2020 Group Pick 'Em. Return of the Joker!

[P-F1 Mod]

Yes, and noted. I dare say anyone with a joker left for Bottas will play it now.

[Remmirath]

I'll use my remaining driver joker on Magnussen. Might as well go ahead and use the last team joker on Williams, too; this track could provide an opportunity for them...

[P-F1 Mod]

Added to the spreadsheet

[Icemanjee1]

I want to use the Driver group 3 joker on Gasly

I want to use the Team group 1 joker on Red Bull

[P-F1 Mod]

Results will be posted when the Russell investigation is completed.

[P-F1 Mod]

I'm surprised but relieved that Russell wasn't disqualified. I want to see more racing on this track though, both F2 and F1 were action packed!

SAKHIR RESULTS

1 - MOD BLUE - 669
2 - ICEMANJEE1 - 593
3 - FOUNTOUKOS13 - 563
4 - HERB - 497
5 - COULTHARD'S CHIN - 492
6 - P-F1 MOD - 481
7 - REMMIRATH - 475
8 - TUFTY - 473
9 - JENSON'S UNDERSTEER - 418
10 - EXEDIRON - 410
11 - ROBOFAN - 348
12 - JN23 - 347

STANDINGS

1 - FOUNTOUKOS13 - 8405
2 - REMMIRATH - 8335 [2 WINS]
3 - HERB - 8248
4 - P-F1 MOD - 8172
5 - MOD BLUE - 8087
6 - EXEDIRON - 7913
7 - ICEMANJEE1 - 7891
8 - JENSON'S UNDERSTEER - 7647
9 - COULTHARD'S CHIN - 7566
10 - JN23 - 7543
11 - TUFTY - 7453
12 - ROBOFAN - 7094

I haven't included transfer points because I can't see many being made for Abu Dhabi, and any that are we can all afford. Jokers have all been used except by Icemanjee1 [D4, T3] and Jenson's Understeer, Coulthard's Chin and Robofan who are either planning to use them all this weekend or forgot they need to play them to get the extra points.

[Icemanjee1]

I want to use my Driver Group 4 Joker on Magnussen

I want to use my Team Group 3 Joker on Williams

[P-F1 Mod]

Those jokers have been added to your score. Everyone who chose to use their jokers have used them all, the rest are Jenson's Understeer, Coulthard's Chin and Robofan.

[P-F1 Mod]

As with Pick 10, I'm just waiting on the Sainz investigation now.

[P-F1 Mod]

So I eventually caught up with the rest of the world and learned Sainz has no penalty.

ABU DHABI RESULTS

1 - P-F1 MOD - 464
2 - JN23 - 463
3 - EXEDIRON - 462
4 - COULTHARD'S CHIN - 457
5 - REMMIRATH - 456
6 - ROBOFAN - 452
7 - JENSON'S UNDERSTEER - 442
8 - MOD BLUE - 434
9 - TUFTY - 432
10 - FOUNTOUKOS13 - 416
11 - HERB - 384
12 - ICEMANJEE1 - 368

I think it's actually the first time this has happened, the only player with jokers in a race finishing last. I managed to both start and finish the year with a win, but there were too many losses at the other 15 races sadly.

CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

12 - A player who we never heard from again after putting in the initial predictions, Robofan actually had some pretty solid races. In the end though, the lack of transfers or jokers cost any chance of a title. 7546

11 - The first player to exhaust all of his jokers, Tufty probably felt pretty confident of a late season surge. Sadly that didn't come off for him. 7885

10 - The first player to creep past 8000 points, JN23 had a weaker run here than in other competitions. However, to finish top 10 in all 3 games I run is no mean feat, so congratulations are definitely in order here. 8006, 1 win

9 - This is where I feel not using the jokers really starts to skew the pack. Coulthard's Chin put in some good predictions early on but failed to use the bonus points where they were needed. As a result he barely beat JN23 despite having more wins. 8023, 2 wins

8 - Another player who didn't use the jokers, Jenson's Understeer also had a brilliant set of choices at certain events, despite coming away from the championship winless. Those jokers really can be crucial. 8089

7 - I was surprised when I read this score, I honestly thought Icemanjee1 was a title contender for most of the season. Finishing last in Abu Dhabi didn't help matters, but being the highest placed player without a win was also painful. 8259

6 - Entering the top half of the field now, Exediron is next on the list. One of only 3 players to score 101 points with any single joker, Bottas in Russia in this case, his championship looked surprisingly lacklustre in a lot of ways. He did also suffer from some amazing calls by the players that beat him, however. 8375, 1 win

5 - I have a little professional pride at stake in this one, I won't lie. Mod Blue played very well to take a top 5 finish, and was unlucky to only take a single race win through the year. I fully expect he'll ban me for this assessment when I retire . 8521, 1 win

4 - A small jump in the scores leads us into the top 4, first with Herb. Winning more rounds than anyone bar the champion, he can definitely take a lot of pride in his achievements this year. Not to mention beating a mod. Yes, I'm going to rub that one in while I still have power! 8632, 3 wins

3 - A place on the podium, no matter how narrowly claimed, is something to be proud of. And honestly, I am. P-F1 Mod, in what may be the account's swansong season, was there or thereabouts a lot this year. I mentioned in the race results that I bookended the year with wins; the problem was, I took none in between those 2. That, more than anything, is what cost me this year. Having taken 101 points with my Bottas/Russia joker like Exediron I was hoping for more, but I'll settle for a podium spot by just 4 points. 8636, 2 wins

2 - Just 30 points off the title, and with 2 wins over the year, Remmirath played very well. Using the Bottas/Russia joker for 101 points, and taking the best score of the year with the Team Group 1 joker [166, Red Bull in Bahrain] there was no question the title was up for grabs this year. 8791, 2 wins

1 - And then there was one. The last player to name, the one who announced he didn't expect to win any other competition and seemed to put all his eggs in this basked after missing a race in the Qualifying game and taking a penalty in Pick 10. Fountoukos13 simply destroyed us all over the course of the year, taking more wins and more points than anyone else. Playing Gasly as the joker in Monza was inspired, and without that I'd probably be praising Remmirath as our champion now. But moves like that always kept him in the game. Congratulations on a hard-earned title! 8821, 4 wins

[P-F1 Mod]

Thanks to all our players this year, merry Christmas from me, and since this is my last games summary post with this account I want to thank you all for making it so much fun for me to run this game too.

[JN23]

Congratulations to Fountoukos13!

[Exediron]

Congratulations! This wasn't my best season, but at least it was better than the horrible farce known as my title defense in the Top Three Competition...

[P-F1 Mod]

That season for you will go down in history as the mother of all curses

[Remmirath]

Congratulations to Fountoukos13, well played! Even if I was close to first, I'm honestly very happy with second -- this is the first year of this game that I haven't been right at the back of the field.

[Fountoukos13]

Thank you all for the congratulations! I'm really happy to win my first individual competition on this forum.
Hopefully next year i'll keep track of the deadlines and win one of the other games.

Special thanks to PF1-Mod for hosting 3 games for us this season! Had lots of fun in a year that has been difficult for all of us. I wish you all merry christmas, a happy new year and stay safe!

[Icemanjee1]

Congrats Fountoukos13