The blog will stay open over the weekend, allowing everyone to carry on
discussing the action as it unfolds. We will also have a live blog for every
race, and on Monday there will be a look back over the race with our ‘Five
Things We Learned’ blog.
Just so there is no confusion as to the points system, here is an example:
If I predicted the qualifying result as the following: 1st – Vettel, 2nd –
Ricciardo, 3rd Alonso, and the result was: 1st – Vettel, 2nd – Alonso, 3rd –
Raikkonen, then I would score 15 points (10 for Vettel, five for Alonso).
You get equal points for qualifying and the race.
The competition is still open to people who did not predict the race in
Australia, and people who miss qualifying for Malaysia
Malaysian Grand Prix
Just because we have had one race does not mean this race is an easy one to
predict. It’s obvious that Mercedes are likely to be at the front, but the
order behind that is not clear. Williams looked strong in pre-season, but
the noises coming out this weekend have been slightly less positive, so it
is difficult to tell where they fit in.
Red
Bull also looked impressive in practice, but after Australia reliability
– not to mention fuel-flow – might still be a concern.
Qualifying
1st – Lewis Hamilton
2nd – Nico Rosberg
3rd – Sebastian Vettel
Both the Mercedes cars look impressive and it’s difficult to see them being
overhauled after just one race. I thought about maybe a Ferrari for third,
but I think the reigning world champion will nick it, especially if it’s wet.
The race
1st – Lewis Hamilton
2nd – Nico Rosberg
3rd – Fernando Alonso
Rain could play an enormous role in Sunday’s race (when it rains here, the
heavens well and truly open), which makes it even harder to pick. But the
Mercedes seem a wise bet, while the wily old fox that is Fernando Alonso
could sneak on the podium.
The current league table
After just one race, here is how things stand at the moment. (For future
reference, please avoid using “Guest” as your username as it becomes
confusing!)
ash3521 – 45
‘Guest’ – 40
uhtred – 40
Alli Pratt – 40
Chirag – 35
Danika Lloyd – 35
Daniel Johnson – 35
Tom Lewis – 35
Phil Darling – 35
Clare Perquin – 35
Clint Howat – 30
Wendy – 30
Paul Swash – 30
Tim Bain – 25
Andrew Rankin – 25
rupert summerton – 25
Roland Beurre – 25
bremgarten – 25
Mark Whittaker – 25
Wal36 – 25
xoanon – 25
James – 25
eng99 – 20
Patrick Murray – 20
‘Guest’ – 20
OneDegreeCeeMax–by2100 – 20
bringans – 20
Sunil Koya – 20
Rach91h – 20
Hail Odin – 20
Elinor Goodhead – 20
Ben Smith – 20
AdrianW08 – 20
joead – 20
Udhay Sundar – 20
Jo Gibbons – 20
LastBornNormal – 15
FH13 – 15
keith eardley – 15
Hanna Smith – 15
Sj Wesley – 15
FlameCCT – 15
HiKai – 15
ModGOP – 15
Stackman – 15
linda semanych – 10
Paul – 10
stix – 10
gordonj – 10
EmilyBest – 5
Mat Cendana – 5
susan willshee – 0
Jo – 0
Good luck! I look forward to reading your predictions in the comments below.