Tuesday 20 May 2014

Monaco 2014 (Round 6) - F1 Prediction League

F1 continues the momentum of the European season and heads into its most famous race weekend of the year, Monaco!

I'm excited - the thought of these torque-heavy monsters speeding through the streets of Monaco will create plenty of action - anything could happen! It's a big unknown but we could see a lot of crashes and perhaps a certain Red Bull close on the tails of the all-dominant Mercedes.

The Mercedes extended their lead in both pace terms and points in Spain. This now means, and I'll re-iterate later, that Mercedes are banned as a Constructors pick. They exceeded the 100 points gap needed and have also won five races in a row. This is not necessarily a permanent thing depending on if others close but I'll keep you updated.

Similarly with Hamilton showing the level of dominance in terms of getting results, he's already 33 points ahead in the qualifying championship (so only needs 17 points before he gets banned) plus he's won four in a row (five wins needed to be banned). A lights to flag victory for Hamilton this weekend could mean he's banned from both qualifying and race. Rosberg is very likely to be banned from the race too if he has over a 50 point gap to third place in the Drivers Championship.

As always here is a re-cap of the current standings:





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Random


Thanks to Michael and Sangan for their help in creating this random and taking part in the random discussion.
  
This time the random involves two separate elements.

As is often the case, the winner of the random will be the player who scores the most points overall. When players are equal on points ties will be decided on the closest overall time prediction in random 2. 


Random 1: The Unique Place Called Monaco

As Monaco represents such a different challenge to any other circuit for both driver and car, predict whether the three following drivers will beat their average practice (1, 2 and 3), qualifying and race positions.

Alonso - 4.5 (Practice), 6.5 (Qualifying), 5.5 (Race)
Bottas - 9.5, 7.5, 6.5
Kobayashi - 18.5, 18.5, 15.5

2 points will be scored for a correct answer. No points are scored if a driver retires in the race.

Random 2: Qualifying High Is What Matters

Order the following group of 4 from fastest to slowest in qualifying (this is based on qualifying position before penalties):

Group A

Button
Grosjean
Massa
Raikkonen

Group B

Kvyat
Magnussen
Maldonado
Perez

The tie-break category is the time difference between the fastest and slowest car in the  last session the whole group competed in e.g. if Perez gets knocked out in Q1 then this session would be used for Group B. If someone doesn't set a qualifying time then the next slowest driver will be used etc.

This prediction should be for both groups. 

3 points will be scored for a correct placing for each driver in both Group A and Group B. If your choice is 1 away from the actual result you'll score 2 points, 2 away 1 point etc.

Example:

Eric Boullier predicts - Button, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Massa and the actual order is Raikkonen, Grosjean, Massa, Button then EB scores: 1 for Raikkonen, 3 for Grosjean, 2 for Massa and 0 for Button.

Overall 18 points are available for random 1 and 24 points for random 2. Good luck!

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Feel free to post picks in the following format:

Qualifying: 
Race: 
Constructors: [Not Mercedes as they are banned]
Random:

Random 1
Alonso - H/L, H/L, H/L
Bottas - 
Kobayashi - 

Random 2
Group A - 1, 2, 3, 4
Group B - 1, 2, 3, 4

Time difference
A -
B -

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Last year qualifying decided the race - Rosberg pipped Hamilton and Vettel to pole and then controlled from there. A similar thing is likely to happen again given the importance of track position especially between teammates.

A flashback to the prediction league last year shows a Dragan (Lotus) win followed by both Ferrari drivers. Montezemolo has demanded a repeat from his drivers Joe and Rajaram to get their campaign kick-started.

Remember First Practice is Thursday, Not Friday. Picks are due before FP1 so hopefully everyone does remember. 

Good luck all!

20 comments:

  1. Qualifying: HAM
    Race: HAM
    Constructors: RBR
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - L, L, L
    Bottas - H, H, H
    Kobayashi - L, L, L

    Random 2
    Group A - RAI, GRO, MAS, BUT
    Group B - PER, KVY, MAL, MAG

    Time difference
    A - 1.40
    B - 3.14

    ReplyDelete
  2. Qualifying: HAMILTON
    Race: ROSBERG
    Constructors: MERCEDES
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - L, H, L
    Bottas - H, L, L
    Kobayashi - L, L, L

    Random 2
    Group A - BUT, RAI, GRO, MAS
    Group B - MAL, PER, MAG, KVY

    Time difference
    A - 1.20
    B - 2.55

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. E, you cannot pick Mercedes for Constructors. Williams to score again!

      Delete
  3. YOU WILL SEE THE LOTUS RAISING!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Another mercedes domination.. ! alonso will get you soon.

    Qualifying: Hamilton
    Race: Hamilton
    Constructors: Ferrari
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - H, H, H
    Bottas - H, H, L
    Kobayashi - L, L, H (There'll be crashes everywhere!)

    Random 2
    Group A - RAI, GRO, MAS, BUT
    Group B - MAL, PER, KVY, MAG

    Time difference
    A - 1.89
    B - 1.82

    ReplyDelete
  5. Qualifying: Hamilton
    Race: Hamilton
    Constructors:RedBull
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - L, L, L
    Bottas - H,L,L
    Kobayashi - H,H,H

    Random 2
    Group A - GRO, RAI, BUT, MAS
    Group B - MAL, KVY, MAG, PER

    Time difference
    A -1.50
    B -2.80

    ReplyDelete
  6. Qualifying: Hamilton
    Race: Hamilton
    Constructors: Red Bull gives you wings
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso – L, H, L
    Bottas – H, H, H
    Kobayashi – L, H, H

    Random 2
    Group A - RAI, MAS, BUT, GRO
    Group B - MAG, MAL, PER, KVY

    Time difference
    A – 1.7s
    B – 2.4s

    ReplyDelete
  7. Going for 25.....

    Qualifying: Rosberg
    Race: Rosberg
    Constructors: Red Bull
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - H, H, L
    Bottas - L, H, H
    Kobayashi - L, L, L

    Random 2
    Group A - GRO, RAI, MAS, BUT
    Group B - MAL, MAG, KVY, PER

    Time difference
    A -1.7
    B -2.6

    ReplyDelete
  8. Qualifying: Hamilton
    Race: Hamilton
    Constructors: Red Bull
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - L, L, L
    Bottas - H, H, H
    Kobayashi - L, L, H

    Random 2
    Group A - GRO, MAS, RAI, BUT
    Group B - MAL, KVY, PER, MAG

    Time difference
    A - 0.9s
    B - 1.7s

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have a feeling:

    Qualifying: Rosberg
    Race: Rosberg
    Constructors: Red Bull
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - L, H, L
    Bottas - H, H, L
    Kobayashi - L, L, L

    Random 2
    Group A - RAI, GRO, MAS, BUT
    Group B - PER, MAG, MAL, KVY,

    Time difference
    A - 1.5 s
    B - 1.4 s

    ReplyDelete
  10. Rose31's picks:

    Qualifying: Hamilton
    Race: Hamilton
    Constructors: Red bull
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - L, H, H
    Bottas - H, H, H
    Kobayashi - H, H, L

    Random 2
    Group A - 1 Massa, 2 Raikkonen, 3 Button, 4 Grosjean
    Group B - 1 Magnussen, 2 Perez, 3 Kvyat, 4 Maldonado

    Time difference
    A - 1.0 sec
    B - 0.8 sec

    ReplyDelete
  11. Aled Lewis' picks:

    Qualifying: Vettel
    Race: Vettel
    Constructors: Red Bull
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - L, H, L
    Bottas - H, L, H
    Kobayashi - L, H, L

    Random 2
    Group A - BUT, RAI, GRO, MAS
    Group B - KVY, PER, MAL, MAG

    Time difference
    A - 1.471 sec
    B - 1.843 sec

    ReplyDelete
  12. My picks for Monaco are

    Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton
    Race: Lewis Hamilton
    Constructors: Red Bull
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - L, L, L
    Bottas - H, H, L
    Kobayashi - L, H, L

    Random 2
    Group A – Felipe Massa, Kimi Räikkönen, Jenson Button, Romain Grosjean
    Group B – Kevin Magnussen, Pastor Maldonado, Sergio Perez , Daniil Kyvat

    Time difference
    A -1.32
    B -1.75

    ReplyDelete
  13. My picks for Monaco are

    Qualifying: HAM
    Race: HAM
    Constructors: RB
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - L, L, H
    Bottas - H, H, H
    Kobayashi - L, H, H

    Random 2
    Group A – RAI, MAS, BUT, GRO
    Group B – MAG, MAL, PER, KYV

    Time difference
    A -1.26s
    B -1.68s

    ReplyDelete
  14. Qualifying: Hamilton
    Race: Hamilton
    Constructors: Red Bull
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - L, L, L
    Bottas - H, H, H
    Kobayashi - L, L, H

    Random 2
    Group A - Massa, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Button
    Group B - Maldonado, Magnussen, Perez, Kvyat

    Time difference
    A - 0.72 seconds
    B - 1.11 seconds

    ReplyDelete
  15. Joe's picks:

    Qualifying - Hamilton
    Race - Hamilton
    Constructors - Mercedes
    Alonso - Beat, Beat, Beat
    Bottas - Beat, Beat, Not-Beat
    Kobyashi - Not-Beat, Not-Beat, Not-Beat
    Group A - Massa, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Button
    Group B - Magnussen, Perez, Maldonado, Kvyat
    Time Difference A - 1.21s
    Time Difference B - 2.05s

    ReplyDelete
  16. Keba's picks:

    Qualifying: Hamilton
    Race: Hamilton
    Constructors: Red Bull
    Random:
    Random 1
    Alonso - L, L, H
    Bottas - L, L, L
    Kobayashi - L, L, H
    Random 2
    Group A - RAI, GRO, BUT, MAS
    Group B - PER, MAG, MAL, KVY
    Time difference
    A - 1.26
    B - 2.54

    ReplyDelete
  17. Qualifying: Hamilton
    Race: Hamilton
    Constructors: Red Bull
    Random:

    Alonso - L, L, L
    Bottas - H, H, H
    Kobayashi - L, L, H


    Group A - Massa, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Button
    Group B - Maldonado, Magnussen, Perez, Kvyat

    Time difference
    A - 0.56 seconds
    B - 1.24 seconds

    ReplyDelete