RULES

Anyway, the rules! It is so simple that you don't even need to watch F1 to take part, as you can just guess. Of course a bit of F1 knowledge may give you an advantage, but then again it may not. happy.gif Basically there are eleven teams in this year's F1 season, so that means they are going to be elevenTeam Battles. All you have to do is try and predict which driver in each team will qualify higher, and then finish the race higher (or last longer if both team members fail to finish - ).

Using the Alpine "team battle" as an example, if you think that Colapinto will qualify higher and finish the race higher than his team-mate Gasly then all you need to do is put a "Q" and "R" next to his name to predict this:

Alpine: Colapinto [Q,R] Gasly

Or if you choose, you could spread your bets and decide that while you think Gasly may qualify higher, you think Colapinto is more reliable in the race and will finish the race the higher of the two. Therefore, you'd predict the team battle like this:

Alpine: Colapinto [R]] vs Gasly [Q]

And then you just do that for each of the now eleven teams! with Cadillac joining F1 this season In the event of a driver replacing another, then predictions from the original driver will carry over directly to the replacement driver. So of course F1 knowledge of knowing each driver's strengths and current form could put you at an advantage, but there is nothing to stop complete F1 novices from making completely random guesses and joining in.

>> SCORING

You get two points for a correct prediction of the highest qualifier in each team and two points for a correct prediction of the highest race finisher in each time. You also then have the opportunity to predict who will be on pole position and win the race and, fastest lap, and five points are available for each of these predictions if you get them correct to make a total of 60 points available on each race weekend!

If an driver doesn't start the race, you'll get 2pts or have been disqualified from the race, you'll get 2pts for your pick. If both drivers from the same team have been disqualified, you'll get 2pts either way. If both drivers have been excluded from qualifying, 2pts will be awarded either way.

>> QUICK INSTRUCTIONS

So that all seems quite complicated, all you need to do is put a Q and an R next to a driver in each team and predict the pole position winner and race winner and fastest lap using the template in the post below, and then just post in this topic! The rest will all make sense as we go along!

Roll of Honour:

2015- @Dobbo

2019- @Dobbo

2020- @Sarah

2021- @Houdini

2022- @Severin

2023- @Dobbo

2024- @Dobbo

2025- @Mack

Can Mack defend his title?

Australia Template:

Alpine: Gasly v Colapinto

Aston Martin: Alonso v Stroll

Audi: Bortoleto v Hulkenberg

Cadillac: Perez v Bottas

Ferrari: Leclerc v Hamilton

Haas: Ocon v Bearman

McLaren: Norris v Piastri

Mercedes: Antonelli v Russell

Racing Bulls: Lawson v Lindblad

Red Bull: Verstappen v Hadjar

Williams: Albon v Sainz Jr

Pole Position:

Winner:

Fastest Lap:

Just an heads up that qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix will be taking place on Saturday 7th March at 5am (UK Time) with the race on the following day at 4am (UK Time).

Edited February 26Feb 26 by Mack
Got the wrong time

Think you mean 4am UK time.

I would do this but every year I forget or am too busy to send an entry one week and it's pointless trying to catch up afterward. Good luck all though

Brutal start time for the first race, it better deliver!

I'm more than happy if anyone who is busy to post their entries in advance or carry forward their predictions e.g. use the same prediction as the previous round.

Valtteri Bottas five-place grid penalty from Abu Dhabi 2024 is withdrawn. He will not have the grid penalty going into Australia.

That's crazy, so Button never had to serve his outstanding penalty then either should he ever make an unexpected return...

Alpine: Gasly Q + R v Colapinto

Aston Martin: Alonso Q v Stroll R [this is predicting which AM will conk out first]

Audi: Bortoleto Q+R v Hulkenberg

Cadillac: Perez v Bottas Q+R

Ferrari: Leclerc Q+R v Hamilton

Haas: Ocon Q+R v Bearman

McLaren: Norris v Piastri Q+R

Mercedes: Antonelli v Russell Q+R

Racing Bulls: Lawson v Lindblad Q+R

Red Bull: Verstappen Q+R v Hadjar

Williams: Albon Q+R v Sainz Jr

Pole Position: Verstappen

Winner: Verstappen

Fastest Lap: Verstappen

Alpine: Gasly Q, R v Colapinto

Aston Martin: Alonso Q, R v Stroll

Audi: Bortoleto v Hulkenberg Q, R

Cadillac: Perez Q, R v Bottas

Ferrari: Leclerc Q, R v Hamilton

Haas: Ocon v Bearman Q, R

McLaren: Norris Q, R v Piastri

Mercedes: Antonelli v Russell Q, R

Racing Bulls: Lawson Q, R v Lindblad

Red Bull: Verstappen Q, R v Hadjar

Williams: Albon v Sainz Jr Q, R

Pole Position: Verstappen

Winner: Russell

Fastest Lap: Leclerc

Alpine: Gasly [Q,R] v Colapinto

Aston Martin: Alonso [Q,R] v Stroll

Audi: Bortoleto [Q,R] v Hulkenberg

Cadillac: Perez v Bottas [Q,R]

Ferrari: Leclerc [Q,R] v Hamilton

Haas: Ocon [R] v Bearman [Q]

McLaren: Norris v Piastri [Q,R]

Mercedes: Antonelli v Russell [Q,R]

Racing Bulls: Lawson v Lindblad [Q,R]

Red Bull: Verstappen [Q,R] v Hadjar

Williams: Albon [Q] v Sainz Jr [R]

Pole Position: Max Verstappen

Winner: Charles Leclerc

Fastest Lap: Charles Leclerc

Alpine: Gasly [Q,R] v Colapinto

Aston Martin: Alonso [Q,R] v Stroll

Audi: Bortoleto v Hulkenberg [Q,R]

Cadillac: Perez v Bottas [Q,R]

Ferrari: Leclerc [Q,R] v Hamilton

Haas: Ocon [Q] v Bearman [R]

McLaren: Norris v Piastri [Q,R]

Mercedes: Antonelli v Russell [Q,R]

Racing Bulls: Lawson [R] v Lindblad [Q,]

Red Bull: Verstappen [Q,R] v Hadjar

Williams: Albon [Q,R] v Sainz Jr

Pole Position: Oscar Piastri

Winner: Oscar Piastri

Fastest Lap: Charles Leclerc

Alpine: Gasly [Q,R] v Colapinto

Aston Martin: Alonso [Q,R] v Stroll

Audi: Bortoleto v Hulkenberg [Q,R]

Cadillac: Perez [R] v Bottas [Q]

Ferrari: Leclerc v Hamilton [Q,R]

Haas: Ocon [Q,R] v Bearman

McLaren: Norris v Piastri [Q,R]

Mercedes: Antonelli v Russell [Q,R]

Racing Bulls: Lawson [Q,R] v Lindblad

Red Bull: Verstappen [Q,R] v Hadjar

Williams: Albon v Sainz Jr [Q,R]

Pole Position: Piastri

Winner: Piastri

Fastest Lap: Hamilton

Love the range of winner predictions on display in round 1. No doubt this will very quickly change once the pecking order have been established!

Qualifying:

Alpine: Gasly [Q] v Colapinto

Aston Martin: Alonso [Q] v Stroll

Audi: Bortoleto [Q] v Hulkenberg

Cadillac: Perez [Q] v Bottas

Ferrari: Leclerc [Q] v Hamilton

Haas: Ocon v Bearman [Q]

McLaren: Norris v Piastri [Q]

Mercedes: Antonelli v Russell [Q]

Racing Bulls: Lawson [Q] v Lindblad

Red Bull: Verstappen v Hadjar [Q]

Williams: Albon [Q] v Sainz Jr

Pole Position: George Russell

After Qualifying:

@Mack - 16pts

@Dobbo - 14pts

@Herbs - 14pts

@Houdini - 12pts

@Sarah - 10pts

Race:

Alpine: Gasly [R] v Colapinto

Aston Martin: Alonso v Stroll [R]

Audi: Bortoleto [R] v Hulkenberg

Cadillac: Perez [R] v Bottas

Ferrari: Leclerc [R] v Hamilton

Haas: Ocon v Bearman [R]

McLaren: Norris [R] v Piastri

Mercedes: Antonelli v Russell [R]

Racing Bulls: Lawson v Lindblad [R]

Red Bull: Verstappen [R] v Hadjar

Williams: Albon [R] v Sainz Jr

Winner: George Russell

Fastest Lap: Max Verstappen

NB:

1) 2pts to all who went for Oscar Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg as their racer pick as they didn't start the race

After Race:

@Dobbo - 37pts

@Herbs - 35pts

@Mack - 30pts

@Houdini - 28pts

@Sarah - 22pts

Thank you all for playing.

China Template:

Alpine: Gasly v Colapinto

Aston Martin: Alonso v Stroll

Audi: Bortoleto v Hulkenberg

Cadillac: Perez v Bottas

Ferrari: Leclerc v Hamilton

Haas: Ocon v Bearman

McLaren: Norris v Piastri

Mercedes: Antonelli v Russell

Racing Bulls: Lawson v Lindblad

Red Bull: Verstappen v Hadjar

Williams: Albon v Sainz Jr

Pole Position:

Winner:

Fastest Lap:

Just an heads up that qualifying for the race will be on Saturday 14th March at 7am (UK Time), with the race the following day at 7am (UK Time).