FIA press conference schedule - Great Britain

Home heroes Jenson Button and Will Stevens will be among the drivers facing the media at Silverstone on Thursday, while on Friday it is the turn of senior team personnel to field the questions. The line-ups in full…

Thursday, July 2, 1500 hours local time (1400 hours GMT)
Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Jenson Button (McLaren), Marcus Ericsson (Sauber), Pastor Maldonado (Lotus), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Will Stevens (Marussia)

Friday, July 3, 1600 hours local time (1500 hours GMT)
John Booth (Marussia), Eric Boullier (McLaren), Matthew Carter (Lotus), Monisha Kaltenborn (Sauber), Vijay Mallya (Force India), Claire Williams (Williams)

The qualifying and post-race conferences with the top three drivers will take place immediately after the respective sessions.

(source: f1.com)

Order you tickets to Silverstone!

Order your F1 tickets to the British GP from this link: http://www.bookf1.com/f1-britain/tickets.htm?afid=815

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2015 British Grand Prix preview

Nino Farina in his Alfa Romeo. Silverstone 1950.

Silverstone is one of the most legendary F1 tracks in the calendar. Did you know that the whole F1 series started back in 1950 at Silverstone? That's why this circuit is so important!

In the first GP Giuseppe "Nino" Farina won from pole position also setting the fastest lap of the race (1'50.600). The current lap record is from last year by Mark Webber 1'33.401. The track has changed several times so it's hard to compare.

So what happened last year in the previous Silverstone race?

Some of you readers said that it was a boring race but I disagree. Silverstone has many times showed us that the track is not only a classic but gives us interesting races.

Right at the start my eyes was on the two Ferraris and two Williams's. Kimi Räikkönen overtook several cars including his teammate Fernando Alonso. Felipe Massa had a terrible start and dropped to 21st. Valtteri Bottas start was awesome! He jumped up to 9th position.

Kimi was fighting very aggressively and when Alonso came next to him he went off right away. Then when he tried to come back on track he lost control of the car and had a 47G crash. That is a very hard crash! Felipe Massa was at the wrong place at the wrong time and got hit by Kimi's car.

The first thing Kimi asked on the radio was "is Felipe ok?" and Massa asked Williams the same thing about Kimi. Two former teammates still caring for each other. That's nice.

Then they fixed the barrier for 1 hour! What the hell was that?! In Monaco they fix barriers in 5 minutes! A bit weird if you ask me. Didn't they practice situations like this or what was the problem? At least we got news from Ferrari that Kimi is OK.

Then after 1 hour they continued racing and the McLarens were 2nd and 3rd at best but what happened then? Why couldn't they hold the positions? It was almost like they had vanished from the race. OK it was probably hard to keep up with Hamilton and Bottas who were extremely fast. Button was 4th in the end so it was the best possible result for McLaren I guess.

Mercedes had technical problems again and Nico Rosberg retired. Lewis Hamilton got 25 points more than Rosberg from Silverstone. 

What else happened in the 2014 Silverstone race? Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel had a nice battle for positions but why did they have to complain and cry so much about every single move they did? Remember the situation? Is it because they are both used to be the number 1 driver in the team and get grumpy when the better driver doesn't let you pass? I don't know the answer to that, I was just saying.

Everybody was so interested of the Alonso vs. Vettel battle that nobody noticed that Daniel Ricciardo was higher up and kicked both of their asses again! In my opinion Bottas and Ricciardo are the future of F1.

Here are my predictions for this year's Grand Prix at Silverstone:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams

Fastest lap: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes

Surprise: McLaren might get some more points in Silverstone.

First to crash: Pastor Maldonado, Lotus

Remember to post your own predictions to our F1-4-LIFE PREDICTORS LEAGUE.

POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10

+ possible bonus points

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. For example if you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.

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!

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side AE, JT, MW & MH. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

2014 Austrian Grand Prix - Historic F1 car race

The historic race from last year at Spielberg. This is in German but it's still interesting to look at even though you don't understand what they are saying. Just skip to the parts where they drive the cars ;)

2015 Austrian GP (Full Race)

The race is in a smaller window so that it would be legal for YouTube.

2015 Austrian GP Team Principal Press Conference

If you missed it please watch this video ;)

Unofficial Wednesday testing times from Spielberg

Unofficial Tuesday testing times from Spielberg

Winners and Losers - Austria

Mercedes were never truly threatened in the Formula 1 Grosser Preis von Osterreich 2015, but part was down to some big names struggling badly. Behind the Silver Arrows, Williams returned to the podium, Force India claimed their best result of the season, while McLaren suffered a torrid weekend for the second race running. We take a team-by-team look at Sunday's action in Spielberg...


Mercedes

Nico Rosberg, P1
Lewis Hamilton, P2

Rosberg owned Spielberg from the moment that he grabbed the lead from slow-starting poleman Hamilton. The world champion, who blamed clutch issues for his poor getaway, simply couldn't keep up with Rosberg this day, and added five seconds to his race time when he crossed the white pit lane exit line on the 36th lap. Yet another Mercedes one-two meanwhile put them even further ahead on their way to another constructors' title - although the drivers' fight looks far less settled than it did a few races ago…

Williams

Felipe Massa, P3
Valtteri Bottas, P5

Forty five years to the day since the death of his friend Piers Courage at Zandvoort, Frank Williams witnessed Felipe Massa take his first podium of the season with a great drive in which he benefited from Vettel's pit stop strife but then earned it by keeping the German at bay in the closing stages. Bottas was less impressive this weekend and struggled a little with a brake problem - and Hulkenberg - on his way to an eventual fifth.

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel, P4
Kimi Raikkonen, Retired lap 1, accident

Ferrari should have taken an easy third place, but Vettel lost crucial time and the position to Massa when the right rear wheel proved problematic in his pit stop. The German said he was happy with the way his SF15-T went, and believed they took a step forward in the race. Raikkonen got too much wheelspin on new soft tyres exiting Turn 2 on the opening lap and collided heavily with Alonso. The Finn was extremely lucky to escape injury as the McLaren rode over his cockpit.


Force India

Nico Hulkenberg, P6
Sergio Perez, P9

Hulkenberg followed his great Le Mans weekend by qualifying extraordinarily well and making Bottas work for it as he raced hard to sixth, his best result of the year. Perez got clobbered by Kvyat on the opening lap and suffered severe vibrations with a flat-spotted front tyre late in the race, but nevertheless contributed to a 10-point haul that lifted Force India up two places in the team standings to fifth overall.

Lotus

Pastor Maldonado, P7
Romain Grosjean, Retired lap 35, gearbox

After recovering from a clutch problem at the start, Maldonado made good use of a set of new soft tyres to pull himself into points contention, and was later flying on supersofts. He made a bit of a meal of taking seventh, with a couple of lively mistakes, but then he was fighting the aggressive and determined Verstappen. Grosjean should have been in that fight too, but steadily lost gears until retirement became inevitable.

Toro Rosso

Max Verstappen, P8
Carlos Sainz, Retired lap 35, power loss

Once again Verstappen was in fabulous form and was one of the stars of the race with his passing moves and refusal to be beaten. His fight with Maldonado was spectacular, hard and entertaining, despite his tyres being finished. Had he not got caught up behind stable mate Kvyat for two laps, he might just have held on to what would have been a deserved seventh place.

Sainz was less forceful and earned himself a pit lane speeding penalty, which was understandable as he was departing after a delay with a wheel during his tyre change, but in any case he didn't go the distance after suffering power loss.


Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo, P10
Daniil Kvyat, P12

Ricciardo earned a single point for Dietrich Mateschitz in Red Bull's home race, after doing an impressive 50 laps on a set of new soft Pirellis and then pushing aggressively on supersofts. It was a great drive but not a great result, but he said he was pleased with the RB11 in the race. Kvyat had a first-lap pit stop after damaging his nose on Perez's Force India, and thereafter struggled to 12th.

Sauber

Felipe Nasr, P11
Marcus Ericsson, P13

Nasr looked a points contender until overheating brakes forced him to ease off, and he lost 10th to Ricciardo late on. Ericsson twice had to reset his car's electronics on the way to a disappointed 13th.

Marussia

Roberto Merhi, P14
Will Stevens, Retired lap 2, punctured oil radiator

Marussia lost Stevens on the second lap after debris punctured an oil radiator, but Merhi maintained the team's record of finishing at least one car in every race they have competed in this season.

McLaren

Jenson Button, Retired lap 8, sensor failure
Fernando Alonso, Retired lap 1, accident

McLaren's awful weekend ended early, as Raikkonen lost it exiting Turn 2 on the opening lap and collected an innocent Alonso. Then Button, having made his mandatory 10s stop-and-go pit call - penalty for pre-race changes of several power unit elements - within the first three laps, came in again and was retired with a sensor problem just when he was preparing to try and go through non-stop after switching to a set of soft Pirellis.

(source: f1.com)

2015 Austrian Grand Prix review

The race at Spielberg, Austria started with a jump start. It was Sauber's Marcus Ericsson and he tried to stop right after it but it didn't help. He got a penalty later on because of that.

In the front Nico Rosberg overtook his teammate Lewis Hamilton right at the start and lead the race with great confidence. The track suites Rosberg better than Hamilton. He was about to take pole position on Saturday but made a mistake right after Hamilton also did one. Hamilton was lucky because he had already set a fast lap. Now back to the race!

Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen and McLaren's Fernando Alonso crashed into each other on the first lap. It seems that Räikkönen got wheel spin when he switched to 5th gear (same problem in both McLaren's all weekend). When his car was moving from left to right and from right to left Alonso didn't know where he was supposed to go so they crashed and were both out of the race. Alonso's body language clearly said that he didn't blame his former teammate for anything. Alonso fanboys say that it was Kimi's fault and Kimi fanboys say that it was Alonso's fault. Me being a Formula One fan and not a fanboy of either of them makes me wanna say that it was a racing accident and that happens from time to time. We should be happy that neither of them got hurt.

Jenson Button asked on the radio "Is Fernando OK?" and showed how much he was concerned about his teammate. He also retired later on so it was a disastrous race for McLaren.

So what about Williams? Valtteri Bottas did a great job again overtaking several cars. It's just sad that Williams usually messes up his races in the pits. They did just that in Austria. He lost some positions but took them back on track. He was 5th in the final results. 

Felipe Massa on the other hand got a podium because Ferrari also messed up in the pits but even worse! Sebastian Vettel was 4th in the final results. Just like Räikkönen was in Canada. Williams is getting better results than Ferrari! What is going on with them? They should really try to do better in the next race.

After 71 laps Rosberg won the race followed by his teammate. Some say that Hamilton lost because of the 5 second penalty he got but in my opinion Rosberg dominated the race from the beginning till the end. He said after Canada that now it's time for "Maximum attack" and that's what he did in Austria. This is a track where he does good. He won last year as well remember?

Then it's time for my predictions and the results.

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 2nd.
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 1st.
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams - WRONG. His teammate Felipe Massa was 3rd.

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari

Surprise: Williams will take a step closer to Ferrari - CORRECT, they were ahead of them.

Who will pit first: Jenson Button, McLaren - WRONG. It was Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull.

POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10

+ possible bonus points

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. For example if you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.

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!

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side AE, JT, MW & MH. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

2015 Driver standings after the Austrian GP

2015 Constructor standings after the Austrian GP

2015 Austrian Grand Prix - Race

2015 PREDICTORS LEAGUE standings after the Austrian GP

1. Peter McLaren - 65 points

2. James Redman - 60 points

3. Jonathan M Yountz - 52 points

4. Leonardo Machado - 51 points 

5. Ryan Lane - 47 points

6. JT (F1-4-LIFE) - 46 points

7. MW (F1-4-LIFE) - 44 points

8. AE (F1-4-LIFE) - 42 points

9. Shaun Magnano - 41 points

10. MH (F1-4-LIFE) - 40 points

11. Larry Gallagher - 39 points

12. Tim Saunders - 36 points

13. Rich Kewell - 34 points

14. Elliott Robson - 31 points

15. Jaakko Iivari - 30 points

16. David Perry - 26 points

17. Dylan Curry - 24 points

18. Daniel Vanderburg - 23 points

18. Archie Donato - 23 points

18. Neil Marchant - 23 points

21. Abijith Kv - 18 points

21. Marcel Kircher - 18 points

23. Yõrt Martö - 13 points

24. Richard Gehl - 10 points

24. Chris Kemp - 10 points

24. Eric Lemens - 10 points

27. Rodrigo Gonzales - 8 points

27. Corey Lea - 8 points

27. Vitor Lobo - 8 points

30. Anthony Brian Ayrton Senna - 6 points

31. Белмин Aљоски - 3 points

31. Tom Maw - 3 points

33. Steven Peli - 0 points

33. Daniel Kelleher - 0 points

33. Martin Hubbard - 0 points

We have had 35 different predictors this season.

POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10

+ possible bonus points

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. For example if you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.

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!

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side AE, JT, MW & MH. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

2015 Austrian Grand Prix - Qualifying

2015 Austrian Grand Prix - Third practice session

2015 Austrian Grand Prix - Second practice session

2015 Austrian Grand Prix - First practice session

2015 Austria - Thursday Press Conference

FIA press conference schedule - Austria

Newly-crowned Le Mans winner Nico Hulkenberg will be among the drivers fielding questions in Spielberg on Thursday, while on Friday it is the turn of team technical personnel to face the media. The line-ups in full…

Thursday, June 18, 1500 hours local time (1300 hours GMT)
Fernando Alonso (McLaren), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)

Friday, June 19, 1600 hours local time (1400 hours GMT)
Mattia Binotto (Ferrari), James Key (Toro Rosso), Tom McCullough (Force India), Paul Monaghan (Red Bull), Pat Symonds (Williams), Rob White (Renault)

The qualifying and post-race conferences with the top three drivers will take place immediately after the respective sessions.

(source: f1.com)

2015 Austrian Grand Prix preview

Austrian GP 1997

The Austrian GP is here again! I have been in Austria and I absolutely love the whole country. A very special and beautiful place so why not combine it with Formula One? ;)

A1 Ring, now known as Red Bull Ring looks like this:
(an old video with Ricciardo and Vettel)



Last year Felipe Massa took pole position and Valtteri Bottas was second in qualifying. Everybody were stunned. In the race the Mercs got ahead with Nico Rosberg as the winner and Lewis Hamilton 2nd. Valtteri Bottas was 3rd and Felipe Massa was 4th. I am pretty sure that this year Williams will also surprise us and be ahead of Ferrari.




























Last year it was the first time in many years they raced in Austria. So when was the previous race before 2014?

It was in 2003. Michael Schumacher was fighting for the championship with Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya. They were no match for Michael and his Ferrari, so of course he won the race. Kimi was second and Juan Pablo retired from the race.

If we look at the most experienced drivers who have raced in Austria before 2014 there is Kimi Räikkönen who I mentioned earlier, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. From these drivers Kimi has been the most successful there so keep an eye on him. He even took a 4th place with Sauber in his first year. Back then Sauber never got podiums so that was a very good result.

What kind of memories do I have from this track then? I remember in 1998 when Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard took a 1-2 for McLaren and Schumacher was 3rd. Those three were fighting for the championship in 1998. In the end it was just Mika vs. Michael.


Then it's time for my predictions. 

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari

Surprise: Williams will take a step closer to Ferrari

Who will pit first: Jenson Button, McLaren

POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10

+ possible bonus points

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. For example if you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.

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!

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side AE, JT, MW & MH. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

Hulkenberg thrilled after debut win at Le Mans

It was Hulkenberg’s first attempt at the epic endurance event, and Porsche’s first outright victory since 1998.

The trio’s #19 car came home a lap ahead of the second-placed sister #17 Porsche machine driven by Formula One veteran Mark Webber, former Red Bull F1 reserve Brendon Hartley and German racer Timo Bernhard.

“I enjoyed every moment," said Hulkenberg afterwards. "These cars are great fun to drive and then to be on a huge track like this one.

"The pace was really high, and not what you would expect from endurance racing. Of course, I didn’t think I would come here and rock ’n’ roll this race, this would be silly because there are so many challenges in that race.”

The German also thanked Force India for allowing him to take part, and in particular team principal Vijay Mallya who was present at Le Mans to witness his driver's success.

Hulkenberg is one of only a handful of recent drivers to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours race midway through a Formula One world championship campaign.

Though it was common in the past, the last driver to do so was Sebastien Bourdais, who raced for Toro Rosso and Peugeot in the respective disciplines in 2009.

Only four drivers in history have won both the Formula One world championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours overall - Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, Jochen Rindt and Graham Hill.

(source: f1.com)

1982 Austrian GP Österreichring - Full Race

The Austrian GP is next weekend so I thought you guys would like to see a classic race from Austria. The finish was one of the closest ever. Take a look!

Hulkenberg to start third at Le Mans

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg will join an elite club this weekend when he becomes one of only a handful of recent drivers to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours race midway through a Formula One world championship campaign.

Hulkenberg lines up third for the epic endurance event, sharing a works Porsche 919 Hybrid with British driver Nick Tandy and New Zealand’s Earl Bamber. Porsche also fill the front row of the grid, with F1 veteran Mark Webber among the men at the wheel.

"I am very pleased the 2015 Formula One calendar allows for it and I'm grateful to my Sahara Force India Formula One Team's generosity to let me go for it,” said Hulkenberg when announcing his Le Mans plans.

Though it was common in the past, the last driver to compete in both Formula One racing and the Le Mans 24 Hours at the same time was Sebastien Bourdais, who raced for Toro Rosso and Peugeot in the respective disciplines in 2009.

Only four drivers in history have won both the Formula One world championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours overall - Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, Jochen Rindt and Graham Hill.

(source: f1.com)

More Friday outings for Palmer at Lotus

The reigning GP2 champion, who has already participated in opening practice in China, Bahrain and Spain, will also take part in the two-day post-race test in Spielberg for the Enstone team.

“I’m really looking forward to driving the E23 again in FP1 and then at the in-season test in Austria especially after not having been in the cockpit these past couple of races,” Palmer told Lotus’s official site.

“The pace of the car looked very strong in Montreal so the car has come on quite well since the last in-season testing I did in Barcelona. It’ll be good for me to do some more mileage and be in a more competitive car since the last time I drove it.”

Despite his lack of recent cockpit time, Palmer said he was pleased by the progress made with the E23 Hybrid in recent weeks, which culminated in Lotus’s first double points finish of the year in Canada.

“The E23 looked strong on the Friday straight out of the box. Maybe on the outside some might have thought that we were running quite low on fuel and then in qualifying we surprised everyone. The pace in the race itself could have been a little bit better but definitely the overall pace of the car is strong and shows a big step. Hopefully we can keep up the good work and make more progress these upcoming races.”

Lotus have scored a total of 23 points this season, putting them fifth in the standings just two points ahead of Sauber.

(source: f1.com)

2015 Canadian GP (Full Race)

Winners and Losers - Canada

Mercedes may have dominated the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada, but there were plenty of fluctuations in fortune behind them. Williams finally got the better of Ferrari. Lotus suddenly looked a force to be reckoned with. McLaren endured a dismal race - even by their own trying 2015 standards. And last year’s winner Daniel Ricciardo failed to score a single point. We take a team-by-team look at Sunday’s formbook in Montreal…


Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton, P1
Nico Rosberg, P2

As the leader, Hamilton had the clear air but greater drag, which meant he had to focus at times on ‘lift and coast’ fuel saving. Rosberg, meanwhile in running second, was able to save fuel in Hamilton’s slipstream, but found his brakes getting hotter because of the reduced airflow behind his team mate. So it was swings and roundabouts as they slogged it out at the front in a nip and tuck battle.

In the end, things went Hamilton’s way, while Rosberg said that losing pole by a fraction proved to be the decisive aspect of his race. Nevertheless, Mercedes still scored yet another one-two as Hamilton surpassed Nigel Mansell as the Briton to lead the most laps in Grands Prix.


Williams

Valtteri Bottas, P3
Felipe Massa, P6

Williams got their strategy just right, switching Bottas from an intended two-stopper to a single stopper. That enabled the Finn to take their first podium of the season when Raikkonen spun, which was a much-needed boost. Massa, meanwhile battled up superbly from 15th to sixth, giving the team a good haul of points to cement its third place overall.

Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen, P4
Sebastian Vettel, P5

Ferrari once again were unable to show their true pace. Raikkonen couldn’t quite grab second at the start and then fairly quickly lost touch with the Mercedes despite his upgraded engine. Then, after his first pit stop he unaccountably spun exiting the hairpin - as he did last year. The team think it may have been something odd in the SF15-T. That lost him the chance of a podium. Vettel, meanwhile, struggled a little in the early traffic as he fought up from 18th on the grid, so he too was unable to show what he might have been able to do as he climbed to 5th.

Lotus

Pastor Maldonado, P7
Romain Grosjean, P10

At last Lotus got both cars home in the points, and Maldonado broke his 2015 duck with a decent, uncomplicated drive to seventh. Grosjean could have been sixth, possibly even fifth, but moved over too soon on Stevens after lapping him on the approach to Turn 14, and caused both to veer into the pit lane. The Frenchman later conceded that the collision had been his fault, and it earned him five seconds on his race time.

Force India

Nico Hulkenberg, P8
Sergio Perez, P11

But for a spin in Turn 14 while battling for position with Vettel - which he later suggested he might have been better off not pushing so far - Force India might have taken sixth courtesy of Hulkenberg. The German was in fine form in a car whose working life isn’t quite yet over, but Perez, the star of Monaco, was unhappy throughout with his VJM08’s behaviour.

Red Bull

Daniil Kvyat, P9
Daniel Ricciardo, P13

Red Bull looked a shadow of the team for whom Ricciardo won the 2014 race. Kvyat couldn’t better ninth, while the Australian said he was completely confused by the lack of performance in his car throughout a very tough race.


Toro Rosso

Carlos Sainz, P12
Max Verstappen, P15

Toro Rosso, like Red Bull, lacked pace, mainly because of Renault’s woeful straight-line performance. If Monaco had been good for them, Montreal assuredly was not, simple as that.

Sauber

Marcus Ericsson, P14
Felipe Nasr, P16

Sauber lacked sheer pace, and Nasr was also bothered by brake problems and power loss, but Ericsson was in feisty form and after losing a dramatic battle early on with the much faster Massa, held off the charging Verstappen to the flag.

Marussia

Will Stevens, P17
Roberto Merhi, Retired lap 58, driveshaft

Stevens brought his car home despite the unprovoked attack from Grosjean which required a new nose as the front wing was damaged, but for once Marussia lost a car when Merhi’s broke a driveshaft.

McLaren

Jenson Button, Retired lap 55, exhaust
Fernando Alonso, Retired lap 45, exhaust

On a circuit they knew wouldn’t suit them, McLaren struggled with fuel saving issues and Button’s need to serve a drive-through penalty in the opening three laps. Neither driver finished, each having a different issue with their exhausts.

(source: f1.com)

2015 Canadian GP Team Principal Press Conference (video)

Take a look at this if you missed it.

2015 Canadian Grand Prix review

The Canadian Grand Prix is now behind us and it's time to review it.

A clean start from the top teams. The positions stayed the same even though Kimi Räikkönen tried to overtake Nico Rosberg for second. Valtteri Bottas couldn't really keep up with Kimi's speed because he was too busy defending his position against Romain Grosjean. The only one who really succeeded with his overtake was Nico Hulkenberg by getting in front of Pastor Maldonado.

Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel did a great job rising up from the back. On lap 8 the german had to pit for the first time and dropped back again. No problem there because he continued overtaking cars one by one and didn't seem to have a problem with it at all. Well only with Fernando Alonso but that was only for a little while. Felipe Massa did one of the best overtaking maneuvers by getting in front of Carlos Sainz Jr. Very nice work!

McLaren radiod Alonso to save fuel or he had to retire. Alonso didn't want to save fuel because he didn't want to look like "an amateur" like he said. Later he retired for obvious reasons and looked like a fool if you ask me. Why would you choose to "look good" instead of stay out on track and maybe get a point or two. I don't understand the logic. If he wanted to look good then why did he leave Ferrari to drive for McLaren? Somehow I have a feeling that we will see much more behavior like that in the future. Just wait and see!

Back to the race!

On lap 27 Kimi pitted and spun after that. It seems that he had the wrong settings in the car and that same thing happened to him one year ago as well. A pity for his sake because he almost had a podium finish coming to him.

Bottas took 3rd right away and kept it till the end. Every time a Ferrari has been behind him this season they haven't got pass him. He is very hard to overtake! The only ones in front of Bottas were the Mercs of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. No surprise there.

In my opinion it was one of the most boring Canadian Grand Prix in years. Some already called me crazy and nuts etc. when I said this but please tell me which Canadian GP has been more boring if you can. I guess I made my point. The Canadian GP has usually been one of the best weekends of the year and it didn't really feel like it this time. I am sorry if you don't feel the same way. These are just my opinions and I am not changing them.

Then it's time for my predictions and the results!

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - CORRECT
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG. Valtteri Bottas took 3rd and Sebastian Vettel was 5th.

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - CORRECT

Surprise: McLaren will show some improvement in Canada - Some speed was seen yes but it required more fuel which made Fernando Alonso retire.

Remember to 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 AE, JT, MH & MW. 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.

THIS TIME YOU ALSO GET BONUS POINTS! PREDICT POLE POSITION AND FASTEST LAP CORRECTLY TO EARN 2 EXTRA POINTS!

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