2012 Formula One Side Competition

[tubeguru]

OK people, as an aside to Root's annual F1 competition (see thread), I thought it might be an idea to run a predictions competition of a slightly different kind.

All you have to do is go through the questions below and make your prediction for each one. All predictions must be made before the start of the season, and will subsequently be "locked in" until after the final race. At that point the predictions will be compared to the facts to see who's won. This idea comes from an F1 website I regularly frequent, in case anyone recognises this.

You will notice that some of the predictions are subjective (such as "most exciting race"). These will be determined solely by ME. There will be no appeals, and no correspondence will be entered into just because you disagree with me. I will be making my own predictions in this competition, but as the subjective questions are judged by me, I won't be entering an answer for those to keep it fair.

As this is only a bit of fun, please don't start getting technical/anal/picky on my ass - just give your predictions, along with any annotations/explanations you feel you'd like to add.

You can only answer ONE prediction per question (unless it asks for more than one), so no hedging your bets by saying that the WDC will be "Vettel or Alonso". Anyone who submits an invalid answer to anything will be invited to change it to a valid one. If no correction is received by the closing date then you will be deemed to have not submitted a prediction for that question.

THE CLOSING DATE FOR PREDICTIONS IS 23:59 ON THE 15TH OF MARCH 2012. PLEASE SEND THEM TO ME VIA PRIVATE MESSAGE.

YOU MAY CHANGE YOUR PREDICTIONS AT ANY POINT UP TO THE CLOSING POINT - JUST PM ME WITH THE CHANGES. Absolutely NO entries or amendments will be considered after the closing date.

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So, without further ado, here are the questions I'd like your predictions for. All questions relate to the 2012 season:

1. Who will win the Driver's Championship?

2. Who will win the Constructor's Championship?

3. Will Michael Schumacher win a GP? (yes/no only - no maybes or ifs)

4. What will Kimi Raikkonen's highest finishing position be? (disqualifications will not count)

5. Who will be top rookie? This year's rookies are Charles Pic, Jean-Eric Vergne and Romain Grosjean. You will notice that Grosjean is not technically a "rookie", but as there are only two completely new drivers this year I felt we needed a third. As Grosjean has the fewest starts of the remaining drivers (seven), he is more or less a rookie anyway.

6. Which of the three "new" teams will finish highest in the Constructor's Championship? If none of these teams scores points, the most successful will be the team with the highest finishing position. The teams in question are the three newest teams in F1: Caterham, HRT and Marussia.

7. Which driver will be the first to be replaced this season for any reason? You may answer "no one" if you think all 24 drivers will make it to the end without being replaced, but I'd say that's a brave punt.

8. What will be the year's biggest row (technical/personal/whatever - your choice)? Technical example from 2011: blown diffusers. Personal example from 2011: Hamilton v Massa.

9. How many races will take place before Red Bull and/or Ferrari announce that they're dropping Mark Webber and/or Felipe Massa respectively for 2013? If you think the whole season will pass before this happens, then answer "20" or "all of them". Answering "zero" means that you think one or both will happen before the first race! You never know ...

10. Driver's Championship: walkover or close battle? I will determine whether a "walkover" or "close battle" was achieved at the end of the season. As a guide, I consider 2011 to be a "walkover", and 2009 to be a "close battle".

11. Will all the teams complete the season (i.e. field two cars at all 20 GPs)?

12. Who will be leading the Driver's Championship after the German GP (the halfway point of the season)?

13. What will be the most exciting and boring races of the year (two answers)? Again, this has to agree with what I consider the most exciting and boring races to be. There may be two or more answers to both of these, but one answer only for each please.

14. Your own prediction that is not covered by anything above. Take a shot at something that will or won't happen this year that isn't covered by the previous 13 questions and see if you strike it lucky! Of course, something like "a driver will win a race" is not acceptable. Try to be a little less predictable whilst er, predicting something ... shut up, right.

Team mate head-to-heads:

Finally, state who you think will finish highest in the WDC out of each pair of team mates. If BOTH team mates in one team fail to score points, then the man with the highest finish will win. If two team mates finish level on points, I'll use second and third-placed finishes to see who "wins":

The team mates are:

a. Vettel/Webber
b. Button/Hamilton
c. Alonso/Massa
d. Schumacher/Rosberg
e. Raikkonen/Grosjean
f. di Resta/Hulkenberg
g. Kobayashi/Perez
h. Ricciardo/de Vergne
i. Maldonaldo/Senna
j. Kovalainen/Petrov
k. de la Rosa/Karthikeyan
l. Glock/Pic

SCORING:

One point for each correct prediction for questions 1 to 14. Questions with more than one prediction score a point for eaach correct part.
One point for each correct team mate in the "team mate head-to-heads".

If anyone has any questions on anything above then please flag it up as soon as possible, so we can get it ironed out BEFORE the first race - you've got just about 25 days from the time of this post to field your queries and get your entries in.

Once again, please send your entries by PM. I will publish ALL entries after the closing date. We will then see how people's predictions pan out as the season unfolds.

[Root]

This idea comes from an F1 website I regularly frequent

Would that be F1 Fanatic, by any chance?

[tubeguru]

No.

[tubeguru]

So no one fancies this then? Don't tell me you think it's too complicated ...

[Root]

There's still ages until the deadline. I'll enter.

[tubeguru]

That will make it three entries including mine. Everyone else, feel free!

[Root]

Hey, I only have one entry in mine so far.

[Sam]

I will add this to my never ending list of things to do!!

[tubeguru]

I'll keep reminding you all ...

[tubeguru]

Another reminder: TWO WEEKS TO GO. If you are going to play this, then don't forget to PM your predictions to me.

[tubeguru]

There seems to be some confusion with question 8 (the year's biggest row). A couple of people have simply answered "Technical" or "personal".

I was after a more precise answer as to what the row will actually be about. So for example, "Schumacher punches someone", "someone objects to McLaren's time machine setting" etc.

Steeeeeevooooooo - your answer to question eight therefore needs to be refined.

[tubeguru]

Actually, having re-read your answer, you're OK. If anything like your suggestion happens then you'll score a point.

[tubeguru]

OK, I have two entries so far - from Steeeeeeevooooooo and Hopeless Traveller.

Did anyone else PM me? I've got a funny feeling my PMs have gone a bit funny.

[Root]

I just PMed you; let me know if it got through.

[hopeful traveller]

Hopeless Traveller