ShaneB457's F1 2012 Career

ShaneB457's F1 2012 Career
This is my F1 2012 career which will be continued on from my two year career in F1 2011. This wiki will include race reports and standings.

Previous Season's
Upon purchasing F1 2011 I decided to start my career with Lotus. In that team I consistently finished ahead of my teammate Jarno Trulli and finished the season in 19th place. This was enough for me to secure a drive with Williams next season. Mark Webber became drivers champion after a season long tustle with Button that lasted to the final race at Brazil. From the first few races at Williams I knew it was a decent car and I begun to secure some podiums and my first win came at Catalunya. Halfway through the season Vettel was quite a long way in front in the standings but I clawed my way back and brought it to a two way shootout for the title in the final race at Brazil. Starting from pole and in heavy rain I controlled the race perfectly and finished ahead of Vettel which secured me the drivers title. You can see my various Race reports at my second season at Williams Here.

Driving Assists, Difficulty and Race Settings

 * ABS, TC and Breaking Assist are Off
 * Manual Gearbox
 * Racing Line (Corners Only)
 * Legend AI
 * Dynamic Weather
 * Race Distance - 50 %

Young Drivers Test and Pre-Season Car Selection
I chose Red Bull as the team to do the young drivers test and passed it easily. I then choose Williams as the team to resume my career as they are the team with which I won the WDC in F1 2011.

Race 1 – Australia
Quali - 14th

I managed to get into Q2 fairly easily however it was very competitive. I was 2 tenths away from getting into the top ten but I qualified 14th. Maldonado qualified in 7th while Hamilton took pole ahead of Alonso and Vettel. Button was down in 11th and the two Mercedes struggled and qualified 15th and 16th.

Race – 14th

My strategy was to start on primes and pit on lap 17 for options. I got a decent start and managed to fight my way up to 9th by the first few corners. I then passed Massa on the straight after the 11-12 chicane. 2 laps later, Webber had a big accident and lost his front wing in and around the third sector. By lap 6 Massa was close behind me and I was close behind Kobayashi. On the next lap I passed Kobayashi into turn 3 using DRS. Alonso was battling with Vettel ahead and into the quick chicane Alonso had to pull out of the throttle as Vettel passed him. This meant he was slow off the corner so I managed to pass him on the straight. I was up to 4th now and was happy with my pace on the prime tyres. On the next lap I could not keep the Ferrari behind me and he passed me using DRS. Massa behind me spun going into the the 1st corner which took the pressure off me. I was in 5th with a 7 second gap to Alonso by lap 11. On the next lap, people ahead of me pitted and I was up to second. Hamilton, who had already pitted, was 3 seconds ahead of me in the lead. On lap 17 I pitted for options and I rejoined in 5th behind Grosjean. However on lap 23 I made a mistake going through the 11-12 chicane and spun into the wall losing my front wing and getting a puncture. Crawled back to the pits and I rejoined in 14th and stayed there. Very dissapointed to do a Maldonado so near the end of the race. But Im happy that the pace of the AI is better and I hope to get a good points finish in Malaysia. Hamilton won with Alonso and Vettel on the podium. Button retired early on and Hulkenburg got disqualified for some reason.

Race 2 – Malaysia
Quali – 10th

My pace was good in quali and I got into Q3. However Q3 was wet and I just could not string a good lap together. I had to settle for tenth. Hamilton took pole with Alonso and Vettel behind. Maldonado qualified in tenth.

Race – 7th

My race strategy was to start on options and pit on lap 12 for primes. Once again I made a bad start but using up some kers and braking late into turn 1 meant that I could get up to 6th. Coming up to turn 3 Schumacher passed me on the inside. I tried to go around him on the next fast left hander but I couldnt. 2 laps later Vettel passed me using DRS and I was down to 8th. I was managing the gaps well to Hulkenburg behind me. So I pitted as planned on lap 12 and came out in 12th behind Vergne. 2 laps later people ahead of me pitted and I was back up to 8th. Button lost his front wing trying to pass Glock so I inherited 7th. This is where I finished as my last stint was quite boring. Raikonnen was catching me at a fast rate near the end but I just held him off. Hamilton won like he did in Australia with Alonso and Webber on the podium. Maldonado finished in 14th.

Race 3 - China
Quali - 10th

With 100% rain forcasted for the race, I compromised my setup so that it would be good in the wet conditions. Getting into Q3 was tough, as expected. A last gasp effort from me in Q2 put me into 6th. I decided to not set a time in Q3 as I had no option tyres left. Maldonado qualified in 13th While Vettel took pole by less than a tenth from Alonso and then Button.

Race – 15th

Prepare to read possibly the worst race report ever with rain in full swing. Having never expierienced the dynamic weather before I was quite in the unknown through this race. Everyone started on inters, including me. When the lights were going on I could see that the track ahead was dry although I knew it would be damp somewhere. I made a better start than Schumacher in front of me and jumped him, along with a few others into turn 1. Coming up to turn 4 is where the track was damp and I was up to 6th by the time I got to the long straight. Then every single driver pitted for options but I decided to stay out as my race engineer said that there would be heavy rain in 5 minutes. Stupidly, I stayed out untill lap 5 on the inters while the guys behind were lapping much faster on the dry tyres. I slipped down to 5th by the time I eventually pitted. When I came out, I was way down in 16th, 4 seconds behind Perez. By lap 8 it started pouring down in the last sector so I took a gamble and pitted for full wets. When I came out of the pits, I soon realised that it wasnt wet enough as it was only a passing shower. So I crawled back to the pits and put on inters. When I came out believe it or not, it was now too wet and I had zero grip. The AI somehow have predicted this and they are all on full wets. Came back into the pits for another set of wets and rejoined last. I managed to get to the end of the race on those tyres and I passed all the backmarker teams to eventually finish 15th, helped by Schumacher and Grosjean’s retirements. My teammate lapped me on the last lap and he finished 12th. Button won with Alonso and Raikonnen also on the podium. I am dissapointed by my lack of pace in the wet as I was lapping a second down on Maldonado through most of the race. Next race is Bahrain which is a track I last drove on in Formula one championship edition, so I’m sure it will be fun and of course there should be no rain.

Race 4 – Bahrain
Quali - 5th

The quali was fully wet. Yes thats right, rain in Bahrain. Well done codemasters. It seems as though they want to include the bloody dynamic weather in every race weekend :/

Anyway my pace was surprisingly good in the wet and was very happy to get an excellent fifth. Webber took pole with Alonso and Hamilton behind. Maldonado was in 13th. Raikonnen was the fall guy in Q1 and he would start 18th.

Race - 11th

Through the first corner I got up to 3rd as I passed the two Mclarens and then coming up to turn 3 I did a double overtake in the inside of Alonso and Webber to take the lead. From then on I managed to keep Alonso at bay although it was very tough. On lap 9 I was swamped down the straight as Alonso and Hamilton overtook me using DRS. On the next lap Massa passed me with DRS however I repassed him on the outside of turn 4 which was pretty cool. I then hit a curb too hard and spun which dropped me down to 8th and I then pitted for primes. From then on it was just me holding up everyone behind and getting swamped down the straight with people using DRS. On the last lap I ran out of fuel near the last corner which meant Maldonado got through and I fell out of the points. A pretty miserable end to a silly race by me with lots of mistakes. Although I wasnt helped by running a default setup as my setup got wiped for some reason after quali. Thanks again codemasters. Hamilton won with Alonso and Button behind. Maldonado was 9th.

Race 5 - Spain
Quali – 17th

Although I was 5th in Q1, I kept messing up my laps in Q2 and had to settle for 17th. Alonso took pole, Button 2nd and Hamilton 3rd. Maldonado was 12th.

Race – 16th

The AI broke very early at the first turn so I was able to sweep round some of them to get up to 7th. Me and my teammate had a good battle, wheel to wheel around turns 3,4 and 5. I then passed Maldonado and Massa to find myself in 5th amazingly. Massa passed me some laps later with DRS but he spun ahead of me which gave me back 5th. I pitted as planned on lap 12 for primes, and Maldonado and Grosjean behind me stayed out a lap later before they pitted. They rejoined well ahead and then flew into the distance as my pace on the lower fuel was no match for the AI, as was the case in the previous races. Midway through this stint, the cars behind were gaining fast on me and Vergne got in the DRS zone. I took a defensive line into the first corner. Going through turn 2 we were side by side with him on the inside and all of a sudden he turns into me spinning me into the gravel and slightly damaging my front wing. I rejoined the track well back in 13th. From then on I just kept getting continually passed by DRS and eventually finished 16th, 1 place behind my target. Alonso won with Vettel and Hamilton also on the podium. Maldonado finished in 5th.

Im very annoyed for my race to be ruined like that although to be honest, I dont think I could have kept them behind me. As the fuel burns off, I just seem to get slower and slower. My pace at the start of races is good although I keep falling back as the race goes on. Very frustrating indeed. Monaco next and I dont know what will happen there. I am losing the teammate head-to-head by a lot and its fair to say that I doubt I will be getting much offers in the near future.

Race 6 - Monaco
Quali: 1st

Even though tyre wear was horrible as always for me in Monaco, I was quick in qualifying and managed to take pole position by two tenths from Button. Maldonado was 12th.

Race: DNF

I got off to a good start and was surprised to be able to keep a gap to Alonso who got past Button. The gap was about 6 seconds when I pitted on lap 12. My strategy was to do a two stop but I soon found out that everyone else was on a one stopper. When Alonso pitted on lap 18 or so, he rejoined 3 seconds behind me. Knowing that pitting again would ruin my chance of the race win, I tried to go the distance on these prime tyres. Around lap 25, with Alonso close behind I exited the chicane just after the tunnel. Coming up towards Tabac I got too close to the wall on the right and broke my front right suspension. Race over and yet another poor finish to my race. Alonso was 1st, Button 2nd and Webber 3rd. Maldonado was 10th.

Race 7 - Canada
Quali – 1st

After the dissapointment of Monaco, I was hoping for good things in Canada. My pace was good in the dry and wet from free practice so I was confident in quali. I managed to secure pole over Alonso by 3 tenths with a 1:13.212

Race – 1st

With rain forcast for the race, I was praying I wasnt going to be messed with because of the rain. It was a dry start and Webber got past Alonso into turn 1 and I stayed in the lead for the first several laps. Around lap 9, Webber spun which promoted Alonso into second and Perez into third. Alonso pitted on lap 10 but I stayed out as rain was on the way. It was raining quite hard down at the hairpin and after a big slide, I pitted for wets. I rejoined 20 seconds ahead of Alonso as he made an extra stop. Over the next stint I was losing time massively to Alonso. When people pitted behind for inters around lap 32, I stayed out an extra lap and lost even more time. I rejoined luckily 2 seconds ahead of the Ferrari. He was quicker than me but luckily he tangled with Karthikeyan damaging his front wing and ensuring me an easy victory, my first this season. Kobayashi finished third. Perez had slipped back to finish 8th after he running in a podium position. Maldonado was 16th.

Race 8 - Europe
Quali – 1st

Although this is by far, one of the worst tracks in this game, I had good pace on low fuel and I wasnt surprised to take pole from Alonso and Button with a 1:39.291. Maldonado was 11th.

Race – DNF

I actually had the best start I ever had in this game and just flew off the line. Through the next 3 laps, Alonso was close behind and I had to fend off a DRS attack. He was proper quick but I was surprised that I was lapping consistent in this track and not making much mistakes. However, that would change on lap 4 when I clipped the wall going through the fast right hander in sector 3, spinning me across the track and destroying my car. Here is what happend. Apologies for the terrible quality as it looks like it was recorded using a toaster :)

Just like Monaco, I crashed while leading the race. Very dissapointing indeed but I’m very much looking forward to Silverstone where I expect I will be quick. Alonso won with Kimi and Button behind him on the podium.

Race 9 - Great Britain
Quali: 1st  (Demoted to 11th place)

After a highly productive Free practice, I was confident in the car and was happy with my setup, both in the dry and wet. However, I just scraped through Q1 on the primes but managed to get into Q3 fairly easily. I did one flying lap in Q3 and took pole over Alonso who looks unstoppable this season.

But when I looked at the qualifying results I saw I had a ten place grid penalty. I have no idea why. Seriously I was so surprised by that as I did not run into anyone. So I would start 11th for the race behind Hulkenburg. Maldonado had a strong qualifying and he would start 8th.

Race: 4th

With rain forcast, I was quite happy to see that it was dry to start and I was hoping that the new patch would improve the dynamic weather. I once again made a blistering start and was flying past cars to get up to 4th by halfway point of lap 1. I then got a good run on Vettel out of Luffield and passed him down the inside of copse. Hamilton and Alonso were fighting each other out in front and I was 1.8 seconds behind them, and Button was around the same length back aswell. I started with the agressive fuel setting and I felt as though it had payed off. I started on plus one laps of fuel but I ran in lean at the start which meant I had now 3 plus laps of fuel in the car. On lap 9, I followed Hamilton and Button into the pits while Button behind me stayed out. It was the same order as we rejoined the track in clean air. On the next lap, Button pitted and he rejoined the track side by side with me. I outbroke him into the village complex and remained in third. By lap 14, there was a one second gap to Hamilton in second and 2 seconds to Button who was still behind me. Over the next few laps, the traffic was crazy. Me and Hamilton kept getting held up by the HRT’s and Marussia’s, who didnt seem to want to get out of our way. Just coming out of club, Hamilton is held up by Glock and I sweep by to go into second. Alonso was now way out in front, but the two Mclarens were quite close behind me. On lap 20, with 5 laps until the end, rain was starting to appear around the end of sector 3. It was only a drizzle but was continually getting worse. On lap 22, I had a big lockup coming into club and ran wide, thankfully not letting the two Mclarens through. On the next lap however, it was fully wet down there and me, Button and Hamilton were sliding our way through there. We decided not to pit for inters as the pit lane is the longest and slowest on the calender. Any other track and I’m sure we would have pitted for inters. On the last lap, it was wet everywhere on track and nearly impossible to drive with worn primes. Out of woodcote, I tried to get on the power but had snap oversteer and ran wide letting Hamilton and Button through. Even in 5th or 6th gear and in a straight line, you tap the accelerator and immediately get oversteer. It was very tricky indeed. I crawled to the line to finish fourth. Rosberg switched to inters with 3 laps to go and he finished in 5th, getting past Vettel. Alonso won comfortably, increasing his huge lead in the standings. Raikonnen and Maldonado both had DNF’s early on.

It was a brilliant race and I really enjoyed it. Silverstone is by far the best circuit on this game because of the way you can attack those fast corners without getting ridiculous amounts of oversteer, like you did in F1 2011.

Race 10 - Germany
Quali – 5th

It was very cloudy in qualifying with spots of rain in the air. I got through Q1 and Q2 easily enough, which were dry. In Q3, I went out straight away as rain was light but still okay for slicks. The time I set put me on provisional pole, two tenths quicker than Alonso. I headed back to the pits and had a look at the timing screen. I saw that Hamilton and a few others were setting purple sectors, some even 1-2 seconds quicker than mine. Seeing this, I put on a new set of options and headed out for another run. But to my surprise, I had hardly any grip as the track was now very slippery. I have no idea where some of the drivers got that pace out of. Hamilton took pole position with Webber just behind him.

Race – 1st

There was a 64% chance of rain for the race. Even after the patch, it seems as though rain is still very common through all of the weekends. Through turn 1, I stayed out of trouble. Coming up to turn two, Massa ahead of me broke very early which caught me and Schumacher by surprise, the latter damaging his front wing. I then passed Massa and Hamilton down the straight and found myself in third. In lap 3, Hamilton passed me using DRS but I returned the favour on the next lap, staying in third. I then managed the gap to Hamilton,at just over a second on the next few laps. Webber and Alonso were fighting each other, 6-7 seconds ahead of me. My teammate was having a very strong race and was now close behind Hamilton, even passing him down the straight at one stage. On lap 16, Webber and Alonso pitted for primes but I stayed out, knowing that rain was on its way soon. My options were very badly worn at this stage and them hitting the cliff combined with a few spots of rain, meant that I lost quite a lot of time to the guys behind. I pitted on lap 23 and took the gamble on inters as the rain was quite substantial at the time, especially in the stadium section. I was delighted to see that the track was now damp, and that inters were the right tyres to be on. I swept past Webber and Alonso to take the lead as they were still on primes. They then pitted for full wets which was a good idea as the rain was getting heavier. I stayed out a lap longer on inters and lost time to the guys behind. I rejoined 15 seconds ahead of Hamilton and Massa, as Alonso and Webber had slipped back to 5th and 6th for some reason. Hamilton was gaining on me near the end but he ran out of time. I won by 6 seconds over Hamilton and Massa. My teammate finished in 13th place.

Overall I am very happy with how the race unfolded. Staying out on the options and then switching to inters at the right time, meant that I gained a lot of time. For once, I got my strategy right. The dynamic weather has improved massively after the patch. It is now quite predictable and the race engineer was actually giving me some useful information on the weather for once.

Race 11 - Hungary
''After my win in Germany, I was offered a contract to go to Sauber and I accepted. The reason behind that was purely because I am pretty tired of driving the Williams even though its a good car. I felt as though a change was neccesary. Senna came back to Williams and I took Perez’s seat alongside Kobayashi.''

Quali – 16th

I found it very hard to get used to the new car and to find a setup, as it was not handling too good. I messed around with the setup but it did not seem to make any difference. I made it through to Q2 but could not compete after that. My teammate was over a second quicker than me and I had to settle for a lowly 16th place on the grid. Hamilton took pole with the two red bull’s behind him. Kobayashi was 7th and Alonso surprisingly 13th. It seems as though the Ferrari is becoming less and less competitive as the season progresses while the Mclarens and Red bull’s are getting faster and faster.

I set up my car to be as kind on the tyres as possible, as tyre wear is quite bad at Hungary. But this meant that the car was handling very bad indeed. Especially through the second and third sectors, the car was understeering horribly.

Race – DNF

Again, rain was on the forecast for the race at 60%. I chose to start on primes as to go with a different strategy to everyone else. The first lap was very hectic, with lots of argy bargy from all drivers to try and gain positions. I found myself up to 13th by the end of the first lap. Rosberg was under a second ahead in 13th and Ricciardo was close behind me. At the end of the second lap, going around the last corner, I was too eager on the throttle and lost the rear, spinning into the pit wall on the right and breaking my front right suspension. Ricciardo was caught up in my mistake aswell and he flew into my car, causing his car to fly over me into the air rather spectacularly. So it was a poor end to my race but its fair to say that Hungary is not my strongest track. Hamilton won with Grosjean in second and Button third. The championship leader Alonso could only manage tenth place.

Race 12 - Belgium
Quali – 14th

It is quite hard to nail a perfect lap in Spa as you have to get every corner just right. I made it through to Q2 but was in the dropzone. With 5 minutes remaining I went out to improve my time. I caught Schumacher mid way through the lap and he held me up. I lost grip going through one of the corners due to his dirty air and I spun the car, losing my front wing against the barriers. With that, the chance of advancing through to Q3 was gone. The grid was Webber, Hamilton, Vettel, Button and Alonso. Kobayashi qualified 14th.

Race – 7th

I decided to start on primes, just as I did in the last race and I was hoping this race wouldnt end up like it did in Hungary. Thankfully the race had 0% chance of rain, the first time I’ve seen that since the game came out.

Starting on primes, my start was poor and I bogged down a bit losing some places. But as some cars ahead ran wide, I took the inside line and remained in 14th after La Source. I saved all of my kers for the kemmel straight and I flew by Kobayashi and Vergne to get up to 12th. On lap 4, I passed Ricciardo using DRS which put me in 11th and Massa was about four seconds ahead of me in 10th. There was a huge train of cars ahead which meant I gained time on them as they were fighting, eventually closing in on Massa and passing him down the inside of Pouhon. When the drivers ahead of me pitted for primes, I was in the lead briefly and the primes were holding on. But when I saw that I was losing time to Button in second I pitted immediately and rejoined 9th.

Straight after I came out of the pits, I passed Raikonnen using DRS and Maldonado was in 7th place, around 4 seconds ahead. On lap 18, a back marker spun at the bus stop chicane causing Maldonado to slow down in order to avoid him. I took advantage of this and passed him down into La Source. I then had a good battle with Maldonado for a couple of laps, who was my former teammate. On the last lap, I could not keep him behind any longer and he flew past me using DRS. I had to settle for 7th but nevertheless I was happy with the race. I acheived my first points for my new team Sauber. It was a Mclaren one-two with Button winning and Grosjean on the podium for the second race running. My teammate finished in 11th.

Race 13 - Italy
Quali – 4th

From free practice, I was not that confident going into qualifying and I was plesantly surprised to see myself on provisional pole in Q3. I went out for a second run to try and improve my time. While I could not, others did and I dropped down to 4th. Alonso took pole in a very tight Q3, with the two Mclarens behind him. Kobayashi was 10th.

Race – 14th

I got a terrible start as my first gear was probably too long, hence why I bogged down. I was in 6th on the way down to the first corner but I got up to 5th as I outbroke Vettel. Then I got into Webber’s slipstream and passed him down the inside of the roggia chicane. The first laps were quite busy, and I got up to 3rd as I passed Button, just like Webber, down the inside of turn 3. On the next lap, DRS was activated and I made good use of it. I had caught up to Hamilton and was in the DRS zone down the start-finish straight. He took the defensive line, I went to the outside but he squeezed me onto the grass. I just about stopped the car on time and made the move stick, a very fun move I must say! On the next lap Grosjean passed Hamilton to get into third behind me. Alonso was 5 seconds ahead in first place. Up until I pitted on lap 12, I had a great fight with Grosjean, which involved lots of DRS passes and even at one stage, being side by side through the two lesmos! I pitted early but it was part of my plan to rejoin into traffic behind Hulkenburg as I would get use of DRS. Seeing how effective it is here, I thought that if I could use it, then I would retain 2nd when the guys ahead pitted. And thats exactly what happend. Hamilton had jumped Grosjean in the pits and he was 2 seconds behind me in third, while Alonso was miles ahead, something like 16 seconds. On lap 17, Hamilton passed me in the second DRS zone. As I was following him closely through Ascari, I underestimated how little grip I would have in his dirty air. I spun and lost my front wing, crawled back to the pits, put on options and rejoined in a fairly miserable 18th place. That was my race ruined but I still was pushing like crazy to salvage something. Rosberg had an engine problem as I was told by my engineer, so I got passed him easily. Vergne spun at Ascari and I passed him to get into 16th. Then Vergne went straight on at turn one and passed me illegally, which disqualified him. I then caught up to his teammate Ricciardo and also Hulkenburg on the last lap. I passed them both to salvage a poor 14th place finish.

It just shows you how tricky this game is. One mistake and you go from 3rd to 18th within a lap. Very frustrating but nevertheless I actually had some great battles for once with the AI. At least thats one positive I can take out of that race. Alonso won with Hamilton and Button also on the podium. Kobayashi was 9th.

Grands Prix:






