The F1 Career of Connor O'Lynch (2005-?)

[Forti]

Motorsport Manager? Where did you see that? Anyway,
Northern Irishman Connor O’Lynch will make his F1 debut for Jordan in 2005 alongside Tiago Monteiro, after testing for them last year, and winning the 2004 F3000 championship.
2005 will be run with F1 05, using the individual Race Weekend mode, taking the place of Karthikeyan.
Very poetic considering what GPR just cooked up.

I qualified a reasonable 15th in my debut, ahead of Tiago, Webber, the Minardis, and Trulli who failed to set a time in Q2 and was forced to the back of the grid thanks to 2005’s weird qualifying format.

Tiago retired on lap 1 with an engine failure, while I was up in P7 by sector 2. On lap 5, I passed Sato for P6. I nearly passed Raikkonen for 5th on lap 8, but spun back down to 8th. I was back in 6th by lap 12. With Raikkonen pitting I was in 5th on lap 13. With Alonso pitting, I took P4 on lap 15. Fisichella pitted on lap 19 and I took 3rd. I took my first stop on lap 23, exiting in 6th. With other frontrunners pitting in, I was back in P4 on lap 30 and up to P2 on lap 35. I had my second stop on lap 39, emerging 3rd just ahead of Alonso.
Fisichella and I locked horns on lap 45, ending up with me off the track and Fisi and Rubens overtaking me. I was in 5th now. With Barrichello making his last stop, I clawed back 4th. And when Fisichella pitted a lap later, I was back in third. Nick Heidfeld’s engine conked out on lap 51. Another sbinalla at the start of S3 took me down to P4, but I held that position until the end.

ROTR: BMW Williams - a weekend to forget for them, even when considering their form from last year.
IIDOTR: Connor O'Lynch - despite some mistakes costing him some positions, a phenomenal debut regardless.





Standings: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

[Forti]

In Malaysia, I had a big reality check (changed the difficulty from Medium to Hard), and started 17th ahead of Albers, Tiago, and Heidfeld who didn’t set a time in Q1. As I always do, I scythed through the field during the first lap and made it to 7th by lap 2. I ran wide on lap 8 and fell to 9th, but recovered to 5th by overtaking people who pitted. Friesacher’s Minardi broke down on lap 23. On lap 30, I went in too hot on the last corner and collided with Button, but we were alright. I had a steering malfunction (read: controller disconnect) on lap 33, right before I pitted. I left the pits in P11. On lap 44, it began to pour, Sato broke down, and I spun around. Button retired on lap 54, and I loosened my front wing as I tried to let Alonso through. Though my front wing was still attached and not worthy of a pitstop, the damaged Jordan struggled in the rain and I fell to 16th.
ROTR: Connor O’Lynch
IIDOTR: Nobody

In Bahrain, skill issues and a heavy fuel load in Q2 made me start in 19th, only ahead of Albers. Naturally, I compensated for this during the race, making it up to P9 by lap 2, courtesy of divebombs. I engaged in an intense battle with Jenson Button and later Mark Webber. Stayed there for 10ish laps, until lap 15, when I got punted and spun around. Bizarrely, the stewards deemed me at fault and gave me a 10 second slowdown dropping me to 13th. Klien’s Red Bull broke down on lap 27. Lap 33, I pitted, down in 12th. After clawing back into 9th, I was punted AGAIN, this time by Trulli. Schumacher’s Ferrari was up in smoke by lap 55. I finished 8th, bagging another point for Jordan.
ROTR: BAR
IIDOTR: Connor O’Lynch

Liuzzi replaced Klien for the next 4 races. At San Marino, my lack of experience at Imola was quite apparent in qualifying. I recovered to P11 by lap 2 though. After trundling in P15 for 20ish laps, I pitted on lap 36. The track became wet that lap, but the crew still kept me on the dry compound. I was in P19 after my first stop, and spun around. I entered the pits again the lap after, but as I forgot to request another stop, it was just a drive-through. On lap 38, I finally got the intermediates, now 40 seconds behind P19. It all ended on lap 41 with a crash at the last corner. Mark Webber retired after me, and the BARs were disqualified for being underweight.
ROTR: Connor O’Lynch
IIDOTR: Nobody

[Forti]

The BARs were banned from attending the Spanish GP. I qualified 14th, ahead of Tiago, Albers, Alonso, and MSC, with the latter two failing to set a time in one of the qualifying sessions. This meant that Barrichello would take pole. Made it to P6 by the start of lap 2, and stayed there for quite a while. Friesacher let off right in front of me on the main straight when I was lapping him. His Cosworth engine failed, as it turned out. I couldn’t avoid him, and he suddenly swerved to the left when it was too late. He spun around and was out for good, while I escaped without damage or penalties. I entered the pitlane on lap 39. Exited in 8th. Brought the Jordan home in 7th. Schumacher progressed from 18th to 5th.

(BARs were excluded from the raw results)
ROTR: Patrick Friesacher
IIDOTR: Michael Schumacher

[Forti]

In Monaco, I qualified 16th out of 18. Fisichella took pole while Massa impressively lined up in 2nd. Engine issues meant that I was out before the race started. Mid-race rain led to the front row starters crashing out, while a masterclass strategy allowed Alonso to score his first podium of the season. Coulthard took 4th to score Red Bull’s first points, and Friesacher also excelled with a P11.

Standings: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

[Forti]

BAR returned from its two-race ban, but are on very thin ice with the FIA. If they are caught with an illegal car again (roll 1-10 out of 100 after any race), they will be banned for the entire season and excluded from the championship results.

After skill issues in Q2, I qualified in 18th. Some emulation bug meant that my car sound wasn’t present, so I just started a new Instant Race. But F1 05’s handy custom grid feature allowed me to set it to what it was before.

A divebomb-aided start had me up in 4th by the first few laps. With Montoya and MSC pitting on lap 18 and 19, I was up to 2nd. Pitted on lap 20, leaving me in 10th at first. Recovered to 5th by lap 24, and by lap 35, was in 2nd once more. Pitted for a second time on that lap, exiting in 6th. Having recovered to 4th, it began to rain on lap 42. Requested a pit-in, but when I boxed, they didn’t put on inters. When I pitted again the next lap, they did, thankfully. I was now in 6th, and finished there to cap off the weekend.

BAR rolled an 80 after the race and are safe... for now.

[Forti]

Fisichella took pole. Having qualified in 15th, I jumped up to 5th by lap 4. After staying around there for the whole race, rain began to fall around lap 38, and I boxed for inters from P4 on lap 41. I remained in 4th as I left the pits. Raikkonen broke down on lap 49. A punterino from behind took me down to 6th. Webber passed me on lap 63 and I was now in 7th. My form further wavered, as I went wide at L’Epingle and fell to 8th, where I finished. Renault had finally got into gear, and took a dominant 1-2, with Alonso taking the flag.

[Forti]

Much more effort is being put into the presentation of this race than usual, because this is a significant event in Connor’s career. :binotto:

Friday, 17 June 2005

Ralf Schumacher crashes his Toyota due to his Michelin tyres failing. He is injured, and will be replaced by Ricardo Zonta for the remainder of the weekend.

Saturday, 18 June 2005

Kimi Raikkonen takes pole for the Michelin-shod McLaren.
Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello line up fifth and seventh for the Bridgestone-running Ferrari.
Connor O’Lynch and Tiago Monteiro qualify 17th and 19th for Jordan, also using Bridgestones.
The last of the Bridgestone teams, Minardi, take 18th and 20th with Patrick Friesacher and Christijan Albers.
Michelin claim that they do not know why their tyres blew out. They also say that their customers will not be allowed to race on the tyres initially used, planning to bring in a new set of more durable rubber.
Proposals to reduce speed at turn 13, the culprit of the tyre issues, are made, like a chicane.

Sunday, 19 June 2005

The FIA (Ferrari International Assistance) refuse the proposals made the day before, despite support from Jordan, Minardi, and all seven Michelin teams.
With the FIA not budging, Jordan and Minardi decide that they will join Ferrari on the grid.

The Ferraris pull away easily. Fans are pissed, either leaving or throwing trash onto the course in anger...
...but on lap 23, another car joins the Michelins in the pits :implications:
Michael Schumacher’s F2005 has broken down and is out of the race!
Barrichello now has a massive lead over the next car behind, and is about to lap Albers.
But the Dutchman locks up as he is trying to let the remaining Ferrari through, and he goes straight into the path of Barrichello!
The number 18 Jordan comes home in first. Connor O’Lynch IS A FORMULA 1 RACE WINNER!
A few moments later, his teammate Tiago Monteiro finishes second to secure Jordan’s first 1-2 since the 1998 Belgian GP.
There's no Ferraris left, so you know what that means
Patrick Friesacher takes third place to achieve his and Minardi’s first podium!
A lap behind, Christijan Albers finishes last again, but last is fourth this time.
The podium finishers were delighted, unlike the fans.
But Albers’ crash saw accusations hurled at Paul Stoddart for race fixing. To the FIA, the lock-up was more than just a lock-up, and wouldn’t stand unpunished. Stoddart has just left the stewards' office... and Minardi's podium and 4th still stand!
But the FIA are not happy with Albers, who will be banned for a race and subbed by Narain Karthikeyan at the French GP
Lastly, the BAR-NG is deemed not necessary for this race.

Standings: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

[Forti]

After the US GP, it was back to relatively normal service. Barrichello took pole. I qualified in 18th, ahead of Tiago in 20th and Karthikeyan in 19th, who was subbing for the benched Albers. Outqualifying someone on merit was a good start to Narain’s career, and could see Christijan ousted. I zoomed into 6th on the first lap. Stole 5th on lap 4. Massa broke down on lap 8. Went up to 4th on lap 16 after MSC’s first stop,into 3rd with Alonso pitting, and as high as second when Montoya boxed. My stop happened on lap 31, and I exited the pitlane in 4th, which became third following Nando and Webber’s next stops. Montoya pitted afterwards, placing me in 2nd. I stayed there and defended hard to take second from MSC.