F1 S1 R7 - Season Finale Review

After an okay race in Round 6, where Syrz won the driver's championship we've probably expected the season finale to be boring as GR-Toyota was well about 16 points ahead of their rival, Dark Horse. This was also not hosted by Mat as he was supposed to be on his aunt's birthday, however since it was slightly delayed he could join as a helper.

On the same weekend we saw 3 teams use a special livery - Neptune Racing, Lexus Racing and GR-Toyota, which used an iconic Castrol livery (pic taken from MCRO discord)

Quali

As usual for the MCRO 1-lap qualis, the gaps were really close - with Vark having a great start and leading for a small bit. Then, the battle between both GR-Toyotas, Syrz and Vark began. We also saw a MCRO rookie, shibastop get P2 for a bit and fight Sot for the lead. Eventually, it was Sot who got pole position, with Syrz coming in 2nd and shibastop coming in 3rd. Impressive for a rookie! Lexi got an impressive 4th, overtaking Agg in 5th and quack in 6th. LR_Shut came 7th, Streekh came 8th, Vark unfortunately came 9th after a great 1st half. Dhen came last - however he forgot to switch to the race engine which made him finish the race about 10 seconds after Vark in P9.

Race

The race started well for Sot, who kept his lead for the first lap, being followed by Syrz and Lexi. Vark was also coming close to them, as he was P4. Shibastop didn't do well, as he dropped from P3 to P8. On the following laps, Vark managed to battle Syrz, Lexi and Agg for P2. Meanwhile, Sot had managed to build a gap between him and P2.

When lap 7 started, Lexi took P2, with Syrz, Vark, Agg and shiba following. The battle for P2 was still on. GR-Toyota was doing well, however Dark Horse was out of contention for the championship - Syrz was fighting for P2, while Dhen was dead last, even after changing to the Race Engine.

On lap 9, Dhen was the first car to be lapped. In mean time, the battle continued, with Lexi starting to lose pace and Vark starting to get close to Syrz, who was currently sitting in 2nd place.

Lap 11 - the pit window has been opened and Vark just overtook Syrz for P2 - the MCRO F1 champion decided to pit early, leaving Vark with a bigger gap between him and P3. Then, something both amazing and unbeliveable happened - Vark led the race. He still had to pit, but it was a shock that he had managed to start leading, considering that in the last race he finished P8. The battle for P2 has been slowed down, but it hasn't dissapeared fully - with Syrz and Sot battling for the position.

Lap 15 - Vark still leading, and in meanwhile Lexi was battling Agg for P4, with shibastop following them. The gap between P1 and P2 was getting smaller and smaller, and Vark still had to pit. On lap 18, he had finally pitted, which meant that he lost his lead and eventually dropped to P3. He was still in podium positions, which was impressive - but could he pass Syrz, who was no slow driver for P2?

Lap 20 - Vark started falling behind Syrz, which didn't give high hopes for the Lexus driver. But, a lap later he had somehow managed to overtake him. And on the same lap a race-changing thing happened - on lap 23 Sot suddenly dropped to P2, leaving Vark in the lead. The gap between P1 and P2 was only 1 second, and it was changing all the time. The only thing that mattered for Vark was keeping Sot behind for the next 3 laps. On lap 25, Agg fell off the mountain, and dropped behind Lexi to P5. The final lap started, and it was in fact not only the final lap of F1, it was also the final lap for Vark as he was retiring after this race. This started to become one of the most intense final laps of MCRO, as 1 mistake could mean that Vark would lose his maiden win and Sot would take his 3rd consecutive win of the season. Then, we saw this on the finish line:

Yes that's correct - Vark gets his first win after 10 months (his first race was in July 2022, GT S1R1)! This was a big shocker, as Vark was never considered a winning material or even a top 5 driver. Sot wasn't slow, neither was Syrz - but Vark had somehow managed to get the win on his final race. Also, what was more impressive is that he started P9, and managed to make a good comeback. After an intense battle, Sot came right behind waving Vark, and Syrz came 3rd.

After some time, we saw Lexi come in impressive 4th (again), then Agg in 5th, winning GR-Toyota the Constructor's Championship, as Dhen finished last. Shibastop came 6th, which is impressive for a rookie, but considering he was in top 3 for a bit he could've finished in at least top 5 - but he was battling Agg, who was one of the fastest MCRO drivers. Streekh closed the points with a P7 finish, with quack and LR_Shut being out of the points.

What a finale! We've expected this race to be quite boring as Syrz had already won the driver's championship, but seeing a 10-lap long battle for P2, 3-lap long close battle for the lead and a suprise winner is a pleasure. Maybe racing F1 on a Hypercar track is a good idea? Anyway, this is probably the perfect way to end MCRO's first (and hopefully not last) F1 season. Congrats Syrz on the driver's championship and 4 F1 wins, Congrats GR-Toyota, iliart (the team owner) and his drivers on the Constructor's Championship and Congrats Vark on winning his last race! Thank you Vark for all the seasons, and best of luck in the future.