February 10, 2025

FF1M

Fantasy Formula 1 Management

Portuguese GP : Preview

The final European round of the season sees FF1M revisit Portimao for its sophomore race. After receiving a positive reception for its inaugural outing with its flowing corners that go up and down as well as left and right, it is looking for a much more permanent place on the calendar having taken over from Estoril. Last season’s race was one of strategy versus raw speed with Lewis Hamilton using a two-stop strategy to gain track position over the three-stoppers, except for Nico Hulkenberg, who drove the race of his career before having victory cruelly taken away thanks to gearbox problems.

Tornado “shatter the morale” again

The previous race at Monza more than suggests that both championships are indeed realistically over as Tornado once again schooled the opposition in a performance described by Shake ‘n’ Bake as “morale shattering.” It was Vaino Kimminen who led home teammate Romain Grosjean, and had it not been for Sebastian Vettel’s 6th place, the Teams Championship would’ve already been settled. As it happens, Mitchell now have to finish 1-2 in the remaining five races to stand any chance of their maiden Teams Championship win. Any other outcome would result in Tornado winning an unprecedented three in a row.

The Monza race was almost handed to Tornado on a platter with most drivers who had started in front of Kimminen and Grosjean running into problems. Nolan Bryant had led the way in the early stages before suffering an engine failure, Fernando Alonso then inherited the lead and was looking good on a one-stop strategy before binning it at the first Lesmo, and Catharina Caracciola suffered her own engine failure whilst running ahead of Kimminen with Judd in general being stressed too hard (None of their four entries had finished… poor Stoffel Vandoorne). Had none of those three retired, Kimminen might’ve still won, but Alonso would’ve made things much more difficult for the Finn in the closing stages. The high attrition rate resulted in CBA Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen taking his first podium of the season, a well deserved result, but also a lucky one as he smashed into an errant wheel left by Valtteri Bottas in the opening stages but somehow got away without damage.

Paddock News

  • Although Portimao has been confirmed on next season’s calendar, there is a rumour going round that it may be unexpectedly dropped for reasons not yet identified by the AFIA. Should it need a replacement to keep the 2018 season at 18 races, then likely candidates include a return to the Nurburgring, a second Spanish round at either Barcelona or Jerez, the latter of which was considered to replace Aragon before the calendar was announced, or a debut race at Zandvoort, location for this season’s mid-season test.
  • In engine news, Judd have taken their fourth and final upgrade of the season with new ICE, ERS, and CE components. Any further upgrades before the end of the season will result in a qualifying penalty for FJR, Judd’s parent team, and FJR team boss James Brickles hasn’t ruled out the possibility.

Can Tornado break their Portuguese curse?

Despite their dominance, Tornado have reasons to be worried going into this race simply because it’s Portugal. In seven attempts at both Estoril and Portimao, they haven’t reached the podium once which considering their record of 219 podium finishes, seems astonishing. Team boss Tobias Wolff is more than keen to rectify that anomaly as he has declared that he is after Shake ‘n’ Bake’s points record of 230, set back in 2009.

Support Races

FF2M will be supporting FF1M for its 10th meeting of the season, and a poor performance for championship leader Chuck Bucknum at Monza has allowed Charles Leclerc to close the gap to 22 points.

Coverage Details

Race Highlights will be available on Sunday January 12th. Time Tbc.

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