Okay guys, this is the first review of the season and I must say that I was very pleased with the start. After Daniil Kvyat's car had failed him on the grid there was another formation lap and it got really interesting. The reason why it was interesting was because of Ferrari's super start. Both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen jumped the Mercs of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg which told us that this season will be much closer between the two teams in front. Who would have thought that it would change so much in an instant?
It is still very possible that this season will have four drivers fighting for the championship instead of two. Melbourne should have been a bad track for the Ferraris but they still gave a huge warning that they are not there to follow the Mercs around anymore. Who knows what will happen in the next races?
Hamilton's start was very bad because he got overtaken by the Ferraris, his teammate Rosberg and also Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen and Williams' Felipe Massa. Of course Hamilton didn't have much trouble overtaking Massa but Verstappen on the other hand was a very difficult driver to overtake. It took him a long time and he even said on the radio that he can't overtake the young Verstappen and needs to change his strategy somehow.
Everything looked great for Ferrari until they made poor choices with their pitstop strategy and then "finally" Raikkonen's engine failed. It is not a good sign if your engine fails you in your first race of the season. Let's just hope that this doesn't happen anymore so that we will se as much fighting between the two top teams as possible. This season must be interesting or F1 will loose even more fans.
After the Finn's retirement it was Rosberg, Hamilton and Vettel fighting for the win and as usual these three made it to the podium in that order. Rosberg is hungrier than ever and this might be his last chance with Mercedes to be a world champion.
What else?
McLaren's Fernando Alonso crashed into Haas' Esteban Gutierrez and it looked for a few seconds that Alonso could have been very hurt. Luckily he came out of his smashed car with nothing more than a small limp. It seemed that Alonso had crashed into Gutierrez by mistake but the truth was that the new Haas' car had slowed down by itself due to a technical error.
The race was stopped for a while so that they could clean up the mess. I would really have liked it if they would have started the race with a grid start instead of behind the safety car but the rules say that the safety car is the way to go.
I also would like to say that Reanult's Jolyon Palmer had a much better race than I expected. He really made it difficult for the more experienced drivers to overtake him. His teammate Kevin Magnussen didn't do much better even though I thought he would. I was happy to see K-Mag back again because he really deserved another chance after his stint with McLaren.
One more thing! Williams' Valtteri Bottas did great at the back overtaking car after car but it didn't really get him to the positions where we are used of seeing him. Verstappen also did great even though he complained on the radio more than usual. Toro Rosso almost seemed better than Red Bull and Williams.
Last but not least my predictions and the results:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT!
The race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 2nd.
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He won the race.
- Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. He retired and his teammate Sebastian Vettel was 3rd.
Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. It was Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
Surprise: Kimi Räikkönen will do much better than last year! - He did but retired (like last year as well).
Join our PREDICTORS LEAGUE now!
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 the winner and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.
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!
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