2007 F1 Season - DS Member Competition

On behalf of Paulie, I'm setting this up - the general running of this doesn't take much, if no-one wants the responsibility of it, I'll do it (although I had a habit of forgetting to post my prediction frequently last year).

THE RULES:

1. Entries must be posted before the start of the race. No exceptions.
2. 3 points will be awarded for guessing the correct outright winner
3. 1 point will be awarded for guessing the correct driver for positions 2nd through 5th.

2007 F1 CALENDAR

18/03/2007 Australia Melbourne

08/04/2007 Malaysia Sepang

15/04/2007 Bahrain Sakhir

13/05/2007 Spain Barcelona

27/05/2007 Monaco Monaco

10/06/2007 Canada Montréal

17/06/2007 USA Indianapolis

01/07/2007 France Magny-Cours

08/07/2007 Great-Britain Silverstone

22/07/2007 Germany Nurburgring

05/08/2007 Hungary Hungaroring

26/08/2007 Turkey Istanbul

09/09/2007 Italy Monza

16/09/2007 Belgium Spa-Francorchamps

30/09/2007 Japan Fuji speedway

07/10/2007 China Shanghai

21/10/2007 Brazil Interlagos


Teams & Drivers

RENAULT
Giancarlo Fisichella
Heikki Kovalainen

TOYOTA
Jarno Trulli
Ralf Schumacher

RED BULL RACING
David Coulthard
Mark Webber

SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Scott Speed

McLAREN
Fernando Alonso
Lewis Hamilton

WILLIAMS
Nico Rosberg
Alex Wurz

BMW SAUBER
Nick Heidfeld
Robert Kubica

SUPER AGURI
Takuma Sato
Anthony Davidson

FERRARI
Kimi Raikkonen
Felipe Massa

HONDA
Rubens Barrichello
Jenson Button

SPYKER
Christijan Albers
Adrian Sutil

Any questions before we begin please ask. Getting it wrong will not be appreciated by veteran members I'm sure.

Good luck to all and here's to a good season of racing.

Australia

1. Alonso
2. Massa
3. Raikkonen
4. Hamilton
5. Heidfeld

I can wait until after qualifying, can't I?

Yeah, but before the race.

I think it takes more skill/luck to guess before qualifying, but you can wait until just before the lights go out if you like.

Makes me wonder why Phix and NP already posted predictions.

Can you change them after you post, but before the race, or is it set in stone.

Australia:

1. Räikkönen
2. Massa
3. Alonso
4. Button
5. Hamilton.

I'm thinking about giving this a shot this year, so just to clarify this last rule...do 2-5 have to be in correct order to get 1 point each? or do you get a point each for the correct drivers in positions 2-5?

You get a point each for the correct drivers in positions 2-5 - so for example, if you guess pos. # 2 and #5 correctly but screw up 3 and 4, you get 2 points.

And much thanks to tune for setting up the competition thread for the 2007 season.

Thanks Paulie, and yes - thanks Tune for setting up the 07 Competition.

Also, anyone going to the German GP this year? I may be attending if I can afford it. What are the odds of it selling out/how soon should I try to get tickets if I want to go? I've never been to a GP before.

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Giancarlo Fisichella
3. Felipe Massa
4. Kimi Räikkönen
5. Jenson Button

As a heads up to all you early players:

Free Practice 2:

1. Massa
2. Raikkonen
3. Hamilton
4. Fisichella
5. Heidfeld
6. Wurz
7. Alonso
8. Rosberg
9. Kubica
10. Coulthard
11. Davidson
12. Trulli
13. Sato
14. Button
15. Barrichello
16. Schumacher
17. Webber
18. Kovalainen
19. Speed
20. Sutil
21. Albers
22. Liuzzi

Right, and in free practice 1 Alonso was on top. What's yer point, youngin?

In both practices Hamilton was in the top 5. I think he is going to be my favorite this year. Rookies FTW!

I live across the st. from Albert Park...thought you guys might like to hear some F1 thunder!

This is today at practice. sorry my camera couldn't adjust for the brightness outside, but that doesn't really matter anyway, just listen!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...eoid=2015447623

^ Seems like Australia is situated at the centre of the sun. LOL.

I would love to be situated so close to the action though.

1. Felipe Massa
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Nick Heidfeld
4. Lewis Hamilton
5. Kimi Raikkonen

Qualifying sessions are now underway.

For those of us in North America, remember that the Melbourne race will start at 23:00 hrs on Saturday March 17th (EST).

So post your picks before then!

1. Kimi Raikkonen
2. Felipe Massa
3. Fernando Alonso
4. Lewis Hamilton
5. Giancarlo Fisichella

K. Raikkonen
F. Alonso
L. Hamilton
F. Massa
N. Heidfeld

This is goint to be a good one! Go Massa!

Raikkonnen
Alonso
Hamilton
Massa
Kubica

Anything can happen.

Raikkonen
Alonso
Hamilton
Fisichella
Kubica

My picks for GP of Australia:

1. Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari
2. Ferrnando Alonso - McLaren-Mercedes
3. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren-Mercedes
4. Giancarlo Fisichella - Renault
5. Mark Webber - Red Bull-Renault

F1 rookie Hamilton has really impressed me.. and he is in a very competent car.

1: Alonso
2: Raikkonen
3: Hamilton
4: Massa
5: Heidfeld

Damn, slightly off!

Results:
2007 Australian Grand Prix
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points

1 6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari Winner

2 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes +7.2 secs

3 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +18.5 secs

4 9 Nick Heidfeld BMW +38.7 secs

5 3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault +66.4 secs

Leaderboard...................This Race................Total
Dr Strangelove............................5...........................5
Tirminyl......................................5...........................5
Marien........................................5...........................5
Paulie D......................................5...........................5
infinity935...................................4...........................4
Ferm..........................................3...........................3
NorthPoint...................................1...........................1
jbzonda.......................................1...........................1
idiot............................................1...........................1
phix............................................0...........................0
Forrest........................................0...........................0

Thanks to Tirminyl, for tallying up the points for the first round.

Not bad for my first shot at this. I've got to give credit to Hamilton for making podium this race, what a great way to begin one's career in F1. I hope he does well this season. My inner Ferrari fan is glad Raikkonen won too

Hamilton was very impressive. He was on pace with last season's champion (Alonso) for the duration of the race. But what was up up with Hamilton's 12 second pit stop? Seems quite odd to me. Methinks the McLaren-Mercedes team bosses wanted Alonso to finish ahead of Hamilton.

I think the rookie (Hamilton) will be the star of the 2007 season.

I knew Hamilton would be fast and I had faith in Kimi despite peoples statements of his winter testing. Here are some highlight vids: http://freshf1.com/australian-gp-in-videos/2007/03/18/

You don't know how stupid I feel now.

Lewis was brilliant and if he'd been on the same strategy as Alonso, may have beat him.

Why do you think his pit stop was longer and Alonso's was faster? LOL. Conspiracy!!!!

As far as I remember had Hamilton some traffic just before he entered the pit. Therefore Alonso already closed the gap between him and Lewis. The next two or so laps, Alonso was lighter and had warm tires so he could push hard to extend the gap before he had to go to the pit also.
After that, Alonso was pushing to get closer to Kimi, while Hamilton did the smart thing and settled for third place (podium in his first race, instead of pushing hard and maybe end up with nothing)

^^Yes, I know Hamilton had traffic (Sato). I was just laughing at the fact his pit stop was like 12seconds and Alonso's was 5-6 seconds. Very close outing when Hamilton came out of the pits....lol. I really don't mean anything about it, I just find it funny.

Hamilton put on a great drive. I hope he doesn't turn into a Rosberg! Oh and what the hell happened to Kovalainen?

Oh, I didn't know the difference was that big. I thought the pit times were quite similar.

I will have to watch the race again. I was somewhat intoxicated at the time.

I didn't get a chance to watch the race, but I just read that Massa made his way from the back of the grid to 6th position. That's impressive. I'd love to know where he would've ended up had Ferrari not had to replace his engine and set their #2 driver to the back of the grid. I'm looking forward to seeing him when he starts from his qualifying position in the future.

Yeah, Alonso had a slightly longer first pitstop, which allowed him the shorter pitstop later on. After that everyone did the sensible thing and turned the revs down towards the end, hence there was no battling for positions.

Massa did well, but he wasn't as quick as he could have been, and people have gone higher than 6th from the back of the grid before i.e. Raikonnen last year got 3rd in Bahrain from the back.

raikonnen will probably win the championship....he has both skill and the car....

alonso just underestimates his opponents....

Keep in mind that the Australian track is not really easy to pass on.

It's still impressive and is a good sign for Massa/Ferrari for things to come. Also, like Tirminyl said, Albert Park isn't the easiest track for passing.

Yes I agree and I expected Ferrari to do well anyway this season.

Wow, talk about talent. Kid living the dream. Hamilton did a lot more than prove himself to Ron Dennis in this race. With a kid this young and with this much talent, he could very well be the next MS 5-10 years down the line.

Not to kill the hype, but remember how we were talking about Nico Rosberg last year after his first race...

Massa is Ferrari's #1. I thought his drive was very impressive. I think he has a shot at the championchip title this year as well. Whatever the case, it will be fun to watch two great drivers in the same car fighting it out. Prost v. Senna anyone? *fingers crossed*

Thats what I am afraid of...but lets hope it doesn't turn out like him. I genuinely believe Hamilton will keep up his pace barring any mechanical problems.

I didn't see any of Rosberg before F1, but I did see Hamilton in GP2 last year - I know it's very different, but the way that boy raced and pushed last year was immense - take the Turkey race last year for example. He was in an incident at the first corner and was dead last on Lap 1, I think he spun again later in the race, but by the last lap he was in 3rd, over 3 seconds behind 2nd and he took that position on the last lap. I am not joking he, was still going flat out when the guy in front was braking coming into a hairpin - sensational to watch, hope we see something like that this year.

Rosberg, just as Kovalanien, were all in GP2.

So...........