F1 Predictions and Gossip 2013

[Mike Douglas]

After Canada, race 7:
Leaderboard

Pos Name Pts Played Av Pts
1 Jimbo ? 272 7 38.85714286
2 Newts G 243 7 34.71428571
3 Bintang 240 7 34.28571429
4 RednBlue 239 7 34.14285714
5 maestro 237 7 33.85714286
6 jazman 234 7 33.42857143
7 Miss Chief 233 7 33.28571429
7 scrumpy 233 7 33.28571429
9 EddieEdwards 224 7 32
9 SwampThing 224 7 32
11 Richard 218 7 31.14285714
12 Latvian Eagle 211 7 30.14285714
13 jamesc_24 204 7 29.14285714
14 eagles073 203 7 29
15 zaph_01 200 7 28.57142857
16 NateEagle 194 7 27.71428571
17 Budgie Byrne 191 7 27.28571429
18 pauldrulez 188 7 26.85714286
19 Beckenham Boy 183 7 26.14285714
20 Ridcully 178 7 25.42857143
21 cpfc@eastbourne 176 7 25.14285714
22 MasterYoda 174 7 24.85714286
23 spunky 170 7 24.28571429
24 Micky Droy 163 7 23.28571429
25 meee 160 7 22.85714286
26 Hibernator 150 7 21.42857143
27 laggin 144 7 20.57142857
28 Steamy 137 6 22.83333333
29 Mike Douglas 131 7 18.71428571
30 Maidstoned Eagle 124 7 17.71428571
31 Eaglesfan1 113 7 16.14285714
32 Bobby Big Nuts 112 4 28
33 little al 100 7 14.28571429
34 Sp1Eagle 94 4 23.5
35 Disco 36 1 36
36 nathe 33 3 11
37 Excowboy 32 1 32
38 suits_you 24 1 24
39 Santos-er 11 1 11
40 thefox 10 2 5
41 -N.W.A- 6 1 6

[Mike Douglas]

The Rules :

Only 3 months to go now so time to dust off the spreadsheet, convene the stewards meetings and decide on the Rules and Regulations for 2012.
I suggest we leave the Rules the same as last year as Ridcully's tweaks seemed to work well. If any one would like to suggest any changes feel free but this thread is not democratic and the power hungry despot in charge will as per F1 make his own mind up.
Should we continue with the BBC race only "plate" competition?

2011 GP Drivers and Teams :
Blue colour indicates a confirmed 2012 contract
Green indicates a confirmed/current Test Driver for the team
All others are current or rumoured drivers for the team.

1. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing
2. Mark Webber - Red Bull Racing


3. Jenson Button - McLaren-Mercedes
4. Sergio Perez - McLaren-Mercedes


5. Fernando Alonso - Scuderia Ferrari
6. Felipe Massa - Scuderia Ferrari


7. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes Grand Prix
8. Nico Rosberg- Mercedes Grand Prix


9. Kimi Raikkonen- Lotus F1 Team
10. Romain Grosjean- Lotus F1 Team


11. Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Renault
12. Pastor Maldonado - Williams-Renault


13. Paul di Resta - Force India F1 Team-Mercedes
14. Adrian Sutil - Force India F1 Team-Mercedes


15. Esteban Guttierrez - BMW Sauber-Ferrari
16. Nico Hulkenberg - BMW Sauber-Ferrari


17. Daniel Ricciardo - Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari
18. Jean-Eric Vergne - Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari


19. Charles Pic - Caterham F1-Renault
20. Giedo van der Garde - Caterham F1-Renault


21. Jules Bianchi - Marussia Virgin Racing-Cosworth
22. Max Chilton - Marussia Virgin Racing-Cosworth


Schedule :

1 17th March Australian Grand Prix Melbourne
2 24th March Malaysian Grand Prix Sepang International Circuit
3 14th April Chinese Grand Prix Shanghai International Circuit BBC
4 21st April Bahrain Grand Prix Sakhir
5 12th May Spanish Grand Prix Circuit de Catalunya BBC
6 26th May Monaco Grand Prix Monte-Carlo
7 9th June Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Gilles Villeneuve BBC
8 30th June British Grand Prix Silverstone BBC
9 7th July German Grand Prix Nürburgring
10 21st July No race BBC
11 28th July Hungarian Grand Prix Hungaroring
12 25th August Belgian Grand Prix Spa-Francorchamps BBC
13 8th September Italian Grand Prix Monza BBC
14 22nd September Singapore Grand Prix Singapore
15 6th October Korean Grand Prix Korean International Circuit
15 13th October Japanese Grand Prix Suzuka BBC
17 27th October Indian Grand Prix Jaypee Greens Sports City BBC
18 3rd November Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Yas Island
19 17th November United States Grand Prix Austin
20 24th November Brazilian Grand Prix Interlagos BBC

Rules as follows :

First five places to pick

Win 25 pts
2nd 18 pts
3rd 15 pts
4th 12 pts
5th 10 pts

Correctly predicting driver in top 5, but not in correct position 2 pts.

Pole 10 pts
Fastest lap 5 pts

5 Bonus points to be awarded if prediction is made before first practice for the race, times as per BBS clock and official practice start times.

Therefore, maximum points for a race week are now

(25+18+15+12+10+10+5+5 = 100 Points)

Predictions are fixed at qualifying, no changes permitted afterwards although late entries will be accepted with a 10 point deduction for predictions after the start of the qualifying session.

Predictions are welcome by PM, please PM Mike Douglas and I will post them on the thread before the race if this option is used.

Note : Timings are taken as per post or edit times if post is changed.

Let the discussions and comment begin....

[Latvian Eagle]

We were due to announce our second driver around Xmas time...

The longer it drags out the more I'm thinking it'll be Sooty's return or a promotion for Reserve Driver Jules Bianchi.

[spunky]

Shame kovalinen isn't getting a drive, think caterham will go backwards without him

[MasterYoda]

A few more point scoring opportunities would be good but we'd need to know what data gets reliably published post race every race. Something like most overtakes, fastest pit stop, that sort of thing.

One thing I would like adjusted is "Correctly predicting driver in top 5, but not in correct position 2 pts."

Could we consider tweaking this to say 4 or 5 points if you are only one position out. Shouldn't be much more work to implement but would reward close predictions more than currently.

[Ridcully]

Cool, two months to clean up the spreadsheet

[Scrumpy]

I suggested something last year. Maybe points can be awarded for whoever correctly predicts which driver will make up the most places from their grid position. Obviously the driver will have to finish. Problem is it might be a bit difficult to predict pre Quali!

[Latvian Eagle]

Still no news on di Resta's partner for this year and the VJM06 is due to be unveiled on the 1st February!

Basically from what I've just read it's a toss up between Sutil and his experience plus the fact he brings Sponsorship with him, or promote the highly rated Bianchi who is a Ferrari academy driver and bag ourselves a Ferrari engine deal for 2014, thus potentially sacrificing the 2013 season.

[Mike Douglas]

According to the BBC:

German Timo Glock will not race for Marussia this year after he and the team "agreed to part company with immediate effect".

The German, 30, has raced for Marussia since their debut in 2010 as Virgin. Team boss John Booth said "commercial" considerations were behind the move. "Tough economic conditions prevail and the commercial landscape is difficult for everyone," Booth added.
Glock earned a salary; Marussia need a driver who brings sponsorship.

[Latvian Eagle]

Poor Tim. Going over to DTM apparently!

[Beckenham Boy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/21143847

Formula 1: Ross Brawn role at Mercedes under threat

Mercedes want to replace team principal Ross Brawn as part of a restructure aimed at improving the team's performance.

The proposal is to replace Brawn, who masterminded Michael Schumacher's seven world titles at Benetton and Ferrari, with two new appointments.

New executive director Toto Wolff is the first of these and he has agreed a deal to bring in McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe.

Their intended job titles are not clear but Wolff, 41, will likely be team boss and figurehead with Lowe, 50, running the sporting and technical aspects of the team.

McLaren have refused to comment on the situation, and Mercedes described BBC Sport's information as "highly speculative".

The planned restructure leaves no place for Brawn or chief executive officer Nick Fry, the two men who in the winter of 2008/9 saved what has become Mercedes following the withdrawal from Formula 1 of then-owners Honda.

In their guise as Brawn, the outfit won the 2009 drivers' title with Jenson Button as well as that year's constructors' title before being taken over by Mercedes ahead of the 2010 season.

BBC Sport understands Lowe has agreed to join Mercedes but has not yet signed a contract - so there is a possibility, however small, that he will stay at McLaren.

However, it seems he is keen to move on from his role as technical director as he had previously accepted a position as team principal at Williams, which was offered to him by Wolff, before the Mercedes offer came up.

But although Wolff is now committed to taking Lowe with him to Mercedes, BBC Sport understands the German company's initial contact with Lowe pre-dated Wolff's involvement.

BBC F1 chief analyst Eddie Jordan, who has broken two major Mercedes stories in the last three years - with their signings of Schumacher in 2010 and Lewis Hamilton for 2013 - has independently also discovered the team's plans.

"Paddy Lowe is going to Mercedes and it would appear that Brawn and Fry are on their way out, and Lowe will be there in a very senior capacity," Jordan said.

"Lowe won't be technical director; he'll be more senior than that. But he won't be called team principal either," Jordan said, "because that will be Wolff. But Lowe will effectively be running the team on a day-to-day basis."

It remains to be seen how Mercedes will resolve a potentially sticky situation.

The plans of Wolff and Mercedes F1 non-executive director Niki Lauda are to keep Brawn in place until Lowe's 'gardening leave' from McLaren is completed. This period is usually six months off work for senior personnel moving employers.

But if Brawn knows he is to be replaced it seems unlikely he would want to stay on just to keep things going for Lowe.

Mercedes' decision to remodel the top of the team has been based on the perceived need for change at an F1 team who have performed below expectations for the last three years.

Mercedes effectively brought Brawn into existence in early 2009 by agreeing to provide them with engines following Honda's withdrawal.

But staff cuts made because of a lack of budget during 2009 contributed to a dip in form when the team morphed into Mercedes in 2010, when Schumacher joined after coming out of retirement.

Joining the team that had just won the world title and renewing his partnership with Brawn, the German legend expected to be able to challenge for an eighth world championship.

Instead, Mercedes have won just one race in three years, and Schumacher's best result was an inherited third place at Valencia last year. He also set pole position in Monaco in 2012 but was demoted by a grid penalty.

Although 2012 started promisingly, with good qualifying form in several early races and a win by Schumacher's team-mate Nico Rosberg at the third race of the season in China, the team's form dipped alarmingly and by the end of the season they were struggling even to score points.

Brawn has insisted that they had been hit by a technical reshuffle that impacted on their attempts to develop last year's car and has said that he believes the right structure for success is now in place at Mercedes.

[MasterYoda]

The last time Brawn and Fry sacrificed mid season development to concentrate on a new car it worked out pretty well for them.

However there aren't the same number of rule changes and therefore possible loopholes to find this season so I'm not expecting any BrawnF1-esque early season dominance.

[Beckenham Boy]

I'm still quite surprised.

[Beckenham Boy]

FORMULA ONE
Robert Kubica is refusing to speculate on his future in the wake of Mercedes' confirmation that he will test one of their DTM cars on Thursday. The 28-year-old Pole's F1 career was put on hold after he sustained serious injuries in an rallying accident almost two years ago.

"I'm looking forward to getting acclimatised to a race car again," said Kubica, who suffered a partially severed right hand in addition to elbow, shoulder and leg fractures in the accident. "But it's still too early to make any statements about my future because of this one test. I'm just looking forward to tomorrow and we'll see what happens after that."

[Mike Douglas]

Good news about Kubica, he still thinks he will get back to F1!!
This could be interesting as well:
Formula 1 supplier Pirelli says changes to its tyres this year will mean more exciting races with more pit stops. It has changed both the construction and rubber compounds of the tyres in an attempt to ensure they degrade faster.
Pirelli says this will mean at least two pit stops per race and "increasing overtaking opportunities and so helping provide an even better show".
The Italian company added that softer tyres will mean performance is improved by 0.5 seconds a lap.

Pirelli has also changed the colour-coding on the 'hard' compound tyres to make them easier to identify. For the last two years they have been silver, which was virtually impossible to see when the cars were moving, so the paint on the sidewall and logo has been changed to orange for 2013.
“Our 2013 range of tyres mixes up the tyres once more, to help overtaking, and to ensure two to three pit stops per race”

[MasterYoda]

So did we get any closer to deciding on any rule changes?

[Mike Douglas]

Originally Posted by MasterYoda

So did we get any closer to deciding on any rule changes?

Having a mull over the suggestions. Still time for more suggestions as first race isn't until mid March. From my point of view any change mustn't mean too much extra work

[Latvian Eagle]

I think we should let me win!

[Ridcully]

I like it just the way it is, no need to change a winning formula in my book.

[Sp1Eagle]