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!
