Brazil - F1 Prediction League (Season Finale - Round 19)

It's time for the season finale! It all comes down to this. Brazil always produces exciting races so we can expect even more from the battles throughout the field - the battle for third, for sixth, for tenth. There's even great battles in the constructors with Lotus and McLaren only separated by 1 point fighting for second.

The great thing is that we have a mammoth random category and no Vettel picks for qualifying! This is definitely the most open weekend in terms of picks in a long time.

Good luck to all. Let's fight to see who gets the final victory of the season.

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

End of Season Awards

There are a number of awards to give out at the end of the season (top three for each category):

1. Best qualifying pick
2. Best race pick
3. Best constructors pick
4. Best random pick
5. 'Mark Webber' award (to the most unlucky player throughout the season)
6. The Conservative award (to the player who posted the most picked qualifying, race or constructors pick the most times)
7. The Originality award (to the player who posted the most picked qualifying, race or constructors pick the least times)
8. Multi 21 (to the player who finished one place above their teammate in the most events)
9. The 'Hulk Smash' award (awarded to the player who beat their teammate the most convincingly during the season)
10. No. 1 fan award (awarded to the player who picked a driver more times than anyone else e.g. if a player picked Chilton 10 times more than anyone else they'd likely win)

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

It's finally great to get all active players set up in their teams for next year.

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Random Category for Brazil (The Brazilian Bolt)

Which player will complete Interlagos in the quickest time? (based on five different categories).

The idea is to break the circuit into five different sectors, each with a question/category:

Sector 1 (Senna S, Curva do Sol and Reta Oposta) - best time = 17.8 seconds

Turns 4, 5 and 6 (Descida do Lago and Ferradura) - best time = 11.5 seconds

Turns 7, 8 and 9 (Curvo do Laranjinha and Pinheirinho) - best time = 14.2 seconds

Turns 10, 11 and 12 (Bico de Pato, Mergulho and Juncao) - best time = 13.7 seconds

Turns 13, 14 and 15 (Subida dos Boxes and Arquibancadas) - best time = 13.8 seconds

Theoretical best time = 71 seconds

You'll lose time depending on how far your picks are away from the ideal picks.
 

Sector 1 - Which driver will be the quickest in qualifying with the following handicaps applied:-

Vettel

Grosjean -0.6 seconds

Rosberg -0.65 seconds

Hulkenberg -0.85 seconds

Alonso -0.85 seconds

Perez -1.00 seconds

Ricciardo -1.20 seconds

Bottas -1.25 seconds

Di Resta - 1.3 seconds

Van der Garde - 2.45 seconds

Chilton -3.15 seconds

Your time will depend on how far your driver is behind the overall best pick. For example, if Vettel is the best pick and you picked Chilton who was 3.95 seconds behind (and has a 3.15 seconds handicap) you'd score 17.8 seconds (the best possible time) + 0.8 seconds = 18.6 seconds.

Turns 4-6 - Which teammates will be the closest in time adding their difference in both FP2 and FP3?

If Button and Perez are split by 0.03 seconds in FP2 and 0.31 seconds in FP3 then you'd add the totals to get 0.34 seconds. 

As above, the best pick will score you 11.5 seconds. Each additional place down will add an extra 0.06 seconds to your time.

Turns 7-9 - Which driver will finish the most positions above their teammate in the race?

This is a simple category, tie-breaks will be decided on the position of the lead driver, the closer to the lead, the better.

Anyone who picks a driver whose teammate retires or if they retire will automatically score an average time. For each position away from the ideal pick a further 0.065 seconds will be added to the time.

Turns 10-12 - Which team will gain the most combined positions from their grid position in the race?

Tie-breaks will be decided on the position of the lead driver, the closer to the lead, the better. Retirements will be classed as 0 gain, 0 loss. Each position away from the ideal pick will add an additional 0.07 seconds onto your time.

Turns 13-15 - Which team will have the greatest combined speed trap reading in qualifying?

Every place away from the ideal pick adds 0.05 seconds onto your time.

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I know the random is a bit crazy but I wanted to do something more grand for the finale especially with so many close battles throughout the field. If you hate it feel free to respond and I'll never do it again!

The scoring system works as follows:

Best picker: 3 points
2nd and 3rd: 2 points
4th, 5th and 6th: 1 point

Note 1: 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.

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Reminder: No Vettel qualifying or race picks and no Red Bull constructors picks. This is a Vettel free zone.

Post your picks in the following format -

Qualifying: 
Race:
Constructors:
Random:-
S1:
T4-6:
T7-9:
T10-12:
T13-15:

The deadline for Brazil picks is Friday 22nd November 12:00 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.