2014 Austrian Grand Prix review

Red Bull Ring, A1 Ring or Österreichring - you decide what you wanna call it but I'm glad it's back! How could they stop coming here for such a long time? I love this place! The race was much more interesting than any Indian, Korean or Abu Dhabi GP for example. My point is that they are new tracks and now we bring an old track back and it's better right away (even though it's a very simple track).

The qualifying session was the most interesting of the whole season so far. Williams got a 1-2 front row start for the first time in 11 years. The previous time it was with Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher. This time it was Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas as you probably already know.

What about the race then?

Massa got a very good start, Bottas didn't but made a very impressive move on Nico Rosberg later on the first lap. This season it has been very hard to overtake a Mercedes so it was very exciting. Daniel Ricciardo overtook Rosberg in Canada but this time there wasn't any problems with Nico's car. Keep it up Bottas! You are not my favorite driver yet but you may be in the future. I am not sure yet. One of the most interesting drivers in my opinion. He took his first podium this weekend (3rd position).

Lewis Hamilton had a bad qualifying session but a super start in the race. After the first lap he was already 5th even though he started from 9th position. Unfortunately for his sake he could not pass Rosberg and was 2nd when the race was over.

Rosberg won the race and showed everybody that he is not a number two driver and may well be the better driver this year. At the moment I really believe that he might be the champion this year. His father Keke Rosberg was world champion in 1982 and Nico has now won more races than him. It looks very very good for Nico! But anything can still happen.

Ferrari showed no improvement what so ever. They messed up Kimi Räikkönen's race again by taking him in too late. He got stuck in traffic and lost several positions. 

The same thing happened to Massa but fortunately Bottas had a better pitstop. It was faster but they also took him in 1 lap too late. Williams tried to take him in one lap earlier but they told him on the radio just a second too late. Who knows, maybe Bottas would have led the race after the pitstop? But the Mercs would have probably overtaken him anyway later on.

Another interesting thing I heard was that for some strange reason Bottas' car uses more fuel than Massa's which means that Bottas must save more of it. This again means that Bottas' car must be a bit slower on the straights. Does Massa's car have some new parts on it that Bottas doesn't have yet or what is this? Bottas didn't say yes or no about anything regarding the difference of their cars when the media asked him about it afterwards.

Then it's time for my predictions and the actual results. The first time this season everything went wrong! I don't care because I was so entertained and that's what matters.

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. It was Felipe Massa.

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was one step lower.
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He was one step higher.
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull - WRONG. Valtteri Bottas took his first podium.

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. It was Sergio Perez! Can you believe that?

Surprise: Ferrari will show some improvement - WRONG. I saw nothing even though they promised to improve. Williams on the other hand drove like Ferrari was supposed to.

Remember to 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 JT, AE & MW. 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. 

THIS TIME YOU ALSO GET BONUS POINTS! PREDICT POLE POSITION AND FASTEST LAP CORRECTLY TO EARN 2 EXTRA POINTS! 

That's it for today and if you want to send me feedback then email me: f14lifeblog@gmail.com