Do you guys like the minidrivers? I almost every time watch these. I think they are hilarious.
***** LIKE F1 - 4 - LIFE ON FACEBOOK! *****
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Winners and Losers - Japan
Within the first few corners of Sunday’s 2015 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, there were several clear losers: Rosberg down from first to fourth; Massa and Ricciardo limping back to the pits with punctures; and Perez getting knocked off and dropping to the rear of the field. Race victor Hamilton aside, the obvious winners were: Hulkenberg, an impeccable drive taking him from 13th to sixth; Lotus, who got both cars in the points just when they needed it most; and Verstappen, whose battling afternoon lifted him from 17th to ninth. We take a team-by-team look back at Sunday’s action in Suzuka…
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton, P1
Nico Rosberg, P2
Mercedes were right on form again in Suzuka. Hamilton dominated the race after toughing it out with Rosberg through the first two corners, and said that in the final stint his car flowed through the turns like it was sailing. His eighth victory of the year was his 41st overall, bringing him level with his idol Ayrton Senna.
Rosberg blew pole with a poor start and dropped to fourth initially after backing off on the exit to Turn Two. He then had to manage engine temperatures for a while but overtook Bottas on the 17th lap and undercut Vettel on the second pit stop to take a decent second, 18.9s behind his team mate.
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel, P3
Kimi Raikkonen, P4
Ferrari didn’t have the speed they demonstrated in Singapore and were well beaten by Hamilton. Vettel was a fighting third close to Rosberg, however, but Raikkonen again a distant fourth. It was the seventh time in 14 races that the same three drivers finished on the podium.
Williams
Valtteri Bottas, P5
Felipe Massa, P17
Williams looked good when Bottas ran fourth early on, but Massa lost his chance to shine when he was hit by Ricciardo on the run down to Turn 1 at the start and suffered a punctured right-front tyre. That dropped him to the back as he limped home, and it was a long time before he caught and passed even the Marussias. Bottas succumbed to Rosberg on the 17th lap, but retained fifth thereafter without being challenged by anyone.
Force India
Nico Hulkenberg, P6
Sergio Perez, P12
Hulkenberg drove a fast, intelligent and lonely race from 13th on the grid to sixth, to bring home another eight points, but Perez got knocked off in Turn 1 at the start by Sainz and had to play catch-up thereafter. He won the battle for 12th, but might reasonably have expected to score points too without that first-lap adventure.
Lotus
Romain Grosjean, P7
Pastor Maldonado, P8
Grosjean and Maldonado had no answer once Hulkenberg had taken his Force India past them, but seventh and eighth earned the team another welcome 10 points just as they seem to be on the verge of moving towards works Renault status.
Toro Rosso
Max Verstappen, P9
Carlos Sainz, P10
Verstappen drove like a demon from 17th on the grid to ninth, despite losing a lot of time trapped behind Alonso and Kvyat early on. Sainz was well up for a long while until he clobbered a marker cone coming in for his second stop and lost time having the nose replaced as a result.
McLaren
Fernando Alonso, P11
Jenson Button, P16
McLaren’s race was unfortunately not one to make engine partners Honda proud on their home soil. The Toro Rosso drivers said the Japanese power unit wasn’t half bad on the straights, but Alonso likened it to a GP2 car’s and Button said they were trying to fight like samurais without armour or swords and was worried about the closing speed of passing rivals. Alonso hung on to a fighting 11th, but Button was a distant 16th.
Red Bull
Daniil Kvyat, P13
Daniel Ricciardo, P15
Red Bull had a horrible race, Ricciardo clobbered Massa as the field hammered towards Turn 1, sustaining a left-rear puncture and floor damage that ruined his race. Kvyat, meanwhile, started his rebuilt car from the pits but ran into problems with the tyres, the brakes and the overtake button, and struggled home 13th.
Sauber
Marcus Ericsson, P14
Felipe Nasr, Retired lap 50
Ericsson spoiled his chances early on with a half spin at Spoon Curve, but was in the thick of the fight for 12th in the closing stages before Perez and Kvyat exploited his worn tyres to move ahead. Nasr was there or thereabouts, but retired with four laps to run for reasons undisclosed.
Marussia
Alexander Rossi, P18
Will Stevens, P19
Stevens led Rossi for most of the race, but having incurred a penalty for speeding during his second pit stop the Englishman half spun in 130R on the 44th lap. Rossi just missed the red, white and blue car in the cloud of smoke ahead of him, and Stevens just missed him as he straightened things out. Rossi moved ahead as Stevens pitted for fresh rubber and to serve his penalty.
(source: f1.com)
Monday, September 28, 2015
2015 Japanese Grand Prix review
 |
| Suzuka, Japan |
It seems that the best grid spot to start from is the 2nd place. I have seen this so many times that you become the leader after the first corner when you start from 2nd. Prost overtook Senna from second and Häkkinen overtook Schumacher. You just drive straight and you are on the inside line before the first corner. They should really change it because it's not really fair if you ask me.
So what happened this year? Lewis Hamilton started from 2nd place and overtook Nico Rosberg after the start. What a surprise! (NOT). Rosberg tried hard to keep his 1st place but Hamilton pushed him off track and he dropped to 4th. A nasty move from Hamilton but I am sure that Rosberg would have done the same thing to him.
What about the rest? Sebastian Vettel started from 4th and managed to overtake Valtteri Bottas but no harm for the Finn when Rosberg dropped back. Bottas was 3rd just as he had started the race.
Daniel Ricciardo got a good start but moved over Felipe Massa's front wheel and they both got a puncture. Sergio Perez went off track after he had some contact with one of the Toro Rossos. So all three of them had to pit (Ricciardo, Massa and Perez).
On lap 7 Mercedes said that Rosberg's engine temps are too high but it didn't seem to stop him. He managed to overtake Bottas later on and was now 3rd.
 |
| Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso |
On lap 26 Fernando Alonso was overtaken by Verstappen. He had no chances to keep his position. The McLaren-Honda was too slow for the Toro Rosso. By the way! Did anybody else notice that the Japanese TV people followed almost the whole race just the McLarens? I mean we saw the front for less than 10 minutes (combined). Maybe we are just too used to see Hamilton and Rosberg at the front so nobody cares anymore.
Alonso said on the radio that his car is like a GP2 car and that it is embarrassing. In a way he just pissed all over Honda but why would he care? He works for McLaren and not Honda. Anyways Ron Dennis didn't take it well but still announced that Alonso and his teammate Jenson Button shall stay with them another season. I would really like to know what Honda thought about all of this.
Let's move on! On lap 28 Carlos Sainz was about to pit but drove over a sign on the track. This damaged his front wing. The pit crew were confused and took too long when they realized that they had to change the front wing too.
Kimi Räikkönen pitted one lap later which worked out well for him. He was stuck behind Bottas who is hard to overtake. Kimi was faster so there was no use of staying behind him for a longer time. Bottas pitted on the next lap and his team was slooooow once again. I mean come on! He should have dropped one spot because Kimi was so fast but now he lost 3 spots. Bottas was now 7th and it didn't take long before he had overtaken his way back to 5th behind Kimi. I mean it was about one lap he took time with that!
So now the top5 was HAM, ROS, VET, RAI, BOT and it stayed like that till the end.
 |
| Lewis Hamilton looking up on Jules and Ayrton. |
Now let's see my predictions and the results:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. His teammate Nico Rosberg took pole.
Race:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. His teammate Nico Rosberg took pole.
Race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG. He was 3rd.
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 2nd.
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
Surprise: Vettel will beat Rosberg in the points and become Hamilton's biggest threat. Ferrari is now really starting to compete against Mercedes. - It was very close but it didn't happen.
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!
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. 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
Sunday, September 27, 2015
FIA post-race press conference - Japan
Drivers: 1 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 2 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), 3 - Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari).
Podium Interviews (Conducted by Kai Ebel)
Lewis, congratulations, you equalled Senna’s record; tell us about your magic start. ?
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, well I firstly have to say a big thank you to all these fans that have come and stood in the rain… I don’t know if anyone can hear us… Oh you hear us: Konnichi-wa! Really I’m so happy right now. The team has done a fantastic job this weekend. It’s great to be back up here with a one-two. I had a great start. Thanks again to the team for working so hard to make sure we get good starts this race. For me to come here to a race where I used to love watching Ayrton drive and to match his wins… yeah, I can’t really describe it, it doesn’t really feel real at the moment.
So how important was it for you to strike back after Singapore?
LH: It definitely was important for us to strike back. The Ferraris were incredibly quick in the last race and I guess we didn't bring our A-game, so we really had to take a step back in these last few days and make sure we brought it here and, as I said, couldn’t have done it without this team. Just remarkable what they’ve done. The car was beautiful to drive today.
Thanks Lewis. Coming over to you Nico. Fantastic fight-back to the podium but tell me what happened when the light went out?
Nico Rosberg: Yeah, Lewis just got a better start, fair play, and then it was a good battle into Turn One but in Turn Two he had the inside and just made it stick, so that was the end of it there. Then it was great to fight back to second place, because fourth place would definitely not have been acceptable. Second was the best possible thing after that, so I was happy with the fight-back and great also for us as a team. To be back up here after Singapore is really awesome.
Seems that Lewis is pulling a little bit away in the championship. Can you still catch him?
NR: Yeah, for sure, it’s going the wrong way - definitely. I had to win today, that was important but it didn’t work out. Just need to try to win next time out.
Sebastian, being here on the podium again after a marvellous victory, what do you think about it in front of these fantastic Japanese Ferrari fans?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, thank you very much. It’s great to be back on the podium here, it’s, I think, my favourite race; I love the track, I love the fans, I love the trophies. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the bigger one today; it was close with Nico. I think we had a chance but it’s always easy with hindsight. Overall, I think it was a fantastic race. The start was very tricky and it was interesting to see those two fighting in the first corner - obviously I could benefit - but, yeah, all in all, very happy with the race today.
Tell me what direction is Ferrari going in right now - are there more victories to come this season?
SV: I think we are going in the right direction. Obviously we knew from the beginning of the season that these boys would be difficult to beat. They’re doing a great job, first of all, both of them. They have a great car, a great engine and all in all it makes them difficult to beat. But I think we are much better than people expected and it’s nice, as I said, to be back on the podium here. On top of that it’s been 20 years now that I have been with my helmet supplier Arai. I know that I shouldn’t probably mention this but it’s something very special. I remember when I was a small child walking in, so thanks also to all the people in Japan at Arai and yeah, I love this podium.
Thanks for the commercial block, Seb. Coming back one more time to Lewis. Lewis, we are in the land of karaoke and you are a brilliant singer, not only a brilliant driver, so what will be the song you are going to perform tonight then?
LH: ‘Victory Dance’? I don’t know! I did a song last night called ‘Victory’ so that’s the one I’ll be playing.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis, well done again, congratulations. It seemed to be a trouble-free race once you had taken the lead at the first corner, but we heard one or two mentions of heat in your seat, which we’ve heard before, and also vibrations as well, so how bad was that?
LH: It wasn’t too bad, I've definitely had worse. It was such an amazing race. This has been a circuit that I can honestly say that I’ve struggled [at] through all the years that I’ve come here but one that I’ve loved driving, and I think that goes for all the drivers. But you really want to come here and dominate at a track like this. I was able to get the balance in the right place, my engineers did an amazing job - Bonno, Ricky and just the whole crew did a great job to get the car, with the short amount of time we had, in a beautiful window. It was better today than it was even in qualifying. I was really able to work on my lines and improve and at the front there it was just a beautiful… it’s like sailing. When you go through the corners here, it’s flowing. Honestly, I wish I could share the feeling with you. Also knowing that this would be the race that I would equal Aytron, who won here and who had quite an interesting here. So, yeah, quite an emotional day. But to be honest I’m not a teary guy, so I’m just full of joy and happiness and light and I’m really grateful for, as I posted the other day, all the people who have helped me get to where I am today and this team, because without them I would not be here.
Q: Nico, can you be as ecstatic about your car as Lewis was about his? And what about toughing it around the outside at that first corner?
NR: Yeah, for sure the car is really back to its best now and that’s reassuring after Singapore, so that’s great. Especially in qualifying, it’s just a pleasure to drive. Like on rails. Then in the race, yeah, start of course. Pity to lose out at the start and then big battle around Turn One and Two and got very close on the exit of Turn Two so I had to back out of it there and that lost me the race eventually.
Q: Sebastian, it seemed to be damage limitation. You couldn’t really prevent the undercut and from then on, was there anything you could do about the Mercedes?
SV: Well I think we thought we were safe because tyres were in reasonable shape but I think Nico was a surprise, the pace he had in his out-lap. So, I was very happy with the in-lap, which goes at the same time, but it was a question of a couple of tenths. Into Turn One he just had the upper hand and then it was clear it would be difficult because he was catching before. So, also the fact that Lewis disappeared: they had a bit more speed today so, yeah. Had we pitted one lap sooner I think it could have been more interesting and challenging for Nico to get past. It’s not so easy to follow the cars here through the high-speed sections, so I think we had a good chance but, yeah, probably underestimated the out-lap that he had, so, with hindsight, it’s always easy so, nevertheless, it’s a great day. Good recovery. Especially as Friday wasn’t that good for us. I know it was wet but still, the feeling we go was not that great. Saturday morning as well. So, yeah, good quali and obviously that was the base for another podium today.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Frederic Ferret - L’Equipe) Question to Lewis and Nico. Can you describe for us the way you start? Is it a different way or is it the same way for both of you?
LH: Individually are they different? It’s the same sequence for both of us. Yeah, it’s been the same pretty much since we got to Formula One. It’s not really changed, the start, has it? I mean, you have to go through a different sequence to get to the same thing but it’s just a different equation basically.
NR: It’s the same but you do have your own individual input and you can do your individual thing. You can fine tune it to your liking.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sorry for Nico but we need to come back to that moment where you were a little bit out of the track. Do you think it was a little bit too harsh, Lewis? And for Sebastian, a question, now you are 59 points behind Lewis is it realistic to think that’s it’s fight for the championship or is it done?
NR: I haven’t even seen it myself on TV. For sure it was close, I had to avoid a collision. It’s difficult for me to comment now.
Sebastian?
SV: It’s not done ‘til it’s done. So, the chance is there - and what kind of racing driver would I be if I stopped believing? So, of course I know it’s difficult because the opponent is very strong. They are currently in stronger form than us, so it’s not easy to turn things around when you are behind - but you have to keep believing otherwise I guess it’s pointless rocking up and trying to fight. I think there’s always a chance on Sunday. Being realistic, as I said, I think it will be very, very difficult but who knows what’s going to happen. We have to do our thing and that’s the maximum we can do. Everything else is not in our hands, it’s probably in their hands.
Q: (Dan Knutson - Auto Action and Speed Sport magazines) Lewis, could you give us your view of that very close moment there coming out of turn two with Nico?
LH: I didn’t really feel it was particularly that close but the inside line is the inside line, so I had my corner and so we were very, very close but I was basically understeering, I was running out of grip. I imagine Nico was running out of road, but that’s what happens when you’re on the outside.
Q: (Luigi Perna - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb, are you confident in the development of the car for the next races and the end of the season, considering that maybe you are going to use a fifth engine with more upgrades? You still have four tokens to spend.
SV: Well, there are still some races to go. We are pushing as hard as we can. Obviously last weekend and this weekend were very different but I think it’s more down to them struggling but we had very strong form in Singapore and we used our chance. It’s very simple; if the chance is there, we have to use it. We know though that they are very, very strong so we will do everything we can in the remaining races of this year, trying to catch them, trying to improve ourselves first of all. I think there are always lessons to learn; this weekend was interesting. Again, thinking about tyres: Friday, Saturday, I think there are some lessons and some things that we can improve. On top of that, as I said, we try to improve the car naturally. I think the times of big updates, they are over. We try every race to bring everything we have and yeah, everything else we will see when we get there.
Q: (Frederic Ferret - L’Equipe) A question again to Lewis and Nico about the start: do you prepare your start differently, Nico and Lewis, on the formation lap? Do you prepare it differently and can you explain why it was so good for you, Lewis, and so bad for you, Nico?
LH: Honestly, there’s not really much difference. You have to do your sequence when you leave the grid, then you do a normal start. It’s the same movement with the paddles. The input differences are the reaction time from the paddle and then how smooth you are with the second paddle in terms of how you... and also how smooth you are with the throttle which makes the difference generally. And also obviously the clutch has to perform, sometimes it over-performs but with the new rules we generally have the same set-up with that. So yeah, I guess it’s just the luck of the draw: sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong, sometimes you’ve got the clutch too hot, sometimes you’ve got it too cold, sometimes you have your tyres too cold, sometimes you have them too hot. So it’s a combination of things, but generally the sequence is very, very similar between - I’m pretty sure - the whole grid.
NR: It’s always the same thing, the same we practise before the formation lap, going through the pit lane and then on the exit of the pit lane, formation lap practice, so you get a feel for it. That’s it.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) For all of you: some of your colleagues yesterday were worried about the tyre pressures. They said there was too much pressure and they were worried they might have some problems during the race. Have you been affected in the race by that?
NR: No, not at all. Everything was perfect. No problems at all.
SV: Were you low again? I’m joking. You can laugh as well. It was a joke, come on.
NR: I’m smiling!
LH: I don’t know really. All I know is that the tyres were... we don’t say it very often but the tyres were pretty amazing, particularly in the last stint. They were the best they’ve felt for a long time. They really felt really good but it must have been how it felt for him (Vettel) in the last race. Through qualifying, they were good but generally in the race it was getting better and better as the car gets lighter and stuff but I don’t think they were a problem this weekend.
SV: No comment really.
(source: f1.com)
2015 PREDICTORS LEAGUE standings after the Japanese GP
1. James Redman - 120 points
2. Peter McLaren - 119 points
3. Leonardo Machado - 111 points
4. Jonathan M Yountz - 109 points
5. Ryan Lane - 94 points
6. Larry Gallagher - 86 points
7. AE (F1-4-LIFE) - 69 points
8. JT (F1-4-LIFE) - 67 points
9. Shaun Magnano - 59 points
10. Rich Kewell - 53 points
11. MW (F1-4-LIFE) - 44 points
12. MH (F1-4-LIFE) - 40 points
13. Tim Saunders - 36 points
14. Jaakko Iivari - 35 points
15. Elliott Robson - 31 points
16. David Perry - 26 points
17. Dylan Curry - 24 points
18. Daniel Vanderburg - 23 points
18. Archie Donato - 23 points
18. Neil Marchant - 23 points
21. Abijith Kv - 18 points
21. Marcel Kircher - 18 points
23. Yõrt Martö - 13 points
24. Richard Gehl - 10 points
24. Chris Kemp - 10 points
24. Eric Lemens - 10 points
27. Rodrigo Gonzales - 8 points
27. Corey Lea - 8 points
27. Vitor Lobo - 8 points
30. Anthony Brian Ayrton Senna - 6 points
31. Todd Steinberg - 5 points
32. Белмин Aљоски - 3 points
32. Tom Maw - 3 points
32. Haresh Reddy - 3 points
32. Paul Beecham - 3 points
36. Steven Peli - 0 points
36. Daniel Kelleher - 0 points
36. Martin Hubbard - 0 points
36. Sharon Walmsley - 0 points
36. Sharon Walmsley - 0 points
36. Alexandre Langlois - 0 points
We have had 40 different predictors this season.
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. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Friday, September 25, 2015
Thursday, September 24, 2015
2015 Japanese GP - Drivers Press Conference (video)
The best part was when Sebastian Vettel made Jenson Button "emotional" :D
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
2015 Japanese Grand Prix preview
Hello again! It's the 27th time Suzuka hosts an F1 event and it seems that this GP is here to stay. So many championships have been decided here and so many legendary memories.
Take a look at Ayrton Senna's pole lap from 1988:
My best memories are the Senna-Prost battles in 1988-1990, Häkkinen-Schumacher in 1998-2000 and also Kimi Räikkönen overtaking Fisichella on the last lap and winning the race in 2005.
Then of course last year Jules Bianchi had his accident which lead to his death later on this year. Very sad stuff and I will be very disappointed if they don't do something to remember him this weekend. I know they already had one but still... this is the place where it happened. Everybody will be thinking about him. I hope the safety is better this year.
 |
| Jules Bianchi |
Let's move on to something less sad...
Lewis Hamilton has won the Japanese GP twice. He won last year and also the very wet Japanese GP back in 2007 only it was at Fuji, not at Suzuka. This track is more important for Hamilton than Fuji because his idol, Ayrton Senna, secured his championship here more than once. Hamilton will be very hungry for this win. Even more because of Ferrari's win in the last race.
My guess is if Hamilton's car works he will have a perfect weekend and Sebastian Vettel will be right behind him.
Vettel has always been good here and he got more hungry after the last win. He will beat Nico Rosberg here but it won't be easy.
Here are my predictions:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Race:
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Surprise: Vettel will beat Rosberg in the points and become Hamilton's biggest threat. Ferrari is now really starting to compete against Mercedes.
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Surprise: Vettel will beat Rosberg in the points and become Hamilton's biggest threat. Ferrari is now really starting to compete against Mercedes.
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!
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. 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
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Monday, September 21, 2015
2015 Singapore Grand Prix review
OK F1 fans! Here's my review starting from the start ;)
Sebastian Vettel and his former teammate Daniel Ricciardo got good starts but Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen had to really defend his position against the young Russian Daniil Kvyat. Kimi did what he does best and got away from Kvyat. The other Finn Valtteri Bottas overtook Nico Rosberg but could not keep the position and was stuck in 7th after VET, RIC, RAI, KVY, HAM and ROS. The two Force Indias almost took each other out when fighting for positions but managed to keep it clean for the time being.
Nico Hulkenberg kept it clean until lap 13 and crashed into Felipe Massa. I don't know what he was thinking but he didn't give the Brazilian any room and had to take all the blame for the crash. He even got a penalty for it (drops 3 spots in the next event).
The crash lead to a virtual safety car and almost everybody pitted. Jenson Button's pitstop took about 40 seconds + the time on the pit straights. McLaren can't blame Honda for everything can they? That was just awful.
On lap 15 the real safety car was deployed and now we have had a safety car in every Singapore GP there has ever been. Very interesting!
On lap 19 the race continued and Carlos Sainz got problems with his gear box. The gear went on neutral for a while and then just fixed itself after he got dropped to the back. He had the same problem in Shanghai earlier this year.
Lewis Hamilton started to have technical problems on lap 27 and got overtaken by almost everybody who was near him. I was a bit surprised that Mercedes didn't take him in to the pits right when they spotted the problems. I mean why not? Was it a risk? Later they asked him to pit and when they couldn't fix the problems he was forced to retire.
Felipe Massa also retired on lap 31 and so did Fernando Alonso on lap 34. They had technical issues as well.
Lap 37 was interesting when some idiot took o stroll on the track and spent the night in jail. Of course the safety car was deployed again. On lap 41 the race continued but the newbie Alexander Rossi had driven between Räikkönen and Ricciardo and stayed there. He should have overtaken the safety car and joined them on the same lap. Why didn't he? He said that he didn't know what to do and his radio was broken. Oh ok... I guess it happens sometimes.
On the same lap Pastor Maldonado and Button were fighting at the back and touched. Maldonado the man who has had the most penalties in F1 history drove over Button's front wing. Button said on the radio "I should have known he's mental". Later Button had to retire the race.
The DNF list had a lot of experienced drivers! I mean take a look at this: Hulkenberg, Hamilton, Massa, Alonso and now Button.
Bottas almost retired too! (even though he is not that experienced ;)) On lap 56 he got gear box problems and was asked to be careful with it. I mean how can you be careful with a semi-automatic gear box? There's no clutch or anything so the only thing you do is push buttons to change gears. What a weird comment from his team. Lucky for him he managed to finish 5th. In front of him was VET, RIC, RAI and ROS. Not so easy to beat those guys so he should be happy for the result, I mean with the problems and all.
One of the best moments was when Toro Rosso asked Max Verstappen to let Carlos Sainz pass. The answer was "NO!!" :D Great stuff!
That was it and now it's time for my predictions and see how terribly I did. Must be a worst ever for me!
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Vettel took pole.
The Top 3 on Sunday
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Vettel won the race.
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 4th and Ricciardo was 2nd.
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG. His teammate (Räikkönen) was 3rd.
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Ricciardo was fastest on Sunday.
Surprise: Force India will have a good result - Hulkenberg retired and Perez was 7th so at least it was an ok race for him but nothing special.
Don't forget to post your own predictions for the 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. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
2015 PREDICTORS LEAGUE standings after the Singapore GP
1. Peter McLaren - 109 points
2. James Redman - 102 points
3. Leonardo Machado - 93 points
4. Jonathan M Yountz - 91 points
5. Ryan Lane - 76 points
6. Larry Gallagher - 68 points
7. JT (F1-4-LIFE) - 67 points
8. AE (F1-4-LIFE) - 66 points
9. Shaun Magnano - 59 points
10. Rich Kewell - 53 points
11. MW (F1-4-LIFE) - 44 points
12. MH (F1-4-LIFE) - 40 points
13. Tim Saunders - 36 points
14. Jaakko Iivari - 35 points
15. Elliott Robson - 31 points
16. David Perry - 26 points
17. Dylan Curry - 24 points
18. Daniel Vanderburg - 23 points
18. Archie Donato - 23 points
18. Neil Marchant - 23 points
21. Abijith Kv - 18 points
21. Marcel Kircher - 18 points
23. Yõrt Martö - 13 points
24. Richard Gehl - 10 points
24. Chris Kemp - 10 points
24. Eric Lemens - 10 points
27. Rodrigo Gonzales - 8 points
27. Corey Lea - 8 points
27. Vitor Lobo - 8 points
30. Anthony Brian Ayrton Senna - 6 points
31. Todd Steinberg - 5 points
32. Белмин Aљоски - 3 points
32. Tom Maw - 3 points
32. Haresh Reddy - 3 points
32. Paul Beecham - 3 points
36. Steven Peli - 0 points
36. Daniel Kelleher - 0 points
36. Martin Hubbard - 0 points
36. Sharon Walmsley - 0 points
36. Sharon Walmsley - 0 points
36. Alexandre Langlois - 0 points
We have had 40 different predictors this season.
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. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)