The first round of the 2019 F1 World Championships is on 17th March. Please reply to this thread to sign up.

Rules: Pick 3 drivers, from three different teams* for each race.

*as introduced in 2016

Points will be awarded based on the points your picks receive for the race.

For each race, five drivers will be designated as 'Seeded Drivers'. Only half-points will be awarded for these drivers.

Bonus Points: To be discussed in this thread

Default scores will be based on your picks for the previous race, with half-points for seeds applying.

Here's the calendar:

F1 GP #1: Australia, 17 March
F1 GP #2: Bahrain, 31 March
F1 GP #3: China, 14 April
F1 GP #4: Azerbaijan, 28 April
F1 GP #5: Spain, 12 May
F1 GP #6: Monaco, 26 May
F1 GP #7: Canada, 9 June
F1 GP #8: France, 23 June
F1 GP #9: Austria, 30 June
F1 GP #10: Britain, 14 July
F1 GP #11: Germany, 28 July
F1 GP #12: Hungary, 4 August
F1 GP #12A: Belgium, 1 September
F1 GP #14: Italy, 8 September
F1 GP #15: Singapore, 22 September
F1 GP #16: Russia, 29 September
F1 GP #17: Japan, 13 October
F1 GP #18: Mexico, 27 October
F1 GP #19: USA, 3 November
F1 GP #20: Brazil, 17 November
F1 GP #21: Abu Dhabi, 1 December **FINAL**

I'm in

Back for another year.

I've been looking forward to this reappearing, so I'm definitely in.

On the subject of potential bonuses - how about a bonus point for giving the top three in the correct order that they finish the race?

It would mean having to change the rules to state an order for our three choices, but would introduce more variation in picks given that people often select the same three drivers.

I like the idea of a bonus for picking the first three in order .. do we go with a one point bonus or a three point bonus?

Purely from the standpoint of having to keep track of order, how about this for an alternative:

One bonus point for the first tipper to pick any three driver combination (in any order). This would also make tippers think twice about choosing exactly the same combination as others.


Picking the podium (in any order) doesn't happen all that often, really. Last season a total of 14 tippers picked the podium, in seven different races (of 21). My suggestion would ensure at least some bonus points for every race.

>> Last season a total of 14 tippers picked the podium, in seven different races (of 21).

With those numbers, you should make it anybody who has the first three, rather than just the first tipper (which makes it a race to lodge picks, and we're all spread across the globe in different time zones).

I’d also be concerned about having to worry about spotting the thread and racing to pick early. Given the total points on offer each round, I wouldn’t pick a leftover driver combination solely for a bonus of 1 or even 3 points.

When I said in the “right order”, I didn’t mean “on the podium” necessarily. If the first pick came 2nd, the second came 3rd and the third came 6th, I meant that would qualify for a bonus point. Although perhaps there would need to be a stipulation that they did all finish in the points to qualify.

If that seems too complicated to keep track of, then another option could be extending the picks to five (still with the one driver from each team rule). That might introduce more variety of picks, since people could afford to experiment a bit more with picks from outside the “big three”. Admittedly this would be a bigger change to the structure of the comp than introducing a bonus of some sort, so might not be the way to go either.

Maybe there’s no easy answer!

Keeping track of more than three could become a bit daunting, but would be doable, I guess.

Keeping track of order would mean re-thinking my spreadsheet for calculating scores a bit.

I took "top three" and "first three" to mean "on the podium", which would be a bit easier to track than keeping track of the order of "any three".

Part of the reason I made the suggestion I did is that I got really tired of seeing the same combo picked multiple times, race after race. Because I only check the time to make sure the deadline has been met I didn't really think of time zones.

I'd really like to cut down on the number of races with six or more "winners".

I have to run off in a moment and catch a bus. Keep throwing in ideas and we'll come up with something.

OK, been thinking about it. How about this:

3 point bonus for picking the podium in order (1, 2, 3)

2 point bonus for picking the podium drivers in any order

1 point bonus for any three driver combination picked in their finishing order


It's a bit more work for me, but I should be able to handle it

The F1 has become so very predictable that it's easy to know before the season starts the teams which would finish top 3...I have actually written to F1 to see if there's some meaningful way the races can be organized so every driver has an equal chance of winning the championship (like have different constructor championship with their teams and then have all 20-24 drivers drive the same car for the driver's championship)

That said, I think if you can introduce some bonus here for picking a driver that's NOT from the top 3 teams, and that driver finishes in the top 5/10 (you decide), we get the bonus pomts (5 bonus points...1 point is too less to make any difference in this comp)

This way, we will also be looking at results and drivers of the "lesser mortal" teams too

I like the three level bonus approach. It seems like a good way of breaking ties and minimising multiple winners without completely changing the structure of the comp.

F1 has always been a team as well as driver sport - but we can always hope for closer competition or a shake up of the order this year...

A three-level bonus system will add some spice, but it looks like a lot of work!

It looks like it, but in practice I've kept track of podiums since I started doing this, and seeing if they are in order is only one extra step. I've thought about how I'd do it and feel it will work.

  ok, ten 4!

I'm working on putting the first few tipping threads up, I hope today or tomorrow. Just getting all the drivers straight

First five tipping threads are up, first deadline is a week from today. Happy F1 Season!

  I'm in!

Haven't been around for a few years, I'm in this year

Welcome back!

Thanks, gtho4, for doing the links.

Thanks Liz

I'm in.

  yep, me too

Edited by spanishliz (Sun Apr 14 2019 06:25 PM)