F1 Prediction League 2013 (Free entry, Minichamp car for winner!)

Welcome to the fourth year of the F1 Prediction League! Following on from the success of last year I'm taking the league public.

The winner will receive a Mini Champs model of the 2013 world championship winning car (like this: Vettel 2011 Minichamps Car). 

The league gives you the chance to show off your knowledge and intuition by making picks on:

1. Four categories every race weekend (Maximum 25 points each race) 
2. Season results (Maximum 50 points) 

 See below for further details.

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Race Weekend Picks

 Categories

1. Pole Position
2. Race Winner
3. Constructors (most points)
4. Random category (will change every race weekend)

Ahead of each race weekend I will post a thread with the random category for the next race (for Australia the random category will first be posted in the comment section of this post). You'll then be able to post a comment or send an email with your picks (I'll post all emailed picks after the deadline for full visibility).

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The allocation of points for the four categories is:

Pole Position

1st – 8 points

2nd – 5 points

3rd – 3 points

4th – 2 points

5th – 1 point

Race Winner

1st – 8 points

2nd – 5 points

3rd – 3 points

4th – 2 points

5th – 1 point

Constructor

1st – 6 points

2nd – 3 points

3rd – 1 point

Random

1st – 3 points

2nd – 2 points

3rd – 1 point

So if you pick Raikkonen for race winner and he finishes 3rd then you get 3 points.

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Season Picks

These are picks which relate to results over the course of the entire season. You only need to make these once, the deadline is Thursday 14th March 2013 (23:59 GMT).

Summary

1. Drivers Championship - Max. 12 points
2. Constructors Championship - Max. 6 points
3. Most season session points - Max. 4 points
4. Driver vs. Driver - Max. 10 points
5. Team vs. Team - Max. 5 points
6. Most Team Retirements - Max. 3 points
7. Least Team Retirements - Max. 3 points
8. Random Categories - Max. 7 points

Total - Maximum 50 points

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Drivers Championship

Pick who you think will finish in the top three positions in the drivers championship.

1st 

2nd

3rd

Constructors Championship

Pick who you think will finish in the first three constructors positions, receive the points below for their final position in the constructors world championship.

1st 

2nd

3rd

Most Season Session Points

For every session (practice 1, P2, P3, qualifying and the race) everyone in the top ten scores points like in races (1st = 25, 2nd = 18, 3rd = 15 etc.). This also applies to the fastest lap so there are six categories overall. 

If Alonso finishes in the following positions across the weekend (P1 - 1st, P2 - 2nd, P3 - 1st, Qualifying - 4th, Race - 1st, Fastest Lap - 2nd) then he'll score 123 points (25 + 18 + 25 + 12 + 25 + 18). These points will be added to points from every other weekend in the season and the driver at the end of the season with the most points wins. Qualifying has been grouped as one session per F1 rules. 

1st - 4 points

2nd - 2 points

3rd - 1 point

Driver vs. Driver

Which teammate will score the most points in the championship standings, ties will be decided by the placing in the world championship standings (For example: http://www.formula1.com/results/driver/2012/).

Vergne or Ricciardo? (1 point)

Maldonado or Bottas? (1 point)

Di Resta or Sutil? (1 point)

Rosberg or Hamilton? (1 point)

Pic or Van der Garde? (1 point)

Button or Perez? (1 point)

Raikkonen or Grosjean? (1 point)

Vettel or Webber? (1 point)

Alonso or Massa? (1 point)

Hulkenberg or Gutierrez? (1 point)

Team vs. Team

Which team will score the most points in the championship standings, ties will be decided by the placing in the world championship standings (For example: http://www.formula1.com/results/team/)

Ferrari or Red Bull? (1 point)

McLaren or Lotus? (1 point)

Williams or Sauber? (1 point)

Force India or Toro Rosso? (1 point)

Marussia or Caterham? (1 point)

Most team retirements

Pick which team will have the most retirements, this includes any result where one of the team's drivers either aren't classified or have a reason stated for retirement. Participants must start the race. F1.com used as the decider.

1st - 3 points

2nd - 2 points

3rd - 1 point

 

 

 

 

 

Least team retirements

Pick which team will have the least retirements, this includes any result where one of the team's drivers either aren't classified or have a reason stated for retirement. Participants must start the race. F1.com used as the decider.

1st - 3 points
2nd - 2 points
3rd - 1 point

Random Categories

A few random yes or no questions for variety!

1. Will there be 2 or more mid-season (from 15/03/2013) driver replacements? (Yes/No)
2. Will there be 6 or more races in the season where three champions (Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Button and Vettel) stand on the podium together? (Yes/No)
3. Will there be a race with 7 or more retirements? (Yes/No)
4. Will there be a race with 0 retirements? (Yes/No)
5. Will there be 5 or more different race winners? (Yes/No)
6. Will a rookie (Gutierrez, Bottas, Chilton, Van Der Garde) or a returning driver (Sutil) stand on the podium during the year? (Yes/No)
7. Will there be a race with 3 or more safety cars? (Yes/No)

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How to get involved

Post your picks in the comments section here or email me.

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The two templates are here: 

Race Weekend

Pole:

Race:

Constructors:

Random:

The Random category for Australia is which teammates will finish closest throughout the weekend? See this post for more details.

e.g.

Pole: Nico Rosberg

Race: Fernando Alonso

Constructors: Lotus

Random: Maldonado/Bottas

Season Picks

World championship
1st –
2nd –
3rd –

Constructors Championship
1st – 
2nd –
3rd –

Most season session points:

1st -

Driver v. Driver:
Vergne/Ricciardo
Maldonado/Bottas
Di Resta/Sutil
Rosberg/Hamilton
Pic/Van der Garde
Button/Perez
Raikkonen/Grosjean
Vettel/Webber
Alonso/Massa
Hulkenberg/Gutierrez

Team v. Team
Ferrari/Red Bull
McLaren/Lotus
Williams/Sauber
Force India/Toro Rosso
Marussia/Caterham

Most team retirements:

Least team retirements:

Random categories:

Will there be 2 or more mid-season (from 15/03/2013) driver replacements? (Yes/No)

Will there be 5 or more races in the season where three champions (Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Button and Vettel) stand on the podium together? (Yes/No)

Will there be a race with 7 or more retirements? (Yes/No)

Will there be a race with 0 retirements? (Yes/No)

Will there be 5 or more different race winners? (Yes/No)

Will a rookie (Gutierrez, Bottas, Chilton, Van Der Garde, Bianchi) or a returning driver (Sutil) stand on the podium during the year? (Yes/No)

Will there be a race with 3 or more safety cars? (Yes/No)

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The deadline for submission for both the first race and the season picks is Thursday 14th March 23:59 GMT. It's important that people post before practice 1. Any picks posted after the start of practice 1 will limited to 50% of the points on offer. Any picks made on Saturday or Sunday will not count.

After every race weekend I will post results quickly so on the Sunday or Monday.

Please make a comment and let me know if you're interested (as well as any improvements which can be made), Now's your time to ask questions or to make comments!

Circuit de Catalunya (19/02/2013-22/02/2013) Test Analysis

I intend to analyse the Circuit de Catalunya test (19/02/2013-22/02/2013) however my analysis is only going to cover the first three, rain unaffected, days. The varying conditions on the 22nd distort comparisons to other days so are less useful (plus none of the fastest times in the test were set on the day).

I've chosen to concentrate on two main performance indicators: 

1) Fastest adjusted time

2) Tyre degradation/tyre performance. 

Let's start with the analysis.   

Fastest Adjusted Times

One of the best ways to judge potential lap times is to take each lap time and apply an adjustment based on various factors including: 1) the day the lap was posted (sources cite a 0.2 second improvement each day due to the track rubbering in) 2) the amount of laps left on the stint (each lap consumes approximately 2.4kg and 10kg of fuel is worth 0.4 seconds around Catalunya) 3) the compound the stint was set on (the Pirelli report states 0.5 seconds should be the difference between each compound therfore 1.5 seconds between the new super soft and hard). Times are assumed to be set on the super soft.