FF1GP News

The 2008 FF1GP season comes to a close

Published
by
Pete
on November 2, 2008
in FF1GP News
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Well who will remember a finish to the F1 season, where the world championship was decided in the final corner. Hamilton was in 6th approaching the final corner until he passed Glock who was running 4th place on the wrong tyres.

Much respect goes to Massa, who I say deserved the World Championship title just as equally as Hamilton. He was obviously gutted to lose the title like this, but he looked up and took it very well, like a true sportsman.

The final race brings a close to the 2008 FF1GP season, which has been enjoyable as ever. FF1GP will be back in 2009, with I hope few changes. I’ve been working on the new code for a few years now, most of the work has been on the framework that will be used to run the FF1GP site, but due to changing requirements, it has been delayed as a result.

One feature that is likely to be given a rest for the 2008 FF1GP season is the “Want to lose” rules. There has always been a few issues with the rules for that, so rather than scrap it completely, it will be given a rest. However the final decision won’t be decided until at least February.

The first race of 2009 is on 29th March. The FF1GP website for 2009 will be online for entries at the beginning of March 2009.

See you all next year!

FF1GP in Brazil

Published
by
Pete
on October 27, 2008
in FF1GP News
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The final race of the season is nearly here, and it’s going to be a cracker.

Let’s hope it’s going to be a clean fight between Hamilton Vs Massa. No-one wants’ a repeat of any stewards madness like in Spa, Japan or another coldfuel-gate like appeal from Brazil last year. Being a Brit, I’ll be supporting Jenson Button to take the chequered flag!

Anyway, what I’ll be doing is posting the final 2008 FF1GP results from about 21:00GMT on Sunday, hopefully all ready for everyone in their own Fantasy Leagues to see who is the overall winner on Monday morning.

If (And remember the word IF is F1 backwards) things do get daft in the world of F1 for any reason, I’ll post up the latest news here.

More news after the race.

Japan FF1GP Results

Published
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Pete
on October 12, 2008
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Did you get up and 4:30am to watch the Japanese grand prix? I sure did, and slept the rest of the day afterwards!

If you saw the race, you would know Massa originally finished 8th, and Boudias finished 6th. However when Bourdias came out of the pits, he had the inside line, while Massa try to go around the outside of him, and somehow Massa spun.

The Stewards decided it was worth investigating, but with 16 laps to go, they decided to investigate it after the race. In the end they decided to give Bourdias a 25 second penalty…yes it doesn’t make any sense to me either.

Since we know know stewards decisions cannot be appealed, it looks like F1 is going to get a lot of flack over this latest ruling.

More news from ITV-F1 news and if you like to hear about the incident from Bourdias point of view, head over to Planet F1.

Next race in China, in a week’s time.

Belgium FF1GP results

Published
by
Pete
on September 23, 2008
in FF1GP News
. 1 Comment

Yesterday, Lewis Hammilton and the Mclaren team presented their case in Paris over the 25 second penalty that was given for cutting a chicane.

The FIA gave their verdict today, it turns out that the appeal wasn’t admissible in the first please, as the 25 second penalty is counted as a stop-go penalty and can’t be appealed. So we will never know what was decided about the chicane cutting in Paris, if it was ever decided.

The story can be read more from the BBC and the ITV-F1 sites.

As for the FF1GP results, the Belgium results are now considered as finalalised.

Round 14 - Monza

Published
by
Pete
on September 14, 2008
in FF1GP News
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Well that race was astonishing! Sebastian Vettel in a Toro Rosso scored his first maiden victory, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in cheering him onto the finish. Let’s hope we all see more wins out of this driver in the future.

One thing that did amuse me, was the team’s weather forecasts. Several times, if you watched the race, you heard over the team radio things like “Rain in 5 minutes” or “It’s going to rain in 3 laps”

Except it didn’t rain. You would think the teams with a bigger budget that the Met Office, would get better weather forecasts in…Unless it’s a sneaky tactic by the teams to force drivers onto the wrong tyres.

Anyway onto the FF1GP results, good news, no stupid post-race stewards decisions to deal with this week, so the Monza results are final.

And for those wanting to know about the Spa results, they are still provisional depending on the appeal at the FIA in Paris on Monday 20th September. As soon as I know, the results will be updated here. However judging from the news over the week, I’m not convinced that McLaren will win their appeal, but maybe the punishment will be changed.

The next race is a special one, it’s the first F1 night race in Singapore, until then see you then.

Round 13 - Belgium

Published
by
Pete
on September 7, 2008
in FF1GP News
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Well Belgium was one of the first Grand Prix’s I went to. Whether its wet or dry, it always produces a good race, and the last 3-4 laps was just unbelievable! Lewis was running in 2nd place originally got Kimi at the Bus Stop chicane, but yielded the place back as he short-cut the chicane, only for Lewis to gain the first position back under braking in Le Source.

It was enough to make the race stewards investigate the incident, and they decided that Lewis had gain an unfair advantage by short-cutting the chicane. Whether you think it was fair, may depend on whether you are a McLaren or a Ferrari fan.

However, news has broken a few hours ago that McLaren are appealing against the decision of the stewards. Knowing how slow the FIA can be at summoning everyone together to have a chat about it in Paris, it’s unlikely it will be decided before the next race in Monza.

So until then, the Belgium FF1GP results are provisional.

One final thing, Glock was initially classified eighth, but had 25 seconds added to his race time for passing under yellow flags, which dropped him from 8th to 9th.

Round 6 - Monaco

Published
by
Pete
on May 25, 2008
in FF1GP News
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Well Monaco was one of those races, that went over the 2 hour race limit, and was worth watching every minute of.

Now you may have noticed the FF1GP results are not up yet, this is because the official F1 result are still provisional. Normally the results are finalised usually within an hour of the race finishing.

I’m not sure why they are, but it may be because the stewards are investigating the accident where Kimi Rikknen hit Adrian Sutil or something else.

So hold tight until then!

Pete FF1GP Admin (25th May 2008 - 17:19BST)

Update: Looks like everything is ok, FF1GP results are up!

Super Aguri

Published
by
Pete
on May 6, 2008
in FF1GP News
. 0 Comments

Today, it was announced that Super Aguri has pulled out of the Formula 1, which is very sad to hear. If you want the details, head to one of the usual F1 news sources.

I’ve already had quiet a few emails about the subject, and I’ve had a few more today, all asking what is going to happen to your points if you have Super Aguri or their drivers, Takuma Sato or Anthony Davidson.

The answer is you get no points, which includes prediction points, even for predicting a DNF. The rules state:-

“To score any points for DNF positions, the driver or team must at least turn up for the 1st qualifying session of the race weekend.”

Here are some common questions.

Can I exchange Super Aguri ,Takuma Sato or Anthony Davidson for another driver?
No. It’s not technically possible to do this, and the current rules don’t allow for trading.

What if Takuma Sato or Anthony Davidson find new drives and end up driving for another team?
Then you will be able to score points like any other driver, regardless what team they drive for.

What if Super Aguri get brought out and come back to Formula 1 this season?
Then you will get points again since your team is racing again.

I’ve got 4 FF1GP teams, and I want to make a new team without Super Aguri but I can’t…
This is because there is a 4 team limit per user. I have increased the limit to 5 so you can create a new team. However you will not be entitled to any points from earlier rounds.

I’m a league owner, and a couple of my members want to enter a new team, but they cant because Ive set the rules to X that is stopping this. Can it be changed?
Yes please send me an email to admin@ff1gp.com and I’ll sort something out.

Round 4 - Spain

Published
by
Pete
on April 27, 2008
in FF1GP News
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First things, that awful Heikki Kovalainen crash. The last reports said hes ok with no broken bones. Also respect to the guy for giving him the thumbs up while he was being taken to an Ambulance. From myself and everyone at FF1GP.com get well soon mate, and we look forward to seeing you behind the wheel again.

So hands up who was enjoying a Sangria with the Formula 1 today?

It was another great race today. A lot of the interesting action was down in the midfield today. Being a English person, you will find me supporting the British drivers, and it was excellent to see Jenson Button finishing in the points today, and of course Lewis Hamilton on the Podium.

What was more surprising was how close the top teams was in times, it was very close. The next race in Turkey, will be interesting. McLaren will have fresh engines, Ferrari will not. I think both teams will really go for it regardless of their engines, as the race afterwards is in Monaco. Why? Well in my opinion, Monaco is a slow circuit, you dont need a good engine to get around, you need a car that sticks like glue around the corners. Im sure you will have your own thoughts on this.

Now my email box has been a bit busy over the last week over the subject of Super Aguri. The team is in financial trouble, due to the Magna group pulling out of buy-out talks, and it was looking like they would not be able to make the Spanish Grand Prix, however Honda stepped in to help them out.

The question that everyone has asked me, what if Super Aguri do not make the race, what happens to my points?

The answer is you get no points, which includes prediction points, even for predicting a DNF. The rules state:-

“To score any points for DNF positions, the driver or team must at least turn up for the 1st qualifying session of the race weekend.”

However I did ask anyone who did ask me about the rules, do you think this rule is ok?

Now I was expecting a mix bag of responses, or a huge response saying Give us our DNF prediction points.

In fact all the responses said on the lines of Nil points Here are some of the responses I got.

“Why should people be able to score points based on a sure thing. Also surely this was part of the risk they ran picking the cheapest team?”

And I had this very honest reply from one of the players.

“With Super Aguri as one of my teams and Anthony Davidson as one of my drivers I should be saying yes to DNF regardless. But my sense of fair play says no.; if they don’t turn up for qualifying, there are no points for predicting DNF.”

And also this Player said “(I have a) bias towards any rule that helps me score more points. :)” but ended his email saying “P.S. Although ‘bonus points’ do suggest there needs to be some sort of skill or judgement involved to get ‘em.”

A big thanks to everyone who took their time to respond, and for now the prediction rules stand.

However one thing that was asked, How can I trade my team or driver if they go bust The answer is you cant but it may be something I will look into for the 2009/2010 season.

Next stop, Turkey!

Round 3 - Bahrain

Published
by
Pete
on April 6, 2008
in FF1GP News
. 0 Comments

Another race down, a strong comeback by Ferrari, and also a strong performance by BMW in Bahrain, it was a yet another cracking race to watch!

The next race is in Spain, which I have great memories from last year when I attended the race, along with quite few members of one of the leagues here. If you look closely pictures on the front page, 3 of the pictures where taken at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2007 by myself.

News from the FF1GP site, it’s running well. It looks like the small glitches from the 1st and 2nd round have been ironed out.

One question that I do get often from league owners one the lines of “Team X in my league has zero points, yet he got 34 points what’s going wrong?” First thing, it’s not a bug with the site. When you enter a league, it only counts points from the round you have entered the league before the day of the race. The reason for this is to stop team owners from jumping in and bringing their points to bump their place up the league.

However sometimes teams are a little late entering a league, and league owners want their points counted from the last race, or previous races. If you got a team that needs their points counted here is what to do.

1. View the team in question and decide which round their points should be counted from.

2. As the league owner, send an email to me (admin@ff1gp.com) with the league name, the team name, and which round you want the points counted from.

3. Once I get the email, I’ll adjust the team’s joining round and the league scores to reflect the points score.

In future, league owners will be able to adjust the joining round to a earlier round of a member.

See you all in Spain!