2016 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX - Second practice session

2016 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX - First practice session

2016 Malaysian GP - Thursday (Drivers) Press Conference

FIA publishes provisional calendar for 2017

F1 Circuit Guide I Malaysian Grand Prix 2016

2007 Malaysian Grand Prix (full race)

A classic race for you guys before the 2016 Malaysian GP.

2016 Malaysian Grand Prix preview

Sepang has become a very legendary track over the years.

Remember when Mika Häkkinen chased the Ferraris of Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher in the first race back in 1999? The Ferraris were dominating the race and Häkkinen was just barely behind them. After the race Häkkinen sat down on the podium because he was about to pass out. He said that it felt impossible to win them.

Later they found out that Ferrari was using illegal wings on the cars. The FIA said that they can't use them anymore but didn't give Ferrari a penalty. Maybe because that would have decided the championship as well? Häkkinen would have won Irvine in the championship with over 10 points before the last race.

In 2003 Renault showed their claws for the first time since the 80's by taking 1st and 2nd in the qualifying (Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli). It was also Alonso's first pole position.
Unfortunately for Alonso's sake he didn't finish first in the race. He took the third place which was his first ever podium in F1.

The hero of the very wet Malaysian Grand Prix in 2003 was in fact not Alonso but Kimi Räikkönen. He took his first ever victory and smiled more than he did when he won the championship in 2007.




I would also like to mention the shortest Malaysian Grand Prix in history: The 2009 Malaysian GP that lasted for 55 minutes. It was stopped with red flags because of the weather and it never continued. Jenson Button won that race with Brawn GP (now Mercedes GP).




Then I must mention the race from 2013...

Remember MULTI -21?



Mark Webber decided to leave Red Bull and Formula One because of this race and Sebastian Vettel got even more haters than he already had. He ignored the team orders and put himself above the team.

So who has been most successful in Malaysia of the current drivers?

Podiums:

1. Sebastian Vettel - 5 (1st x 4, 3rd x 1)
2. Fernando Alonso - 5 (1st x 3, 2nd x 1, 3rd x 1)
3. Lewis Hamilton - 5 (1st x 1, 2nd x 2, 3rd x 2)
4. Jenson Button - 4 (1st x 1, 2nd x 1, 3rd x 2)
5. Kimi Räikkönen - 3 (1st x 2, 3rd x 1)
6. Nico Rosberg - 3 (2nd x 2, 3rd x 1)
7. Sergio Perez - 1 (2nd x 1)


Let's also keep in mind that Button has been in F1 since the year 2000, Alonso and Räikkönen since 2001 (Alonso didn't compete in 2002 and Kimi didn't compete in 2010-2011), Rosberg since 2006, Hamilton and Vettel since 2007 and Perez since 2011.

Let's see my predictions!

Pole Position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari

Surprise: Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso

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.

Get your tickets to Suzuka!

Get your tickets to the next F1 event from this link:

http://www.bookf1.com/f1-japan/tickets.htm?afid=815

And to the next race from this link:

http://www.bookf1.com/?afid=815&next_available_race

Grill The Grid - Romain Grosjean

Driver Market Update - Who's Heading Where in 2017?

MiniDrivers - 8x15 - 2016 Singapore GP

2016 Singapore GP (Full Race)

2016 Singapore Grand Prix review

When the race started Red Bull's Max Verstappen moved very slowly from the grid and was overtaken by several cars. He also was the reason why Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz and Force India's Nico Hulkenberg crashed. They both tried to avoid hitting Verstappen and crashed into each other instead. Sainz was able to continue but Hulkenberg was out of the race. The safety car came out right away.

Williams' driver Valtteri Bottas got a puncture and dropped to the back after his pit stop. He also had an unsafe release from the pits when the team gave him permission to go even though Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was right next to him. Bottas avoided crashing into him and took his spot behind the German Ferrari driver. No penalty was given only because he did the right thing by letting Vettel through.

After the 2nd lap the safety car went in and the race could start. It was a bit too early in my opinion because there was still men on track who had just cleared the last parts from Hulkenberg's car.

Sainz got a black and orange flag on lap 6 because of his accident at the start. If you don't know what the flag is for then I must tell you - it is an order to pit and detach any loose parts from the car that could cause a new accident. Toro Rosso's pit crew ripped the part of in a second and Sainz was on his way again.

Two laps later Mercedes told Nico Rosberg on the radio that he should look after his brakes or he wont last till the end. Not something the race leader wants to hear or any other driver for that matter. Red Bull told Daniel Ricciardo on the radio about Rosberg's problems but he could not overtake him.

On lap 19 and 20 we saw one of the most interesting things - Verstappen was trying to overtake Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat who's driver's seat he had taken earlier this season. Kvyat was really making it difficult for the young Verstappen but in the end he could not hold him back any further and lost his position. Great job even though Kvyat couldn't keep him behind.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen did his best overtaking maneuver since he rejoined Ferrari. Hamilton had no chance of keeping the Finn behind him. After the pitstops Raikkonen remained in front of Hamilton but then later on Mercedes decided to take Hamilton in one more time for better tires. Ferrari had to react - keep Raikkonen out on track or make him pit for better tires also. They decided to make Raikkonen pit and it was a mistake. Mercedes did it at the right moment and were faster also so Hamilton got his position back and didn't even have to overtake the Finn. They stayed like that till the end.

Two more things I would like to mention and the first thing is Rosberg winning the race even though he had brake problems. Great job from him! The second thing is Vettel getting valuable points from Singapore even though he started from last position. Superb performance but can you expect less from a four time world champion?

And now my predictions and the results:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. His teammate Nico Rosberg was on pole.

The Top 3 on Sunday

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. His teammate Nico Rosberg won and he was 3rd.
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. Daniel Ricciardo was 2nd
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG. He got a penalty and didn't get on the podium.

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Daniel Ricciardo was fastest.

Surprise: Force India will have a good result - CORRECT. They got a better result than Williams.

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, JI and PM. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

2016 PREDICTORS LEAGUE standings after the Singapore GP

1. Larry Gallagher - 141 points

2. James Redman - 113 points

3. PM (F1-4-LIFE) - 98 points

4. AE (F1-4-LIFE) - 93 points

5. Leonardo Machado - 63 points

6. JT (F1-4-LIFE) - 62 points

7. Darcy P. Lang - 55 points

8. Vitor Lobo - 31 points

9. JI (F1-4-LIFE) - 15 points

10. Denis Borges Nastasi - 13 points

11. Dylan Curry - 3 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.

2016 Driver Standings after the Singapore GP

2016 Constructors Standings after the Singapore GP

2016 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX - Race results

2016 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX - Qualifying

2016 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX - Third practice session

2016 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX - Second practice session

2016 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX - First practice session

2016 Singapore GP - Thursday Drivers Press Conference

FIA press conference schedule - Singapore

Last year’s runner-up Daniel Ricciardo will be among the drivers facing the press at Marina Bay on Thursday, while on Friday team bosses, including Ferrari’s Maurizio Arrivabene and Mercedes’ Toto Wolff, will be grilled by the media. The line-ups in full…


Thursday, September 15, 1800 hours local time (1000 GMT)

Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Marcus Ericsson (Sauber), Felipe Nasr (Sauber), Jolyon Palmer (Renault), Sergio Perez (Force India), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)

Friday, September 16, 2315 hours local time (1545 GMT)

Cyril Abiteboul (Renault), Maurizio Arrivabene (Ferrari), Christian Horner (Red Bull), Monisha Kaltenborn (Sauber), Guenther Steiner (Haas), Toto Wolff (Mercedes)

The qualifying and post-race conferences with the top three drivers will take place immediately after the respective sessions.

(source: f1.com)

F1 Circuit Guide | Singapore Grand Prix 2016

McLaren Reshuffle: Reaction From Button, Vandoorne & Alonso

2016 Singapore Grand Prix preview

Marina Bay, Singapore

The Singapore GP is legendary even though it is one of the newer tracks. It was the first night grand prix and it is also known for the "crashgate" scandal. I have talked about it almost every year but I still think that it has been the most interesting thing in Singapore.

Nelson Piquet Jr. crashes into the wall on purpose.

Crashgate was perpetrated by the Renault F1 team who ordered Nelson Piquet, Jr. to crash deliberately during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, in order to gain an advantage for Fernando Alonso who was his teammate at the time.

On 28 September 2008, on the 14th lap of the Singapore race, Piquet crashed into the circuit wall at turn 17, necessitating a safety car deployment. This allowed Alonso to make an early pitstop and subsequently gain the advantage to win the race after starting 15th on the grid. Piquet described his crash at the time as a simple mistake.

After being dropped by the Renault team following the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, Piquet alleged that he had been asked by the team to deliberately crash to improve the race situation for Alonso, sparking an investigation of Renault F1 for race fixing by the FIA. After the investigation, Renault F1 were charged with conspiracy on September 4th, and were to answer the charge on September 21st 2009.

Flavio Briatore and Nelson Piquet Jr.

On September 16th Renault stated that they would not contest the charges, and announced that the team's managing director, Flavio Briatore, and it's executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, had left the team.

On September 21st it was announced that the Renault F1 team had been handed a disqualification from Formula One, which was suspended for two years pending any further comparable rule infringements. Briatore was suspended from all Formula One events and FIA-sanctioned events indefinitely, whilst Symonds received a five-year ban. Their bans were subsequently overturned by a French court, although they both agreed not to work in Formula One or FIA-sanctioned events for a specified time as part of a later settlement reached with the FIA.

This year I am sure Alonso will not win with McLaren even if a UFO would fall from the sky.

And now what I think will happen this weekend:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The Top 3 on Sunday

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Surprise: Force India will have a good result.

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, JI and PM. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

Felipe Massa's Proud F1 Career

Grill The Grid - Jenson Button

MiniDrivers - 8x14 - 2016 Italian GP

Ultrasofts the tyre of choice for Singapore

2016 Round 14 Italy (FULL RACE)

2016 Italian Grand Prix review

I knew those three guys would be on the podium! That is always a sign of a boring race. There was some interesting things yes but all in all it seemed a bit boring to me.

At the start it did look very interesting when Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton had a really bad start. The man who started from pole was overtaken by Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen, Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo.

Vettel was fighting for the lead with Rosberg and the two Finns were fighting for third place. They all stayed on the positions they had after passing Hamilton. No changes what so ever.

On the second lap Hamilton managed to take fifth place from Ricciardo and it looked almost too easy. It was then when I knew that this was going to get boring.

Thanks to Bottas Hamilton stayed 5th for over 10 laps. He was really making it difficult for Hamilton but after a while Bottas had to give his place to Hamilton who was just too fast for him.

Earlier Ferrari told Räikkönen to slow down because his engine was overheating. Räikkönen said that he can't just give up on his fight with Vettel but eventually did what Ferrari said. A pity because I would really like to see more fighting for positions between the Ferraris.

When Bottas pitted he dropped to 12th but it didn't take him long to overtake McLaren's Jenson Button and Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz. After a few laps he was already 5th where he was before the pitstop. Great driving from him!

On lap 25 we saw some drama when Rosberg pitted and Mercedes almost messed up his race. The pit crew bumped into each other when changing tires and it cost them a couple of seconds. Luckily Rosberg didn't loose his position because Hamilton pitted on the next lap and joined behind him.

The Mercs were now in the lead even though Hamilton was 6th after the start. No surprise if you ask me. I really miss the times when it wasn't this obvious who will be 1st and 2nd.

On the last few laps Ricciardo was caching Bottas and managed to overtake the Finn after the main straight in the first corner. Red Bull seems to be much faster in corners than Williams. I really thought that the overtaking maneuver was a good example how it should be done. Ricciardo left space for Bottas and didn't push him outside of the track as many other drivers would have done. Great work!

The last thing I must mention is Fernando Alonso's radio communication with his team (McLaren). Even though it was funny when he laughed when he was told to catch Romain Grosjean I thought he showed disrespect towards McLaren. His teammate Button still tried to do so without complaining and almost overtook him. Alonso was behind Button and even set the fastest lap so why was he laughing? It was possible to overtake Grosjean so why laugh? With Alonso's big salary he should just do what he was meant to do and not just go out for a joyride. If it seems difficult then at least try or quit all together.

And now it's time for my predictions and here they are:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT

Race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 2nd.
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He won the race.
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - CORRECT

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Alonso was fastest.

Surprise: Valtteri Bottas, Williams - He had a pretty good race.

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. 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. So be quick!

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side JT, AE, MW, MH, JI and PM. 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

2016 PREDICTORS LEAGUE standings after the Italian GP

1. Larry Gallagher - 128 points

2. James Redman - 113 points

3. AE (F1-4-LIFE) - 93 points

4. PM (F1-4-LIFE) - 75 points

5. Leonardo Machado - 63 points

6. JT (F1-4-LIFE) - 62 points

7. Darcy P. Lang - 37 points

8. Vitor Lobo - 31 points

9. JI (F1-4-LIFE) - 15 points

10. Denis Borges Nastasi - 13 points

11. Dylan Curry - 3 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.