Australian GP: Brilliant victory for Sebastian!

There was drama at Albert Park already before the race actually got underway. Home hero Ricciardo´s RB13 was hit with an electrical issue, which ruined the Australian´s day completely. There was no way Red Bull could have fixed the problem in time for the race start -even though the start was aborted and there was a second formation lap. The start was much cleaner than I had expected. The order of the top four remained unchanged -Hamilton kept his lead, Sebastian was second, Bottas third and Kimi fourth. Verstappen in P5 had taken the best start, but the Dutchman wasn´t quite able to challenge Kimi for P4. The only top ten driver to gain a position was Williams´ Massa, who managed to get past Haas´ Grosjean, jumping 6th. Surprisingly, there was only one first-lap collision, between Haas´ Magnussen and Sauber´s Ericsson, but they were both able to continue racing. Red Bull´s Ricciardo was released from the pits after two laps had already been completed by the others.

I was happy to see, that Sebastian was able to follow Hamilton very closely. The German was within DRS distance from the Briton, but the narrow street circuit of Albert Park offered hardly any chances for overtaking. Bottas in third and Kimi in fourth had difficulties to keep up with their teammates´ pace. Hamilton soon started to complain about loss of grip on the team radio; the Briton was the first top driver to pit on lap 17! It seemed Hamilton was on a one-stop strategy, as he exited the pits on the yellow-marked soft Pirellis. However, Hamilton re-joined the track in traffic, right behind Red Bull´s Verstappen. Sebastian, on the other hand, stayed out and kept banging competitive lap times. Everything looked excellent for the red team.

I have to admit I was happy that Hamilton got stuck behind Verstappen -who is definitely known as a tough driver to overtake. Sebastian pitted not until on lap 24 -for a fresh set of soft tyres. Ferrari´s strategy was perfect, as Sebastian re-joined the track well ahead of his British rival! Bottas and Verstappen pitted on the following lap; Verstappen opting for a different tyre choice. Red Bull had decided to run him on the red-marked super soft compound. Kimi was the last of the top five to pit -also for soft Pirellis.

Towards the halfway point of the race there were clear gaps between the top five drivers. Hamilton was already six seconds off Sebastian, which made me a bit relieved. Meanwhile Ricciardo´s catastrophic weekend came to an end, as the Australian´s RB13 came to a definitive halt on lap 28. What an utterly disappointing weekend for Ricciardo in front of his home crowd!

Towards the end of the race Bottas´ pace improved and the Finn started to catch his teammate. On the other hand, Red Bull´s Verstappen was frighteningly quick on the super soft tyres and he started to chase down Kimi, whose pace was everything but excellent. It was kind of a question mark for me, how Sebastian was keeping up brilliant pace in the lead, but the Iceman was struggling with his performance. However, Kimi set the fastest lap time of the race on his second last lap! I don´t know, if Kimi had difficulties to get the tyres to work properly or what the problem with the pace was; however, snatching the fastest lap time is always a good omen for the upcoming races.

Sebastian took brilliant victory in the season-opening Australian GP! This was his first victory since Singapore 2015 so it was about time to win again! Hamilton finished the runner-up -10 seconds behind Sebastian. Bottas drove an impressive debut as a Mercedes driver, completing the podium. Kimi had to settle for P4, but managed to keep Verstappen behind him. Massa was excellent 6th. I was also delighted to see both pink cars in points -Perez 7th and teammate Ocon 10th. Both Toro Rosso drivers managed to finish in points as well -Kvyat 8th and teammate Sainz 9th. It´s so refreshing to see that Ferrari is leading the constructors´ championship for a change! Ferrari has now 37 points to Mercedes´ 33. This is really the perfect way to start the new season!

My hunch got stronger today; it says that Sebastian will shine at the wheel of his Gina this season. Sebastian seems absolutely devoted to do everything he can to make this year successful. He is known for being a hard-working guy, but now he seems more motivated than ever before. He has stayed very late in the pit garage with his mechanics -he leaves no stones unturned! I´m looking forward to a victorious season! Oh, how I´ve missed this adrenaline rush caused by Sebastian´s victory; what a perfect Sunday!

Australian GP / Qualifying: Vettel in the front row alongside pole-setter Hamilton!

Finally the 2017 Formula 1 season with wider, heavier and faster cars is here! It was absolutely fantastic to wake up for the season-opening qualifying session. During the past few weeks I had eagerly looked forward to see, how much faster the new cars actually turn out due to the significant regulation changes. I had also looked forward to seeing the pink-liveried Force India on track. It has really caught my eye in a positive way. A pink Formula 1 car actually looks really cool!

As qualifying got underway at Albert Park, Ferrari stood out of the crowd in terms of the tyre strategy. The Italian-based team opted for a fresh set of super soft Pirellis, whereas the rest of the teams came out on the purple-marked ultra soft tyres. Sebastian set a competitive lap time already at the beginning of the first session, whereas teammate Kimi went wide twice on his first attempt. Therefore the Iceman had to come out again at the end of the session and make his second attempt on the ultra soft tyres. Hamilton topped the timesheets for Mercedes, which was no surprise. Kimi was second and Red Bull´s Verstappen third. Bottas, who had replaced the reigning world champion Rosberg at Mercedes, was 4th in Q1. McLaren´s problems continued in qualifying. Stoffel Vandoorne lost crucial time with a fuel pressure issue and didn´t make it into Q2. Surprisingly, Alonso was able to make it as high as P12, making it through to the second session.

The first faller in Q1 was Sauber´s Giovinazzi, who replaced Pascal Wehrlein at late notice. Wehrlein had suffered a back injury at the Race of Champions in December, which had prevented the German to train hard enough to be fit for the GP weekend. Renault, Haas and Williams shared differing fortunes in terms of the teammates. Hulkenberg was stunning fifth for Renault in Q1, whereas teammate Palmer was left last in the opening session. Grosjean made it easily into Q2; teammate Magnussen, on the other hand, was out of the second session. Massa was impressive 7th, but rookie teammate Stroll was left in P19. The Canadian is set to start last, however, due to a gear box change after his FP3 crash.

Q2 saw both Mercedes and Ferrari come out on the ultra soft Pirellis. The Finnish Mercedes ace Bottas went to the front in the second session. Teammate Hamilton was second, with only 36 thousandths of a second separating these two! Ferrari duo of Kimi and Sebastian were third and fourth. It seemed that Red Bull were a step behind Mercedes and Ferrari, as Ricciardo and Verstappen were left in P5 and P6. Williams´ Massa, Haas´ Grosjean and the Toro Rosso duo of Kvyat and Sainz completed the top ten. Force India´s Perez was the first of those left behind. I was a bit disappointed; I´d have wanted to see a pink car among the top ten!

Just to spice things up, some felt a few drops of rain, as Q3 was about to get underway. However, the conditions remained dry. Hamilton took provisional pole by three tenths of a second, with Sebastian second. Bottas was third, only two thousandths of a second down on Sebastian! Kimi still had difficulties to put together a decent lap; the Iceman had made a mistake in the first sector and was in P4. Local hero Ricciardo lost the rear of his RB13 in Turn 14 and ended up in the wall. That brought out the red flags with eight minutes of Q3 to go.

The battle for pole was exciting. Bottas managed to improve his lap time on the second run, before Hamilton once again dramatically undercut the Finn for pole. Sebastian lost a little in Turn 1 and pole-setter Hamilton ended up edging the German by a quarter of a second. However, Sebastian made it in the front row alongside the silver arrow! This means Ferrari will start a race from the front row for the first time since Singapore 2015! Bottas qualified 3rd, only two hundredths of a second behind Sebastian. Kimi´s second run left a little to hope for, and the Iceman qualified 4th, eight tenths of a second down on pole-setter Hamilton. So the two big teams shared the honours and set the stage for a great race. Red Bull´s Verstappen, who qualified 5th, was already 1,2 seconds off Hamilton´s pace, which was definitely more than I expected. Haas´ Grosjean was impressive 6th, and almost-retired Massa put Williams 7th, ahead of the Toro Rossos of Sainz and Kvyat.

In terms of performance, Mercedes and Ferrari seem very evenly matched. The battle for victory will be intense! The start will be crucial, especially due to the new regulations considering the clutch control. I´m sure Sebastian is extremely hungry for victory after the disappointing 2016 season. And I have a hunch, that Sebastian will shine at the wheel of his Gina this season! Probably there will be mistakes by drivers as well (hopefully not by the red-suited drivers!), such as Ricciardo´s spin in the qualifying today. The new cars have more downforce and more grip, but when it goes, it goes completely and there´s no time to correct it. So there might be some unexpected crashes tomorrow.

What do I think about this year´s new cars? I find them quite beautiful, in spite of all the talk about the shark fins and T wings. The increased speed makes them even more beautiful! And a tiny part of me wishes success for Force India -just because they have a pink car, which looks almost sexy and absolutely  stunning!

All in all, I definitely want to see smiling Sebastian standing on the top step of the podium at the end of the race! The perfect race result from my point of view would be a 1-2 for Ferrari!

The 2017 season preview

Finally F1 is back after the long winter hibernation! The allowed eight days of pre-season testing are now complete. But what conclusions can be drawn in terms of the teams´ pecking order?

Obvious was the fact, that there were two teams, which stood out of the crowd -Mercedes and Ferrari. In terms of the lap times Ferrari lead the way. Finnish Ferrari ace Kimi Räikkönen was the only driver to go below 1m 19s around the Circuit de Catalunya. The lap time is extremely impressive, as it is 3 seconds faster than Hamilton´s pole mark last year at Barcelona! Mercedes, Williams and Red Bull were all within a second of the Iceman. Only two teams were more than two seconds off the pace -McLaren and Sauber. Also worth noting is that Kimi clocked his fastest lap time on the super soft tyre compound, which isn´t even the fastest tyre.

In terms of reliability the power unit played a significant role. Mercedes was the team that went furthest -they ran 1096 laps, which equals 5102 km. Bottas was the driver with the most mileage -completing 628 laps! Ferrari was the runner-up in terms of the lap count -they completed 956 laps, which equals 4450 km. Vettel was the one with more mileage in terms of the Ferrari duo; the German completed 591 laps. All in all, the teams with Mercedes or Ferrari power unit made longer distances compared to Renault- or Honda-powered teams. Red Bull´s pace seemed kind of hidden due to the technical issues concerning their power unit. McLaren Honda stood out of the crowd clearly -and not in a positive way. They suffered from severe reliability issues related to the Honda power unit and they were able to put together only 425 laps.

So what is the pecking order in terms of 2017´s faster F1 cars? Everyone still seems to think that Mercedes is the team to beat this year as well. On the other hand, there has been a lot of talk about Ferrari´s strong-looking performance. Especially the SF70-H´s innovative sidepod design has been the subject of much discussion. Unfortunately the real answers will come not until in Melbourne. Last year Ferrari were topping the time sheets in the pre-season tests, but as the season got underway, they turned out to be clearly off Mercedes´ pace. So clocking the fastest lap time in the winter tests is no guarantee of a victorious season. This time, though, my intuition says that this is going to be a successful season for the Scuderia!

I can´t wait for the lights to go out at Melbourne. The starts will become even more demanding for the drivers, as there has been a regulation change considering new limits on clutch control and the movement and location of the paddles. The biggest change comes in how the paddle on the steering wheel now controls the clutch, because there now has to be a linear torque control. This means the probability of a poor start increases significantly, as the start is now 100 % up to the driver.

The new wider tyres is an interesting factor as well. They are said to be longer-lasting than last year´s Pirellis, which probably means fewer pit stops this season. How about overtaking then? Will it be easier or more difficult with the new wider cars? All this remains to be seen, as the season gets underway!

How about Valtteri Bottas, who replaced the reigning world champion Nico Rosberg at Mercedes? It seems that the fast Finn has adapted extremely well to the new team, and his performance in the tests has been impressive. How about the fight against his extremely fast teammate? I can´t wait to see Bottas taking the battle to the three-time world champion!

I have to say that at this point, everything looks promising in terms of Ferrari´s performance. I hope this will be the red season, that all tifosi have been passionately waiting for! I´ve really missed all the emotions caused by Formula 1 racing -the intoxicating feeling after Sebastian´s or Kimi´s stunning overtaking move or even victory; on the other hand the disappointment after their mistake or technical failure, which has made me support these red-suited drivers even more. Hopefully there will be an emotional season with many races won by Ferrari!

Valtteri Bottas replaces Rosberg at Mercedes!

The reigning Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg shocked the whole F1 world by announcing his retirement from the sport only a few days after his coronation. Rosberg´s surprise retirement created the shock vacancy alongside Hamilton: who would get the hottest seat in F1? The answer was given earlier this week, as Mercedes announced that Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas was to fill the vacant seat at Mercedes. Due to Bottas leaving Williams for Mercedes, Felipe Massa has come out of his retirement to replace the Finn at Williams and pair up with Canadian novice Lance Stroll.

Mercedes´ decision to sign Bottas came as no surprise to me. Since December there have been a lot of rumours about Bottas being the number one candidate to replace Rosberg. I have to say that the line-up of Hamilton and Bottas makes a lot of sense in many ways. First of all, statistics offer many reasons why Bottas is the perfect choice for Mercedes. Bottas can be expected to be an ultra-reliable points collector for the Silver Arrows. In his 40 race starts across the 2015 and 2016 seasons, the Finn only failed to score points on 11 occasions. The 27-year-old has never been beaten over a season on points by a teammate. That dominance translates to Saturdays, too, emphatically out-qualifying his colleague every year. Bottas has only retired on a Sunday due to a crash twice, so he is a highly consistent and reliable driver. Also age is on the Finn´s side; he is young enough to last another 10 years at the top but also possessing plenty of experience to know what it takes to succeed in the cruel F1 world. Although without a victory in his four years in F1, Bottas has proven his credentials with nine podiums at Williams.

Bottas´ move to F1´s most sought after seat is everything the Finn has ever dreamed of, an absolute dream come true. Now the question is -how can he step up to challenge for race wins and for championships? Already at Williams he has proved to be an extremely talented driver, but now he has the most competitive car on the grid to fight for victories. Will he cope with the pressure it brings along? Bottas is known to be a down to Earth and straightforward guy, who doesn´t do politics in the paddock. But having Lewis Hamilton as a teammate is an extreme challenge for anybody, as the British triple world champion is known for huge talent, raw speed and powerful mind games. However, I can´t see any driver more fitting to partner Hamilton than Bottas. Rosberg vs. Hamilton has been the dominant theme of F1 for the last three years with a lot of sparks flying. Tranquil Bottas brings harmony and good spirit into the team. However, I´m sure the Finn is ready to defend himself when needed, like we have previously seen when fighting for positions on track for example with compatriot Kimi Räikkönen.

Now everything is about getting integrated into the team, which I´m sure will happen quickly and smoothly. In addition to his talent and no-nonsense personality Bottas also has a weapon against Hamilton´s mind games -trainer Antti Vierula. The Finn has previously worked with the Briton but is now working for Bottas. Bottas only has a one-year contract with Mercedes, which means, that in terms of his F1 career failure is not an option! The contracts of former world champions Vettel and Alonso both expire at the end of the 2017 season, so Bottas has only this year to convince Mercedes of his talent.

Hamilton is considered to be maybe the most challenging teammate to have in F1. Physically, technically or talent-wise I don´t see any reason why Bottas wouldn´t out-perform Hamilton this year. It all comes down to the mental strength and psychological aspect. If Bottas manages to keep his feet firmly on the ground and handle the enormous pressure he´ll be facing, he has every opportunity to  beat Hamilton. Now it´s Bottas´ time to show whether he has what it takes to become a world champion!

P.S. I can´t wait for the new season to begin! During the long off-season I´ve written a couple of articles on the Scuderia Ferrari Club Riga website. An article on the late Dr. Aki Hintsa can be read here: http://sfcriga.com/dr--aki-hintsa-gone-but-never-forgotten and my thoughts on the surprise retirement of Nico Rosberg can be read here: http://sfcriga.com/breaking-news-world-champion-rosberg-to-retire-from-f1 . It feels great to be back updating my blog!

Abu Dhabi GP: Nico Rosberg is 2016 world champion!

The sun started to set as the lights went out at Yas Marina Circuit. There was immense concentration by all drivers, as the season finale was at hand. Both Mercedes drivers got excellent starts; Hamilton maintained his lead with teammate Rosberg right at his tail. Kimi got a fantastic start as well, and the Iceman managed to overtake Red Bull´s Ricciardo, who had started to the race on the super soft Pirellis. Kimi was now 3rd in the race. Verstappen on the other hand, had contact with Force India´s Hulkenberg right after the start; the Dutchman spun at Turn 1! Luckily he was able to continue, but he had to start racing all over again from the very back of the pack. Due to Verstappen´s incident Sebastian was now fifth, right at Ricciardo´s tail.

The pit stop roulette started already on lap 7, as both Hamilton and Kimi pitted -both for a fresh set of yellow-marked soft tyres. On the following lap their teammates Rosberg and Sebastian pitted -for a similar tyre choice. Red Bull´s Ricciardo pitted on lap 10, also opting for the soft Pirellis. Teammate Verstappen instead stayed out having already made his way impressively through the field. Hamilton had re-joined the track ahead of the Flying Dutchman, but both Rosberg and Kimi re-joined the track behind the Red Bull pilot. Rosberg was stuck behind Verstappen, but against all odds, teammate Hamilton didn´t pull away from his rivals. It really caught my eye, how slowly Hamilton was driving. It seemed as if the Briton was trying to give his rivals a better chance to attack Nico! Which was sneaky tactics indeed.

McLaren´s Button -who was driving his career-ending race- got a front suspension failure on lap 13, which forced the Briton to retire from the race. Unfortunately it wasn´t the kind of a closure that Button would have wanted to have for his long and successful F1 career. On lap 20 Rosberg was told on the team radio, that it was critical to get past Verstappen. Right after that message Rosberg attacked on the super fast Dutchman. Verstappen managed to defend his position in terms of Nico´s first move, but Nico was determined to take P2 from the Red Bull teenager. Their wheels almost touched, and it must have been a hair-raising moment for Nico, who had the most to lose in this race! After the second move Rosberg managed to get past Verstappen.

Verstappen pitted not until on lap 22 -for soft rubber as well. It seemed likely, that he´d go till the end on that set of tyres. He re-joined the track in P8. Teammate Ricciardo drove into the pits for the second time on lap 25, opting for another set of soft tyres. This made Ferrari react; they called Kimi in. However, on the new set of soft tyres, Kimi dropped down behind both Red Bulls when re-joining the track! It definitely wasn´t the perfect pit stop strategy for the Iceman! Teammate Sebastian instead stayed out and kept driving competitive lap times. Hamilton pitted on lap 29 and teammate Rosberg on the following lap -both for another set of soft Pirellis. Sebastian was now leading the race, but he had one more pit stop awaiting...

It was refreshing to see a different pit stop strategy from Sebastian. He came in not until on lap 38, and he opted for a fresh set of red-marked super soft tyres. I was confident that Sebastian was going to fly on his fresh tyres! He re-joined the track in P6, behind teammate Kimi. Sebastian was significantly faster than all his rivals, and he started his chase towards podium. In no time Sebastian had chased down his teammate, who didn´t make an effort to defend his position. Ricciardo was only some 4 seconds ahead and race leader Hamilton only 10 seconds away. Sebastian was absolutely determined to aim as high as he could.

With 10 laps to go, Hamilton was told on the team radio to drive faster. The team was worried, that Sebastian might be a real threat to the Briton. But Hamilton kept his teammate right at his tail -driving on a defensive mode- to give Verstappen and Vettel a better chance to attack Nico. Sebastian had already got within DRS distance from Ricciardo. The German made an overtaking move on his ex teammate, which turned out successful due to his much fresher tyres.

With five laps to go, the top four was within 2,7 seconds! The battle for championship truly intensified during those closing laps. Sebastian smelled Verstappen´s blood and attacked the Dutchman, who is known as a very challenging driver to overtake. And Sebastian made it past Verstappen, who was the only top driver on a one-stop strategy. The German was now third in the race but seemed passionate to get past Rosberg as well.

Although Hamilton slowed down even more on the final lap, he couldn´t prevent Rosberg from finishing the runner-up, which meant that Nico was 2016 world champion! To be honest, it was refreshing to see a new world champion. And I was very delighted to see Sebastian on the podium as well. Verstappen finished 4th, Ricciardo 5th, Kimi 6th, Hulkenberg 7th, Perez 8th, Massa 9th and Alonso 10th. Kimi had a strong first stint, but somehow Ferrari seemed to lack pace on the hardest tyre compound. I can´t help thinking, what Kimi would have been capable of, had he had a similar pit stop strategy to his teammate...

I´m very happy that Hamilton won the race; so he was able to dedicate the victory for his deceased friend Dr Aki Hintsa, who passed away last week. On the other hand I´m happy for Nico, who finally won his first world title. Nico has been one of the underrated drivers on the paddock so far, but I´m sure it will change now. It´s impressive that Nico is already a second-generation world champion, as his father Keke Rosberg was crowned world champion in 1982.

Knowing that the Formula 1 season is now officially over, I feel so empty. What am I going to do during this long off-season? I´m going to miss GP weekends so much! And I´m going to miss writing my blog! So if there´s any F1 related topic you want me to write about, please let me know! ;) I´m already looking forward to the 2017 F1 season!

Abu Dhabi GP / Qualifying: Hamilton on pole for the title-deciding race!

After Brazil GP my world turned upside down, as I heard about the passing away of Dr Aki Hintsa, who had worked for 11 years in F1 as a doctor and coach. He had been diagnosed with cancer in the summer 2015, and the doctors had given him only a few months to live. However, against all odds Dr Hintsa managed to win his battle against cancer. The last news I read about him said that he was well and the Finnish F1 team planned to invite him in the Formula 1 studio for some GP weekend. There was absolutely no way I was prepared to hear the news of his passing away! Suddenly cancer had recurred and he had lost his battle against cancer. He was taken so early, only at the age of 58. He would have had so much more to give to the world! I read Oskari Saari´s book about Dr Hintsa and his holistic model for personal success, as it came out in the spring 2015. The book made a huge and lasting impression on me -deeper than I even realised first. The news of Dr Hintsa´s death has gone deep into my emotions, although I never even had the honour to meet this unique and extraordinary man. Today I read the news that Oskari Saari will finish the biography of Dr Hintsa, as the man himself had wished only days before he passed away.

So my thoughts have been very distracted this weekend. On one hand I´m trying to enjoy the very last GP weekend of the season, but on the other hand my thoughts are with Dr Hintsa and his family. I didn´t see qualifying live on TV today, as I took part in my grandmother´s 90th birthday party. This made me go through deep thoughts as well, as the possibility to celebrate your 90th birthday in decent health definitely cannot be taken for granted! However, I took a look on the Formula 1 news, as I was sipping coffee at the party ;)

Luckily qualifying was on, when I came home and turned my TV on. To honour Dr Hintsa´s memory, Hamilton had had the text "Dr Aki Hintsa 1958-2016" put on his helmet for the weekend. Hamilton had a close friendship with Dr Hintsa, who had helped the Briton a lot during his career. The Briton had met Dr Hintsa only a day before his death. Coming to this season-finale, Hamilton has said that he wants to win the race for his friend, and the Briton´s determination was there to be seen in qualifying already. He was the fastest man in Q1, with points-leading teammate a whole second off his pace. Ferrari´s pace seemed excellent indeed, as Kimi was second fastest with teammate Sebastian 3rd. A bit surprisingly, both Toro Rossos were out of Q2, as Kvyat was the first faller in Q1. Teammate Sainz was left in modest P21. Manor´s Wehrlein was responsible of the most positive surprise, as the German managed to make it to Q2 by making it 16th in the first session.

All top teams came out at the beginning of the second session. Once again, Red Bull ran a different tyre strategy to their rivals; they ran the super softs instead of the ultra softs, meaning they will start on the longer-lasting -but slower- rubber. There wasn´t any ambiguity about Mercedes´ dominance, as once again Hamilton was the fastest man at Yas Marina with teammate Rosberg at his tail. Worth noticing was the fact, that Red Bull´s Verstappen managed to split the Ferrari teammates in spite of the tyre choice. Both Verstappen and Ricciardo left the pits for second runs on the purple-marked ultra soft rubber, but they aborted their flying laps as there was no need to improve. This time Williams´ Bottas led those who failed to get through to the final segment.

In Q3 Hamilton took provisional pole; especially his second sector was absolutely crushing. Rosberg tried his very best to take the battle to his teammate, but he was still three tenths down on Hamilton, who seemed to be a man on a mission. Kimi had driven an extremely strong qualifying, and the Iceman was third after the first runs. Ricciardo was fourth, Verstappen fifth and Sebastian sixth. Both Silver Arrows managed to improve their lap times on the second runs, but Hamilton held on to pole by three tenths of a second. Behind the dominant Silver Arrows, Ricciardo unfortunately displaced Kimi for third on their second runs. However, the duo was separated only by a hundredth of a second! Sebastian -who a bit surprisingly got beaten by his teammate in the qualifying battles this year- finished 5th, and Red Bull´s Verstappen had to settle for P6, as the Dutchman had made a mistake on his final run. Hulkenberg and Perez locked out row four for Force India. Alonso underlined McLaren´s improvements with ninth, and Williams´ Massa rounded out the top ten.

Rosberg may have a 12-point advantage heading into tomorrow´s title-deciding race, but for now the momentum is definitely with Hamilton. It seems that the Briton has got some extra boost for this weekend. He wants to win the race and dedicate the victory for his deceased friend. I have a feeling that it´s exactly what Hamilton will do tomorrow! But winning the world championship isn´t only in Hamilton´s own hands anymore. All Nico has to do is to finish on the podium and he´ll clinch his first world title. I´m not a fan of either one of the Mercedes drivers, but I really appreciate Hamilton´s gesture to have Dr Hintsa´s name on his helmet and his intention to dedicate the possible victory for him -so yes, this time I actually hope Hamilton is going to win the race tomorrow! (I never thought I´d one day hope Hamilton to win!)

Brazil GP: Wild Verstappen show in extreme conditions!

Predictions of rain turned out to be quite accurate, as it was raining quite heavily at Interlagos today. There was drama already before the race got underway; Grosjean in his Haas was making his way to the grid, but lost control of his car due to aquaplaning and ended up in the wall with broken front suspension! That was a huge disappointment for the Frenchman, who would have started to the race from P7. The track conditions were so wet, that the start was delayed by 10 minutes.

Due to the challenging conditions the race was started behind safety car; everyone was on the blue-marked full-wet Pirellis. There was still a lot of standing water on the track, and the spray caused by the cars made visibility really poor. It was still raining lightly. Safety car came in on lap 7, and the race was finally on. Kimi was struggling on the wet track, and Verstappen attacked the Finn immediately. Max made a brave overtaking move on the Iceman and took P3. Renault´s Magnussen and McLaren´s Button soon pitted for a fresh set of intermediate tyres, but the top drivers still continued on the track on the full-wets.

Sebastian in P5 had a scary moment on lap 11 going uphill into the last corners. He suddenly lost the control of his car and span! Luckily the German didn´t hit anything but all he lost were some extra seconds. Sebastian pitted right away -for intermediate tyres as well. But everything didn´t go to plan during the pit stop; the team had difficulties to attach the rear-left tyre, which cost other valuable seconds. Sebastian re-joined the track in disappointing P19. Definitely not a promising start to Sebastian´s race!

Turn 14 was a turning point in the race. Sauber´s Ericsson lost the control of his car in high speed and crashed into the wall. Ericsson´s Sauber stopped at the pit entry. Red Bull´s Verstappen drove into the pits managing to avoid hitting the Sauber. Safety car was deployed, and the pit entry was closed. However, also Ricciardo in his RB12 drove into the pits. Both Red Bull pilots opted for a fresh set of green-marked intermediate Pirellis. The Australian was soon taken into investigation for entering the pits after the pit entry had already been closed. Hamilton was leading the race behind safety car, teammate Rosberg was second, Kimi was third, Verstappen fourth and Hulkenberg fifth.

Safety car came in on lap 19, and the race was on again -but only for a very short moment. Coming on the start-finish straight Kimi´s SF16-H aquaplaned, which caused the Iceman to crash into the outside wall. The impact threw the Finn spinning across the straight into the inside wall. It was an utterly frightening moment, as there were plenty of cars coming behind Kimi -driving 300 km/h! It´s amazing how quick reflexes the F1 drivers have! Without a lightning quick evading move from Manor´s Ocon, he would have hit Kimi´s Ferrari! My heart jumped into my mouth; Kimi´s crash could have ended in a catastrophic way! Luckily the Iceman was unharmed and could walk away from the car on his own. But the crash really got under my skin and scared me a lot! Due to Kimi´s crash the race was red-flagged, and everyone drove into the pits.

During the session suspension the stewards announced a 5-second time penalty for Ricciardo due to entering the pits although the pit entry had been closed. Williams´ Massa was also given a similar penalty for overtaking before the safety car line. After half-an-hour suspension the race was re-started behind safety car. After six laps behind safety car the race was red-flagged again! The conditions were very extreme and challenging; in the name of safety it was the right decision from the stewards. Everyone remembers Japanese GP 2014 and the consequences the extreme conditions caused. There had been plenty of dangerous looking crashes today already so the stewards didn´t want to jeopardise the safety of the drivers; although many drivers were saying on the team radio that the conditions were drivable.

After another half-an-hour suspension it was still raining, and the track conditions hadn´t improved. The race was re-started behind safety car. The top ten certainly seemed interesting, as the race was back on after a few laps behind safety car. The top three involved quite familiar names, as Hamilton was leading the race with teammate Rosberg second and Red Bull´s Verstappen third. But Force India´s Perez was fourth, Toro Rosso´s Sainz fifth, Sauber´s Nasr sixth, Red Bull´s Ricciardo seventh, Manor duo of Ocon and Wehrlein eighth and ninth and McLaren´s Alonso tenth.

Verstappen seemed to have different driving lines compared to his rivals. Once again the Flying Dutchman was extremely aggressive at the re-start and made a bold move on Rosberg -snatching P2 from the German! Red Bull seemed extremely competitive in the wet conditions, and Max seemed to be perfectly in control of his RB12. He started to chase down Hamilton, who wasn´t too far away. But what a scary moment Max had on lap 39! The Dutch teenager hit the kerb in the inside on the start-finish straight and lost the control of his RB12! With a combination of huge talent and good luck he managed to avoid hitting the quadrail and was able to continue the race after the spin. Rosberg was close to take his second place back from the Red Bull driver, but Max was just barely able to stay ahead of Rosberg.

The track conditions were slightly improving, and Ricciardo pitted for a fresh set of intermediate tyres. The Australian´s lap times looked extremely good, and the team called Verstappen to pit a few laps later -for intermediates as well. Meanwhile Sebastian was making his way through the field -first past Alonso and then Nasr. After a difficult first half of the race, Sebastian was driving a strong race in P6.

However, safety car was deployed again on lap 48! Williams´ Massa, who was driving his very last home race, also lost control of his FW38 on the start-finish straight and ended up in the wall! For sure not the kind of a result the Brazilian would have hoped in front of his home crowd! In spite of the DNF, it was a very emotional moment for the home hero Massa, who was in tears when walking into the pits.

Red Bull´s tyre strategy proved wrong; there was no way the Red Bull duo could drive competitive lap times on the intermediate tyres! Both Ricciardo and Verstappen pitted for a fresh set of full-wet Pirellis. It was a costly pit stop especially for Max, who dropped down to P16 after re-joining the track. However, after safety car had come in, we saw a spectacular and absolutely wild Verstappen show! The Dutchman continued choosing different driving lines, and he seemed to be flying around the circuit. The overtaking move he made on his teammate Ricciardo was stunning! Next on the Flying Dutchman´s overtaking list were Kvyat, Ocon and Nasr. A moment later Max had a wheel-banging battle with Sebastian for P5, but Sebastian had no chance to defend his position against the hungry Dutchman. With only a few laps to go, Max was right at Perez´s tail fighting for the last podium place. And after another spectacular overtaking move P3 was Max´s! Max´s driving was absolutely breath-taking today, in a class of his own!

Hamilton won the Brazil GP for the very first time; so the championship battle will be down-to-the-wire in Abu Dhabi. Rosberg finished the runner-up, and Verstappen completed the podium. It was no wonder, that Max was voted as the Driver of the Day; today he definitely deserved it! Perez finished 4th for Force India. Sebastian managed to make it past Sainz at the end of the race, finishing fifth. Hulkenberg finished 7th in the second Force India, Ricciardo was 8th, Nasr 9th and Alonso 10th. At the end of the day there were five safety cars and two red flags in the race! The race length came very close to the time limit, but finally all 71 laps were completed.

I was jumping of joy for Max, but the red team´s performance left a lot to hope for in terms of the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Ferrari was seriously struggling with their pace in the wet conditions, although especially Kimi had driven an excellent qualifying. There´s still one more chance of a red-coloured podium... But who will be the world champion this year? Rosberg still has a 12-point lead in the standings. To win the title, Hamilton needs to win in Abu Dhabi and Rosberg has to finish lower than third.

P.S. My thoughts on the chaotic race can also be read on the website of Scuderia Ferrari Club Riga: http://sfcriga.com/brazil-gp-2016-scary-looking-crash-for-kimi-in-extreme-conditions