Join our F1 Fantasy League 2008!

[Salty25]

Official Race Classification | Full Story

Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish in a Chinese Grand Prix that was surprisingly devoid of any memorable moments in a season which has been jam-packed with them.

Hamilton sat on pole with the Ferraris 2nd and 3rd on the grid, Kimi Raikkonen outqualifying Felipe Massa, and that order remained throughout the race until the final laps when Raikkonen relented under team orders and allowed Massa to pass for 2nd, thereby giving Felipe the best chance of snatching the title from Lewis in the final GP in Brazil.

There really was a lack of any definitive action points by which this Sunday’s race will be remembered, with the Fernando Alonso pass of Heikki Kovalainen in the opening laps being the only ‘racing’ amongst the top brass of drivers. Kovalainen was forced to retire from the race later, a mechanic fault occurring shortly after a right front tyre puncture.

Alonso finished 4th, a long way up the road from BMW duo Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica, the pair recovering from a below-par Saturday qualifying to take 5th and 6th. Alonso’s teammate Nelson Piquet competed the distance in 8th, and Timo Glock brought the Toyota home in 7th.

Drivers’ Championship | Constructors’ Championship

With just 1 race to go, Hamilton must finish in 5th or better in Brazil to be assured of the Drivers’ Championship. Somewhat ironically, Lewis had the same points advantage over Fernando Alonso going into the final race at Interlagos last season.

Despite winning the race, Kovalainen’s retirement and the 2-3 for Ferrari mean the Scuderia remain in 1st place, 156pts to 145.

SupaLiga 2008

(Full table available in attachment)

Team Oily hit the high notes with 135pts to virtually assure Oily of his first SupaLiga title. The top 3 positions appear fixed now, with F1 Aberdeen (129pts) 51pts behind the leaders and 52pts ahead of Auto-Dynamo (102pts).

The battle for 4th will be the focus for the Brazilian race, with 4 teams in contention – kleefarr’s Honda-Williams (scoring a season’s best 123pts today) are now in 4th and 22pts ahead of 7th place Creatures.

All of the top 7 scored more than 100pts, and 3 other teams scored in the three figures. Topper was only a point shy of Oily’s top score, while Pro-Drive and Outcast scored 118pts and 115pts respectively.


NEXT RACE > BRAZILIAN GP @ INTERLAGOS > NOVEMBER 2

 

[Oily]

http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2008/803/6580/

Team Oily hit the high notes with 135pts to virtually assure Oily of his first SupaLiga title.

It's not over till the fat lady counts her chickens or something along those lines

 

[Analoguesat]

I reckon many of the league teams have done a superb job of keeping things going this year - there have been loads of 100 points in the last few races

 

[Salty25]

I reckon many of the league teams have done a superb job of keeping things going this year - there have been loads of 100 points in the last few races

It must be said that as budgets increase the scores will increase, but the level of performance is extremely high and it makes for a great competition - lets face it, we all sit there watching a race and after our favourite driver/team, I bet everyone is looking for how our fantasy teams are doing! Sutil must have a massive fanbase in this respect!

 

[Salty25]

DEADLINE - SATURDAY 13.00 GMT (1pm) / 14.00 CET - THE LAST RACE!

Please make changes to your team lineup for the Grande Premio do Brasil.

To make changes, including qualifying positions which must be submitted prior to every race, access the league homepage.​

F1 SupaLiga homepage | Pure Fantasy F1 Full Rules | Rules on Points Scoring
Rules on Team Selection | List of TV Broadcasters | 24/7 VIDEO LIVE + HIGHLIGHTS + TALK (UK Only)
(All PFF1 pages are also visible in German)​

Brazilian Grand Prix timetable:
Thursday Practice 1 - 12.00-13.30 GMT / 13.00-14.30 CET / 10.00-11.30 Sao Paulo
Thursday Practice 2 - 16.00-17.30 GMT / 17.00-18.30 CET / 14.00-15.30 SP
Saturday Practice - 13.00-14.00 GMT / 14.00 - 15.00 CET / 11.00-12.00 SP
Saturday Qualifying - 16.00 GMT / 17.00 CET / 14.00 SP​

Sunday Race - 17.00 GMT / 18.00 CET / 15.00 SP

 

[Oily]

Good luck everyone

 

[misterminibus]

Especially Massa

 

[Analoguesat]

Did everyone see the "memories carry on" goodbye compilation? Its been very well done, and good on everyone who took part in a bit of fun at the end of ITV's 12 years of coverage. I'll see if I can youtube it later if anyones missed it.

(Yup in case you have forgotten its back to the Beeb next year - no bloody advert breaks in the coverage )

 

[Analoguesat]

Well that was an exciting finish to the race wasnt it? Rain always mixes things up

 

[rolfw]

Yes, was certainly a nail biting end to the race.

 

[Topper]

Yes, was certainly a nail biting end to the race.

Yes it is painful typing this as I have bitten mine off :-cry1:-cry1

What excitement what drama, you have to feel for Massa a bit but well now they know what Lewis felt like last year !

 

[Salty25]

Official Race Classification | Full Story
Drivers’ Championship | Constructors’ Championship

Hamilton wins the Championship, with a little bit of G-luck

Lewis Hamilton is the Formula 1 World Champion after a sensational finale in Brazil, with the destiny of the title going down quite literally to the last corner.

Needing to finish in 5th or higher, Lewis qualified in 4th and needed a trouble-free race to clinch the title and deny pole-sitter Felipe Massa Championship victory on home soil.

Both title protagonists got off the grid with incidents, unlike the unfortunate David Coulthard whose career at the top of motorsport came to a cruel end with a first corner collision with Nico Rosberg. The Scot will be remembered as a leading driver and campaigner for safety in the sport. It is widely reported that he will return next year with a new team – BBC F1!

Back to the racing. Proir to the race, there was a surprise shower of rain and a delayed start of 10 minutes was put in place. The teams pondered - remain with dry tyres, or go with intermediate wets? All went for wets, and the key decision in the early part of the race was when to come in for drys.

Timing was crucial and it turned out that the answer was the sooner, the better, as many drivers benefitted from earlier changes. The biggest benefactors were Fernando Alonso, finishing in 2nd, and Sebastian Vettel – more on him shortly.

Felipe Massa ran a 3-stop strategy which played out brilliant as his overall pace meant he was never really threatened by anybody.

Lewis was 2-stopping like the majority of drivers, and after the final scheduled stop he looked comfortable in 4th, holding off Vettel and Timo Glock. And then the rain fell!

Again, what would be the decision – dry or wet tyres? The wrong answer for Hamilton would be disastrous with only 9 laps remaining.

4 laps later Hamilton and Vettel dived into the pits, but Glock stayed out and took 4th. The mission was simple for Hamilton – hold off Vettel for 5th and you win the title.

It was clear, however, that the pace was with Vettel and the back-markers that needed to be lapped complicated the situation further.

Lap 67 came and went, Hamilton still in 5th.

Lap 68 and Hamilton just holds off Vettel.

Lap 69 – DISASTER! Vettel passes the Brit, the Championship is Massa’s! The Brazilian crowd went wild with joy.

Lap 70. The penultimate lap, and Hamilton was not only unable to close down on Vettel, but the German was passing into the distance. It was a desperate cause; the Brit had lost at the last again.

The final lap was Massa’s parade for the World Championship, passing the finish line more than 13 seconds in front of Alonso. It was over – don’t be fooled!!!

Glock, still on dry tyres in the increasingly wet conditions, totally lost performance on the final lap and on the last corner the ‘Miracle of Interlagos’ was complete – Vettel and Hamilton both passed the Toyota driver, promoting both up a place, and crucially gifting Hamilton the 5th place he needed.

Hamilton is the youngest World Champion of all time, and wins by a single point over Felipe Massa.

NEXT RACE > AUSTRALIAN GP @ MELBOUNRE > MARCH 29, 2009

SupaLiga REPORT TO FOLLOW SHORTLY…

Pictures courtesy of RTL.de and Press Association (source:BBC.co.uk)

 

[Analoguesat]

The league results are in - and the midfield results are close - there are only 6 points covering 5th 6th & 7th places!

I'll leave the results for Salty - Im not going to steal his thunder for the final results

Well done everybody - its been fun following the (mis)fortunes of our teams after the races. Hopefully we can do it all again in 2009

 

[Salty25]

The league results are in - and the midfield results are close - there are only 6 points covering 5th 6th & 7th places!

I'll leave the results for Salty - Im not going to steal his thunder for the final results

Well done everybody - its been fun following the (mis)fortunes of our teams after the races. Hopefully we can do it all again in 2009

Don't worry, I welcome other reporting in addition to the official reports - I'm not the FIA after all

You might have to wait a little while for the report, I'm on the laptop and the league database is on the desktop (and I'm ill with a cold!)

 

[Salty25]

​

Introducing the SupaLiga stars..

Team Oily – Oily

Coming into this season on the back of a 9th place finish in 2007, Oily seemed an unlikely contender for the 2008 title.

Oily had a good start to the season with 3rd in Australia. This was the launch pad for an early-season sensation, as the Team went up to 2nd in Malaysia and then 1st for the first time ever in Bahrain.

However, the great start was short-lived when a 44pt disaster in Spain saw Oily down to 6th – it was to be his lowest position all season and the ONLY time he dropped down the rankings.

Team Oily grew from that point onwards, recording 124pts in Germany, and the hard work really paid off at the end of the European season – 132pts in Belgium, and then the season record 139pts in Italy saw Oily not only return to 1st, but also consolidate his position at the top.

Oily repeated Norm’s 2007 run of 7 successive end-of-season centuries, and also won the European Cup and Asia & Americas Cup.

F1 Aberdeen – Norm

With the domination of the 2007 season came expectation that 2008 would be a repeat of the same, and there was also the added responsibility of managing SupaLiga’s first ‘Supa’ team in the Pure FF1 Cup.

47pts in Australia was not what the doctor ordered, but F1 Aberdeen’s form was to improve quickly, and by Spain they were leading the league.

The trouble for Norm was that he could not find that magic formula that worked so well in 2007 –he failed to score 100 or more in only 3 races in 2007, but only scored 3 centuries before the 13th race in Belgium.

This was the critical deficiency in the campaign that allowed Team Oily to barge the once great team aside, and although F1 Aberdeen got 5 more centuries in the last 6 races, they just couldn’t match the machine that was Team Oily.

As for the Supa team, they were briefly in with a chance at the start of the season of making the top 32, but hope was lost well before the deadline race in Belgium and SupaLiga will have to wait for future years for another crack at the big time.

Auto-Dynamo – Salty25

After nearly 3 years of looking after SupaLiga competition, I was finally able to compete for a title, and if only briefly, reached the sky!

Almost mirroring F1 Aberdeen, Dynamo had a poor start before moving quickly up the standings to 2nd. They remained there until Hungary when, for the first time, I took the top spot in a SupaLiga competition!

Unfortunately, the very next race in Valencia I was back down to 2nd, then 3rd in Belgium, and but for a blip by Norm in Singapore that allowed me to climb to 2nd, I remained solidly in 3rd, under no threat from those below. I hope for better next term.

Also of note…

Linhas BMW started 2 races late, but shocked everyone with their razor sharp performances, and for sometime it looked like they would provide a late threat for SupaLiga itself. But they lost their way at the end of the European season and any title aspirations were gone. Linhas redoubled his efforts in the final 3 races, and 3 centuries and poor outings by others paved the way for the Portuguese performer to take 4th place in amazing fashion in Brazil.

1st in Australia and for a long time 4th in SupaLiga, ScotBorderF1 will be disappointed with a 6th place finish but Analoguesat should feel consoled by the fact that they improved 5 places on 2007. Tom34 did even better, up 7 places from 2007 and never falling lower than 13th.

Despite the early season heroics of Team Wod and Outcast, the new entrants failed to breakthrough as their predecessors did in 2007, with only misterminibus’s Pro-Drive in the top 10.


From your league secretary…

Once again, thank you all for a fantastic competition, and congratulations to Oily for winning the league – I know it has been a long wait, as you are now one of only 8 managers to have competed in all 3 seasons of F1 SupaLiga to have been staged so far.

I look forward to (hopefully) seeing you all again next year, and with any luck new and older faces for 2009!

 

[Topper]

I have to say a big thank-you to Salty25 for running the league again, I am not actually disappointed since I had such a miserable start to the season and did not expect even a top 10 finish so 8th place seems pretty good, after all my team are Toppers Tossers !

 

[pgh13]

I have to say a big thank-you to Salty25 for running the league again,

Seconded; thanks Topper!

 

[Analoguesat]

Also of note…

1st in Australia and for a long time 4th in SupaLiga, ScotBorderF1 will be disappointed with a 6th place finish but Analoguesat should feel consoled by the fact that they improved 5 places on 2007.

Im delighted with a top 6 finish. My aim was not to finish bottom :toke:

My main mistake was firing Vettell after about 4 races - obviously the pressure was off him then as he started driving the wheels off his car

My other driver - Seb Bourdais - has had a wretched season. He really hasnt lived up to the form he had in the Champ Cars.

My thanks to Salty for running the league this season, and to all my fellow competitors for taking part.

 

[Norm]

Congratulations to Oily on a well deserved win!

Thanks also to Salty for organising the competition and especially for the well researched reports after each race.

Time to retire the Avatar? I'll start the hunt for something else!

 

[Oily]

Cheers Norm
Totally unexpected win,i think the turning point in my team was bringing in S Vettel after reading about this up and coming driver and then getting the Renault chassis 2nd race from the end to boost my scores.

Again,a big thank you to Salty for organising such a fun fantasy league :-worship

Roll on next year