What a race! Did you guys enjoy it? I sure did even though I was disappointed for Valtteri Bottas' sake. He did very well but let's get back to that later. Now it's time to talk about the start!
Almost everybody got an ok start in the front but Kimi Räikkönen got a great start! He overtook both Sebastian Vettel and Bottas as well and got 3rd position. Nico Hulkenberg and Marcus Ericsson crashed into each other which meant that the safety car was deployed right away.
When Nico Rosberg got the information about the safety car in front he slowed down right away and made Lewis Hamilton and Räikkönen almost crash into him. What was that all about?! Stupid move and a big useless risk.
Max Verstappen also managed to get his rear tire smashed and had to pit. On the radio he didn't tell his pit crew right away what had happened or what he think they should do. He just started by saying sorry and coming up with excuses etc. Right there it was clear that we are dealing with a rookie. I mean come on. Focus on the race and save your talking to the end. It should have gone like this: "VES: I have a flat tire, I think I also have damage on the left blaablaablaa so check that out. My car has lost power so what should I do?" Maybe he will learn in the future if his father didn't already teach him.
After the safety car had left the track Bottas overtook Räikkönen right away for 3rd.
On lap 7 Hamilton and Bottas overtook Rosberg because he had something wrong with his throttle pedal. Then all of the drivers overtook him one by one when he tried to get to the pits. He got there eventually and had to retire. The problem was that the pedal stuck to the metal and didn't come up when he lifted his foot. Some car series have pedals with "hooks" so that you are able to lift the pedal manually if it fails. Unfortunately they don't have those in F1.
Then on lap 12 Romain Grosjean lost control of his car and smashed into the wall while trying to catch McLaren's Jenson Button. The safety car was deployed again.
When the race restarted Vettel overtook Räikkönen almost right away just like Bottas had done after the previous safety car. Vettel forced him of track though which was much more dangerous than Bottas' overtaking maneuver. Luckily he didn't crash into his teammate Räikkönen. The Finn complained on the radio that he has lost some speed on the straights.
Lap 27 was the lap when Williams asked Bottas to pit. They took too long again and Bottas dropped from 2nd to 11th and was now stuck in traffic. Ferrari was smarter and waited for a few laps, and when it was time they also were 1.2 seconds faster than Williams, which made Vettel rice in front of Bottas. I have said a thousand times that Williams is killing Bottas with their slow pit crew and strategists.
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| Bottas has been with his team since 2011 (racing driver since 2013). |
The funniest moment was on lap 34 when McLaren told Fernando Alonso on the radio that he is fighting Felipe Massa till the end. He replied "I love your sense of humor" and I laughed my ass off. Classic moment. I guess Alonso hasn't got any faith in his car yet. He said that they will be a top team next year though. Interesting...
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| Some people made jokes that Räikkönen was actually Pastor Maldonado dressed up as the Finn. |
Let's go back to Bottas who I said we should keep an eye on in my preview. He managed to overtake 8 cars from 11th to 3rd place. The last overtake was on the last lap and he could already taste the podium finish. Then suddenly Räikkönen tried to overtake him with way too much speed and crashed into him. Bottas had to retire and Räikkönen dropped to 5th. He got a 30 second penalty for the crash and dropped to 8th in the final results.
Bottas was absolutely furious! Take a look:
Bottas said on the radio "what the fuck did he do?". Later he told the Finnish media also that he is still "fucking pissed off" and who can blame him?
The most positive thing was that Sergio Perez and Force India got a podium finish due to all this drama. A great day for them! Congratulations for the whole team from us all at F1-4-LIFE!
When they say "in your own language" in the press conference and your language is English #RussianGP #Vettel #Perez #PressConference
Posted by Lewis Hamilton on 11. lokakuuta 2015
The last thing are my predictions and the results:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Thank god I was wrong! It's so boring to see Hamilton on pole in every race. His teammate Rosberg got this pole!
Race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT.
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He retired from the race.
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG. He was 2nd and Sergio Perez was 3rd.
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Vettel was fastest this time.
Surprise: Keep an eye on Valtteri Bottas! - CORRECT! He did very well and almost got a podium if he hadn't been hit by Räikkönen.
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 AE, JT, MW, MH & JI. 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
