Here we are, we've arrived at the end. We've seen so many faces and so many leave, so many stories, so much glory and failure, comebacks and bottles, strange tactics and godly decisions... it really has been a journey for Official Formula Zero to get to where it is now but finally we are here, at the final season completed as of my time of writing this and the final season before the anniversary of this league (which is today too!). First we'll start with the story of the rookie tier...
It took him 3 rookie seasons to do it but it was perfect timing from Watson to take the title just before the 31st. He had 11 wins with a string of them in between the Malaysian GP and the European GP. It was a solid performance from Watson to take the championship and finally move up to pro! You're probably thinking that the other person to follow him up to pro was Prateek who held 4th last season but instead it was the man who had only gotten 37 points the season before who was the one to be joining the pro tier. Patrick managed to show pace from seemingly nowhere considering his efforts last season. His pace allowed him to take 4 wins and confirm him early on as the 2nd manager to be joining the pro tier on the 2nd of August. Prateek was left with a distant 3rd and 1 win, he also had 8 poles which suggests that he had a "Qualycentric" strategy but we already know by now that these don't usually work. Hyun who was demoted from pro the previous season will compete in another rookie season, he didn't seem to have the speed that Prateek did but he was still able to get a win for his team. One thing Hyun should worry about is how close Max (5th) & Sifiso (6th) were behind him without any wins, they definitely look like the ones who will challenge him for promotion in the up and coming season. In the end rookie did what it has done for OFZ since the beginning, separate the inactives from the actives and separate the average from the promising ones. I'll definitely be watching Watson's first pro season and see how he'll fare in a far tougher environment.
Pro always gives a good indication of how good the rookies are compared to the elites. Rookie championships tend to be a little deceiving and make the player look a lot better or worse than they actually are, when really there are many factors that can play into their finishing position. The two promotees from rookie last season, Connor & Rion, couldn't have had more different debut pro seasons. Rion (14th) found himself barely hanging on to pro and teetering on the edge of demotion while Connor (9th) found himself having a decent amount of success with 35 points and a pole position too. I think it's clear who will be the first of the two to be promoted but we'll see! One position ahead of Connor was Darren and his team "Numnuts". With 101 races spent inside the tier I think it's obvious that he'll need to modify his way of racing a lot if he ever plans on reaching elite. Ahead of him was Orlin (6th) and Dan (7th), who were ironically within 2 points of each other and were both promoted in the same season. Add an extra 11 points to Orlin's total and you'll get to Mat who showed promising signs of being promoted earlier on but dropped the ball as the season continued, he dropped from 2nd to 5th. Further ahead of him, surprisingly and yet unsurprisingly, was Aaron who also has 101 pro races under his belt. It seems as if he also never quite has what's needed to make the step up and will be looking for improvements from the 1 win this season going into next season. Just ahead of him though was one of the most important close battles of the league this season. It was between Anthony and Dave. The man looking for his first taste of elite versus the man looking for his second. The battle raged on and on with Dave winning 3 races before Anthony could get one, it seemed as if Dave had done enough but then it came down to the final two races. Anthony wins in Brazil and now everything is up for grabs. Neither wanted to spend another season down in pro and put everything into the final race to be the one with the bragging rights in elite. In qualifying Anthony fitted softs, Dave fitted hards. Considering the track it would seem that Dave had picked the right strat but no one could have predicted the pace that Anthony had to offer. He sprinted away from the field and finished with a 1-2 9 seconds ahead of anyone else. With one of his cars in 4th, all Dave's other car required was 6th to bring himself out of pro. The laps were starting to run out and Dave only had 4th and 7th with 6th only 2 seconds ahead of him. But unfortunately, Dave was forced to pit his 7th placed driver on the last lap giving promotion to Anthony. It was a hard fought battle which was won by the fastest manager in the end but it was still a sad way to lose a spot in elite. E.Sloan, the player who sat through Brian's historic rookie season and a decent following pro season, proved he was also fast this season finishing 200 points clear of anyone else and with 8 wins to boot. Just like Laszlo, Unguided Royal, Pesp and Brian, he demonstrated a clear difference between him and the others. It was clear near the end that he was saving himself for elite so I'm excited to see what he'll have to offer in the top tier next season!
And finally, for the last time of this 20 season recap of Formula Zero, we reach elite. I feel proud to see the grid we have now, all of them have their own stories, characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. They've gone through it all to reach this tier, to be here up until now, so let's go through how it went!
It all began with a new winner, Marc! From 27 points in a season to winning his first Australian OFZ gp, scratch that, a 1-2 in his first Australian OFZ gp. I didn't think it was possible! He finished ahead of Leo who understood that he had a challenge this season and right after I took my team out of the league moved his level 20 team in. At the time I had no idea what he was planning but it would all become clear soon enough. Suspiciously, the race after this he managed to get a 1-2 and bring everything back to square one. The battle was no where near from over! It went on to China, Leo qualified on mediums and still managed to win the race. He won the next two as well. By now he had a solid lead over Marc but it was all wiped out in two races! Marc won in Monaco, won in Turkey, both times with a 1-2 both by a large margin. The pressure and tension was starting to build between the two, more than I'd ever seen before in iGP let alone OFZ. Neither spoke on the league page, in discord or during the races. The only thing that was important to either of them was winning. Marc went on to win 5 of the next 3 races, reducing Leo's lead to a minuscule 4 points. It seemed as if Marc had all the momentum and all the resources ready to beat Leo who was messing around with his second, lvl 20 team. It was after this point, after the Belgian Grand Prix, that everything would change. Italy came around and it was Leo who took the win and 2nd by a mile. The gap increased. Singapore showed up and Marc opted for Super softs. His strategy placed him ahead of Leo by the final stint but he run out of fuel on the last lap to give Leo's second team the win! That's right! Leo managed to let his second team win instead of the first allowing the championship to stay close for another round. Annoyingly, Marc announced right after this that he'd be missing the Japanese Grand Prix. I could feel the battle coming to an end, Leo would have to make a mistake if we were going to see this go to the final race of the season. Everyone began preparing themselves for the race but in the final moments of practice it began raining! For the second time in the season it was raining! Razvan managed to out qualify both Marc and Leo, he seemed set to win the race to but he didn't anticipate the burning hot conditions of the race. The inters struggled in the temperatures given but that didn't phase Steady Stefabo for a second! He absolutely dominated the grand prix and took what seemed to be a likely win for Leo. Once again the longevity of the championship was preserved and Marc still had a chance. The gap was 20 points. Far within the window needed for Marc to claim his first championship in his first elite season with 2 races to go. Both managers picked the hard compound but Marc outqualified his rival. Although he lost his advantage early on to Leo and had to be aggressive, Leo overcut him and came out ahead for the final stint of their races. Marc knew he had to do something to beat Leo but panicked as he saw his opponent pulling away and used up a lot of kers to pass and take the lead. Leo caught up later and put both of his cars back ahead, almost losing the 1-2 by running out of fuel but that's besides the point. The gap was now at 38 and the championship seemed pretty much wrapped up. Leo only needed 6 points and he got them, Marc took the final win of the season with a 1-2 as well, maybe showing Leo a hint of what's to come next season. Well done to both of them for creating Official Formula Zero's tightest ever elite season!
Leo's Tifosi Notahc team were able to take 5th in the championship behind Razvan who had lost his 3rd position to one of the greatest comebacks ever from Stefabo. Behind Leo's 2nd team was Akkad who once again took the most poles at the end of the season, a long way off of his 3rd position from just 2 seasons before. Alejandro had no László to beat this season and finished far off of were he usually does but maybe the constant top 4 finishes of Marc and Leo somewhat contributed to this. Paul finished only one point behind but did say that he was preparing for season 21 of OFZ, Peter finished a little bit off of him and had strangely inconsistent pace this season, Phil ended up behind Peter and once again no where near Razvan although I'm sure he has more to show next season. Brian sort of struggled in his first elite season but when you're competing against so many established talents of OFZ it would be ignorant to expect championships in your first season. Pavel really did struggle this season with zero points and to be honest I don't see what he can really do with talent one drivers against a field of talent 20s, no matter what they're level is. Ariyatotle struggled to stay in the tier this season and if it wasn't for the surprising inactivity of László and Robert he would be in pro for another season. Kirky was lucky to be able to stay in the tier after joining late season season to replace Robert who was kicked. Sergii then left and was replaced by Firdaus who is inactive and of course László was demoted. Well, that's just about it for this season and this year for Formula Zero. Leo Yeo was the first person to win an OFZ elite championship and is the last person to win an elite championship within a year of the creation of the tier and it's his 12th FZ championship since it all started. Well done and thank you to everyone who was been part of this journey and I hope you are all around until the next year!
