Tuesday, August 26, 2014

2014 Belgian GP review



It's always great when the F1 break ends and the series continues with the Belgian GP. Spa has always hosted very interesting races and it didn't let us down this time either.

Before the formation lap Fernando Alonso stayed for too long in the grid and got himself a 5 second penalty. It was clearly Ferrari's fault but this time Kimi Räikkönen wasn't the victim.

Sebastian Vettel had a super start and almost overtook both of the Mercedes drivers. He lost his position when he went of the track and had to let the Mercs go by him.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were fighting for the lead as usual until they touched. In my point of view Rosberg put Hamilton in a position were he had to choose between letting him pass or touching. Hamilton drove over Rosberg's front wing and destroyed his tyre. Racing incident yes but this was the kind of situation Ayrton Senna usually put his rivals in and Hamilton admires that. Now when Rosberg did this to him he realizes that even his hero sometimes did things that wasn't ok. Or maybe he still admires Senna's every move but doesn't see the similarity?

Hamilton was forced to pit and got stuck in the back for the rest of the race. Rosberg on the other hand managed to stay in front, finished 2nd and scored some valuable points. Sometimes it seems that Hamilton is playing mind games with Rosberg but truth is that Rosberg is doing the same thing and seems to be better at it. Hamilton should keep his mind cool and don't let nothing distract him in and outside of a race.

Lotterer had his first race ever in F1 even though he had tested for Jaguar over 10 years ago. He drove one lap and that was it. If he doesn't drive anymore it was a very short F1 career.

Valtteri Bottas was flying again and even overtook Rosberg at one point. He also overtook Kimi Räikkönen for third and finished the race in the same position.

Kimi Räikkönen on the other hand had a great race as he always does in Spa. This was actually the first time he finished outside of the podium in Spa. He has always won the race, retired or finished third once. He would have finished third on Sunday as well but Bottas' Williams was too quick for his Ferrari. Great race from him though!

The star was Daniel Ricciardo. He has been better than his 4 time world champion teammate the whole season and took his 3rd victory! He is the only driver who has been able to challenge the Mercedes boys. I have troubles to believe that he is better than Sebastian Vettel but at the moment it looks like it. Maybe this kind of cars are better for Ricciardo and the cars we have seen in the past 5 years have been better for Vettel. The cars are pretty different so this could be the reason. I am not an expert on the technical side but this is the best solution I have come up with.



On the podium Nico Rosberg got a lot of negative feedback from the spectators. I understand that the Hamilton fans were angry but Rosberg drove a fantastic race even though what happened and I don't respect behavior like that from F1 fans. Very stupid!

Here are my predictions and the results:


Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. It was the other Mercedes again.

The race:
  1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. His teammate was 2nd and Lewis got hit by him.
  2. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull - WRONG. One step higher.
  3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams - CORRECT!

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. Nico Rosberg was the fastest.

How many cars will retire before the second lap? I'm saying 4 cars - WRONG. No cars retired on the first lap which is strange if you ask me.


Surprise: Kimi Räikkönen will find new speed - CORRECT. I knew he would be good in Spa.


Post your own predictions to our F1-4-LIFE PREDICTORS LEAGUE!




The rules:

POINTS:  1st - 3  2nd - 5  3rd - 10 

HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. If you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points same if you get 1 correct. eg. 2nd you get 5 points. If a driver wins the race and you said he would come 2nd or 3rd no points would be awarded. Same if he came in another position, and you predicted that wrong. A table will be posted up every race weekend. The point scoring system will change once the cars become more competitive. Everyone will say a merc 1,2 so it won't be close or fun. 

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick! like the Mercedes. 

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side JT, AE, MW & MH. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway. We may also come up with some other prize if it helps. 

That's it for today and if you want to send me feedback then email me: f14lifeblog@gmail.com

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