Fantasy Formula 1 (Fantasygp.com)

[John Privett]

To be honest John,  I haven't dared even try to work out what my score might be!  

 

Meanwhile... Pete's cycling mention might not be that far off-topic. Cycling is widely used in motorsport as part of drivers' fitness regimes,  and Valteri Bottas is a very keen, and competitive cyclist.  His partner, Tiffany Cromwell, is a professional cyclist, and he competes with her in gravel bike events.  He has qualified for the Gravel bike World Championships in October.  I hope it doesn't clash with a GP weekend!

 

And Pete - the Col du Tourmalet is certainly a "decent" climb!  18.7 km at an average 7.1% gradient, though the pros will doubtless make it look easy(ish!)  I climbed Cypress Mountain in Vancouver earlier this month - my biggest climb ever.  That's 10.5 km at 6.3 % gradient and it was hard work, even with a couple of stops on the way up. 

 

Back on-topic - still waiting for fantasygp to update!

[John Privett]

And now,  we do have the results - hopefully all correct now,  they do seem to have sorted out the glitch over the pole prediction!  So first,  here are our points today;

 

Pos	League Rank	Team	Manager	Pts
1	3 0	Team Charles Picd	Charles Pic	157
2	4 1	Iqonic racing	iqon	156
3	7 0	Hidden Cucumber	fat brownie	148
4	1 0	Essex Racing	Tony Clark	141
5	10 1	DMFC Racing Team	Simon Webb	136
6	6 0	Pitts Specials	john stones	127
7	2 0	Revers Racing	Pete B	125
8	13 0	GASTON Formula	Chris McG	119
9	12 0	Torque of the devil	Stu	118
10	8 0	Mannschaft	Carl Brotherton	116
=	9 0	LetsGoTotoLetsGo	GrumpyGnome	116
12	5 1	PSS Power	Flyer	114
13	14 0	The JP Specials	johnpflyrc	108
14	11 1	teewrex	John Tee	106
15	15 0	Norfolk Flyers	Kevin Fairgrieve	103
16	16 0	Hans Brake	Zoonie	71

 

Charles takes top place today with 157 points.

And just ONE point behind, it's iqon taking second place with 156 points.

fat brownie completes out podium taking third place today with 148 points.

 

Well done to today's top 3!

 

Next up,  the overall table after today's race;

 

os	League Rank	Team	Manager	Pts
1	1 0	Essex Racing	Tony Clark	2288
2	2 0	Revers Racing	Pete B	2218
3	3 0	Team Charles Picd	Charles Pic	2151
4	4 1	Iqonic racing	iqon	2097
5	5 1	PSS Power	Flyer	2056
6	6 0	Pitts Specials	john stones	2049
7	7 0	Hidden Cucumber	fat brownie	1997
8	8 0	Mannschaft	Carl Brotherton	1971
9	9 0	LetsGoTotoLetsGo	GrumpyGnome	1930
10	10 1	DMFC Racing Team	Simon Webb	1922
11	11 1	teewrex	John Tee	1902
12	12 0	Torque of the devil	Stu	1827
13	13 0	GASTON Formula	Chris McG	1784
14	14 0	The JP Specials	johnpflyrc	1732
15	15 0	Norfolk Flyers	Kevin Fairgrieve	1724
16	16 0	Hans Brake	Zoonie	1634

 

No changes in the top 3, so Tony retains top spot over the summer break.  Pete stays second with Charles holding on to third place.

 

Only a couple of place swaps today - iqon moves up to 4th, displacing Ade to 5th,  and Simon moves up to 10th with John T slipping to 11th.  All other places remain unchanged.

 

Summer break now,  and then it's Verstappen's home GP in the Netherlands on 25 August, with Italy the following weekend.

[iqon]

Yay results are in, hope they dont change...... lol. I remembered about pole - only prediction I got right.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

1 Piastri.

 

[Geoff S]

On 27/07/2024 at 11:05, Pete B said:

Ha ha, John - I wish!🤣 Didn't throw any crisps at the riders, either😀

 

I'd learnt my lesson this year, though. Last Sept I camped in the town at the foot of the climb, Luz St Saveur and rode my e-bike up to about 4km from the top to watch a stage of the Vuelta. I thought I'd left enough battery but I hadn't and it was a hard push for about 1km back uphill to the camper when I came down😰

 

No TV picture can truly show just how unrelenting steep that climb is from bottom to top.

 

This time, I parked the camper on the side of the road about 5km from the top and rode up just a couple of km on the day. The legs ain't what they used to be...

 

Whoops, rather off-topic, better go before I'm modded!😉

 

Just noticed this. The Tourmalet isn't so much steep as long (we have steeper hills in our Derbyshire village but MUCH shorter). My wife and I rode it long ago with 4 panniers each with full camping kit from Luz St Saveur over St Marie de Campan.  But we were in our mid 40s rather than our current mid-80s 🙂 No chance now, sadly. I miss it.

 

What attracted me to this thread was the disqualification of Russel because his car was underweight.  I've read comments elsewhere that it's a bit unfair but a professional outfit like Mercedes should know better than to make mistakes over such a simple rule.  Anyone who was in the top few at the dinghy championships we sailed in had the boat measured and weighed - it's normal practice. Our Scorpion was underweight but the chances of our coming that high were vanishingly small 🙂

[iqon]

15 hours ago, john stones 1 - Moderator said:

1 Piastri.

 

I lied it was 2 ........maybe 🤔

[Pete B]

On 28/07/2024 at 23:14, John Privett said:

And Pete - the Col du Tourmalet is certainly a "decent" climb!  18.7 km at an average 7.1% gradient, though the pros will doubtless make it look easy(ish!)  I climbed Cypress Mountain in Vancouver earlier this month - my biggest climb ever.  That's 10.5 km at 6.3 % gradient and it was hard work, even with a couple of stops on the way up. 

 

I can only say 'Chapeau!', John😃 I do feel a bit of a fraud when I'm passing (or being passed!) by those grinding their way up without assistance....

[John Privett]

No need to feel a 'bit of a fraud', Pete! 

 

My view on e-bikes is that they allow people to cycle a bit further and up steeper hills than they would have done otherwise.  And if that gets more people out on bikes - or allows people to continue cycling as they get older - then that's a good thing.  And I've said that on a couple of occasions to e-bikers who've caught up with me on a ride and slowed for a quick chat.  Now my view on the Uber eats (etc) louts on dodgy, illegal electric motorbikes is rather different... (But not really a subject for this thread!)

[John Privett]

On 29/07/2024 at 00:46, Geoff S said:

 

What attracted me to this thread was the disqualification of Russel because his car was underweight.  I've read comments elsewhere that it's a bit unfair but a professional outfit like Mercedes should know better than to make mistakes over such a simple rule.  Anyone who was in the top few at the dinghy championships we sailed in had the boat measured and weighed - it's normal practice. Our Scorpion was underweight but the chances of our coming that high were vanishingly small 🙂

 

One explanation that I saw somewhere is that the weight would have been fine if they'd stuck to their planned tyre strategy.  But by staying out instead of having a second tyre change the tyres on the car at the end of the race had less rubber on them than anticipated.  Add to that that there was less opportunity than normal to go offline to pick up 'marbles' on the tyres (and gain weight) immediately after the finish, and the car ended up lighter than intended.  Should they have anticipated all of that before the start?  Possibly...

[iqon]

On 10/08/2024 at 22:18, John Privett said:

 

One explanation that I saw somewhere is that the weight would have been fine if they'd stuck to their planned tyre strategy.  But by staying out instead of having a second tyre change the tyres on the car at the end of the race had less rubber on them than anticipated.  Add to that that there was less opportunity than normal to go offline to pick up 'marbles' on the tyres (and gain weight) immediately after the finish, and the car ended up lighter than intended.  Should they have anticipated all of that before the start?  Possibly...

Thats what  I read.

[John Privett]

Evening all!

 

The F1 Summer Break is now over and it's time for battle to recommence.  Netherlands this weekend,  but first the customary reminder;

 

Don't forget your predictions!

 

In P1 earlier today it was Norris who set fastest lap,  0.2 sec ahead of Verstappen, with Hamilton 3rd fastest ahead of Sainz and Russell.

P2 saw Russell setting fastest lap ahead of Piastri with Hamilton third followed by Norris and Verstappen.  But only a little over a quarter of a second separated the top 5 in P2.

 

P3 starts at 10:30  (UK-time) tomorrow,  followed by qualifying at 14:00.  Sunday's race is also at 14:00.

 

Good luck everyone!

[John Privett]

Eveing all,

 

The Channel4 recorded coverage must be coming to a conclusion by now,  so let's have a look at our scores for today;

 

Pos	League Rank	Team	Manager	Pts
1	1 0	Essex Racing	Tony Clark	178
2	7 0	Hidden Cucumber	fat brownie	175
3	2 0	Revers Racing	Pete B	165
4	9 2	teewrex	John Tee	162
5	3 0	Team Charles Picd	Charles Pic	141
6	14 1	Norfolk Flyers	Kevin Fairgrieve	135
7	5 1	Pitts Specials	john stones	132
8	4 0	Iqonic racing	iqon	129
9	10 0	DMFC Racing Team	Simon Webb	126
10	6 1	PSS Power	Flyer	124
11	12 0	Torque of the devil	Stu	119
12	13 0	GASTON Formula	Chris McG	107
13	8 0	Mannschaft	Carl Brotherton	96
14	15 1	The JP Specials	johnpflyrc	88
15	11 2	LetsGoTotoLetsGo	GrumpyGnome	87
16	16 0	Hans Brake	Zoonie	85

 

 

Taking top place today is Tony with 178 points.

Close behind in 2nd place is fat brownie on 175 points.

A little further back on 165 points, Pete takes third place today.

 

Well done to today's top three!

 

Let's take a look now at how this affects the iverall table;

 

Pos	League Rank	Team	Manager	Pts
1	1 0	Essex Racing	Tony Clark	2466
2	2 0	Revers Racing	Pete B	2383
3	3 0	Team Charles Picd	Charles Pic	2292
4	4 0	Iqonic racing	iqon	2226
5	5 1	Pitts Specials	john stones	2181
6	6 1	PSS Power	Flyer	2180
7	7 0	Hidden Cucumber	fat brownie	2172
8	8 0	Mannschaft	Carl Brotherton	2067
9	9 2	teewrex	John Tee	2064
10	10 0	DMFC Racing Team	Simon Webb	2048
11	11 2	LetsGoTotoLetsGo	GrumpyGnome	2017
12	12 0	Torque of the devil	Stu	1946
13	13 0	GASTON Formula	Chris McG	1891
14	14 1	Norfolk Flyers	Kevin Fairgrieve	1859
15	15 1	The JP Specials	johnpflyrc	1820
16	16 0	Hans Brake	Zoonie	1719

 

 

No change in the top 4 places, so Tony retains top place with Pete and Charles remaining 2nd and 3rd.

 

John S moves up a place to 5th, with Ade slipping a place to 6th. Simon remains in 10th,  but the previous holders of 9th and 11th swap places, John T taking 9th, with GrumpyGnome now in 11th.  One more place change today - Kev moves up 14th, pushing me down to 15th.

 

Next up is the Italian GP at Monza next weekend.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Well done again fellas, better season racing wise.

[iqon]

 

Well done top three.

[John Privett]

Morning all!

 

Apologies for the late reminder,  it's Monza this weekend;

 

Don't forget your predictions!

 

P1 saw Verstappen setting fastest time, with Leclerc, Norris and Sainz next fastest. Hamilton was 7th fastest, with the other Mercedes being driven in this session by Antonelli.

P2 saw Hamilton fastest, but by only 3 thousandths of a second from Norris. Sainz, Piastri, Lecerc and Russell filled the next places.  Verstappen was down in 14th.

 

P3 starts in the next few seconds,  and qualifying is at 15:00 UK-time.  Tomorrow's race is at 14:00.

 

Good luck everyone!

[John Privett]

Well it looks like channel4 have done a one-hour highlights programme - and shown it early with a repeat of it scheduled for late tonight - all wrapped around their paralympics coverage.

 

So I'll proceed with publishing the league results - but as always, if you're waiting to watch the highlights programme later then you might want to look away now!

 

So, first today's scores;

 

Pos	League Rank	Team	Manager	Pts
1	1 0	Essex Racing	Tony Clark	168
2	8 1	teewrex	John Tee	155
3	5 2	Hidden Cucumber	fat brownie	154
4	2 0	Revers Racing	Pete B	152
5	6 0	PSS Power	Flyer	130
6	4 0	Iqonic racing	iqon	128
=	3 0	Team Charles Picd	Charles Pic	128
8	14 0	Norfolk Flyers	Kevin Fairgrieve	124
9	9 1	DMFC Racing Team	Simon Webb	116
10	13 0	GASTON Formula	Chris McG	98
11	12 0	Torque of the devil	Stu	97
12	7 2	Pitts Specials	john stones	96
13	11 0	LetsGoTotoLetsGo	GrumpyGnome	87
14	16 0	Hans Brake	Zoonie	80
15	10 2	Mannschaft	Carl Brotherton	76
16	15 0	The JP Specials	johnpflyrc	69

 

Topping today's scores is Tony with 168 points.

John T is second, with 155 points.

Hot on John's heels, just a single point adrift on 154 is fat brownie.

 

Well done to today's top three!

 

How does this affect the overall table?

 

Pos	League Rank	Team	Manager	Pts
1	1 0	Essex Racing	Tony Clark	2634
2	2 0	Revers Racing	Pete B	2535
3	3 0	Team Charles Picd	Charles Pic	2420
4	4 0	Iqonic racing	iqon	2354
5	5 2	Hidden Cucumber	fat brownie	2326
6	6 0	PSS Power	Flyer	2310
7	7 2	Pitts Specials	john stones	2277
8	8 1	teewrex	John Tee	2219
9	9 1	DMFC Racing Team	Simon Webb	2164
10	10 2	Mannschaft	Carl Brotherton	2143
11	11 0	LetsGoTotoLetsGo	GrumpyGnome	2104
12	12 0	Torque of the devil	Stu	2043
13	13 0	GASTON Formula	Chris McG	1989
14	14 0	Norfolk Flyers	Kevin Fairgrieve	1983
15	15 0	The JP Specials	johnpflyrc	1889
16	16 0	Hans Brake	Zoonie	1799

 

No change in the top 4 today, with Tony (unsurprisngly!) holding top spot from Pete and Charles.

 

fat brownie moves up 2 to 5th, displacing John S to 7th.  John T and Simon are also on the move - each up a place to 8th and 9th with Carl slipping 2 spots to 10th.

 

All other places remain unchanged.

 

Next up in two weeks time is Azerbaijan.

[iqon]

Well done top 3.

[Simon Webb]

Well done everyone! 

[John Privett]

Evening all!

 

Azerbaijan this weekend!  (Did I spell that correctly?) So before anything else,  the customary reminder;

 

Don't forget your predictions!

 

P1 was punctuated by red flags following crashes by Leclerc and Colapinto.  Verstappen set fastest time in the disrupted session, just over 0.3 s ahead of Hamilton with Perez third fastest.  Norris was 4th with Sainz 5th.

 

P2 saw Leclerc set fastest time, just six-thousandths of a second faster than Perez, with Hamilton 3rd fastest, just 6-hundredths of a second slower.  A bit of a gap then to Saiz, Piastri and Verstappen.

 

P3 is tomorrow at 9:30 UK-time, followed by qualifying at 13:00.  Sunday's race starts at noon.

 

Good luck everyone,  and get those predictions done now if you haven't aready!  You can always change them after P3 tomorrow if needed!

[John Privett]

Evening all!

 

Well, that was quite a race!  Shame about it ending under the (virtual) safety car,  but certainly an eventful race.  Let's look first at our league results today;

 

Pos	League Rank	Team	Manager	Pts
1	2 0	Revers Racing	Pete B	216
2	1 0	Essex Racing	Tony Clark	214
3	3 0	Team Charles Picd	Charles Pic	207
4	8 0	teewrex	John Tee	187
5	4 1	Hidden Cucumber	fat brownie	184
6	6 0	PSS Power	Flyer	162
7	13 1	Norfolk Flyers	Kevin Fairgrieve	156
8	5 1	Iqonic racing	iqon	155
9	7 0	Pitts Specials	john stones	149
10	14 1	GASTON Formula	Chris McG	134
11	12 0	Torque of the devil	Stu	131
12	11 0	LetsGoTotoLetsGo	GrumpyGnome	117
13	9 0	DMFC Racing Team	Simon Webb	99
14	16 0	Hans Brake	Zoonie	96
15	15 0	The JP Specials	johnpflyrc	93
16	10 0	Mannschaft	Carl Brotherton	90

 

Top place today goes to Pete with an impressive 216 points.

Just 2 points behind is Tony, taking today's second place with 214 points.

And just a few points adrift of them Charles takes thrid today with 207 points.

 

Well done to today's top three!

 

Looking now at the overall table after today's race;

 

os	League Rank	Team	Manager	Pts
1	1 0	Essex Racing	Tony Clark	2848
2	2 0	Revers Racing	Pete B	2751
3	3 0	Team Charles Picd	Charles Pic	2628
4	4 1	Hidden Cucumber	fat brownie	2511
5	5 1	Iqonic racing	iqon	2509
6	6 0	PSS Power	Flyer	2472
7	7 0	Pitts Specials	john stones	2426
8	8 0	teewrex	John Tee	2407
9	9 0	DMFC Racing Team	Simon Webb	2265
10	10 0	Mannschaft	Carl Brotherton	2235
11	11 0	LetsGoTotoLetsGo	GrumpyGnome	2221
12	12 0	Torque of the devil	Stu	2174
13	13 1	Norfolk Flyers	Kevin Fairgrieve	2139
14	14 1	GASTON Formula	Chris McG	2123
15	15 0	The JP Specials	johnpflyrc	1982
16	16 0	Hans Brake	Zoonie	1896

 

No change in the top 3, with Tony remaining in top place, Pete 2nd and Charles 3rd.

 

But just below them, fat brownie moves up a place to 4th, displacing iqon to 5th.

 

And in the lower part of the table, our sadly-departed friend Chris slips one place with Kev moving up to 13th.  But Chris's initial team selection was good enough, that without being here to make any predictions for most of the season,  he's still beating 2 of us in the league - one of those being me!

 

Next up, in a week's time, is Singapore.  

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Yep, been keeping an eye on Chris's scores.

Well done again lads, better races and some turnaround from the seasons begging.

[iqon]

Well done top 3

[Charles Pic]

My sympathies to anyone who has Perez and Sainz in their team and who was getting very excited 2 laps before the end…!  Then very sad 1 lap before the end 💔

[iqon]

2 hours ago, Charles Pic said:

My sympathies to anyone who has Perez and Sainz in their team and who was getting very excited 2 laps before the end…!  Then very sad 1 lap before the end 💔

Nope I just though never mind as I wanted 1 safety car. Then I got it right.......... lol

[John Tee]

Me too Iqon.😃😃

 

John