalmon continues his push forward and overtakes maxwell gaining 2nd. lap 21 Beethoven takes 2nd away from Unreal salmon with Popcornjoe still in the lead on track but with a large penalty defecit.

with 2 laps to go warhead makes his way back into the points past Cxmzn and pulling in Marsh.

Last lap warhead makes his way past marsh in turn 1 and 2 getting 9th on track.

With penalties applied Unrealsalmon gets first, beethoven 2nd and mazwell third, Bigbag ends the race 11th but able to keep his lead and win the chanpionship.

Qualifying Pole Lap: 01:29.085

1. BigBag92

2. F1 Warhead

3. UnrealSalmon590

4. DarkstormQC

5. PopcornJoe5822

6. JPPGaming96

7. I 21 I Maxwell

8. Baggiefan 1995

9. SLR Russell

10. SLR Marsh

11. LHMercedes44

12. SmitHPDanX01

13. Stevobrick

14. SLR Hicklin

15. I Cxmzn I

16. Rsf1 Pazuzu

Race

Fastest Lap: 01:31.050 SLR Marsh

1. UnrealSalmon590

2. Beethoven974

3. I 21 I Maxwell

4. Baggiefan 1995

5. JPPGaming96

6. SmitHPDanX01

7. PopcornJoe5822

8. DarkstormQC

9. SLR Marsh

10. F1 Warhead

11. BigBag92

12. Rsf1 Pazuzu

13. I Cxmzn I

14. Stevobrick

15. LHMercedes44

16. SLR Hicklin

17. SLR Russell

Warhead vs various drivers - Lap 4, Dangerous Re-entry

Warhead ends up in the wall at the exit of the final corner. He begins to move to continue the race however has multiple cars oncoming resulting in multiple cars receiving damage and several having to avoid him. In this instance Warhead needed to sit still until the track was clear in order to correct his position. 2 separate movements created collisions with other drivers making this incident particularly severe.

Decision - Quali ban + 5LP’s for Warhead