Topic: Fantasy F1 Teams?

[Otto Puzzell]

For the first time this year, I didn't get my predictions in - yet I finished second. There is a lesson here, I think...

[Carnut]

For the first time this year, I didn't get my predictions in - yet I finished second. There is a lesson here, I think...

Yes; your predictions make no difference whatsoever if you get them all wrong anyway as I usually do!

[Carnut]

Results from Belgium
 
Pos   Team                   Manager                   Pts
1   Team Hawk               Carnut                      160
2   Z Ram W                   Karn Utz                   134
3   EcurieRouge             oko94                        118
4   Flying Burrow Owls   Stephen Mason         118
5   Cars Going Fast        el_monty                     81


Championship Standings

Pos   Team                    Manager                    Pts
1   Team Hawk              Carnut                       1685
2   EcurieRouge             oko94                        1451
3   Cars Going Fast        el_monty                   1398
4   Z Ram W                   Karn Utz                   1374
5   Flying Burrow Owls   Stephen Mason        1293

[Carnut]

What should have been a really great GP with a 3 or even 4 or 5 way fight between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull along with Williams and Force India totally ruined by the FIA and their utterly ridiculous penalties (what is the point of a 35-place grid penalty with only 20 cars on the grid?) against the drivers for changing mechanical parts.

Are the FIA totally blind?  Have they no idea at all what keeps the show on the road?

The rules MUST be changed and if they want to penalise anyone for changing a gearbox it has to be the constructor, not the driver.

Madness.

[nicanary]

What should have been a really great GP with a 3 or even 4 or 5 way fight between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull along with Williams and Force India totally ruined by the FIA and their utterly ridiculous penalties (what is the point of a 35-place grid penalty with only 20 cars on the grid?) against the drivers for changing mechanical parts.

Are the FIA totally blind?  Have they no idea at all what keeps the show on the road?

The rules MUST be changed and if they want to penalise anyone for changing a gearbox it has to be the constructor, not the driver.

Madness.

Had you bet on Alonso for a win? . I absolutely agree with you - the FIA are attempting to ensure that manufacturers can build almost permanent reliability into the cars, in a bid to look "green", but the end result is a farce. It ruins pure racing, although of course a financial penalty would be equally farcical, rather like fining a footballer £5k for bringing the game into disrepute. The guy probably spends that much on a night out.

BTW over on Pistonheads in the General Gassing section someone has brought up the old chestnut of the 1971 Italian GP and its close finish. I used to love the races at Monza in those days, they were nearly always like that, something we'll probably never see again because of "aero" and DRS. The public would love it, yet the FIA and FOM seem to think they know what the public wants.

[Carnut]

Actually I'd bet on Vettel!  I thought since Ferrari are competitive this year and it is Italy, Ferrari would be pulling out all the stops to make sure they had the best chance.  Unfortunately they performed poorly in the wet qualifying yesterday so they've really got their work cut out now...

[nicanary]

Actually I'd bet on Vettel!  I thought since Ferrari are competitive this year and it is Italy, Ferrari would be pulling out all the stops to make sure they had the best chance.  Unfortunately they performed poorly in the wet qualifying yesterday so they've really got their work cut out now...

I've just had a look at the grid - I hadn't realised so many drivers had suffered this ridiculous penalty. Complete farce, the only redeeming chance being that the circuit is quite fast, and DRS will enable overtaking, or so I assume. I have no idea (nor am I interested) as to where the official DRS zones are located.

Vettel starts 6th according to my laptop. That's not too bad, not as severe as Alonso's 35-place penalty!! Does that mean 20 places this race, and 15 in the next? Welcome to modern F1 - bonkers.

I'm not against safety. I'd like to see single-seaters with no aero whatsoever, just a protected cubicle for the driver, 3-litre engines of any cylinder-configuration , real rubber tyres (no weird scientific compounds) with no authorities telling you what to use and when, no DRS (no wings in fact), just really back to basics. It would sort out the real racers from the Playstation kids, you'd get slipstreaming races at fast circuits, and please don't tell me "it's dangerous, the cars will take off without aero", it'll be all in the hands of the driver. If he's worth his salt, it'll be safe enough.

Rant over.

[Allan L]

I'm not against safety. I'd like to see single-seaters with no aero whatsoever, just a protected cubicle for the driver, 3-litre engines of any cylinder-configuration , real rubber tyres (no weird scientific compounds) with no authorities telling you what to use and when, no DRS (no wings in fact), just really back to basics. It would sort out the real racers from the Playstation kids, you'd get slipstreaming races at fast circuits, and please don't tell me "it's dangerous, the cars will take off without aero", it'll be all in the hands of the driver. If he's worth his salt, it'll be safe enough.

Rant over.

I'm not really a participant in this, but I can't help coming in to agree with most of the above. The only bit I don't subscribe to is the "no aerodynamics and no DRS" as in my view driver-controllable aerodynamics are fine - and have been since the airbrake on the Le Mans DB 300SLR! I have always voted for having as few rules as possible (apart from the crash-worthiness rules) so that we can have the variety of approaches to the task that made racing technically interesting in "the old days".
My formula is 200 litres of fuel to use as you like and a race 300 miles long. Oh and a starting grid based on practice/qualifying times alone for safe (ish) starts.

[Carnut]

The penalties aren't carried over to the next race.
Hence what is the point of a 65-place grid penalty that someone got last week (can't remember who)?
Frankly it's shambolic and the FIA should be ashamed of themselves.  That's if they can see out of their ivory tower...

[nicanary]

I'm not against safety. I'd like to see single-seaters with no aero whatsoever, just a protected cubicle for the driver, 3-litre engines of any cylinder-configuration , real rubber tyres (no weird scientific compounds) with no authorities telling you what to use and when, no DRS (no wings in fact), just really back to basics. It would sort out the real racers from the Playstation kids, you'd get slipstreaming races at fast circuits, and please don't tell me "it's dangerous, the cars will take off without aero", it'll be all in the hands of the driver. If he's worth his salt, it'll be safe enough.

Rant over.

I'm not really a participant in this, but I can't help coming in to agree with most of the above. The only bit I don't subscribe to is the "no aerodynamics and no DRS" as in my view driver-controllable aerodynamics are fine - and have been since the airbrake on the Le Mans DB 300SLR! I have always voted for having as few rules as possible (apart from the crash-worthiness rules) so that we can have the variety of approaches to the task that made racing technically interesting in "the old days".
My formula is 200 litres of fuel to use as you like and a race 300 miles long. Oh and a starting grid based on practice/qualifying times alone for safe (ish) starts.

I already knew you would be in broad agreement, Allan. The problem is trying to persuade the modern organisers and owners of the sport that things could be so much better. I ackowledge your point about aerodynamic aids - my beef is more to do with all the fins, and winglets, and bargeboards, and goodness knows what else, all of which seem to be fine-tuned to any one particular circuit to maximise speed or grip or whatever is required for that round of the championship. It's crazy - hundreds of staff are employed at HQ sitting at their computers coming up with this stuff. Just stop it, I say. Sorry if people lose their jobs, but that's life. Most of them aren't car fans like us anyway, they can get jobs designing pet food cans.

For over a hundred years racing car designers and engineers have tried to build the most advanced cars in order to beat the opposition. IMHO enough is enough. We've reached a zenith where engineering is so good that the racing has suffered. The cars are simply too good. Time to call it quits and start all over again.

PS Sorry for hijacking your thread, carnut.

[Carnut]

Results from Italy

Pos   Team                     Manager                 Pts
1   Flying Burrow Owls   Stephen Mason       139
2   EcurieRouge              oko94                     138
3   Team Hawk               Carnut                     126
4   Z Ram W                   Karn Utz                  113
5   Cars Going Fast        el_monty                    85


Championship Standings

Pos   Team                   Manager                   Pts
1   Team Hawk             Carnut                      1811
2   EcurieRouge           oko94                       1589
3   Z Ram W                 Karn Utz                   1487
4   Cars Going Fast      el_monty                   1483
5   Flying Burrow Owls Stephen Mason         1432

[Otto Puzzell]

I made some really bad predictions on this one - only got the 1st retirement correct.

[el_monty]

After this terrible result I have overhauled my team completely. Better late than never. I had not made any significant changes since the start of the season. It seems that what worked at the very beginning is just not functioning at this stage.

[Carnut]

I made some really bad predictions on this one - only got the 1st retirement correct.

Me too, but I got all 7 of mine wrong this weekend...!

[Otto Puzzell]

.

[Carnut]

It's never over till the fat lady sings Otto!

Results from Singapore

Pos   Team                    Manager                 Pts
1   EcurieRouge             oko94                     167
2   Team Hawk              Carnut                     135
3   Cars Going Fast       el_monty                 133
4   Flying Burrow Owls  Stephen Mason       119
5   Z Ram W                  Karn Utz                    97


Championship Standings

Pos   Team                     Manager               Pts
1   Team Hawk              Carnut                   1946
2   EcurieRouge             oko94                   1756
3   Cars Going Fast        el_monty              1616
4   Z Ram W                   Karn Utz               1584
5   Flying Burrow Owls   Stephen Mason    1551

[Carnut]

Otto's finest hour!

Results from Malaysia

Pos   Team                   Manager            Pts
1   Z Ram W                 Karn Utz             146
2   EcurieRouge           oko94                  140
3   Team Hawk             Carnut                135
4   Flying Burrow Owls Stephen Mason   123
5   Cars Going Fast      el_monty               80


Championship Standings

Pos   Team                   Manager              Pts
1   Team Hawk              Carnut                 2081
2   EcurieRouge             oko94                 1896
3   Z Ram W                   Karn Utz             1730
4   Cars Going Fast        el_monty            1696
5   Flying Burrow Owls   Stephen Mason  1674

[Otto Puzzell]

It appears I picked up a lot of points for Vettel's last-to-fourth performance. All but one of my predictions were off.

[Carnut]

It appears I picked up a lot of points for Vettel's last-to-fourth performance. All but one of my predictions were off.

Ditto;  I got a shedload of bonus points for him climbing from 20th to 4th too, and the only prediction I got right was Hamilton's 2nd place...

[Carnut]

Results from Japan

Pos   Team                    Manager            Pts
1   EcurieRouge            oko94                 134
2   Cars Going Fast      el_monty               96
3   Flying Burrow Owls Stephen Mason     91
4   Team Hawk              Carnut                  90
5   Z Ram W                  Karn Utz               53


Championship Standings

Pos   Team                   Manager              Pts
1   Team Hawk              Carnut                  2171
2   EcurieRouge             oko94                  2030
3   Cars Going Fast        el_monty             1792
4   Z Ram W                   Karn Utz              1783
5   Flying Burrow Owls   Stephen Mason   1765

[Otto Puzzell]

Things have returned to normal

[Carnut]

Results from USA

Pos   Team                     Manager             Pts
1   Team Hawk               Carnut                 155
2   Z Ram W                   Karn Utz              129
3   Flying Burrow Owls   Stephen Mason   114
4   Cars Going Fast        el_monty              105
5   EcurieRouge             oko94                     94


Championship Standings

Pos   Team                    Manager               Pts
1   Team Hawk              Carnut                  2326
2   EcurieRouge            oko94                    2124
3   Z Ram W                  Karn Utz                1912
4   Cars Going Fast       el_monty               1897
5   Flying Burrow Owls  Stephen Mason     1879

[oko94]

I was too late to make my predictions for the USA GP. I would have easily scored 25 points more with the predictable pole and win by Hamilton...

[Carnut]

I was too late to make my predictions for the USA GP. I would have easily scored 25 points more with the predictable pole and win by Hamilton...

Don't forget to do them before next weekend then..
Not many chances left this year!

[oko94]

I did them this morning 

Anyway, first place is out of reach now, so I'm just trying to stay 2nd, which shouldn't be an issue.