When the race started I got really excited that Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel got ahead of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton. It has been pretty boring that Hamilton has won almost every race after the summer break so was happy to see something else for a change! It didn't last very long though.... Hamilton overtook Vettel on the 6th lap and lead the race till the finish line. BOOOORIIIING..... I am not dissing Hamilton though. He is great! I am just a bit bored due to this situation. Feels like 2000-2004 all over again when Michael Schumacher won everything.
Probably the most thrilling moments were given to us by Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo. I mean that was Formula One racing right there! more of that please. I almost stood up from my seat when I watched them fight for 3rd position. Bottas kept his cool and didn't let the Aussie pass him. On lap 16 Ricciardo retired due to engine failure.
One thing I was really waiting for was to see how Carlos Sainz would do in his new team, Renault, against Nico Hulkenberg. We didn't really see that because the Hulk retired and didn't even have a good starting position either. Maybe next race? Sainz had a good race though!
Kimi Räikkönen did a textbook overtaking maneuver on Bottas for 2nd place. No DRS needed when you have many years of experience overtaking cars in the corners. After this Kimi just launched off. Kimi's Ferrari was clearly much faster than Bottas' Mercedes.
Vettel's overtake on Bottas was next in line and that was in my opinion the best overtake of the race! He just went on the outside of Bottas and overtook him at the same time as dodging backmarkers. Just a brilliant move!
But then the boring stuff happened again... Ferrari radios Kimi "Sebastian is behind you now". This means of course that he has to let him pass and that he did. I remember thinking when he signed with Ferrari again that if they ever want him to let anybody pass that will be impossible! I guess people change.... I absolutely loved Kimi when he was at Lotus.
The next one to overtake Bottas was Max Verstappen who started almost from the back. He pushed Bottas off track but didn't get a penalty. He did get one later though for a different reason. He overtook Kimi for 3rd place on the last lap and was already about to go to the podium. Kimi came inside the room and Max walked out and seemed really frustrated. He had overtaken Kimi when being outside of the track and gained an advantage.
Now I have seen a lot of complains about the verdict but people please... if the rule says that it is not allowed then it isn't. Why should they let this one slip just because his fans or father would get angry. His father Jos Verstappen posten on Twitter a lot of trash talk about the FIA and F1 before thinking it through.
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| Usain Bolt teaching Hamilton something and Kimi doesn't know what's going on. |
Now let's see my predictions:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
Race:
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Vettel was fastest in the race.
Surprise: Keep an eye on Nico Hulkenberg - He retired so not much to see this time
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
Race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 5th after being 2nd most of the race.
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull - WRONG. He retired and Räikkönen was 3rd.
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Vettel was fastest in the race.
Surprise: Keep an eye on Nico Hulkenberg - He retired so not much to see this time
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 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
