A Mighty Mess At Monza...

They always say "All Good Things Must Come To An End" and the same was devastatingly true with my - up to that point - stellar Formula 4/IR-04/Formula D season.

Even before I jumped into my weekly race, the entire week leading up to the was a bit "strange".

The period/stint between Christmas and New Year's is always a period of...well...weirdness.

I had no driving lessons (due to Christmas), the league I participate in was having a "Christmas Break/Fun Event" (and not regular racing) - and I wasn't to be racing on Wednesday (or indeed Thursday for that matter) due to other commitments.

Eventually, on the penultimate day of the year - on the 30th December - I eventually landed in Italy.

From my practice sessions, I knew I was on-pace with the mid-field - the problem with Monza, is that over 50% is flat-out - which means finding extra tenths requires extra skill - compared to finding tenths/finding time on technical tracks where it's easier to make a mistake.

Race-day

For the first time this season, I was not car #17 - and didn't have the lowest iRating out of the entire pack - which gave me a little bit of confidence in the Strength Of Field.

I qualified 10th - for car #11 - that was absolutely on pace.

2nd started from the pits - so I started in 9th.

For Monza, lap one was pretty calm - despite losing two positions, I made them up by passing drivers who had spun/crashed out.

By the end of the lap, I found myself in the slipstream of the driver in 8th.

What followed was a very fun, intense battle for 8th place, which lasted until Lap 4.

On Lap 4, I tried my "signature" move of trying to go down the inside at turn one (prevents me from being dive-bombed) - but P4 out braked himself, locked up and went wide.

Instead of cutting the turn 1/2 chicane, attempted to re-join the circuit at the apex of Turn 1, perpendicular to the track.

I understand there was a driver re-joining (top of screen), but Monza's run-off is EXPANSIVE - there's nothing for miles - but #12 re-joined in this fashion, and I was hit as a consequence - my front wing and steering suffering damage.

10th, 11th and 12th behind passed me before I could even re-join the track (safely).

P12 spun out at the second chicane - and #12 (yellow) also suffered significant damage.

Despite the major loss - I had only lost one position.

From Lap 5, I defended like my life depended on it - and it worked...until Ascari.

Through Ascari, I'd brake at my normal marker, and take my normal line - but as the damage had given me steering damage and understeer, I understeered wide - straightened the car up once on the gravel - and then knew I was on a one-way ticket to the sausage kerb ahead of me. It launched the front wheels in the air - Alonso Style and landed with a thud By the time I landed (after bouncing once) - I was in the marbles and headed for the barriers. There was nothing I could do.

after sitting, questioning my life choices for a second, I "towed" back to the pit-lane and whilst doing so, took fast repairs (took the spare car).

If it was any consolation, the driver behind me also crashed at the same corner - and also towed.

Coincidentally, the driver who crashed behind me left his pit-stop less than 10 seconds before I did - meaning we were pretty close on track upon emerging on track.

This eased the pain of potentially losing a Top 10 slightly.

This same driver would spin out at Seconda Variante (the second chicane) - In avoidance, I'd take to the gravel and get overtaken by this driver and lapped by the leader.

The leader would then spin out at Turn 1, and I would last another lap...not being lapped.

At the start of the next lap (Lap 8), I would overtake the driver ahead of me (same one I left the pits with) by "diving" down his inside into turn 1 (by being slightly later on the brakes)

The leader would lap me on Lap 10 - my penultimate lap.

From starting Lap 6 (emerging from the pits) in 18th, to finishing 14th - I think you've got to make light out of a bad situation - and there was one driver that finished behind me - the rest retired (or in once case was disqualified).

I view it as continuing to race (instead of retiring) saved me countless iRating - and I think that's where I lost so much iRating in my early career - I didn't care about iRating that much - but now I've got a healthy sum (From Week 1 & Week 2) I want to do everything in my power to preserve it.

I may have gone down to 1431 iRating - but it's something to build next year!

I suppose it also helped that the driver in shot #12 finishing 13th, I finished 14th, so he didn't get all too far by not pitting - he too lost 20+ iRating too.

Next week, I'm away (in Paris), but after that we are back in business at Catalunya, Barcelona - the very week of the ROAR Before the 24!

Happy New Year, and see you next year!