Charles Pic

Oh dear. I didn’t get the memo about being allowed to make predictions today, so it seems I’ve shot myself in the foot again. I’d given up on predictions following yesterday and missed the chance.

Well I guess I’m destined for another terrible score, as I’ve been trying repeatedly to sign into the fantasygp.com website since FP3 and it’s just not working. Overloaded with traffic it seems. So I’ll go into this race with no predictions registered

Loved that race! And to think we all shook our heads and said Bernie was crazy when he suggested installing randomly controlled sprinklers on the corners of F1 tracks....   John, I’m properly jealous of your cruise trip as I googled that boat and see what a floating palace it is. Nevertheless I would feel short changed visiting the Baltic countries without getting proper local food onboard. Next time you’re in the area, try to hop aboard one of the Viking line boats which transit Stockholm to Helsinki. They’re not even expensive (£200 for two people for a 3 day round trip!) and the dinner buffet is a smörgåsbord of top quality Scandinavian delights.   Amazing to see myself getting a good fantasy F1 result for once (first time this year), but that it should happen as a result of a somewhat randomised race result is probably a pointer to my team selection strategy being a bit off!   Edited By Charles Pic on 29/07/2019 08:57:12

Ah, I had assumed you were on a Viking Line or Tallink boat - the ones which ply the routes directly between those cities and straight back again. Seems you’re doing a multi stop trip, so maybe not on a Swedish or Finnish boat. The finns do love F1, but a chatty Finn is an exception! Vettel is letting many people down, including myself as I backed him at the bookmakers for WDC this year on the basis he had a good car and the odds were generous. £20 down the drain unfortunately. If there were an obvious replacement, I’m sure Ferrari would turf Sebastian out at the end of this year, but I just can’t see who they would put in there. Hamilton won’t leave a winning team, I’m sure of it. And the Tifosi would not accept a black man, as racism is so much more widespread in Southern Europe. Hamilton knows the reception he’s often had in Italy and Spain and would be daft to leave his comfort zone and go to the red team.  Verstappen is seeing that Honda’s ambitions are starting to come to fruition. I’m pretty sure he will stay at RB. Would they really entertain the idea of letting Alonso return?  Is he still good enough to beat LeClerc anyway?   Edited By Charles Pic on 16/07/2019 08:32:22

Thanks for the efficient results service John, even with your reduced connectivity. I love the cruise boats which work the Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm routes. Enjoy those Scandinavian buffet dinners with endless variations on how to prepare and serve herring!   I wonder what will happen at Ferrari. There must surely be a change at the end of this year? What would you do in their position with an expensive but underperforming Vettel in the car? Edited By Charles Pic on 15/07/2019 08:10:39

Crikey P11, P12 & P13 are a little bit close, what??!

I wonder what will come of Ferrari’s “right of review” appeal tomorrow, and if they somehow have Vettel reinstated as race winner in Canada, will the fantasy F1 league results get updated? Meanwhile the French GP is upon us. A fairly enjoyable track from what I remember last year, but not exactly an overtaking-fest

Crikey... i know what’s going to happen in these races in my mind, and then the race happens and it’s completely different Ah well, I’ll just admit I’m not good at this and if I can serve some purpose by making those ahead of me feel better, then I’m ok with that! I really enjoyed yesterday’s race in any case, lots of mini battles going on, even if the TV director wasn’t great at catching them. RIC vs HUL is going to be a fascinating situation this year, if the Renault cars stays working long enough for them to do battle. LEC seems to have no chance in this, his first season in Ferrari, as they will have him jump out of the way as soon as he’s seen to be impeding VET.

Posted by McG 6969 on 12/04/2019 07:32:38: Please, Charles. Next time you consider throwing away £20, just ask me my Paypal address. Wait till his team mate is provided with a functional sixth spark plug... or is that part of the Red tactics? ... Now having said all that, just pretend that the last row in the arena obviously is the best place to watch the lions doing their job... No worries... & cheers Chris Ah well, we will see. I’m a big Lewis fan as it happens, so I’ll be delighted if he wins the WDC, but if he doesn’t then I reckon Seb has the best chance and in that case collecting on my little wager will make me feel better about Lewis having lost.

Hehe, all good fun! Well anyway, in an attempt to recover the situation a little, I’ve put £20 on Vettel for WDC at 4:1. I know that at the moment everyone is writing off his chances, saying he makes mistakes, etc... but heavens, the guy is a 4 times champion in what appears to be the fastest car, with a team who have publicly stated they will be favouring him this year “in certain situations” (whatever that means). The fact the odds are so generous appears to be just on the basis of two bad races, which over the course of a season will pale in comparison with the fact that he’s in the fastest car and has every likelihood to beat his teammate. Now having said all that, I am bottom of our little league table, so what do I know!

Well I hope you lot appreciate the almost limitless compassion I have for you all, which has led me to start this season with a shockingly badly picked team and horribly misjudged predictions! It was the very most I could find in my heart to do for you all, so you had the best possible headstart.   Watch out though, I might start trying soon.... Edited By Charles Pic on 11/04/2019 10:08:04

I take my hat off to Elon Musk for his vision and ambition, but surely he has only succeeded with Tesla to the extent he has because he took the “first mover advantage”. Most of the big players in the industry have been keeping their powder dry, waiting for the economics of electric cars to be right. I wonder how well Tesla will do when some of the companies who actually know how to make money in the car industry really press ahead with fully electric ranges. Elon has done well, but doesn’t seem to know much about generating a profit or indeed corporate governance.  As an engineer, Elon is wonderful.  As a businessman, not so much. Edited By Charles Pic on 21/03/2019 17:40:47 Edited By Charles Pic on 21/03/2019 17:41:28

Oh dear, that was a bit of a grim opening to my campaign. I placed too much faith in Ferrari it seems, so jace given my team a shake up now. Can only improve from here... (unless I drop to last I suppose,). Ho hum

Thanks for your further replies, chaps. I now have four seedlings and have positioned them on a windowsill with a reflector made of cardboard and tin foil behind them, to grab a bit more sunlight. Lets hooe they develop and that i can pot them on and get them outside in maybe a month or so.

Thanks guys, sounds as though I need to rig up a light on a timer. I’m not keen to have to buy anything, so would using a regular led lightbulb work? I can probably afford the electric bill of using an Ikea E14 3W bulb on a timer for 12 hours a day.  It’s about 1kWh per month if my mental maths is right      Would be about 250 lumens I think, but if dangled directly above the mini pots, then hopefully it’s enough Edited By Charles Pic on 17/03/2019 08:01:35 Edited By Charles Pic on 17/03/2019 08:28:41

Not sure of the house policy on spoilers, so I will just say that I was surprised to see a certain person on pole as I’d bought into the pre-season hype that the other big team had a significant advantage. I was even tempted to put money on the pointy-fingered one for WDC, but I suppose that’s why the media spins certain things the wrong way at time - to fleece the masses via bookies who pay for some of the misleading press coverage... my, haven’t I become cynical in my old age? well, I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow. So many talking points in this season. I see the one who had his daddy buy him an F1 team so he could go quicker is already looking a little slow against his Mexican teammate. Will be particularly interesting to see how RIC and HUL compare and whether Kubica can really deliver the goods after so long away. His driving was looking pretty ragged in quali and practice I thought. Maybe some frustration there that he’s sacrificed so much to battle his way back into F1, only to end up last.

Well blow me down, after moving the plate of recalcitrant chilli seeds to a cupboard above my fridge, suddenly the remaining 5 from the original 6 batch have all germinated since last weekend and have been potted on. The first one, which was potted up last weekend has now burst out above the surface of the potting compost and is probably wondering why it’s so dingy in my kitchen. How important is it that they have not just light, but bright light at this stage? just wondering if I should rig up some artificial lighting, or whether I still have a chance of success without going to this trouble?

so I see multiplex have come out with an updated “pro” version of their Acromaster. I was just wondering why they didn’t appear to change the aero at all, just updated little details like battery tray, motor mount, undercarriage, etc. The last ttime I flew an Acromaster it had strong coupling in knife edge, so needed a rudder elevator mix on transmitter. Isn’t that the kind of thing an updated design could have fixed?

After ten days, only 1 of my 6 seeds had sprouted. So that one has now been planted into a small pot. Not sure if the others are going to do anything so I have started 6 more seeds in damp kitchen paper. I did just realise though that I’ve omitted the “fridge for 24 hours” stage from the latest batch of 6. Will have to wait and see if they sprout anyway. Needa lot of patience in this growing game, huh?

McG, I think the fantasy F1 league prices are mostly influenced by last year’s finishing positions, although they’ve clearly picked up on Vettel’s potential advantage and priced that in. I wonder what odds you can get on Vettel for WDC this year, as that looks quite likely from wheee I’m sitting.

Thanks for all your info folks, that is perfect for me because I am a beginner with this kind of stuff. I’ll follow the advice go put the seeds in the fridge for a day, then damp kitchen paper in a warm place, and see how I go from there. Thanks again for all your input!

Any green fingered types in here? I picked up a packed of “Cayenne Long Slim” chilli seeds in the supermarket (Capsicum annuum L). How should I start these off for best results - would you soak the seeds or plant into mini pots and start watering? hopefully they will be happy on a kitchen windowsill until it warms up outside. Guess they need summer weather to really thrive?

Watching winter testing is such a tease. One day Alfa Romeo are looking good, the next day it seems like Haas or Toro Rosso might be the “good value” team option. Have pretty much ruled out McLaren, Racing Point and Williams at this point. Ferrari seem to be the cream of the crop, but how much do Merc really have in their back pocket? It’s intriguing this year, for sure.

I've just logged in and made my predictions for Japan, on the basis that by the time I wake up on Saturday morning it might be too late to do so, and relying on me remembering to do them tomorrow didn't seem like an altogether reliable plan either.

It's rather close between 7th and 9th isn't it? I'll be having a word with my team and encouraging them to put in one good weekend to see if we can leapfrog the lot of 'em! It's easy with twitter these days - I'll reach out and tweet them all and let them know what's at stake. I'm sure Lewis will be feeling the extra pressure next weekend, knowing that I am counting on him to win me 7th in the modelflyers league.....