Before the race there was one of the slowest warm up laps ever. Is it always Nico Rosberg who manages to arrange a pace like that? Feels like it sometimes.
The start was good for the Mercedes' and Ferraris but for some reason Lewis Hamilton dropped back, got overtaken by Sebastian Vettel and almost Valtteri Bottas as well. Kimi Räikkönen started from 7th place but managed to overtake both of the Toro Rossos in front of him on the first lap.
Pastor Maldonado started from 12th but was 9th after 4 laps. He was driving quite well until he had contact with his teammate Romain Grosjean. Grosjean blamed Maldonado for the crash but in my opinion it was not his fault this time. Maldonado had to pit and they ripped a bit of the back wing off because it was loose, and could have also been dangerous for other drivers. Later Maldonado had to retire even though he had a great race until that point. Barcelona always brings out the best in Maldonado.
Hamilton pitted on the 14th lap. Mercedes said that they wanted to do the opposite to Vettel so that they could gamble a better position for Hamilton. But the pit crew screwed up with the rear left tyre and it took too long again. This has happened before with several teams this year. Vettel pitted on the next lap and then it was Rosberg's turn.
McLaren had problems with both cars again. Jenson Button had wheel spin when he throttled and Fernando Alonso had issues with his brakes and had to retire. It was the second time ever in Barcelona when Alonso retired. The previous time was in 2008 with Renault.
Vettel got stuck in traffic and lost his second position to Hamilton. Vettel couldn't challenge him anymore and Mercedes had secured their 1-2 finish. Hamilton wanted to catch Rosberg but Mercedes told him that it's no use because he is too far away. Later Hamilton was angry with them and said that next time he will still try.
Behind Vettel there was battle between Bottas and Räikkönen. The Iceman could not pass the new Flying Finn just like Vettel couldn't in the previous race. Bottas is driving like a boss! He overtook his teammate Felipe Massa in the championship standings even though he didn't compete in the first race. Great work from him.
Congratulations to Nico Rosberg for taking his first win of the season. If he doesn't do better than he has done earlier then this will be a boring season.
Nothing more to say about the race so let's take a look at my predictions and see how "well" they went.
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. It was the other Mercedes.
The race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 2nd
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 1st.
- Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. The other Ferrari was 3rd.
Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. Fastest lap was set by Lewis Hamilton.
Surprise: Sebastian Vettel will have a surprisingly bad race - NOT REALLY but Kimi did. He had the old parts in the car when Vettel had the new upgraded version.
Was this the first time in history of this blog when I get everything wrong?! I guess so...
The rules:
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.
THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side MH, 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.
That's it for today and if you want to send me feedback then email me: f14lifeblog@gmail.com
