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: 

1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes

Fastest lap: Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull

Surprise: Charles Leclerc, Sauber

That's it for today. Enjoy the Grand Prix!

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:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 5th.
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - CORRECT
3. 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.

That is all for today!

FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX HEINEKEN DU CANADA 2018 - RACE

FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX HEINEKEN DU CANADA 2018 - QUALIFYING

FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX HEINEKEN DU CANADA 2018 - PRACTICE 1 and 2

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!

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
3. 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.

That is all for today!

2018 Monaco Grand Prix review

First of all nice to see that Daniel Ricciardo dominated the whole weekend and that Red Bull is right up there with Ferrari and Mercedes. Ricciardo was best in everything except fastest lap of the race. Max Verstappen took that so Red Bull was flying (with wings) this weekend.

The start was surprisingly clean. I was sure that we were going to see a Verstappen-Grosjean-Stroll-Ericsson-Magnussen sandwich right after the start. Was almost disappointed. Sorry if you cheer for one of these guys... it's just that I watch the sport cause I love it and I don't really have a favorite driver. Used to be a Kimi-fan when he was with Lotus but not that much anymore.

I like Ricciardo but honestly everybody knows that he won this race because it's Monaco. He had technical issues in the race and was much slower than the rest. He was 9 seconds slower than in qualifying and the rest were just following him and couldn't overtake. 

I remember that in 1992 Nigel Mansell was also faster than Ayrton Senna who was in the lead but he couldn't get through. This is indeed a legendary track but it's usually pretty boring isn't it? I mean in 1984 and in 1996 we something awesome but it was because of the rain. This track is perfect when it rains! Remember when Olivier Panis won in 1996 and only 4 cars crossed the finish line? I really miss that time...

Back to this years race! But what can I say? There's nothing! I was unhappy that Charles Leclerc retired cause I am sure he will be something some day. Just wait!

The top crossed the finish line in the same order as they started... I really miss the old days.

Then it's time for my predictions and the results.

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Ricciardo took pole

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 3rd and Ricciardo dominated the whole weekend.
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 5th and Vettel was 2nd.
3. Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. He was 4th

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Verstappen was fastest.

Surprise: Sergio Perez has pushed hard in Monaco but failed almost every time. Maybe he will succeed this year? - Now he didn't seem to push at all. His teammate Ocon on the other hand did pretty ok I guess.

Remember to post your own predictions to our F1-4-LIFE PREDICTORS LEAGUE.

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 winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.

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 AE, JT, MW, MH, JI & PM. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.