Korea Results and Championship Standings (14/19)

Congratulations to Sangan on an incredible weekend! At one point it looked like an almost certain 25 points with Red Bull looking good for constructors and an almost certain win with the random category, however Webber's retirement changed that. Sangan scored 30/30 points for random, meaning ten exactly correct predictions, which is up there with the greatest achievements in the F1 prediction league.

Also an honorary mention to our new picker Keba, who finished in the points and had a successful debut. They've been assigned a place at the Red Bull team for the rest season because of the absence of Wander.

In general this race was pretty successful with pickers as it overtakes Singapore (225) and Spa (212) as the highest points scoring race, with 238 points. Obviously this is a sign that the increasing popularity and dominance of Vettel means a change has to happen for the sake of the league.

After considering player preference and transparency the following will be imposed from the weekend of Japan - Suzuka (11-13th October 2013)

No Vettel race picks
No Red Bull constructors picks

Please read to the bottom of this article for further reasoning.

Here are the current standings:

Constructors Championship

For constructors, so not to disadvantage teams with only one driver (or to protect against someone who doesn't post), players will score points in line with race finishes. See the overall results below, Sangan will score 25 points for his 1st place this weekend. This is different to how the drivers championship will be scored. If players are tied they will be separated by the following criteria: Race > Constructors > Qualifying > Random > The time of the pick (earlier the better).

The podium was as follows (see post for further results)

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Korea Results

 

 

Breakdown

If players are tied on overall points they will be separated by the following criteria: Race > Constructors > Qualifying > Random > The time of the pick (earlier the better). 

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Point Allocation

Qualifying

 

Race 

Constructors

Random

The aim of random was to choose the fastest and slowest drivers out of the following categories:

Each player scored 3 points if they made an entirely correct pick e.g. Pic for fastest in practice 1, if Pic beats the other three. 2 points are scored for one away, 1 point for two away and 0 points for an entirely incorrect pick.

Unbelievably Sangan finished the weekend with ten out of ten entirely correct picks to win the random with ease. Well done!

 

 

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Point Allocation (Season)

Most season session points is the ultimate gauge of consistency across all race weekend sessions. For every session (P1, P2, P3, qualifying and race) + fastest lap a driver is allocated points equivalent to the race finish (25 = 1st, 18 = 2nd, etc.). These points will be totalled across every weekend and the winner will be the one with the most points.

  

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Vettel ban situation

After panelling public opinion most people were in support of a ban of some sort. There was an overwhelming majority of 11/13 who stated that no ban was there least preferable option. 

All people were in support of banning Vettel for race, and most were in support of banning Red Bull from constructors.  The main decision point was whether it was right to ban Vettel from qualifying. A lot of people are still unsure about whether Vettel's dominance is strong enough to completely ban him and whether banning Hamilton would then be needed. The two of them have easily been the two strongest qualifying picks this season to date.

I'm always keen to create rules so they can be applied when certain situations occur. That way it can be stated in the rules, everyone is then aware.

I therefore propose the following system:

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A driver will be banned from qualifying for the rest of the season when:

Condition: they lead the qualifying championship standings by over 50 points
Reversing criteria: the driver's lead reduces to under 25 points

Condition: a driver qualifies on pole five consecutive times
Reversing criteria: the driver goes on a streak of three races without attaining pole position

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A driver will be banned from race for the rest of the season when:

Condition: they lead the world championship standings by over 50 points
Reversing criteria: the driver's lead reduces to under 25 points

Condition: they win five consecutive races
Reversing criteria: they go on a streak of three races without winning 

Condition: they are crowned driver's champion (no reversing criteria)

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A team will be banned from constructors for the rest of the season when:

Condition: they lead the championship by over 100 points
Reversing criteria: the teams lead in the championship falls below 50 points

Condition: they are crowned constructor's champions 

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Qualifying table

Vettel does not meet either conditions for banning him from qualifying, he is currently only 23 points ahead of Hamilton for the season (when it needs to be 50). Also he has not qualified on pole in five consecutive sessions (current: 3)

Championship standings

Vettel currently has a 77 point over Alonso so qualifies the criteria set.

 

Constructors standings

Red Bull have a 118 point lead over Ferrari so qualify for the ban criteria.

Further comments

I appreciate contribution from other players, helping me to consider different options. For example Dead Jedi suggested that the previous race winner could be banned from the picks. Kiszol suggested a system which rewarded more obscure picks and Joe considered other permutations like banning Hamilton from qualifying too.

I'm happy to discuss changes like this at the end of the season however some of these were too significant as rule changes.

There are certain things I feel are very important to the picking game e.g. always being able to score maximum points, banning people too easily, overcomplicating things. That's why I've supported the ban on Vettel for race and Red Bull for constructors which could be justified but not the qualifying ban.

Always happy to discuss if you have any questions so please let me know. If anyone's unhappy with the rule changes also feel free to comment.

The rule changes will apply as of the next race in Japan!