Viewing Thread:
"SR F1 Championship - Belgium Grand Prix and Round 15 Predictions"

Qualifying: Heidfeld hits the front
Race: Red Bull energized while the rest fall by the wayside

Nick Heidfeld has taken pole position for the Belgium Grand Prix, his first of the season and 3rd in his career. It's been a tough season for Sauber and Heidfeld, but things usually come good for Heidfeld at the end of the season and he'll be looking for the same this season after a good 4th place in Hungary last time out.

Webber gives Red Bull some much needed joy with 2nd on the grid, as they sit bottom in the Constructors Championship and Webber hasn't scored a point since Monaco. Pantano takes 3rd as he looks to get into the title picture. Alonso takes 4th in the hope of also getting back into the title race. 5th is Villeneuve and 6th is Sato, who is having a poor season for Williams. 7th is the first main Championship challenger to put the pressure on Pizzonia, Montoya. In 8th is the second Red Bull car of Karthikeyan.

Full Qualifying Results:

1st Heidfeld (Shadow) 1m46.597s
2nd Webber (Shelljed) 1m46.679s - (+0.082s)
3rd Pantano (Chris) 1m46.750s - (+0.153s)
4th Alonso (Jules) 1m46.760s - (+0.163s)
5th Villeneuve (Mike Swade) 1m46.776s - (+0.179s)
6th Sato (Poopots) 1m46.782s - (+0.185s)
7th Montoya (Afrojoe) 1m46.806s - (+0.209s)
8th Karthikeyan (Ortega) 1m46.817s - (+0.220s)
9th Panis (Foreman) 1m46.817s - (+0.220s)
10th Pizzonia (Icarus) 1m46.846s - (+0.249s)
11th Baumgartner (Grandprix) 1m46.847s - (+0.250s)
12th Salo (Biggie Little) 1m46.853s - (+0.256s)
13th Verstappen (Jae) 1m46.858s - (+0.261s)
14th Button (Der Nazi) 1m46.881s - (+0.284s)
15th Firman (Notorious Biggles) 1m46.883s - (+0.286s)
16th Raikkonen (Ineedsleep) 1m46.938s - (+0.341s)
17th Klien (Figo) 1m46.957s - (+0.360s)
18th M Schumacher (Vampyr) 1m47.067s - (+0.470s)
19th Fisichella (Badgerman) 1m47.084s - (+0.487s)
20th De La Rosa (Virtuoso) 1m47.137s - (+0.540s)
21st R Schumacher (Clazon) 1m47.140s - (+0.543s)
22nd Barrichello (Lipe) 1m47.193s - (+0.596s)

Usually, Belgium is subjected to bizarre weather conditions but there was none of that this time around, as the weather was perfect. The race was go and Webber got the lead from Heidfeld off the start and Heidfeld was 3rd by the end of the 1st lap after being taken by Alonso as well. This hurt Heidfeld's strategy as he was on lower fuel than his competitors but he got past Alonso on lap 2 but had 5 seconds to make up after just 2 laps.

Klien and Baumgartner battling on lap 3 when Klien hit Baumgartner and speared him into the wall at Eau Rouge. Baumgartner was probably travelling 170mph as he hit the wall and the force threw him back to the track in front of Firman. Firman was left in the middle of the road where De La Rosa was the unfortunate one to hit him. Klien escaped with only lost time, Firman lost a front and rear wing, which is a huge job and he had a long way to get back to the pits. Baumgartner and De La Rosa fared worse and their races were over.

Halfway round the track now on lap 3 saw the title race opened up again when Pizzonia spun into a wall to retire. Is the pressure getting to him now? Firman trying to recover after his earlier incident and pushed too far and spun on lap 5.

3 cars out of the race became 4 when Verstappen retired with an oil leak on lap 9. That quickly became 5 retirements when Klien's engine blew up on lap 10. Villeneuve crashed out of the race on lap 13 and Montoya's push for the title is halted again when he flew off the track into a wall on lap 16.

That left only 15 cars of the 22 that started the race but Salo suffered transmission problems on lap 16. The final retirement saw Panis pull off to the side of the track with a puncture on lap 23. Raikkonen had a spin on lap 30. Only 13 car remained and with Firman a lap down, 12 were in with a realistic chance of points.

Webber drove a controlled race and took a comfortable victory, his 4th career victory. Webber has a terrible points scoring record with only 18 points not from victories but 4 wins is only 2 off the record. Red Bull have been energized after a perfect race because they got Karthikeyan up from 8th to take 2nd and complete a 1-2 finish.

Heidfeld gets on the podium in 3rd after an almighty fight with Alonso, who had to settle for 4th. Sato has something to smile about with 5th place and Pantano edges a little closer to the title picture with 6th. 7th is Ralf Schumacher and 8th is Button, who denies Fisichella of a point which would have got him that little bit closer to Pizzonia.

Full Race Results:

1st Webber (Shelljed) 1h20m28.541s - (Up 1)
2nd Karthikeyan (Ortega) +5.139s - (Up 6)
3rd Heidfeld (Shadow) +22.608s - (Down 2)
4th Alonso (Jules) +25.254s - (No Change)
5th Sato (Poopots) +39.606s - (Up 1)
6th Pantano (Chris) +41.814s - (Down 3)
7th R Schumacher (Clazon) +42.814s - (Up 14)
8th Button (Der Nazi) +50.493s - (Up 6)
9th Fisichella (Badgerman) +55.872s - (Up 10)
10th M Schumacher (Vampyr) +58.610s - (Up 8)
11th Barrichello (Lipe) +1m06.496s - (Up 11)
12th Raikkonen (Ineedsleep) +1m16.701s - (Up 4)
13th Firman (Notorious Biggles) -1lap - (Up 2)

DNF

Panis (Foreman) Puncture
Salo (Biggie Little) Transmission
Montoya (Afrojoe) Crashed
Villeneuve (Mike Swade) Crashed
Klien (Figo) Engine
Verstappen (Jae) Oil Leak
Pizzonia (Icarus) Crashed
De La Rosa (Virtuoso) Accident
Baumgartner (Grandprix) Accident

Drivers Championship

1st Pizzonia 50pts
2nd Fisichella 44pts
3rd Barrichello 38pts
4th Baumgartner 35pts
5th Montoya 33pts
6th Alonso 31pts - (Up 3)
7th Pantano 30pts
8th R Schumacher 29pts - (Down 1)
9th Firman 28pts - (Down 3)
10= Salo 26pts - (Down 1)
10= Webber 26pts - (Up 5)
12th De La Rosa 21pts - (Down 1)
13= Raikkonen 20pts - (Down 1)
13= Heidfeld 20pts - (Up 5)
15th Verstappen 18pts - (Down 2)
16th Panis 17pts - (Down 2)
17th Villeneuve 16pts - (Down 2)
18th Klien 15pts - (Down 1)
19= Sato 14pts
19= Karthikeyan 14pts - (Up 3)
21st Button 11pts - (Down 2)
22nd M Schumacher 10pts - (Down 3)

Constructors Championship

1st Renault 88pts
2nd Jordan 72pts
3rd Minardi 53pts
4th McLaren 51pts - (Up 1)
5= MG F1 47pts - (Down 1)
5= Williams 47pts - (Up 2)
7th Toyota 46pts - (Down 1)
8th B.A.R 41pts
9th Red Bull 40pts - (Up 2)
10th Sauber 35pts - (Down 1)
11th Ferrari 26pts - (Down 1)

Fastest Lap: Heidfeld - 1m47.368s

PREDICTION WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

6 predictors this week so 10 points for 1st, 6 for 2nd, 4 for 3rd, 3 for 4th, 2 for 5th, 1 for 6th and a bonus point for the closest to the tie breaker. Here are the results:

1st Shelljed 10pts (19pts)
2nd Shadow 6pts (10pts - +1.827s)
3rd Badgerman 4pts (9pts - +0.767s)
4th Chris 3pts + 1pt (6pts - +0.597s) - THE CLOSEST
5th Jae 2pts (4pts - +1.165s)
6th Ineedsleep 1pt (3pts - +0.631s)

The table now looks like this after Round 14:

1st Chris 81pts (4 wins)
2nd Shadow 75pts (3 wins)
3rd Ineedsleep 65pts (2 wins)
4= Shelljed 55pts (2 wins)
4= Badgerman 55pts (1 win)
6th Jae 50pts (2 wins)
7th Icarus 33pts
8th Biggie Little 14pts
9= Foreman 12pts
9= Jules 12pts
11= Notorious Biggles 5pts
11= Clazon 5pts

Round 14 is over and it was another missed opportunity for the chasing pack as Pizzonia holds onto his 6 point advantage in the Drivers Championship. No joy for Jordan as the gap remains at 16 points between them and Renault at the top of the Constructors Championship. Shelljed took the win in the Prediction Championship but Chris still leads, although his lead is back to just 6 points.

Round 15 is in Monza, Italy and that means only 5 rounds remain. 50 drivers and prediction points maximum up for grabs. Already mathmatically impossible to win in the Prediction Championship race are Clazon, Biggles, Jules, Foreman and Biggie Little. 90 points are available in the Constructors Championship.

Here are the list of drivers and teams required for the predictions: [URL]http://www.freewebs.com/gpsr/srf1.htm[/URL]

PREDICTION DEADLINE: 10th AUGUST

PLEASE CHECK YOUR PREDICTIONS FOR ERRORS AS IT CAN LOSE YOU POINTS!

Who will qualify in pole position? (10 points)

Which team will qualify in pole position? (5 points)

Who will be last on the grid? (10 points)

Which team will be last on the grid? (5 points)

The top 8 qualifiers (1 point for driver being in top 8, 3 points for driver being in correct place)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th

Which driver will make up the most positions in the race? (8 points)

Which team will score the most points in the race? (5 points)

Who will win the race? (12 points)

Who will be the first retirement? (10 points)

The top 8 finishers (1 point for driver being in top 8, 3 points for driver being in correct place)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th

TIE BREAKER: What will be the gap between 1st and 2nd at the end of the race? (Last season, the gap was 8.828s)

Thanks for reading.

:^(

Nice going Grandprix, was hoping to get to same stage and meet you.

If your opponent has more chips than you, he can lose what you have.

The results will probably be at the weekend. I've had a few problems with the race and I haven't had a great deal of time to solve them. The results will probably be Saturday evening probably.

Sorry for the delay and I'll give you ample time to put your next predictions in for Round 16.

Cheers for that. The last bit is the part that confused me. I couldn't understand how you could go all in, lose, and yet still retain some chips.

Ineedsleep wrote:
> Foreman wrote:
> somebody went all in
>
> That has to be just about the only aspect of the game that I cannot
> work out, especially how you cover the bet.

You call the bet with whatever you have up to the same amount, if you have less and lose you are out, if you have more and loss you are left with the difference, equally if you had less and won the other player would not be out just left with the difference.

Foreman wrote:
> somebody went all in

That has to be just about the only aspect of the game that I cannot work out, especially how you cover the bet.

Just finished in 19th. $2.25 for me. Didn't really see a lot of decent hands but I doubled up with the ones I did have so I managed to struggle into the money.

234th is the worst I've ever come. :-(

Had ace king and somebody went all in with ace 10, so i called. 10 come out for him.

I don't know. I've been trying all I know to get rid of it. :)

Just signed up mate. Can see your name.
                                                                         
How did you get Royston by your name, been trying everything to put my town there.

Good Luck Matt