I'm sure we will meet somewhere in the middle at some point!

We probably will.

When I get a moment or two I will write a little piece letting you know who I support, who I don't and any other pertinent info that comes to mind. 

The pre-season signs werethat, although many of the cars had improved, Red Bull woul still be a force to be reckoned with....and so it prooved to be. Even though they DIDN'T win this first race.

Agreed. I think Vettel is clever enough to play the long game and today's third place won't worry him. He did not have it all his own way last season. I think it would be better for him if Webber could provide more support.

The McLarens have got some work to do  

Very much so.

Make that four 

Agree. If Webber could have better consistency with his starts he'd get better results for himself and provide better support for Vettel.

Take last year for instance. Although Webber was high on the Drivers' Championship list for a goodly amout of time, even leading at one point, did anyone seriously believe that he'd really have a chance?

Excellent.

We are now four five (I've back counted and I think I got to 5).

I suspect there will be more 

Yeah, Button said that as well. Hedging his bets?

OK, so I'm a F1 fan too but I put it after my cricket. And there has been a lot of it over the globe this weekend! 

I'm really pleased by Raikkonen's win too. I'm part of a fantasy F1 game with about a dozen folk. The game allows each player to choose 2 teams and 2 drivers to do battle with each other. The evil bloke who runs it does it through a handicapping system whereby the teams and drivers you select 'cost' you when they are set against how successful they were last season. He's a geek. 'nuff said.  

Are you still with me?

So if you have no better reason to watch I want you to root for me! 

My teams are Lotus (go Xochi today!) and Mercedes. My drivers are Webber and Perez.

My mate lets us all know our placing after one of the racing mags publishes its results and I'll let you know my standing when his results come in! 

I love F1 and also love Moto GP. That should be starting soon too 

They used to play fantasy F1 where I work. I seem to recall that if for example Webber were to qualify in 7th and end up winning, that would be good in terms of your points total.

But yes, GO XOCHI !!!!  

Well done Xochi! BBC ran a fantasy F1 a good few years ago. Don't know what happened to it.

Massa was one of my drivers at a time when he was being villified and 'wasn't good enough' to drive for Ferarri. I did quite well, given that I had such a rubbish driver,

My mate has the most complicated scoring system you could ever invent! When I've got the energy I'll attempt to explain it!  

But Lotus win and fastest lap puts me in good stead I reckon! 

Afraid however Ferrari was placed I could never support their team or drivers. Matter of principle because of Schumacher's many infringements. 

The other Lotus finished 10th - so that seems pretty good.

Oooo, really! Didn't know that! Like I said, cricket my focus atm. Thanks Confusiasms! 

Yeah, he got to me too. Cheating *******

I think they've cleaned their act up though and both drivers are now playing the game 

Xochi your cars were 1st and 10th and your drivers were 6th and 11th.

Not bad for a 1st outing, I think.

Ooo! That does look good Fluffs!  

Like I say, when I can remember the other elements to the league I'll fill you in, but I know I'm supposed to get 10 points for wherever my drivers and teams improve their final placing from the starting grid. And 10 points for fastest lap. 

Do you lose points if they finish worse than their qualifying position?

One Lotus finished better and one finished worse.

Webber finished worse (2 to 6)

Not sure off hand if Perez finished the same or better, but I think it was better.

You always get to the nub of these things Fluffs!   No, you only gain 10 points from where someone in your 2 teams or your 2 drivers move up their grid position but you don't get points off if they lose positions. But there is the bonus of 10 points for pole! Like I say, I'll post my mate's scoring system anon! 

Same here - I neve liked their team orders in the Schumcher era either

Glad the non-tame racing driver's back.

So you have one car up (Raikkonen, 7 to 1) and one driver up (Perez 15 to 11) but no poll.However I think you have a fastest lap somewhere. Still not too bad for a first run.

Shame the car group went nipples up today.

Malaysia qualifying today. Not on the BBC 'til 1pm. Only another 4 hours to hide,

Guess what, I was just getting ready for my bath with the news on and Mike Bushell said "if you don't want to know the qualifying results which finished X minutes ago, turn away now". Then then gave us less than 3 milliseconds before gobbing off - fortunately I got my fingers in my ears and shouted la la la la la as I ran from the room.

The result is still unknown to me, but my neighbours must wonder what's going off - me practicing for The Voice probably 

Something similar happened to me yesterday re: football. Was listening to the news but not looking at the screen, they were giving football results....said something like 'highlights of the such-n-such game are coming up in MOTD next, so if you don't want to know the score look away now', but I did want to know the score so I turned round to look at the screen....and it was already gone. Which means that even if you were looking at the screen to start with you'd hardly have had time to take it in!

Well, I think they just announced the result of qualifying on the BBC just before the programme started.

Remind me the final grid position from Australia as I can't check on net for fearing of seeing todays result.

Vettel

Webber

Hamilton

Massa

Alonso

Rosberg

Raikonnen

Grosjean

Di Resta

Button

Hulkenberg

Sutil

Verne

Ricciardo

Perez

Bottas

Maldonado

Gutierez

Bianchi

Chilton

Van Der Garde

Pic

They did that last week too. But I didn't put the sound on until the F1 intro started.

Wasn't fully listening there, but Kimi's been dropped down the grid to P11.

I think she referred to the practice session as I recall she said Vettel in 1st and Hamilton in 2nd. Phew... 

Yep, but I'm sure in the race he will make places and that is great news for Xochi...

That's true. Every cloud has a silver lining, what?

FIDEE (Federation International Des Epreuves Eccentriques) RULES

Pick 2 drivers and 2 teams.

Each race your team’s score = Deduct sum of the Prices of your selected drivers & teams, then add their results calculated as :

1^st 8 places = 100, 80, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 

plus 10 for pole, 10 for fastest lap, 5 per place improved relative to grid position.

Team points are based only on the top placed (not necessarily highest scoring) car finishing.

Classified finishers count, unclassified ones don’t (not necessarily the same as which cars are running at the finish).

With a bit of luck you will actually make a positive score but don’t count on it.

If a driver drops out, tough – but if he moves to another team you carry on scoring.

If a team drops out, tough.

In the event that two entrants select the same driver and team combinations, you will be required to either change your selection or pick a tie-breaker driver.

DRIVER & TEAM PRICES 2013 (Per race)

As promised, here are the rules of my fantasy F1 competition and the 'prices' of the drivers and teams (table above, the numbers after teams and then individual drivers). My friend calculated my total prices for my two teams and drivers as being 192.  I came 5th in the league after the Australian race! 

Do you start with a set number of points, or do you all start at zero and see if anyone has a positive score at the end of the season? Sounds tough.

Yep, we all start at zero. Points are gained according to the scoring system each race, Fluffs. Then my season's price (192) is subtracted each race. Positive (or negative!) points are accumulated throughout the season. I can't find my score for Australia but I think it was +34.