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Thursday, July 13, 2017
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
2017 British Grand Prix preview
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| 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:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
- 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.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Monday, July 10, 2017
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:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 4th.
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 1st and Vettel was 2nd.
- 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.
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