Tuesday, July 22, 2014

2014 German Grand Prix review



Hello there! I am sorry that I am writing the race review today and not yesterday. I have been a bit busy but now I have a little time so here goes.

The race was entertaining as usual. It was exciting that Hamilton started from the back and I was sure that he would be on the podium. He didn't let me down and overtook a lot of cars!

It's just a bit stupid with DRS because it's very easy to come from the back to the front. It's not that special anymore. I remember when Räikkönen started from the back in the 2005 Japanese GP and overtook Fisichella on the last lap and won the race. No KERS/ERS or DRS! just pure skills and a fast car.

Don't get me wrong I like to see overtakes but it's like comparing basketball and soccer. In basketball there's a lot of points very often and in soccer when you score it's more important cause it doesn't happen that often. DRS/ERS/KERS has made F1 like basketball. Maybe you got the picture?

I realized that overtaking isn't as cool as it used to be in 2012 (Abu Dhabi) when Sebastian Vettel started from the pits and was 3rd when the race was over. He had the best car with these new buttons you just push and then you are in front like that.

But now let's talk more about the actual race!

The start was a disaster for Felipe Massa who collided for the 3rd time this season on the first lap. Maybe it is bad luck or maybe he should start looking more in the mirrors? The man who hit him was Kevin Magnussen who has also hit Kimi Räikkönen about 3-4 times this season and every time with his front wing. This time it was also his front wing and tyre that touched Massa's car.




It was difficult to say who's fault it was because Massa couldn't see him coming and Magnussen was as close as he could be to the grass. The brazilian had to retire after sliding upside down for a few meters. 

Kimi Räikkönen had an ok race and was overtaking car after car also but had a lot of bad luck again. He got hit by at least these drivers: Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and his teammate Fernando Alonso. The worst part was when Vettel and Alonso hit him at the same time from both sides.



If I say one more thing about Kimi then it's this: WHY AREN'T THEY EVEN TRYING WITH HIM?! Kimi said that he must pit because the tyres are destroyed and they just respond calmly that he should continue. Then when he says several times "WE MUST PIT!" then they believe him. If Alonso would have said that they should pit they would have ran outside with flames coming out of their asses.

I can't believe that Kimi drove so well with Lotus and then with Ferrari it's like he is a terrible driver. What is going on?! Seriously! It's so weird that I can't understand this. This has been his worst season of his career. Let's move on..

Later we saw two pretty weird retirements. First of all Daniil Kvyat was on flames and was obviously not happy about it:



..and then we saw Adrian Sutil spinning on the main straight saying "something's wrong with the car".



Then I'm gonna talk about my new hero! Valtteri Bottas! what a driver! It was like nothing could stop him. Not even Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes!

Bottas has now scored in 10 races more than the whole Williams team in three seasons!
This has now lifted Williams to third position in the constructors championship. Ferrari doesn't like that! Better get Kimi's car to work now. At least he was happy with it in the last race even though he had a lot of bad luck again.

What else? Lewis Hamilton said before the German GP that Nico Rosberg is not German because he is half finnish and lives in Monaco. He obviously tried to make him nervous before his home race. Instead he made him more hungry to prove him wrong and to win the race.

I am going to say this again in this post: NICO ROSBERG WILL BE CHAMPION IN 2014!
I have a very strong feeling of this.


And then! Here are my predictions for the 2014 German GP and how it went:

Pole position: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - CORRECT

The race:
  1. Valtteri Bottas, Williams - WRONG. He was 2nd.
  2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 1st.
  3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT

Fastest lap: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. It was the other Mercedes driven by Lewis Hamilton.


First to pit in the race: Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso - WRONG. Kevin Magnussen pitted after crashing with Felipe Massa.


Surprise: Jenson Button, McLaren - He will be very close to a podium finish - WRONG. It didn't go THAT well.


Remember to 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! like the Mercedes. 

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side JT, AE & MW. 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

Monday, July 21, 2014

F1-4-LIFE 1 year today!



Wow! Exactly one year ago I started this blog by writing a preview of the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Read the post here: http://f14life.blogspot.fi/2013/07/2013-hungarian-gp-preview-ok-f1-fans.html

After this post I have written 691 more of them. Every day I have posted something, which has been difficult sometimes, but I have managed anyways.

I have posted videos, previews, reviews, results, standings, tips, events, comparing drivers and teams, history and also about F1 related products. I have also visited Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi and done a GP report "live" from Abu Dhabi last year. I am planning to do a report this year also but it all depends on my regular job. I get almost nothing from doing this blog so I can't do it 100%. I hope I could do it in the future if I could get more money for the blog somehow. F1 is my life!

This blog has had readers from over 100 countries and has got almost 8000 likes on Facebook. I started the facebook page a month after the blog and it has had a lot of activity every single day.

At this point I would like to thank all of my readers who have been with F1-4-LIFE all this time. F1-4-LIFE wouldn't be anything without you guys. The second thank you goes to Abijith for making me an admin on Formula 1 World on Facebook and letting me post stuff from my blog on his page every day.

Sauber F1 Team has also brought us more "likes" on Facebook when they have commented on our posts several times so a big thank you to you guys as well!

I would also like to thank Jordan, Michael and Mark for being such a big help with the Facebook page. You are the best admins I could have asked for! Last but not least I would like to thank my wife who talked me into doing this blog. She didn't wanna listen to my F1 stuff and suggested that I would talk to people that actually would care what I have to say. That's the short version of the story!

I have set a lot of goals for this blog / page. If you wanna continue to stay with us then maybe we can together make this something much bigger in the future.

This is not just my page, it is our page even if you are not an admin or moderator!

Thanks to all of you once again.



Anthony Ehrnrooth (-AE)

Sunday, July 20, 2014

FIA post-race press conference - Germany



DRIVERS: 1 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), 2 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams), 3 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Kai Ebel)

Q: Nico, how sweet is the taste of the home victory champagne?
Nico Rosberg:
 It’s fantastic. It’s an amazing feeling for me to win here at home. A very, special day for me. Thank you for all your support here this weekend.

Q: Valtteri, three time on the podium now but how hot was the breath of this guy [Hamilton] on your neck?
Valtteri Bottas:
 Yeah, I feel really happy again being third time in a row on the podium. These guys were too quick today but really happy that we at least managed to keep one of them behind. It was not easy, it required all the info from the engineers, what to do with the engine modes, and from my side pushing hard but I really want to say thanks to all the say thanks to all the fans. I also see many Finnish flags here so, thanks Finland.

Q: Lewis, lots of fans in for you here. King of overtaking, 17 places, fastest lap, damaged front wing, so how much racing fun was that for you as a racer?
Lewis Hamilton:
 I had great fun. It was great to see how many fans we had here today, thank you so much for the support. I did as good as I could today. It was very hard to get through the pack safely. I had a little bit of a collision with Jenson. I honestly thought he was opening the door to let me past, he’s been a bit like that in the past race for example, so my bad on judgment there. It’s very hard to overtake at the end, they were so fast on the straights but I’m very happy I got some points today.

Q: Thanks Lewis. Coming back to you Nico. Lots of points for you but not much time to celebrate as the next race is coming up next week already.
NR:
 Yeah, well definitely we’ll be celebrating a little bit tonight, I hope you [the fans] will as well, it would be great to continue the soccer world championship spirit today a little bit. I look forward to the next race in Hungary. With the car that we have at the moment… I’m very, very thankful to Mercedes for the car that they’ve built us, it’s really a pleasure at the moment. Hungary will be good.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: So Nico, your fourth win this year, I think your first on home soil - and which of the great things that have happened to you this week has given you the best feeling?
NR:
 That’s getting married. That’s definitely the case. That was the best feeling. But of course everything has been special. Really fortunate, just had a great… many positive things happening in the two weeks, or week and a half. Been really enjoyable, and also this weekend with pole and the win. Just awesome. Very, very special day today.

Q: Valtteri, something of a defensive master class at the end, defending from Lewis in the final laps. Tell us a little bit about what was going through your mind, the way you positioned the car in those final laps, particularly given the state of the tyres after a very long stint.
VB:
 Yes, big enough the last stint. I was already close with Lewis but he stopped and at that point there was still twenty or so laps to go. I knew it was going to be really close in the end. With a new set of tyres, 20 laps to go, he can make up the pit loss, and he did and he was riding my tail the last few laps. For me it was just really, really important to always get a good exit for the DRS straights, so out of Turn One and out of Turns Two-Three, to get as good an exit as possible and brake always as late as possible for the hairpin at the end. Also from the team, we were communicating and I got all the support from the engineers to get the right engine modes for defending - so thanks for that. 

Q: Lewis, from 20th on the grid to third at the end and so much to deal with, so many changes as well, you were on a change of strategy at the end there where you were going to do two very attacking stints on the super-soft of 13 laps. They obviously changed that after the Sutil spin, brought you in a bit earlier, so you had to do a bit longer final stint. I wonder though how much the damage of the front wing in the Jenson Button incident hurt your chances of doing more than third today.
LH:
 I couldn’t tell you. The car was a little bit different but nonetheless to still get some points today, I’m grateful and very happy with the car today that Mercedes provided us with and congratulations to Nico. It’s fantastic for him on his home soil and also for Mercedes-Benz. So I’m glad I could add some points today. 

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Leonid Novozhilov - F1 Life) Valtteri, is second place today the maximum for you, is second place the maximum for your team or can you do more?
VB:
 We always aim for more but for now we need to be happy with these points. Of course we were unlucky with Felipe again, we didn’t get both cars in a good position but I think today was the maximum result. We did everything perfectly and managed to keep Lewis behind in the end which got us an extra few points but in the future, we are definitely aiming for more and this is not the maximum.

Q: (Heikki Kulta - Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, your target for this year was a podium; now you’ve got a hat-trick of them. How surprised are you with this success, because it’s not so usual for Finnish drivers to get three podiums in a row?
VB:
 OK...
NR: I got three in a row.
VB: Yeah, of course I feel really lucky also to be part of this. Last year we could not have expected to be three times in a row on the podium but we now... This is the package we have and it’s all down to hard work and we need to always keep aiming for more, like I said before. Of course, it feels really good to be (on the podium) for a third time in a row but I think we’re aiming for more than that now. We know Budapest might be a bit difficult for us but hopefully we get some updates.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, do you see the glass of your race more half full or half empty?
LH:
 Well, I don’t really know how to answer that really. I came from last, so to get on the podium is quite an achievement, so perhaps half full.

Q: (Barna Zsoldos - Nemzeti Sport) Lewis, you’ve got an incredible record in Hungary - seven races, four wins. What is your secret there and what are your feelings in general about next week’s race?
LH:
 I don’t really have any secrets there, just been very... If I’ve ever had any... Just been fortunate in that race, great support there as usual with the fans and a circuit I really enjoy. It’s a circuit where you can really attack, it works for an attacking driver like myself so perhaps it suits my driving style a little bit more than some others, maybe.

Q: (Udo Doering - Darmstaedter Echo) Nico, are you a little bit surprised to win so clearly and when you saw the car of Sutil standing on the track, did you fear another safety car?
NR:
 Yeah, definitely I’m a bit surprised because in qualifying the Williams were quite close so didn’t really expect to have such a big advantage in the race. And yes, I definitely got a bit worried when I saw Sutil’s car out there because I was sure there was going to be a safety car and that would have obviously made it a lot more difficult.


(source: f1.com)

F1-4-LIFE PREDICTORS LEAGUE STANDINGS AFTER HOCKENHEIM


  1. Rich Kewell -> 47 points
  2. Peter McLaren -> 46 points
  3. AE (F1-4-LIFE) -> 45 points
  4. Larry Gallagher -> 45 points
  5. Elliott Robson -> 44 points
  6. Jon Yountz -> 41 points
  7. MW (F1-4-LIFE) -> 40 points
  8. Regina Ehrnrooth -> 37 points
  9. JT (F1-4-LIFE) -> 35 points
  10. Apex Towing Corp -> 35 points
  11. Jonathan Riggs -> 31 points
  12. Liutauras Raulynatis -> 29 points
  13. Jaakko livari -> 26 points
  14. Dylan Curry -> 26 points
  15. Rab Mckinney -> 24 points
  16. Jake Lakin -> 19 points
  17. Leonardo Machado -> 18 points
  18. Martin Francis -> 16 points
  19. Shaun Magnano -> 14 points
  20. Abijith Kv -> 11 points
  21. Leo Harry Gowing -> 11 points
  22. Jayson Nufc Nicholson -> 10 points
  23. Craig Whitehead -> 10 points
  24. Martin Mihalic -> 9 points
  25. Joel Booth -> 8 points
  26. Paolo Gagliardi -> 8 points
  27. Steven Peli -> 6 points
  28. Mark Newman -> 5 points
  29. David Perry -> 5 points
  30. Anthony Brian Ayrton Senna -> 4 points
  31. Will Leahy -> 3 points
  32. Craig Lymer -> 3 points
  33. Coilin Higgins -> 3 points
  34. Craig Taylor -> 3 points
  35. Richard Gehl -> 0 points
  36. Junaid Khan -> 0 points
  37. Jared Tallott -> 0 points
  38. Ewan Darlington -> 0 points
  39. Chris Kemp -> 0 points
  40. Saadi Tate -> 0 points
  41. Theodore Dickman -> 0 points
  42. Josh Dennis -> 0 points
  43. Brian Dodgy Discs Hughes -> 0 points
  44. John Hersam -> 0 points
  45. Elaine Hannon -> 0 points
  46. Natalie Bandee -> 0 points
  47. Christopher Damien Wiseman -> 0 points



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. 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! like the Mercedes.

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side JT, AE, 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.

FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND 2014 - Race results

16Nico RosbergMercedes671:33:42.914125
277Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes67+20.7 secs218
344Lewis HamiltonMercedes67+22.5 secs2015
41Sebastian VettelRed Bull Racing-Renault67+44.0 secs612
514Fernando AlonsoFerrari67+52.4 secs710
63Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing-Renault67+52.5 secs58
727Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes67+64.1 secs96
822Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes67+84.7 secs114
920Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes66+1 Lap42
1011Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes66+1 Lap101
117Kimi RäikkönenFerrari66+1 Lap12
1213Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault66+1 Lap18
1325Jean-Eric VergneSTR-Renault66+1 Lap13
1421Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari66+1 Lap16
1517Jules BianchiMarussia-Ferrari66+1 Lap17
1610Kamui KobayashiCaterham-Renault65+2 Laps19
174Max ChiltonMarussia-Ferrari65+2 Laps21
189Marcus EricssonCaterham-Renault65+2 Laps22
Ret99Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari47Spin15
Ret26Daniil KvyatSTR-Renault44+23 Laps8
Ret8Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault26+41 Laps14
Ret19Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes0Accident3