SofaF1

Anyone seen this rumour?

Team America

Will this be a good or bad thing for McLaren? (Don’t let my title put you off). Was Ron Dennis the reason McLaren (or Hamilton) won the title last year, or was he the reason they didn’t win it the year before?

So it’s 2009…

We are beginning to rev ourselves up for the 2009 season.

We will again be competing for the ultimate F1 prize:

To take part all you have to do is write one comment each race weekend before qualifying starts. In it you have to name who will be on pole and who at the end of the race will finish in the top eight spots.

There are all kinds of rules about how you score points but if you feel you’d like to take part this year then it would be good to hear from you now! It’s hard to join in mid season because you have so many points to make up.

So amazinly enough I have been invited back on to the sidepodpanel as a guest this time.

And for reasons I am still not entirely sure about there appears to be a bit of the show at the beginning where I do a rap about Vettel. No it’s not just your imagination playing tricks on you.

http://www.sidepodcast.com/2008/12/01/sidepodpanel-absolutely-stunned/

Now as regular readers will know I’ve had the odd dabble with F1 Intro Sequences over the years and clearly there will be a new one for next year. But it looks like I’m going to have to hang up my hat as somebody else has posted up on the internet a suggestion for the BBC for next year. And it’s really really well done:

The BBC should just put a cheque in the post. It feels totally on the money.

Bernie’s scheme to introduce medals instead of points is ludicrous. It’s so ludicrous that I’m not even sure if the whole thing’s a joke or not. Last year, for perhaps one of the few times in history, a driver won the championship not having won the most races. For this reason alone, it appears, the rules have to be changed. I’m reminded of the vast amount of rule changes introduced to try to stop Schumacher winning (which we’re still suffering from). The rule-makers really need to have a long-term view, and stop being so reactionary. Perhaps the medal situation will run alongside points, but even so the whole process makes one element of Formula 1 that is relatively simple more complex, for no good reason. Last year we had one of the closest season’s of racing in the history of the sport, why should we change it?

http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/72167

Since the SofaF1 Championship was first launched the rules and scoring have altered slightly from season to season, much like the actual F1 championship in fact. So with only 139 days to go till the 2009 season i thought it would be a good idea to get the ball rolling and canvas for ideas on how we could improve the competition, if indeed that is possible.

Nick has already mentioned the double counting of the championship predictions which were made with no real information back before the season began. I personally favour keeping this aspect of the scoring as a chance to put your money where your mouth is so to speak and follow personal preferences, gut feel or interpretations of winter testing form. And besides i’ve already worked out who is on top of my list for 2009.

We already factor in the pole sitter, both for the championship and each race but what about a bonus point/points for a fastest lap contender?

Or what about a wildcard race winner picked pre season, a driver who has never won an F1 race before, but would be worth a couple of bonus points if they did win during the season?

Or a contructors title element to the championship?

Anyway, please let us know what you think.

Well, what a race, what a season. I personally think its great for the sport that the title wasn’t decided until the last sector of the last lap of the last Grand Prix and even then both camps thought they had won it.

So the final race, it was wet then dry, Massa led but Hamilton was going to win the championship then Hamilton slipped back and it was all about Massa then it was Hamilton again then it rained again, then it was Massa who crossed the line as champion until Hamilton managed to follow Vettel past Glock on grooves and take the 5th place he needed for the championship.

I’m sure all you really want to know about is what happened here, but first I must apologise for the slight delay in releasing the results, just wanted to make sure Hamilton didn’t get penalised for some technical irregularity and stripped of his title.

So, Massa on pole, 2 points to all but Nick, Massa winning the race gave 4 points to all but Alex, who only managed 1. Alex, Nick, Fourstar and myself managed 1 each for Alonso, GrifF1 had 2 for Raikkonen, whilst Alex, Nick and myself had to settle for 1 each.

Hamilton gave Nick and myself 1 further point each, Igor took 2 for Kovalainen, GrifF1 just 1. Vettel gave GrifF1 the last point.

So Round 18

1 GrifF1 10
2 Bearded Stew 9
3 Igor 8
4 Nick 7
4 Fourstar 7
6 Alex 5

Which would have left the championship looking like this…

1 Fourstar 111
2 Nick 104
3 Igor 90
4 Alex 88
5 Bearded Stew 86
5 GrifF1 86

… If we hadn’t picked our championship contenders way back in March … and who are worth double points!

So for the Championship

Hamilton took 7 pole positions versus 6 for Massa, giving 4 points each to Alex, Nick, GrifF1 and myself, Hamilton taking the championship was worth 8 points to Nick, Fourstar and Igor, with just 2 for Alex, GrifF1 and myself. Raikkonen gave 2 points each to Nick, Fourstar and Igor. Massa did better than most expected but still gave 2 points each to Nick, Fourstar and GrifF1. Alonso with a good run towards the end hands 4 points to Nick and Fourstar and 2 each to Alex and myself. Heidfeld down in 6th was good for 4 points for Fourstar and 2 points for GrifF1 and myself. Igor took the last 2 points for Kubica.

So what does that look like …

1 Nick 20
1 Fourstar 20
3 Igor 12
4 Bearded Stew 10
4 GrifF1 10
6 Alex 8

So after an epic season the result you have all been waiting for …drum roll, fanfare, cue anthem…

SofaF1 Championship 2008

1 Fourstar 131
2 Nick 124
3 Igor 102
4 Bearded Stew 96
4 Alex 96
4 GrifF1 96

Congratulations Fourstar – 2008 SofaF1 Champion!

Thank you all for participating, hope to see you again next year!