Downton BD01
Downton BD01
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The Downton BD01 was the first ever car built by the Downton F1 team, and the car the team used to compete in the the 2013 F1F Virtual Grand Prix season. It was driven by a variety of drivers throughout the season although Scott Parsons and Kip Maxwell gave the car it's debut. Marcus Thunder, Felix Beyer, Jacinto van Slooten and 2013 World Champion Nathaniel Powers also drove the car throughout the season. The season was largely unsuccessful for the car despite a debut podium in the opening race.
The team finished the season tenth in the Constructors' Championship, with 29 points.
Competition history
The BD01 chassis was among the first to be launched at the start of the season and immediately stood out due to the strikingly colourful livery. The team claimed the car was rushed due to such late entry to the Championship and their focus would be mainly on the following season.
The BD01 made a strong start to life in Australia however with Scott Parsons taking the car to the podium and Kip Maxwell looking strong for points before an unfortunate reliability failure.
Malaysia came as a shock after the opening race as the team were off the pace all weekend, eventually finishing 13th and 15th, however fortunes changed again in Bahrain with the team once again finding themselves towards the front of the field and Scott Parsons scooped more points for fifth place.
From there the teams fortunes dropped and the BD01 was regularly found towards the back of the field. Marcus Thunder - having taken over driving duties from Scott Parsons following a Rally car crash - finished ninth in the German Grand Prix to score his first points and the teams first points for six races. He scored again three races later in Italy with tenth place. The Chinese Grand Prix was another point-less race in which Thunder was taken out, but it was also the last time he drove the car, moving to Mathershaw Technology to replace the banned Karl Beckenbauer.
Maxwell returned to partner Jacinto van Slooten - who scored his first point in the Japanese Grand Prix - as replacement for Thunder until the final round, when newly crowned World Champion Nathaniel Powers made an early switch to the team and endured a torrid race after early contact.
The team stated the had regularly updated the car throughout the season to improve one lap pace but had ultimately been unsuccessful. At the Chinese Grand Prix the team confirmed they had stopped all development on the BD01 and instead switched all focus to the BD02.
Complete Virtual Grand Prix results
(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | AUS | MAL | BHR | GBR | ESP | CAN | USA | FRA | GER | AUT | BEL | ITA | CHN | JPN | BRA | MEX | Points | WCC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | Orange Downton Pagani | Pagani PF12013 | B | |||||||||||||||||||
Scott Parsons | 3 | 15 | 5 | Ret | 14 | Ret | 21 | 29 | 10th | |||||||||||||
Kip Maxwell | Ret | 13 | Ret | 20 | 22 | 11 | 13 | 11 | Ret | |||||||||||||
Marcus Thunder | 18 | 14 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 10 | Ret | |||||||||||||||
Felix Beyer | Ret | 21† | ||||||||||||||||||||
Jacinto van Slooten | 15 | 17 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 14 | ||||||||||||||||
Nathaniel Powers | 21 |
† Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as they had completed greater than 90% of the race distance.