Grand Prix Rejects

Are you ready for some PP?

Hello members, old and new, to the latest season of Predicament Predictions, our forum's yearly guessing game, for which the winners shall receive GRAND PRIZES!!! I am your host, Rob Dylan, and for the fifth year I am honoured to be running the competition.

So it's very simple. What you do is guess the top 10 result of this weekend's grand prix. This time we're guessing Bahrain on Sunday. After we guess the top 10, below we have a list of bonus things to guess.

Pole position: who will be on pole?
Fastest lap: who will get fastest lap?
First retirement: who will be the absolute bottom of the sheet, to retire first?
Reject of the Race: what will be the most rejectful and (hilariously) dreadful thing to happen this weekend?
Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race: the opposite, what will be the most unexpected positive?
Deadbeat Teammate of the Race: who will mathematically be the furthest behind their teammate in the results of the race?
Minor League Premiership: who will be the highest classified of our rookies this year?*
How Far Back: how many laps exactly will the last classified finisher be?
Funniest race title: of course, the funniest alternative name for every weekend's grand prix will be given a bonus bonus point. Make me laugh.

*Candidates for 2021 Minor League Premiership are therefore: Yuki Tsunoda, Nikita Mazepin, Mick Schumacher.

All right, one more thing, just so you know how the points are totalled. It used to be done that the person who won would get 25 points, second place 18, etc. But since I've been running it I count every individual point you collect over the races. So if this race you come first with 15 points, you get 15 points. The points are counted as follows:

- 1st place correctly guessed: 5 points
- 2nd and 3rd place correctly guessed: 3 points each
- 4th to 10th place correctly guessed: 2 points each

If you correctly guess the driver being in the top ten, but just in the wrong place, you get 1 point. So if you guess Hamilton wins, but he finishes 2nd, you still get 1 point for having Hamilton in your top ten.

Pole position: 2 points
Fastest lap: 1 point
First retirement: 2 points
Reject of the Race: 3 points
Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race: 3 points (good luck guessing these two)
Deadbeat Teammate of the Race: 2 points
Minor League Premiership: 1 point
How Far Back: 1 point
Funniest alternative title (put that at the top of your post): 1 point

So, 41 points up for grabs! I'll put forward the template and my submission in the next post. Any questions, just ask. Also, if you win, GRAND PRIZES are up for grabs!

Template which I will upload every race:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Pole:
Fastest lap:
First retirement:
ROTR:
IIDOTR:
DBTMOTR:
MLP:
HFB:


I shall make the first prediction:

Haha funny title 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix

1. Valtteri Bottas (of course he will)
2. Max Verstappen
3. Daniel Ricciardo
4. Sebastian Vettel (reignited!)
5. Lewis Hamilton (hits Sergio instead of Alex this year)
6. Sergio Pérez
7. Lance Stroll
8. Lando Norris
9. Yuki Tsunoda
10. Charles Leclerc

Pole: Lewis Hamilton
Fastest lap: Lando Norris
First retirement: Carlos Sainz Jr. (DNS, car doesn't make the formation lap!)
ROTR: McLaren for messing up Norris's pitstop and losing them a double podium
IIDOTR: Vettel for smiling like it's 2018 again.
DBTMOTR: Sainz Jr.
MLP: Yuki Tsunoda
HFB: 2 laps down (maybe a Haas instead of a Williams, haha)

It should look something like this ^^ you don't have to explain your predictions, it's just something I like to do!

Good luck everyone and welcome back any questions, just ask!

Woo! Rawe ceek!

2021 Semi Arabia Grand Prix

1. Max Verstappen
2. Valtteri Bottas
3. Daniel Ricciardo
4. Lando Norris
5. Sebastian Vettel
6. Pierre Gasly
7. Charles Leclerc
8. Carlos Sainz Jr.
9. Esteban Ocon
10. Fernando Alonso

Pole: Lewis Hamilton
Fastest lap: Max Verstappen
First retirement: Lance Stroll
ROTR: Perez
IIDOTR: Ricciardo
DBTMOTR: Perez
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 2 laps down

BOREIN AMIRITE? 2021 GRAND PRIX

1. Verstappen
2. Hamilton
3. Perez
4. Ricciardo
5. Norris
6. Leclerc
7. Stroll
8. Alonso
9. Vettel
10. Sainz

Pole: Hamilton
Fastest lap: Perez
First retirement: Bottas
ROTR: Bottas
IIDOTR: Leclerc
DBTMOTR: Bottas
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 1 Lap

2021 Bah Humbug No Rain Grand Prix

1. Hamilton
2. Bottas
3. Verstappen (yes hate me for the HAM-BOT-VER)
4. Ricciardo
5. Stroll
6. Vettel
7. Sainz
8. Perez
9. Gasly
10. Leclerc

Pole: Verstappen
Fastest lap: Hamilton
First retirement: Mazepin
ROTR: Alpine
IIDOTR: Stroll
DBTMOTR: Norris
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 2 Laps + 3 Turns behind

Bahrain Grand Prix, Not Sakhir, Because The FIA Like The Normal Layout Better, And So Do I, Honestly, But It's Probably Funnier If We Say The Outer Layout Is The Superior One And They're Being No Fun

1. Verstappen
2. Hamilton
3. Pérez
4. Bottas
5. Ricciardo
6. Leclerc
7. Alonso
8. Norris
9. Sainz
10. Stroll

Pole: Verstappen
Fastest lap: Hamilton
First retirement: Russell
ROTR: Russell (throws away a potential point for Williams, again)
IIDOTR: Alonso (39, out of F1 for two years, underrated, and takes decent points)
DBTMOTR: Ocon
MLP: Tsunoda (not in a Haas or Williams)
HFB: 1

2021 - BAH no Rain GP

1. Verstappen
2. Perez
3. Hamilton
4. Bottas
5. Alonso
6. Riccardo
7. Tsunoda
8. Gasly
9. Ocon
10. Norris

Pole: Verstappen
Fastest lap: Verstappen
First retirement: Mazipen
ROTR: Aston Martin
IIDOTR: Alonso
DBTMOTR: Sainz
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 3

And it's GO GO GO for 2021 season! Grand Prix

1. Max Verstappen
2. Sergio Perez
3. Lewis Hamilton
4. Valtteri Bottas
5. Daniel Ricciardo
6. Charles Leclerc
7. Lando Norris
8. Sebastian Vettel
9. Pierre Gasly
10. Lance Stroll

Pole: Max Verstappen
Fastest lap: Valtteri Bottas
First retirement: Nikita Mazepin
ROTR: Nikita Mazepin
IIDOTR: Daniel Ricciardo
DBTMOTR: Carlos Sainz
MLP: Yuki Tsunoda
HFB: 1 lap

2021 Supersaiyan God SS Bahrain Grand Prix
1. Valtteri Bottas
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Max Verstappen
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Sergio Perez
6. Carlos Sainz
7. Lando Norris
8. Daniel Ricciardo
9. Pierre Gasly
10. Esteban Ocon

Pole: Valtteri Bottas
Fastest lap: Valtteri Bottas
First retirement: Fernando Alonso
ROTR: Fernando Alonso
IIDOTR: Valtteri Bottas
DBTMOTR: Fernando Alonso
MLP: Yuki Tsunoda
HFB: 2

We Race As One 2021 Australian Sand Storm Grand Prix

1. Max Verstappen
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Sergio Perez
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Valtteri Bottas
6. Daniel Ricciardo
7. Lando Norris
8. Fernando Alonso
9. Pierre Gasly
10. Antonio Giovinazzi

Pole: Lewis Hamilton
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton
First retirement: Sebastian Vettel spins out in lap 1
ROTR: Aston Martin
IIDOTR: Charles Leclerc
DBTMOTR: Valtteri Bottas
MLP: Yuki Tsunoda
HFB: 3 laps down

2021 "We Should Have Taken Those Vaccines" Grand Prix

1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Max Verstappen
3. Sergio Perez
4. Valtteri Bottas
5. Daniel Ricciardo
6. Lando Norris
7. Charles Leclerc
8. Esteban Ocon
9. Carlos Sainz Jr.
10. Pierre Gasly

Pole: Lewis Hamilton
Fastest lap: Max Verstappen
First retirement: Nikita Mazepin
ROTR: Aston Martin (Do not fix their transmission problems and both cars retire)
IIDOTR: Sergio Perez (Proves his worth in the Red Bull)
DBTMOTR: Nikita Mazepin
MLP: Yuki Tsunoda
HFB: 2 laps

1. Max Verstappen
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Valtteri Bottas
4. Sergio Perez
5. Daniel Ricciardo
6. Lando Norris
7. Pierre Gasly
8. Lance Stroll
9. Yuki Tsunoda
10. Fernando Alonso

Pole: Verstappen
Fastest lap: Perez
First retirement: Vettel
ROTR: Ferrari
IIDOTR: Tsunoda
DBTMOTR: Latifi
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 1 Lap

Oh Fudge, here we go again: 2021 Edition

1. HAMILTON
2. Verstappen
3. Bottas
4. Ricciardo
5. Leclerc
6. Norris
7. Peréz
8. Vettel
9. Sainz
10. Alonso

Pole: Verstappen
Fastest lap: Verstappen
First retirement: Gasly
ROTR: Peréz
IIDOTR: Tsunoda
DBTMOTR: Mazepin
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 1 Lap

2021 "I wanna get drunk in Bahrain" Grand Prix

1. Hamilton
2. Bottas
3. Perez
4. Giovinazzi
5. Vettel
6. Norris
7. Stroll
8. Ricciardo
9. Tsunoda
10. Ocon

Pole: Bottas
Fastest lap: Hamilton
First retirement: Verstappen
ROTR: Ferrari
IIDOTR: Giovinazzi
DBTMOTR: Alonso
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 1 lap

2021 We Vaccinated Everyone in the Paddock Covid Free Grand Prix

1. Max Verstappen
2. Valtteri Bottas
3. Lewis Hamilton
4. Sergio Pérez
5. Daniel Ricciardo
6. Sebastian Vettel
7. Yuki Tsunoda
8. Lando Norris
9. Pierre Gasly
10. Fernando Alonso

Pole: Valtteri Bottas
Fastest lap: Sergio Pérez
First retirement: Lance Stroll
ROTR: Haas - both cars retire
IIDOTR: Yuki Tsunoda
DBTMOTR: Esteban Ocon
MLP: Yuki Tsunoda
HFB: 1 Lap

2021 Bahrain Grand Prix Predicament Predictions

1. Hamilton
2. Verstappen
3. Bottas
4. Leclerc
5. Vettel
6. Sainz
7. Ricciardo
8. Perez
9. Norris
10. Ocon

Pole: Bottas
Fastest lap: Verstappen
First retirement: Alonso
ROTR: Haas, in a boring weekend where nothing of note happens they just trundle round at their own pace and finish a couple of laps down
IIDOTR: Tsunoda
DBTMOTR: Perez
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 2 laps

2021 Misleadingly exciting opening Grand Prix

1. Verstappen
2. Hamilton
3. Perez
4. Ricciardo
5. Bottas
6. Vettel
7. Norris
8. Alonso
9. Stroll
10. Tsunoda

Pole: Verstappen
Fastest lap: Verstappen
First retirement: Latifi
ROTR: Haas
IIDOTR: Tsunoda. Let's face it, half of us will be dying to give it to him.
DBTMOTR: Ocon
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 1 lap

Bahrain, again for the third time in four months, GP 2021

1. Bottas
2. Verstappen
3. Hamilton
4. Perez
5. Vettel
6. Ricciardo
7. Norris
8. Alonso
9. Gasly
10. Tsunoda

Pole: Valtteri Bottas
Fastest lap: Max Verstappen
First retirement:Carlos Sainz
ROTR: Ferrari
IIDOTR: Sebastian Vettel
DBTMOTR: Esteban Ocon
MLP: Yuki Tsunoda
HFB: 2 laps

Before I forget, the predictions have to be made by the end of Free Practice 3. And I'll be watching this time, because for once since being restarted, our forum clock is now correct!

No worries if you're a little late. The general rule is, if you post an hour or two late, you don't get pole points. If you post after qualifying, your answer gets half-points.

Good to see so many predictions already! I'll have to get round to coming up with a GRAND PRIZE for this year's podium. For example, in 2018 our winner RAK received a signed, framed photograph of Karun Chandhok in Hispania Racing overalls, found by yours truly at Silverstone that year. In 2019 RAK won multiple cans of Rich Energy, though I'm not sure if they ever arrived



The GRAND PRIZE of 2018

2021 "Less overtakes than in the Suez canal" Bahrain GP
1. HAM
2. VER
3. BOT
4. PER
5. RIC
6. GAS
7. NOR
8. VET
9. STR
10. TSU

Pole: HAM
Fastest lap: HAM
First retirement: MSC (not that one)
ROTR: Alpine
IIDOTR: TSU
DBTMOTR: OCO
MLP: TSU
HFB: +3 laps (and it'll be a Haas)

2021 The Official We Fool Ourselves into Thinking This Season Could be Fun Grand Prix

1. Verstappen
2. Hamilton
3. Norris
4. Bottas
5. Pérez
6. Sainz
7. Räikkönen
8. Gasly
9. Leclerc
10. Vettel

Pole: Hamilton
Fastest lap: Verstappen
First retirement: Ricciardo
ROTR: Leclerc
IIDOTR: Alfa Romeo
DBTMOTR: Tsunoda
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 2

I just realised that I forgot Ferrari exist in my predictions...

Well CBA going back and revising them, let's hope they have a bad weekend.

Try as I might, I might as well be honest and admit I'm feeling a bit flat and can't really think of a witty joke on the name...

1. Verstappen
2. Hamilton
3. Perez
4. Bottas
5. Norris
6. Ricciardo
7. Tsunoda
8. Stroll
9. Leclerc
10. Sainz

Pole: Verstappen
Fastest lap: Verstappen
First retirement: Ocon
ROTR: Haas
IIDOTR: Tsunoda
DBTMOTR: Vettel
MLP: Tsuonda
HFB: 1 lap

2021 "First of the Arabian Peninsula Races" Grand Prix

1) Verstappen
2) Hamilton
3) Bottas
4) Norris
5) Leclerc
6) Ricciardo
7) Sainz
8) Gasly
9) Perez
10) Tsunoda

Pole: Verstappen
Fastest Lap: Hamilton
First Retirement: Mazepin
ROTR: Mazepin
IIDOTR: Tsunoda
DBTMOTR: Perez
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 1 lap

2021 Bahrain Grand Prix

1. Max Verstappen
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Lando Norris
4. Valterri Bottas
5. Sergio Perez
6. Daniel Riccardo
7. Lance Stroll
8. Pierre Gasly
9. Charles Leclerc
10. Yuki Tsunoda

Pole: Max Verstappen
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton
First retirement: Fernando Alonso
ROTR: Haas
IIDOTR: Yuki Tsunoda
DBTMOTR: Sebastian Vettel
MLP: Yuki Tsunoda
HFB: 2

2021 "Well that off-season was really short, wasn't it?" Grand Prix

1. Valtteri Bottas
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Max Verstappen
4. Sergio Pérez
5. Daniel Ricciardo
6. Pierre Gasly
7. Lando Norris
8. Sebastian Vettel
9. Yuki Tsunoda
10. Lance Stroll

Pole: Lewis Hamilton
Fastest lap: Max Verstappen
First retirement: Esteban Ocon
ROTR: Alpine
IIDOTR: Yuki Tsunoda
DBTMOTR: Nicholas Latifi
MLP: Yuki Tsunoda
HFB: 2 laps

2021 Darude "dududududu du dududududu" Sandstorm Grand Prix

1. Verstappen
2. Hamilton
3. Bottas
4. Gasly
5. Ricciardo
6. Perez
7. Sainz
8. Norris
9. Leclerc
10. Ocon

Pole: Verstappen
Fastest lap: Ricciardo
First retirement: Mazepin
ROTR: Alpine
IIDOTR: Vettel
DBTMOTR: Mazepin
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: +2 laps

2021 Not the Shakira Shakira Grand Prix

1. Hamilton
2. Verstappen
3. Bottas
4. Perez
5. Sainz
6. Ricciardo
7. Stroll
8. Vettel
9. Tsunoda
10. Russell

Pole: Hamilton
Fastest lap: Hamilton
First retirement: Marzipan
ROTR: the excitement levels
IIDOTR: Williams
DBTMOTR: Marzipan
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 1 lap

2021 Netflix Arabian Gulf 200

1. Verstappen
2. Hamilton
3. Bottas
4. Perez
5. Norris
6. Ricciardo
7. Stroll
8. Tsunoda
9. Vettel
10. Raikkonen

Pole: Verstappen
Fastest lap: Norris
First retirement: Alonso
ROTR: Alpine
IIDOTR: Tsnoda
DBTMOTR: Giovinazzi
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 2 laps

Template which I will upload every race:

1. Verstappen
2. Hamilton
3. Bottas
4. Leclerc
5. Norris
6. Sainz
7. Pérez
8. Stroll
9. Ricciardo
10. Tsunoda

Pole: Verstappen
Fastest lap: Verstappen
First retirement: Gasly
ROTR: Alpine
IIDOTR: Norris
DBTMOTR: Vettel
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 1

The We Race As One F1 ™ ® © but don't cross the King Fahd Causeway into Saudi Arabia or you'll be arrested Grand Prix 2021

1. Verstappen
2. Bottas
3. Norris
4. Ricciardo
5. Sainz
6. Gasly
7. Alonso
8. Leclerc
9. Gimi
10. Stroll

Pole: Verstappen
Fastest lap: Verstappen
First retirement: Marzipan
ROTR: Seb
IIDOTR: Gimi
DBTMOTR: Seb
MLP: Tsunoda
HFB: 3

Oil Company With Vestigial Country Attached (no not that other one, the other other one) Grand Prix

1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Max Verstappen
3. Valtteri Bottas
4. Daniel Ricciardo
5. Lando Norris
6. Sergio Perez
7. Sebastian Vettel
8. Pierre Gasly
9. Lance Stroll
10. Fernando Alonso

Pole: Lewis Hamilton
Fastest lap: Daniel Ricciardo
First retirement: Mick Schumacher
ROTR: Michael Masi
IIDOTR: Nicholas Latifi
DBTMOTR: Esteban Ocon
MLP: Yuki Tsunoda
HFB: 3 laps (Nikita Mazepin)

29 entries. How long since we last had so many entries?!

dr-baker wrote:29 entries. How long since we last had so many entries?!

Probably the last opening round. First race of the season has all the entrants.

Klon wrote:

dr-baker wrote:29 entries. How long since we last had so many entries?!

Probably the last opening round. First race of the season has all the entrants.

Ah, OK. Memory like a sieve, me!

dr-baker wrote:29 entries. How long since we last had so many entries?!

In my fifth year as host (so I only have the records back to 2017 inclusive), this is actually a new record for the series! Good to see so much enthusiasm. The closest to this that I have found in my records is the opening round of 2017, which had 27 entrants. History has been made here And honestly it's nice to see some regular activity on the forum again after so much downtime. I'll make sure to get some properly good prizes for the winner this year (and there's some already in the pipeline!).

I'll get counting the scores tomorrow.

For goodness sake RAK!

In Bahrain, we had a straight fight between Ducktanian and Frogfoot for victory in the opening round of Predicament Predictions. But it appears we have something of a Schumacher here with our perennial victor RAK. The defending champion from 2018, 2019 (and 2020 if you count the unofficial championship) steals the win at the very last minute by somehow correctly guessing exactly what ROTR and IIDOTR would be a week in advance. I can only say congratulations!

Here's how the results, and therefore the standings, look:

1. RAK 24
2. Ducktanian 23
3. dr-baker 21
- This Could Be You 21
- takagi_for_the_win 21
6. Frogfoot9013 20
7. pi314159 18
8. CaptainGetz12 17
- WaffleCat 17
10. Londoner 16
- CarloSpace 16
- Aislabie 16
- Pilot 16
- mario 16
- Enforcer 16
- Bleu 16
17. tommykl 14
- Fetzie 14
- rachel1990 14
20. UncreativeUsername37 13
21. You-Gee-Eee-Day 12
- Miguel98 12
23. Gertrand Bachot 11
- Rob Dylan 11
25. Hermann95 10
- Aerond 10
27. Klon 9
28. tBone 8
29. Spooder918 7

Admittedly in retrospect, Mazepin was always going to be a relatively easy guess. From here on in it won't be so simple as the season goes by!

See you in Imola for Round 2

Well, that was a round with decent scoring. If I keep this up, I might get second or third overall at the end of the season again!

There's still a lot to play for here, but it's nice to get off on the right footing. I think Mazepin's ROTR here was almost inevitable; if he keeps this up, he'll be an ROTY candidate in no time. That said, as mentioned in the comments for the race itself, he did still manage two more corners than I had originally expected; I was thinking a dive-bomb in the first corner that would run the risk of knocking out other drivers in the process.

Who won the alternative title for this race?