Charles Pic

It’s a shame they’re having these issues. Some folks will have done their predictions nice and early and won’t check back before the race, others will be making their predictions and maybe even editing their teams after seeing the quali result.

Well done John, that’s a very impressive achievement. If it were not for the fact we are all competing with one another, I’d be asking you for tips!

That really sucks for anyone who correctly picked Bottas for pole! Fine by me though, as I’d chosen Hammy ?

What do we think about the new “sprint qualifying”? I guess the right thing to do is try it and see how it goes. How will it look if the sprint race turns out to be an excellent, exciting race then the main Grand Prix is processional bore fest? Or maybe that’s the hidden agenda, perhaps F1 group want to move towards having two shorter races each weekend instead of one long Grand Prix, and step 1 in the plan is to demonstrate how much more exciting a sprint race can be?!Haha, I’m forgetting Bernie isn’t in charge any more, surely there cannot be any secret plan involved?!

Oops, schoolboy error of forgetting to do predictions ? Need to get back into the habit of doing fantasy F1 properly!

Testing is done, and time to form some half-baked opinions on the pecking order! Something I do each year, and always get it wrong, but I never learn.... ? Looks like Mercedes may struggle their way through a few of the early races, but no doubt they will come back strongly as they either make their floor’s aero concept work, or they switch to another one. Even so, with Red Bull looking so comfortable in testing, I can’t see a Merc driver taking the title without a much bigger fight than the last few years. I’ve even put some money down on Verstappen for WDC and Red Bull as constructors champions (the bookies must love F1 testing, as we all take a little bit of info and try to extrapolate it too far). Are McLaren going to do as well as they’ve looked during testing? Will add to the intrigue if they do. I’d love to see either RIC or NOR winning races. Yuki Tsunoda taking second fastest time on the final day of testing will raise eyebrows, but this is Honda’s protege and maybe that engine was on its final run and the Honda engineers dialled everything up to gas Mark 9 and used settings which would not be race legal. I’m not concluding Alpha Tauri will be in the fight for podiums, but regular points finishes could well be on the cards. Where does Alpine fit into the mix and how will a race rusty Alonso fare against the 2021 field? Drivers returning to F1 after a break always seem to struggle to reach their previous heights and I’m betting a middle-aged Fernando will not achieve as much as he is aiming for, and knowing him, negativity might soon emerge. However the Alpine car is looking sound and could be at the front of the midfield. Williams! Can it finally be time for their fans to breathe again? Some points in 2021 are much needed and their car looks good. What’s caught your eye during testing?

I feel sorry for Hulkenberg- always the bridesmaid and never the bride. Nevertheless, it’s hard to disagree with Red Bull’s choice. Maybe a seasoned professional will prove to be a better fit in that team than the young protégés they seem to keep chewing up and spitting out. I could well believe Perez will be there a good many years, despite only signing for one. He’s only 30 after all.

Don’t miss your 2020 review, showing some interesting insights into where you did best and worst through the season. What was your highest global ranking and at which race? I somehow scored 40th of all players in Abu Dhabi https://fantasygp.com/2020-review/

Well done Pete - a worthy victor after a topsy turvy season. It was altogether too late when I finally found some form, with two (lucky!) results, but there’s always next year! It’s been enjoyable- thank you John P for your efforts in organising and running the league. Makes the races more interesting! Edited By Charles Pic on 14/12/2020 06:17:08

Haha, thanks guys! Here I begin my late charge to the head of the table! All I need is something like 500 points from next weekend....

Oh deary me. That was an entertaining race to watch, but not a rewarding one for me. Let’s hope next time I’m the pigeon, not the statue!

Yikes - that was a bad race for me. Time to make some changes in my team!

183 points is pretty special, nice one Chris McG! I benefitted from having Verstappen in my team - without him my score would’ve been dire. Will be great if Red Bull can rapidly develop that car and bring a proper VER vs. HAM title fight to our screens!

Goodness! I don’t think I’ve ever led this league and it’s unexpected, as I messed up most of the predictions, so wasn’t expecting a special score. Those with sub-100s - maybe time to ditch Vettel from your team*    *Actually, isn’t it time for Ferrari to do the same and to put super sub Hulkenberg in that car for the rest of this season?? Edited By Charles Pic on 10/08/2020 06:30:20

So will the judgement against Racing Point, with points deducted from the team, affect the standings in the fantasy F1 league? I ask that somewhat nervously, as I’ve benefited from their strong results to date, so would be slipping down the table a little if the answer is yes. Edited By Charles Pic on 07/08/2020 20:32:40

1 safety car and fastest lap was Sainz, which precisely no-one predicted!

Crikey, for once I did well! A lot of my points accrued from Checo Perez’s charge from a lowly grid slot up to P6, so I stand poised to take an equally impressive tumble back down the table, should Renault’s protest against the Tracing Point cars succeed!

Odds on half the field turning up to the first Grand Prix late May / early June with copycat DAS steering systems?!

I know complaining that our favourite sport might be a bit disrupted comes across a bit selfish when there is so much else to worry about from this whole virus situation, but I’m becoming more and more convinced the whole championship might get canned this year. I know someone whose daughter is a consultant to a govt department in Vietnam who are involved in the decision making over the GP. She says they’ve moved past the initial stage of trying desperately to keep the race run as normal (because amongst other reasons it was thought politically impossible in Vietnam to allow their hard fought for race to be affected by what was seen as “a Chinese problem” )   Now apparently the emerging plan is that the race will run as a non championship points-scoring demonstration race, because it is thought highly unlikely the Italian teams will be in a position to attend and compete, and unless they do it as a demo race, the FIA will not allow it to proceed.   Crazy days.   Edited By Charles Pic on 10/03/2020 12:38:25

Hello! I’m back to show you all how not to pick a fantasy F1 team, so before taking my advice please remember I finished outside the top ten last year! with that said, don’t the racing point team look good value? I really hope we get an F1 season this year, seems like the way the pandemic is developing there will be more race cancellations than just China. I only hope they don’t have to give the whole thing up as a bad job.

Congrats Chris McG for your impressive victory and well done those who grabbed a position promotion at the dying gasp of the season. Those who slipped a place, commiserations just the same. P11 is not where I wanted to be, but next year I get to try again. Thanks to John for the dedicated running of this league, including points updates from a cruise boat in the Baltic - there is commitment! Hope you all have a great Christmas - I’m off! Edited By Charles Pic on 02/12/2019 06:43:39

Yeah, Vettel was ridiculous and showed again that he loses his head in the heat of the moment. Something of the Grosjean about him, I think.   I was driven by curiosity to check the Gazetta dello Sport website using Google translate, to see how the Italian press are reporting the whole thing. Seemed much more measured and restrained than I expected, and no signs of them baying for Vettel’s blood at this stage, so maybe he is still safe there, for now. They made the point that these closing races of 2019 are about determining who will be backed as no.1 driver in 2020, which maybe explains Vettel’s desperation. He must know he’s losing his standing within the team. Edited By Charles Pic on 18/11/2019 10:37:27

Crikey, what a race! It started off exciting, then it settled down and mid race I was thinking we needed to order up some excitement to finish the race off nicely, and then - well, I think we over-ordered!!   I’ll have to watch that one back again, and if anyone was wondering whether to watch the C4 package on the All4 catch-up service - do it! Edited By Charles Pic on 18/11/2019 09:26:54

Some very creditable scores there, well done you lot at the top of the table. Japan next, nice and early so you can go fly later in the day. Thanks for the ever efficient results service John, very good of you to run this league for our benefit.

What a great race. I’ll hold my tongue because I suppose the highlights have not been shown yet. Just about all my predictions were wrong, ho hum...