2017 Hungarian Grand Prix review

The Hungarian Grand Prix was the first F1 race without a Brazilian driver in the field since the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix!! Felipe Massa didn't feel well before qualifying and was replaced by Paul diResta. He jumped into the car without any tests or adjustments which might be very difficult for a driver. Heikki Kovalainen filled in for Kimi Räikkönen in 2013 also without tests but at least he got to drive in practice sessions so it went a little bit better. Still a great great job from Paul diResta even though Kimi had something to say about him:



The start was interesting for a few reasons. First of all Lewis Hamilton got overtaken by both Red Bulls even though they collided with each other after that. Max Verstappen was already challenging for 3rd place but Valtteri Bottas shut the door on him. After this he tried desperately to defend his position against his teammate Daniel Ricciardo and took him out of the race. Ricciardo said "what a fucking loser" on the radio after he got confirmation that it was his teammate who crashed into him. Verstappen got a 10 second penalty.

Later on in the race Sebastian Vettel got some problems with his car. Kimi was much faster than Vettel but was told to keep his position. That's just sick if you ask me! I mean yes I understand that Ferrari wants to maximize their championship points for Vettel because he is leading the championship but it is not fair. What about Kimi? What about giving them a fair fight for the championship? I hate what they did to Rubens Barrichello with Michael Schumacher and what they did to Felipe Massa with Fernando Alonso. Very sad and makes the sport boring! In my opinion these team orders should be banned.

Behind Kimi we could see Bottas and Hamilton catching him and making it very dangerous for him. He even told Ferrari on the radio that they are putting him in a very difficult situation. They didn't seem to care. Even Vettel said after the race that maybe he should have let Kimi pass him.

Hamilton had radio issues and people were joking that this is good so that he can't ask the team to tell Bottas to let him pass. Right away when the radio started working he asked if they could tell Bottas to let him through. WHAT A SURPRISE! (not) Why can't he fight him like he used to fight Nico Rosberg?! I mean I loved that!! Is Bottas too hard to overtake or isn't Hamilton's motivation as high as it used to be? I know that it is hard to overtake in Hungary but this has happened on other tracks also this season.

Mercedes told Bottas to let Hamilton pass him and that he will give the position back if he can't overtake Kimi. He couldn't but stayed in front anyways.

Just before the finish line Hamilton gave the position back to Bottas. It was almost like Hamilton was thinking to the last corner if he should give the position back or not. I was surprised that Hamilton gave the position back. Vettel would not have given his position back to his teammate like that (at least that's what I think). Hamilton gets a lot of respect from me for giving the position back. Then on the other hand why is it such a big deal to keep a promise? That's just normal isn't it? I just hope that if Hamilton doesn't win the championship he doesn't lose by 3 points of less.

What else to say? Two things.

First of all McLaren did a good decision to take those penalties (for gearbox changes etc.) in Silverstone instead of Hungary because now there was no penalties and this track suites McLaren better. Both cars were in Q3 on Saturday and Fernando Alonso set the fastest lap on the race! They also scored more points. Alonso 6th and Vandoorne 10th.

Second thing is Nico Hulkenberg giving feedback to Kevin Magnussen about his driving in the middle of an interview and then Magnussen told him to suck his balls. Makes me laugh... it's both sad and funny at the same time. See the video on the F1 4 Life facebook page if you haven't seen it yet.

Let's move on to the predictions and the results.

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Vettel took pole.

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 4th and Vettel won the race.
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 3rd.
3. Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. He was 2nd and it was his 8th podium in Hungary (a new record)

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Fernando Alonso was fastest!! That's the real surprise!

Surprise: Romain Grosjean, Haas - He retired from the race

Come onboard if you want to be a part of our 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, JI & PM. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

FORMULA 1 PIRELLI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2017 - RACE RESULTS

FORMULA 1 PIRELLI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2017 - QUALIFYING

FORMULA 1 PIRELLI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2017 - PRACTICE 3

FORMULA 1 PIRELLI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2017 - PRACTICE 1 & 2

2017 Hungarian Grand Prix | Virtual Circuit Guide

R.I.P. Leo Kinnunen, the first flying Finn

Today the F1 world lost somebody who is a bit unknown but still a remarkable person.

The first finnish F1 driver Leo Kinnunen! He drove in 1974 at the age of 30-31 so most of you readers didn't even follow the sport back then. I know that some of you did but probably still don't remember him. Here's a little reminder or a info package....

Kinnunen was close to moving to Formula One already for the 1971 season. With the help of world champion Jochen Rindt he was negotiating for a race seat with Team Lotus, which was controlling the series at the time and eventually won the World Constructors' Championship that season. After Rindt's sudden death at Monza, the negotiations came to a halt. According to Kinnunen, Bernie Ecclestone wanted him to drive for free. Kinnunen turned down the offer and demanded a wage for his services, as he was a professional racer. This ended his Formula One career even before it had actually started, and he went to drive in the Interserie instead.

In 1974, Kinnunen was looking for a job and John Surtees offered him one of his new Formula One cars, Surtees TS16, on lease. Kinnunen accepted the offer since the Surtees TS14 had done well the previous season. After finally finding sponsorship, Kinnunen entered the series with a new team and a Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 litre engine. Antti Aarnio-Wihuri allowed the team to use the name AAW Racing Team, which was recognized and had a good reputation in racing circles.

AAW Racing's first Grand Prix at Nivelles turned out to be a disaster. The TS16 arrived in time for the race weekend, but Kinnunen had never even sat in the car before. It also turned out that the car had been used as a mobile testbed by the factory, and it already had a damaged monocoque and rear suspension. On top of that, it was 80 kilos overweight, the engine lacked power and the team was not allowed to get the top quality tires all the top teams had. When Kinnunen took the car on track, its gearbox broke after three laps. The team, consisting of only three mechanics, had no spare parts and repairing it turned out to be unsuccessful, as the gearbox broke again in qualifying, leaving Kinnunen without a recorded time and the only driver not to qualify for the race.

After Nivelles, the team concentrated on testing and fixing the car. They did not travel to Monaco but entered the next race in Sweden. Kinnunen managed to qualify 25th. Actually, only 24 cars were qualified for start but due his good relations within the Swedish motor sport circles Kinnunen was allowed to start the race. So was Vern Schuppan who qualified 26th. Schuppan finished the race 12th but was disqualified from the results.

The AAW team knew that the car would not last the whole race, so they fueled it for only ten laps in order to make a quick press run. This compensated the overweight of their TS16 and Kinnunen managed to overtake five cars in eight laps before a spark plug problem forced him to retire. Kinnunen later told that one spark plug thread in the cylinder head had been stripped. A Ferrari mechanic loaned them a threaded insert kit to fix it but the Finns did not master the method and the plug never seated properly.

The rest of the season did not go well for the team either. They were not allowed to take part in the Dutch Grand Prix and did not qualify for the races in France, Great Britain, Italy and Austria. Lack of funding then forced the team to retire from Formula One.

Today he passed away but we shall always remember him in Finland as the first flying Finn. Rest in peace.

2017 Hungarian Grand Prix | Fast Facts

Alonso Makes History | 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix

2017 Hungarian Grand Prix preview

OK F1 fans! The wait is almost over. Next weekend it's time for the Hungarian Grand Prix. A track where it's hard to overtake and also a place were surprises are more than welcome. 

We all remember one of the biggest surprises - Jenson Button's first victory back in 2006 with Honda. It was a very exiting GP and in my opinion the excitement started when Räikkönen retired from the lead. Liuzzi (as a backmarker) braked to fast in front of him and Kimi smashed his silver arrow into his back almost flying over him.  

Later Renault had a bad pitstop with Alonso therefor he lost a wheel and needed to retire. Alonso did not retire very often back then because Renault was a very good and reliable car.

Fisichella and Schumacher could have had a good race but they spun of the track ruining it.

Another driver who could have ruined his GP but didn't - Pedro de la Rosa! He was second which was his best result ever. Pedro had replaced Montoya after he had made his last mistake with McLaren by crashing into Räikkönen in the American Grand Prix.

The 2006 Hungarian GP was also Robert Kubica's first race in F1. I knew right away that this guy is going to be a star! Unfortunately he is not driving in F1 anymore because of the rally accident in 2011. Kubica scored his first 2 points in his first GP but was disqualified after his car failed to meet post-race minimum weight requirements. 

But in the end we all remember this face! (picture below)

Now a few words about who might do well in the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Which drivers are usually good in this race? -Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton!

2001 - Kimi was 7th with Sauber which was pretty ok with that car.

2002 - Kimi was 4th leaving him just barely outside of the podium.

2003 - Kimi was 2nd after starting from 7th on the grid.

2004 - Kimi retired after having electrical problems with his McLaren

2005 - Kimi takes the checkered flag 35,5 seconds faster than Schumacher and wins!

2006 - Kimi retires from first position overtaking nervous back-markers on a very slippery track.

2007 - Lewis wins in Hungary for the first time! And guess who was 2nd? Kimi!

2008 - Kimi was 3rd when Heikki Kovalainen took his only victory with McLaren.

2009 - Lewis wins again and guess who is 2nd this time? Kimi again!

2010 - Lewis had gearbox issues and Kimi had left F1 in the end of 2009.

2011 - Lewis was fourth when his team mate Jenson Button took another victory in Hungary.

2012 - Lewis wins for the 3rd time in Hungary and after coming back to F1 Kimi is again 2nd 1 second behind.

2013 - Same thing! Lewis won and Kimi 2nd.
2014 - Lewis was 3rd and Kimi was 6th. Both of them had technical problems.

2015 - Lewis was 6th and Kimi retired. Both of them had technical problems again.

2016 - Lewis won the race and Kimi was 6th after a few problems.

This year I am sure that Both of them will be on podium.

Let's move on to the predictions.

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
3. Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Surprise: Romain Grosjean, Haas

Come onboard if you want to be a part of our 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, JI & PM. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

2017 British Grand Prix | Ricciardo Battles Up To Fifth

2017 British Grand Prix | Best Of Team Radio

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton & Valtteri Bottas | F1 Grill the Grid 2017

MiniDrivers - 9x10 - 2017 British GP

2017 PREDICTORS LEAGUE standings after the British GP

1. AE (F1-4-LIFE) - 82 points

1. James Redman - 82 points

3. JT (F1-4-LIFE) - 72 points

4. Larry Gallagher - 62 points

5. Vitor Lobo - 29 points

6. Leonardo Machado - 3 points

(The ones who have not scored points are not on the list)

Come onboard in the next GP if you want to be a part of our 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, JI & PM. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

2017 Driver Standings after the British GP

2017 Constructors Standings after the British GP

2017 British Grand Prix review

Before the race even started we saw Renault's Jolyon Palmer park his car on the grass and couldn't start the race. Doesn't look good for Palmer at the moment. Some even say that he will be replaced before the next race but I don't believe that.

The start was relatively clean. Red Bull's Max Verstappen got in front of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas overtook 2 cars from 9th to 7th. 

Many told me before the race that Bottas will not be 2nd as I had predicted in my blog. I told everybody to just wait and see. I didn't doubt the same guy who was in last place one lap behind in Baku and in the end he was 2nd. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE IN FORMULA ONE!! Especially when you have a talented driver like this fighting for the championship. Yes I said it... fighting for the championship. He is in the game and he is hungry.

I said earlier that the start was relatively clean and I meant that nothing dangerous really happened in the front but in the middle of the grid the two Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz collided. They of course blamed each other but it was pretty clear that the fault was the Torpedo's (Kvyat). This incident made the safety car to come out.

After the safety car pits it doesn't take long for Bottas to already take 5th place! I was nodding my head and told myself that he will definitely be 2nd in the race and even win if his teammate Lewis Hamilton retires.

One of my favorite moments in the race were Vettel's fights with Verstappen and Bottas. Vettel was trying to overtake Verstappen but it seemed impossible so he pitted. Verstappen then pitted on the next lap but it took too long in the pits so Vettel got pass him.

Bottas on the other hand was behind Vettel so now the German had to defend his position instead of take it. The Finn gave it a shot but Vettel pushed him off track. On the next lap Bottas overtook Vettel with a superb move. Bottas was now 3rd behind Hamilton and Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen. The team radioed Bottas and told him "great job" but Bottas gave them a short message back "minimum talking!".

On lap 49 something weird happened; Räikkönen had a puncture suddenly and on the next lap Vettel had a similar puncture! What was going on? Anyways... this helped Bottas to take second and Räikkönen was 3rd but Vettel dropped to 7th. Vettel was overtaken by Verstappen, a very fast Ricciardo (who started from 19th place) and Hulkenberg.

This result helped Hamilton to catch Vettel in the championship. He is now 1 point behind! This will be very interesting!

HERE IS NOW ONE THING NOBODY HAS NOTICED....

If we think that Vettel and Hamilton are fighting for the championship then remember this; Bottas is 23 points behind Vettel who leads the championship, Bottas has retired from a race when the two others have not, Bottas was also forced to give a position to Hamilton earlier this season and this young man is hungrier than either one of those two. Of course they all want to be champion but in Bottas' mind he might think that this is the best chance he has ever gotten and you never know if another chance comes.

Another thing is that in 2007 everybody was talking about Hamilton and Alonso but in the end it was Räikkönen who won the championship and he blew everybody's mind. I hope we shall see something similar if not this year then some year. I really liked how it all went.

Here are my predictions and the results:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - CORRECT
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG. His teammate Räikkönen was 3rd. Vettel dropped from 3rd to 7th due to his puncture.

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT

Surprise: McLaren might get some more points in Silverstone if they don't retire. - Vandoorne was 11th so very close.

Come onboard if you want to be a part of our 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, JI & PM. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

2017 FORMULA 1 ROLEX BRITISH GRAND PRIX - RACE RESULTS

2017 FORMULA 1 ROLEX BRITISH GRAND PRIX - QUALIFYING

2017 FORMULA 1 ROLEX BRITISH GRAND PRIX - PRACTICE 3

2017 FORMULA 1 ROLEX BRITISH GRAND PRIX - PRACTICE 2

2017 FORMULA 1 ROLEX BRITISH GRAND PRIX - PRACTICE 1

2017 British GP - Drivers Press Conference part 1 & 2

2017 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 by Mark Webber 1'33.401. The track has changed several times so it's hard to compare.

Who might be good here this year? I think that Valtteri Bottas might even win another race!

Remember how good Bottas was here in 2015 with Williams?

The start was amazing for both Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Massa overtook both Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton and so did Bottas. He just couldn't keep his position and lost one spot to Hamilton.

On lap 3 Hamilton did a very stupid move on Massa and almost took both of them out of the race. Bottas was right behind and took 2nd place from Hamilton.

On lap 9 Williams told Bottas to back off and didn't let him overtake Massa even though he was faster.

Now I know it's easy to make race strategies at home while watching the race on TV but it doesn't take a genius to realize that Williams were making a big mistake. If you were in Bottas' shoes what would you do?! The two fastest cars of the grid are behind you and trying to overtake you and your own team tells you to slow down because the slower car must be in front. What is the point of this?! No wonder Bottas left the team when he got the chance!

I have criticized Williams before for making poor decisions but this was one of the worst in years. Bottas was braking behind Massa for several, several laps destroying his tires etc. and then suddenly they gave him the permission to overtake but it was too late. His tires weren't in good condition anymore and Massa didn't leave him any room to overtake. I understand why Massa did this because I wouldn't wanna let anybody pass me either but I can not understand why Williams were working the way they were. Just stupid.

If they had decided to move Bottas to the front right away he could have pulled away for 20 laps, maybe 0,5 sec per lap. Instead they wanted him to stay between a driver who was slower and the two fastest drivers.

When they finally pitted, Hamilton managed to overtake both of the Williams drivers which was no surprise for me. This was because they couldn't pull away in time and had Hamilton behind them from the beginning.

Rosberg didn't pass them during the pitstops but did that on track afterwards anyway. His new tires were working much better and when the rain started it was all over for Williams. The fight for the victory I mean. They didn't even get a podium.

This time Bottas is with Mercedes and the chances are much better. It seems that he is going to catch Hamilton soon if everything goes as planned. On the other hand Hamilton is always super good here in front of his own people. He has won the British Grand Prix 4 times! Mercedes is definitely going to be in front with Vettel behind them.

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

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Surprise: McLaren might get some more points in Silverstone if they don't retire.

Come onboard if you want to be a part of our 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, JI & PM. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

MiniDrivers - 9x09 - 2017 Austrian GP

2017 Austrian Grand Prix | Best Of Team Radio

2017 Driver Standings after the Austrian GP

2017 Constructors Standings after the Austrian GP

2017 Austrian Grand Prix review

First of all I was very happy that Valtteri Bottas got his second pole position. He is really blooming right now and he is getting better and better all the time. This guy might be a future world champion. Just wait and see.

At the start Bottas had the best start of his career and some are even saying that it was the best start in F1 history. Take a look at what Anthony Davidson has to say in this video....



Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel thought it was a jump start and didn't even believe when they told him the Finn's reaction time.




On the 2nd lap we saw two drivers retire who are very used to retire early on in the race; Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen! I guess Alonso is already packing his bags to leave McLaren and Verstappen has also been looking at other teams.

But why is Verstappen's teammate Daniel Ricciardo doing so well? was it his 5th time in a row he stood on the podium? Meanwhile Verstappen has retired nearly every time!

The most negative thing I saw in the race was the backmarkers who ignored the blue flags and knew that they were being lapped. Still they made it very hard for the leaders to overtake. I am talking about Sergio Perez and Stoffel Vandoorne. I mean Vandoorne got a penalty at least but Perez was even worse in my opinion! No penalty for him?! Why not?

Take a look at this video:



What do you think about this?

Anyways Bottas never got overtaken by anybody. Well... Kimi Räikkönen when Bottas had to pit and the other Finn hadn't pitted yet. Räikkönen was overtaken by Bottas right after the pitstop anyways.

Here is also a highlight video of the race if you wanna watch it:



Then it's time for my predictions. 

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. His teammate Valtteri Bottas took pole.

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 4th.
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 1st and Vettel was 2nd.
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull - CORRECT

Fastest lap: Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull - ALMOST! was 2nd fastest and Hamilton was fastest.

Surprise: Red Bull will do better than Ferrari. - Could have but Verstappen retired from the race again.

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, JI and PM. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.