Half Time in Abu Dhabi - F1 Round 9

Welcome to Round 9 of Season 15 here in SLR, where we rounded off the first half of the season at the usual Season finale location of the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. We've had plenty of ups and downs over the past 8 rounds, including an upturn of chaos in the last 2 in Saudi Arabia and Monza, but will it continue here? Will McKeon continue their streak and make it a ninth different winner this season? Let's find out!

McKeon Division

Qualifying

Pole Time: 1:21.907

1. raceroller22

2. BalmyTick395524

3. SemmF1

4. TTM Crowding

5. Not_Vybe

6. Threefold1232

7. Drastikblaze

8. RedDragan

9. SLR Ham19

10. DustyBassoon244

11. LTKtarrierYT

12. SLR Jam40

13. TTM Jacob

14. RazzaGamerHD

15. M1niko

16. RustedBolt3021

17. AJNOLAN754

18. Arb0n EPA

19. THATGUY691244

20. Qyzhr

Race

Fastest Lap: 1:24.578 - TTM Jacob

1. raceroller22

2. TTM Crowding

3. Threefold1232

4. SemmF1

5. Drastikblaze

6. DustyBassoon244 (-3s)

7. Not_Vybe

8. SLR Jam40

9. SLR Ham19

10. RazzaGamerHD

11. AJNOLAN754

12. THATGUY691244

13. RedDragan (DNF)

14. RustedBolt3021 (DNF)

15. TTM Jacob (DNF)

16. Qyzhr (DNF)

17. BalmyTick3955324 (DNF)

18. LTKtarrierYT (DNF)

19. M1niko (DNF)

20. Arb0n EPA (DNF)

Lap 9 / 22 incidents involving DustyBassoon244 - penalty removal requests

Verdict: 3s removed from DustyBassoon244, 3s + 1LP to DustyBassoon244 (penalty rescinded after appeal)

Detail: The stewards agreed that the multiple warnings for Dusty were to be removed after the sufficient evidence was sent in, leaving him with 2 warnings and such the time penalty was removed. However a 3 second time penalty has been applied as the clip of the Lap 9 incident showed Dusty returning to the racing line in an unsafe manner after going off track, causing the contact with M1niko which gave him the warning in the first place. M1niko was left without damage so the penalty is small, but the stewards still believed the rejoin was unsafe and such have applied the penalty.

Division 2

Qualifying

Pole Time: 1:22.397

1. OwenHowell36

2. GoldenEggFryer

3. J Lee Menz

4. LSW L3G3ND44

5. SSR Halo

6. aligator86

7. Joseeeph F1

8. I CJT22 I

9. PENROSE_86

10. Evoke Replay

11. Salt N Kepa1520

12. Goggy

13. Kislesko

14. SLR Southerner

15. AD4M F13

16. ZachIsBeast25

17. DestroyerDRAC

Race Fastest Lap: 1:26.709 - aligator86

1. J Lee Menz

2. I CJT22 I

3. GoldenEggFryer (-3s)

4. DestroyerDRAC

5. Joseeeph F1 (+5s)

6. OwenHowell36

7. Goggy

8. aligator86

9. Kislesko

10. SLR Southerner (+5s)

11. Evoke Replay (+5s)

12. PENROSE_86 (DNF)

13. SSR Halo (DNF)

14. Salt N Kepa1520 (DNF)

15. LSW L3G3ND44 (DNF)

16. ZachIsBeast25 (DNF)

17. AD4M F13 (DNF)

Lap 5 involving AD4M F13 & Goggy

Verdict: No Further Action

Detail: Goggy moves slightly to the left which is one legal move on the straight. Just after this movement, Adam takes a big risk of putting his car very close to Goggy's when attempting an overtake. At this point, Goggy's wheel is completely straight. This contact then drags both drivers towards the left hand wall, causing Adam to DNF. an unfortunate incident but no blame can be attributed to Goggy for this.

Lap 3 incident involving PENROSE_86 & Joseeeph F1

Verdict: 5s + 1LP to Joseeeph F1

Detail: The stewards feel that Joseph's trajectory is to try and take the racing line without any consideration of Penrose's car. We feel that more of an effort should have been made by Joseph to give space to Penrose on the inside as he is significantly alongside.

Lap 11 incident involving PENROSE_86 & SLR Southerner

Verdict: 5s + 2LP to SLR Southerner

Detail: A pretty simple incident here, Southerner misses his braking point and spins Penrose.

Lap 1 incident involving PENROSE_86 & Evoke Replay

Verdict: 5s + 1LP to Evoke Replay

Detail: Evoke goes into Turn 1 way too hot, forcing Penrose off track and then m contact with multiple other drivers in turns 2/3. 5s has been applied rather than a smaller penalty as the stewards feel that Evoke's driving is poor for these first few corners in general and that he is not fully safely in control of his car.

Lap 16 incident involving GoldenEggFryer & J Lee Menz

Verdict: 3s to J Lee Menz (Penalty Rescinded after appeal)

Detail: Going through the first part of the chicane Menz and Fryer are side by side after Menz' mistake. Menz then elects to carry some excess speed into the next part of the chicane while Fryer is at least partially alongside at all times during this. This excess speed from Menz forces Fryer off track, losing Fryer time and the place to the driver behind. The stewards feel that Menz should have made more of an effort to leave racing room to Fryer, due to Fryer and Menz being front axel to front axel at the first part of the chicane and having equal right to the next corner.

Lap 13 incident involving GoldenEggFryer - penalty removal request

Verdict: Request approved, 3s removed from GoldenEggFryer

Detail: Fryer gets a double warning for 1 corner cut, and so the stewards agreed to remove this as significant proof was required. Fryer is then left with 2 warnings, meaning the 3 second penalty is removed.

Lap 1 incident involving OwenHowell36, GoldenEggFryer & J Lee Menz

Verdict: No Further Action

Detail: There was no incident here - there is just about enough space for all 3 drivers and all make it through cleanly without damage, despite a small bit of contact.

Lap 1 incident involving Salt N Kepa1520 & I CJT22 I

Verdict: 3s + 1LP to Salt N Kepa1520 (1LP only due to DNF)

Detail: Kepa moves to the right thinking that CJT has more space than he does, making contact with him and forcing him off track, losing him multiple places. This is a minor misjudgement from Kepa, so a smaller penalty has been applied.

Division 3

Qualifying

Pole Time: 1:23.519

1. GazzaBridger

2. BGR_SXPERI-74

3. SLR Xynew

4. DNBSuperSkiilz

5. BlackSpartan133

6. SLR Hicklin

7. SouthRaptor966

8. Rico_AV

9. milanist_EME

10. COLDEN3335

11. WillyBum7

12. SLR Moley

13. Gregers_Uk

14. Nealix

15. OWR snoozer

16. Joe Hansell

17. SLR Laney

18. IAC Lambo

19. l 21 l Maxwell

20. Bunnypower94

Race

Fastest Lap: 1:26.543 - Rico_AV

1. BlackSpartan133

2. SouthRaptor966

3. BGR_SXPERI-74

4. DNBSuperSkiilz

5. SLR Xynew (+5s)

6. milanist_EME

7. GazzaBridger (+3s)

8. SLR Moley

9. OWR snoozer

10. Rico_AV

11. IAC Lambo

12. Nealix

13. l 21 l Maxwell

14. Gregers_Uk

15. SLR Laney

16. Bunnypower94

17. Joe Hansell

18. WillyBum7 (DNF)

19. COLDEN3335 (DNF)

20. SLR Hicklin (DNF)

Qualifying incident involving BGR_SXPERI-74

Verdict: 2LP to BGR_SXPERI-74

Detail: Sxperi was clearly shown to be cutting corners on an in-lap to save time in qualifying. This is banned as it is potentially dangerous and can be used to gain time to complete more laps in qualifying.

Lap 1 incident involving SLR Xynew & BGR_SXPERI-74

Verdict: No Further Action

Detail: The stewards feel that Xynew isn't alongside enough going into the corner to come close to completing the overtake, with the differing speeds of the cars being the cause of collision, not Sxperi intentionally running Xynew off track.

Lap 2 incident involving SLR Xynew & GazzaBridger

Verdict: 3s + 1LP to GazzaBridger

Detail: The stewards feel that Gazza could and should have left more room to Xynew on the exit of the corner, taking more care with the rejoin and this exit due to being compromised on the exit due to his lower speed.

Lap 7 incident involving milanist_EME & SLR Xynew

Verdict: 5s + 1LP to SLR Xynew

Detail: Xynew brakes later than Milanist, causing a collision which pushes Milanist off track and means that Xynew completes the overtake. This was deemed a clear push-to-pass overtake and so an appropriate penalty has been applied for this.

And with all that, we are finished with Abu Dhabi and we are officially at the half way point of Season 15. Welcome to our debutants, Joe Hansell & Not_Vybe, who both made their maiden SLR appearances this weekend at Yas Marina. Hopefully the first of many! That now takes the all time SLR driver total to 658.

Next up we're teeing off the back 9 as we head to the capital city of Azerbaijan for the Baku City Grand Prix, where we continue our run of hectic circuits! Here's what we can see happen in Azerbaijan next week...

... SLR Ham19 could become the first driver to hit 2200 SLR F1 points if they score 19 points.

... J Lee Menz (23rd) could reach 800 points if they score 2 points.

... Kislesko (66th) could reach 500 points if they score 25 points.

... TTM Crowding (87th) could reach 400 points if they score 21 points.

... GazzaBridger (153rd) could reach 200 points if they score 8 points.

... BlackSpartan133 (156th) could reach 200 points if they score 12 points.

... DustyBassoon244 (162nd) could reach 200 points if they score 19 points.

... OWR snoozer (221st) could reach 100 points if they score 5 points.

... Joseeeph F1 (224th) could reach 100 points if they score 8 points.

See you there!