India - F1 Prediction League (Round 16)

The title wasn't wrapped up in Japan, as expected, however it's definitely a matter of time. Realistically only a Vettel retirement will stop the crowning of F1's youngest four-time world champion. Few would bet against Vettel achieving a tame fifth place, especially as all fourteen finishes have achieved top four positions.

The ban of Vettel from race and Red Bull from constructors created a variety of strategies in Japan. This was true across both categories with votes split pretty equally between Hamilton (0pts), Alonso (2pts), Raikkonen (1pt) and Webber (8pts) and Lotus (6pts), Mercedes (0pts) and Ferrari (1pt). Webber and Lotus pickers prevailed while Hamilton and Mercedes pickers hit rock-bottom with no score.

The retirement of Hamilton may have crucial ramifications on the title race. Going into the final four races, Kiszol now finds himself ideally placed to launch an attack on the top two positions. Dead Jedi also impressively won his second race in three outings, moving up to seventh place. At this stage of the championship, the stakes are raised and mistakes are amplified; Title contenders Lotus need to respond quickly, in the constructors championship, as do Kim and Kiszol before its too late.

To refresh your memories, here's a quick round-up of the standings so far:

For a full guide to the 2013 season including stats and other F1 prediction league articles, please go to: F1 Prediction League 2013

I have updated the statistics so they are now complete.

Also see the driver speculation 2014 page for constructors offers etc. There are currently offers for Jasper94, MetalGatherer, Michael and Keba. Please don't be afraid to request a team if you're interested or to make specific demands if you feel you're worth it!

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Random Category for India (Indian Improver)

Which teams will improve the most between the following sessions?

Category 1: Practice 1 and Practice 2

Category 2: Practice 2 and Practice 3

Category 3: Practice 3 and Qualifying

Category 4: Qualifying and Race

There are no restrictions on picks, so any of the eleven teams can be picked for any of the four different categories. This allows you to repeat a team for several categories, although I wouldn't recommend picking the same team every time!

The positions of both drivers will be added together e.g. 

P1 - Alonso 8th, Massa 10th = 18 points

P2 - Alonso 7th, Massa 5th = 12 points

Net improvement/(loss) for category 1 = 6 points.

The scores will be totalled across the four categories to reach an overall score.

Note 1: Any driver who retires in the race will be disqualified from category 4 and will score the picker 0 points (no improvement, no loss).

If players finish on the same amount of points, ties will be resolved by giving the place to the player with the highest score in their best category (then 2nd best score if the tie still remains etc.) If this method does not distinguish between the pickers then the player who picked first will finish ahead.

The scoring system works as follows:

Best picker: 3 points

2nd and 3rd: 2 points

4th, 5th and 6th: 1 point

Note 2: if there is an overall tie on weekend points and the usual method of race > constructors > qualifying > random cannot settle the difference, constructors points will be decided on actual random scores (i.e. the total score across all four categories).

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Post your picks in the following format -

Qualifying:

Race:

Constructors:

Random:-

1:

2:

3:

4:

The deadline for India picks is Friday 25th October 05:30 GMT (before FP1). 

Good luck and may the best picker win! If anyone's worried about block picking, please email me with your picks here. Then I can post your picks during FP1 when possible. Same rules apply as usual, after you've made your picks you'll have a very small window to correct (1 hour) and then they're set in stone.

I'll always attempt to pick fairly early, given my position in the championship always good to avoid any suspicions!