Formula Lego: Season 11
Season 11 was the 11th Season of Formula Lego. With 12 races at 11 locations all across the Balkavanians, it provided a scope and magnitude never seen before.
Driver Changes
Osborne's management opted to fire Jack Reiver, Meaghen Bolt, and Sarah Aither after what they perceived as poor performance during Season 10. To fill their empty seats, they hired former Octan driver Ella Fader, and Osborne junior drivers Daniil West, and Aleksandar "Aca" Larsen.
National had three seats to fill for Season 11 as well, two of which were filled by National junior drivers Jakaya Katrik and Léo Martin. To fill the final seat, they hired Quantos' star Aleks Rosya.
Octan had only two new seats to fill after Ella Fader's dismissal, and Lily Octan choosing to leave the sport. As National snapped up Quantos' star driver, they hired Diana Perko, a young driver who had proven her worth at Quantos the previous year. Their other choice was a young Mimoderan girl from their own junior programme, Adrienne De Leon.
Fire had two seats to fill after Jakov Franjic's dismissal, and Aurora Kryze's unexpected departure to Angel. Josep Vikalkin, a legend of the sport who had retired after his Girlfriend, Kira Sanchez, died during Season 9, reached out to them asking for a seat at their team, which they gladly gave to him. Their other hire was Synnove Mugosa, a member of Octan's junior programme, who had defected because of what she perceived as the "Favoritism" shown to De Leon in the programme.
Quantos hired two new drivers to fill Rosya and Perko's shoes, Ani Novak, and Bronislaw Dordevic.
Angel hired five drivers who had experience in the sport, aiming to have a bit of an advantage in their first year of the sport. Their line-up was finalized just a few weeks before the first race as Aurora Kryze, Jakov Franjic, Eva Renita, Meaghen Bolt, and Elizabeth Collet.
Silva's Owner, Salem Hoods, left the grid at the end of Season 10, after a hopeless year where the entire team scored a grand total of 5 points. She hired the Osborne reject Jack Reiver to fill her place at the doomed team.
Team Rosters
| League # | Team # | Name | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 44 | 39 | Anna Aster | 3 Seasons Octan, 4 Seasons National, S9 Champion |
| 27 | 27 | Eva Sayll | 4 Seasons Octan, 6 Seasons National, S6 Champion |
| 98 | 49 | Aleks Rosya | Team Rookie, 1 Season Quantos |
| 104 | 50 | Jakaya Katrik | Rookie |
| 105 | 51 | Léo Martin | Rookie |
| League # | Team # | Name | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | 1 | Camilla Cyne | 1 Season Octan, 2 Seasons Fire |
| 76 | 2 | Sarah Martins | 1 Season National, 2 Seasons Fire |
| 84 | 4 | Ariadne Stryke | 2 Seasons Fire |
| 1 | 9 | Josep Vikalkin | Team Rookie, 9 Seasons Osborne, S7 Champion |
| 107 | 10 | Synnove Mugosa | Rookie |
| League # | Team # | Name | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 64 | 19 | Julia Young | 5 Seasons Octan, S10 Champion |
| 97 | 28 | Diana Perko | Team Rookie, 1 Season Quantos |
| 106 | 29 | Adrienne De Leon | Rookie |
| 92 | 26 | Miguel Angel Hernandez | 1 Season Octan |
| 93 | 27 | Diego Gonzalez | 1 Season Octan |
| League # | Team # | Name | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 23 | Sira Bowler | 5 Seasons National, 4 Seasons Osborne, 4x Race Winner |
| 7 | 7 | Avayah Osborne | 10 Seasons Osborne, Race Winner |
| 58 | 32 | Ella Fader | Team Rookie, 3 Seasons National, 3 Seasons Octan |
| 102 | 33 | Daniil West | Rookie |
| 103 | 34 | Aleksandar "Aca" Larsen | Rookie |
| League # | Team # | Name | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 95 | 1 | Zarya Ilic | 1 Season Quantos |
| 96 | 2 | Adrjana Gutnik | 1 Season Quantos |
| 99 | 5 | Konstantin Bosko | 1 Season Quantos |
| 108 | 6 | Ani Novak | Rookie |
| 109 | 7 | Bronislaw Dordevic | Rookie |
| League # | Team # | Name | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | 2 | Russel Perez | 2 Seasons National, 1 Season Fire, 1 Season Silva |
| 87 | 3 | Nhadi Yousuf | 1 Season Fire, 1 Season Silva |
| 100 | 4 | Aoife Thomas | 1 Season Silva |
| 101 | 5 | Grace Evans | 1 Season Silva |
| 88 | 6 | Jack Reiver | Team Rookie, 1 Season Osborne |
| League # | Team # | Name | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 | 1 | Aurora Kryze | Team Rookie, 2 Seasons Fire |
| 94 | 2 | Jakov Franjic | Team Rookie, 1 Season Fire |
| 86 | 3 | Eva Renita | Team Rookie, 1 Season Fire |
| 89 | 4 | Meahgen Bolt | Team Rookie, 1 Season Osborne |
| 77 | 5 | Elizabeth Collet | Team Rookie, 3 Seasons National |
Sporting Regulation Changes
With the addition of a new team, Angel, there was no longer an even way to divide 30 drivers among the teams. However, unlike Season 9, when the sport ran with 28 drivers rather than the usual 30 to account for the difference, the rules were changed the other way. Each team still fielded 5 drivers, however, for the first time in the history of the sport, some of them wouldn't qualify. 5 out of the 35 drivers wouldn't qualify at every race. Team Points were also allocated to the Qualifying Sessions, with the Pole-Sitter's team receiving 3 points, P2's team receiving 2, and P3's team receiving 1 point. A driver not qualifying also warranted a -1 point to their team.
After Silva withdrew their entries halfway through the season, the points system was reverted to pre-Season 11 rules for Qualifying. Since all drivers would qualify, the EotLP GP Commission deemed it unnecessary to reward the teams of the fastest Qualifiers. The Higher Team Point Allocation for Race Position was kept, though, to increase the volatility of the the Constructor's Title Championship.
Point allocations within races were also changed. In response to driver complaints, finishing P1-P15 now became worth 5 points more than they were in Season 10, reverting those allocations to the way they had been before Season 9.
After discussion with the team leaders, the rules were changed such that the teams of the P1 & P2 finishers would now receive 5 team points, P3 & P4's teams would each receive 4 points, P5 & P6's teams would each receive 3, P7 & P8's teams 2 points, and P9 & P10's teams would now receive 1 point. The bottom 5 finishers would now each win their team -1 points, rather than just the bottom 3 as it had been up to then.
Technical Changes
The Technical regulations were barely changed for Season 11, as the sport geared up for a major regulations change within the next few seasons. It became legal to add aerodynamic components in a few more locations, as well as brake lights becoming required. Engine Regulations were left exactly the same as they had been before, again in order to prepare for the major change the next season.
Osborne made significant, but ineffective changes to try and curb their luck. They completely changed the design of their sidepods, making them longer and thinner, and both raised and flattened the nose of their chassis. Their car fared poorly all throughout the season, although it was noticeably far less-bad on the straights than the corners, where it all but stopped to round even the shallowest corner.
National beefed up their car in a huge manner for Season 11, adopting certain characteristics of other cars that had performed well the previous year. They changed their front wing to emulate Fire's, which they believed would help them corner faster than they already did. While their tricky gearbox, which was still not common knowledge, gave them an absolutely massive advantage on the straights and corner exits, the new wing improved their corner entries, leaving them a very well rounded team, although they still shone on the straights more than anywhere else.
An Octan Engineer discovered the loophole that allowed for the National tricky gearbox, and Octan implemented a similar system on their own transmission, which they called a power-loss-reduction system. Unlike National, they alerted the EotLP GP Commission of the loophole and advised them to close it in the next set of regulations. However, they were unaware that National had a similar system. They also removed several aerodynamic components from the rear of their car, which improved the airflow to the back wing and over the tires. While they generally had splendid cornering, their own tricky gearbox improved their straight-line speed, which increased their competitivity for season 11.
Fire, elated and surprised by their near-double-victory, made a choice very uncharacteristic of them, which was to stick with what they had, since it worked, and they weren't entirely sure why they were so competitive. This proved to be disastrous for them over the season, and blew any hopes they had for a Season 11 title out of the water. They were still competitive, especially in the corners, but were never quite on top.
Quantos made several aerodynamic changes to their car, including thinning and lengthening their sidepods, flattening and raising their nose, and minorly changing the shape of the wheel wells of the back of their car. They continued to perform well on the straights, but not quite as well on the corners.
Silva, now strapped for cash after their disastrous first season, made several unexpected changes to their car, including simplifying their underside, raising the nose as it approached the center of the car, thinning and lengthening their sidepods (even though that had not been an issue on their last car), and lowering the internal diameter of their air intake. They continued their habit of performing poor all around, although their unique high-rake concept did allow them to see some positive times on the corners.
Angel, who were the first team to run an electric powertrain, had a extremely unique car, which sported a thicker nose, to house the motors for the front wheels. They ran large motors, to try and gain a power advantage, however electric cars perform better with a motor on each wheel. Unfortunately, the Angel's nose wasn't wide enough to have two outward facing motors next to each other. So, to compensate, they ran the front motors in parallel, and used a joint to transfer the movement through a bend, which proved to be a very large reliability issue. The largest issue that the new team faced, though, was weight. The batteries they required to run a full race added a huge amount of weight to the car, and created tons of issues. Their sidepods had to be extended further down than any other teams to accommodate some batteries, while more were held (along with a heat dissipation and reclamation system) in the rear of the car, around the two rear motors. Because of the immense weight of the rear of their car, they had to have a much smaller rear wing, since they stuck to the ground at the back anyways. Their front wing, on the other hand, was a very unique, wide design aiming to compensate for the relatively light front of the car in a very dramatic fashion. The extra weight on their car was a huge disadvantage, but the raw power from their electric motors made up for the deficiency quite well, leaving a very good, well rounded car that performed admirably in both the straights and corners, although it was noticeably stronger going through the corners, as it didn't have gears to switch down to, electric motors simply lower their rpms to go slower. Their biggest advantage came at high-altitude tracks, like Verskaell, where the Combustion Engines ran with less oxygen, and consequently less power. The Battery Powered Angels didn't have to worry about that issue, which gave them a huge advantage.
New Locations
Season 11 added 4 races to the calendar, and also added 5 new locations, cutting the Cagne Races back again, this time to just the season opener and finale. Krajinograd, Cptivöckak; Dryzakyl, Kibylj; Eîy-Hoketleri, Hoketleri; Mezhdograd, Mezhdomnoven; and Mezistnik, Krjstendodjl were all debuted during Season 11.
| Race | Location | Winner | # Held at Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cagne | Aleks Rosya | 58 |
| 2 | Karebyr | Adrienne De Leon | 2 |
| 3 | Rennia | Zarya Ilic | 3 |
| 4 | Fortrionale | Aleks Rosya | 2 |
| 5 | Krajinograd | Adrienne De Leon | 1 |
| 6 | Dryzakyl | Eva Sayll | 1 |
| 7 | Eîy-Hoketleri | Julia Young | 1 |
| 8 | Côte Blanche | Josep Vikalkin | 2 |
| 9 | Mezhdograd | Aleks Rosya | 1 |
| 10 | Verskaell | Aleks Rosya | 2 |
| 11 | Mezistnik | Anna Aster | 1 |
| 12 | Cagne | Adrienne De Leon | 59 |
Season Progression
Race 01 - Cagne Island, EotLP
National's Aleks Rosya won the first race after a clever strategy move during a Red Flag. Right behind him was Octan's stunning Rookie, Adrienne De Leon. The Season 10 Champion, Julia Young, couldn't quite keep up with her fiery new teammate, and finished a Distant Third. Osborne was clearly struggling more than ever this season; Avayah Osborne was their highest finisher, in P13.
Qualifying
Anna Aster scored the first pole of the season, 3 tenths of a second faster than Fire's Camilla Cyne, who just barely edged out the shocking new talent of De Leon for P2, by just 12 thousands of a second. National's new hire, Aleks Rosya, qualified a personal best P4. Josep Vikalkin, who had retired from the sport for Season 10 returned in a surprising fashion, still managing to qualifying an impressive P5. Julia Young, just now riding off of a tight title victory the previous season, qualified P6. National's Eva Sayll qualified P7, Fire's Sarah Martins and Ariadne Stryke qualified P8 and 9. Léo Martin, one of National's two rookies, qualified P10.
Race
The Nationals shot off the line, Rosya moving up past De Leon, Sayll Moving past Vikalkin and Young, and Martin passing Kryze and Martins. Cagne Island was nearly 30C out at the time of the race, so every driver had opted to run #4s, which degraded surprisingly fast, moving the first pit window to lap 18.Сyne and Vikalkin, aiming for an undercut, pitted early, on lap 17, coming out on #3s, which, surprisingly, worked pretty well, as in the hot sun, they found their heat quickly, warming up much faster than the #4s, even though they degraded quicker as well. National opted to keep Aster, Rosya, and Sayll out longer, while the two fires came closer. Cyne re-passed Rosya on track, who had been promoted to 2nd during her pitstop, and Vikalkin moved up from P8 to P5, weaving in and out of many drivers on older tires. On lap 20, Sayll told her pit crew she needed to come in, as did Aster, since their tires were losing grip significantly by now. Rosya insisted he could manage another lap, much to the chagrin of his Race Engineer, but the team allowed him to try anyways. Sayll and Aster boxed on Lap 20. Both had slow pit stops, and exited the pits in 9th and 4th, respectively, both with a new set of #4s. Within 30 seconds, though, Silva driver Aofie Thomas lost her front left wheel, when her suspension snapped. The wheel got twisted under the car, and the car bounced upwards, before coming down on Quantos rookie Ani Novak, then flipping her car, before sliding through the sand pits upside down until colliding with the tire barriers. Novak also lost control of her car during the collision, spinning around 14 times before crashing backwards into the tire barriers. Both drivers were fine, but the race had to be red flagged. All of the front runners opted to take the RFPSTP and change tires, even the Fire drivers who had just switched tires. The race was going to go into the late evening, so the track began to drastically cool right around this time as well. All of the front runners except Rosya and De Leon decided to go for #3s, hoping to keep heat in their tires for a decent amount of time as the track cooled. However, both Rosya and De Leon changed to #1s, hoping to have a short term advantage. It worked splendidly. At the restart, Rosya shot past Cyne into first place, and De Leon followed closely on his tail, the two of them gaining nearly half a second on the rest of the pack by the end of lap 22. The gap only widened from there, and Julia Young opted to follow their strategy, switching to #1s in a record-breaking pit-stop of 2.31 seconds. She made up the place loss from the pit stops within three laps, and began fighting her way towards the front immediately. When Rosya and De Leon both pitted for #2s on lap 39 (while the #3 runners had yet to pit), they emerged still nearly a second ahead of Cyne in 3rd place. Young pitted from P4 on Lap 41, and emerged in P6. She, too, opted to switch to #2s, hoping to finish the race on them. Cyne managed to defend from her, but drastically increased her tire degradation, and had to box on lap 42, which was to early to switch to #1s and finish the race, so she also had to switch to #2s. The rest of the field also began to stream into the pits, the latest of whom began to emerge with #1s. However, the advantage given to Rosya, De Leon, and Young was too great. Although Cyne nearly halved the gap to Young, Young finished P3 by 8 seconds. Rosya, who had narrowly kept his lead from De Leon the entire race, finished his first race with National with his first Victory. De Leon finished with the best Rookie finish since Natasha Hughes maiden race victory in Season 3. Defending Champion Young had made up a ton of ground since qualifying P6, as well, which left her satisfied with the race. Osborne had a horrible race, once again failing to find their footing in the Season 9 regulations. Avayah Osborne was the only one of their drivers to score points this race, and one of their rookies, Daniil West, failed even to qualify. After the first round of qualifying and the first race, National once again led the constructors leaderboards with 13 points, and Octan and Fire - with 11 points a piece - tied for second. Angel and Osborne, with a -1 point each, were tied for 4th, followed by Quantos, with -2 points, and Silva took up the back of the roster, with -5 points.
Race 02 - Karebyr, EotLP
The Second Race of the Season was won by Adrienne De Leon, who also took the lead in the Driver's Championship, and brought Octan into the lead of the Team's Championship for the first time Since Season 9 Race 4. Rosya managed only P4, while his teammate, former champion Anna Aster, took home the Second Place Trophy. Young, for the second race in a row, brought home third.
Qualifying
De Leon put on a splendid show, narrowly nosing out Young for pole, and thereby securing an Octan front row lockout. Anna Aster qualified P3, and Vikalkin qualified an impressive P4. Rosya and Cyne made up the 3rd row, and Angel's Kryze and Sayll on the fourth row. Diana Perko and Sarah Martins finished up the top ten. Osborne's Aca Larsen failed to qualify, along with four Silva drivers. On Silva, only Russel Perez managed to qualify.
Race
From the start, De Leon was on point. She pulled away from the start line nearly perfectly, pulling ahead of Young, who fell behind Aster at the start, and Vikalkin at the first corner. De Leon pitted late, despite the threat of an undercut from Aster, Vikalkin, and Rosya, which caused some tension, however she was far enough ahead that she left her pitstop behind only Aster and Vikakin. All drivers moved to #4s for the second stint. She couldn't quite make back the positions, but both her and Young pitted a lap earlier than most expected the window to open, and moved straight to #2s. The rest of the front of the field was forced to react, and Aster, Rosya, and Vikalkin all pitted as well, earlier than they planned, and they moved to #2s, which none of them planned to. Vikalkin had a very slow pitstop, as the Fire pit crew had trouble getting his rear left tire off. De Leon flew away from the rest of the field then, taking victory by an absolutely huge gap of 25.679 seconds. Aster managed to finish ahead of Young, after passing her on the inside of Turn 4 on Lap 130.
De Leon took the lead in the Driver's Title Championship, and Octan took the lead in the Constructor's Title Championship, with 25 points to National's 24. Once again, Silva managed to score the lowest score possible, -5, bringing their total to -10. Osborne also fell further, down to -4. Quantos recovered, bringing their total to 0 once again. Angel scored 2 points at Race 2, bringing their total into the positives.
Race 03 - Rennia, EotLP
Race 3 took place in Rennia, where part of the track had been resurfaced. Combined with limited running time, no team was truly prepared for the disaster of tires that would unfold. Pit Windows were completely shuffled, many were halved, and De Leon, Young, and Eva Sayll all ended up retiring after their tires failed completely. Partly due to strategy, and partly due to luck, Zarya Ilic, who started P6 on the grid, took home Quantos' first victory, despite Camilla Cyne frantically hunting her down for the last few laps.
Qualifying
Anna Aster and Aleks Rosya secured a National Front-row Lockout, followed by Adrienne De Leon and Julia Young, who locked out the second row for Octan. Fire's Camilla Cyne qualified Fifth, and Quantos' Ilic qualified a team-best of sixth. All five of the Silvas failed to qualify.
Race
Rosya got a better start than Aster, moving up to first from the get-go. Ilic passed Cyne for fifth on the second corner. Things began to straighten out by the end of the first lap, though, as Rennia's tight circuit left very little room for good overtakes. However, the first bout of drama came during lap 7 of 52. The long back straight of the track, along the Palace portion of Emperor Avenue, had been resurfaced since the last time Formula Lego had been to Rennia, with a more abrasive materiel. Drivers running on #1s or #2s began to feel serious degradation by lap 6, which shouldn't have happened until around lap 13. On a normal race weekend, this would've been a known issue, but there had been only 1 practice session, because the Emperor's day Parade had moved along Emperor Avenue the entire day that would normally have been used for the first three practices. Furthermore, track temperature had been far to high during the sole practice session as well as qualifying to run anything but #4s & #5s. By Lap 7, 13 of the top 15 drivers, Aster, Rosya, De Leon, Young, Ilic, Josep Vikalkin, Ariadne Stryke, Eva Sayll, Konstantin Bosko, Jakov Franjic, Bronislaw Dordevic, Diana Perko, and Jakaya Katrik, had to pit for harder tires. Cyne, who was running #4s, took advantage of the situation, speeding forwards to P3. All of the drivers who pitted changed to #4s except for Ilic, Perko, and Franjic, who moved to #5s. The Maralla #4s were rated to last around 18 laps, but began to degrade at a rate that the teams interpreted to mean that they would be finished in around 13 laps. The #5s looked like they would last around 18 laps. On Lap 13, Cyne pitted from a secure P2, returning on #5s in P4. On Laps 20 & 21, the those running #4s began to pit, all of them returning out onto the track bearing #5s. While everyone around her pitted, Ilic moved up to P4. Those on used #5s pitted on Lap 25, all three returning back to the track bearing another set of #5s. By now, every driver was running #5s of various ages. Ilic lost one spot during her pit, returning out in P5. The drivers who had pitted on Laps 20 & 21 needed to pit between Laps 33 and 35. On Lap 32, the top 10 were, respectively, Rosya, Aster, De Leon, Cyne, Ilic, Young, Sayll, Perko, Vikalkin, and Stryke. Rosya and Aster pitted on Lap 33, along with Vikalkin and Stryke. The Octans of De Leon and Young, and the National of Sayll stayed out, intending to push the tires to their very edge. Ilic & Perko, whos ideal pit window opened 5 laps later, stayed out, gaining several positions. Sayll pitted on Lap 34, coming out with another set of #5s. Ilic, who had climbed to P3, behind De Leon & Cyne, but ahead of Rosya and Aster, who had both suffered slow pit stops, needed to pit on either Lap 38 or 39, which was fast approaching. However, De Leon and Young had pushed too far, and, on lap 35, De Leon's front left tire completely fell apart at turn 2, plowing her straight into the concrete barrier, and bringing out yellow flags and the safety car. However, even under slower situations, Young couldn't make it around the track back to the pitlane to change tires, and her front left also blew out on the tight left-right-left. luckily for her, the slower speed she was travelling at meant she didn't hit the wall, but merely spun to a stop in the middle of the track. Red Flags were called immediately. All in the top 15, including Ilic, who was now sitting in P2, and Perko decided to take the 5 second RFPSTP penalty and pit for new tires a few laps closer to the end of the race. With 18 laps remaining, a set of #5s could now be expected to carry a driver to the end of the race. The crashed Octans were removed from the track quickly, and Lap 35 was restarted. Sayll restarted on an unexpected set of #2s, which were accidentally attached to her car after having been put in the wrong heating shrouds in the National Garage (they were labelled as #5s). However, she made use of them, climbing from her restart position of P5 to P3, edging out teammate Rosya on Lap 40. However, her success was short lived, as her tires were expected to be completely finished by either Lap 41 or 42. She attempted to pit on Lap 41, but Osborne's Larsen was entering the pit lane at a much slower speed, after suffering some damage to his front wing. Sayll nearly hit the back-runner, and by quickly veering to the right, avoiding the Osborne, missed the pit entrance on Lap 41. She eased off, taking the ride as lightly as possible, but on the tight left-right-left, right where Julia Young's race had ended, Sayll's did as well, just 7 laps later. Yellow flags were waved, and Cyne pitted for a new set of #3s from the lead, which proved to be a terrible decision from her pit wall. Rosya & Aster decided to follow suit, although Ilic decided to stay out on her as-of-yet healthy #5s. However, during the 25 seconds that Cyne, Rosya, and Aster were in the pits, Red Flags were waved, after the Recovery Crew decided that the debris from Sayll's crash was far worse than initially thought. This invoked the RFPSTPs for those four drivers along with some other back runners also in the pits at that time. Once Red Flags were called, Ilic, now in P1, faced a dilemma. she could either ride out the rest of the race on her healthy, but aging #5s, and try to stay within 5 seconds of the the other front runners, who had taken one more 5-second penalty than she did, and perhaps win the race by penalty, or she could remove her penalty advantage, and put herself on an equal playing field with the rest of the front-runners, and try to win from the restart. In the end, she told her race engineer that "If I win, I want to cross the line first." The team respected her wishes, and gave her a set of brand new #3s. The Race Restarted Lap 42 after Sayll's crash had been cleaned up, with Ilic leading the grid, followed by Cyne, Aster, and Rosya, respectively. At the restart, Cyne shot forwards, edging her nose past the Quantos, but Ilic executed a beautiful turn at turn 1, turning on the inside before crossing the track to plant herself firmly in front of Cyne. Cyne was forced to back off, but kept trying. She edged her way closer and closer for three laps, before passing Ilic on the back straight of Lap 45. However, she forced herself onto the outside line of the final corner, and Ilic regained her lead before they crossed the line, starting Lap 46. Aster and Rosya were engaged in a similar battle, as they found it hard to outmatch each other in their nearly identical Nationals. However, on Lap 47, Rosya managed to pick up a slipstream from Sayll on the first straight, and took third place solidly. Despite her best efforts, Aster couldn't respond, as Rosya moved up to attack Cyne for second place. Cyne was preparing for another dash against Ilic on the back straight on Lap 48, but had to abort it to block Rosya from taking her P2 position. Ilic put in everything she had, and widened her lead to Cyne from just under a second to nearly two seconds and a half by the end of Lap 48. Cyne lost time fighting Rosya, who attempted a move on her at Turn 2 on Lap 49, but she managed to block it, moving back in front of him with what looked like just millimeters to spare. Rosya backed off for a second after nearly hitting Cyne, which allowed Cyne to look forwards again to Ilic. however, by Lap 49, it was too late. Ilic crossed the start/finish line to start Lap 50 with nearly 4 seconds between her and Cyne. Cyne was only a second ahead of Rosya, who kept breathing down her neck. He tried to get past her going into the left-right-left on Lap 50, but he locked up, and nearly hit the wall, causing him to back off a litte. Cyne narrowed the gap between her and Ilic to just under 4.7 seconds by the start of Lap 50, and to 4.2 by the start of Lap 51. During Lap 51, she made more progress, narrowing the gap to 3.9 seconds, but it wasn't enough. When Ilic crossed the line at the end of Lap 52, she had 3.279 seconds between her and Second Place Cyne, who finished with 6.130 second to Rosya, who came home P3, and retook the lead in the Driver's Title Championship. His Teammate Aster came home P4, with an interval of 5.127 seconds to Rosya.
The clear victor in Rennia was Quantos & Zarya Ilic, both of whom took home their first victory in Rennia. As a Team, National re-took the lead in the Championship battle, this time by 9 points from Octan, who scored only 2 net points across the weekend. For the third race in three, Silva took home the worst team score possible: -5. Cyne's second place, Sarah Martins' P7, and Vikalkin's P9 brought Fire's net score for the weekend 7 points, which brought them much closer to Octan and National. Osborne had, once again, a fairly terrible weekend, scoring -2 points, and having a top finisher of Ella Fader, who finished P18. De Leon was only minorly injured from her crash, and was ready to race the next time that Formula Lego took to the track, in Fortrionale. Young and Sayll were both uninjured.
Ilic & Rosya both being Cklserolvan, and Cyne being Roblavi made up the first ever fully non-Rennian Podium, a truly ironic twist of fate considering the race's location in the Rennian Capital.
Race 04 - Fortrionale, Cklserolva
The Sport's second visit to Fortrionale ended with a second Rosya victory, making him the first Cklserolvan driver to take victory at his home race. Octan's Diana Perko also scored her maiden podium at Fortrionale. Octan kept the constructor's fight close, but De Leon lost points to Rosya again.
Qualifying
National's Eva Sayll placed with her first pole of the season, and De Leon qualified alongside her, in P2. Octan's Julia Young and Rosya started on the second row. Fire FL's Camilla Cyne and National's Anna Aster placed P5, & P6, respectively. Fire's Josep Vikalkin, and Perko filled the fourth row, and Angel's Aurora Kryze and Fire's Sarah Martins finished out the top 10. All five Silva drivers failed to qualify, once again. Rumours began to circulate that their funding was being pulled due to their complete lack of performance, and that they may not even manage to finish the season.
Race
Sayll, De Leon, Young, and Rosya all started on #1s, while Vikalkin and Perko started on a set of #2s. Sayll pitted slightly early, on Lap 17, but was followed by Young & De Leon the next lap. Rosya inherited first place, and made good use of it, until he pitted on Lap 20, returning out in P3, behind De Leon and Sayll. During this round of Pits, Vikalkin climbed to P5, and Perko to P6. Perko overtook Vikalkin for P5 by the time they both pitted on Lap 38. They returned to the field, having lost only one place each. Perko's fresh tires gave her the boost she needed to pass Cyne and Young, to climb to P4 by lap 50. On Lap 59, Sayll - running in P3 - spun out, and dropped to P9. By the end of the race, she recovered two of those positions by the end of the race, to finish P7. De Leon and Rosya were engaged in a ridiculously close battle up front, both passing each other, and retaking the lost position many times. However, by just 0.498 seconds, Rosya took the chequered flag ahead of De Leon. Rosya and Perko became the first Cklersolvan drivers to finish on the podium at their home race. Young finished P4, ahead of Vikalkin, who just edged out his teammate Cyne for P5.
Octan majorly narrowed the gap to National in the Constructor’s Title fight, down to just 3 points (46 to 43 points). Fire's 3rd place began to get even more lonely, as the gap between them and 2nd place Octan widened from 4 to 13 points, and the gap to 4th place Angel - Who's score stayed level at 6 points - widened from 17 points to 24 points. Quantos dropped from 6 points, where they were tied with Angel, to 4 points. Osborne held steady at -6 points. Silva, having no drivers qualify to race, lost another 5 points in qualifying, brining their total to -20.
De Leon's DNF in Race 3 put her at a significant handicap. Despite the general consensus that she was Rosya's biggest rival for the Title, after Round 4, she was in P4, with 210 points. Ahead of her were Anna Aster, with 215 points, Camilla Cyne, with 220 points, and Rosya, with 275 points.
Race 05 - Krajinograd, Cptivöckak
The Inaugural Cptivöckaki Grand Prix ended with a decisive De Leon victory. Rosya, who was suffering from oil pressure issues, only managed P4. De Leon jumped back to second place in the standings, narrowing the gap to Rosya significantly.
Qualifying
De Leon scored her second pole in her 5-race-career, and started the race alongside National's Anna Aster. Julia Young and Eva Sayll filled the second row. Behind them would start Rosya and Perko. Fire F1's Josep Vikalkin and Camilla Cyne locked out the fourth row. Angel's Aurora Kryze and Fire's Ariadne Stryke finished out the first 5 rows. For the 3rd consecutive race, none of the Silvas qualified.
Race
De Leon took off from the line, and solidly placed Aster behind her by the first chicane. The Slow Track accentuated National and Octan's semi-legal Torque Recovery Systems, which helped them keep speed through the slow chicanes. However, the slower Fires managed to keep up (to some extent) thanks to their higher downforce concepts, which also helped them maintain speed through the corners. Meanwhile, the Angels faced a much stiffer competition, as their Combustion-Powered competitors ran with higher power at such a low-altitude circuit, and they couldn't quite compete. De Leon maintained her lead from the start, on a set of #2s. Aster, too, was running #2s. Perko had a splendid start, moving up to P4 from the start. De Leon pitted on Lap 19, and was followed by Aster. Aster's pitstop was nearly a second faster, and she emerged from the pits ahead of De Leon, both adorned with a set of #4s. Perko didn't pit on Lap 19, when the 3rd running Young did, rather choosing to overcut. However, she gained almost no time, and Young returned to the race with a fresh set of #3s, and began gaining time on Perko instantly. However, Angel's Jakov Franjic and Octan's Diego Gonzalez crashed badly at the third chicane on Lap 20, when Franjic locked up, and hit Gonzalez nearly perpendicularly. Luckily, neither was badly injured, and due to the lack of debris, yellow flags were called rather than red flags. Perko then pitted, and came back out with fresh #3s, and less than a half a second behind Young. Young defended well, though, and kept ahead of Perko from Lap 22 (when Green Flags conditions returned) until Lap 30, when she was finally passed by Perko. After Green Flags were waved on Lap 22, De Leon also managed to pass Aster back for the lead. On Lap 36, Young suddenly began to lose speed, thanks an issue with her fuel pressure, and she fell through the pack, until the issue subsided slightly, and gave her a slightly better fighting chance. However, Angel's Kryze did manage to sneak past her on Lap 41. Aleks Rosya, promoted to P4 thanks to Young's issues, began to attack Perko in 3rd. Fortunately for Perko, he had been suffering from a slight oil pressure issue after his car was dropped about a foot off its stand in the display park the night before, which had diminished on his power. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't quite get close enough to Perko to truly give her worries, and he finished the 48 Lap race with a P4.
De Leon's second victory brought her closer to Rosya, and she jumped from P4 overall to tied for P2 with Anna Aster (with 285 points apiece). Rosya, despite his engine issues, still managed to finish P4, keeping him in the Title Lead, with 335 points.
Octan got close to National during Qualifying, narrowing the gap between the two behemoth teams down to a single point, but that gap widened to where it had been after Round 4, 3 points, after the race. Fire kept on the same trend of becoming lonelier and lonelier in 3rd: with 35 points they now had a gap of 21 to 2nd place, and 28 points to 4th place. Quantos' score remained level at 4, keeping them solidly in 5th. Angel scored a net 1 point at Race 5, bringing their total to 7, overall. Osborne, in 6th, lost 2 more points at Race 5, falling to -8 points. Silva, again failing to qualify even a single car, fell to -25 points. After yet another disaster, the rumours that had circulated for weeks were confirmed by Team Owner Salem Hoods; Silva would not participate past Race 6. The team had not yet been sold, although one of their Junior Technical Staff - Oscar Windsor - was in the process of finding funding to buy the team. Hoods, knowing both Windsor's abilities (which he had not been able to show thanks to Silva internal Mismanagement), as well as the utter horrible prospect that Silva looked to any other purchaser, was partial to Windsor's proposal, but did not make it public yet. Millionaire Arthur Conneigh, owner of Arthur Conneigh Applied Engineering (ACAE) also made an announcement at Race 5: He too would be entering a team the next season, running under the same name as his large company: ACAE Racing.
Race 06 - Dryzakyl, Kibylj
Qualifying
Eva Sayll took Pole, tying Kira Sanchez' record for most career poles (11)
Race
Race 6 was held in Dryzakyl, Kibylj, and saw Eva Sayll take her only podium - and victory - of the season. the former champion and Octan's Diana Perko led the pack by nearly 30 seconds after an confusing mess of pit stops and red flags pushed them to the front. De Leon finished out the podium. Rival Rosya finished P5, behind Fire's Josep Vikalkin, who was on a splendid comeback drive.
Race 07 - Eîy-Hoketleri, Hoketleri
Qualifying
Eva Sayll took pole, passing Kira Sanchez and setting a new record for most career poles (12)
Race
De Leon took more points out of Rosya's lead at Race 7, finishing P3 ahead of his P4. Vikalkin took his first podium of his second career, finishing behind Octan's Julia Young, who took the lead from Eva Sayll, after teammate De Leon lost positions after a terrible start. Despite an initial disadvantage, she clawed her way back to P3, passing Rosya on pitstops, choosing to go for a much harder second stint than he did.
Race 08 - Côte Blanche
Qualifying
Race
Josep Vikalkin took Fire's only win of the season at the second Côte Blanche Race, in his third-ever street circuit race. Camilla Cyne took second place, followed by their mutual teammate Sarah Martins. The Fire's higher downforce settings gave them a significant advantage over the Octans and Nationals on the slow, bendy Monta Roblov Street Circuit. Aleks Rosya hitting the barriers in his Monta Roblov Debut on lap 37 and Adrienne De Leon's miserably slow pit-stop (13 seconds compared to the season average of 5) when one of her new tires rolled away, and had to be chased by her mechanics before it could be attached to her car, and Julia Young's collision with a Quantos she was attempting to lap all helped Fire to take the only 1-2-3 of the season.
Race 09 - Mezhdograd, Mezhdomnoven
Qualifying
Race
The first Mezhdograd Grand Prix saw Aleks Rosya spring back to his winning pattern after a 4-race dry spell. After failing to set a time in Qualifying, De Leon fought her way back slowly & painfully from P30 to P3. Diana Perko refused to let Rosya (who qualified on Pole) run away with the victory, though. After a record-breaking 3.9 second pitstop pushed her and Rosya close together, the two dueled for nearly half the race, before Rosya finally secured his lead. He finished 7.650 seconds ahead of Perko, who in turn was 39.800 seconds ahead of De Leon in third.
Race 10 - Verskaell, Srebvona
Qualifying
Race
At Race 10, Rosya repeated his victory and retook the lead in the driver's title standings. In Verskaell time ahead of Angel's Aurora Kryze, who put on a brilliant show in her heavy, unwieldy electric racer. However, despite what the pundits expected and predicted, she defied all odds, and found her way onto the podium, taking both her own & the team's inaugural podium. Perko kept her performance high, coming in third, very close behind Kryze. De Leon found herself in P5, falling from her grid-position of P2 thanks to a small collision on Lap 10, and several badly-timed pit-stops.
Race 11 - Mežistnik, Krjstendodjl
Qualifying
Race
The second-most-northern race on the calendar, in Mežistnik, saw the shadow of a threat to Rosya's title dreams. Anna Aster, who believed that Rosya was safe enough in his podium location to keep the win for herself, resulting in a drawn out battle between Season 9 Champion Aster and National's newest driver, starting on lap 55 of 72. Despite repeated calls from her team wall to give up the position to her teammate, secured her victory on lap 70, when her defense against Rosya brought their cars within a centimeter of a collision. After that, Rosya begrudgingly backed off, not willing to risk a DNF for 5 extra points. De Leon drove a relatively unremarkable race, losing one net position after Octan pitted her for Wet Tires one lap too late. After the results were finalized, De Leon went into the final race 15 points behind Rosya.
Race 12 - Cagne Island, EotLP
Qualifying
Race
Entering the Finale, rookie Adrienne De Leon trailed Driver Title Champion Leader Aleks Rosya by 15 points. In order to win the Title, she needed to beat him by at least 4 places, since there was no way she could equalize wins, therefore she needed an outright win. Her weekend started exceptionally well at Cagne, taking pole by a huge margin, and screaming off from the start. Teammate Diana Perko started in 4th, right ahead of Rosya, who started 5th. In order to guarantee a victory for De Leon, Rosya had to finish no higher than 5th. Perko successfully held back Rosya throughout the first stint, sabotaging her own race, as she sandbagged her own race, dragging Rosya behind her down all the way to P11. However, National successfully baited Octan into pitting Perko early, allowing Rosya to race freely for 5 more laps, and recover to P8 before pitting. A stunningly fast Pitstop by National brought him back out 2 positions up relative to Perko's pit stop. As The field pitted around him, Rosya scythed through the field, reaching P5 by the 3/4 mark of the race. Perko recovered from her slower pitstop, and and chased down Rosya as he hunted a higher finish. De Leon stormed to her victory, taking a hat-trick of Pole, Leading every Lap, and Victory, by an astonishing 37.213 seconds, but it wasn't enough to counter Rosya. He finished an impressive P3, taking a podium that guaranteed his first Driver Title by 5 points ahead of De Leon.
Rosya was crowned Driver Title Champion, alongside the National Team Boss, Jenny Spalding, who accepted National's Third consecutive Constructor's Title win.
Post-Season
Title Contention
Although Adrienne De Leon graciously accepted defeat to her Rival, Octan took the results of several races where she had scored lower than Rosya to the EotLP GP Comission, demanding that Rosya's results be examined, reviewed, and he be disqualified over very , in an attempt to overturn the results of both Title Championships. National responded in form, demanding the same happen to every race where an Octan Driver had won or scored higher than the highest-scoring National Driver. The Legal battle that ensued was considered farcical by many, and was mocked, even within the Formula Lego Community: Lea Kaminskí, Angel's Owner, submitted a similar request that every driver not on her team be disqualified for several made up infractions.
Submit (a) a request that all Drivers' results aside from those of Aurora Kryze (85-1), Jakov Franjic (94-2), Eva Renita (86-3), Meaghen Bolt (89-4), and Elizabeth Collet (77-5) should hereby be disqualified for all races of S11, backdated effective S11R1, and (b) a request that all Teams' results aside from those of Angel should hereby be disqualified for all races of S11, backdated effective S11R1, for:
a) violating unspoken agreements to only race for the best team;
b) emotionally damaging Mezhdomnovene & Angel Racing fans alike by winning all 12 races;
c) taking advantage of parole restrictions by beating us while Angel mechanics and racers are still legally bound to not respond by beating them in return;
d) refusing all ultimatums requesting that they compensate Angel Drivers and Crew Members for the Pride that they damaged by disallowing Angel Drivers to take easy victories;
e) refusing to arrive for any of the set court dates at the cute restaurants we found around Cagne Island.
We request that you take these highly valid concerns into account with utmost haste, before the incorrect teams and drivers receive awards and recognition.
Should hasty decisions be taken on this issue, Mezhdomnovene chocolates can be found at the Angel Garage and / or offices at any time.
Kaminski was fined 20 Krens for attempted Bribery, and another 12 for frivolous complaints, but her Objection to the entire rest of the grid was [jokingly] passed up the chain of command, being referred to higher authorities at every step, until the aging Emperor James Krennic signed a declaration that, in his heart, and the heart of St. Bogdan Angel, Angel were the true winners of Season 11. Although entirely in Jest, this declaration was taken by many anti-Imperialists as proof that Krennic's mental aptitude had declined, seeing as though he legally owned a separate team from Angel. On the more serious side, Octan and National battled each other up the chain of authority, until their media spatting had reached a breaking point: The General of the EotLP, Tiberius Rex (who, at the time, effectively ruled the EotLP) summoned a delegation of both teams on behalf of the Emperor, and issued a decree (on the Emperor's behalf), which stated that
The complaints of EotLP F1 Racing and Octan Racing are both frivolous in nature, go against the nature of the sport, and degrade the sport and country in the eyes of the world. Your lead racers have both publicly made their peace with the results. Therefore, with the advice of the EotLP GP Commission, we choose to penalize both Octan and EotLP F1 Racing a sum of 120,000 Krens each for the offenses of frivolous complaints and generation of bad press for Formula Lego as a Sport. You are dismissed.
New Teams
As soon as the press had died down around the epic Title showdown in the Finale, Salem Hoods announced that the Silva Racing Team had been sold to one of their apprentice Engineers, Oscar Windsor, who found just barely enough funding to enter Windsor as an independent Team into Formula Lego Season 12. Despite the daunting task it seemed to be, he had gutted the Silva internal structure, and built a small band of dedicated and brilliant engineers, who had every intention of building their own chassis and engines from the ground up.
Another New Team, Tikam, announced their own entry into Formula Lego for Season 12, as a joint venture between Tikam Autosport, a Major Mezhdomnovene Racing Conglomerate, who had previously raced in several other classes of cars and competitions, and Halbeck, a below-radar manufacturer of Engines used in many Cars throughout the Balkavanians.
Erit Victor also announced themselves as intending to compete in Season 12, in partnership with the Aeshbalch Sporting Group, as Title Sponsors and Primary Chasses Constructrors. The Cklserolvan Auto-Safety group was a surprise to see in Formula Lego, but a welcome one, as they promised to raise the safety standards for drivers, even if they did not achieve success in race results. They would design their own Chassis and body work, known as the Erit Safety System, but run on Quantos Engines.
The final company to announce their intention to participate in Season 12 was Arthur Conneigh Applied Engineering, one of the largest Mechanical Engineering Firms in the Balkavanians, who often had been contracted in the past to develop parts of or whole cars for various companies. They planned on being a fully works team, running all main components as in-house designed parts.