Well, that was a nice pay-off for a hard nights work.
Practice: Ahead of the event, I had sat down first and put together a base for me and Juha to work from. We then helped eachother along with a bit of insight from Anders on the fact that our gearing was a bit off. Overall I was happy with the race setup and had put off doing a Qualifying to the week before the event, but I never had time to sit down and actually create one.
It would come to show itself to be a bad thing while it showed for Juha that it was a very good thing to have.
Qualifying: Came in late as I had other things I needed to do first and got a banker lap in (containing a spin as the Q tires had far more grip than I'd prefer).
On my second try I unfortunately came across a car in the wrong spot and it ended with me in the wall, as I didn't want to take the other party with me off the track. End of qualifying, seeing me in 24th for the start of the race.
From then on I only had in my head "Allright, the aim is a top 15 finish. The setup is good for the race, nice and easy will do it".
Race: I had a so-so start, taking it very easy in the opening laps I didn't want to ruin anyone elses race and stay out of trouble.
Managed to do so and gain a few places in the opening laps, I think I was in 19th by the time things started to settle down after 3-4 laps. Only moment was when Brian was a lot slower mid-hairpin. Sorry for the nudge up the rear, I hope your car was not damaged from that.
Set about finding a rythm, which was difficult because all of the slower machinery took the track in a very different way, so I was often a gear lower than I preffered and quite a few K's slower mid-turn, but slowly I was able to make my way forward.
Had, among others, a nice scrap with Ray for 2-3 laps. Finally was able to make use of a lapping to get up the inside for the final turn, slight argy-bargy ensued and position gained. Sorry about the tad bit of side-by-side contact, I hope that was allright with you.
After Sr. was dispatched, Jr. was next in line to try to catch up to. That Brabham was a rocket in a straight line, as was most other cars it felt like, to be fair. Took a few laps but when I finally got close enough, Grant decided to move over and let me past, at least it felt like that, not sure if that was the intention or simply didn't have the fuel to try to stay ahead at the time.
Then next one was Cezariusz, who was ringing the neck of his Haas. Had a couple of stabs at him in the back-end of the track, where I seemed very strong with the Ferrari, but couldn't make it happen. Sadly, on the next lap, the Italian Stalions in Juha's car decided to escape the paddock...
Was able to, on the same lap, to get a better exit and use the extra ponies to make it up the inside into T1 and make my way up to 4th, having out-dragged others with a decent pitstop from the Ferrari Team and the undercut.
So well within points, for once in F1 races, and within sight of 3rd place, I started chasing after John and the Ligier. Took me little under a lap to catch up and then spent a couple of laps checking out where I was stronger and, which was often the case in the race, my strongest spot compared to others of from Curva Sul up to the final two turns.
Set up for a good run into Curva Sul and got one hell of a sling-shot, went for the inside, somewhat late for a dive, but I think it was, relatively, on and John gave me the room I needed and 3rd was mine. I hope it was an ok move from your point of view as well mate.
During all of this, Jan had been coming from behind, using that Williams very well. He tried to force me into a mistake but I felt quite at home.
He went for a very agressive move at the spot he felt he had a chance, the hairpin leading onto the back straight, but I saw him coming and intended to run around the outside, but had to switch to a cut-back when I saw him enter way too hot.
I then, though, fell foul of the tire-wear, as I overdid the throttle a little bit coming out of the final turn, which saw Jan slip past.
We then had a moment each, me at the fast chicane after Curva Sul, hit the inside cerb and had to dirt-track a little bit, while Jan did the same thing but a bit more, spinning out of the final turn.
This saw, in round turns, Jan dropping back to 7th I think, John back to 3rd and me in 4th.
Took a few laps but I was able to catch back up to John but this time he had a bit less fuel and it looked like he was wise to my run after Curva Sul so had to find another way around him. Had a bit of fuel to use so used a few more revs in the back-end of the track, was running quite close out of the final turn and was thinking that I might be able to outdrag him to the first turn, but that did no happen as he took a slightly defensive line but he did run just a tad wide and I was able to do the cut-back, get a better run out of it and then take him around the outside into the 2nd turn, to retake 3rd place, which turned into 2nd when Jules had his unfortunate engine breakage with a lap and a half to go...
So, held on in the final 2 laps and was able to bring the Ferrari home in 2nd, quite a ways behind David who was flying in that McLaren in the 2nd half of the race, but with having started from 24th, I'm elated with a podium finish for the first round of the championship.
All in all, a lot of fun, especially the battles which were hard, but always fair for me.
Congrats to all finishers, lets hope this championship continues with good battles and good fun at Jerez
. After pitstop i picked pace up had fuel to spare but my little Hart engine decided to call it a day 
Great pace up front tought luck for Jules u drove well ! 
