2015 Austrian Grand Prix - Second practice session

2015 Austrian Grand Prix - First practice session

2015 Austria - Thursday Press Conference

FIA press conference schedule - Austria

Newly-crowned Le Mans winner Nico Hulkenberg will be among the drivers fielding questions in Spielberg on Thursday, while on Friday it is the turn of team technical personnel to face the media. The line-ups in full…

Thursday, June 18, 1500 hours local time (1300 hours GMT)
Fernando Alonso (McLaren), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)

Friday, June 19, 1600 hours local time (1400 hours GMT)
Mattia Binotto (Ferrari), James Key (Toro Rosso), Tom McCullough (Force India), Paul Monaghan (Red Bull), Pat Symonds (Williams), Rob White (Renault)

The qualifying and post-race conferences with the top three drivers will take place immediately after the respective sessions.

(source: f1.com)

2015 Austrian Grand Prix preview

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? ;)

A1 Ring, now known as Red Bull Ring looks like this:
(an old video with Ricciardo and Vettel)



Last year 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. I am pretty sure that this year Williams will also surprise us and be ahead of Ferrari.




























Last year it was the first time in many years they raced in Austria. So when was the previous race before 2014?

It was in 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.

If we look at the most experienced drivers who have raced in Austria before 2014 there is Kimi Räikkönen who I mentioned earlier, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. From these drivers Kimi has been the most successful there so keep an eye on him. He even took a 4th place with Sauber in his first year. Back then Sauber never got podiums so that was a very good result.

What kind of 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.


Then it's time for my predictions. 

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari

Surprise: Williams will take a step closer to Ferrari

Who will pit first: Jenson Button, McLaren

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. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

Hulkenberg thrilled after debut win at Le Mans

It was Hulkenberg’s first attempt at the epic endurance event, and Porsche’s first outright victory since 1998.

The trio’s #19 car came home a lap ahead of the second-placed sister #17 Porsche machine driven by Formula One veteran Mark Webber, former Red Bull F1 reserve Brendon Hartley and German racer Timo Bernhard.

“I enjoyed every moment," said Hulkenberg afterwards. "These cars are great fun to drive and then to be on a huge track like this one.

"The pace was really high, and not what you would expect from endurance racing. Of course, I didn’t think I would come here and rock ’n’ roll this race, this would be silly because there are so many challenges in that race.”

The German also thanked Force India for allowing him to take part, and in particular team principal Vijay Mallya who was present at Le Mans to witness his driver's success.

Hulkenberg is one of only a handful of recent drivers to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours race midway through a Formula One world championship campaign.

Though it was common in the past, the last driver to do so was Sebastien Bourdais, who raced for Toro Rosso and Peugeot in the respective disciplines in 2009.

Only four drivers in history have won both the Formula One world championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours overall - Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, Jochen Rindt and Graham Hill.

(source: f1.com)

1982 Austrian GP Österreichring - Full Race

The Austrian GP is next weekend so I thought you guys would like to see a classic race from Austria. The finish was one of the closest ever. Take a look!