2016 Italy - Thursday Press Conference (video)

2016 Italian Grand Prix preview

A picture from the old part of the track (the loop).

Are you ready for the Italian grand prix and the Monza track? This is one of the most legendary tracks in F1 history and it is also Ferrari's home grand prix.

Several Formula One legends have died on this track. The list is long so I shall mention just a few.

• In 1955 the Ferrari legend and two time world champion Alberto Ascari died here during a test session. 
• Wolfgang von Trips and 14 spectators were killed after he collided with Jim Clark in 1961. 
• Jochen Rindt was crowned as the Formula One world champion at the end of the 1970 season. Unfortunately he had passed away before that at Monza. The points were enough to make him the champion.
• The best Swedish F1 driver ever lived was Ronnie Peterson. He died in a hospital after a serious crash at the start of the 1978 Italian grand prix.

The Monza track has changed several times over the years. At first it looked like this:

This was in 1922-1933 before the F1 series even existed. The track was 10 kilometers with 4.5 kilometers in the loop and then 5.5 kilometers on the road track.

Later in 1935-1937 the track was changed and looked like this:

In 1950 the Formula One series started and Monza was the last race on the calendar. The race was won by Nino Farina even though Juan Manuel Fangio had been faster all weekend. Fangio got pole position and set the fastest lap of the race. Unfortunately he retired due to a gear box failure and Farina won the race and the first championship. The track was again different and it looked like this:

In 1955 it looked again like it did in the beginning (with the road- and loop-part). After 1969 the oval part was not used anymore and the track looked about the same it looks today.

The fastest lap on the combined track (in a race) was set in 1960 by the American F1 world champion Phill Hill. The record was 2.41.400 and the time was set with a Ferrari.

The fastest lap on the modern track (in a race) was set by Rubens Barrichello in 2004 and also with a Ferrari. The current record is 1.21.046 and the reason why it is so much faster is that "the loop" is no longer in use.

If we talk about wins then Michael Schumacher is the king of this track. He has won this race 5 times. From the current drivers the king would be Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso because they both have 2 wins from Monza.

Sebastian Vettel took his maiden victory in Monza back in 2008 with Toro Rosso. That was strange if you ask me! To win a race with the former Minardi now known as Toro Rosso. Everybody were sure that Heikki Kovalainen would win the race but he couldn't get pass Vettel and stayed 2nd.

This year I think that if we see any surprises it will come from Valtteri Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo even predicted that Bottas will win here his first victory. I also believe that Vettel will do very well here. This track is very special for him.

And now it's time for my predictions and here they are:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Race:

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

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Surprise: Valtteri Bottas, Williams

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. A table will be posted up every race weekend.

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 JT, AE, MW, MH, JI and PM. 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

2016 Belgian GP - Post Race Drivers Press Conference (video)

2016 Belgian Grand Prix review

This might get very long so I will talk about just a few things so that you guys still wanna read this...

At the start Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen had a better start than Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Red Bull's Max Verstappen but his teammate Sebastian Vettel ruined his race by clashing into him. In the same situation Raikkonen also crashed into Verstappen who blamed the Finn for the whole thing.

Rosberg continued in the lead but the rest had to pit. Vettel was worried on the radio of what had just happened. I am pretty sure that he knew because usually he reacts aggressively when he isn't the one to blame. It's a shame because many had predicted that Raikkonen could have even won the race for the fifth time. He had done very good in practice and qualifying.

The safety car was deployed when Renault's Kevin Magnussen spun and hit the barriers. It was one of the hardest crashes in modern F1 (V6). It was 42G:s!! Only Jules Bianchi had a harder crash in 2014 (254G:s) which unfortunately killed him eventually. Robert Kubica had a bad crash in 2007 which was 75G:s but in my opinion those cars are not even close to what they are now. In the 90's Mika Hakkinen had a crash that almost killed him (over 200G:s).

Raikkonen could have gained an advantage from the safety car but Ferrari wanted him to pit for the second time already! Does anybody know why? It was very unclear for me.

Williams' Valtteri Bottas was third when the safety car had been out for a while and then suddenly Williams decided that it was a good time to pit. WHAT?!? WHY?! He dropped to the back and Rosberg continued in the lead with 0 pitstops. Bottas could have continued in third place with the same strategy as Rosberg... I don't understand what they were thinking.

On lap 10 the race was red flagged and it took almost 15 minutes for them to repair the barriers.

In the pits (when the race was stopped) Verstappen went to talk to his boss Christian Horner about the crash with the two Ferraris. Horner explained that it wasn't Raikkonen's fault and that Vettel didn't give enough room. Vettel said that he left room for his teammate but not for a flying Verstappen on the inside (and outside of the track).

Then the thing you all have been waiting for - Verstappen blocking Raikkonen later on in the race! 

Do I really have to say anything? Wasn't it pretty obvious? What Verstappen did was extremely stupid. I bet that if Raikkonen would have crashed into his back in almost 300km/h speed (while using the DRS) the youngster would never ever try that same thing again. It would really hurt even though the cars are extremely safe nowadays.

Verstappen-fanboys cried that he did nothing wrong but do we really have to see another incident like we saw with Jules Bianchi before people start to use their brains? Think about how fast they were driving! If you have a car or have driven one on the freeway/express way (or what ever you wanna call it), think about how much faster they are driving in F1 and would you wanna crash your car in high speed? Your car might be as safe as the Formula One car so why not? Because it's stupid!

Nico Rosberg said that "if Kimi says something about Verstappen it must be so because he never complains about small issues". Hamilton said the same about the Finn in Hungary and both of them seemed to be on Raikkonen's side. Verstappen said that "Kimi just complains as he always does". The more experienced drivers seem to have different views than Verstappen.

Speaking of experienced drivers, Niki Lauda who survived a tragic accident, who is a three time world champion and highly respected also said that Verstappen is a crazy boy who needs to see a psychiatrist if he thinks what he did was ok. He also said that he will have a talk with his father Jos Verstappen to straighten him out because this can't fly for long.

If the stewards think that Verstappen changing his racingline in several GP's is ok then the rest of the grid will also start doing it and all hell will break loose. Unless they only let the youngster do it of course. Seems a bit strange if you ask me.

What do you guys think?

These were the things that mainly were in my head after the race. Also a big thumbs up for Hamilton! He did a great job taking 3rd after starting from last place. Vettel did that same thing in Abu Dhabi 2012 and Raikkonen in Bahrain 2006. It's not easy!


Now it's time for my predictions!

Pole position: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes (Changed after confirmation of Hamilton's penalty) - CORRECT

The race:

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - CORRECT
2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull - WRONG. His teammate Ricciardo was 2nd.
3. Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. He had problems and was 9th. Hamilton was 3rd.

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. Hamilton was fastest.

Surprise: Keep an eye on Kimi Räikkönen - His race was ruined when he got hit by his teammate (Vettel) and slided into Verstappen.

Join our 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. 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.

2016 PREDICTORS LEAGUE standings after the Belgian GP

1. Larry Gallagher - 113 points

2. James Redman - 98 points

3. AE (F1-4-LIFE) - 93 points

4. PM (F1-4-LIFE) - 65 points

5. Leonardo Machado - 63 points

6. JT (F1-4-LIFE) - 52 points

7. Darcy P. Lang - 37 points

8. Vitor Lobo - 31 points

9. JI (F1-4-LIFE) - 15 points

10. Denis Borges Nastasi - 13 points

11. Dylan Curry - 3 points

(The ones who have not scored points are not on the list)

Come onboard in the next GP 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.

2016 Driver Standings after the Belgian GP

2016 Constructors Standings after the Belgian GP