Thomas De Bock's F1 career: 2009-20??

[tommykl]

Press release
22-year old GP2 runner-up Thomas De Bock, from Belgium, has been given two tests in F1 cars in hope of a seat for the 2009 season, for BMW Sauber and Toro Rosso.

Failing the first test by less than a second, he made the Toro Rosso test with a 1'24"587 at Monza, and was promptly offered a race contract as second driver for the next season, alongside Sebastien Bourdais.

For sure, I am happy to be racing in Formula One, as it is the pinnacle of motor-racing and any race driver's goal. But I'm not willing to take any risks, so my first aim is to beat my team-mate, especially since I am the only rookie to race this year. Still, I am very proud to be the first Belgian F1 driver since Bertrand Gachot, so I have big shoes to fill.

He will make his debut at Albert Park, for the Australian Grand Prix.

[tommykl]

Melbourne, Qualifying
Qualifying was a non-event for Thomas De Bock, who, after dismal practice sessions, only managed 18th on the grid, after wrecking his Toro Rosso at turns 1&2 just before the end of Q1.

I am quite disappointed by this result, especially since Bourdais only beat me by 2 tenths. I am sure I could have done better had I not crashed on my final flying lap. At least I won't start on the back row.

Grid
1. Mark Webber - 1:27.851
2. Sebastian Vettel - 1:28.043
3. Rubens Barrichello - 1:28.111
4. Jenson Button - 1:28.234
5. Nico Rosberg - 1:28.265
6. Felipe Massa - 1:28.484
7. Jarno Trulli - 1:28.581
8. Lewis Hamilton - 1:28.812
9. Fernando Alonso - 1:28.194
10. Timo Glock - 1:29.268
11. Nick Heidfeld - 1:29.334
12. Heikki Kovalainen - 1:29.348
13. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:29.382
14. Giancarlo Fisichella - 1:29.743
15. Robert Kubica - 1:29.829
16. Sebastien Bourdais - 1:29.914
17. Adrian Sutil - 1:30.069
18. Thomas De Bock - 1:30.122
19. Kazuki Nakajima - 1:30.290
20. Nelson Piquet - 1:30.729

[FullMetalJack]

Good luck with your career. Just one question, what game is this on?

[tommykl]

It's F12009 on the PSP. It goes to 2011 only, as the career mode lasts only 3 seasons, but I'll try to extend it by running in season mode.

[tommykl]

Melbourne, race

Lap 1
A mediocre start followed by a respectable first corner sees De Bock in 16th down into turn 3, but it becomes clear that he'll only be able to hold up other cars.

Lap 2
A wheel-to-wheel battle into turn 1 sees De Bock down in 17th, passed by his team-mate Bourdais. When De Bock attempts a pass into turn 13, Bourdais defends too aggressively, sending De Bock into the barriers, losing his front wing, damaging his back wing, and suffering a front-right puncture. De Bock pits for repairs, and comes out in 20th and last.

Lap 6
De Bock, trying to claw back a few seconds, cuts the track, and receives a drive-through penalty, emerging 23 seconds behind Piquet.

Lap 17
Webber leads Vettel, while De Bock is already 1 lap down.

Lap 19
Bourdais having just lapped De Bock, he spins off, sending out the yellows, as De Bock unlaps himself, only to be promptly given a second drive-through penalty.

Lap 26
De Bock finally comes in for his first pit stop. His pit crew takes off the hard compounds and switch them for softs. It's a safe bet that he's on a two-stop strategy, although it won't help him much.

Lap 27
De Bock is shown the blue flags at the end of the lap, before getting hit from behind, somehow earning himself a drive-through, then ramming up the backside of a BMW, turning his drive-through into a stop-and-go.

Lap 32
Just as everyone thought all hope was lost, and that De Bock was a talentless waste of time, out of the blue, he set the fastest lap of race, at 1:27.444, a whole half a second faster than anyone else, despite being 2 laps down on most of the field.

Lap 42
After an entertaining battle between De Bock and Kubica, in which De Bock had to yield everytime Kubica passed him as he was 2 laps ahead, De bock pits for the second and last time, to put on hard tyres for the final stint.

Lap 45
After cutting corners, De Bock is given yet another drive-through.

Lap 50
Rubens Barrichello retires from the race.

Race results
1. Mark Webber - 1:26:36.943
2. Nico Rosberg - +0.661
3. Sebastian Vettel - +1.897
4. Jenson Button - +27.749
5. Timo Glock - +32.145
6. Kimi Raikkonen - +1:16.1554
7. Felipe Massa - +1 lap
8. Lewis Hamilton - +1 lap
9. Fernando Alonso - +1 lap
10. Robert Kubica - +1 lap
11. Jarno Trulli - +1 lap
12. Heikki Kovalainen - +1 lap
13. Giancarlo Fisichella - +1 lap
14. Nick Heidfeld - +1 lap
15. Kazuki Nakajima - +1 lap
16. Adrian Sutil - +1 lap
17. Sebastien Bourdais - +2 laps
18. Nelson Piquet - +3 laps
19. Thomas De Bock - +3 laps
DNF. Rubens Barrichello - 50 laps

For sure this was a weekend to forget, but at least I got the fastest lap, and I gained experience in the car that should help for the next races.

[tommykl]

Sepang, qualifying
It was raining in practice, and it rained in qualifying, giving everybody a hard time to make a quick lap. De Bock had this to say during practice.

Well, this track isn't really suited to my driving style, but testing showed that the car handles quite well in wet conditions, so I guess we'll have to wait and see the end result.

De Bock ended up qualifying in 13th, while Bourdais couldn't get in a good lap, failing to make the cut.

Qualifying
1. Rubens Barrichello - 1:36.968
2. Sebastian Vettel - 1:37.015
3. Lewis Hamilton - 1:37.483
4. Jenson Button - 1:37.995
5. Jarno Trulli - 1:38.517
6. Fernando Alonso - 1:38.566
7. Robert Kubica - 1:38.965
8. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:39.113
9. Nico Rosberg - 1:39.122
10. Timo Glock - 1:39.757
11. Nick Heidfeld - 1:39.976
12. Felipe Massa - 1:41.384
13. Thomas De Bock - 1:41.697
14. Heikki Kovalainen - 1:42.807
15. Mark Webber - 1:43.099
16. Nelson Piquet - 1:43.354
17. Adrian Sutil - 1:43.739
18. Kazuki Nakajima - 1:44.067
19. Sebastien Bourdais - 1:44.518
20. Giancarlo Fisichella - 1:44.834

[Phoenix]

You're the new Australian GP ROTR

[tommykl]

You're the new Australian GP ROTR

Oh, yes I am.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Hmm... I'll include you in my fictional championship when I reach 2009 if you have me replace Heidfeld for the rest of the season. Deal?

[tommykl]

Deal.

[tommykl]

Sepang, race

It's not raining, but the track is still wet from the past days' rain. Everyone starts the race on inters.

Lap 1
A good start sees De Bock up in 6th place, only to be passed by Rosberg at turn 9. It becomes very clear that he is holding up the other cars.

Lap 2
Mark Webber retires from the race.

Lap 3
De Bock seems to have found that little bit of pace and begins to pull a small gap back to 8th place, and begins to close in on Rosberg.

Lap 5
To the general amazement of everyone in the paddock, De Bock gets the tow from Rosberg on the pit straight and passes him on the outside ito turn 1, finding himself in 6th! Rosberg tries to take his place back at turn 9, De Bock's weak spot, only to run out of road, sending out the yellows.

Lap 6
De Bock amazed everyone yet again by pulling the exact same overtaking maneuvre on Kimi Raikkonen, to find himself in the top 5 for the first time. Then, the rain came.

Lap 10
Suffering on used inters, Alonso is now breathing down De Bock's neck, waiting for a mistake from the Belgian.

Lap 12
The mistake eventually came, and Alonso went through at turn 9, quickly pulling out a big gap. This left De Bock in 6th place.

Lap 15
Jenson Button pits from 4th place and rejoins right behind De Bock, who is really struggling, waiting for his pitstop. After making a mistake at the penultimate, corner, De Bock is in 7th...

Lap 16
...but not for long, as De Bock spins off at turn 1, ending up 8th, right in front of his team-mate, Bourdais. This race was turning into a nightmare for De Bock. Bourdais then spins off at turn 9, but now Heidfeld takes up the challenge.

Lap 17
Heidfeld passes De Bock at turn 1. By now, De Bock can only wait for his scheduled stop, around lap 18. Bourdais passes him before the end of the lap.

Lap 18
Rosberg passes De Bock at turn 1. As if it couldn't get any worse, De Bock runs wide at turn 9, not finding any grip whatsoever, before getting rammed from behind by Fisichella and Kubica, and getting slapped with a stop-and-go for his trouble! After his pitstop, De Bock is in 19th, and last.

Lap 19
De Bock serves his stop-go penalty.

Lap 23
De Bock is given a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags.

Lap 29
De Bock pits again, among everyone else, and comes out still in last place.

Lap 30
De Bock is slapped with a drive-through penalty for cutting corners.

Lap 36
After a fantastic drive, De Bock passes Adrian Sutil for 18th place.

Lap 40
Pacing himself using Giancarlo Fisichella's Force India, De Bock overtakes Nelson Piquet's Renault for 17th, 6 laps before his scheduled stop. He'll have to try to keep his tyres in shape if he doesn't want a repeat of his early race.

Lap 46
De Bock is involved in a tangle in turn 9, and gets passed by Piquet. De Bock repasses him briefly, only to get punted off by the son of the three-time world champion. De Bock takes his 3rd and final pitstop at the end of the last, and emerges in 18th place, 35 seconds behind Piquet and 9.5 seconds ahead of Sutil, with 10 laps remaining, although it's less than that for De Bock, already lapped a few times.

Lap 50
De Bock is lapping at a blistering pace. The deficit to Piquet Jr. is now just 10 seconds! That's 25 seconds in 4 laps!

Lap 52
De Bock passes Piquet on the run down to turn 9, only for Piquet to ram De Bock in the back, suffering slight rear wing damage. Piquet repasses De Bock, as Heikki Kovalainen retires from the race, leaving the Piquet and De Bock 16th and 17th respectively.

Lap 53
De Bock overcooks it in turn 1 attempting to pass Piquet, and rejoins 5 seconds behind. He cuts the gap back to 2 seconds, only to find out that the race was over for him, as he had been lapped 3 times.

Today, I think was a good race from the team, and I think I made some real progress in my driving technique. It was too bad that I didn't finish higher, as I was told my pace was brilliant on the short runs. It was obviously a mistake to run so long, as the tyres weren't resistant enough. Also, I think the stewards should ease up a bit about the penalties, because I was racing for position when the blue flags were shown, so I don't think I should have gotten so much penalties. Bottom line, I think I drove a good race, built up more experience on how to drive the car, so I'm hoping for the best going to Shanghai.

It has also been rumoured that ex-Ferrari driver Daniel Melrose will be replacing Nick Heidfeld at BMW for the remainder of the season.

Standings
1. Rubens Barrichello - 1:33:14.907
2. Lewis Hamilton - +41.805
3. Jarno Trulli - +55.968
4. Sebastian Vettel - +1:00.384
5. Fernando Alonso - +1:13.468
6. Jenson Button - +1:14.190
7. Nick Heidfeld - +1 lap
8. Felipe Massa - +1 lap
9. Timo Glock - +1 lap
10. Nico Rosberg - +2 laps
11. Kimi Raikkonen - +2 laps
12. Sebastien Bourdais - +2 laps
13. Robert Kubica - +2 laps
14. Giancarlo Fisichella - +2 laps
15. Kazuki Nakajima - +3 laps
16. Nelson Piquet - +3 laps
17. Thomas De Bock - +3 laps
18. Adrian Sutil - +3 laps
DNF. Heikki Kovalainen - 52 laps
DNF. Mark Webber - 2 laps

Driver's championship
1. Sebastian Vettel - 11 pts
2. Mark Webber - 10 pts
3. Rubens Barrichello - 10 pts
4. Lewis Hamilton - 9 pts
5. Nico Rosberg - 8 pts
6. Jenson Button - 8 pts
7. Jarno Trulli - 6 pts
8. Timo Glock - 4 pts
9. Fernando Alonso - 4 pts
10. Kimi Raikkonen - 3 pts
11. Felipe Massa - 3 pts
12. Nick Heidfeld - 2 pts

Constructor's championship
1. Red Bull - 21 pts
2. Brawn GP - 18 pts
3. Toyota - 10 pts
4. McLaren Mercedes - 9 pts
5. Williams - 8 pts
6. Ferrari - 6 pts
7. Renault - 4 pts
8. BMW Sauber - 2 pts

[AndreaModa]

Interesting race, but are you not able to make early stops and change your strategy mid-race? If you'd been able to pit and get rid of those shot inters, I imagine points would have been a possibility perhaps?

[tommykl]

Interesting race, but are you not able to make early stops and change your strategy mid-race? If you'd been able to pit and get rid of those shot inters, I imagine points would have been a possibility perhaps?

I've never tried, but it could be worth a shot. I'll try a practice race with that strategy.

[dr-baker]

Interesting race, but are you not able to make early stops and change your strategy mid-race? If you'd been able to pit and get rid of those shot inters, I imagine points would have been a possibility perhaps?

If my experience of F1 2009 is anything to go by, then no. You could pit early, but the tyres you bolt on only seem to last for as long as you originally intended them to last and no longer, resulting in an extra pit stop later in the race, or a massive fall-off in pace.

[tommykl]

I can't even pit! I come in the pitlane and simply pass my pit box without doing anything!

[dr-baker]

Whenever I have pitted early in F1 2009, it has been for a new front wing and I assumed they changed tyres as well. Clearly not then. No wonder the 'new' tyres seem not to last as long...

[AndreaModa]

Whenever I have pitted early in F1 2009, it has been for a new front wing and I assumed they changed tyres as well. Clearly not then. No wonder the 'new' tyres seem not to last as long...

That would explain it I guess!

That's a shame, it's one thing that annoys me about F1 computer games, every one leaves out one or two crucial details so you can never enjoy the 'full' racing experience. Still looking forward to how this career turns out, I reckon we could have a surprise or two on our hands a la Sebastian Vettel at Monza 08 by the end of the year

[tommykl]

Disclaimer: I posted all the results before checking my internet connection, and therefore lost all the times everyone did. The times and positions posted are all approximations.

Pre-race

Despite relatively bad results the opening 2 races, De Bock went to shanghai full of confidence.

I think I did a pretty good job in the first 2 races, but I need to improve on my early race skills, which have cost me too much in terms of results. However, this track is really suited to my driving style, so a top ten finish is not at all out of the question.

In other news, Daniel Melrose, the ex-Ferrari driver, is making his return to the paddock, replacing Nick Heidfeld at BMW Sauber.

Shanghai, qualifying
Some banzai laps put De Bock where he has never been before, confirming his practice session pace. He qualified that crapbox Toro Rosso on pole!

Grid(Times not posted, data lost)
1. Thomas De Bock
2. Jenson Button
3. Mark Webber
4. Rubens Barrichello
5. Sebastian Vettel
6. Jarno Trulli
7. Nico Rosberg
8. Timo Glock
9. Felipe Massa
10. Heikki Kovalainen
11. Fernando Alonso
12. Daniel Melrose
13. Robert Kubica
14. Kimi Raikkonen
15. Sebastien Bourdais
16. Giancarlo Fisichella
17. Adrian Sutil
18. Kazuki Nakajima
19. Lewis Hamilton
20. Nelson Piquet

So with a rookie, no points to his name and only a 16th place to show for his efforts, on pole, bring on the race!
There's your surprise, AndreaModa.

[TomWazzleshaw]

De Bock on pole... now this is going to be good

[tommykl]

Shanghai, race
Lap 1
A good start sees De Bock lead into the first corner. He leads most of the lap, only for Button to pass him on the back straight. De Bock repasses Button on the final corner, but has to run wide, earning De Bock a drive-through penalty, sending him down in 18th place.

Lap 16
At this point, De Bock is in 10th place, having successively passed Bourdais, Piquet, Hamilton, Sutil, Fisichella and Nakajima, before getting another drive-through fo running wide, leaving him in 13th place. Hamilton's retirement on lap 12, coupled with further overtakes on Piquet and Trulli's pitstop leaves De Bock 10th, but beginning to struggle on his tyres, just 7 laps from his pitstop.

Lap 19
Kubica's pitstop bumps De Bock up to 9th place.

Lap 20
More pitstops by Barrichello and Heidfeld put De Bock in 7th place.

Lap 22
1 lap before his scheduled pitstop, De Bock is given a stop-go penalty for turning into Trulli, effectively ruining his race. He decides to pit first, helping him greatly.

Lap 23
De Bock emerges in 17th, becoming 16th on Piquet's retirement. He begins to get lapped by the leaders.

Lap 24
De Bock emerges from the pits in 18th and last, just as Giancarlo Fisichella retires from the race, leaving De Bock in 17th.

Lap 27
After a magnificent comeback drive, De Bock passes his teammate Sebastien Bourdais at the hairpin, putting him in 16th position.

Lap 30
Mark Webber pits, leaving De Bock in 15th position, just past the halfway point. However, concerns begin to rise about the length of his final stint.

Lap 31
De Bock passes Autil, but nudges him off the track, earning himself a warning from the stewards.

Lap 32
De Bock attempts to pass Timo Glock at the hairpin, but is slowed down by Nakajima. To avoid getting another stop-go penalty, De bock slows down and lets Glock through, only to take advantage of a mistake made by the German to take 13th place.

Lap 33
De Bock takes advantage of Nakajima's slipstream, and takes 12th position!

Lap 36
Alonso's pitstop puts De Bock back up in 11th position.

Lap 38
De Bock makes his final and emerges in 16th position, ahead of his teammate Bourdais.

Lap 39
De Bock takes advantage of Sutil's slow pace to pass Sutil and unlap himself from Kimi Raikkonen.

Lap 42
Mark Webber makes his final pitstop, leaving De Bock in 14th position.

Lap 43
Timo Glock pits for the 3rd and final time, leaving De Bock in 13th.

Lap 44
De Bock overtakes Nakajima, but turns into him, earning him a stop-go penalty, ruining his race once more. Before coming in, he overtakes Trulli for 11th place and tries to drive as fast as he can to put a gap between him and his rivals, but to no avail, as he emerges in 16th place once more.

Lap 47
De Bock does the same move again on Sutil, to take 15th place.

Lap 51
De Bock takes the slipstream of Mark Webber's Red Bull, and passes the sister car at the hairpin, for 14th position. De Bock looked set for a career best finish.

Lap 54
A struggling De Bock is passed by Webber at the hairpin, but he repasses the Red Bull at the final corner.

Lap 55
Heikki Kovalainen retires on the final lap, letting De Bock go smoothly, but holding Webber up, leaving De Bock in a comfortable 13th place, just before finishing the race.

So, after yet another eventful race from De Bock, the jury was out on his performance. Thomas himself had this to say.

I was very happy with the car today, it seemed perfectly well set up. I think I'm still too aggressive when I drive, and that earned me quite a few penalties, and I understand what I've done wrong. Once again, also, the strategy didn't work out so well, and I lost out a bit due to this. I also had a bit of trouble at the end, because I had to look after my engine. It was smoking towards the end due to the excessive speeds when slipstreaming down the back straight, damaging the engine.

And, showing he has learned a bit from his teammate:

I could have avoided some penalties, but the sun hit my glasses, making my view very poor down the back straight. Not that you can see a lot through the rear-view mirrors anyway.

In other news, a surprising Nico Rosberg took his first win, and Williams' first since Brazil '04! Daniel Melrose also scored points on his return, coming home 7th ahead of his teammate.

Race results
1. Nico Rosberg - 1:31:10.981
2. Sebastian Vettel - +2.398
3. Jenson Button - +3.762
4. Felipe Massa - +11.266
5. Kimi Raikkonen - +47.741
6. Rubens Barrichello - +1:10.121
7. Daniel Melrose - +1:19.388
8. Robert Kubica - +1:30.001
9. Fernando Alonso - +1:31.310
10. Jarno Trulli - +1 lap
11. Timo Glock - +1 lap
12. Kazuki Nakajima - +1 lap
13. Thomas De Bock - +1 lap
14. Mark Webber - +1 lap
15. Sebastien Bourdais - +1 lap
16. Adrian Sutil - +1 lap
DNF. Heikki Kovalainen - 55 laps
DNF. Giancarlo Fisichella - 24 laps
DNF. Nelson Piquet - 23 laps
DNF. Lewis Hamilton - 12 laps

Driver's championship
1. Sebastian Vettel - 19 pts
2. Nico Rosberg - 18 pts
3. Jenson Button - 14 pts
4. Rubens Barrichello - 13 pts
5. Mark Webber - 10 pts
6. Lewis Hamilton - 9 pts
7. Felipe Massa - 8 pts
8. Kimi Raikkonen - 7 pts
9. Jarno Trulli - 6 pts
10. Fernando Alonso - 4 pts
11. Timo Glock - 4 pts
12. Nick Heidfeld - 2 pts
13. Daniel Melrose - 2 pts
14. Robert Kubica - 1 pt

Constructor's championship
1. Red Bull - 29 pts
2. Brawn GP - 27 pts
3. Williams - 18 pts
4. Ferrari - 15 pts
5. Toyota - 10 pts
6. McLaren Mercedes - 9 pts
7. BMW Sauber - 5 pts
8. Renault - 4 pts

So, off the F1 circus went to Bahrain, where the Toro Rosso team hope to score their first points of the season. Expect De Bock to become their first driver soon enough. He's got the talent and the morale, it's only a matter of time before it shows in the results.

[Phoenix]

What the flailing heck are you doing to earn so many penalties, man?

[tommykl]

What the flailing heck are you doing to earn so many penalties, man?

You get penalties for running wide and gaining an advantage, cutting corners too much, hitting people and ignoring blue flags. With the penalties set to "severe", it's pretty obvious.

[dr-baker]

What the flailing heck are you doing to earn so many penalties, man?

You get penalties for running wide and gaining an advantage, cutting corners too much, hitting people and ignoring blue flags. With the penalties set to "severe", it's pretty obvious.

I often get several penalties in F1 2009 for PSP as well - even when not on the severe setting, I can be guarenteed a pit-lane penalty on the first lap of any race, which normally screws me up.

[tommykl]

Pre-race
After his pole and promising race in Shanghai, De Bock and the Toro Rosso team went to Bahrain full of confidence.

Sure, my results have been very average, but just looking at what happened during the races show what's happening in order for me to end up there. I'm just hoping I can make less mistakes, and have a race simply devoid of brain fade.

Qualifying
It took some time for De Bock to get up to speed, while the Brawn team immediately showed itself as the dominant team at the track. De Bock once again made it to Q3, and held the pole for most of the session, only for Button to surpass De Bock's time with a last-minute lap, while De Bock's teammate Bourdais only managed 16th place.

1. Jenson Button - 1:30.477
2. Thomas De Bock - 1:31.467
3. Rubens Barrichello - 1:32.762
4. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:32.817
5. Sebastian Vettel - 1:32.940
6. Felipe Massa - 1:33.568
7. Mark Webber - 1:34.083
8. Nico Rosberg - 1:34.132
9. Lewis Hamilton - 1:35.132
10. Timo Glock - 1:35.628
11. Fernando Alonso - 1:32.383
12. Heikki Kovalainen - 1:32.647
13. Jarno Trulli - 1:32.971
14. Kazuki Nakajima - 1:33.078
15. Robert Kubica - 1:34.150
16. Sebastien Bourdais - 1:32.994
17. Daniel Melrose - 1:33.066
18. Giancarlo Fisichella - 1:33.469
19. Adrian Sutil - 1:33.674
20. Nelson Piquet - 1:33.737

[tommykl]

Bahrain, race

Another promising qualifying session saw De Bock start from the front row once more, but next to him was the fastest man of the weekend, Jenson Button. De Bock knew a good start would be vital for his overall race.

Lap 1
After an average start, De Bock ducked into Button’s slipstream going into turn 1, and winning the braking battle. Barrichello followed De Bock through, before proceeding to back everyone up.

Lap 2
De Bock nearly gets punted off the track by Barrichello, but keeps control of the car and slides through turn 1, keeping his lead momentarily.

Lap 8
De Bock starts to pull away, while Barrichello is the only driver able to keep up with him. Soon enough, Timo Glock also joins the leading pack.

Lap 10
De Bock’s car experiences engine problems, and retires from what was his most promising race so far, leaving his points tally at 0.

So, yet again an opportunity was lost. People knew it was only a matter of time before De Bock could show his true skills and pick up a point, but a disappointing showing in these first 4 races isn’t exactly the best way to motivate a young driver.

I am happy with my race, I was going well, defending my lead from Barrichello, and I was confident in a points-paying position. Once again, luck did not fall my way, as my engine blew. At least, I’ve learned to control myself whilst in a good position, and I’m still hoping for points at the next race!

1. Jenson Button – 1:26:49.966
2. Rubens Barrichello - +9.933
3. Nico Rosberg - +35.513
4. Felipe Massa - +37.309
5. Sebastian Vettel - +37.361
6. Lewis Hamilton - +42.803
7. Mark Webber - +52.645
8. Kimi Raikkonen - +59.759
9. Jarno Trulli - +1:02.084
10. Heikki Kovalainen - +1:12.134
11. Fernando Alonso – +1:29.738
12. Robert Kubica - +1:30.075
13. Timo Glock - +1:30.478
14. Sébastien Bourdais - +1 lap
15. Daniel Melrose - +1 lap
16. Adrian Sutil - +1 lap
17. Giancarlo Fisichella - +1 lap
18. Kazuki Nakajima - +1 lap
19. Nelson Piquet - +1 lap
DNF. Thomas De Bock – 10 laps

Driver's championship
1. Nico Rosberg – 24 pts
2. Jenson Button – 24 pts
3. Sebastian Vettel – 23 pts
4. Rubens Barrichello – 21 pts
5. Felipe Massa – 13 pts
6. Mark Webber – 12 pts
7. Lewis Hamilton – 12 pts
8. Kimi Raikkonen – 8 pts
9. Jarno Trulli – 6 pts
10. Fernando Alonso – 4 pts
11. Timo Glock – 4 pts
12. Nick Heidfeld – 2 pts
13. Daniel Melrose – 2 pts
14. Robert Kubica – 1 pt

Constructor's championship
1. Brawn GP – 45 pts
2. Red Bull – 35 pts
3. Williams – 24 pts
4. Ferrari – 21 pts
5. McLaren Mercedes – 12 pts
6. Toyota – 10 pts
7. BMW Sauber – 5 pts
8. Renault – 4 pts

So, with 2 front row positions, including a pole, and now 11 laps in the lead of a GP (breaking Winkelhock’s record of most laps led without a point, surely), and 1 fastest lap, yet no points, off De Bock went to the Spanish Grand Prix, with high hopes of another good showing.

[tommykl]

Toro Rosso press release

“We are not very happy with De Bock’s performances lately, and so we expect a good showing at the next race in Spain. Failing that, we will have to reconsider his role in the team.”

Discuss

[TomWazzleshaw]

Toro Rosso press release

“We are not very happy with De Bock’s performances lately, and so we expect a good showing at the next race in Spain. Failing that, we will have to reconsider his role in the team.”

Discuss

Well considering I've put you into the Red Bull Development program back in 05 they must be disappointed with the results but the speed is there so I can't see a reason for them to fire you.

[tommykl]

You'd be surprised. They actually sent me an e-mail with that precise message.

[TomWazzleshaw]

You'd be surprised. They actually sent me an e-mail with that precise message.

There's Red Bull's driver management for you

[tommykl]

You'd be surprised. They actually sent me an e-mail with that precise message.

There's Red Bull's driver management for you

All that because I don't speak German enough

[tommykl]

Pre-race

The Toro Rosso team went to Spain confident for a points-paying position this time around. In De Bock’s words,

We’ve been having bad luck the past 4 races. It can’t last much longer.

Barcelona, Qualifying

Once again, qualifying was a walk in the park for Thomas De bock’s Toro Rosso. He set his second pole of the season, easily beating Sebastian Vettel. Without any problems that usually plagued his early race, points should be no problem.

1. Thomas De Bock – 1:22.994
2. Sebastian Vettel – 1:23.631
3. Nico Rosberg – 1:23.836
4. Jenson Button – 1:24.056
5. Mark Webber – 1:24.112
6. Rubens Barrichello – 1:24.115
7. Felipe Massa – 1:24.342
8. Lewis Hamilton – 1:24.474
9. Jarno Trulli – 1:24.637
10. Kimi Raikkonen – 1:24.997
11. Daniel Melrose – 1:24.962
12. Fernando Alonso – 1:25.090
13. Timo Glock – 1:25.191
14. Heikki Kovalainen – 1:25.318
15. Sebatien Bourdais – 1:25.818
16. Adrian Sutil – 1:25.731
17. Robert Kubica – 1:25.739
18. Giancarlo Fisichella – 1:25.938
19. Kazuki Nakajima – 1:26.948
20. Nelson Piquet – 1:26.347

Race

Lap 1
A good start sees De Bock pull off a 1 second gap back to Vettel. It becomes clear, though, that he would not go any further.

Lap 5
After defending his lead a bit too aggressively, De Bock earns a drive-through penalty for corner cutting, demoting him to 16th position.

Lap 6
It becomes clear that De Bock’s favorite overtaking spot is in the slipstream on the front straight. He passes Nakajima at the same time as Alonso’s pit stop, leaving him in 14th position.

Lap 10
De bock has a small spin in turn 1. No consequences, but he loses a lot of time.

Lap 16
Just before pitting, De Bock passes Kubica at the pit lane entry, as they were both pitting, ending up in 13th place. However, a slow stop drops De Bock behind Kubica, demoting him to 18th position.

Lap 18
Fisichella and Nakajima both pit, leaving De bock back in 16th position. Just one lap later, Raikkonen and Barrichello pit, so De Bock is in 14th place.

Lap 21
De Bock finally catches and repasses Kubica into turn 1, leaving him in 13th place. The Toro Rosso is now flying.

Lap 23
First of all, De Bock passes Daniel Melrose in turn 1, just as Hamilton, Webber and Bourdais pit, leaving De Bock in 9th place.

Lap 24
In the same manner, Kovalainen and Piquet both pit, just as De Bock passes Timo Glock, leaving him in 6th place!

Lap 27
De Bock passes Felipe Massa, to move up in 5th position.

Lap 31
Unable to shake Massa, De Bock spins, dropping him to 7th, just before repassing Glock for 6th place.

Lap 32
De Bock makes his 2nd stop, leaving him in 11th place.

Lap 33
De Bock continues to make his way up the field, passing his teammate Bourdais for 10th.

Lap 36
The passing continues, and this time, Massa becomes De Bock’s victim, as he moves up to 9th place.

Lap 39
Glock pits again, leaving De Bock in 8th, and back in the points.

Lap 42
De bock passes Kovalainen and Mark Webber in the same fantastic move, to get him up in 6th place once more.

Lap 43
This time, it’s Lewis Hamilton’s turn to be passed by Thomas De bock’s charging Toro Rosso, just as the same De Bock sets the fastest lap of the whole weekend!

Lap 45
Trulli makes his final pit stop, while De Bock passes Rosberg on the very next lap, leaving him in 3rd position!

Lap 48
Just before making his final pit stop, De Bock passes Button, and briefly Vettel for the lead, but Vettel repasses De Bock just before the pit entry, as De Bock makes his last stop in 2nd place, and emerging in 4th place!

Lap 58
However, this 4th place was not to last long, as the young Belgian passes Nico Rosberg, but touches the German while passing him, earning him a stop-go penalty!

Lap 59
De Bock serves his penalty, and emerges in 4th place once more, seemingly until the end of the race.

Lap 63
But it was not to be, as De Bock’s Toro Rosso started to experience engine problems just 3 laps from the end, shown by a huge loss of straight-line speed. However, as De Bock mentioned on the radio,

I have to finish this race!

Lap 64
De Bock is powerless as Button passes for 4th position.

Lap 65
This time, Webber makes the same move stick as well on De Bock, demoting the Belgian to 6th, with an 11-second lead over Kovalainen, with less than 2 laps to go. However, the Finn soon closed that gap, and was just behind De Bock going into the last lap.

Lap 66
De Bock was determined to keep Kovalainen behind him, as well as 6th position. However, De Bock span coming out of turn 10, dropping him behind Kovalainen. He tried hard to catch up, and could have done so, were it not for a lapped Kubica to block him for a corner. By the time De Bock had passed him, it was too late.

So, a points finish capped off a brilliant, but once again luckless race. De Bock had this to say after the result.

Once again, the car was well set up for the track, and we ran really quickly throughout the weekend. Honestly, I think that without the penalties, deserved, but a bit harsh, or the engine problems at the end of the race, I could definitely have finished on the podium. Had I simply not spun on the final lap, I would even have leapfrogged Melrose, Heidfeld and Kovalainen in the championship. Still, points are a welcome reward, in what I think was our best race yet. I am achieving my objective, beating Sebastien. However, I don’t think the team still view my performances really well right now.

This last sentence started a frenzy of rumours about a performance clause in De Bock’s contract.

Race results
1. Sebastian Vettel – 1:35:09.239
2. Nico Rosberg – +19.251
3. Jarno Trulli – +28.024
4. Jenson Button – +50.190
5. Mark Webber – +1:00.034
6. Heikki Kovalainen – +1:19.474
7. Thomas De Bock – +1:23.534
8. Felipe Massa – +1 lap
9. Lewis Hamilton – +1 lap
10. Timo Glock – +1 lap
11. Daniel Melrose – +1 lap
12. Sebatien Bourdais – +1 lap
13. Rubens Barrichello – +1 lap
14. Kimi Raikkonen – +1 lap
15. Robert Kubica – +1 lap
16. Kazuki Nakajima – +1 lap
17. Nelson Piquet – +2 laps
18. Fernando Alonso – +2 laps
19. Giancarlo Fisichella – +2 laps
20. Adrian Sutil – +2 laps

Driver’s championship
1. Sebastian Vettel – 33 pts
2. Nico Rosberg – 32 pts
3. Jenson Button – 29 pts
4. Rubens Barrichello – 21 pts
5. Mark Webber – 16 pts
6. Felipe Massa – 14 pts
7. Lewis Hamilton – 12 pts
8. Jarno Trulli – 12 pts
9. Kimi Raikkonen – 8 pts
10. Fernando Alonso – 4 pts
11. Timo Glock – 4 pts
12. Heikki Kovalainen – 3 pts
13. Nick Heidfeld – 2 pts
14. Daniel Melrose – 2 pts
15. Thomas De Bock – 2 pts
16. Robert Kubica – 1 pt

Constructor’s championship
1. Brawn GP - 50 pts
2. Red Bull – 49 pts
3. Williams - 32 pts
4. Ferrari – 22 pts
5. Toyota – 16 pts
6. McLaren Merc – 15 pts edes
7. BMW Sauber – 5 pts
8. Renault – 4 pts
9. Toro Rosso – 2 pts

So, with some welcome points in the bag, the Toro Rosso team head to Monaco, for De Bock’s biggest challenge yet.

[TomWazzleshaw]

I swear you've inherited Webber's world famous bad luck.

[Phoenix]

I've heard the team is very unhappy with Bourdais, and being this weekend the Spanish GP, rumours around him being replaced by Jaime Alguersuari, which is the 3rd driver, have arisen. What do you have to say on this?

[tommykl]

I've heard the team is very unhappy with Bourdais, and being this weekend the Spanish GP, rumours around him being replaced by Jaime Alguersuari, which is the 3rd driver, have arisen. What do you have to say on this?

I haven't been aware of thid, although this wouldn't surprise one bit. It would be sad for Sebastien to leave, as I think he is a great guy. While Jaime is also a nice guy, my opinion is to at least wait until next season.

[tommykl]

Pre-race
Thomas De Bock's first visit at Monaco could go either way. Either he'll get crash-happy, or he'll stay calm and concentrated throughout.

Well, this is the first time I drive at Monaco in a Formula 1 car, so it's going to be difficult to get up to a good speed. I seriously hope that I can get a decent result and score points once more.

Monaco, qualifying
After a shaky start with a lot of smashed nosecones, De Bock managed to easily pass Q1 with the fastest time, a fraction of a tenth faster than Mark Webber. In Q2, De Bock becomes the first driver to drop under the 1:19 mark, before promptly spinning into the barriers, but nothing that the team couldn't fix before Q3. And fix it they did, as a quite simply stunning lap saw him go 1.5 seconds quicker than he'd ever gone before, 2.4 seconds quicker than anyone else!

1. Thomas De Bock - 1:16.950
2. Jenson Button - 1:19.322
3. Mark Webber - 1:19.448
4. Felipe Massa - 1:20.023
5. Rubens Barrichello - 1:20.027
6. Jarno Trulli - 1:20.047
7. Nico Rosberg - 1:20.204
8. Sebastian Vettel - 1:20.230
9. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:20.397
10. Fernando Alonso - 1:20.950
11. Lewis Hamilton - 1:20.793
12. Heikki Kovalainen - 1:20.897
13. Timo Glock - 1:21.031
14. Robert Kubica - 1:21.139
15. Daniel Melrose - 1:21.380
16. Sebastien Bourdais - 1:21.341
17. Giancarlo Fisichella - 1:21.474
18. Adrian Sutil - 1:21.645
19. Kazuki Nakajima - 1:21.707
20. Nelson Piquet - 1:22.114

[Phoenix]

Are you playing in Easy?

[tommykl]

Are you playing in Easy?

No, in hard...

[Phoenix]

Are you playing in Easy?

No, in hard...

It was just because it was difficult to understand how a rookie driver could be more than two seconds faster in qualifying than Button in the Brawn with a Toro Rosso.

[tommykl]

Are you playing in Easy?

No, in hard...

It was just because it was difficult to understand how a rookie driver could be more than two seconds faster in qualifying than Button in the Brawn with a Toro Rosso.

In this game, whatever the difficulty, the car always has performance levels equal to every car in the field. The AI cars are just split in the order they usually were that season. Besides, I usually crash a lot. Hence, the long gap between quali and the race.

[tommykl]

I found out I couldn't change the time it takes to finish a GP, and couldn't be bothered to continue. Plus, I just bought F1 2010 on the Xbox, so...
Toro Rosso press release
After a lot of thinking and exploring other issues, we have decided to make an immediate decision concerning our drivers. At this point in the weekend, we are withdrawing both our cars from the race, and are replacing Thomas De Bock with Sebastien Buemi with immediate effect. Our decision is final.