Already before the start it became obvious that the weather was about to play a key role in the race. There was a rain shower, which made the track wet just before the lights went out. Everyone started to the race on the intermediate tyres. Rosberg on pole didn´t get a perfect start but the German still managed to maintain the lead. Bottas in his Williams had a stunning start and the Finn managed to get past Vettel and made it in P2. Also Alonso managed to overtake Vettel but the German snatched his position back only a few corners later. Hamilton, who started to the race from the pitlane had a dreadful start: the Briton went wide because his brakes were still cold but managed to continue the race. Vettel in P3 gave huge pressure on Bottas ahead of him but the Finn drove stubbornly and didn´t give any chance for Vettel to overtake him.
On lap 8 we saw the first crash of the race as Caterham´s Marcus Ericsson lost control of his car and crashed to the barriers nose first. Safety car was deployed due to the dangerous looking crash and action in the pits started immediately. This was an unlucky event for the top four drivers Rosberg, Bottas, Vettel and Alonso as they had just passed the pit entry and they couldn´t pit until a lap later than their rivals. This meant Ricciardo was leading the race with Button 2nd, Massa 3rd and Rosberg 4th! Bottas dropped down to P11 due to the safety car episode! The safety car was just about to come in when Grosjean at the wheel of his E22 lost control of his car in turn three and crashed to the barriers. So the safety car stayed on the track a few laps longer until Grosjean´s Lotus had been removed from the track.
Button in his McLaren had chosen a different tyre strategy compared to his rivals. He was the only driver who had put a fresh set of intermediate tyres whilst all the others had chosen the slicks. When the safety car came in the track was still damp especially in the second sector and Button could quite easily take the lead from Ricciardo. McLaren was expecting more rain to come but that didn´t come so Button´s strategy didn´t pay off and the Briton had to pit again some laps later.
More crashes were to come! On lap 16 the Force India team-mates Hulkenberg and Perez collided with each other, which lead to Hulkenberg´s retirement from the race. Only some seven laps later Perez crashed his Force India into barriers, which caused the safety car to come out again. Alonso in his F14T had now made it in the lead with Toro Rosso´s Vergne 2nd and Vettel 3rd!
On lap 33 I nearly got a heart attack when Vettel suddenly span 360 degrees on the straight and gently touched the pit wall with his tyres! Luckily his RB10 didn´t get any damage and the German could keep racing in spite of losing a couple of places. What a scary moment that was!! I couldn´t help screaming out loud when I saw the spin on TV!
When there were still 20 laps to go there was intense battle between the Mercedes team-mates for the third place. I found it quite unbelievable that Hamilton had been able to make it through the field up to P3 at Hungaroring after starting from the pitlane and after the difficulties at the beginning of the race! Rosberg was in DRS distance and the German was clearly faster than his team-mate. Hamilton was told on the team radio to let Nico through as the German had to pit once more. This message was told to Hamilton several times but Hamilton didn´t obey but persistently kept Nico behind. That cost Rosberg valuable seconds.
The closing stages of the race were absolutely thrilling! Alonso was leading the race with Hamilton 2nd and Ricciardo 3rd. Soon they all were within DRS distance from each other! Ricciardo had the freshest tyres and three laps before the chequered flag the Australian made a staggering overtaking move on Hamilton and got past the Briton! Soon after this he attacked on Alonso, who had no chance to defend his lead with the old tyres. So Ricciardo was leading the race and was driving towards the second victory of the season! Meanwhile Rosberg had stormed like a hurricane after his late pit stop and caught Alonso and Hamilton but couldn´t make a move to overtake. I guess there will be some tight discussion in the team about the team order episode as it clearly cost Rosberg a possible podium finish today. So Alonso finished 2nd and Hamilton 3rd and Rosberg had to settle for P4, which must be a bitter disappointment after starting the race on pole... Massa ended up being the better Williams driver today by finishing 5th whilst Bottas couldn´t make it higher than 8th. Kimi had a very decent race without any problems and finished 6th, which is the best result for him this season. Vettel finished 7th, which I have to admit was a disappointment for me. I so expected to see him on the podium today but instead I saw his team-mate once again winning the race... I have nothing against Ricciardo, it´s just that I would have preferred to see Sebastian up there on the top step today! But in motor racing everything doesn´t always go to plan and the first safety car episode in addition to the 360-degree spin cost Vettel a podium finish today.
So now it´s time for the summer break and there´ll be four long long weeks without Formula 1 action! And this means only one thing: the silly season gets properly underway! As there are no races for a month there´s plenty of time for all the gossip and rumours in terms of next year´s driver line-ups... Well, I don´t mind that because as long as there are F1 related news I can read I´m happy :D Spa still can´t come soon enough!
Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel
sunnuntai 27. heinäkuuta 2014
Hungarian GP / Qualifying: Rosberg on pole, more setbacks for Hamilton!
Qualifying for the Hungarian GP surely didn´t lack dramatic turns! Already at the very start of Q1 Maldonado´s Lotus was hit with a mechanical failure and the Venezuelan´s qualifying was over. Only a short moment later Hamilton´s Mercedes caught fire and there were massive flames coming from the rear of his car! The fire was caused by a fuel leak and the poor Briton hadn´t been able to set a lap time, which meant that he has to start to the race from the very back. I don´t know if there is such thing as bad luck in Formula 1 but it´s weird how some drivers seem to be haunted by setbacks and difficulties. Technical issues have hit Hamilton´s car so many times this season and the man himself has also made some costly mistakes whilst Rosberg has faced only one DNF so far! Felipe Massa is also one of these "unlucky" drivers, who has lost loads of points due to incidents without his own fault.
Rosberg in his Mercedes, both Red Bulls and both Ferraris decided to do only one run and they were certain that the times set on the prime tyres were enough to make it in to Q2. This decision had a dramatic consequence in Kimi´s case: in the closing moments of Q1 Marussia´s Bianchi was able to improve his lap time and bumped Kimi out of Q2! I couldn´t believe my eyes! Who makes these calls at Ferrari? I was so angry! How could they be so arrogant and not send Kimi out as the track always tends to improve at the end? Kimi had questioned the team´s decision not to go out but of course he trusted his team when they told him not to go out... What a catastrophy!
More reliability problems emerged in Q2. Perez at the wheel of his Force India had a hydraulic leak and his qualifying was over. The three fastest men Rosberg, Vettel and Ricciardo made only one run in Q2. Kvyat in his Toro Rosso span in the last minute causing yellow flags. The Russian was unable to make it through to the final session. Also both Sauber cars were knocked out of Q3.
Rain fell very unexpectedly ahead of Q3 and made the track conditions very tricky. Everyone headed out right away as there could possibly be more rain coming. The rain had, however, been so light that everyone had chosen the yellow-marked soft tyres. Turn 1 turned out to be very slippery: Rosberg went wide but managed to get his car back on track. Magnussen in his McLaren couldn´t keep his car on the track but crashed into the tyre wall and the session was red flagged when there were about 10 minutes left in the clock. After an 8-minute delay Q3 was back on and since there hadn´t been any more rain everyone headed out on the slicks. It really seemed that Vettel at the wheel of his RB10 was in striking distance and I was amazed to see Sebastian taking the provisional pole! It was, however, too good to be true and Rosberg snatched pole in the closing moments of the last session. Sebastian was finally 4 tenths of a second off Rosberg. Bottas in his Williams continued his staggering performance and made it in P3! Ricciardo in his Red Bull qualified 4th so finally Sebastian managed to outqualify his team-mate! Alonso in his Ferrari was 5th, Massa 6th, Button 7th, Vergne 8th, Hulkenberg 9th and Magnussen 10th.
Both Hamilton and Magnussen will start to the race from the pitlane. Hamilton´s Mercedes was so badly damaged in the fire that the team had to change a new chassis, a new gear box and a new engine in the car. Magnussen also had a gear box and a chassis change. In Germany Hamilton was able to storm his way through the field and make it on the podium but in Hungary it´ll be much more difficult as Hungaroring is known as a track with very few overtaking possibilities. Red Bull seem to be strong and competitive in Hungary so I´m expecting to see Sebastian on the podium! I don´t know if Red Bull´s pace is yet enough to challenge Rosberg in the lead but anything can happen. At the beginning of the season I was surprised that there were so little problems with reliability but those issues have started to emerge in the half way point of the season.
I know Bottas will do anything to challenge the Red Bulls. In the first chapter of this blog post I wrote how Hamilton seems to be haunted with technical failures and setbacks. This implies to good things and success as well: Bottas has got an amazing boost after his first podium finish in Austria and everything seems to be working in the Finn´s favor at the moment! Bottas has unbelievable self-confidence and when you really believe in what you do, good things start to happen. It´s really like a fairy tale how Williams have managed to turn things around after the catastrophic and depressing last season!
Kimi will face a hard race I´m sure. You can´t do much starting from P17 on the grid on a track like Hungaroring! Even a points finish might be hard to achieve. But let´s see how the weather turns out... Still always believing in Kimi :)
Rosberg in his Mercedes, both Red Bulls and both Ferraris decided to do only one run and they were certain that the times set on the prime tyres were enough to make it in to Q2. This decision had a dramatic consequence in Kimi´s case: in the closing moments of Q1 Marussia´s Bianchi was able to improve his lap time and bumped Kimi out of Q2! I couldn´t believe my eyes! Who makes these calls at Ferrari? I was so angry! How could they be so arrogant and not send Kimi out as the track always tends to improve at the end? Kimi had questioned the team´s decision not to go out but of course he trusted his team when they told him not to go out... What a catastrophy!
More reliability problems emerged in Q2. Perez at the wheel of his Force India had a hydraulic leak and his qualifying was over. The three fastest men Rosberg, Vettel and Ricciardo made only one run in Q2. Kvyat in his Toro Rosso span in the last minute causing yellow flags. The Russian was unable to make it through to the final session. Also both Sauber cars were knocked out of Q3.
Rain fell very unexpectedly ahead of Q3 and made the track conditions very tricky. Everyone headed out right away as there could possibly be more rain coming. The rain had, however, been so light that everyone had chosen the yellow-marked soft tyres. Turn 1 turned out to be very slippery: Rosberg went wide but managed to get his car back on track. Magnussen in his McLaren couldn´t keep his car on the track but crashed into the tyre wall and the session was red flagged when there were about 10 minutes left in the clock. After an 8-minute delay Q3 was back on and since there hadn´t been any more rain everyone headed out on the slicks. It really seemed that Vettel at the wheel of his RB10 was in striking distance and I was amazed to see Sebastian taking the provisional pole! It was, however, too good to be true and Rosberg snatched pole in the closing moments of the last session. Sebastian was finally 4 tenths of a second off Rosberg. Bottas in his Williams continued his staggering performance and made it in P3! Ricciardo in his Red Bull qualified 4th so finally Sebastian managed to outqualify his team-mate! Alonso in his Ferrari was 5th, Massa 6th, Button 7th, Vergne 8th, Hulkenberg 9th and Magnussen 10th.
Both Hamilton and Magnussen will start to the race from the pitlane. Hamilton´s Mercedes was so badly damaged in the fire that the team had to change a new chassis, a new gear box and a new engine in the car. Magnussen also had a gear box and a chassis change. In Germany Hamilton was able to storm his way through the field and make it on the podium but in Hungary it´ll be much more difficult as Hungaroring is known as a track with very few overtaking possibilities. Red Bull seem to be strong and competitive in Hungary so I´m expecting to see Sebastian on the podium! I don´t know if Red Bull´s pace is yet enough to challenge Rosberg in the lead but anything can happen. At the beginning of the season I was surprised that there were so little problems with reliability but those issues have started to emerge in the half way point of the season.
I know Bottas will do anything to challenge the Red Bulls. In the first chapter of this blog post I wrote how Hamilton seems to be haunted with technical failures and setbacks. This implies to good things and success as well: Bottas has got an amazing boost after his first podium finish in Austria and everything seems to be working in the Finn´s favor at the moment! Bottas has unbelievable self-confidence and when you really believe in what you do, good things start to happen. It´s really like a fairy tale how Williams have managed to turn things around after the catastrophic and depressing last season!
Kimi will face a hard race I´m sure. You can´t do much starting from P17 on the grid on a track like Hungaroring! Even a points finish might be hard to achieve. But let´s see how the weather turns out... Still always believing in Kimi :)
sunnuntai 20. heinäkuuta 2014
German GP: A German winner in a German car on German soil!
I got home from the summer cottage right on time to see the start. Hamilton started to the race from P20. The Briton had been handed a 5-place grid penalty due to a gearbox change, which meant he was dropped from P16 to P21 but since Sauber´s Gutierrez had also got, a grid penalty due to his collision at Silverstone it was P20 for Hamilton. Rosberg could easily maintain his lead at the start but behind the German the first corner was very eventful. Magnussen in his McLaren collided with Massa at the wheel of his Williams, which caused Massa´s Williams to flow over and the Brazilian´s race was over! Another very frustrating DNF for Massa and really not the first one this season. Magnussen on the other hand was able to continue the race. Safety car was deployed but it came in only a couple of laps later and the race was back on.
By this time Hamilton had already made his way up from P20 to P14 and the Briton´s pace was almost timitating! Hamilton had no difficulties to overtake his rivals and snatch position by position. Bottas drove in P2 but it soon became obvious that the Finn had no chance to match Rosberg´s pace. Kimi at the wheel of his F14T had been able to jump a few positions at the start but on lap 13 the Iceman lost an end plate of his front wing when Hamilton passed him. This damage influenced significantly Kimi´s race from then on in terms of tyre management. Only a couple of later Kimi lost another piece of his front wing as he got hit by Vettel when both Vettel and Alonso overtook the Finn after their pit stops.
Kimi had started to the race on the yellow-marked soft tyres whilst all other top drivers (except Hamilton) had started on the supersofts. This meant Kimi pitted some laps later than his rivals. After his pit stop Kimi showed some impressive overtaking moves as he passed Sutil, Grosjean, Perez and Vergne. At this point it seemed that this could turn out to be a decent race for Kimi... At the halfway point of the race there were pieces flying from Hamilton´s front wing as he attacked to overtake Button in his McLaren but couldn´t avoid hitting his fellow countryman. Hamilton was clearly on a hunt: he was absolutely determined to make it to the 2nd place.
Ferrari had obviously planned a 2-stop strategy for Kimi but on lap 34 Kimi told on the team radio in a very firm voice that "We have to stop now, we have to stop now, the front tyres are gone!" There was a dramatic moment on lap 46 as Kvyat´s Toro Rosso suddenly caught fire and there were huge flames coming from the back of the Russian´s car! Luckily Kvyat managed to get quickly out of his car. Another incident occurred only a few laps later when Sutil in his Sauber lost control of his car and span on the main straight but no safety car was deployed in spite of the fact that the car was in the middle of the main straight.
When there were 10 laps to go Rosberg was leading the race out of everybody else´s reach. Bottas at the wheel of his FW36 was second, Hamilton 3rd, Vettel 4th, Alonso 5th and Ricciardo 6th. Hamilton started storming closer and closer to Bottas on a fresh set of supersoft tyres. When there were only a few seconds between Hamilton and Bottas Hamilton was told on the team radio that Bottas should be an easy catch. I considered that quite an arrogant comment from the Mercedes team... It turned out that it was easy for Hamilton to close the gap to Bottas but overtaking the flying Finn was a whole different thing! There was also another intense wheel-banging battle going on as Ricciardo in his Red Bull and Alonso in his Ferrari fought for the fifth place. Finally Alonso managed to overtake the Australian and take the 5th place.
Rosberg took a dominant win on his home soil which was the first time when a German driver in a German car won on the German soil since the 1930´s so a historical race in that regard! Hamilton was unable to make any overtaking move on Bottas, who drove an absolutely impressive race finishing 2nd! And this time he actually beat one of the Mercedes cars by driving, not due to a technical failure! Bottas is going through staggering momentum at the moment and this was already the third podium in a row for the young and lightning-fast Finn! Hamilton ended up 3rd, which can also be considered quite an achievement in terms of his starting position... Vettel finished 4th, which was a very decent job from the German in front of his home crowd but naturally I would have preferred to see him on the podium! Alonso finished 5th, Ricciardo 6th (finally Sebastian finished the race ahead of his team-mate although Ricciardo lost many positions on the opening lap due to the Massa-Magnussen incident), Hulkenberg 7th, Button 8th, Magnussen 9th and Perez 10th. Kimi had a very frustrating race and the Iceman finished 11th. Not exactly the result I wanted to see...
So at the moment Rosberg has a 14-point lead in the championship standings over his team-mate Hamilton. Ricciardo is now 3rd but he´s already 84 points off Rosberg! The battle continues already next weekend when it´s time for the Hungarian GP before the summer break. Can´t wait to see Kimi and Sebastian back in action again.
By this time Hamilton had already made his way up from P20 to P14 and the Briton´s pace was almost timitating! Hamilton had no difficulties to overtake his rivals and snatch position by position. Bottas drove in P2 but it soon became obvious that the Finn had no chance to match Rosberg´s pace. Kimi at the wheel of his F14T had been able to jump a few positions at the start but on lap 13 the Iceman lost an end plate of his front wing when Hamilton passed him. This damage influenced significantly Kimi´s race from then on in terms of tyre management. Only a couple of later Kimi lost another piece of his front wing as he got hit by Vettel when both Vettel and Alonso overtook the Finn after their pit stops.
Kimi had started to the race on the yellow-marked soft tyres whilst all other top drivers (except Hamilton) had started on the supersofts. This meant Kimi pitted some laps later than his rivals. After his pit stop Kimi showed some impressive overtaking moves as he passed Sutil, Grosjean, Perez and Vergne. At this point it seemed that this could turn out to be a decent race for Kimi... At the halfway point of the race there were pieces flying from Hamilton´s front wing as he attacked to overtake Button in his McLaren but couldn´t avoid hitting his fellow countryman. Hamilton was clearly on a hunt: he was absolutely determined to make it to the 2nd place.
Ferrari had obviously planned a 2-stop strategy for Kimi but on lap 34 Kimi told on the team radio in a very firm voice that "We have to stop now, we have to stop now, the front tyres are gone!" There was a dramatic moment on lap 46 as Kvyat´s Toro Rosso suddenly caught fire and there were huge flames coming from the back of the Russian´s car! Luckily Kvyat managed to get quickly out of his car. Another incident occurred only a few laps later when Sutil in his Sauber lost control of his car and span on the main straight but no safety car was deployed in spite of the fact that the car was in the middle of the main straight.
When there were 10 laps to go Rosberg was leading the race out of everybody else´s reach. Bottas at the wheel of his FW36 was second, Hamilton 3rd, Vettel 4th, Alonso 5th and Ricciardo 6th. Hamilton started storming closer and closer to Bottas on a fresh set of supersoft tyres. When there were only a few seconds between Hamilton and Bottas Hamilton was told on the team radio that Bottas should be an easy catch. I considered that quite an arrogant comment from the Mercedes team... It turned out that it was easy for Hamilton to close the gap to Bottas but overtaking the flying Finn was a whole different thing! There was also another intense wheel-banging battle going on as Ricciardo in his Red Bull and Alonso in his Ferrari fought for the fifth place. Finally Alonso managed to overtake the Australian and take the 5th place.
Rosberg took a dominant win on his home soil which was the first time when a German driver in a German car won on the German soil since the 1930´s so a historical race in that regard! Hamilton was unable to make any overtaking move on Bottas, who drove an absolutely impressive race finishing 2nd! And this time he actually beat one of the Mercedes cars by driving, not due to a technical failure! Bottas is going through staggering momentum at the moment and this was already the third podium in a row for the young and lightning-fast Finn! Hamilton ended up 3rd, which can also be considered quite an achievement in terms of his starting position... Vettel finished 4th, which was a very decent job from the German in front of his home crowd but naturally I would have preferred to see him on the podium! Alonso finished 5th, Ricciardo 6th (finally Sebastian finished the race ahead of his team-mate although Ricciardo lost many positions on the opening lap due to the Massa-Magnussen incident), Hulkenberg 7th, Button 8th, Magnussen 9th and Perez 10th. Kimi had a very frustrating race and the Iceman finished 11th. Not exactly the result I wanted to see...
So at the moment Rosberg has a 14-point lead in the championship standings over his team-mate Hamilton. Ricciardo is now 3rd but he´s already 84 points off Rosberg! The battle continues already next weekend when it´s time for the Hungarian GP before the summer break. Can´t wait to see Kimi and Sebastian back in action again.
German GP/ Qualifying: Bottas got close but Rosberg snatched pole!
This has been a different F1 weekend for me as I was unable to watch the qualifying live on TV! I'm spending the weekend at a summer cottage by a lake where I've spent all summers when I was a kid. So it has been a weekend filled with enjoying the sun and swimming in the lake! And of course keeping myself updated of all the Formula 1 news via Facebook and Twitter!
I watched the qualifying later on in the evening when it was shown on TV as a replay. Q1 was very dramatic indeed as Hamilton faced a brake failure suddenly at turn 13 and the Briton crashed to the barrier! His front right brake disc broke and the crash meant that Hamilton's qualifying was over when there were 7minutes left in the clock! What a devastating qualifying for Hamilton once again! The recent races have shown that Mercedes aren't as invulnerable as previously thought! The second runs were made on the supersofts and Rosberg topped the timesheets followed by the Red Bull duo Ricciardo and Vettel. Sutil in his Sauber was the first driver to be knocked out of Q2.
Q2 had some dramatic turns as well. I was a bit worried when I saw Vettel driving all four wheels off track at the final corner as not respecting the track limits had been an issue in the last couple of races! Luckily at Hockenheim the stewards didn't penalize for that as there was no clear advantage gained for that. Rosberg was the fastest man in the second session but both Williams drivers were right at the German's tail! I was happy about Williams' pace but absolutely devastated to see that Kimi was out of the final session! The Iceman's weekend had been all but problem-free: the Finn had faced issues with water pump and gas pump already in the free practice sessions. His team-mate Alonso on the other hand was able to make it among the ten fastest! I'm starting to feel desperate because of all these problems that Kimi keeps facing every race weekend! Though Kimi wasn't the only world champion to be knocked out of Q3: also Button in his McLaren didn't manage to make it into the decisive last session! Button qualified 11th and Kimi 12th.
Q3 was business as usual. The only surprise was the fact how much Williams had been able to decrease the gap to Mercedes! Rosberg did conquer pole once again but the Finnish Williams driver Bottas made an astonishing lap and was only two tenths of a second behind Rosberg! His team-mate Massa couldn't quite match Bottas' pace and the Brazilian qualified 3rd being a few tenths slower than his team-mate. McLaren's Magnussen took surprising P4. What was really disappointing was that Ricciardo once again outqualified his team-mate! Ricciardo qualified 5th whilst Vettel ended up 6th. Sebastian had had promising pace in the previous sessions but in Q3 the German couldn't pull together a perfect lap. Alonso in his Ferrari qualified 7th, Kvyat in his Toro Rosso 8th and the Force India duo Hulkenberg and Perez completed the top ten.
The race this afternoon might turn out to be really interesting one as weather forecast has predicted possible thunderstorm during the race! One thing I'm sure about: this time the Williams duo can seriously challenge Rosberg for the win! Although the FRIC suspension systems have been removed from all cars it hasn't effected the pecking order in any significant way. Hamilton's fate in terms of his starting position still maintains unclear. Mercedes will change his brake supplier due to the brake disc failure which normally would cause him a penalty and the Briton would have to start to the race from the pit lane. On the other hand Hamilton's brake issue is clearly a safety issue so there might be no penalty by the FIA on the safetygrounds. On the other hand there have been talks about a gear box change for Hamilton as well, which would automatically lead to a 5-place grid drop. So let's see what happens in terms of Hamilton as the start approaches... I do hope to see both Kimi and Sebastian jumping positions already at the start! And to be honest, I really wouldn't mind if I saw Bottas winning the race and standing on the top step of the podium ;)n TV
Now I'll jump into the lake and enjoy swimming before heading home to watch the race live on TV!
I watched the qualifying later on in the evening when it was shown on TV as a replay. Q1 was very dramatic indeed as Hamilton faced a brake failure suddenly at turn 13 and the Briton crashed to the barrier! His front right brake disc broke and the crash meant that Hamilton's qualifying was over when there were 7minutes left in the clock! What a devastating qualifying for Hamilton once again! The recent races have shown that Mercedes aren't as invulnerable as previously thought! The second runs were made on the supersofts and Rosberg topped the timesheets followed by the Red Bull duo Ricciardo and Vettel. Sutil in his Sauber was the first driver to be knocked out of Q2.
Q2 had some dramatic turns as well. I was a bit worried when I saw Vettel driving all four wheels off track at the final corner as not respecting the track limits had been an issue in the last couple of races! Luckily at Hockenheim the stewards didn't penalize for that as there was no clear advantage gained for that. Rosberg was the fastest man in the second session but both Williams drivers were right at the German's tail! I was happy about Williams' pace but absolutely devastated to see that Kimi was out of the final session! The Iceman's weekend had been all but problem-free: the Finn had faced issues with water pump and gas pump already in the free practice sessions. His team-mate Alonso on the other hand was able to make it among the ten fastest! I'm starting to feel desperate because of all these problems that Kimi keeps facing every race weekend! Though Kimi wasn't the only world champion to be knocked out of Q3: also Button in his McLaren didn't manage to make it into the decisive last session! Button qualified 11th and Kimi 12th.
Q3 was business as usual. The only surprise was the fact how much Williams had been able to decrease the gap to Mercedes! Rosberg did conquer pole once again but the Finnish Williams driver Bottas made an astonishing lap and was only two tenths of a second behind Rosberg! His team-mate Massa couldn't quite match Bottas' pace and the Brazilian qualified 3rd being a few tenths slower than his team-mate. McLaren's Magnussen took surprising P4. What was really disappointing was that Ricciardo once again outqualified his team-mate! Ricciardo qualified 5th whilst Vettel ended up 6th. Sebastian had had promising pace in the previous sessions but in Q3 the German couldn't pull together a perfect lap. Alonso in his Ferrari qualified 7th, Kvyat in his Toro Rosso 8th and the Force India duo Hulkenberg and Perez completed the top ten.
The race this afternoon might turn out to be really interesting one as weather forecast has predicted possible thunderstorm during the race! One thing I'm sure about: this time the Williams duo can seriously challenge Rosberg for the win! Although the FRIC suspension systems have been removed from all cars it hasn't effected the pecking order in any significant way. Hamilton's fate in terms of his starting position still maintains unclear. Mercedes will change his brake supplier due to the brake disc failure which normally would cause him a penalty and the Briton would have to start to the race from the pit lane. On the other hand Hamilton's brake issue is clearly a safety issue so there might be no penalty by the FIA on the safetygrounds. On the other hand there have been talks about a gear box change for Hamilton as well, which would automatically lead to a 5-place grid drop. So let's see what happens in terms of Hamilton as the start approaches... I do hope to see both Kimi and Sebastian jumping positions already at the start! And to be honest, I really wouldn't mind if I saw Bottas winning the race and standing on the top step of the podium ;)n TV
Now I'll jump into the lake and enjoy swimming before heading home to watch the race live on TV!
sunnuntai 6. heinäkuuta 2014
British GP: Hamilton reduced Rosberg´s lead to just four points!
Usually it´s the weather that makes the British grand prix entertaining and eventful. This time weather conditions stayed dry the whole race but in spite of that the race turned out to be a very dramatic one! When the lights went out Rosberg stormed to the first corner in the lead. Vettel at the wheel of his RB10 on the other hand had a poor start and the German lost three positions right away. My heart jumped into my mouth the first time when Vettel banged wheels with Alonso but luckily there was no damage to either one of the cars. Already on the opening lap the race took a dramatic turn, which made my heart jump into my mouth again: Kimi in his Ferrari went off track and when the Iceman tried to rejoin the track he hit a bump, lost control of his F14T and struck the inside barrier. Kimi´s car was then thrown back across the track causing him to crash Felipe Massa´s FW36. Kimi´s crash looked really nasty as the F14T was wrecked badly. Kimi was able to get out of his car on his own force but limped away from his car. Luckily Massa reacted so rapidly to the incident , otherwise the damage to both cars could have been even worse. However, Massa´s car was too badly damaged and the Brasilian´s race was over. The safety car was deployed immediately but on lap 2 the race was red flagged due to the damage to the guardrails.
The delay took as long as an hour before the guardrail was finally repaired and the re-start could take place behind the safety car. Hamilton had made his way up to P4 on the opening laps and the Finnish Williams driver Valtteri Bottas had also made his way from P14 up to P9. At this point it was difficult for me to concentrate on the re-start as there had been no announcement if Kimi had been hurt in the incident. I was so worried about him. A crash like that was the thing that I least wanted to see in the race! Luckily it was soon announced that Kimi had a bruised ankle but otherwise he was reported to be ok! This piece of news helped me to focus on the race again. It was also touching to hear that Kimi´s first message on the team radio after his crash had been: "Is Massa okay?" The Iceman doesn´t talk much but when he speaks, he says the things that matter the most.
When the safety car came in we got to see an awesome overtaking show by Williams´ Bottas! His pace turned out to be lightning-fast and by lap 5 the Finn had made his way up to P6 by passing both Red Bull´s Ricciardo and Force India´s Hulkenberg. Hamilton also stormed towards the lead by easily overtaking both McLaren drivers. On lap 10 there was another crash: this time involving the Sauber driver Gutierrez and Lotus´ Maldonado. Gutierrez crashed to Maldonado´s E22 which caused the Venezuelan´s car spectacularly flip in the air. After the race Gutierrez was considered to be at fault and the Mexican was handed a 3-place grid penalty for the German GP. Alonso was handed a 5-second penalty due to overshooting his grid slot at the first start.
Bottas was able to make his way past both Magnussen and Button and the Finn was already in P3! Who could have thought that was possible after such a devastating qualifying yesterday... On lap 20 we heard Rosberg telling on the team radio that he had difficulties in down-shifting. In spite of that the German managed to set the fastest lap time! However, Rosberg´s gear box problem turned out to get worse lap by lap and on lap 29 the German had to stop the car on track and his race was over! His team-mate Hamilton immediately snatched the lead and there was no one who could threaten the Briton´s victory in front of his home crowd!
Pit stop strategy was a key factor today. Hamilton in the lead could easily afford pitting twice and still maintain his lead. But Bottas in P2 pitted only once and so did Ricciardo, Button and Alonso as well whilst Vettel in his Red Bull had a two-stop strategy! When Vettel rejoined the track after his second pit stop Alonso managed to overtake him on the out-lap. This turned out to be a nerve-wrecking battle between the two world champions! Sebastian was clearly determined to get past Alonso and take his position back. In addition to the battle on track it also turned out to be a battle on the team radio: both drivers were complaining about the other one not respecting the track limits. After the race Sebastian admitted that it got a bit silly because they were both childishly complaining about each other. The battle was entertaining for sure and several laps later Sebastian was finally able to overtake Alonso! Wow, that was real racing!
Hamilton drove to the chequered flag as the winner and at the same time reduced his team-mate´s lead in the championship to just four points. Bottas at the wheel of his FW36 finished in P2 for the very first time in his career, which was a fabulous achievement indeed! Ricciardo in his Red Bull was barely able to finish 3rd on his dying tyres and Button in his McLaren was only 8 tenths of a second behind the Australian at the chequered flag. Only a lap more and Button could possibly have overtaken Ricciardo... Sebastian finished 5th and Alonso 6th (Magnussen 7th, Hulkenberg 8th, Kvyat 9th and Vergne 10th). I have to admit that I was disappointed to see Sebastian finishing 5th. Starting from P2 I expected something more. But 2-stop strategy was clearly the wrong call today so once again Ricciardo managed to finish ahead of his team-mate... But I truly enjoyed watching Sebastian racing today, it was real racing with passion but with respect towards his rival!
So now the battle for the championship gets really interesting as there´re only 4 points separating the Mercedes team-mates in the standings. Ricciardo is now 3rd in the standings and Bottas has already made his way up to P5. Bottas´ performance made me happy today, he´s certainly a driver who we´ll hear a lot from in the near future! I hope the talented Finn is having a cracker of a party at the moment, he and his team totally deserve it! And like I said, I enjoyed watching Sebastian´s wheel-banging racing and listening to the childish team radio messages, which make him so human. But still, I keep wondering how Kimi is doing at the moment. I hope his ankle is fine and the Iceman can take part in the German GP in a fortnight. These accidents are so scary. They keep reminding me that there´s only a narrow line between life and a serious injury, even death.
The delay took as long as an hour before the guardrail was finally repaired and the re-start could take place behind the safety car. Hamilton had made his way up to P4 on the opening laps and the Finnish Williams driver Valtteri Bottas had also made his way from P14 up to P9. At this point it was difficult for me to concentrate on the re-start as there had been no announcement if Kimi had been hurt in the incident. I was so worried about him. A crash like that was the thing that I least wanted to see in the race! Luckily it was soon announced that Kimi had a bruised ankle but otherwise he was reported to be ok! This piece of news helped me to focus on the race again. It was also touching to hear that Kimi´s first message on the team radio after his crash had been: "Is Massa okay?" The Iceman doesn´t talk much but when he speaks, he says the things that matter the most.
When the safety car came in we got to see an awesome overtaking show by Williams´ Bottas! His pace turned out to be lightning-fast and by lap 5 the Finn had made his way up to P6 by passing both Red Bull´s Ricciardo and Force India´s Hulkenberg. Hamilton also stormed towards the lead by easily overtaking both McLaren drivers. On lap 10 there was another crash: this time involving the Sauber driver Gutierrez and Lotus´ Maldonado. Gutierrez crashed to Maldonado´s E22 which caused the Venezuelan´s car spectacularly flip in the air. After the race Gutierrez was considered to be at fault and the Mexican was handed a 3-place grid penalty for the German GP. Alonso was handed a 5-second penalty due to overshooting his grid slot at the first start.
Bottas was able to make his way past both Magnussen and Button and the Finn was already in P3! Who could have thought that was possible after such a devastating qualifying yesterday... On lap 20 we heard Rosberg telling on the team radio that he had difficulties in down-shifting. In spite of that the German managed to set the fastest lap time! However, Rosberg´s gear box problem turned out to get worse lap by lap and on lap 29 the German had to stop the car on track and his race was over! His team-mate Hamilton immediately snatched the lead and there was no one who could threaten the Briton´s victory in front of his home crowd!
Pit stop strategy was a key factor today. Hamilton in the lead could easily afford pitting twice and still maintain his lead. But Bottas in P2 pitted only once and so did Ricciardo, Button and Alonso as well whilst Vettel in his Red Bull had a two-stop strategy! When Vettel rejoined the track after his second pit stop Alonso managed to overtake him on the out-lap. This turned out to be a nerve-wrecking battle between the two world champions! Sebastian was clearly determined to get past Alonso and take his position back. In addition to the battle on track it also turned out to be a battle on the team radio: both drivers were complaining about the other one not respecting the track limits. After the race Sebastian admitted that it got a bit silly because they were both childishly complaining about each other. The battle was entertaining for sure and several laps later Sebastian was finally able to overtake Alonso! Wow, that was real racing!
Hamilton drove to the chequered flag as the winner and at the same time reduced his team-mate´s lead in the championship to just four points. Bottas at the wheel of his FW36 finished in P2 for the very first time in his career, which was a fabulous achievement indeed! Ricciardo in his Red Bull was barely able to finish 3rd on his dying tyres and Button in his McLaren was only 8 tenths of a second behind the Australian at the chequered flag. Only a lap more and Button could possibly have overtaken Ricciardo... Sebastian finished 5th and Alonso 6th (Magnussen 7th, Hulkenberg 8th, Kvyat 9th and Vergne 10th). I have to admit that I was disappointed to see Sebastian finishing 5th. Starting from P2 I expected something more. But 2-stop strategy was clearly the wrong call today so once again Ricciardo managed to finish ahead of his team-mate... But I truly enjoyed watching Sebastian racing today, it was real racing with passion but with respect towards his rival!
So now the battle for the championship gets really interesting as there´re only 4 points separating the Mercedes team-mates in the standings. Ricciardo is now 3rd in the standings and Bottas has already made his way up to P5. Bottas´ performance made me happy today, he´s certainly a driver who we´ll hear a lot from in the near future! I hope the talented Finn is having a cracker of a party at the moment, he and his team totally deserve it! And like I said, I enjoyed watching Sebastian´s wheel-banging racing and listening to the childish team radio messages, which make him so human. But still, I keep wondering how Kimi is doing at the moment. I hope his ankle is fine and the Iceman can take part in the German GP in a fortnight. These accidents are so scary. They keep reminding me that there´s only a narrow line between life and a serious injury, even death.
British GP/ Qualifying: Finally a front row grid slot for Vettel!
Usually weather tends to be a major factor when F1 circus arrives in Silverstone and it didn't let us down this year, either! The track was damp when qualifying got underway so everyone started to Q1 on the intermediate tyres. The track improved, however, so at the end of the session everyone went out on the soft tyres, which in Silverstone meant the white-marked medium tyres. The rain started again at the very end of the first session, which lead to some nasty surprises in regard of some drivers. Both Williams drivers were out of Q2! This must have been a huge disappointment for Bottas, who stood on the podium just two weeks ago! Also both Ferrari drivers were unable to set lap times fast enough to make it into Q2. I was so so gutted for Kimi! He has been struggling with his F14T the whole season and more disappointments seem to be coming all the time... Ferrari should have done a better job in terms of the timing. So easy for me to sit on the sofa and write this, haha ;) Vettel was also on edge as he was the last driver to get into Q2! Some positive surprises then: due to the poor timing of both Williams and Ferrari, both Marussia drivers made it through to Q2 with Chilton being 6th fastest in Q1, wow!
Q2 got underway in wet conditions so at the beginning the intermediate tyres were the right call. Sebastian managed to pull out a splendid lap but his lap time was deleted only a moment later due to a track limits violation at turn 9. Like in the first session the track improved all the time and at the end of Q2 it was time for the soft tyres. The Mercedes duo topped the timesheets and Sebastian was third fastest with a 1,5-second gap to Hamilton. No major surprises in this session: both Lotus drivers were out of Q3 as well as the Marussia duo. But Bianchi qualified 12th, which was quite impressive! His team-mate Chilton qualified 13th but he will be dropped five positions due to a gear box change. Sauber's Gutierrez span and got stuck on the gravel when there was only a minute left in the clock so the Mexican's qualifying was over.
The track was dry when it was time for the final and crucial session. Because nobody seemed to know for sure if it was going to rain more or not, everyone headed out right at the beginning. But Sebastian aborted his flying lap and didn't set a lap time! And a moment later we heard messages on the team radios about rain at some areas of the circuit... At this point I was afraid that Sebastian's "goose was cooked": there was no way he could set a competitive lap time if it was raining! Ricciardo didn't even go out at the end of the session and so didn't the Toro Rosso drivers Kvyat and Vergne. But what an outstanding and miraculous turn the qualifying got in the last minutes! Hamilton had the provisional pole and actually the Briton decided to abort his last flying lap for some reason and came in the pits instead. It turned out that in spite of the rain in some areas the last sector had improved unbelievably much! I watched closely Sebastian's last run and after sector two the German was 2,6 seconds down on Hamilton's time! I was prepared to give up: Sebastian wasn't going to make it on the front row or anywhere near it. But I couldn't believe my eyes when Sebastian crossed the finish line and made it in P1! He had stormed through the final sector, which had improved in a way many thought wasn't possible! Absolutely amazing! Though Rosberg managed to set even a second faster lap time, I was so delighted for Sebastian's P2 :) McLaren's Button drove impressively well in front of his home crowd and made it in P3! Force India's Hulkenberg qualified in P4 and Magnussen in the other McLaren in P5. Hamilton who had made the call to abort his second run was left in P6 so this turned out to be a very wrong call indeed! Perez in the other Force India qualified 7th, Sebastian's team-mate Ricciardo 8th, Kvyat 9th and Vergne 10th. Finally Sebastian managed to outqualify his team-mate, I was sooo happy!
In addition to Chilton's penalty there've been other penalties as well. Gutierrez faced a 10-place grid drop due to the unsafe release from the pits at Austria. Both Caterham drivers got permission to take part in the race although their lap times exceeded the 107 % time.
What kind of a race am I expecting? A mixed one for sure! The British weather can be anything from sunshine to pouring rain! So there might be some big surprises in the race as well. I don't think Sebastian has a real chance to challenge Rosberg for the victory but I'm confident I'll see Sebastian on the podium today! Unless there'll be some technical issues... But they can't hit Sebastian's car in EVERY race, can they? But I don't know what kind of a result would be realistic to hope from Kimi. Even a points finish seems hard to achieve at least in normal conditions. But I know the Iceman will fight as hard as he can to make his way through the field! And although Hamilton starts from P6 he has his say in the battle for victory! The Briton started from P9 at Austria and in a couple of laps he had made his way up to fourth. I'm sure after the wrong decision in the qualifying Hamilton will be extra motivated to show what he's capable of in the race in front of his home crowd! By the way... I had a very nice dream about Kimi last night. Hope it's a good omen ;)
Q2 got underway in wet conditions so at the beginning the intermediate tyres were the right call. Sebastian managed to pull out a splendid lap but his lap time was deleted only a moment later due to a track limits violation at turn 9. Like in the first session the track improved all the time and at the end of Q2 it was time for the soft tyres. The Mercedes duo topped the timesheets and Sebastian was third fastest with a 1,5-second gap to Hamilton. No major surprises in this session: both Lotus drivers were out of Q3 as well as the Marussia duo. But Bianchi qualified 12th, which was quite impressive! His team-mate Chilton qualified 13th but he will be dropped five positions due to a gear box change. Sauber's Gutierrez span and got stuck on the gravel when there was only a minute left in the clock so the Mexican's qualifying was over.
The track was dry when it was time for the final and crucial session. Because nobody seemed to know for sure if it was going to rain more or not, everyone headed out right at the beginning. But Sebastian aborted his flying lap and didn't set a lap time! And a moment later we heard messages on the team radios about rain at some areas of the circuit... At this point I was afraid that Sebastian's "goose was cooked": there was no way he could set a competitive lap time if it was raining! Ricciardo didn't even go out at the end of the session and so didn't the Toro Rosso drivers Kvyat and Vergne. But what an outstanding and miraculous turn the qualifying got in the last minutes! Hamilton had the provisional pole and actually the Briton decided to abort his last flying lap for some reason and came in the pits instead. It turned out that in spite of the rain in some areas the last sector had improved unbelievably much! I watched closely Sebastian's last run and after sector two the German was 2,6 seconds down on Hamilton's time! I was prepared to give up: Sebastian wasn't going to make it on the front row or anywhere near it. But I couldn't believe my eyes when Sebastian crossed the finish line and made it in P1! He had stormed through the final sector, which had improved in a way many thought wasn't possible! Absolutely amazing! Though Rosberg managed to set even a second faster lap time, I was so delighted for Sebastian's P2 :) McLaren's Button drove impressively well in front of his home crowd and made it in P3! Force India's Hulkenberg qualified in P4 and Magnussen in the other McLaren in P5. Hamilton who had made the call to abort his second run was left in P6 so this turned out to be a very wrong call indeed! Perez in the other Force India qualified 7th, Sebastian's team-mate Ricciardo 8th, Kvyat 9th and Vergne 10th. Finally Sebastian managed to outqualify his team-mate, I was sooo happy!
In addition to Chilton's penalty there've been other penalties as well. Gutierrez faced a 10-place grid drop due to the unsafe release from the pits at Austria. Both Caterham drivers got permission to take part in the race although their lap times exceeded the 107 % time.
What kind of a race am I expecting? A mixed one for sure! The British weather can be anything from sunshine to pouring rain! So there might be some big surprises in the race as well. I don't think Sebastian has a real chance to challenge Rosberg for the victory but I'm confident I'll see Sebastian on the podium today! Unless there'll be some technical issues... But they can't hit Sebastian's car in EVERY race, can they? But I don't know what kind of a result would be realistic to hope from Kimi. Even a points finish seems hard to achieve at least in normal conditions. But I know the Iceman will fight as hard as he can to make his way through the field! And although Hamilton starts from P6 he has his say in the battle for victory! The Briton started from P9 at Austria and in a couple of laps he had made his way up to fourth. I'm sure after the wrong decision in the qualifying Hamilton will be extra motivated to show what he's capable of in the race in front of his home crowd! By the way... I had a very nice dream about Kimi last night. Hope it's a good omen ;)
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