2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix preview

Wow! The season's last race is almost here. A little while ago we were all waiting for the season to start and now it's almost over! Time flies when we are having fun. That means when we are watching F1 every other weekend.

I was supposed to go to Abu Dhabi again this year but didn't have the time or the money. It would have been nice to visit Dubai as well. I love that city!

Not much to say about Abu Dhabi so I will talk about the same things as last year:

The Yas Marina track has hosted the Abu Dhabi GP 6 times in it's history so it's quite new. The facilities are one of the best in the world at least for me as a spectator. It is the only GP that has daylight and darkness in the same race.

In 2010 Sebastian Vettel won his first world championship when Alonso couldn't get pass Vitaly Petrov. It was one of the most moving moments of Vettel's career when he cried on the podium.

After winning his first championship in 2010.

In 2011 he had already won the championship when the Formula One circus returned to Abu Dhabi. That race he retired right after the start and the whole crowd in Abu Dhabi cheered. The sound was quite loud, trust me, I was there.

In 2012 Sebastian started from the back of the grid but managed to get 3rd place. Alonso was second and Kimi Räikkönen took the maiden victory for the new Team Lotus. Everybody remembers the classic radio conversations between Kimi and Alan Permane(?)

Here is a video with the radio conversations:

They made t-shirts of Kimi's comments.

In 2013 Sebastian Vettel had already secured his championship before Abu Dhabi. Last year the story was different. It was between two friends, teammates and almost brothers, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton when they were younger.

This year they are not that much friends or brothers anymore but they are teammates. Hamilton has secured the championship already but Rosberg has been beating him in the past five qualifyings and the past two races. We shall see if Rosberg has it in him to beat Hamilton one more time this season. I am not so sure about that because Hamilton has been good in Abu Dhabi so many times.

Now let's see my predictions:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Surprise: Kimi Räikkönen. Leave him alone he knows what he's doing!

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 & 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

Williams drop appeal over Massa’s Brazil exclusion

Williams have decided not to pursue their appeal against Felipe Massa’s exclusion from the results of last Sunday’s Formula 1 Grande Premio Petrobras do Brasil 2015. Massa lost his eighth-place finish at Interlagos after stewards ruled that his right-rear tyre had been above the maximum permitted temperature ahead of the start of the race.


Williams immediately declared their intention to challenge the verdict, and whilst they remain convinced they have the necessary evidence to successfully contest the ruling, the team have decided the matter is not worth pursuing given the legal costs involved and the fact that it does not affect their place in the title standings.

In a statement, Williams confirmed that they "will not formally appeal the decision as a hearing date is unlikely to be available until after the end of the season impacting a time when the team wishes to turn its attention to its 2016 campaign.

“Given the financial climate of the sport, and the fact that the decision does not impact the team’s constructors’ championship position, it has been decided that this would be an unnecessary cost to endure.”

Massa’s team mate Valtteri Bottas finished fifth in Brazil, ensuring Williams of third place behind Mercedes and Ferrari in the 2015 table.

(source: f1.com)

2015 Brazilian GP Interlagos Inside Grand Prix

If you missed this episode and still want to see it ;)

The audio is a bit weird so that YouTube will allow it. The video is in a smaller window for the same reason.

Force India sign Alfonso Celis as development driver

Force India have recruited Alfonso Celis as their new development driver, with the young Mexican set to take part in seven official practice sessions during the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Celis, 19, made his way up the karting ladder in his homeland before moving to Europe to race in single-seaters. He has spent the 2015 season competing in Formula Renault 3.5 and in GP3, in which he scored his first podium at Spa-Francorchamps in August. He will get his first taste of F1 machinery in the end-of-season Pirelli test in Abu Dhabi on December 1.

"I would like to welcome Alfonso to the team and wish him well ahead of his debut with us in Abu Dhabi," said Force India team principal and managing director Vijay Mallya.

"As our development driver we will work hard to prepare him for the demands of driving in Formula One and provide a good grounding in all aspects of the job. It's a fantastic opportunity for Alfonso to learn from Sergio [Perez] and Nico [Hulkenberg], and to get valuable mileage in the car."

Celis, who will also spend time in the team's simulator as part of his new duties, added: "Ever since I started racing I've been dreaming of Formula One, so it's a huge honour to begin working with Sahara Force India.

"It's an amazing opportunity for me to learn about Formula One and to work closely with the engineers and race drivers. Being on the track in Abu Dhabi will be an incredible feeling. It's going to be the biggest moment in my career and I am fully focussed on doing a good job for the team."

(source: f1.com)

MiniDrivers - Chapter 7x18 - 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix

Sao Paulo stats - Rosberg first back-to-back winner in Brazil for 10 years

A day after capturing his fifth consecutive pole position, Mercedes Nico Rosberg raced to his fifth victory of the season, and in doing so secured second place in the drivers’ standings for the second year in a row.

The German is the seventh driver to score back-to-back wins in Brazil (and the first since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2005), and now has 13 wins to his name - the same number as double world champion Alberto Ascari and Scottish racer David Coulthard. Only Stirling Moss, with 16 Grand Prix victories, has triumphed more times without winning the drivers’ crown.

Incidentally, Brazil was Rosberg’s 184th race start, which means he has passed Nick Heidfeld to become the second most experienced German driver in F1 history. Only Michael Schumacher, with 306 starts, has raced in more Grands Prix.

Of course, Rosberg’s victory means that Lewis Hamilton has now gone nine races without winning at Interlagos, although the Briton’s second place finish did ensure Mercedes of their 11th one-two finish of the season, which ties their all-time record from last year. Can the Silver Arrows establish a new record in Abu Dhabi?

Along with capturing his third Brazilian podium finish, Hamilton also secured his seventh fastest lap of the season, meaning he has won the DHL fastest lap trophy for the second year in a row.

Elsewhere, a solid fifth place finish for Valtteri Bottas ensured Williams will finish third in the constructors’ standings for the second year in a row, while Nico Hulkenberg’s sixth place - equalling his best result of the season from Austria - helped Force India secure fifth in the standings, which is their best ever result under Vijay Mallya’s stewardship.

Further back a battling drive to tenth place (which became ninth when Felipe Massa was excluded from the results) enabled Max Verstappen to extend his point-scoring streak to six races, which is not only the longest such run of any driver on the grid, but also the longest in Toro Rosso history, breaking the record he shared with Sebastian Vettel.

Can the rookie keep up his excellent run at the final race of the season at Yas Marina in two weeks’ time? We shall see...

(source: f1.com)

Winners and Losers - Brazil

The cynics may dismiss it as ‘too little too late’, but Nico Rosberg’s second consecutive victory at Interlagos was impressive nonetheless, as he once more defeated Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton, this time depriving the world champion of that elusive win he so craves on idol Ayrton Senna’s home soil. And the Brazilians on the current grid were out of luck too: Sauber’s Felipe Nasr could manage only 13th, and that after compatriot Felipe Massa was excluded from eighth for a pre-race tyre infraction. We take a look back at Sunday’s formbook in the Formula 1 Grande Premio Petrobras do Brasil 2015…


Mercedes

Nico Rosberg, P1
Lewis Hamilton, P2

Rosberg was majestic on his way to a fifth win of the season which put his runner-up position in the drivers’ world championship beyond Vettel’s reach. Hamilton pushed hard, trying at one stage to eke out his tyre life to run a shorter stint later against his team mate, but things didn’t work out and he had to settle for second again.


Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel, P3
Kimi Raikkonen, P4

Vettel gambled on a short mid-race stint on softs, but it didn’t really help him to get close to the Mercedes, whose initial pace he had matched. Towards the end he closed on Hamilton, but only because the latter had backed off to preserve his hard-pressed tyres. Raikkonen, on a two-stop strategy to Vettel’s three, was a lonely fourth, well behind his team mate.


Williams

Valtteri Bottas, P5
Felipe Massa, Excluded

Bottas got one of his lost grid places back at the start then drove a canny two-stop race to stay out of trouble and bring his FW37 home in a solid fifth place. Massa continued to struggle on his home track but finished eighth on the road. However, on the grid his right-rear tyre was found to exceed temperature limits by 27 degrees Celsius, and after a post-race stewards’ enquiry he was excluded from the results. Williams intend to appeal the decision.


Force India

Nico Hulkenberg, P6
Sergio Perez, P12

Hulkenberg was very happy to make a two-stopper work and to take a strong sixth place that confirmed Force India’s fifth place in the overall standings. Perez had a tougher time with the handling of his VJM08 and at one stage complained of poor straight-line performance on his way to 12th.


Red Bull

Daniil Kvyat, P7
Daniel Ricciardo, P11

Kvyat once again extracted everything he could from his RB11, with the older-specification Renault powertrain. Seventh was a decent result, but Ricciardo was disappointed with 11th, rueing his grid penalty for switching to the disappointing new engine with its heavily revised specification.


Lotus

Romain Grosjean, P8
Pastor Maldonado, P10

Lotus had no real problems. Grosjean did a strong three-stop run to take eighth, while Maldonado started on mediums and looked good for a while on two-stops before gradually falling back out of the points. He got a five-second time penalty for pushing Ericsson into a spin the Turn 1, but eventually got a point when Massa was excluded.


Toro Rosso

Max Verstappen, P9
Carlos Sainz, Retired lap 1, engine

Verstappen was in tremendous form in a car that should not have been running as high as he made it run. His battle with Perez and Grosjean was nail-biting stuff, and his round-the-outside passes on the Mexican and, later, Nasr provided some of the race’s best entertainment. Sainz’s engine cut out on the grid, forcing him to start from the pits, and when it cut out again on the opening lap he had to retire.


Sauber

Felipe Nasr, P13
Marcus Ericsson, P16

Sauber had a tough time, considering that Nasr ran second during the opening pit stops. Sadly, his gamble on a two-stop strategy failed to pay out, while Ericsson’s prospects were damaged when Maldonado sent the Swede briefly skybound when the Lotus hit the Sauber in Turn 1 midway through.


McLaren

Jenson Button, P14
Fernando Alonso, P15

The McLarens lacked straight-line speed as usual, but both drivers felt that they are making progress on the chassis front. Alonso had to have a second new engine fitted ahead of the race after his problem in qualifying, and his 12th of the year and associated replacement bits earned him 25 grid penalties.


Marussia

Will Stevens, P17
Alexander Rossi, P18

Stevens finally got the upper hand over team mate Rossi, as Marussia recorded yet another two-car finish to round out the American’s tenure in the second car, which passes back to Roberti Merhi for the season finale in Abu Dhabi in a fortnight’s time.

(source: f1.com)