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| Suzuka, Japan |
It seems that the best grid spot to start from is the 2nd place. I have seen this so many times that you become the leader after the first corner when you start from 2nd. Prost overtook Senna from second and Häkkinen overtook Schumacher. You just drive straight and you are on the inside line before the first corner. They should really change it because it's not really fair if you ask me.
So what happened this year? Lewis Hamilton started from 2nd place and overtook Nico Rosberg after the start. What a surprise! (NOT). Rosberg tried hard to keep his 1st place but Hamilton pushed him off track and he dropped to 4th. A nasty move from Hamilton but I am sure that Rosberg would have done the same thing to him.
What about the rest? Sebastian Vettel started from 4th and managed to overtake Valtteri Bottas but no harm for the Finn when Rosberg dropped back. Bottas was 3rd just as he had started the race.
Daniel Ricciardo got a good start but moved over Felipe Massa's front wheel and they both got a puncture. Sergio Perez went off track after he had some contact with one of the Toro Rossos. So all three of them had to pit (Ricciardo, Massa and Perez).
On lap 7 Mercedes said that Rosberg's engine temps are too high but it didn't seem to stop him. He managed to overtake Bottas later on and was now 3rd.
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| Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso |
On lap 26 Fernando Alonso was overtaken by Verstappen. He had no chances to keep his position. The McLaren-Honda was too slow for the Toro Rosso. By the way! Did anybody else notice that the Japanese TV people followed almost the whole race just the McLarens? I mean we saw the front for less than 10 minutes (combined). Maybe we are just too used to see Hamilton and Rosberg at the front so nobody cares anymore.
Alonso said on the radio that his car is like a GP2 car and that it is embarrassing. In a way he just pissed all over Honda but why would he care? He works for McLaren and not Honda. Anyways Ron Dennis didn't take it well but still announced that Alonso and his teammate Jenson Button shall stay with them another season. I would really like to know what Honda thought about all of this.
Let's move on! On lap 28 Carlos Sainz was about to pit but drove over a sign on the track. This damaged his front wing. The pit crew were confused and took too long when they realized that they had to change the front wing too.
Kimi Räikkönen pitted one lap later which worked out well for him. He was stuck behind Bottas who is hard to overtake. Kimi was faster so there was no use of staying behind him for a longer time. Bottas pitted on the next lap and his team was slooooow once again. I mean come on! He should have dropped one spot because Kimi was so fast but now he lost 3 spots. Bottas was now 7th and it didn't take long before he had overtaken his way back to 5th behind Kimi. I mean it was about one lap he took time with that!
So now the top5 was HAM, ROS, VET, RAI, BOT and it stayed like that till the end.
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| Lewis Hamilton looking up on Jules and Ayrton. |
Now let's see my predictions and the results:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. His teammate Nico Rosberg took pole.
Race:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. His teammate Nico Rosberg took pole.
Race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG. He was 3rd.
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 2nd.
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
Surprise: Vettel will beat Rosberg in the points and become Hamilton's biggest threat. Ferrari is now really starting to compete against Mercedes. - It was very close but it didn't happen.
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!
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. 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
