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Saturday, June 30, 2018
Friday, June 29, 2018
2018 Austrian Grand Prix preview
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| Austrian GP 1997 |
The Austrian GP is here again! I have been in Austria and I absolutely love the whole country. A very special and beautiful place so why not combine it with Formula One? ;)
What do we remember from this track?
4 years ago Felipe Massa took pole position and Valtteri Bottas was second in qualifying. Everybody were stunned. In the race the Mercs got ahead with Nico Rosberg as the winner and Lewis Hamilton 2nd. Valtteri Bottas was 3rd and Felipe Massa was 4th.
In 2014 it was also the first time in many years they raced in Austria. So when was the previous race before 2014? The answer is 2003!
Michael Schumacher was fighting for the championship with Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya. They were no match for Michael and his Ferrari, so of course he won the race. Kimi was second and Juan Pablo retired from the race.
What kind of other memories do I have from this track then? I remember in 1998 when Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard took a 1-2 for McLaren and Schumacher was 3rd. Those three were fighting for the championship in 1998. In the end it was just Mika vs. Michael.
2 years ago it was also very interesting when the Mercs crashed on the last lap!! Hamilton tried to overtake Rosberg from the outside and then Rosberg just forced him off track. It was a very dirty move and it was very clear what he did. He blamed it on his brakes for some reason.
When Hamilton tried to come back on track Rosberg was in the way again and clearly on purpose. They crashed again and Rosberg lost his front wing and the lead as well! Hamilton was now flying and Rosberg dropped behind Verstappen and Räikkönen.
This year I believe that the Mercs will be on top and Red Bull might do a surprise and beat Ferrari! We shall wait and see.
Then it's time for my predictions.
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
The race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
Fastest lap: Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
Surprise: Red Bull will do better than Ferrari.
Monday, June 25, 2018
2018 French Grand Prix review
Well everybody were talking about Sebastian Vettel crashing into Valtteri Bottas at the start.
Bottas had been working hard all weekend and everything was lost in an instant by a mistake by Vettel and he only got a 5 second penalty! So everything Bottas had done whole weekend was worth 5 seconds. Right..... what a joke! Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen thought so too. Verstappen even gave the media a taste of their own medicine when he said that they should tell Vettel to change his driving style because that's what they told him earlier this season. I got a good laugh from that.
Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon also had some drama after the start and were forced to retire right away. Two Frenchmen out on the first lap on their first ever home race! Also not a good race for Ocon's team Force India when Sergio Perez also had to retire due to an engine issue. Force India is really going backwards but at least their not as bad as McLaren and Williams. They behave like top teams but this is not 1997! This is 2018 so start doing big changes or get used to it. Both teams have been saying for a long time that the directions is right... doesn't look like it does it?
Happy for Kimi Raikkonen though. When Vettel had problems he was free to drive with full throttle and not help Vettel as it seems nowadays. I was already thinking that if Ferrari want's Kimi to stay behind the slow Vettel then I am going to throw my sandwich at the TV! Luckily Kimi was able to pass him easily and overtook Daniel Ricciardo after that for 3rd place.
I was very happy for Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc as well. They did very well with the cars they have and could both do much better in better cars. The top teams should keep them in mind when choosing new drivers in the future.
Here are my predictions and the results:
Pole positions: Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG. Hamilton got pole.
Race:
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He won the race and Verstappen was 2nd
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - WRONG. The other Finn Raikkonen was 3rd.
Fastest lap: Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull - WRONG. Bottas was fastest.
Surprise: Charles Leclerc, Sauber - CORRECT. He was fantastic all weekend but didn't get points.
I got almost everything wrong right after I ended the Predictors League. At least I didn't loose any points.
The next thing I am going to write is the Austrian Grand Prix preview. It's nice to have back to back GP weekends!
That's it for today. Thanks for reading ;)
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Friday, June 22, 2018
2018 French Grand Prix preview
This is the first time since 2008 the F1 circus comes to France for some racing. Here's what we heard in the press conference about the Grand Prix:
Remember what happened last time? Kimi Räikkönen was the current champion and took pole. He then had some technical difficulties and lost the win to his teammate. Take a look:
That was at Magny Cours but in 2018 the race will be at Paul Ricard where the teams have tested a lot. Here's a 360-video with Valtteri Bottas taking his Mercedes out on track for a round:
Räikkönen for example said that he really enjoys the track and it is perfect for Ferrari. I have heard many speculations as well that Ferrari might even take a 1-2 win here. Personally I don't believe that but you never know. I will post my predictions at the bottom.
The Predictors League we have had for years will stop now. People are not that interested anymore of participating so I am not willing to put time into it. Sorry guys... We might try again some other year.
I am almost done but want to show you guys a video I watched on YouTube from a much earlier French Grand Prix. I have this whole race on my computer but here is a few seconds:
I loved that! Sad to see that F1 nowadays is almost nothing like that...
Here are my predictions:
Pole positions: Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
Race:
Remember what happened last time? Kimi Räikkönen was the current champion and took pole. He then had some technical difficulties and lost the win to his teammate. Take a look:
That was at Magny Cours but in 2018 the race will be at Paul Ricard where the teams have tested a lot. Here's a 360-video with Valtteri Bottas taking his Mercedes out on track for a round:
Räikkönen for example said that he really enjoys the track and it is perfect for Ferrari. I have heard many speculations as well that Ferrari might even take a 1-2 win here. Personally I don't believe that but you never know. I will post my predictions at the bottom.
The Predictors League we have had for years will stop now. People are not that interested anymore of participating so I am not willing to put time into it. Sorry guys... We might try again some other year.
I am almost done but want to show you guys a video I watched on YouTube from a much earlier French Grand Prix. I have this whole race on my computer but here is a few seconds:
I loved that! Sad to see that F1 nowadays is almost nothing like that...
Here are my predictions:
Pole positions: Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
Race:
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
Fastest lap: Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
Surprise: Charles Leclerc, Sauber
That's it for today. Enjoy the Grand Prix!
Monday, June 11, 2018
2018 Canadian Grand Prix review
The start was clean but after a few corners Williams' Lance Stroll turned into Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley and they both had to retire from the race. Stroll tried to explain that he had a puncture before the crash but that was not true at all. He got a puncture when he crashed into Hartley.
Feel sorry for Hartley because he is a good driver and he hasn't really done anything remarkable in F1 yet and his seat might go to somebody else soon. These might be his last races with the team so it was not good to retire even though it wasn't his fault. They have speculated that Danil Kvyat or Robert Kubica might take his seat if Toro Rosso makes the choice to change drivers. Let's move on with the race!
Red Bull's Max Verstappen tried to overtake Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas after the start for second place but got extremely aggressive defense from Bottas. I was really impressed because Verstappen was pushing really hard and giving everything he got. Was also a bit surprised that he didn't crash into Bottas....
As I have said many times before Charles Leclerc is so good. I mean the fight with Fernando Alonso was great to watch. Can't wait to see what his career will look like in F1. I was right about Vettel before he even won a race, I said the same thing about Jules Bianchi but unfortunately we will never find out about that. May he rest in peace. Also Robert Kubica was one of the drivers I used to talk about but he also had an unfortunate accident but luckily he is still driving cars. I have also said that Nico Hulkenberg will never achieve anything in F1 when everybody were saying how good he is and he hasn't even been on the podium... sorry guys but it's true. No need for excuses when the fact is that he hasn't achieved anything. Moving on again!
Alonso's 300th GP and he retired again with McLaren. I mean it was the stupidest thing ever to move from Ferrari to McLaren. Do you think he made that call himself or was Ferrari the ones who gave him the old boot? Heard some inside rumors a few years ago that Alonso had to leave because he poisoned the atmosphere at Ferrari. They didn't think he was a team player. But who knows if it's true or not. Now some are saying that he will return to Ferrari but I don't believe that for a second.
The most breathtaking moment was when Bottas overtook the back marker Carlos Sainz. Guess Bottas had it so easy in 2nd place that he needed a small wake up call. He ran wide right after overtaking Sainz and lost 2 seconds to the race leader Vettel. In the end it didn't even matter because the top three were the same as in the beginning.
Bottas overtook Daniel Ricciardo in the drivers championship for 3rd place even though the Aussie has won two races this season.
Then it's time for my predictions again!
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Vettel took pole.
The race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 5th.
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - CORRECT
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG. He won the race and Verstappen was 3rd.
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Verstappen was fastest
Surprise: Sergio Perez, Force India - He was surprisingly bad in my opinion.
Remember to 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, MH, MW, 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.
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, MH, MW, 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 is all for today!
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Saturday, June 9, 2018
Friday, June 8, 2018
Thursday, June 7, 2018
2018 Canadian Grand Prix preview
The Monaco Grand Prix is behind us and now it's time to move to Canada! The track is in Montreal and there has always been entertaining races. I have no doubt that this will be one of the best races this season.
What about the previous races in Canada? This is actually the place where Hamilton took his first victory back in 2007. I remember people saying that Hamilton was leading the championship because he had better consistent results than Alonso, Räikkönen and Massa. The three other "better" drivers had won races but Hamilton was still leading the championship with podium finishes (2nds and 3rds). Then in Canada he showed everybody that he is a superstar who is also able to win races. He also won the race after that in the US.
The same race in 2007 was also the race where Robert Kubica had his terrible accident. The following year he won the race.
Here's a video of the accident:
What else has happened in Canada? In 2011 Canada offered us the longest F1 race in history (4:04:39.537). Sebastian Vettel was leading the race from the start till the last few laps and made a small mistake. Jenson Button was behind and overtook him right away and won the race. He was waiting the whole day for Vettel to make a mistake and he finally did. Sebastian Vettel was soooo frustrated...
Speaking of frustrated who remembers what happened in 1991? Nigel Mansell was about to win the race and was already waving to the crowd on the last lap but then his car broke down. Nelson Piquet was behind him and won the race for Benetton.
I have always enjoyed the Canadian Grand Prix and will most likely enjoy this one as well.
Then it's time for my predictions again!
The same race in 2007 was also the race where Robert Kubica had his terrible accident. The following year he won the race.
Here's a video of the accident:
What else has happened in Canada? In 2011 Canada offered us the longest F1 race in history (4:04:39.537). Sebastian Vettel was leading the race from the start till the last few laps and made a small mistake. Jenson Button was behind and overtook him right away and won the race. He was waiting the whole day for Vettel to make a mistake and he finally did. Sebastian Vettel was soooo frustrated...
Speaking of frustrated who remembers what happened in 1991? Nigel Mansell was about to win the race and was already waving to the crowd on the last lap but then his car broke down. Nelson Piquet was behind him and won the race for Benetton.
I have always enjoyed the Canadian Grand Prix and will most likely enjoy this one as well.
Then it's time for my predictions again!
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
The race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Surprise: Sergio Perez, Force India
Remember to 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, MH, MW, 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.
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, MH, MW, 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 is all for today!
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