2012 Team-Mate Prediction - Sign-Up Thread

So, with the teams all announced it is time to launch the 2012 Team-Mate Prediction Game. There has been radical changes to the formula this year, but the heart of the game is still the same.

So, what do I have to do to enter?

For each team in the Formula One World Championship you must nominate a driver who you believe will be more successful in the year ahead. You cannot now predict that a team will be too "close to call", you must predict 12 drivers.

In addition, you must play your two bonus cards. The first is your joker. This is to be applied to one driver in your selection, whose points will be doubled. The best advice is to pick the driver who will beat his team-mate by the greatest margin.

The second is your fence. You can now play this once, and it simply means if the two drivers in the team you select finish the season within 15 TMP points of each other, you will get a 10 point bonus in the standings. You must also pick a driver in your fence team!

You cannot play the joker and fence in the same team, although I cannot imagine why you would want to do so.

Finally, you must answer the tie-break question. This will be used to break ties (I know how to name things, me). This year the question is: "How many points will Sebastian Vettel score in his first 10 races of the season?" Obviously, the maximum answer is 250, and you will not be recorded with an answer if you play silly beggars and pick a higher number.

How do I score?

You score the sum total of the points accrued by your drivers, in addition to your bonus points. If either driver in a team does not complete all of the races then the scores will be equalised to however many races we actually have.

OK, so how do my drivers score?

Each race weekend there will be 6 points available across each team. 4 of which will be available on raceday and 2 in qualifying.

The driver that qualifies best on Saturday will receive 2 points. The points will be shared if in their final section of qualification they set the same time or both set no time.

On Sunday, one point will be scored for scoring the fastest race lap. If they set the same or no race lap, that point will be halved.

If both cars finish, the three points remaining are given to the driver who finishes ahead.

Otherwise, the first point is given to the driver who is in front on the penultimate lap which both cars ran, with the remaining two points either given to the survivor or shared if both do not finish. If there is a lap 1 retirement, the points will be given to the survivor. If both cars retire on lap 1, the points are shared.

In addition, there is a 10 point bonus at the end of the season for beating your team-mate on points in the Championship - so Hamilton would not have got it in 2007!

When does the game close?

You must enter your predictions and the tie-break by the 15th March 2012 at 22:00 GMT.

Angry Moderator's Point of Order

I am happy to see people give commentary explaining their decisions or light-hearted discussion about past successes and failures in Clip the Apex games on this thread. However, it would be appreciated if entrants or assorted others refrain from commenting on, and particularly criticising, the team selections of others. Any discussion on which driver will beat his team-mate can be started in the Formula One Discussion section of the forum. We will be particularly looking out for breaches of this rule where the three teams with Mercedes engines are concerned, for obvious reasons.

Other than that, it is just left for me to say good luck and have fun. I hope you enjoy the new format, I believe it makes watching the scores a more active process and I hope we can hail a deserving winner by December!

Red Bull - Vettel
Mclaren - Hamilton
Ferrari - Alonso - JOKER
Mercedes - Schumacher
lotus - Raikkonen
Force India - Di Resta
Sauber - Kobayashi
Toro Rosso - Ricciardo FENCE
Williams - Senna
Caterham - Kovalainen
HRT - De la Rosa
Marussia - Glock

Tie Breaker - 180 points

Yes, until the deadline...

Can you all please provide a driver with your fence prediction?

Each player will get a three letter code to make the tables briefer later in the season (in true F1 style), so the entrants thus far are:

TMP = Team Mate Prediction