We got the first retirement even before the race started. Fernando Alonso's McLaren failed him just before they were parking into their grid spots. They had to do another formation lap after this.
When the second formation lap was over the race finally started. Valtteri Bottas jumped the Ferraris and went from 3rd to 1st. His teammate Lewis Hamilton stayed in 4th place and the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were 2nd and 3rd.
This was one of the most important starts in Bottas' career because this basically decided the whole race plus his first race win. The top4 were the same till the end but luckily Vettel gave us a lot of excitement trying to catch Bottas. I was sure that he couldn't do it but it was still fun to watch. Bottas is hard to overtake so it's been difficult even when he drove for Williams.
Now people see what I was talking about after the previous race; YOU ARE AS GOOD AS YOUR PREVIOUS RACE! Now people have forgotten what they were saying about Bottas being a number two driver etc. The press is also praising him like they had never spoken a bad word about him before.
I have never doubted this driver and I never will. I see a new Mika Häkkinen in this guy, who won his first championship in his 8th season, so Bottas is not in a hurry. He just took his first win and there is more to come. Mark my words! The first win is always the hardest and now they will come more easily. Bottas is better than Rosberg. He is just not that experienced yet.
So congratulations Valtteri Bottas for your first win! Hope to see more soon because otherwise this season might get boring. I also would like to see the other Finn win a race or two (Raikkonen). 4 drivers winning races through the season would be awesome! Please make it happen, pretty please.
The last thing are my predictions and the results:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Vettel took pole just before his teammate Raikkonen.
Race:
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Raikkonen was fastest.
Surprise: Keep an eye on Daniil Kvyat - My biggest surprise was that he did nothing special even though it was his home race.
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Vettel took pole just before his teammate Raikkonen.
Race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 4th.
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - WRONG. He took his first win in F1 and Vettel was 2nd.
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG. His teammate Raikkonen was 3rd.
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Raikkonen was fastest.
Surprise: Keep an eye on Daniil Kvyat - My biggest surprise was that he did nothing special even though it was his home race.
Come onboard in this 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.
