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Thursday, April 13, 2017
2017 Bahrain Grand Prix preview
The season just started and it's already time for the third Grand Prix! Will Mercedes and Ferrari continue with their dominance or is Red Bull going to surprise us all and win? I hope to see more surprises this season.
This is going to be the 13th Grand Prix at Sakhir if I remember correctly. It would have been the 13th but the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled because of the Bahraini protests if you still remember?
One of the most interesting thing though is that in 2014 Bahrain switched from daylight to a night race! They will continue like this in 2017 as well.
So what has happened in the past 13 years at this circuit?
In 2004 the first race was a bit boring if I remember correctly. Ferrari was still dominating the series so they had a 1-2 and Button was about half a minute behind them.
In 2005 it was a bit different because now it was the year of Renault. Fernando Alonso won, Jarno Trulli was second in his Toyota and Kimi Räikkönen was third in his McLaren. Alonso and Räikkönen ended up being the two superstars in 2005.
In 2006 all I can remember is that Räikkönen started from the back and was still third in the end. A very impressive performance. In front of him was the two drivers who fought for the championship that year, Michael Schumacher in second and Fernando Alonso in first place.
In 2007 Felipe Massa won the race, Lewis Hamilton was second and Kimi Räikkönen was third again.
In 2008 Massa won again, Räikkönen was second this time and Robert Kubica third. It seems that Massa and Räikkönen have also been very successful at Sakhir.
In 2009 Jenson Button took the only victory for a British driver (until Hamilton won in 2014 and 2015) in Bahrain. Brawn was the team and it was their dominance back then and not Mercedes.. later Brawn became Mercedes.
In 2010 Bahrain was the first race of the season and it was also Alonso's first race at Ferrari. He did the same thing as Räikkönen had done in 2007 by winning the first race at Ferrari.
In 2013 Sebastian Vettel won and the Lotuses of Räikkönen and Grosjean followed him. The same podium result was also in 2012 so these guys really seem to like this track.
In 2014 it was all about Lewis Hamilton's and Nico Rosberg's one on one fight at the top. That made the race one of the most interesting in 2014. I hope we will see something similar this weekend but the Ferraris should join the battle if they have the pace!
In 2015-2016 the Mercs dominated the race again like they did in 2014. No surprise there but in 2016 Kimi Räikkönen got in between the two Mercs which was a nice surprise. I hope to see the Finn up there this year also. He hasn't won a race since he rejoined Ferrari.
So who has been the most successful in Bahrain? If we look at the stuff I just said earlier then Fernando Alonso! He has won 3 races, Hamilton, Massa and Vettel have won 2 and then Button only once. If we talk about other podium positions then Räikkönen has three 2nd places and three 3rd places. He didn't drive there in 2010.
Then it's time for my predictions:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
The race:
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.
This is going to be the 13th Grand Prix at Sakhir if I remember correctly. It would have been the 13th but the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled because of the Bahraini protests if you still remember?
One of the most interesting thing though is that in 2014 Bahrain switched from daylight to a night race! They will continue like this in 2017 as well.
So what has happened in the past 13 years at this circuit?
In 2004 the first race was a bit boring if I remember correctly. Ferrari was still dominating the series so they had a 1-2 and Button was about half a minute behind them.
In 2005 it was a bit different because now it was the year of Renault. Fernando Alonso won, Jarno Trulli was second in his Toyota and Kimi Räikkönen was third in his McLaren. Alonso and Räikkönen ended up being the two superstars in 2005.
In 2006 all I can remember is that Räikkönen started from the back and was still third in the end. A very impressive performance. In front of him was the two drivers who fought for the championship that year, Michael Schumacher in second and Fernando Alonso in first place.
In 2007 Felipe Massa won the race, Lewis Hamilton was second and Kimi Räikkönen was third again.
In 2008 Massa won again, Räikkönen was second this time and Robert Kubica third. It seems that Massa and Räikkönen have also been very successful at Sakhir.
In 2009 Jenson Button took the only victory for a British driver (until Hamilton won in 2014 and 2015) in Bahrain. Brawn was the team and it was their dominance back then and not Mercedes.. later Brawn became Mercedes.
In 2010 Bahrain was the first race of the season and it was also Alonso's first race at Ferrari. He did the same thing as Räikkönen had done in 2007 by winning the first race at Ferrari.
In 2013 Sebastian Vettel won and the Lotuses of Räikkönen and Grosjean followed him. The same podium result was also in 2012 so these guys really seem to like this track.
In 2014 it was all about Lewis Hamilton's and Nico Rosberg's one on one fight at the top. That made the race one of the most interesting in 2014. I hope we will see something similar this weekend but the Ferraris should join the battle if they have the pace!
In 2015-2016 the Mercs dominated the race again like they did in 2014. No surprise there but in 2016 Kimi Räikkönen got in between the two Mercs which was a nice surprise. I hope to see the Finn up there this year also. He hasn't won a race since he rejoined Ferrari.
So who has been the most successful in Bahrain? If we look at the stuff I just said earlier then Fernando Alonso! He has won 3 races, Hamilton, Massa and Vettel have won 2 and then Button only once. If we talk about other podium positions then Räikkönen has three 2nd places and three 3rd places. He didn't drive there in 2010.
Then it's time for my predictions:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
The race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
- Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Surprise: Romain Grosjean will have a great race.
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.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Monday, April 10, 2017
2017 Chinese Grand Prix review
After the formation lap Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel stopped his car in the 2nd grid spot but half of his car was outside of it. What was that all about?! Did he really think that it was legal to do so? The weirdest thing was that he didn't even get a penalty for it. Probably because his start wasn't that good so they forgave him.
Vettel's teammate Kimi Räikkönen got a better start but had to brake so that he wouldn't hit the German's rear.
The Mercs both got a good start. Lewis Hamilton lead the race and Valtteri Bottas almost overtook Vettel. Even though he was faster he didn't have the room to overtake in the corner.
The one who had much better room was Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and he got pass the Iceman (aka Räikkönen).
Both Williams drivers had really bad luck. Felipe Massa dropped back three positions at least! but that's mostly because Williams isn't very good in the rain. Lance Stroll on the other hand got hit by Force India's Sergio Perez and had to retire from the race. Stroll got a lot of criticism for retiring but I don't see how it was his fault. He had no place to go at that point.
Before Sauber's Antonio Giovinazzi started his 4th lap he crashed his car at the same spot as he did in qualifying. The safety car was then deployed. In my opinion the crash happened because it was too early for slicks.
When the safety car was out we saw several drivers pit for slicks as well. Hamilton and Bottas first but the Finn dropped back a bit because he had to queue behind Hamilton. When they were on track Bottas also spun which made it more difficult for him. When you drive over a puddle of water with slicks that will happen and he knows it. If you can't see it in time then you are just a passenger in your own car.
Bottas also got a lot of negative feedback from the media but I don't think that he was a bad choice for Mercedes. It's unfair to judge the whole driver based on one mistake. Have people forgotten how good he has been before this race? In the previous race or the seasons before? Not many mistakes from him over the years but as Keke Rosberg used to say... "according to the media you are as good as your previous race performance". The Finn blamed himself but I was just wondering that who's idea was it to put slicks on when the track was still wet? Maybe the gamble wasn't good for everybody... They are different drivers and different personalities.
The safety car came into the pits and we could right away hear Räikkönen complain on the radio that there is a problem with his engine. He had no torque what so ever. Of course many thought that Räikkönen was making excuses but I don't think he did. He knows how the car felt in testing and haven't had the same feeling since. I remember in 2014 when he complained about the car and everybody said he was making excuses, Fernando Alonso, who was his teammate at the time tried his car in testing and said the car was undrivable. Guess you need someone like Alonso to verify for it to be true.
3 laps after the safety car Max Verstappen overtook his teammate Ricciardo. What a battle! I like watching Verstappen fight for his positions. That's just pure racing!
On lap 20 Vettel finally overtook Räikkönen. It was weird that it took him over 10 laps to achieve but only 2 laps to overtake Ricciardo. When Vettel overtook Ricciardo they also touched but luckily nothing bad happened.
6 laps later Vettel also overtook Verstappen when he locked his front tyres. Verstappen had to pit but in my opinion it helped him a lot to get better tyres. One reason was that when he got out on track again he had no problem overtaking Bottas who had much older tyres.
Red Bull sees that it's a good idea to change tyres and asks Ricciardo also to pit for supersofts. Ferrari asks Vettel also to do the same and then Mercedes wants to secure their position by asking Hamilton to pit for new tyres.
The only one who didn't pit was Räikkönen. He was wondering on the radio what position they thought Räikkönen would finish in if he wouldn't pit. He continued to say that there's more than 20 laps to go so what is going on? Ferrari then told him to pit also. Did they forget him or what was going on? Very weird thinking if you ask me.
When Räikkönen pitted he dropped from 2nd to 6th place but overtook Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz quickly for 5th. I guess his new tyres worked better. Sad that they didn't change them sooner.
On the last lap I really enjoyed seeing the two Red Bulls fight for the last podium finish. This was made possible by Haas' Romain Grosjean for not letting the Red Bulls pass even though he got blue flags. Verstappen complained on the radio and asked the team to do something.
They crossed the finish line and nobody really changed their position on the last lap.
In my opinion this was a much better race than Melbourne. We also saw more overtaking which was a relief!
And then as usual it's time for the predictions and the results.
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
The race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - WRONG. Vettel was 2nd and Bottas was 6th.
- Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. Verstappen was 3rd and Räikkönen was 5th.
Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. Hamilton was fastest.
Surprise: Esteban Ocon, Force India - He got points again but didn't really surprise anybody. Or did he?
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 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.
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.
Sunday, April 9, 2017
2017 PREDICTORS LEAGUE standings after the Chinese Grand Prix
1. James Redman - 23 points
2. JT (F1-4-LIFE) - 18 points
3. AE (F1-4-LIFE) - 13 points
4. Larry Gallagher - 5 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.
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