F1 2006: The Career of Hedger

[harrisb]

keep this going mate, these improving results might get you a contract with a better team.

 

[hedger_14]

Grand Prix de France​

We were in France for this race and a race finish would be nice after the accident in the last race which made me retire. The race at Magny-Cours was 70 laps long and going through all of them would be nice to do. I got the 15th best time in the Saturday practice session recording a time of 1:23:458. I would be looking to do a bit better in qualifying though. My first lap of qualifying was alright with a time of 1:24:238. My next lap, I recorded a better time of 1:23:598. I was pretty happy with it but I would have wanted to increase it by 3 tenths in my third run. Although my first sector was really bad, I had a reasonable second sector and an unbelievable third sector, beating Alonso?s final sector by nearly two whole seconds to take a time of 1:22:119, the third best time behind Alonso and Schumacher. Monteiro only qualified in 20th so I couldn?t see my teammate getting anything out of this race. My first lap in the second qualifying session was ████ as I only just managed a time under 1:25:00. My second lap was alright with a time of 1:23:338, but I was still in 14th. A time though of 1:22:559 got me into 10th spot with 1:13 left in the session. Could I hold onto that position? However, I just missed out as Raikkonen just took over my time and I took 11th spot on the grid. Button took pole position with a very good time of 1:20:640. Alonso would start in 2nd, Barrichello in 3rd, Schumacher in 4th, Coulthard did the job for Red Bull taking 5th spot on the grid with Fisichella rounding off the Top 6.


The Grid:

1. Button - 1:20:640
2. Alonso - 1:21:139
3. Barrichello - 1:21:359
4. M Schumacher - 1:21:779
5. Coulthard - 1:21:839
6. Fisichella - 1:21:999
7. Montoya - 1:22:039
8. Raikkonen - 1:22:159
9. R Schumacher - 1:22:239
10. Webber - 1:22:839
-------------------------------------------------
11. Hedger - 1:22:559
12. Villeneuve - 1:22:699
13. Massa - 1:22:699
14. Rosberg - 1:22:819
15. Trulli - 1:22:839
16. Speed - 1:24:618
-------------------------------------------------
17. Heidfield - 1:24:078
18. Klien - 1:24:278
19. Liuzzi - 1:25:097
20. Monteiro - 1:26:457
21. Sato - 1:25:697
22. Ide - 1:26:697


The Race:

So the race was to start. I was sitting in 11th and a few position gains would give me a top 8 finish. Alonso started well taking over Button a few turns in. Coulthard lost his place to the other Renault driver, Fisichella to give Renault a good start to the race and Raikkonen had switched places with Montoya. I had also taken over Webber after he didn?t take a turn too well and I overtook him on the inside him to move into the Top 10. There were a few clouds in the sky but I was told that the rain was going to stay away.

Through 10 laps, I had increased the gap between Webber and I to 3 seconds although I was still around 1 second behind R Schumacher. I finally got my chance to overtake him on my 13th lap taking over him on one of the long turns to move up into 9th but I was still 5 and a half seconds behind Montoya. The clouds were getting darker and I was due for my first stop on the current lap. While they filled up the car with fuel and changed the tyres, I got the message it was looking like rain to come within the next 45 minutes. Wet tracks gave me nightmares especially after my last race in which the rain forced my retirement. A mistake in the pits cost me a few seconds and I regained the race in 13th behind Villeneuve and Coulthard who also pitted that lap.

With the new tyres, I easily caught up to Villeneuve and overtook him after 17 laps. I managed to be in front of R Schumacher and Webber by the time they pulled out of the pits to move back into 9th position. I was now only 2.2 seconds behind Coulthard after 22 laps. I finally took over Coulthard in the 27th lap taking the outside line while going slightly quicker than the Red Bull 1st Driver. I was still well behind Montoya though and there was still no rain. I took over Michael Schumacher going into the 30th lap but I was going to make my second pit stop at the end of the lap so I would lose my place to him again but as Coulthard had pitted, I had a good chance of pulling out in front of him. I somehow did it really easily as I pulled out in front of Webber as well to have a 5 second lead over Mark Webber and nearly 10 seconds over Coulthard but I was in 10th behind Massa.

Halfway through the race and I was still in 10th and 5 seconds behind Massa. Massa pitted at the end of the 36th lap so I moved up into 9th and nearly into a points finish. R Schumacher then pitted to move me up into 8th. Michael Schumacher pitted to give me 7th place. There was also an oil spill on the track forcing Speed to retire. Barrichello and Fisichella both pitted the next lap and I was now in the top 5. I was still to make my final pit stop which was in 2 lap?s time. I came into the pits at the end of my 38th lap. I managed to pull out of the pits in front of Raikkonen in 7th position and 6 seconds behind Fisichella. Montoya then pitted a few laps later but pulled out and was about 2 seconds ahead of me.

I caught up to Montoya though and just managed to take over him without going off the track to move up into 6th with 20 laps to go. Fisichella got caught up with Liuzzi which lost him a bit of time and I got to within .7 of a second of the Renault driver with 12 laps to go. Fisichella was lapping slower as there looked like there was also a small collision with Liuzzi and I took advantage of it moving into the top 5 and behind Michael Schumacher. fearsome tweak!!! Spun out the car and hurt the rear wing of the car. I had now fallen back down into 6th. Montoya was also involved in the incident and got a bit of damage to his car. I had lost my position to him as well to move down into 7th. I got my position back to Montoya though with 6 laps to go. Alonso had started his final lap as I was just under halfway through my second last lap and I had managed to catch the other Renault driver, Fisichella and took over him before going into my final lap.

I crossed the finish line in 5th place with a time of 1h, 39 m, 6 s, Alonso beating me by 23 seconds. Button took second position, Barrichello finished in third to round off the podium. Michael Schumacher took 4th, I finished in 5th, Fisichella took 6th to give Renault valuable points. Juan Pablo Montoya managed to finish the race and take 7th place. Raikkonen got the final point with Massa missing out on any points and even though Coulthard qualified in the top 5, he couldn?t finish in the top 8, finishing in 10th. R Schumacher managed only 11th position. Trulli, Webber, Rosberg, Villeneuve, Klien, Heidfield, Liuzzi, Monteiro, Sato and Ide were the other drivers who finished the race, Speed the only one to retire.

Alonso wins in France for the second time in a row.​

 

[Jakester1288]

Great stuff Hedger, keep it up.

I might make a story like this, on F1 06 when I get it, hopefully soon, or V8 Supercars 3, which I picked up off eBay today.

 

[hedger_14]

Well I'll be looking forward to a story like that. Although I don't have V8 Supercars 3, I've played it and it's a good game. Might buy it if I see it cheap.

 

[hedger_14]

I'm going to stop this story for a few reassons.

1. I haven't got any comments from anyone other than harrisb and Jake.
2. Doing full races is very time consuming and I really don't have the time to update regularly.
3. I'm starting a new story on F1 doing a Career with Jake and we're comparing results. And it's very hard to do 2 stories on F1 since one race takes long enough as it is. The story will start once Jake's F106 game arrives and he will have a bit of practice with it before we start the story.

 

[Jakester1288]

I reckon you should start this story up again, keep it going for another few updates.

My F106 arrived today, and quite frankly, ATM I'm terrible. And I've got V8 Supercars to play, schoolwork to do, PC stories to do, plus other stuff that consumes time.

It'll be at least a month until I'm half decent. Keep this up and running for a while mate.

 

[hedger_14]

Meh, I wont be getting much time to update it anyway. I have my own stuff to do.