Germany 2014 (Round 10) - F1 Prediction League

We arrive at the German GP - the home race of Rosberg, Vettel, Hulkenberg and Sutil with what promises to be a tense weekend. Rosberg will be keen to repay Hamilton for defeat at the British GP. Also FRIC systems are likely to be banned - how will this shake up the competitive order?

Last time we were at Hockenheim Alonso qualified on pole in the wet and took a lights to flag victory. Vettel originally finished second after an intense battle with Button however he had 20 seconds added to his time due to an illegal overtake on Button by exceeding the track limits (sound familiar?).

 Hockenheim has hosted many memorable other F1 races including one of my favourites in 1997 (see the video below for the first lap). Gerhard Berger went on to win an emotional last race in F1 followed by Schumacher and Hakkinen. Of course that year Schumacher and Villenueve were in a battle for the title and Villeneuve did himself no favours by crashing on lap 33.

 

After Aled Lewis' consecutive wins is he able to triumph an unprecedented three times in a row? Will Michael and Sangan pick differently? There has only been one difference so far (Rosberg vs. Hamilton in Australis where Sangan succeeded, random has generally been a bigger strength for Michael).

Just to confirm Mercedes are still banned as a constructors pick. The theme of this weekend will be focussed on the German drivers.

Here are the current championship standings:

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Random

Thanks to Nat and Michael for their help in creating this random - please feel free to post suggestions here for other races.

Random will be split into two categories - German drivers and risk vs. reward.

German drivers
Q1: Will Rosberg beat his average practice position, where he's set a time, this weekend? (2.5)
Q2: Will Sutil beat his average qualifying position this weekend? (17th)
Q3: Will Hulkenberg beat his average race position this weekend? (7th)
Q4: Will Vettel beat his average fastest lap this weekend? (5th)
Q5: Who will finish in the highest position with the following handicaps? (Sutil, Hulkenberg (+8.5), Vettel (+11), Rosberg (+13.5).)
Q6: Which German will beat his teammate the most sessions across the weekend (Rosberg, Vettel, Hulkenberg, Sutil)? This includes the five sessions plus fastest lap - P1, P2, P3, Q, R, FL. An extra three points for guessing the exact right number of sessions. Two points for one away and one point away for two away. You do not need to guess the correct driver for the extra points.

Three points will be given for each of the above categories answered correctly. 

Risk vs. Rewards

Choose as many statements from the below which you believe will be correct. You will only score points if all the statements are correct:


Both Mercedes cars will finish (1 point)
Mercedes will top every session over the weekend (P1, P2, P3, Q, R)? (2 points)
Hulkenberg will score a quicker fastest lap than Perez (2 points)
Raikkonen will finish in the points (without hitting another driver or a wall) (2 points)
Hamilton will beat Rosberg in Practice 2 (2 points)
There will be a safety car in the race (3 points)
Alonso will finish in the top five (3 points)
There will be three Mercedes engine cars on the podium (4 points) 
Vettel and Alonso will finish three race laps next to each other (4 points)
Daniel Ricciardo will finish on the podium (4 points)
The podium will have two German drivers on (5 points)
Massa will retire (6 points)
A Sauber, Marussia or Caterham will score points (12 points)
Lewis Hamilton will score the Grand Chelem (qualifying, race, fastest lap, led every lap) (15 points)


Tie-break

Which German driver will qualify closest to Felipe Massa? Name the driver and the time difference. The driver will be the first tie-break and the time the ultimate tie-break.

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Feel free to post picks in the following format:

Qualifying: 
Race: 
Constructors: [Not Mercedes as they are banned]
Random:
Q1: Yes/No
Q2: Yes/No
Q3: Yes/No
Q4: Yes/No
Q5: Rosberg +13.5 places/Vettel +11 places/Hulkenberg +8.5 places/Sutil
Q6: Rosberg/Vettel/Hulkenberg/Sutil

Risk vs. Reward Statements (copy + paste below)

Tie-break
Closest German driver to Massa:
Time difference -

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I'm looking forward to this weekend. As always picks are due before Free Practice 1. Will Alonso work another miracle and win here.

Britain 2014 Results and Championship Standings (9/19)

At the start of the season, there were doubts - doubts that this season was going to be entertaining.  I feel these doubts have been answered. This race once again delivered - it had most things! While it didn't reach the heights of Bahrain and Canada, it was still special. A home winner was popular around the circuit, just like a Ferrari winner at Monza, especially as it had significant implications for the championship.

I feel that in terms of reaching classic status it missed a few essential elements - an epic battle for both the lead and for the other podium positions (Bottas and Ricciardo had a fairly easy time in the latter stages of the race). There were some tense battles further down; Alonso and Vettel entertained, their radio messages as funny as the on-track battle. One thing's clear, there's certainly no love lost between the two...

The weekend was a tale of contrasting fortunes - the fact that the podium consisted of drivers starting 6th, 8th and 14th was remarkable. The wet conditions in qualifying hampered six out of eight drivers in the top four teams (Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, Williams) which created a very exciting race. 

Unfortunately for both Raikkonen and Massa their races were very short. Luckily both are mostly okay except for damaged pride and a loss of points respectively.

Congratulations to Aled Lewis again who repeated the feat of Kiszol (twice) by winning two consecutive races. Very impressive. Sangan and Michael are yet again tied close to each other, heading the table (they finished 3rd and 4th respectively). I wonder if there will be any decisive differences soon!? 

P.S. thanks to Dragan for pointing out a mistake last time. Juan Medina has been given back the 18 points.

Britain 2014 (Round 9) - F1 Prediction League

We arrive at the British GP, the scene of the Great Pirelli Farce and a Nico Rosberg victory last year. Both Hamilton and Vettel were set to win before issues cruelly denied each. Both have been beset by bad luck and retirements this year - perhaps their luck will turn around here?

Silverstone has so much history with memories from every decade. The first lap pile-up in 1973 started by Scheckter; Mansell's charge and overtake of Piquet in 1987; Schumacher's win while serving a drive through penalty in 1998 and Hamilton's magnificent wet weather win in 2008. The weather forecast is definitely pointing to a wet qualifying session which could create an exciting and mixed up grid!

What has been your favourite British GP of all-time?

Just to confirm Mercedes are still banned as a constructors pick. The theme of this weekend will be focussed on the British drivers (with a similar theme to be explored during the German GP weekend).

Here are the current championship standings:

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Random

Thanks to Nat and Michael for their help in creating this random - please feel free to post suggestions here.

Random will be split into two categories - British drivers and teammate head-to-heads.

British drivers
Q1: Will Hamilton beat his average practice position this weekend? (2nd)
Q2: Will Button beat his average qualifying position this weekend? (10th)
Q3: Will Chilton beat his average race position this weekend? (17th)
Q4: Who will set the fastest qualifying time? (Hamilton, Button with 2.25 seconds deducted or Chilton with 4.75 seconds deducted).
Q5: How many sessions (FP1, FP2, FP3, Q, Race and FL) will Jenson Button beat Kevin Magnussen? (0-2, 3-4, 5-6)
Q6: How close will Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg be in qualifying? (0-0.099s/0.1-0.199s/0.2-0.399s/0.4s+)
Q7: What position will Chilton's fastest lap be? (1-10, 11-14, 15-18, 19-22)

Two points will be given for each of the above categories answered correctly. 

Teammate head-to-heads 

The idea is to pick as many of the race head-to-heads below as you wish (i.e. which drivers will beat their teammate in the race). You will only score points in this round if all of your picks are correct. Driver retirements count so the driver in the team who completes the most laps is the winner.  

A bonus point will be given for every two drivers you pick to incentivise picking more drivers.

Alonso (1 point) v. Raikkonen (3 points)
Hamilton (2 points) v. Rosberg (2 points)
Massa (2 points) v. Bottas (2 points)
Button (1 point) v. Magnussen (3 points)
Hulkenberg (2 points) v. Perez (2 points)
Grosjean (1 point) v. Maldonado (3 points)
Ricciardo (1 point) v. Vettel (3 points)
Vergne (2 points) v. Kvyat (2 points)
Sutil (2 points) v. Gutierrez (2 points)

 For example: 
- Player A picks Raikkonen, Magnussen and Maldonado, they could score 10 points in total for the category (3 + 3 + 3 plus a bonus point)
- Player B picks Alonso, Button, Grosjean and Ricciardo, they could score 6 points in total for the category (1 + 1 + 1 + 1 plus two bonus points for picking four drivers).
- Player C picks Alonso, Hamilton, Bottas, Magnussen, Hulkenberg and Vergne, they could score 13 points in total (1 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 2 plus three bonus points for picking six drivers).

As always the player with the highest overall point score will win the random. 

Tie-break

In the event of a tie, the player who predicts the closest teammates during qualifying will be the winner. Ties will be settled by the difference between those two teammates.

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Feel free to post picks in the following format:

Qualifying: 
Race: 
Constructors: [Not Mercedes as they are banned]
Random:
Q1 - Yes/No
Q2 - Yes/No
Q3 - Yes/No
Q4 - Hamilton/Button/Chilton
Q5 - 0-2/3-4/5-6
Q6 - 0-0.099s/0.1-0.199s/0.2-0.399s/0.4s+
Q7 - 1-10/11-14/15-18/19-22

Race teammate accumulator - [list drivers]

Tie-break
Closest teammates in Q -
Time difference -

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I'm looking forward to this weekend. As always picks are due before Free Practice 1. See you soon!

Austria 2014 Results and Championship Standings (8/19)

I hope everyone enjoyed the unpredictability of the Austrian weekend. Both Williams' on the front row and Red Bull really struggling were two key themes throughout the weekend. Who would have thought it!? Bottas was keen to downplay expectations before the weekend, saying P6-8 was realistic. Red Bull were very bullish (pun intended) saying they hoped to challenge Mercedes and definitely be the best of the rest.

This unusual weekend culminated in Massa taking his first pole in a long time but unfortunately for him he let the race slide away and finished off the podium. Bottas looked better most of the weekend and drove an excellent race all-in-all - an aggressive re-pass of Nico Rosberg near the start of the race, some scintillating laps before the first pitstops and his consistency throughout earnt him a well-deserved podium.

In the prediction league there isn't too much change overall. This was an exceptionally low scoring round with the top scorer only scoring 12 points - the lowest in prediction league history (15 was previously the lowest). 

Congratulations to Aled Lewis for their second win in the league. Well done to Juan Medina, for a third podium in a row, and Chris Grigson, standing on the podium for the first time! 

Austria 2014 (Round 8) - F1 Prediction League

Austria promises to be an interesting race. For one, it's nice to return to an old track especially as there were a number of entertaining races at the old A1 ring. Unfortunately the event is still heavily linked with the Ferrari team order debacle in 2002. The debate was even more intense as Schumacher, with four wins out of five, was already in a commanding position in the championship. The decision was made by Todt which had wide ranging repercussions including a ban of team orders for eight years. Schumacher was so embarrassed by the situation that he gifted Barrichello a win at Indianapolis later in the year.

Despite this I'm looking forward to the race, safe in the knowledge that Mercedes won't give similar team orders. I feel like the Red Bull Ring will offer up another tense battle in the race for the championship. 

For those of who you never watched/don't remember, here is a video of the pole lap from the last race here in 2003. It's a fairly high speed circuit with plenty of aggressive corners, really showing off the power/noise and downforce performance of the early 2000 cars.

Due to my slowness in posting the results thread (apologies, things will get back to normal now that I've returned from holiday - see link for results thread), I should congratulate Keba, Dragan and Joe for their places on the podium.

Canada was a great race and Ricciardo's victory was very popular throughout the paddock. Red Bull were ultimately strong but were pushed hard by both Williams and the Force India cars. Hopefully we'll see similar battles this weekend throughout the field. Also will we see Rosberg win a third race in a row? 

Just to confirm Mercedes are still banned (Hamilton and Rosberg still eligible). However the increasing dominance of Mercedes and Red Bull has led me towards a unique idea for random.

Here is the current championship standings:

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Random

Thanks to Michael for his help in creating this random.
  
This time the random is similar to the usual qualifying, race and constructors picks. However for each you must make two picks (in addition to your usual picks). Given the dominance of the Mercedes and Red Bull packages Hamilton, Rosberg, Mercedes, Ricciardo, Vettel and Red Bull are all banned.

So you must choose two drivers for qualifying and two drivers for race. These can be repeated between category e.g. you could choose Hulkenberg in both qualifying and race. The driver you feel has the best chance of winning without Mercedes and Red Bull should be placed first as this will affect the amount of points you score. The same is true for the two constructors picks you make. See the scoring table below.

The player with the highest overall point score will win the random. 

Tie-break

Of the four drivers who have raced at the Spielberg track in F1 - Raikkonen, Button, Alonso and Massa - which driver will gain the most positions from their starting position? How many places? If a tie still exists after this, time of posting will be the decider. 

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Feel free to post picks in the following format:

Qualifying: 
Race: 
Constructors: [Not Mercedes as they are banned]
Random:
Qualifying
Driver 1 -
Driver 2 -
Race
Driver 1 -
Driver 2 -
Constructors
Team 1 -
Team 2 -
Driver to gain most places and quantity: Raikkonen/Button/Alonso/Massa

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Last time the race was held in Austria Ferrari and McLaren were both in the running for the World Championship (along with Williams). F1 has changed significantly since then with the emergence of Red Bull and the Mercedes team (obviously both were in F1 under different names, Jaguar and BAR respectively). 

Both Ferrari and McLaren have stated their commitment to bringing new parts to the car in Austria. Will this be enough to see them challenge for an unlikely podium?

As always picks are due before Free Practice 1 (Friday 20th June 09:00 GMT). See you soon!

Canada 2014 Results and Championship Standings (7/19)

Thanks for everyone's patience. I've been away so haven't been able to give the prediction league the full attention it deserves - things will be back on track from now on. However I'll keep this one short so I can get the Austria thread up and running!

Suffice to say, well done to Daniel Ricciardo! He had some luck along the way but maximised his performance during the race. Vettel's not used to this situation but fair play that he genuinely seemed happy for his teammate.

In the prediction league it's really heating up at the top. We have another new leader (4 different championship leaders in as many races). The excellent Lotus constructors team of Sangan and Dragan continue to perform well.

Big congratulations to Keba who scored their first win so far. This is an excellent reward for impressive consistency (13 points scores out of 14 races). Dragan and Joe also finished on the podium, their ninth and fifth podiums respectively.

Canada 2014 (Round 7) - F1 Prediction League

Welcome to Canada - one of the strongholds of Lewis Hamilton. The Brit is odds on favourite to take the pole and the victory here so Rosberg must aim to spring a surprise as a victory in Canada will be a major blow to Hamilton's championship credentials.

There promises to be a lot of excitement throughout the field as well as a different looking grid. Canada is a very different circuit to Spain or Monaco so expect to see a different pecking order to either of these races.

Mercedes are obviously still banned for Constructors but any other team is an option. I would love to make this a longer post but I'm heading abroad for a week in a couple of hours, expect the results thread on Tuesday/Wednesday. After this everything will get back to normal!

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

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Random

Thanks to Michael, Nat and Joe for their help in creating this random.
  
This time the random involves a number of random questions:

How many cars will finish on the same lap as the race winner?
Correct – 3 points
1-3 away – 2 points
4-6 away – 1 point

Will both Force India drivers score points? Yes/No (2 points for correct answer)

Which driver will beat their teammate in the most sessions throughout the weekend?* (Raikkonen/Chilton/Maldonado/Ericsson) (3 points for best guess, 2 points for 2nd etc.)

Which driver will beat their teammate in the most sessions throughout the weekend?*
(Ricciardo/Bottas/Kvyat/Rosberg) (3 points for best guess, 2 points for 2nd etc.)

Will there be a safety car? Yes/No (2 points for correct answer)

Pole qualifying margin over/under 0.2 seconds? Over/Under (2 points for correct answer)

Winning margin over/under 7 seconds? Over/Under (2 points for correct answer)

The tie-break question is what will be the time difference between the fastest Mercedes driver and the fastest non-Mercedes driver in qualifying?

Good luck!

* Note: there are six opportunities to score points - practice 1, practice 2, practice 3, qualifying, race finish and fastest lap. Points will be scored for qualifying, race and fastest lap if a teammate DNS, DNF, DNQ or DSQ however this is not true for practice e.g. if the selected driver's teammate sets no laps then a point is not scored.

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Feel free to post picks in the following format:

Qualifying: 
Race: 
Constructors: [Not Mercedes as they are banned]
Random:
Cars on same lap as race winner - 0-21
FI drivers both in points - Yes/No
Teammate A - Raikkonen/Chilton/Maldonado/Ericsson
Teammate B - Ricciardo/Bottas/Kvyat/Rosberg
Safety Car - Yes/No
Pole Margin - Over/Under 0.2 seconds
Race Margin - Over/Under 7 seconds
Tie-break - X seconds

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Last year Vettel swept home to take an easy victory, at that point his third of the season. Alonso charged through the field to finish second while Hamilton had to settle for third - although 54 seconds up the road from his teammate. Unfortunately after this race Vettel also went on to capture 10 of the next 12 race victories.

A flashback to the prediction league last year shows a MetalGatherer win (they'd dearly like to repeat this to make it consecutive wins, both in 2014 and at the Canada venue). Kim and Wander were also on the podium last year.

Good luck all!