I have to return some videotapes

2011 FiHS F1 World Championship
May 6 - Round 5 : Turkey

With only two hours of sleep after yet another drinking binge (at Carlo Genilo's birthday party), I was totally hungover for this one. A quick shower and a big mug of coffee helped a bit, but I was not able to run some warmup laps during the practice session before the race. I wasn't even able to put in a qualifying lap and started in my customary last place. Somehow I couldn't run the big Turn 8 flat-out like I should have, but I brought it home without a scratch and that's five consecutive rounds with zero incident for me.

J Kim in the Red Bull started in Pole Position and put in a strong drive to finish 4th.

StevenM, subbing for JoshJ in the Red Bull, got tangled up in the first corner with a certain incident prone Lotus and again with MarkG of McLaren. He recovered and finished in 2nd place by managing his tire wear and being patient while slicing through the field.

RacerScott uncharacteristically missed a braking point and narrowly avoided taking out both Ricardo Gonzalez in the Mclaren and J Kim in the Red Bull. There was no epic RS vs RG duel this time and the current champion finished 3rd.

A wild and wacky race for MarkG of Mclaren, accused of ignoring blue flags while being lapped by Dave Carney in the Virgin, and unnecessary blocking while in a fight for position with Tom101 in the Renault. I think he blew out his right front tire after missing his pitstop, and eventually got disqualified in post-race scrutineering for not submitting his tire log file.

Sebastian Scott in the Toro Rosso and Tim202 in the Renault were in a tight battle that lasted several laps, with Tim finally taking the position with a bold maneuver round the outside of a turn. Both drivers finished in the points.

Sean Higgins was running well in the Mercedes until pitstop problems compromised his race and he ended up in 14th.

Dave Carney drove superbly and finished 5th in the Virgin but sparked a brief debate after declaring the Pirelli tires were crap. I already said my piece about the tire wear issue during pre-season testing.

Newcomer Cauchy brought the Force India home in his debut race at FiHS. Good job, man.

"This was a great race for me," said Ricardo Gonzalez who won the 2011 FiHS Turkey GP in dominant fashion. J Kim tried to stay with him during the opening laps but he was clearly the fastest through Turn 8 and was never threatened.