Preparing for season start in Melbourne

After having time schedule which made me skip the test race in Istanbul Park, Preparation for Melbourne season start in next wednesday has begun. Practicing has been slowed down due slowly recovering from flue which I got over a week ago, but I am hoping to be best possible shape before the race.

Another, much more positive happening was my and my girlfriend's engagement on friday, which called a bit of celebration. :) Having nice very slow weekend at home was also thing that was needed. Quality time, without almost no time schedules at all gave some much needed time to relax and do things you usually do not have time for at all.

In first open tests I was able to find steady basic setup, which differs a bit from most of the tracks in season, due Melbourne having quite lot of grip. Only thing worrying in race is amount of fuel. Race will be 30 laps and by pushing pedal to the metal, I can live up to 14-15 laps per stint, it's going to be a bit close call and there's not much room for pitstop tactics. This is not problem unless something very unexpected happens, causing need of pitting early.

With knowledge of 4 previous seasons from here I expect the pole position being around 2 minutes 13 seconds, maybe a bit below that. As I am now capable of 2:17.lows, maybe 2:15.5 if everything goes perfect, I am expecting starting somewhere between 10th and 15th position. Estimating race again is difficult, as the cars are so different from last time I raced giving 100%. There will be more spins as the faster car leave less space for errors.