Formula 1 2006 Season!
With less than 7 days until the 2006 Formula 1 season gets underway, its time to start the Official EA Thread (featuring the exciting F1 Prediction League!
). Last season was quite simply the best F1 season for a
long time. For the first time in 5 seasons the most overrated F1 driver in the history of the sport was beaten to the drivers title. Fernando Alonso became the youngest driver, at the age of 24, to win the drivers championship in F1. Kimi Raikkonen would have surely won it though, if he hadn't had so many engine problems. The highlight of last season for me was seeing Alonso drive straight around the outside of Schumachers Ferrari at Suzuka! Whos the better driver!?
I hope for many more memorable moments like that for 2006 .. and with the way testing has gone so far, I expect that will be the case.
Teams and Drivers Renault - F.Alonso & G.Fisichella
A taste of things to come..!?
McLaren - K.Raikkonen & J.P.Montoya
Lovely colour scheme from McLaren!
Ferrari - M.Schumacher & F.Massa
Toyota - R.Schumacher & J.Trulli
Williams - M.Webber & N.Rosberg
Mmmm.. blue.
Honda - R.Barrichello & J.Button
Red Bull - D.Coulthard & C.Klien
BMW Sauber - N.Heidfeld & J.Villeneuve
Midland - T.Monteiro & C.Albers
Toro Rosso - V.Liuzzi & S.Speed
Super Aguri - T.Sato & Y.Ide
Schedule
12/03/2006 - Bahrain
19/03/2006 - Malaysia
02/04/2006 - Australia
23/04/2006 - San Marino
07/05/2006 - European
14/05/2006 - Spain
28/05/2006 - Monaco
11/06/2006 - Britain
25/06/2006 - Canada
02/07/2006 - USA
16/07/2006 - France
30/07/2006 - Germany
06/08/2006 - Hungary
27/08/2006 - Turkey
10/09/2006 - Italy
01/10/2006 - China
08/10/2006 - Japan
22/10/2006 - Brazil
There will be no Belgian GP this season.. 
Whats new!? Qualifying
Qualifying has a new format .. yet again!
I don't see why one format can't be kept for a few seasons to see how it truely plays out, but oh well.. this new one looks more interesting than what we've had over the last few seasons.
Qualifying will remain an hour long session, but the bit that counts has been broken up into two 15 minute sessions, one 20 minute session, and two 5 minute breaks inbetween. For the first 15 minute session all 22 cars will run on track, doing as many laps as they see fit. The 6 slowest cars at the end of this session wil be knocked out and take-up 17th-22nd place on the grid. After a 5 minute break the second 15 minute session will begin, with the slowest 6 cars out of the remaining 16 being eliminated at the end of it, to take-up 11th-16th on the grid. After another 5 minute break the final session will begin. This is the 20 minute session and involves the final 10 cars running as many laps as they wish for places 1st-10th on the grid.
To add a slight twist, any fuel load can be run in the first two sessions, with the cars that are 'knocked-out' being able to refuel before the race. However, the 10 cars that take part in the final session must put the amount of fuel they want to start the race with in before going out. The cars will then be weighed on returning to the pits after the session and refuelled according to their weight when the session began, so they'll start the race with the same amount of fuel as they have at the start of the final session (hope that makes sense!
please complain to the FIA for any headaches experienced while reading this over.. I cannot be responsible and will be forced to deploy my monkey lawyers if necessary! 
)
Engines
V8 instead of V10.
Hoping to make the cars slower!? Then how come
Davidson set the unofficial lap record around Valencia in testing..!? 
The FIA fail again!
Tyres
Trye changes make a return to F1 this season.. so what exactly was the point in taking them out last season!?
*slaps the FIA around with a fish*
What to expect in Bahrain!?
With pre-season testing over and the arrival of the teams in Bahrain for next weekends GP, we can have a pretty good guess at how well the teams will perform. Testing has shown that Renault, McLaren and Honda are all quick. Although we all know that testing doesn't give a 100% clear indication of each teams potential, a quick team is still a quick team. Ferrari seem to be fairly quick, but I'm not convinced they'll be racing for the win, despite putting in extensive testing in Bahrain. Toyota haven't been on the pace in testing, but yet I expect they will have a good race. Williams have the potential to be up there amongst the big biys and I wouldn't put it past Red Bull or BMW Sauber to spring a surprise. As for Midland, Toro Roso and Super Agrui.. expect them to be taking up 17th-22nd.
All in all, I'm expecting a pretty close and exciting race in Bahrain next weekend, with possibly a first GP win for Button!
These two articles are also a good read:
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns16298.html http://www.formula1.com/news/4042.html Prediction League!!
For the 3rd season running, we shall keep the same points system. If its not broken, don't fix it!
(something the FIA should really consider understanding the meaning of..
)
For the benefit of anyone new (or forgetful?
):
Points System Top 8:
6 points for correctly guessing the finishing place of a driver.
3 points for being one place out.
2 points for being two places out.
1 point for being three places out.
0 points for being four out.
-1 point for being five places out.
-2 points for being more than five places out.
If a driver finishes in the top 8, but you didn't predict him to be there, no points are gained or lost.
..and the 'slight' complexity issue..
If the driver gains 5-9 places, then that's 1 more point.
If the driver gains 10-15 places, then that's 2 more points.
If the driver gains 16-20 places, then that's 3 more points.
If the driver goes from 22nd to 1st, then that's 5 more points!
However, if 8 cars were to retire in front of a driver, thus meaning his places were gained through luck, then the amount of additional points gained would be less by one .. head spinning!? .. monkey lawyers! monkey lawyers.. Bonus Points:
These can be gained by predicting three drivers who you think will retire from the race (1 points for each correct driver) and for predicting who will record the fastest lap (3 points for predicting correctly)
Qualifying:
3 points will be given for correctly predicting who will qualify in pole position. However, if the driver you predicted to be on pole position actually qualifies lower than 6th place, then you'll lose 3 points.
Example
Predictions:
1. K.Raikkonen.
2. J.Button.
3. F.Alonso.
4. J.P.Montoya.
5. N.Rosberg.
6. R.Barrichello.
7. G.Fisichella.
8. J.Trulli. (qualified 20th)
Results:
1. K.Raikkonen. (6 points gained)
2. J.P.Montoya. (2 points gained)
3. M.Schumacher. (0 points gained)
4. G.Fisichella. (1 point gained)
5. R.Barrichello. (3 points gained)
6. F.Alonso. (1 point gained)
7. J.Button. (1 point lost)
8. J.Trulli. (8 points gained)
11. N.Rosberg. (2 points lost)
In Summary, we predict:
* Who will get pole position
* The Top 8
* 3 drivers to retire
* Who will record the fastest lap
As usual - please post your predictions in this thread (unless the board is feeling unwell and can't be accessed), please post your pole prediction before Qualifying starts (I'm not going to bite your head off if its a few minutes late .. my taste for human heads isn't quite what it used to be..), and please post your race predictions before the race starts!
Well well.. all that leaves me to say is,
Good Luck!
May this season be fantastically amazing.
If I've made a spelling mistake, sue me! 
Formula 1 2006 (Turkish GP - 27/08) 
I'll definitely give those 2 articles a read. 
for example. 
