Official The 2025 Predictions Contest is go, go, go!
The Predictions Contest 2025 is about to get started. We had an enthralling season last year with 11 different winners in 24 rounds! Use your skills at working out what is likely to happen during a Grand Prix weekend to take the most points.
Reigning World Champion
2024 - steve_r
Previous World Champions
2023 - Born Racer Fan
2022 - BTCC frog
2021 - smellysocks
2020 - Born Racer Fan
2019 - smellysocks
2018 - smellysocks
2017 - F1Guy
2016 - Born Racer
Now check out the rules. Like actual F1, there are few changes. However, there are a few biggies -
- dropped scores have been dropped.
- there are more points on offer for Sprints.
Bold refers to sub-headings and changes in the rules.
Rules
All predictions must be in before the start of qualifying. The start is considered to be the start of Q1 (or SQ1 in the case of Sprint qualifying).
However, if you miss an entry after Round 1, your predictions from the previous round will be applied. If the previous round was a Sprint round, these predictions will be ignored and the qualifying and Grand Prix predictions will be counted. However, if you miss an entry for a round with a Sprint, your results from the last round with a Sprint will be counted.
If you join the season after Round 1, you will be automatically given the points of the person in last position in the championship. This is to encourage participation in the championship, even when people miss the start of the season.
Predictions for rounds with Sprints will now be different. You predict Sprint qualifying and the Sprint result (before SQ1) and the Grand Prix qualifying and the Grand Prix predictions before Q1 (or at any point prior to that if you wish).
If you miss the cut-off for SQ1, your predictions from the previous round with a Sprint will be counted as your Sprint predictions. If you miss the cut-off for Q1 in a round with a Sprint, your predictions for the previous round with a Sprint from Grand Prix qualifying and onwards will be counted as your predictions.
For the final round of the season, predictions must be submitted in secret to another moderator (not me), who will then publish them all after qualifying has started. This avoids the risk of any shadowing strategy in the final round.
Here is how points are awarded for your Grand Prix predictions.
A driver in the top 10 more than 5 places out of his finishing position: 1 point per driver
A driver in the top 10, 5 places out of finishing position: 3 points
A driver in the top 10, 4 places out of finishing position: 5 points
A driver in the top 10, 3 places out of finishing position: 7 points
A driver in the top 10, 2 places out of finishing position: 9 points
A driver in the top 10, 1 place out of finishing position: 11 points
A driver in the top 10 in his exact finishing position (except winner): 13 points
The winning driver: 15 points
The finishing positions relate to the official classification after any penalties or disqualifications have been handed out. If this occurs after I calculate the results, this will affect the results later, as and when it occurs.
If a driver is replaced during or before a Grand Prix weekend, his replacement will not score points on his behalf.
3rd in qualifying: 1 point
2nd in qualifying: 2 points
Pole position: 3 points
The predictions for qualifying must be exact to get the points.
The qualifying points relate to the fastest three drivers in qualifying regardless of any grid penalties carried over from before qualifying.
However, a disqualification from qualifying or a grid penalty due to a breach of the regulations during the qualifying session will be taken into account in my scoring, regardless of what the breach of the regulations is, promoting other drivers to those positions if the results of the qualifying session show that.
Fastest lap (team): 3 points Note that the fastest lap points remain this season, despite the point in actual Formula 1 being dropped.
Fastest pit stop (team): 3 points
Weather prediction: 3 points
Your choices are 'dry', 'mixed' or 'wet'.
'Dry' means that no intermediate or wet tyres are used by anyone during the race.
'Mixed' means that either
* both dry tyres and intermediate tyres are used,
* dry tyres, intermediate tyres and wet tyres are used,
* or both dry tyres and wet tyres are used.
'Wet' means that no dry tyres are used by anyone during the race.
Driver of the day award as voted for on formula1.com: 3 points
Highest-polling driver of the Grand Prix award as voted for on Ten-Tenths: 3 points
Highest-polling team of the Grand Prix award as voted for on Ten-Tenths: 3 points
Highest-polling rate the Grand Prix score out of ten as voted for on Ten-Tenths (with both the mode and mean used): 3 points
We will continue to use the mode and also the results of the mean (rounded up or down as appropriate). For instance, a Grand Prix with a mode score of 9 will continue to award 2 points for predicting a 9, but if the mean is 5.2, 5 will be accepted too for 2 points. If the mean were 5.6, a prediction of 6 would be accepted, but not of 5.
Where there are ties for votes in the polls, competitors will get scored for any joint winners, e.g. if Hamilton and Verstappen are equal, points are awarded for competitors who predicted either of them, and if both a 5 and a 6 tie in the Rate the Grand Prix poll, competitors who predict either of those will score points for the mode.
Regarding the Ten-Tenths votes (Driver of the Grand Prix, Team of the Grand Prix and Rate the Grand Prix), for those who don't know, this is the poll after each Grand Prix which Ten-Tenths users vote on. It is your chance to predict what other members of the forum will vote for!
The Rate the Grand Prix score is from 1-10 and you will find it on the main Formula 1 forum.
The winning votes will be taken to be the winning votes as they stand at 07:00 GMT or BST (Greenwich Mean Time or British Summer Time - whichever is being used) on the Tuesday morning following the Grand Prix, which means that the results of the round will be released after then (the polls themselves, incidentally, will be available for longer). This is with the exception of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, where the results will be taken at 19:00 on the Monday evening GMT following the Grand Prix. Bahrain and Saudia Arabian Grand Prix poll results will now be taken at the usual Tuesday morning point.
Predictions Contest competitors' votes in the polls are not included in the adding up of poll scores for the purposes of the competition. For example, if Verstappen and Hamilton tie for the Driver of the Grand Prix poll with 13 votes each, but 4 Predictions Contest competitors voted for Verstappen and 3 for Hamilton, this means that for the purposes of the Predictions Contest, Hamilton has won the poll and 2 points are only awarded for a prediction for him.
If at any point of the season, someone joins the Predictions Contest, that means that none of their votes in polls for the remainder of the season will be taken into account in the scoring for the polls.
Dropped Scores
Dropped scores have now been dropped!
Sprints
Rounds with Sprints work differently.
Predictions are made for the top three in qualifying for the Sprint, the top eight in the Sprint (the F1 point scorers), the top three in qualifying for the Grand Prix and for the usual business for the Grand Prix.
Points are awarded in the same way as for Grand Prix qualifying.
For the Sprint itself, it is as follows:
A driver in the top 8 who is 7 places out of his finishing position: 1 point per driver
A driver in the top 8, 6 places out of his finishing position: 2 points
A driver in the top 8, 5 places out of his finishing position: 3 points
A driver in the top 8, 4 places out of his finishing position: 4 points
A driver in the top 8, 3 places out of his finishing position: 5 points
A driver in the top 8, 2 places out of his finishing position: 6 points
A driver in the top 8, 1 place out of his finishing position: 7 points
A driver in the top 8 in his exact finishing position (except winner): 8 points
The winning driver: 9 points
Highest-polling driver of the Sprint award as voted for on Ten-Tenths: 3 points
Highest-polling team of the Sprint award as voted for on Ten-Tenths: 3 points
Highest-polling rate the Sprint score out of ten as voted for on Ten-Tenths (with both the mode and mean used): 3 points
As with the Grand Prix polls, the only votes that count towards the predictions results are those by people not participating in the Predictions Contest.
If at any point of the season, someone joins the Predictions Contest, that means that none of their votes in polls for the remainder of the season will be taken into account in the scoring for the polls.
Then, the points are awarded for the top ten in the Grand Prix, as normal.
Number of finishers: Points are awarded as follows for predicting the following.
1-10 finishers - 15 points
11-15 finishers - 10 points
16-17 finishers - 5 points
18-19 finishers - 3 points
20 finishers - 15 points
Remember, you don't need to say a number of finishers, but choose one of the above categories.
'Finishers' are anyone classified as a finisher.
Average number of pit stops: this will be the mode (the most commonly occuring number per driver, e.g. 1, 2 or 3. This is worth 3 points. Please note that this was changed from 2 to 3 pounds starting from Round 2.
Number of safety cars or virtual safety cars deployed:
0 - 3 points
1 - 3 points
2 - 3 points
3 or more - 3 points
For the safety car score, each SC or VSC counts as one, unless a VSC is upgraded to an SC or an SC changed to a VSC. In those cases, that would count as one safety car. A red flag will count as a safety car.
Number of penalties given:
0 - 2 points
1 - 2 points
2 - 2 points
3 or more - 2 points
Note that the number of penalties is the total. Therefore, if one driver gets two penalties, we count two for that one driver. A disqualification from the Grand Prix counts as a penalty.
Ties
If there are multiple votes tying for the highest score in the polls, points will be awarded for all which are tying.
In the event of a tie for a round win, the winner will be decided on countback. If a competitor has predicted the Grand Prix winner correctly and the other has not, the winning predictor will be the one who predicted the Grand Prix winner correctly. If those are the same, we look at 2nd place. If a predictor predicted 2nd place correctly and the other did not, the one who predicted it correctly will be awarded the win and so on right down through the top ten.
If that does not decide the win, countback will continue down the qualifying positions from 1st to 3rd and subsequently from the other predictions in the order in which they are presented below when you predict. If all of this still does not result in a winner, the winner will be the ones who predicted first. If predictions have been edited in your post, the earliest predictions of the two predictors will count.
In the event of a tie for a championship win, the overall winner will be the one with the most round wins. If that does not decide it, it will be the one with the most 2nd places, 3rd places, etc. If that does not decide it, we will look at who had the most poles predicted correctly over the season, the most 2nd places in qualifying, etc, right down the list of predictions as they appear below.
Incomplete Grands Prix
Points will be awarded in an identical fashion to the official Formula 1 method:
Quote:
No points will be awarded unless at two racing laps have been completed without safety car or virtual safety car intervention.
If less than 25% of the race distance has been completed when the session is ended, quarter points will be awarded. If between 25% and 50% has been completed, half points will be awarded. And if between 50% and 75% have been completed, three-quarter points will be awarded.
For instance, a correct prediction for the Grand Prix winner would score the competitor 3.75 points instead of the usual 15 in a Grand Prix which ran less than 25% of its normal race distance.
Quote:
Points are awarded for qualifying in the usual way in these cases and for all other scoring.
Please note that the following scoring systems apply only to the Grand Prix, not to qualifying or Sprints themselves.
Fastest lap:
Fastest pit stop:
Weather:
formula1.com Driver of the Day:
Driver of the Grand Prix:
Team of the Grand Prix:
Rate the Grand Prix:
Number of finishers:
Number of pit stops:
Number of safety cars or virtual safety cars deployed:
Number of penalties given:
Format
Please write your predictions in the appropriate thread as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Qualifying
1.
2.
3.
Fastest lap:
Fastest pit stop:
Weather:
formula1.com Driver of the Day:
Driver of the Grand Prix:
Team of the Grand Prix:
Rate the Grand Prix:
Number of finishers:
Number of pit stops:
Number of safety cars or virtual safety cars deployed:
Number of penalties given:
The format for the Sprint round predictions is as follows:
Sprint
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Sprint Qualifying
1.
2.
3.
Driver of the Sprint:
Team of the Sprint
Rate the Sprint:
Grand Prix
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Grand Prix Qualifying
1.
2.
3.
Fastest lap:
Fastest pit stop:
Weather:
formula1.com Driver of the Day:
Driver of the Grand Prix:
Team of the Grand Prix:
Rate the Grand Prix:
Number of finishers:
Number of pit stops:
Number of safety cars or virtual safety cars deployed:
Number of penalties given:
Please remember to enter teams for the fastest lap point. Anyone entering a driver will have their prediction discounted. Anyone entering duplications where there should be none will have duplications discounted, e.g. someone who predicts Alonso in both 8th and 10th place will score for neither position.
Reigning World Champion
2024 - steve_r
Previous World Champions
2023 - Born Racer Fan
2022 - BTCC frog
2021 - smellysocks
2020 - Born Racer Fan
2019 - smellysocks
2018 - smellysocks
2017 - F1Guy
2016 - Born Racer
Now check out the rules. Like actual F1, there are few changes. However, there are a few biggies -
- dropped scores have been dropped.
- there are more points on offer for Sprints.
Bold refers to sub-headings and changes in the rules.
Rules
All predictions must be in before the start of qualifying. The start is considered to be the start of Q1 (or SQ1 in the case of Sprint qualifying).
However, if you miss an entry after Round 1, your predictions from the previous round will be applied. If the previous round was a Sprint round, these predictions will be ignored and the qualifying and Grand Prix predictions will be counted. However, if you miss an entry for a round with a Sprint, your results from the last round with a Sprint will be counted.
If you join the season after Round 1, you will be automatically given the points of the person in last position in the championship. This is to encourage participation in the championship, even when people miss the start of the season.
Predictions for rounds with Sprints will now be different. You predict Sprint qualifying and the Sprint result (before SQ1) and the Grand Prix qualifying and the Grand Prix predictions before Q1 (or at any point prior to that if you wish).
If you miss the cut-off for SQ1, your predictions from the previous round with a Sprint will be counted as your Sprint predictions. If you miss the cut-off for Q1 in a round with a Sprint, your predictions for the previous round with a Sprint from Grand Prix qualifying and onwards will be counted as your predictions.
For the final round of the season, predictions must be submitted in secret to another moderator (not me), who will then publish them all after qualifying has started. This avoids the risk of any shadowing strategy in the final round.
Here is how points are awarded for your Grand Prix predictions.
A driver in the top 10 more than 5 places out of his finishing position: 1 point per driver
A driver in the top 10, 5 places out of finishing position: 3 points
A driver in the top 10, 4 places out of finishing position: 5 points
A driver in the top 10, 3 places out of finishing position: 7 points
A driver in the top 10, 2 places out of finishing position: 9 points
A driver in the top 10, 1 place out of finishing position: 11 points
A driver in the top 10 in his exact finishing position (except winner): 13 points
The winning driver: 15 points
The finishing positions relate to the official classification after any penalties or disqualifications have been handed out. If this occurs after I calculate the results, this will affect the results later, as and when it occurs.
If a driver is replaced during or before a Grand Prix weekend, his replacement will not score points on his behalf.
3rd in qualifying: 1 point
2nd in qualifying: 2 points
Pole position: 3 points
The predictions for qualifying must be exact to get the points.
The qualifying points relate to the fastest three drivers in qualifying regardless of any grid penalties carried over from before qualifying.
However, a disqualification from qualifying or a grid penalty due to a breach of the regulations during the qualifying session will be taken into account in my scoring, regardless of what the breach of the regulations is, promoting other drivers to those positions if the results of the qualifying session show that.
Fastest lap (team): 3 points Note that the fastest lap points remain this season, despite the point in actual Formula 1 being dropped.
Fastest pit stop (team): 3 points
Weather prediction: 3 points
Your choices are 'dry', 'mixed' or 'wet'.
'Dry' means that no intermediate or wet tyres are used by anyone during the race.
'Mixed' means that either
* both dry tyres and intermediate tyres are used,
* dry tyres, intermediate tyres and wet tyres are used,
* or both dry tyres and wet tyres are used.
'Wet' means that no dry tyres are used by anyone during the race.
Driver of the day award as voted for on formula1.com: 3 points
Highest-polling driver of the Grand Prix award as voted for on Ten-Tenths: 3 points
Highest-polling team of the Grand Prix award as voted for on Ten-Tenths: 3 points
Highest-polling rate the Grand Prix score out of ten as voted for on Ten-Tenths (with both the mode and mean used): 3 points
We will continue to use the mode and also the results of the mean (rounded up or down as appropriate). For instance, a Grand Prix with a mode score of 9 will continue to award 2 points for predicting a 9, but if the mean is 5.2, 5 will be accepted too for 2 points. If the mean were 5.6, a prediction of 6 would be accepted, but not of 5.
Where there are ties for votes in the polls, competitors will get scored for any joint winners, e.g. if Hamilton and Verstappen are equal, points are awarded for competitors who predicted either of them, and if both a 5 and a 6 tie in the Rate the Grand Prix poll, competitors who predict either of those will score points for the mode.
Regarding the Ten-Tenths votes (Driver of the Grand Prix, Team of the Grand Prix and Rate the Grand Prix), for those who don't know, this is the poll after each Grand Prix which Ten-Tenths users vote on. It is your chance to predict what other members of the forum will vote for!
The Rate the Grand Prix score is from 1-10 and you will find it on the main Formula 1 forum.
The winning votes will be taken to be the winning votes as they stand at 07:00 GMT or BST (Greenwich Mean Time or British Summer Time - whichever is being used) on the Tuesday morning following the Grand Prix, which means that the results of the round will be released after then (the polls themselves, incidentally, will be available for longer). This is with the exception of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, where the results will be taken at 19:00 on the Monday evening GMT following the Grand Prix. Bahrain and Saudia Arabian Grand Prix poll results will now be taken at the usual Tuesday morning point.
Predictions Contest competitors' votes in the polls are not included in the adding up of poll scores for the purposes of the competition. For example, if Verstappen and Hamilton tie for the Driver of the Grand Prix poll with 13 votes each, but 4 Predictions Contest competitors voted for Verstappen and 3 for Hamilton, this means that for the purposes of the Predictions Contest, Hamilton has won the poll and 2 points are only awarded for a prediction for him.
If at any point of the season, someone joins the Predictions Contest, that means that none of their votes in polls for the remainder of the season will be taken into account in the scoring for the polls.
Dropped Scores
Dropped scores have now been dropped!
Sprints
Rounds with Sprints work differently.
Predictions are made for the top three in qualifying for the Sprint, the top eight in the Sprint (the F1 point scorers), the top three in qualifying for the Grand Prix and for the usual business for the Grand Prix.
Points are awarded in the same way as for Grand Prix qualifying.
For the Sprint itself, it is as follows:
A driver in the top 8 who is 7 places out of his finishing position: 1 point per driver
A driver in the top 8, 6 places out of his finishing position: 2 points
A driver in the top 8, 5 places out of his finishing position: 3 points
A driver in the top 8, 4 places out of his finishing position: 4 points
A driver in the top 8, 3 places out of his finishing position: 5 points
A driver in the top 8, 2 places out of his finishing position: 6 points
A driver in the top 8, 1 place out of his finishing position: 7 points
A driver in the top 8 in his exact finishing position (except winner): 8 points
The winning driver: 9 points
Highest-polling driver of the Sprint award as voted for on Ten-Tenths: 3 points
Highest-polling team of the Sprint award as voted for on Ten-Tenths: 3 points
Highest-polling rate the Sprint score out of ten as voted for on Ten-Tenths (with both the mode and mean used): 3 points
As with the Grand Prix polls, the only votes that count towards the predictions results are those by people not participating in the Predictions Contest.
If at any point of the season, someone joins the Predictions Contest, that means that none of their votes in polls for the remainder of the season will be taken into account in the scoring for the polls.
Then, the points are awarded for the top ten in the Grand Prix, as normal.
Number of finishers: Points are awarded as follows for predicting the following.
1-10 finishers - 15 points
11-15 finishers - 10 points
16-17 finishers - 5 points
18-19 finishers - 3 points
20 finishers - 15 points
Remember, you don't need to say a number of finishers, but choose one of the above categories.
'Finishers' are anyone classified as a finisher.
Average number of pit stops: this will be the mode (the most commonly occuring number per driver, e.g. 1, 2 or 3. This is worth 3 points. Please note that this was changed from 2 to 3 pounds starting from Round 2.
Number of safety cars or virtual safety cars deployed:
0 - 3 points
1 - 3 points
2 - 3 points
3 or more - 3 points
For the safety car score, each SC or VSC counts as one, unless a VSC is upgraded to an SC or an SC changed to a VSC. In those cases, that would count as one safety car. A red flag will count as a safety car.
Number of penalties given:
0 - 2 points
1 - 2 points
2 - 2 points
3 or more - 2 points
Note that the number of penalties is the total. Therefore, if one driver gets two penalties, we count two for that one driver. A disqualification from the Grand Prix counts as a penalty.
Ties
If there are multiple votes tying for the highest score in the polls, points will be awarded for all which are tying.
In the event of a tie for a round win, the winner will be decided on countback. If a competitor has predicted the Grand Prix winner correctly and the other has not, the winning predictor will be the one who predicted the Grand Prix winner correctly. If those are the same, we look at 2nd place. If a predictor predicted 2nd place correctly and the other did not, the one who predicted it correctly will be awarded the win and so on right down through the top ten.
If that does not decide the win, countback will continue down the qualifying positions from 1st to 3rd and subsequently from the other predictions in the order in which they are presented below when you predict. If all of this still does not result in a winner, the winner will be the ones who predicted first. If predictions have been edited in your post, the earliest predictions of the two predictors will count.
In the event of a tie for a championship win, the overall winner will be the one with the most round wins. If that does not decide it, it will be the one with the most 2nd places, 3rd places, etc. If that does not decide it, we will look at who had the most poles predicted correctly over the season, the most 2nd places in qualifying, etc, right down the list of predictions as they appear below.
Incomplete Grands Prix
Points will be awarded in an identical fashion to the official Formula 1 method:
Quote:
No points will be awarded unless at two racing laps have been completed without safety car or virtual safety car intervention.
If less than 25% of the race distance has been completed when the session is ended, quarter points will be awarded. If between 25% and 50% has been completed, half points will be awarded. And if between 50% and 75% have been completed, three-quarter points will be awarded.
For instance, a correct prediction for the Grand Prix winner would score the competitor 3.75 points instead of the usual 15 in a Grand Prix which ran less than 25% of its normal race distance.
Quote:
Points are awarded for qualifying in the usual way in these cases and for all other scoring.
Please note that the following scoring systems apply only to the Grand Prix, not to qualifying or Sprints themselves.
Fastest lap:
Fastest pit stop:
Weather:
formula1.com Driver of the Day:
Driver of the Grand Prix:
Team of the Grand Prix:
Rate the Grand Prix:
Number of finishers:
Number of pit stops:
Number of safety cars or virtual safety cars deployed:
Number of penalties given:
Format
Please write your predictions in the appropriate thread as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Qualifying
1.
2.
3.
Fastest lap:
Fastest pit stop:
Weather:
formula1.com Driver of the Day:
Driver of the Grand Prix:
Team of the Grand Prix:
Rate the Grand Prix:
Number of finishers:
Number of pit stops:
Number of safety cars or virtual safety cars deployed:
Number of penalties given:
The format for the Sprint round predictions is as follows:
Sprint
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Sprint Qualifying
1.
2.
3.
Driver of the Sprint:
Team of the Sprint
Rate the Sprint:
Grand Prix
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Grand Prix Qualifying
1.
2.
3.
Fastest lap:
Fastest pit stop:
Weather:
formula1.com Driver of the Day:
Driver of the Grand Prix:
Team of the Grand Prix:
Rate the Grand Prix:
Number of finishers:
Number of pit stops:
Number of safety cars or virtual safety cars deployed:
Number of penalties given:
Please remember to enter teams for the fastest lap point. Anyone entering a driver will have their prediction discounted. Anyone entering duplications where there should be none will have duplications discounted, e.g. someone who predicts Alonso in both 8th and 10th place will score for neither position.