2015 Australian Grand Prix - Second practice session

1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:27.697	29
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:27.797	25
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:28.412	33
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:28.842	33
5	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:29.265	32
6	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	1:30.016	27
7	Carlos Sainz Jr	Toro Rosso	1:30.071	41
8	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1:30.104	11
9	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:30.205	37
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:30.473	30
11	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:30.755	33
12	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:30.980	32
13	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:31.387	21
14	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:31.395	6
15	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:32.303	14
16	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren	1:33.289	4

2015 Australian Grand Prix - First practice session

1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:29.557	19
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:29.586	19
3	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:30.748	20
4	Carlos Sainz Jr	Toro Rosso	1:31.014	32
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:31.029	13
6	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:31.067	31
7	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:31.188	19
8	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:31.310	14
9	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1:31.451	22
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:31.570	9
11	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	1:32.073	18
12	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:32.247	22
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:32.261	19
14	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:34.542	6
15	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren	1:34.785	7
16	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	2:17.782	5

F1 2015 Australian GP: Drivers Press Conference

The season has almost started. Here's the first drivers press conference of the year.

2015 Australian Grand Prix preview

Albert Park, Melbourne

The season's first GP weekend is always one of the most interesting. Some drivers have switched teams, the cars are brand new, some new regulations maybe and also because we have waited for the season to start for so long.

Like I usually do I will continue by talking about the track and some previous races in Melbourne.

The track is actually a street circuit around the Albert Park lake and it looks like this:

Melbourne - Albert Park has been a part of Formula One since the year 1996 when Damon Hill won the first ever race there. If we talk about the current drivers then the most successful driver at Albert Park is probably Jenson Button. Let's see...

Jenson Button has won there three times in 2009, 2010 and 2012. He has also taken his first pole position there with Honda in 2006.

Then there is Kimi Räikkönen who has won 2 races at Albert Park in 2007 with Ferrari and in 2013 with Lotus.
He started his career in 2001 by taking 6th place for Sauber at that same circuit. The following year he replaced the two time world champion Mika Häkkinen at McLaren and took his first podium in the first race at Melbourne. In 2006 he was 2nd right after Fernando Alonso who is the third best scoring driver at Melbourne (from the current drivers).

Alonso has won only one race there in 2006 but has been on the podium 4 times excluding the win. Unfortunately Alonso is not driving this weekend so there's no point of talking about him more then this.

Then there is Lewis Hamilton who won in 2008 and he's been on the podium 3 times excluding the win. Last year he could have won the race but retired and gave his teammate Nico Rosberg the win.

Oh and Sebastian Vettel has also won there once in 2011 but he has been on the podium only 2 times excluding the win. Now with the improved Ferrari he might do pretty good so keep an eye on him this weekend.

Daniel Ricciardo did well last year but was disqualified after the race because Red Bull had some problems of understanding the rule book apparently. Don't wanna get into that subject now.

Valtteri Bottas could have easily been on the podium last year but made a mistake and lost a lot of positions. He didn't have enough time to catch the top3. Bottas made the most overtaking maneuvers in that race though.

Kevin Magnussen, who is replacing Fernando Alonso this weekend, was on the podium in his first race at Melbourne but that has been his only podium of his career. I do not think we will see a McLaren up there this weekend. They need a lot more work to get the whole package to work for them.
Statistically the best drivers at the Australian GP are the world champions Button, Räikkönen, Alonso (not going to drive), Hamilton and Vettel in that order. Of course we have to keep in mind that Button has raced there the most, Räikkönen was away for two years and Hamilton+Vettel are younger drivers who started back in 2007).

Both Button and Räikkönen won with two different teams. Button with Brawn and McLaren, Räikkönen with Ferrari and Lotus. This year Button drivers for McLaren and Räikkönen for Ferrari.

I think that Hamilton still has the best chances because Mercedes has shown very good pace in the winter testing as they did last season as well. In fact all of the Mercedes powered cars have been great again!


Last but not least my predictions:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari

Surprise: Kimi Räikkönen will do much better than last year!

Join our PREDICTORS LEAGUE now!

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 the winner and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points. 

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 him- or herself an admin place on the F1 4 LIFE Facebook page along side AE, JT, MW & MH. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

Last year's winner Peter McLaren didn't want to be an administrator so I made him a special member instead. As a special member he has the power to decide what we will predict for to get bonus points. I will give you more information about that later on the Facebook page.

Enjoy the first Grand Prix weekend! I know I will ;)

THE 2015 PREDICTORS 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. If you get the winner 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 him- or herself an admin place on the F1 4 LIFE Facebook page along side AE, JT, MW & MH. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

Last year's winner Peter McLaren didn't want to be an administrator so I made him a special member instead. As a special member he has the power to decide what we will predict for to get bonus points.

YOU MAY POST YOUR PREDICTIONS NOW!!

Red Bull's 2015 Formula 1 Season Preview

Check out Daniil Kyat's dance moves :D

Comparing the 2015 teammates: McLaren

Today I will continue the series by comparing Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.

I will start with the 2009 world champion Jenson Button. First the year, the teammate and how it went.

2000 - Ralf Schumacher. His first teammate was hard to beat because Ralf was at his best at the time. He was also the younger brother of the seven time world champion Michael Schumacher. Ralf got twice the amount of points than Jenson (24-12).

2001 - Giancarlo Fisichella. 8-2! That was the score between Fisi and Jenson at Benetton. It looked like Jenson's career was going backwards.

2002 - Jarno Trulli. This year Benetton became Renault and Button became a better driver! He won his more experienced teammate by 5 points. Button was 7th in the championship which was his best yet. Trulli was 8th that year.

2003 - Jaques Villeneuve and Takuma Sato. At BAR Honda Jenson had to fight against a former world champion. So how did it go? He got more points than his two teammates combined. Sato drove for only one race but still got a 6th place which was also Villeneuve's best result that year. 

2004 - Takuma Sato. Button was clearly the better driver and got the number one driver treatment from his team. This was Button's best season yet when he was 3rd in the championship. The only ones in front of him were the unstoppable Ferrari's driven by Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.

2005 - Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson. This year the BAR Honda was illegal and was excluded from 2 races and disqualified from 1. Sato was also disqualified from one more race but Button wasn't. If we look at the points that they managed to get then Button won them both again. He got 37 points when his teammates got only 1 single point combined (Davidson didn't get a single point).

2006 - Rubens Barrichello. This year the team became Honda and Barrichello joined them from Ferrari. Button took his first ever victory in Hungary and was 6th in the championship. Barrichello was right behind in 7th place but had over 20points less than Button.

2007 - Rubens Barrichello. This year the car was just awful! Button was 15th in the standings and Barrichello didn't score one single point and was 20th.

2008 - Rubens Barrichello. This time Barrichello got 11 points and Button only 3. Well.. at least he got 3 points instead of no points. Barrichello was 14th in the standings and Button was 18th.

2009 - Rubens Barrichello. This year Button won the world championship with Brawn GP which had been Honda and BAR Honda earlier. The score was 95-77 between him and his teammate. 

2010 - Lewis Hamilton. The 2009 world champion joined McLaren as the 2008 world champion's teammate. People were sure that Jenson had no chance against Lewis but made everybody shut up by winning a race before him. In the end the score was 240-214 between the two of them which ment that Lewis was better (as the press had predicted).

2011 - Lewis Hamilton. This time Jenson was hungry to beat his teammate and did just that with a score of 270-227. Button was runner up in the championship and Hamilton was 5th.

2012 - Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton's last year with McLaren and also the deciding year; who was better Hamilton or Button? Hamilton won 4 races and Button 3. If we look at the points it was 190-188 between them. Very close but Hamilton won with two points.

2013 - Sergio Perez. This teammate couldn't really fight against Button. He had his moments but usually he was just overdoing everything. He crashed into people and he missed braking points. At the end of the season the score was 73-49 with Button on the 9th place and Perez on the 11th. McLaren didn't wanna continue his contract and signed Magnussen for 2014.

2014 - Kevin Magnussen. Even though Kevin Magnussen started the season by taking a 2nd place for McLaren, Button won his younger teammate in points (126-55). Magnussen made a lot of mistakes (mostly front wing related) but still got to stay at McLaren as a reserve driver. He will drive in the first race instead of Alonso because of the Spaniard's crash in testing.

Now let's continue by comparing Alonso's teammates.

2001 - Tarso Marques/Alex Yoong. Fernando lost to Tarso Marques but won Alex Yoong. None of the drivers got any points though. Back then only the first 6 got points.

2002 - DID NOT RACE

2003 - Jarno Trulli. Fernando won his more experienced teammate by 22 points. Trulli felt like Renault's team boss Flavio Briatore wanted him to be the number 2 driver.

2004 - Jarno Trulli/Jaques Villeneuve. Fernando got 13 points more than his teammates combined.

2005 - Giancarlo Fisichella. Fernando won his teammate with 75 points which is very much! He also won the championship. For some reason Fisichella had a lot of problems the whole year with the car and retired 6 times when Alonso only twice.

2006 - Giancarlo Fisichella. Fernando won Fisichella with 62 points. Again a big amount of points more than his teammate who retired this time only twice.

2007 - Lewis Hamilton. They got exactly the same amount of points, and won races equally but Hamilton had more 2nd positions which made him the "better" driver that year. Fernando left McLaren right away after the season came to an end. Some say that he didn't like the situation where he wasn't the clear number one driver. Some others say that McLaren favored the rookie Hamilton over the two time world champion. This year Alonso is returning to that same team. Alonso says that he has matured a lot after that season and thinks this is going to be different.

2008 - Nelson Piquet Jr. Fernando won the young newcommer with 42 points and was the clear number one in the team again. The team also asked Piquet to crash on purpose so that the Spaniard would win in Singapore.

2009 - Nelson Piquet Jr./Romain Grosjean. This year Fernando only got 26 points but his teammates got none.

2010 - Felipe Massa. Fernando won his teammate by 108 points with the new scoring system and was 2nd in the championship. He lost the championship in the last race when he got stuck behind Petrov.

2011 - Felipe Massa. Fernando's victory over his teammate was even greater. 139 points!

2012 - Felipe Massa. Even more! 156 points, but Ferrari gave Felipe Massa one last chance to prove himself to the team.

2013 - Felipe Massa. Fernando won his teammate again very clearly which forced Ferrari to sign Kimi Räikkönen instead of Massa.

2014 - Kimi Räikkönen. The 2014 car was awful but Fernando won the Finn clearly. Some say that the car was designed for Alonso and was too different for Kimi. Some others say that Kimi has lost his touch even though he drove a very good season the year before.