Near-perfect predictions for five players in round five

Predictions Championship

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Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Barcelona, 2011

Five players came within two points of getting perfect scores in the Spanish Grand Prix round of the predictions championship.

Ali Brown, Jon Finn, Bargainhuntergal, Gazzap and Nemo87 all correctly predicted the top five finishers. But they also all picked Sebastian Vettel for pole position – missing out on two extra points.

Mark Webber broke Vettel’s streak of pole positions, which was bad news for the 69% of people who tipped Vettel to start from pole again.

Nemo87 won the round on the tie-breaker and claims the prize of a pair of F1 DVDs from Duke Video. Second place – and an F1 Fanatic mug – goes to Bargainhuntergal.

Nemo87 also takes the lead in the points standings ahead of Ali Brown and Jon Finn, with previous leader Pukz dropping to fourth.

The most popular prediction was for Vettel to lead a Red Bull one-two followed by Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button – almost 100 people picked that combination.

Remember there’s prizes to be won in every round, so get your predictions in for the Monaco Grand Prix below. You can edit your prediction up to the start of qualifying.

Find out where you are in the championship standings and have a look at the statistics so far here:

You can enter your predictions for all the remaining rounds below and on the Predictions Championship page (under Community > Predictions Championship in the menu).

You can edit a prediction for any race up until the deadline for entries which is the start of third practice at each round.

The prizes

There are prizes to be won in every race plus grand prizes for the overall winners at the end of the season.

Whoever gets the highest overall score throughout the year will win a pair of grandstand tickets for the 2012 British Grand Prix.

Here are the prizes in full:

Grand prize: Two grandstands tickets to the 2012 British Grand Prix

The person who scores the most points over the whole season will win two grandstand tickets to the 2012 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

The grand prize winner will receive tickets to all three days of the event with reserved seating for the race.

The winners will have tickets for the Becketts grandstand which offers views of the spectacular, high-speed Becketts complex plus part of the new infield section of the track which saw so much action in the 2010 race.

Second place prize: An F1 painting of your choice

The second place finisher will win an F1 painting by Rob Ijbema.

You get to choose which F1 driver, present or past, will feature in the painting. Or you can pick one of the other motor racing paintings on Rob’s site Car-a-day.

More prizes to come!

Further prizes for the highest-scoring players will be announced later this year.

Race winners prize: A pair of F1 DVDs

Duke Video are supplying the prize for the player who gets the highest score in each round.

Each race winner will get to pick any two from the following three new Duke motor racing DVDs:

Race runners-up prize: F1 Fanatic mugs

The second place finisher in each race will win an official F1 Fanatic mug.

See here for more details on F1 Fanatic merchandise:

How to enter

You have until the start of free practice three on Saturday to make your predictions for each round.

A reminder will be posted on the site after free practice two on Friday as well as on Twitter.

Each player may predict the pole sitter, the pole position lap time and the top five finishers in the race. See below for the rules in full.

You need to log in using an F1 Fanatic account to make your prediction.

The sign-up process is quick and easy: Get your F1 Fanatic account here and read more about registering here.

Enter your pole position lap time prediction in the following format: MM:SS.ccc For example, for a lap of one minute, 25.386 seconds enter 01:25.386

After submitting your prediction you will receive an email to the address you created your F1 Fanatic account with confirming your entry. If this does not happen, or you are concerned your prediction has not been received, please get in touch using the contact form.

Make your predictions

[motorracingleague entry=6]

Competition terms and conditions

1. Maximum one entry per household.
2. The competition is not open to employees, friends or family of F1 Fanatic, Silverstone Circuit, Duke Video or Car-a-Day.
3. Predictions will open up to one week before the start of final practice on the Saturday of a Grand Prix weekend and will be promoted on the front page of F1 Fanatic before closing prior to the start of final practice.
4. In each round players are invited to predict (a) who will be on pole position and (b) what the top five finishers will be (five different drivers).
5. Players score points in each round as follows:
a. Correctly naming the pole sitter: 2 points
b. Correctly naming one/two/three/four/five driver/s who finish in the top five: 1/2/3/5/8 points
c. Correctly predicting where one/two/three/four/five driver/s finish: 2/6/14/24/40 points
6. Whoever scores the most points in every race counting towards the Formula 1 World Championship wins the grand prize.
7. In the event of a tie on points the winner will be determined by who came closest to predicting the pole position time correctly. If that fails to produce a winner the editor will choose a means of deciding who has won.
8. Predictions must be entered using the form above. If you have trouble submitting your entry via the form please contact F1 Fanatic via email and send your prediction using the contact form.
9. In the event of a dispute the editor’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
10. No cash alternative is offered for any of the prizes.
11. Grand Prix tickets: Children must be accompanied by an adult. Accommodation and transport to the venue not included.
12. Players who have won prizes will be notified by email within seven days of each Grand Prix. DVD and mug prizes will be despatched within 28 days of that email being sent. Grand Prix tickets will be despatched once they are available.

Don’t miss a single round of the F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship. Subscribe to F1 Fanatic using RSS, email or Twitter: Click here for more information.

Image © Red Bull/Getty images

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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33 comments on “Near-perfect predictions for five players in round five”

  1. I really should have dared give Webber pole in my prediction, but as it is, this at least was the first time I got more than 10 points :)

    1. I guess I wasn’t the only one to swap Webber for Vettel as the pole sitter after the FP3 where Vettel was fastest.

    2. Good job then with the predictions. I got only 5 points, as I tipped Vettel for pole but also crucially for Webber to win!

      Got me back down to 590th place in the standings.

      1. I went for Vettel I always expected him to be faster come FP3, but I also expected him to get pole… doh!

    3. First time I’ve got the podium correct :) though it was a pretty easy podium tbh.

  2. Wow!!! This round completely shook the standings.
    And it was one of the most predictible races ever, although high scores of 48 points used to be more frequent last year.
    It’s quite disappointing that the season’s been so predictable so far.
    Redbull and McLaren battle it out between each other, Ferrari are not that strong, Mercedes are less relevant than last year and the other teams are completely irrelevant (saddly including Renault).

  3. I thought I did pretty bad, but I actually scored the most points I have all year this round! (Although that is only 12) I’m now up to 487th with 33 points – look out nemo87! :P

  4. Into the Top 100 with my best score yet! Just 6 points off being in the Top 50 too…

  5. Webber screwed me this weekend :(

    1. Me too :D
      First he got pole instead of Vettel :D
      And then he underachieves and finishes behind Button :D Had he not done two of those things I would have 50pts in the bag.

      1. Pink Pirelli
        25th May 2011, 11:14

        Yeah, last time I put my faith in a fellow Australian… Although tbh, Webber wasn’t the only one who screwed up my predictions this round – they all did! Clearly the fault can’t be mine, so I am blaming the drivers, and urge them to do better next round.

  6. Damn.. my lowest score from any of the rounds so far – 5pts. My faith in Fernando is being questioned.. everytime I put him out of my top 5 he proves me wrong.

    Icthyes.. looks like we have finally parted ways in our predictions.

  7. good to be in top 100…thanks to Vettel..earned a lot of points..

    the racing has been exciting the finishing positions have been quite consistent though.

    trying to cracking in the top 50..63 at this time..

  8. I was another who swapped Webber for Vettel last minute after 3rd practise! Although the 2 points wouldn’t have affected my mediocre position too much…

  9. Damn, I moved from 25th down to 36th place. My prediction this week would have been near perfect if Webber had come second as it would have bumped everyone else into the correct position.

    1. exactly the case with me too..damn webbers ulta slow starts..

  10. Well gutted webber didn’t pass Button and schumacher didn’t pass Alonso that would of been 48 for me lol :)

    Well done to those top 5 scores

  11. After a terrible start to the season I’m now up to joint 590th!

    If only Hamilton had managed to pass Vettel I’d have an extra 26 points and potentially be in the top 50.

  12. I feel really annoyed about Hamilton, my prediction was VET-ALO-WEB-BUT-MSC, and for a considerable time in the race, the top 6 were VET-HAM-ALO-WEB-BUT-MSC! I’ve never ever prayed for Hamilton to crash out in my life until that moment…

  13. I think I was on for a maximum at some point during the race – Webber pole then VET, HAM, ALO, WEB, BUT.

    Sadly Alonso and Button swapped but it’s still a decent haul.

    Monaco could be a tougher one to predict…

  14. well done to you 5 i got it all wrong as usual.

  15. I’m already 59 points behind the leader, I’m just going for a win somewhere along the way now.

  16. Argh! I was SO close to picking Webber for pole. Had Vettel not have blitzed that one lap in FP3 I would have gone with Webber. Dam.

    I shall check out who’s behind i’m kicking later ;)

    1. I’m still beating a good few of you :D Although MattHT trounced me this week. Shame.

  17. Can’t believe I’m still in the top 10! I don’t think I was anywhere near the top 200 last year let alone top 10. Still haven’t got a perfect result yet, that’s my next aim…

  18. I had the 5 correct drivers in the top 5, but none on their right positions :-( It’s not very good for me in the championship, especially before the unpredictable Monaco GP.

    1. the unpredictable Monaco GP.

      Unpredictable?? What? :)

  19. Hey look I’m 130th. If I had put predictions in for the first race I’ll probably be top 50.

  20. I’ve slipped back 14 places to 130th. But even worse my father (Catch23) has managed to equal my position after being 405 places down!!

  21. Monaco should see some crazy predictions! Anyone for Schumi on pole??

  22. I’m somewhere around pos 1567. I guess it’s time to start reeling you guys in now:)

  23. I have to check that my submission is received, I lost out on 10 points. Down to 55 from what would have been 16th place. :(

  24. JamieFranklinF1
    25th May 2011, 7:50

    I was going to put Webber on pole, but changed at the last minute. I was only 2 tenths off of the correct pole time too, which if Vettel’s KERS would have been working, may have been damn close to spot on :P

    Apart from that, I was happy that I got the top 5 drivers right, just in the wrong order. I clearly gave Webber too much credit in second, and the Hamilton and Button 3rd and 4th respectively.
    Oh well, at least I got Alonso and Vettel right.

    It also bodes well that my points get more and more each race…

Comments are closed.