First of all we had an interesting starting grid when the two Red Bulls got penalties. We had Lewis Hamilton, the 18 year old Lance Stroll (youngest driver to start from the front row), Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas followed by the two Ferraris Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel.
When the race started the two Finns battled it out again and Räikkönen got ahead. In the end of the first lap Bottas overtook Räikkönen and took his position back. Bottas then continued to overtake both Stroll and Ocon but Hamilton was too difficult to overtake.
On lap 3 Felipe Massa and Max Verstappen have contact which gave the Dutch kid a puncture. How can one driver have so much bad luck?! So talented and struggles so much with things that are not in his hands. Feel sorry for him.
Räikkönen lets Vettel pass him and suspects that he has a problem with the rear of the car. Ferrari radios him that there should be everything in order. The Finn still believes that there is something not right and pits for new tyres. Right away he sets better laps with newer tyres but Vettel is long gone and has already overtaken Stroll and Ocon.
Daniel Ricciardo was being really fast as usual and was even challenging Vettel for third place. You never know what could have happened if the race would have been a few laps longer.
The Mercs were unstoppable even though Hamilton thinks Ferrari is faster. There's no question that Mercedes is the best car this season. The only reason Vettel has been in the championship lead is because he has driven outstanding races and has also got help from his teammate. Let's see when Mercedes starts with team orders as well. Even though Bottas is still in the game I think it's just a two man championship between Hamilton and Vettel.
Some said that the race was boring but I enjoyed it. Monza is such an exciting track and the fans/tifosis always make the grand prix a big spectacle. I especially enjoy the podium celebrations in Italy. It's so different than most tracks.
And now it's time for my predictions and here they are:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
Race:
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Ricciardo was fastest.
Surprise: Keep an eye on Felipe Massa - I think Lance Stroll had a better race.
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
Race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - CORRECT
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - CORRECT
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Ricciardo was fastest.
Surprise: Keep an eye on Felipe Massa - I think Lance Stroll had a better 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
