John Privett

Evening all, With the Channel4 highlights programme finshed long ago, here are the results of our league for today; Pos League Rank Team Manager Pts 1 1 0 Essex Racing Tony Clark 230 = 11 3 The JP Specials johnpflyrc 230 3 2 1 Mannschaft Carl Brotherton 228 4 4 2 PSS Power Flyer 227 5 5 0 Revers Racing Pete B 223 = 10 0 LetsGoTotoLetsGo GrumpyGnome 223 7 3 1 DMFC Racing Team Simon Webb 218 = 8 1 teewrex John Tee 218 9 12 1 Torque of the devil Stu 204 10 9 1 Iqonic racing iqon 201 11 7 0 Team Charles Picd Charles Pic 194 12 16 0 Norfolk Flyers Kevin Fairgrieve 183 13 15 0 Hans Brake Zoonie 177 14 14 2 Pitts Specials john stones 174 15 13 2 GASTON Formula Chris McG 171 16 6 2 Hidden Cucumber fat brownie 165 And some very close scores today! In equal first place, it's Tony and myself (I guess I have to get it right occasionally!) with 230 points each. Don't forget of course that there are points for the sprint, so points totals are higher than usual. Third place is taken by Carl on 228 points, and I think it's only fair to give a mention to Ade, just one point back on 227. Well done to you all. Looking now at the overall table after China; Pos League Rank Team Manager Pts 1 1 0 Essex Racing Tony Clark 844 2 2 1 Mannschaft Carl Brotherton 826 3 3 1 DMFC Racing Team Simon Webb 820 4 4 2 PSS Power Flyer 764 5 5 0 Revers Racing Pete B 761 6 6 2 Hidden Cucumber fat brownie 729 7 7 0 Team Charles Picd Charles Pic 724 8 8 1 teewrex John Tee 711 9 9 1 Iqonic racing iqon 707 10 10 0 LetsGoTotoLetsGo GrumpyGnome 706 11 11 3 The JP Specials johnpflyrc 689 12 12 1 Torque of the devil Stu 665 13 13 2 GASTON Formula Chris McG 652 14 14 2 Pitts Specials john stones 645 15 15 0 Hans Brake Zoonie 605 16 16 0 Norfolk Flyers Kevin Fairgrieve 582 Tony, unsurprisingly, keeps hold of top place. But there's a little 'shuffle in the next few places with Carl moving up to 2nd, pushing Simon down to 3rd. Ade and fat brownie exchange places, now 4th and 6th. And I appear to the biggest mover today, up 3 places, though only to 11th! Miami next, in 2 weeks time. It's a Sprint weekend too, and everything will be happening late afternoon/evening UK-time. Sprint qualifying - when the game will be locked - is at 21:30 on Friday 3rd May.

Evening all, A quick - and early! - reminder from me... Don't forget your predictions! As already mentioned, the fantasygp game is locked at 8:30am on FRIDAY, when Sprint qualifying starts. Don't leave it too late! Set your predictions now, if you find time you can always change them after seeing how the 4:30am practice session goes tomorrow.

Evening all, You've probably all seen today's email reminder from fantasygp, pointing out the changed format of Sprint weekends this season. But in case anyone hasn't seen it yet, here are the relevant details; The F1 season continues this weekend and it's time to get ready for the Fantasy GP of China - it's also the first SPRINT weekend of the season. Note that the Sprint weekend format has changed a bit for 2024 - Friday has the practice session and then qualifying for the Sprint. Saturday is the Sprint Race and then the qualifying for the Grand Prix. Sunday is of course, the Grand Prix itself. The game will lock when Sprint Qualifying begins on Friday, see timings below. Make sure you're happy with your team and predictions before the game closes at the start of qualifying! Here are all the important timings for the weekend, all timings in BST (GMT+1). - Friday: 4:30am Free Practice & 8.30am SPRINT Qualifying (GAME LOCKS) - Saturday: 4am SPRINT race, 8am Grand Prix Qualifying - Sunday: 8am Race Start Get your team ready before FRIDAY 8:30am BST (GMT+1) So - my summary - don't wait until Friday to do your predictions - as after 8:30am you'll be too late! I've done mine already, and there's a slim chance I might get a quick look at the P1 results (Friday 4:30am!) and amend the predictions before heading off to work. (I did say, a "slim chance"!)

With the UK channel4 highlights programme well under way, I'll post our results now, but the usual disclaimer applies - If you are watching the highlights and don't want any clues about the results then stop reading now! So first, today's league results; Pos League Rank Team Manager Pts 1 2 3 DMFC Racing Team Simon Webb 177 2 3 0 Mannschaft Carl Brotherton 168 3 8 3 Iqonic racing iqon 160 4 1 0 Essex Racing Tony Clark 157 5 10 3 LetsGoTotoLetsGo GrumpyGnome 144 6 12 2 Pitts Specials john stones 143 7 4 0 Hidden Cucumber fat brownie 139 8 15 0 Hans Brake Zoonie 128 9 9 0 teewrex John Tee 125 10 5 1 Revers Racing Pete B 123 11 14 2 The JP Specials johnpflyrc 119 12 7 0 Team Charles Picd Charles Pic 118 13 13 3 Torque of the devil Stu 112 14 16 0 Norfolk Flyers Kevin Fairgrieve 106 15 6 4 PSS Power Flyer 102 16 11 3 GASTON Formula Chris McG 80 Top place goes to Simon with 177 points. Next up is Carl with 168 points. And third place today is taken by Iqon with 160 points. Well done to today's top 3, and a special mention to Tony, missing the podium by just 3 points. Looking now at the overall table; os League Rank Team Manager Pts 1 1 0 Essex Racing Tony Clark 614 2 2 3 DMFC Racing Team Simon Webb 602 3 3 0 Mannschaft Carl Brotherton 598 4 4 0 Hidden Cucumber fat brownie 564 5 5 1 Revers Racing Pete B 538 6 6 4 PSS Power Flyer 537 7 7 0 Team Charles Picd Charles Pic 530 8 8 3 Iqonic racing iqon 506 9 9 0 teewrex John Tee 493 10 10 3 LetsGoTotoLetsGo GrumpyGnome 483 11 11 3 GASTON Formula Chris McG 481 12 12 2 Pitts Specials john stones 471 13 13 3 Torque of the devil Stu 461 14 14 2 The JP Specials johnpflyrc 459 15 15 0 Hans Brake Zoonie 428 16 16 0 Norfolk Flyers Kevin Fairgrieve 399 Tony holds on to top place in the overall table, with Simon moving up three places to 2nd. Carl remains in third. Pete moves up 1 place to 5th with Ade slipping 4 places to 6th. Lower down the table, Iqon and Grumpygnome are also moving upwards - 3 places each and John S is up 2 places. Next up in 2 weeks is China and it's a Sprint weekend. Again, early start times for us in the UK, though, with the exception of sprint qualifying, at slightly more sociable times than the last 2 races!

Evening all, So, a quick summary of practice so far... P1 saw Verstappen fastest from Perez, with Sainz next followed by the two Mercedes, then Leclerc. P2 was rendered fairly meaningless by rain. Only Piastri, Hamilton and Leclerc set a time on slicks, finishing in that order. P3 for those who want to wait - or who want to maybe alter their predictions after it - is at 03:30 tomorrow morning. And qualifying is at 07:00.

Evening all, An early reminder to all, as it's another race weekend with all the sessions starting at 'silly o'clock' in the morning, UK-time. So, even though there's still over 6 hours until P1 starts; Don't forget your predictions! Make them now, you can always change them later after seeing how the practice sessions work out. P1 is at 03:30 on Friday morning, with P2 at 07:00 P3 is at 03:30 on Saturday morning with qualifying following at 07:00 Sunday's race starts at 06:00 Now, go and get those predictions done!

John - there was a virtual safety car earlier when Hamilton's engine died and the car was being recovered. Then, as you mentioned, the one right at the end.

Afternoon all! I wonder how many of us actually watched the race live at 4am this morning... I didn't - I recorded it and watched it at breakfast time! With the channel 4 highlights programme well under way I'll post our results here without any comment on the race itself for the moment. Usual disclaimer; If you are watching the recorded highlights and don't want any clues about the result then maybe you should look away now! So, here are our scores for today; Pos League Rank Team Manager Pts 1 1 5 Essex Racing Tony Clark 173 2 4 5 Hidden Cucumber fat brownie 161 3 16 0 Norfolk Flyers Kevin Fairgrieve 158 4 2 5 PSS Power Flyer 156 5 9 3 teewrex John Tee 130 6 6 1 Revers Racing Pete B 126 7 10 3 Torque of the devil Stu 118 8 14 0 Pitts Specials john stones 117 9 5 3 DMFC Racing Team Simon Webb 113 10 7 3 Team Charles Picd Charles Pic 109 11 3 2 Mannschaft Carl Brotherton 104 12 8 5 GASTON Formula Chris McG 98 13 13 2 LetsGoTotoLetsGo GrumpyGnome 96 14 15 0 Hans Brake Zoonie 92 15 12 2 The JP Specials johnpflyrc 86 16 11 3 Iqonic racing iqon 71 Topping today's results is Tony with 173 points. Second today is "fat brownie", aka PDB, with 161 points. Close behind in third today is Kev on 158 points. Well done to today's top 3. And I think we now know who has Ferrari in their teams! So now to the overall table; Pos League Rank Team Manager Pts 1 1 5 Essex Racing Tony Clark 457 2 2 5 PSS Power Flyer 435 3 3 2 Mannschaft Carl Brotherton 430 4 4 5 Hidden Cucumber fat brownie 425 = 5 3 DMFC Racing Team Simon Webb 425 6 6 1 Revers Racing Pete B 415 7 7 3 Team Charles Picd Charles Pic 412 8 8 5 GASTON Formula Chris McG 401 9 9 3 teewrex John Tee 368 10 10 3 Torque of the devil Stu 349 11 11 3 Iqonic racing iqon 346 12 12 2 The JP Specials johnpflyrc 340 13 13 2 LetsGoTotoLetsGo GrumpyGnome 339 14 14 0 Pitts Specials john stones 328 15 15 0 Hans Brake Zoonie 300 16 16 0 Norfolk Flyers Kevin Fairgrieve 293 We have a new leader in Tony, with Ade (Flyer) close behind - both move up 5 places today, as did fat brownie, in his case to 4th. This means Carl, Simon, and afew others move downwards... Kev's great result today still leaves him at the foot of the table after his unfortunate issue with the first race - but now very close to Zoonie in 15th. Next up is Japan, so another early start. That's in 2 weeks time, with qualifynig at 7am on the Saturday, the race at 6am on Sunday.

So... Did P1 and P2 give us anything useful to base our predictions on? Or just confusion? Norris headed P1, but was 9th fastest in P2. Leclerc was fastest in P2 but 4th in P1. Verstappen was 2nd in both. The Mercedes duo of Russell and Hamilton were 3rd and 9th in P1, but only 6th and 18th in P2! And Stroll and Alonso put their Aston Martins 4th and 5th in P2 after 7th and 18th in P1. Make of all that whatever you will! But whatever you reckon; Don't forget your predictions! As already mentioned, qualifying is at 5am tomorrow, Saturday, morning.

Evening all! I thought I'd better get an early reminder in for this weekend! We've gone from the last 2 race weekends being a whole day 'out-of-sync' with normality, to now being only about half-a-day adrift. So although it's still only Thursday evening here in the UK, P1 kicks-off in a little over 4 hours from now, at 01:30 Friday morning, UK-time. P2 follows while most of us are still asleep at 05:00. P3 and qualifying occupy those same time-slots, 01:30 and 05:00, in the early hours of Saturday morning. So don't leave those predictions too late! And Sunday's race is even earlier at 04:00 UK-time. So, just one parting thought tonight; Don't forget your predictions! (It's probably worth getting a 'banker' set done now. You can always change them tomorrow after seeing how P1 and P2 go.)

Very sad news indeed, John. I recall Chris had mentioned health issues in the past, but this news comes as quite a shock. R.I.P. Chris. We will certainly miss you.

Evening all! Busy day... I haven't watched the race yet, will do that tomorrow. Channel 4 highlights are still underway, and hopefully anyone who doesn't want to see their league results until after seeing the highlights will be actually watching those highlights, and not browsing the web! Look away NOW if you don't want to see today's league positions! So first, out scores today; Pos League Rank Team Manager Pts 1 1 9 Mannschaft Carl Brotherton 201 2 3 0 GASTON Formula Chris McG 161 = 5 2 Revers Racing Pete B 161 = 6 3 Essex Racing Tony Clark 161 5 2 0 DMFC Racing Team Simon Webb 152 6 7 2 PSS Power Flyer 146 7 8 4 Iqonic racing iqon 140 8 9 3 Hidden Cucumber fat brownie 134 = 11 2 LetsGoTotoLetsGo GrumpyGnome 134 10 10 1 The JP Specials johnpflyrc 133 = 4 3 Team Charles Picd Charles Pic 133 12 13 2 Torque of the devil Stu 128 13 12 0 teewrex John Tee 121 14 16 0 Norfolk Flyers Kevin Fairgrieve 115 15 15 1 Hans Brake Zoonie 102 16 14 6 Pitts Specials john stones 83 And it's Carl who takes top spot today with a very respecatable 201 points! There's a 3-way tie for second place with Chris, Pete and Tony each scoring 161 points. Well done to today's top 2, 3, or 4! Our overall placings now look like this; Pos League Rank Team Manager Pts 1 1 9 Mannschaft Carl Brotherton 324 2 2 0 DMFC Racing Team Simon Webb 310 3 3 0 GASTON Formula Chris McG 303 4 4 3 Team Charles Picd Charles Pic 301 5 5 2 Revers Racing Pete B 289 6 6 3 Essex Racing Tony Clark 284 7 7 2 PSS Power Flyer 279 8 8 4 Iqonic racing iqon 275 9 9 3 Hidden Cucumber fat brownie 264 10 10 1 The JP Specials johnpflyrc 254 11 11 2 LetsGoTotoLetsGo GrumpyGnome 243 12 12 0 teewrex John Tee 237 13 13 2 Torque of the devil Stu 231 14 14 6 Pitts Specials john stones 211 15 15 1 Hans Brake Zoonie 207 16 16 0 Norfolk Flyers Kevin Fairgrieve 135 We have a new leader, as, with a 9-place leap up the table, it's Carl who now sits in top position. Simon and Chris retain their 2nd and 3rd positions, with Charles dropping off the top spot down to 4th. Lots of changes further down the table, as we'd expect for only the second race of the season. Next up it's Melbourne in 2 weeks time. Back to normal with qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday, though both at silly o'clock in the morning (UK time) so they might as well be on Friday/Saturday! Qualifying is at 5am, with the race at 4am!

Evening all! Saudi Arabia this weekend, and again - we're running 24 hours ahead of the usual schedule. So qualifying is tomorrow, FRIDAY! P1 saw Verstappen setting fastest time, ahead of Alonso, followed by Perez, Russell, the two Ferraris, then Norris and Hamilton. P2 saw Alonso fastest, with Russell second and Verstappen third. Next up was Leclerc with Perez, Stroll, Sainz and Hamilton in the next positions. P3 is at 13:30 UK-time tomorrow (Friday) and qualifying at 17:00 The race is at 17:00 on Saturday. So, it just leaves me to remind you all; Don't forget your predictions!

Evening all! With the Channel 4 highlights programme drawing to a close, it's time to take a look at our league table after today's season-opening race; Pos League Rank Team Manager Pts 1 1 0 Team Charles Picd Charles Pic 168 2 2 0 DMFC Racing Team Simon Webb 158 3 3 0 GASTON Formula Chris McG 142 4 4 0 Iqonic racing iqon 135 5 5 0 PSS Power Flyer 133 6 6 0 Hidden Cucumber fat brownie 130 7 7 0 Revers Racing Pete B 128 = 8 0 Pitts Specials john stones 128 9 9 0 Essex Racing Tony Clark 123 = 10 0 Mannschaft Carl Brotherton 123 11 11 0 The JP Specials johnpflyrc 121 12 12 0 teewrex John Tee 116 13 13 0 LetsGoTotoLetsGo GrumpyGnome 109 14 14 0 Hans Brake Zoonie 105 15 15 0 Torque of the devil Stu 103 16 16 0 Norfolk Flyers Kevin Fairgrieve 20 Taking top spot today with an impressive 168 points is Charles. 10 points adrift in second today is Simon. And our podium today is completed by Chris, taking third with 142 points. Well done to today's top three! Behind the top 3 there's a cluster of us on 135 to 121 points before a slight gap and four more scoring 116 to 103. I can only assume Kev didn't manage to pick a team in time for today's race... 😕 Next up, in a week's time, is Saudi Arabia. And again, we're a day ahead of normality with Qualifying at 5pm (UK-time) on Friday, and the race at 5pm on Saturday.

Right then... running a bit behind myself with everything being 24 hours ahead of normal! Don't forget your predictions! As I mentioned a couple of days ago, qualifying is on FRIDAY! FP1 and FP2 have given us lots of reasons to be confused or misled, with Verstappen managing only 6th fastest in both. Ricciardo, in the newly-named Red Bull "B" team, headed FP1, ahead of the two McLarens and Tsunoda in the second B team car. FP2 saw Hamilton and Russell setting best times in their Mercedes, with Alonso third fastest... FP3, at 12:30 UK-time may give us more of a clue - or not! Either way, qualifying is at 16:00 on FRIDAY. Now get those predictions done.