As it was the very last race day of the season I wanted to make the most of it. I sat on the sofa with a cup of coffee and watched every pre-race broadcast enjoying every second of it. The sun started to set at Yas Marina and it was time for the lights go out...
Both Mercedes drivers got an excellent start and Rosberg had no difficulties to maintain his lead. Kimi´s start left a little to hope for and Force India´s Perez was challenging the Iceman for real. Luckily Kimi managed to maintain his third place. Williams´ Bottas was the one to lose most at the start: the Finn dropped down to P10 on the opening lap! Sebastian, who had started from P15, made brilliant work and jumped to P12 on the first lap. Lotus´ Maldonado and McLaren´s Alonso on the other hand collided on the opening lap, which lead to Maldonado´s retirement from the race. Alonso had to pit for a new front wing.
At first it seemed that Kimi could actually match Mercedes´ pace. Rosberg was clearly controlling the race. Hamilton followed his team-mate closely but the Briton had no chance to challenge the German. The pit stop roulette started already on lap 6. By lap 8 Sebastian had already made his way up to P5 thanks to his rivals´ pit stops. Sebastian himself had started to the race on the soft tyres so the German had a much longer first stint than his main rivals. Williams´ Bottas pitted on lap 9 and his pit stop definitely didn´t lack drama. Williams ended up releasing Bottas unsafely from the pit stop: the Finn crashed his front wing into Button´s McLaren, who was just driving to his pit box! Very frustrating for the Finnish Williams pilot, who had to pit again on the following lap for a new nose! And a moment later Bottas was given a 5-second penalty for the unsafe release, which ruined the Finn´s race for good.
On lap 11 the top three drivers pitted for a fresh set of soft tyres. Those yellow-marked soft tyres seemed to suit Kimi´s SF15-T perfectly and after the pit stop the Iceman was the fastest man on track! A few laps later Hamilton managed to overtake Sebastian easily and take P2 from the German, who hadn´t pitted yet. Rosberg had a 6-second lead over his team-mate. Sebastian was third but his team-mate on the new tyres was right at Sebastian´s tail. Sebastian didn´t make any effort to prevent Kimi from overtaking him, which told a lot about Ferrari´s team spirit. It was so great to see how well the Ferrari team-mates worked together as a team.
Sebastian pitted not until on lap 24 for the first time. Fresh soft tyres for him as well. Sebastian rejoined the track in P6. When Ricciardo in his Red Bull and Perez in his Force India pitted for the second time, Sebastian was back in P4. Hamilton had decreased his gap to Rosberg into just 1,5 seconds but that was actually all Hamilton could do. Rosberg pitted from the lead on lap 32 and Kimi a lap later. But the pit stop was anything but smooth for Kimi! The team had difficulties with detaching his front right tyre and the pit stop cost the Iceman a few frustrating extra seconds! Luckily there was no one at Kimi´s tail so he didn´t lose a position because of the delayed pit stop. Kimi rejoined the track behind his team-mate but Sebastian let him through for the second time on lap 37.
Sebastian pitted for the second time on lap 40 and once again he rejoined the track in P6. He was right at Ricciardo´s tail and finally it turned out quite easy for the German Ferrari ace to make an overtaking move on his Australian ex team-mate. Hamilton was stubborn and insisted on the team radio that he wouldn´t pit for the second time but would try to go till the end on the second set of tyres. However, the team told his driver it was much too risky and Hamilton had to settle for coming in for the second pit stop.
On lap 46 Sebastian managed to make his way past Force India´s Perez, whose race pace was anything but impressive. Rosberg in the lead had an 8-second gap over his team-mate, who was trying everything he could to close the gap. That, however, turned out to be a mission impossible! Rosberg cruised to the third victory in-a-row and Hamilton had to settle for P2. Kimi drove an awesome race and completed the podium. I was so so happy for the Iceman! There seems to be something magical about these night races as they seem to suit the Iceman especially well. Sebastian finished the race in P4, which was a magnificent result considering the fact that he had started to the race from P15. Although Ferrari´s race pace was convincing, it still wasn´t quite enough to challenge the Mercedes duo... Perez finished 5th, Ricciardo 6th, Hulkenberg 7th, Massa 8th, Grosjean 9th and Kvyat completed the top ten. Bottas ended up in P13 after all the setbacks. Toro Rosso´s Verstappen had a difficult race as well (he faced a 5-second time penalty due to gaining advantage for overtaking off-track) and the Dutchman drove to the chequered flag in P16, which meant no points this time.
After the race it was so heartwarming to hear Sebastian´s interview where he used a Finnish swearing word to describe his feelings! I haven´t heard Sebastian speak Finnish for a long time... And I definitely won´t for a long time as the season 2015 is now officially over! :´(
I hope there´ll be a lot of F1 rumours going around during the off-season so that I´ll have something to write about on my blog ;) Or I hope I would maybe bump into Kimi or Sebastian here in Finland over the winter, hahaha :D Thanks to all my readers for sharing this memorable F1 season with me! I´m suffering from the withdrawal symptoms already...
Roll on season 2016!
Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel
sunnuntai 29. marraskuuta 2015
lauantai 28. marraskuuta 2015
Abu Dhabi GP / Qualifying: Rosberg on pole again!
It´s inevitably the very last GP weekend of the season at hand. I feel very wistful as I know how much I´m going to miss F1 action over the long winter! But before that I´m going to seize the moment and enjoy every second of this Abu Dhabi weekend. The venue of Yas Marina Circuit is so magical. And qualifying threw some surprises...
Surprisingly the Mercedes drivers made already their first runs on the red-marked supersoft tyres. What wasn´t a surprise was their speed. Ferrari on the other hand had a different strategy: Kimi and Sebastian opted for the soft tyres. Other teams made their second runs on the supersofts including the Mercedes duo but nevertheless, Kimi was 7th fastest in spite of his tyre choice. Hamilton was topping the timesheets with his team-mate Rosberg second. The Force India duo had excellent pace as well with Perez 3rd and Hulkenberg 4th. By contrast, Ferrari´s Sebastian Vettel, who was expected to be among Mercedes´ biggest threats, failed to progress beyond Q1 thanks to a misunderstanding over his position. The German was left 16th, which was a shock to me! I was so much hoping for Sebastian to be able to challenge the Mercedes duo for a front row grid slot... McLaren´s Alonso suffered a puncture at the end of Q1 and the Spaniard was left 17th. Sauber´s Ericsson also had a technical problem on his Sauber and the Swede was out of Q2 as well.
Kimi´s driving was very convincing in Q2. The Iceman came out not until there were only 7 minutes left in the clock and the Finn made it straight in P3! It was kind of consolation for me to see Kimi driving so superbly after such a bitter disappointment in terms of Sebastian. There were more technical problems to follow in Q2: this time it was Grosjean´s E23, which came to a silent halt due to a gearbox problem and the Frenchman´s qualifying was over. Once again Perez seemed to be flying at the wheel of his Force India and the Mexican ended up 3rd fastest in the second segment. To nobody´s surprise Hamilton and Rosberg were the fastest men on track. Unfortunately Sainz bumped his Toro Rosso team-mate Verstappen out of Q3, which was another disappointment for me. Also Button, Maldonado and Nasr were out of the final segment.
Darkness had already fallen when Q3 got underway. Rosberg took provisional pole by two tenths of a second over his team-mate Rosberg. Perez continued his superb driving and took P3 on his first run. Kimi was 4th less than a tenth of a second off Force India´s Perez. Hamilton managed to improve his lap time on his second run but Rosberg came back at his team-mate and claimed pole by 0,377s over his team-mate! Very convincing work from Rosberg, who has clearly got his self-confidence back. Kimi also managed to improve on his second run and by way of consolation for Ferrari, Kimi took third, narrowly beating the flying Force India of Perez. Ricciardo in his Red Bull qualified 5th, Williams´ Bottas 6th, Force India´s Hulkenberg 7th, Bottas´ team-mate Massa 8th, Red Bull´s Kvyat 9th and Toro Rosso´s Sainz 10th. What was quite shocking was that this was already the 15th front row lock-out for the Mercedes duo this season! That definitely tells all about Mercedes´ superiority this year!
Last night I had a dream that I got a chance to meet Sebastian Vettel briefly as he was attending a motor sport event in Finland. That is such a huge dream for me to meet the Ferrari duo one day! Such a shame that I have so little possibilities to make this dream come true! But luckily everyone is allowed to dream. Maybe it´s also the magical and fairytale-like Yas Marina Circuit that makes me so emotional... I hope it´ll be a magical race for my red-suited heroes! Forza Kimi! Forza Sebastian! Forza Ferrari!
Surprisingly the Mercedes drivers made already their first runs on the red-marked supersoft tyres. What wasn´t a surprise was their speed. Ferrari on the other hand had a different strategy: Kimi and Sebastian opted for the soft tyres. Other teams made their second runs on the supersofts including the Mercedes duo but nevertheless, Kimi was 7th fastest in spite of his tyre choice. Hamilton was topping the timesheets with his team-mate Rosberg second. The Force India duo had excellent pace as well with Perez 3rd and Hulkenberg 4th. By contrast, Ferrari´s Sebastian Vettel, who was expected to be among Mercedes´ biggest threats, failed to progress beyond Q1 thanks to a misunderstanding over his position. The German was left 16th, which was a shock to me! I was so much hoping for Sebastian to be able to challenge the Mercedes duo for a front row grid slot... McLaren´s Alonso suffered a puncture at the end of Q1 and the Spaniard was left 17th. Sauber´s Ericsson also had a technical problem on his Sauber and the Swede was out of Q2 as well.
Kimi´s driving was very convincing in Q2. The Iceman came out not until there were only 7 minutes left in the clock and the Finn made it straight in P3! It was kind of consolation for me to see Kimi driving so superbly after such a bitter disappointment in terms of Sebastian. There were more technical problems to follow in Q2: this time it was Grosjean´s E23, which came to a silent halt due to a gearbox problem and the Frenchman´s qualifying was over. Once again Perez seemed to be flying at the wheel of his Force India and the Mexican ended up 3rd fastest in the second segment. To nobody´s surprise Hamilton and Rosberg were the fastest men on track. Unfortunately Sainz bumped his Toro Rosso team-mate Verstappen out of Q3, which was another disappointment for me. Also Button, Maldonado and Nasr were out of the final segment.
Darkness had already fallen when Q3 got underway. Rosberg took provisional pole by two tenths of a second over his team-mate Rosberg. Perez continued his superb driving and took P3 on his first run. Kimi was 4th less than a tenth of a second off Force India´s Perez. Hamilton managed to improve his lap time on his second run but Rosberg came back at his team-mate and claimed pole by 0,377s over his team-mate! Very convincing work from Rosberg, who has clearly got his self-confidence back. Kimi also managed to improve on his second run and by way of consolation for Ferrari, Kimi took third, narrowly beating the flying Force India of Perez. Ricciardo in his Red Bull qualified 5th, Williams´ Bottas 6th, Force India´s Hulkenberg 7th, Bottas´ team-mate Massa 8th, Red Bull´s Kvyat 9th and Toro Rosso´s Sainz 10th. What was quite shocking was that this was already the 15th front row lock-out for the Mercedes duo this season! That definitely tells all about Mercedes´ superiority this year!
Last night I had a dream that I got a chance to meet Sebastian Vettel briefly as he was attending a motor sport event in Finland. That is such a huge dream for me to meet the Ferrari duo one day! Such a shame that I have so little possibilities to make this dream come true! But luckily everyone is allowed to dream. Maybe it´s also the magical and fairytale-like Yas Marina Circuit that makes me so emotional... I hope it´ll be a magical race for my red-suited heroes! Forza Kimi! Forza Sebastian! Forza Ferrari!
maanantai 16. marraskuuta 2015
Brazilian GP: Rosberg from pole to victory!
I was hoping to see a colourful race but destiny decided otherwise. However, there was some drama before the start as Sainz´s Toro Rosso came to a halt on the pit lane and the Spaniard´s STR10 had to be towed back to the pits. This meant Sainz had to start to the race from the pit lane. And the race did have a promising start as Bottas from P7 had a staggering start. The Finn took an aggressive line on the right and made his way past Kvyat´s RB11 and Hulkenberg´s Force India. Once again Bottas came very close to Kimi in the first corners but this time there was luckily no contact between the Finns. Rosberg maintained his lead with his team-mate Hamilton following him closely. Sebastian was third and Kimi fourth. Sainz´s problems continued and his car stopped on the track already on the opening lap. Sainz parked his STR10 quite dangerously but surprisingly safety car wasn´t deployed. Luckily no one lost control of his car until the marshals managed to move the car away! Potentially there could have been a chance for a serious accident...
Already on the opening laps of the race it was obvious that the Ferrari duo couldn´t match Mercedes´ pace. As obvious was the fact that Bottas in his Williams was unable to take the battle to the Ferrari duo. Pit stop roulette started already on lap 11 when Kvyat, Massa and Hulkenberg pitted. Bottas pitted a lap later for a fresh set of prime tyres and rejoined the track in P10. A couple of laps later both the Ferrari duo and the Mercedes duo made their pit stops. After the first pit stops top four remained unchanged: Rosberg was leading the race with Hamilton second, Sebastian third and Kimi fourth. Hamilton was almost within DRS distance from his team-mate but couldn´t quite get close enough to make any move on his team-mate. Sebastian was already 6 seconds off Hamilton and Kimi had a 10-second gap to his team-mate.
However, overtaking turned out to be possible for some drivers. Verstappen made a staggering overtaking move on Force India´s Perez and made it up to P9. There´s something magical about this young rookie´s driving. He seems to be capable of things that others aren´t... And this wasn´t the Dutchman´s only overtaking move in the race. Later on in the race he repeated his overtaking move against Sauber´s Nasr. It was utterly entertaining to watch how this young man drove his STR10 at Interlagos.
Sebastian pitted already on lap 32 for a fresh set of soft tyres, which revealed that the German was on a 3-stop strategy. Mercedes had to match Ferrari´s strategy so Rosberg and Hamilton pitted on the following laps. Both Mercedes drivers opted for white-marked medium tyres. Kimi´s tyres were much older than his team-mate´s so the Iceman didn´t even try to prevent Sebastian from overtaking him. Bottas pitted not until on lap 42 for the second time and rejoined the track in the familiar P5. There was already a massive 45-second gap to his countryman Kimi in P4. Kimi pitted on lap 47 for a fresh set of medium tyres, which was meant to last til the end of the race. Sebastian pitted a lap later for the third time and opted for medium tyres. Once again the Mercedes duo pitted right after Sebastian. Their tyre choice was similar to Sebastian´s.
Although Hamilton was only a couple of seconds behind Rosberg there was no battle for the victory at Interlagos. Rosberg took his second consecutive victory and once again Hamilton had to settle for being the runner-up. Sebastian completed the podium with his team-mate fourth. Bottas who finished fifth got lapped by Rosberg on the final lap! Quite shocking how huge the gaps evolved during the race! Hulkenberg in his Force India finished 6th and Red Bull´s Kvyat 7th. Massa finished 8th on his home soil but after the race the Brazilian was excluded from the standings due to exceeding the maximum tyre temperature in terms of his rear right tyre. That meant Grosjean finished 8th, Verstappen 9th and Maldonado rounded out the top ten.
I was happy to see Sebastian on the podium although I was hoping that Ferrari would have been closer to Mercedes in the race. It would have been so perfect to see both Sebastian and Kimi celebrating on the podium! Now there´s only the final round of the season left! Feels kind of bittersweet already. Luckily there´s still one more GP weekend to enjoy this season. Can´t wait for Abu Dhabi as the venue is absolutely outstanding and breathtaking!
Already on the opening laps of the race it was obvious that the Ferrari duo couldn´t match Mercedes´ pace. As obvious was the fact that Bottas in his Williams was unable to take the battle to the Ferrari duo. Pit stop roulette started already on lap 11 when Kvyat, Massa and Hulkenberg pitted. Bottas pitted a lap later for a fresh set of prime tyres and rejoined the track in P10. A couple of laps later both the Ferrari duo and the Mercedes duo made their pit stops. After the first pit stops top four remained unchanged: Rosberg was leading the race with Hamilton second, Sebastian third and Kimi fourth. Hamilton was almost within DRS distance from his team-mate but couldn´t quite get close enough to make any move on his team-mate. Sebastian was already 6 seconds off Hamilton and Kimi had a 10-second gap to his team-mate.
However, overtaking turned out to be possible for some drivers. Verstappen made a staggering overtaking move on Force India´s Perez and made it up to P9. There´s something magical about this young rookie´s driving. He seems to be capable of things that others aren´t... And this wasn´t the Dutchman´s only overtaking move in the race. Later on in the race he repeated his overtaking move against Sauber´s Nasr. It was utterly entertaining to watch how this young man drove his STR10 at Interlagos.
Sebastian pitted already on lap 32 for a fresh set of soft tyres, which revealed that the German was on a 3-stop strategy. Mercedes had to match Ferrari´s strategy so Rosberg and Hamilton pitted on the following laps. Both Mercedes drivers opted for white-marked medium tyres. Kimi´s tyres were much older than his team-mate´s so the Iceman didn´t even try to prevent Sebastian from overtaking him. Bottas pitted not until on lap 42 for the second time and rejoined the track in the familiar P5. There was already a massive 45-second gap to his countryman Kimi in P4. Kimi pitted on lap 47 for a fresh set of medium tyres, which was meant to last til the end of the race. Sebastian pitted a lap later for the third time and opted for medium tyres. Once again the Mercedes duo pitted right after Sebastian. Their tyre choice was similar to Sebastian´s.
Although Hamilton was only a couple of seconds behind Rosberg there was no battle for the victory at Interlagos. Rosberg took his second consecutive victory and once again Hamilton had to settle for being the runner-up. Sebastian completed the podium with his team-mate fourth. Bottas who finished fifth got lapped by Rosberg on the final lap! Quite shocking how huge the gaps evolved during the race! Hulkenberg in his Force India finished 6th and Red Bull´s Kvyat 7th. Massa finished 8th on his home soil but after the race the Brazilian was excluded from the standings due to exceeding the maximum tyre temperature in terms of his rear right tyre. That meant Grosjean finished 8th, Verstappen 9th and Maldonado rounded out the top ten.
I was happy to see Sebastian on the podium although I was hoping that Ferrari would have been closer to Mercedes in the race. It would have been so perfect to see both Sebastian and Kimi celebrating on the podium! Now there´s only the final round of the season left! Feels kind of bittersweet already. Luckily there´s still one more GP weekend to enjoy this season. Can´t wait for Abu Dhabi as the venue is absolutely outstanding and breathtaking!
sunnuntai 15. marraskuuta 2015
Brazilian GP / Qualifying: Rosberg on pole for a fifth successive round!
Yesterday was a very exceptional and emotionally hard Saturday for me. I went to a relative´s funeral, which took place in another town so I got home when qualifying had already got underway. I missed Q1 and Q2 but got to see the most decisive moments of the qualifying. After such a difficult day I was happy that it was F1 weekend but to be honest, it was quite hard to concentrate on the qualifying and to prevent my thoughts from wandering else where...
I heard there had been no surprises in the first two sessions. Once again McLaren had told Alonso to stop the car immediately in Q1. Alonso seems to be so familiar with all the disappointments and technical issues that this time the Spaniard had had no rush back into the pits but he sat down on a chair enjoying the sun! His team-mate Button was expectedly out of Q2 as well. The McLaren duo obviously haven´t lost their sense of humour in spite of the highly difficult year as they got an idea to go onto the podium in the middle of the qualifying as they though it was their only chance to get up there during this season!
There were familiar faces in the last segment: both Mercedes drivers, both Ferraris, both Williams drivers, both Red Bulls and Hulkenberg in his Force India and Verstappen in his Toro Rosso. Verstappen was the only driver to make only one attempt in Q3. Rosberg took provisional pole with his team-mate Hamilton second only 88 thousandths of a second behind the German. Sebastian was third, Bottas fourth and Kimi fifth. On his second run Rosberg managed to improve his time and Hamilton couldn´t quite match his team-mate! So it was fifth consecutive pole for Rosberg, who seems to have found his qualifying pace again. Sebastian also managed to improve his time but he had no real chance to challenge the Mercedes drivers for a front row grid slot. Bottas managed to keep Kimi at bay so Bottas was 4th and Kimi 5th. Hulkenberg made an excellent job by qualifying 6th ahead of Kvyat in the older-spec Renault-engined Red Bull. Massa had problems with finding pace at his home circuit and the Brazilian could only make it 8th on the grid. Ricciardo in his Red Bull had the new-spec Renault engine but couldn´t make it higher than P9. Verstappen in his STR10 rounded out the top 10.
However, there have been a few penalties given for the Brazilian grand prix. Bottas has been given a 3-place grid penalty due to overtaking Nasr under red flags in Friday free practice so the Finn will drop down to P7 on the grid. Red Bull´s Ricciardo suffers a 10-place grid drop due to an engine change and the Australian will drop down to disappointing P19. Sauber´s Nasr has also been handed a 3-place grid penalty due to impeding his countryman Massa in the qualifying and with all the penalties taken into account the Brazilian will drop to P13.
I don´t have any clue what the weather forecast predicts for the Brazilian grand prix. But I´m pretty sure it will be a colourful race once again. This time I really really hope that the Finns will stay away from each other! ;) Now that the world championship has already been resolved Rosberg has found his hidden pace again. I think Hamilton will have it hard trying to beat his team-mate today! Ferrari´s long-run pace seems competitive so I hope Sebastian and Kimi are able to take the battle to the Mercedes duo. But Bottas and Kimi are scaringly close each other on the grid... Hope it will be a clean fight for a podium finish. Today I feel I really need the F1 action more than ever to cheer me up. Sebastian and Kimi, I put my faith in you that you´ll make my day! Forza Ferrari! (All the best for Max Verstappen as well!)
I heard there had been no surprises in the first two sessions. Once again McLaren had told Alonso to stop the car immediately in Q1. Alonso seems to be so familiar with all the disappointments and technical issues that this time the Spaniard had had no rush back into the pits but he sat down on a chair enjoying the sun! His team-mate Button was expectedly out of Q2 as well. The McLaren duo obviously haven´t lost their sense of humour in spite of the highly difficult year as they got an idea to go onto the podium in the middle of the qualifying as they though it was their only chance to get up there during this season!
There were familiar faces in the last segment: both Mercedes drivers, both Ferraris, both Williams drivers, both Red Bulls and Hulkenberg in his Force India and Verstappen in his Toro Rosso. Verstappen was the only driver to make only one attempt in Q3. Rosberg took provisional pole with his team-mate Hamilton second only 88 thousandths of a second behind the German. Sebastian was third, Bottas fourth and Kimi fifth. On his second run Rosberg managed to improve his time and Hamilton couldn´t quite match his team-mate! So it was fifth consecutive pole for Rosberg, who seems to have found his qualifying pace again. Sebastian also managed to improve his time but he had no real chance to challenge the Mercedes drivers for a front row grid slot. Bottas managed to keep Kimi at bay so Bottas was 4th and Kimi 5th. Hulkenberg made an excellent job by qualifying 6th ahead of Kvyat in the older-spec Renault-engined Red Bull. Massa had problems with finding pace at his home circuit and the Brazilian could only make it 8th on the grid. Ricciardo in his Red Bull had the new-spec Renault engine but couldn´t make it higher than P9. Verstappen in his STR10 rounded out the top 10.
However, there have been a few penalties given for the Brazilian grand prix. Bottas has been given a 3-place grid penalty due to overtaking Nasr under red flags in Friday free practice so the Finn will drop down to P7 on the grid. Red Bull´s Ricciardo suffers a 10-place grid drop due to an engine change and the Australian will drop down to disappointing P19. Sauber´s Nasr has also been handed a 3-place grid penalty due to impeding his countryman Massa in the qualifying and with all the penalties taken into account the Brazilian will drop to P13.
I don´t have any clue what the weather forecast predicts for the Brazilian grand prix. But I´m pretty sure it will be a colourful race once again. This time I really really hope that the Finns will stay away from each other! ;) Now that the world championship has already been resolved Rosberg has found his hidden pace again. I think Hamilton will have it hard trying to beat his team-mate today! Ferrari´s long-run pace seems competitive so I hope Sebastian and Kimi are able to take the battle to the Mercedes duo. But Bottas and Kimi are scaringly close each other on the grid... Hope it will be a clean fight for a podium finish. Today I feel I really need the F1 action more than ever to cheer me up. Sebastian and Kimi, I put my faith in you that you´ll make my day! Forza Ferrari! (All the best for Max Verstappen as well!)
maanantai 2. marraskuuta 2015
Mexico GP: A nightmare race for the Ferrari duo!
Kimi in his Ferrari and the McLaren team-mates Alonso and Button were the only drivers to start to the race on the white-marked medium tyres. All the others were on the yellow-marked soft tyres. Lights went out in dry and warm conditions. Rosberg maintained his lead with Hamilton following him closely. Kvyat in his Red Bull jumped third. Sebastian in the other Ferrari collided with Red Bull´s Ricciardo in turn 1, which caused the German a rear-right puncture. Sebastian´s race turned a lot more difficult right at the start! He had to pit for a fresh set of medium tyres and try to make his way through the field.
The Mercedes duo started increasing the gap to the Red Bulls of Kvyat and Ricciardo, who had no chance to keep up with Mercedes´ pace. At the back of the pack Kimi made consistantly his way further up in the field. By lap 8 Kimi had made his way up to P13 already. Now the Iceman was only 5 seconds off P10 to score points! Bottas in his Williams pitted already on lap 9 and opted for a fresh set of medium tyres. It was a bit surprising as the Finn had reported on the team radio only a moment earlier that his soft tyres were still in good shape. Also Bottas´ team-mate Massa and Force India´s Hulkenberg pitted a lap later.
By lap 18 Sebastian had managed to make his way up to P11 but suddenly he made a mistake and span off track! Luckily he managed to continue the race but dropped down to P16 and had to begin overtaking all over again... Sebastian has very rarely made mistakes this season so this one caught me by surprise. But I was absolutely confident that the German Ferrari ace could easily make it into points, however.
Kvyat was the first top three driver to pit on lap 22. He opted for a fresh set of prime tyres and rejoined the track in front of the Finns Kimi and Bottas. Only a lap later there was once again huge drama between the Finnish countrymen! This time Bottas made an overtaking move on Kimi but Kimi was absolutely stubborn not to let Bottas past, which lead into a collision between the Finns! Kimi ended up off track with the rear suspension broken and the Iceman was out of the race. Surprisingly Bottas got away from the collision unharmed and could continue fighting for good points. What an utterly disappointing moment! This could have been prevented... But Kimi had decided not to leave Bottas any room and Bottas was passionate about overtaking Kimi. And sometimes collisions happen in motor racing. But I definitely was looking forward to a whole different race in terms of Kimi...! Bottas now got his revenge as they had collided previously in Sochi where Kimi had tried an overtaking move on Bottas but ended up knocking Bottas out of the race.
By lap 26 Toro Rosso´s "Flying Dutchman" Verstappen had already made his way up to P4 but after the pit stop he dropped down to P8. Rosberg in the lead pitted not until on lap 27 and Hamilton on the very next. Sebastian in his Ferrari pitted already for the second time and got lapped by Hamilton, which must have been an awkward moment for the German.
A bit surprisingly Rosberg was called to the pits for the second time on lap 47. Mercedes didn´t want to risk anything and they could definitely afford an extra pit stop. Hamilton was asked to box a lap later but the reigning world champion questioned team´s decision and didn´t drive to to pits immediately. But the team adviced the Briton that it was a clear instruction and Hamilton had no choice but to drive to the pits a lap later. On lap 52 Rosberg was leading the race with a 3-second gap over his team-mate Hamilton. Kvyat was third, Bottas fourth and Ricciardo had made his way past Massa and jumped 5th.
But what a turn the race got then! Sebastian lost control of his SF15-T already for the second time in the race and crashed to the barrier! The German´s race was over. Already the second mistake for Sebastian in one race! I can´t describe my emotions at that very moment. All my high hopes were crushed in a heart beat! And I could only imagine how terrible Sebastian must have felt at that moment... I´ve read his very hard on himself in terms of mistakes and I can imagine him being very pissed at himself! Safety car was deployed and everyone rushed into the pits. All top drivers except Bottas, who came into the pits a lap later than his rivals. At first it seemed to be the wrong call but it turned out working well and the Finn managed to keep his 4th place.
Four laps later the safety car came in and the race was on. Bottas had a fantastic re-start and made immediately his way past Kvyat and jumped 3rd. The Red Bulls of Kvyat and Ricciardo seemed unable to match the Finn´s pace. Hamilton instead had decreased his gap to Rosberg into just one second but Hamilton had no real chance to challenge his team-mate for the victory after all. Rosberg won the Mexico Grand Prix and this time Hamilton had to settle for being the runner-up. Bottas completed the podium, which was quite unexpected after such an eventful race. The Red Bull duo Kvyat and Ricciardo finished 4th and 5th and Bottas´ team-mate Massa 6th. The Force India duo Hulkenberg and Perez finished 7th and 8th, Verstappen 9th and Grosjean 10th.
It was midnight here in Finland by the time I had watched all the post-race interviews. I was feeling so emotional because of the race that I had difficulties to fall asleep... And I have to say I really needed the swim in the 5-degree lake this morning, hahaha ;) But these emotions are what make watching F1 so great and memorable. Sometimes it´s toxicating feeling of success and glory, sometimes it´s bitter disappointments due to costy mistakes... All emotions are needed. Making mistakes is what makes us human. In spite of costy mistakes I´ll always support Sebastian and Kimi, no matter what. Chin up boys and towards new challenges!
sunnuntai 1. marraskuuta 2015
Mexico GP / Qualifying: Rosberg on pole for fourth straight event!
This weekend the Formula 1 circus returned to Mexico after 23 years! The redevelopped Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is hosting the 17th race of the season. Qualifying started with a 30 % chance of rain. McLaren´s Button was unable to participate in the qualifying after the team were unable to resolve an engine signal problem on his car from FP3. Kimi had also faced an engine issue in the last free practice session and the Iceman could complete only 15 minutes of running. It also took plenty of time to get the car back into the pits after the session but luckily the mechanics had been able to fix the problem by the start of the qualifying session. The car had needed a gear box change, which meant a 5-place grid penalty for the Iceman for the race.
In Q1 the teams had different tyre strategies. Mercedes and Williams made their first runs on the white-marked medium tyres whilst Ferrari came out on the soft tyres not until halfway through the opening segment. Red Bull opted for soft tyres as well. Rosberg was the fastest man on the track in spite of running on the mediums only. Sebastian was second on the softs and Hamilton third on the mediums as well. Kimi´s problems continued in the qualifying. The Iceman reported on the team radio that he was having problems with the brakes and the Finn was unable to make it higher than P13 in the first session. Alonso was the first faller in Q1 followed by Sauber´s Nasr and the Marussia duo Rossi and Stevens.
Kimi´s difficulties continued when Q2 got underway. Kimi came out on the medium tyres but his lap times were everything but competitive. Kimi drove a few laps but had to settle for P15 at the end. That was utterly frustrating as Kimi will drop 5 grid places due to the gear box change. And Sebastian´s pace showed that Ferrari really had the performance to fight for the second row starting positions! There´s no such thing as bad luck in Formula 1 but lately every time there have been difficulties in the SF15-Ts they have always been in Kimi´s car... I really hope these setbacks will go away and Kimi will have a staggering end to the season! Sebastian came out at the end of the session and immediately jumped second. The end of Q2 saw spits of rain but luckily they didn´t make the track conditions worse. This time Hamilton was topping the time sheets with Sebastian second and Rosberg third. I was also happy for Verstappen, who could improve his lap time on his last flying lap and make it among the top ten. His team-mate Sainz on the other hand was the first man to be knocked out of the last segment. The Lotus duo Grosjean and Maldonado were also out, so was Sauber´s Ericsson and unfortunately also Kimi.
In Q3 Toro Rosso´s Verstappen and Red Bull´s Ricciardo made their first runs on the used set of soft tyres whilst all their rivals opted for a fresh set of option tyres. This time Rosberg aced his partner on both of their opening laps. However, there was only one tenth of a second separating the Mercedes duo. The track conditions were changing under the darkening sky. A closely-fought Q3 session saw Sebastian take third, four-tenths off Rosberg. The Force Indias of Hulkenberg and crowd idol Perez made only one run at the end of the session. There were no improvements on the lap times on the second runs so the top ten remained unchanged. Red Bull seemed quite competitive as well with Kvyat qualifying 4th and Ricciardo 5th. There was only one-thousandth of a second separating the Red Bull duo! However, the Red Bulls were half a second off Sebastian´s pace. The Williams duo Bottas and Massa qualified 6th and 7th, Verstappen 8th and Force India duo Perez and Hulkenberg 9th and 10th respectively.
The surface of the track is still quite slippery so I´m sure we´re going to see some mistakes in the race. Hopefully it will be an eventful one! The atmosphere at the circuit seems absolutely amazing as there´re tens of thousands of fans cheering especially for Perez, who is their home hero. There´ll be a tight battle between the Mercedes team-mates into turn 1... Hopefully Sebastian will benefit from the battle of the Mercedes drivers ;) Who knows how the weather will turn out when the lights go out. On damp track Red Bull could be dangerously competitive. In the dry I think no-one will be able to challenge Mercedes if there´re no mistakes or technical issues. Sebastian has scored podiums in all of the last five races -including victory in Singapore. I strongly believe there´s sixth one on the way! ;) In terms of Kimi I don´t have any other expectations except that he´ll exceed all my expectations ;) Go Sebastian! Go Kimi! Forza Ferrari!
In Q1 the teams had different tyre strategies. Mercedes and Williams made their first runs on the white-marked medium tyres whilst Ferrari came out on the soft tyres not until halfway through the opening segment. Red Bull opted for soft tyres as well. Rosberg was the fastest man on the track in spite of running on the mediums only. Sebastian was second on the softs and Hamilton third on the mediums as well. Kimi´s problems continued in the qualifying. The Iceman reported on the team radio that he was having problems with the brakes and the Finn was unable to make it higher than P13 in the first session. Alonso was the first faller in Q1 followed by Sauber´s Nasr and the Marussia duo Rossi and Stevens.
Kimi´s difficulties continued when Q2 got underway. Kimi came out on the medium tyres but his lap times were everything but competitive. Kimi drove a few laps but had to settle for P15 at the end. That was utterly frustrating as Kimi will drop 5 grid places due to the gear box change. And Sebastian´s pace showed that Ferrari really had the performance to fight for the second row starting positions! There´s no such thing as bad luck in Formula 1 but lately every time there have been difficulties in the SF15-Ts they have always been in Kimi´s car... I really hope these setbacks will go away and Kimi will have a staggering end to the season! Sebastian came out at the end of the session and immediately jumped second. The end of Q2 saw spits of rain but luckily they didn´t make the track conditions worse. This time Hamilton was topping the time sheets with Sebastian second and Rosberg third. I was also happy for Verstappen, who could improve his lap time on his last flying lap and make it among the top ten. His team-mate Sainz on the other hand was the first man to be knocked out of the last segment. The Lotus duo Grosjean and Maldonado were also out, so was Sauber´s Ericsson and unfortunately also Kimi.
In Q3 Toro Rosso´s Verstappen and Red Bull´s Ricciardo made their first runs on the used set of soft tyres whilst all their rivals opted for a fresh set of option tyres. This time Rosberg aced his partner on both of their opening laps. However, there was only one tenth of a second separating the Mercedes duo. The track conditions were changing under the darkening sky. A closely-fought Q3 session saw Sebastian take third, four-tenths off Rosberg. The Force Indias of Hulkenberg and crowd idol Perez made only one run at the end of the session. There were no improvements on the lap times on the second runs so the top ten remained unchanged. Red Bull seemed quite competitive as well with Kvyat qualifying 4th and Ricciardo 5th. There was only one-thousandth of a second separating the Red Bull duo! However, the Red Bulls were half a second off Sebastian´s pace. The Williams duo Bottas and Massa qualified 6th and 7th, Verstappen 8th and Force India duo Perez and Hulkenberg 9th and 10th respectively.
The surface of the track is still quite slippery so I´m sure we´re going to see some mistakes in the race. Hopefully it will be an eventful one! The atmosphere at the circuit seems absolutely amazing as there´re tens of thousands of fans cheering especially for Perez, who is their home hero. There´ll be a tight battle between the Mercedes team-mates into turn 1... Hopefully Sebastian will benefit from the battle of the Mercedes drivers ;) Who knows how the weather will turn out when the lights go out. On damp track Red Bull could be dangerously competitive. In the dry I think no-one will be able to challenge Mercedes if there´re no mistakes or technical issues. Sebastian has scored podiums in all of the last five races -including victory in Singapore. I strongly believe there´s sixth one on the way! ;) In terms of Kimi I don´t have any other expectations except that he´ll exceed all my expectations ;) Go Sebastian! Go Kimi! Forza Ferrari!
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