2019 Anglo-Irish F4 - Finished, you can all go home now

[Bobby Doorknobs]

With Ataxia having a change of heart and putting all his chips on consistency the feedback post has been updated.

Looking forwards, the outlook is not good for a live call of Bishopscourt or Phoenix Park. I've been working on and off to make functional versions of these circuits in the GP2 track editor, but no matter what I can't seem to make the racing line go where I want it to go and the AI just straight-lines the first corner. As amusing as it would be to just run one of these and red flag it or something, I doubt that would provide a great deal of satisfaction, so I'll most likely just quicksim the next two weekends using substitute tracks.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

The Ulster Trophy and Dublin Grand Prix races have been run and, dear lord, I don't know where to begin.

Magda Szervánszky has had the worst run of her career and is now no longer at the forefront of this championship battle, which is now starting to look like a two-horse race between Lockwood and Wilkerson. She picked up the pace a bit in the second Phoenix Park round, but even there she lost a lot of places from third on the grid, eventually climbing back up to seventh.

Lord Shawn DiBenedetto is now finally last in the championship after Emma Le Blan achieved a twelfth place in the second Phoenix Park round. He now looks set to finish two places lower than he did in last year's North American F4 championship.

Despite other seldom-scoring drivers making an improvement in their results, Toshio Maka has still not scored any points before or since his win at Brands Hatch.

Ethan Renaud is only the second driver in the history of the series to set two fastest laps in one weekend after Alex Smith in last year's season finale, setting the quickest time of the race in both Bishopscourt rounds.

Siobhán de Bhailéara got her first pole and first rookie win at the Park, but Wilkerson was totally unstoppable that day in her bid to close the gap to Lockwood.

Anything I forgot to mention can probably be gleaned from the championship table.

[pasta_maldonado]

Hoffmann still a "dark horse" for the Anglo-Irish F4 title

MK Scuderia AIF4 driver Gabriel Hoffmann, 17, who is in his first season of car racing, has impressed in his debut season. Despite a poor run of form opening up the gap to championship leader Alfie Lockwood to 20 points, Hoffmann remains upbeat.

"Eh...the gap could be smaller, for sure, but I still consider myself a dark horse" said the Luxembourger, who is part of the Plus One development programme. "The right mindset is key, if I stay in a positive mindset then I can capitalise on any misfortune the guys in front of me may encounter"

Hoffmann is currently on 93 points, and has outscored both drivers of the second MK Scuderia car - Ken Wyn Jones and Charles Rawstorne - combined by 70 points.

[novitopoli]

Err...well...at least I finished, y'know? And I wasn't even last! That's some huge progress here, guys!

It's nice to finally reach a podium! I hope to be able to build upon these results in the last rounds.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

I've stealthily run Donington, and by God we've got some title showdown set up.

Championship table

Summary of Notable Happenings and Such: Race 1

• Davies turned the worst start ever into the best drive ever: 6th on the grid to about 15th at the end of lap 1 and then up again to 9th by the chequered.
• Siobhan McMahon was running about 9th when her transmission failed. Seems like she's finally hit her stride.
• Triggs cleaned house with a good ten-second lead.
• Jones either disobeyed or was never given team orders (Pinkd's discretion) when he overtook Hoffmann for 3rd and left him in the clutches of Mac Aodha (he got better, but couldn't close up on Jones again).

Race 2

• Jones took his first pole since last year's Thruxton round and Hoffmann made it an MK 1-2. They controlled the race and finished with less than a second between them. But, again, you'd think there'd be some radio directive.

The top six drivers in the championship go into the final round with a mathematical chance of winning the title, but it's the top three who are the realistic contenders here. This climactic battle will be run live in 4K definition sometime in the next 18 hours. Anyway, back to Le Mans...

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Double-posting and setting a bad example...

So, I'm most likely keeping the double header format for next year, but I still kind of want to make use of more circuits next year. Now, what I'd like to know is just how many more rounds is enough? Is ten just perfect? Should I go all the way up to twenty or somewhere in between? Please tell me in an anonymous fashion pronto.

[This Could Be You]

That was a nice consistent weekend for BORC- Siobhan scored decently (it will be interesting to see if she beats Odhran Mac Aodra in being the best Irish driver- it's pretty close right now) and Toshio had his best weekend since Brands, and was very close to the points.

Let's hope that we can build on this momentum going into Mondello...

Also, regarding the race format, I personally feel a 'ten double-header' format is a good format right now, as it matches the RL F4 and other British series (such as the BTCC) and leads to a nicely-paced championship.

[Normal32]

Double-posting and setting a bad example...

So, I'm most likely keeping the double header format for next year, but I still kind of want to make use of more circuits next year. Now, what I'd like to know is just how many more rounds is enough? Is ten just perfect? Should I go all the way up to twenty or somewhere in between? Please tell me in an anonymous fashion pronto.

I would prefer to go to twenty - we would have a nicer line-up of circuits, and in the proccess you won't have to make life 0.00001% harder by choosing which circuit to use. In the end, your series - run it as you see fit.

[Pinkd56]

I think maximum of twelve, keeps the budgets low - I know it's a national series but twenty races seems a bit steep for what is essentially a junior series!

However, I'd be in support for a flyaway race in the Netherlands/Belgium/Northern France.



In regards to the KWJ/Hoffmann situation - MK Scuderia won't force team orders on their drivers. Our thinking is that racing at this level is about making a name for yourself, so it'd be unfair to potentially scupper a young driver's career in this way.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Just reminding everyone that there is a poll, though opinions are still very much welcome.

[Ataxia]

I'd recommend you don't push yourself too much. Ten is fine.

[TomDilain]

10 rounds is fine. It'd be interesting to see a flyaway race to other countries, but I feel like it'd be more realistic to just create another F4 for a northern europe countries.

But yeah, 10 is fine. More than 10 is kind of too much for drivers under 18 tbh.

[Peteroli34]

12 rounds would be a nice number real life British F4 has 3 races per round so 24 total races wouldn't be too bad or maybe increase the number of races to 3. Perhaps not for all rounds just a certain few have 3 races instead of 2.

[Gonzalez]

I know this is partially irrelevant to this topic but I think would it be good to have like a European F4 championship? Since some Karting championships do have flyaway races around Europe such as Formula K? This could be good enough to absorb the current Italian F4 Championship and other regional championships by expanding it into Europe.

Of course, never count Anglo-Irish F4 as a European regional championship, or does it?

[Bobby Doorknobs]

With the final round run, the champion has been crowned, and that champion is Ione Wilkerson!

Final standings.

Mondello Park | Anglo-Irish Formula 4 | Race 1 penalties

Having reviewed footage and spoken to the drivers in question, the following punishment has been given to the following competitor:

• Peak Aeroracing Engineering #26 (Jemma Triggs) has been given 5 penalty points for causing an avoidable collision with MK Scuderia #95 (Gabriel Hoffmann), leading to the latter car's retirement from the race.

Drivers who accumulate 20 penalty points will serve a one weekend ban, which applies across all FIA Formula 4 series worldwide. Penalty points expire 12 months from the date of issue, and roll over into the next season if applicable.

And that's that. Thank you all for your participation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brm1i3XwMdw