The first race is now in the past and now it's time to review it.
First of all there was a lot of drivers that didn't race. Marussia or Manor F1 Team didn't participate in the race because they weren't ready for it yet. Fernando Alonso was preparing himself for the Malaysian GP because he hurt himself in testing earlier. Kevin Magnussen was the one to replace him but couldn't start the race because of his car didn't make it to the grid. Valtteri Bottas hurt his back in qualifying and didn't get FIA's permission to race. Apparently he couldn't get out of the car quickly enough and they told him not to race. Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull couldn't get to the grid either just like Magnussen's McLaren. Red Bull are not happy with their Renault engines.
What about the start? Kimi Räikkönen overtook Sebastian Vettel but got pushed out of the track by that same teammate. Carlos Sainz Jr. smashed into his rear and Felipe Nasr touched him from the side. Very bad start for Kimi but he managed to continue. He blamed Carlos Sainz Jr. for the whole incident.
Pastor Maldonado was next to Felipe Nasr when he touched Räikkönen and spun off. Pastor Maldonado was the first one to retire from the race.
Daniel Ricciardo had a bad start which clearly was because of his car and not his driving skills. The rest of the race he drove very well but couldn't match Räikkönen's and Massa's superior cars speed.
Like I said Kimi Räikkönen drove much better than 12 months ago but lost a lot of time after his first pitstop. Ferrari really messed up his race when they had problems with his rear tyre. Sebastian Vettel had also a bit slower pitstop than usual.
Räikkönen overtook a lot of cars again and had to make his second pitstop. This time they left the same rear tyre a bit loose and he had to retire. Autosprint.com wrote that it was Kimi's fault and not Ferrari's (strange statement if you ask me). Ferrari did not blame him for the error.
Toro Rosso had similar problems in the pits with Carlos Sainz Jr.'s car which cost him some time. Why is so many teams messing up in the pits? I don't get it.
The other Toro Rosso driver Max Verstappen had to retire when his Renault engine failed. Red Bull is not happy at all when the engines work like that or don't work at all.
Both Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson had a very good race. They showed us all that Sauber is better than Force India at the moment. I am happy for Sauber because they were last in the championship last year.
Marcus Ericsson was the first Swede to get points in F1 since the early 90's.
In the front it was boring! Lewis Hamilton led and Nico Rosberg followed from the beginning till the end.
Sebastian Vettel was behind the two Mercedes drivers and did a good job on his first Ferrari stint. The Italians love him already and some say that he will achieve even more than Michael Schumacher did at Ferrari. That has always been Vettel's dream also.
Only 11 cars finished the race and the only car without points was Jenson Button's McLaren. They were still happy that they managed to finish the race. McLaren had so little time to test in the winter that this years races are just about to learn how the new engine works. Sad but true and I hope they will get better. McLaren and Honda are a legendary pair in Formula One. Everybody remember that the last time they worked together they won 4 championships in just 5 seasons.
I don't have much else to say but all in all it's nice that the season has started even though the race was a bit boring. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a positive surprise on the podium.
Last but not least my predictions and how well I did:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
The race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - CORRECT
- Valtteri Bottas, Williams - Didn't race so I gave everybody in the PREDICTORS LEAGUE a chance to change their prediction if they had Bottas in it. I chose Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari so... - CORRECT
Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap.
Surprise: Kimi Räikkönen will do much better than last year! - CORRECT but Ferrari messed up his race.
Join our PREDICTORS LEAGUE now!
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 the winner and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.
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!
THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win him- or herself an admin place on the F1 4 LIFE Facebook page along side AE, JT, MW & MH. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.
Last year's winner Peter McLaren didn't want to be an administrator so I made him a special member instead. As a special member he has the power to decide what we will predict for to get bonus points. I will give you more information about that later on the Facebook page.
That's it for today! Send me a message on Facebook or email me: f14lifeblog@gmail.com if you have anything you want to talk about. I answer almost every message.
