Get tickets to the two remaining GP's!

Abu Dhabi:

http://www.bookf1.com/f1-abu-dhabi/tickets.htm?afid=815

Brazil:

http://www.bookf1.com/f1-brazil/tickets.htm?afid=815

Pirelli to trial new ultrasoft compound at post-race Abu Dhabi test

Teams will be given the chance to sample Pirelli’s new-for-2016 ultrasoft tyre compound at a one-day test in Abu Dhabi immediately after the final race of the season.





The test, which was requested by the Italian tyre firm in order to develop a new construction for the 2016 slick tyres, as well as to trial the ultrasoft compound, will take place on Tuesday December 1 from 0900 - 2100 after being ratified by the FIA World Council.

Participation in the test is voluntary, with the teams - who are not allowed to trial new parts or alter their cars during the Pirelli-defined test programme - being asked to run race or reserve drivers.

The ultrasoft compound, which will form part of Pirelli’s expanded 2016 slick tyre range, will be distinguished by purple markings on the sidewall. This colour was chosen by fans who were asked to vote for either purple or silver via Pirelli’s social media channels. Purple was a resounding winner, capturing 85% of the votes.

(source: f1.com)

Button to join fellow F1 stars in 2015 Race of Champions

2009 world champion Jenson Button is the latest Formula One driver to sign up for this year's star-studded Race of Champions (ROC) event in London later this month.

Button, who has competed in the ROC on four previous occasions, will compete in the main event and also team up with endurance sportscar racer Alex Buncombe to represent Great Britain in the ROC Nations Cup - in which he finished runner-up in 2009.

"I can't wait to be back at the Race of Champions again - and especially to be racing at home at London's former Olympic Stadium,” said the McLaren driver.

"It is always a very special event with a good atmosphere. You're racing against guys from your own series, plus others from all over the world.

"We get to meet friends old and new from the different forms of motorsport so we enjoy our time both on and off the track.

"It's always a lot of fun, but everyone wants to put on a good show for the fans - and of course we only pretend to be taking it easy before giving it everything when we're sitting in the car on the line.

"I look forward to partnering Alex Buncombe in the RoC Nations Cup too.

"Germany had an annoying habit of beating us at Wembley in 2007 and 2008, so it's about time we made it all the way now we'll be racing on the other side of London."

Button is the seventh F1 driver to sign up for this year's event: Romain Grosjean, Felipe Massa, Daniel Ricciardo, Susie Wolff, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Hulkenberg will also be competing, with the latter duo representing Team Germany in the popular Nations Cup format.

The Race of Champions takes place at London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on November 20-21.

(source: f1.com)

MiniDrivers - Chapter 7x17 - 2015 Mexican Grand Prix

F1 2015 Mexican GP (Full Race)

Full race from Mexico! Sorry about the extra movie theatre borders and Mickey Mouse -voice. The video must be edited for YouTube or it will be an illegal upload. Sorry for that.

Winners and Losers - Mexico

Formula One racing’s return to Mexico after a 23-year absence proved a huge success, with a capacity crowd providing a warm welcome for all - and a repeatedly rapturous reception for their home hero Sergio Perez. On track, Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg was the big winner, securing pole position, victory and fastest lap. Meanwhile, his rival for second in the standings - Sebastian Vettel - was the clear loser, crashing out after a miserable afternoon for Ferrari. We take a team-by-team look back at Sunday’s Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez…


Mercedes

Nico Rosberg, P1
Lewis Hamilton, P2

Rosberg was simply untouchable after making the better start and the better restart after the safety car intervention, and in his turbulent air Hamilton was always struggling to get close enough to launch an attack. Their only real drama came when the team called Rosberg in for fresh medium tyres as a safety precaution on the 46th lap, then a reluctant Hamilton on the 48th. Both also had minor offs in the esses on lap 59, but otherwise the Silver Arrows dominated.


Williams

Valtteri Bottas, P3
Felipe Massa, P6

Williams bounced back well from their double damper failure in Texas, and Bottas was a strong podium contender all afternoon even after his run in with Raikkonen on the 22nd lap. He was the first to stop for tyres, then the last under the safety car, but made use of a good restart to claim third from Kvyat on the 58th lap. Massa was side-by-side with him in Turn 1 on the opening lap, but got squeezed back in the heavy traffic and thereafter never looked as quick on his way to sixth.


Red Bull

Daniil Kvyat, P4
Daniel Ricciardo, P5

Kvyat deserved the final podium slot, but in retrospect Red Bull lost out with the decision to equip both him and Ricciardo with soft tyres during the safety car intervention, and the mediums on Bottas’s Williams proved a better proposition. The Finn thus deprived the Russian of third, but fourth was nevertheless an honourable result. Ricciardo took a hit from Vettel in the first corner, and said that his car just lacked the pace to take the fight higher than fifth, though his pass on Massa in Turn 1 was mighty.


Force India

Nico Hulkenberg, P7
Sergio Perez, P8

Perez looked very good in the early laps and was a contender for a top six position until he lost pace mid-race as he was on a one-stop strategy. At the same time Hulkenberg got going because of his two-stop plan. The team gave the German fresh rubber under the safety car, but Perez stayed out. He did a great job not to fall prey to the likes of Verstappen, who had problems of his own, and nevertheless delighted his home crowd with eighth on a day when Force India further safeguarded their fifth place overall in the constructors’ championship.


Toro Rosso

Max Verstappen, P9
Carlos Sainz, P13

Verstappen looked strong in the early going, moving as high as third for a lap during the first pit stops, but thereafter both his STR10 and team mate Sainz’s lacked pace in the latter half and fell prey to the Force Indias.


Lotus

Romain Grosjean, P10
Pastor Maldonado, P11

The Safety Car helped the Lotuses, which lacked pace for much of the race. Grosjean and Maldonado had a great scrap, which was resolved for the final point in the Frenchman’s favour, by 0.8s. Interestingly, Maldonado was fastest through the speed trap at 366.4 km/h, or 227.4 mph…


Sauber

Marcus Ericsson, P12
Felipe Nasr, Retired lap 58, brakes

Both Sauber drivers ran into braking problems. Ericsson nevertheless managed to pass the struggling Sainz towards the finish, but Nasr had to park in Turn 13 after his C34 ran out of brakes altogether.


McLaren

Jenson Button, P14
Fernando Alonso, Retired lap 1, MGU-H

McLaren lost Alonso on the opening lap due to an MGU-H rotational speed problem that had been detected the previous night but could not be rectified because there was insufficient time. Button’s car lacked grunt on the straights, the Honda possibly suffering more in the high altitude than others, and was thus a sitting duck for faster cars, but the chassis showed well in sector three.


Marussia

Alex Rossi, P15
Will Stevens, P16

Rossi and Stevens had another major scrap. The Briton had the advantage early on as Rossi struggled on the soft tyre, but they were closed up after the safety car deployment, by which time Rossi was happier on mediums as Steven struggled on them after a change of strategy from a two- to a one-stopper. Rossi was closing rapidly at that point, and the safety car made his task of overtaking his team mate easier.


Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel, Retired lap 51, accident
Kimi Raikkonen, Retired lap 22, accident

Ferrari’s worst race of the season saw Raikkonen start from 19th after another engine change, then crash with Bottas on the 22nd lap. Vettel clashed with Ricciardo in Turn 1 at the start, sustained a puncture and pitted for fresh mediums, then later spun in Turn 8 on lap 17. Struggling to make up ground, he then crashed in Turn 7. It was the first time Ferrari did not have a car classified in a Grand Prix since Australia 2006.

(source: f1.com)

2015 Mexican Grand Prix review

Hi there F1 fans! I am very busy at the moment so this review is going to be very short. Usually I go through the whole race in detail but now I am just going to talk about the biggest things that happened in the race.

The start was good for most of the drivers in the top 10 (no big changes really). Only Sebastian Vettel had a big loss when he got a puncture and had to pit. He dropped to the back of course and had a long way to the front. His teammate Kimi Räikkönen overtook a lot of cars through the race and seemed to do better than Vettel. Until he had a rerun from Sochi with his fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas. This time Kimi was in front and Bottas behind, they collided and Kimi had to retire. Bottas didn't loose any positions like Kimi in Sochi and managed to stay 5th or 4th most of the time. 

Later on Vettel made a weird mistake and went off track into the barriers. Some say that the track wasn't good for Ferrari but I don't believe that. Kimi did better than Vettel in the race even though his car had been broken in many ways through the weekend. I say that the track wasn't good for Vettel (even though he got 3rd in qualifying).

Vettel's mistake brought out the safety car and several drivers pitted right after. Williams did a mistake again by not bringing in Bottas first. Well they did after the rest had pitted but Bottas could have done quicker laps with the new tires earlier. Now he was stuck behind Daniil Kvyat in 4th place. Luckily for Bottas he managed to overtake the Russian right after the safety car left the track and stayed 3rd till the end. So Bottas took back what he might have lost.

In front were the Mercedes drivers as usual but this time it was Nico Rosberg 1st and Lewis Hamilton 2nd. They stayed like that through the race and Lewis didn't really have a chance against Nico and it bugged him after the race. You could clearly see that even though he is already the 2015 world champion. Lewis just likes to win even though the championship is already decided.

Hamilton tried to pull a couple of tricks in the race though. Mercedes asked Rosberg to pit first and when it was Hamilton's turn he didn't pit. He said that he will drive the race till the end with his older tires. His engineer got a bit angry with Hamilton and told him to pit right away because his tires are getting cold by the pit box. Hamilton pitted and demanded to see proof that his pitstop wasn't just Mercedes way of securing a 1-2.

All in all a good race, great track and awesome fans! I loved how they had put the podium at the old baseball stadium so that most of the fans could see everything. I hope Mexico stays in the calendar.

Now let's see my predictions and see how I did:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. His teammate Nico Rosberg took pole.

Race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 2nd.
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He won the race.
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG. He retired from the race and Valtteri Bottas took 3rd.

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Nico Rosberg took this won as well and made it a perfect hat-trick weekend. Good for you!

Surprise: Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa might get good results here - Both Perez and Massa lost to their teammates. I thought that they would do good near their home but I was wrong.

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 AE, JT, MW, MH and JI. 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