It's Time for 'Lights Out & AWAY WE GO...... Again
- Steve Prestidge
- Jan 24
- 10 min read
After the inaugural season in 2024 when We Are Checking was top of the pile, we followed up with last year, and Haas Ta La Vista winning, whilst behind them both times, was Wax MeStrapOn Racing,
Last year was dominated by the Hills.
No not Graham and Damon, Simon and Nick.
Wax MyStrapOn Racing and Haas Ta La Vista ruled the roost throughout the 2025 Campaign, swapping the lead position on a number of occasions, until the latter hit this ‘ALL BLUE’ weekend in Race 21 (every driver and Team correct) in Brazil
The straw that broke the camel’s back - not that I’m calling you a camel Nick, or you a straw Simon. That was some achievement though and I expect it to never to be repeated, especially as I’ve added more to the results grid above to make sure it doesn't
I guess that will make Haas Ta La Vista unique, baby.
Enough dwelling on the past though, it’s time to focus on the future, and 2026.
Believe it or not, I’ve actually simplified things quite a bit for 2026. The Pre-Season Guesses have gone (not sure anyone, other than Off The Grid who won it, had any real interest in it). And I’ve dropped a few ‘Guesses/Punts’ (delete as you think appropriate) from the Race GuessWork. It’s now concentrated on naming Drivers & Cars in the positions you think they will finish only.
All the timing and number guesses have gone.
F1 2026 starts on 7th March in Australia, the first of 24 race weekends taking us all the way into December, and the finale at Abu Dhabi.
Remember, this competition is open to everyone, anyone can have a stab at it, and hopefully find it makes each race more intriguing. The only addition to the GuessWork this year is naming your 'less favourable' team that you expect to get the most points over the race weekend
What do I need to do then Steve to take part, I hear you asking.
Well let me explain.
Actually before I do, let me confirm that every player that enters will result in around £10.00 going to charity. The competitions I run donate to around 8 different charities, last time F1 supported Help For Heroes, and this season it will support Sands
By the time we're lined up on the grid for the start of race 1, the amounts sent to the eight charities we support will be approaching £11,000 in the near 4 years we’ve been donating, happily making them the biggest winner by far of all the competitions you take part in. Thank You
How Do You Take Part
Put simply, for each race you need to pick a driver you think will do well, and a team you think will do well over Qualifying and the Race.
Then, also have a go at placing the top five drivers and teams in the correct finish order of the Race. In addition you have to 'guess' at a few other things that will happen, all of which will hopefully add you points to the Competition total.
Here's a bit more detail.
Driver Of The Meeting - Each race you name the Driver you think will earn you the most points in both Qualifying and the Race. It may not be as obvious as you think though as coefficients will adjust points won, so, at the start of the season in Melbourne, a win for Lando won’t be worth as much as a win for Charles, and a top 10 finish for Sergio might be worth as much as, or more than, a win for either of them!
Team Of The Meeting - As well as naming your Driver, you name your Team for the weekend as well, and you don't have to match your driver to a team. You could have Hamilton and Mercedes, for example 🙄🙄. But again perhaps not as obvious as coefficients kick in. McLaren will be ranked 1 in Melbourne, Cadillac 3 (the maximum) The points collected by both cars in the team will be added to your total.
Driver & Team Race Positions - Place the top 5 Drivers and Teams, in the correct places to win points. Points are awarded for getting them spot on and you'll get halfies if you're one place out, and you can mix and match, so you could have Max in an Alpine in 1st place, or Lance in an Audi in 3rd. And yep, coefficients adjust points won
10th Place and Over Taking - Points are awarded for guessing/predicting the driver starting 10th on the Grid (not necessarily qualifying 10th!!) and then for the driver that makes up the most places from the Grid to the end of the race.
First Retirement - More points can be collected for guessing the first Driver out of the race
Points are also on offer for naming the Driver that sets the Fastest Lap during the race.
Lastly you will get to name the 'Best Of The Rest’, the 'unfancied' team in the race you that you think will collect the most points over the weekend, from qualifying and race positions. That’s points that get calculated here, not those in real life. So any position in the top 10 in qualifying or any finish in the race itself will add to the totals
NEW in 2026
I’ve added 'Our Own Sprint’ races
The Main Competition is an accumulation of all the points won over the season, the winner of which, is rightly named Champion.
'Our Own Sprints’ will race over every set of 4 races, the winner collecting a Sprint Trophy, which will be worth cash at the end of the season.
There will be SIX Sprints, made up of 4 races each, up for grabs
In a slight twist, we do like a slight twist, the top five of our previous 'Sprint Race' will start with a handicap in the next one. So if you win the first Sprint over the first four races, you will start the next Sprint, from Race 5 to Race 8, with a handicap. 😳😳😳😳
What Are Coefficients
They worked last year, and actually quite a number of Drivers of the Weekend, were outside the top 3 drivers in the F1 Races
They attempt to make the competition more 'even' and, like last year, coefficients will be adjusted every race. I'm will be averaging the handicaps from last season, shown here, with the revised ones from 2026, race by race.
For those interested (bothered), Australia will be based on last years coefficients, but Race 2 in China, will have coefficients calculated by taking 23/24ths of these 2025 ratings, and 1/24th of 2026, those set by the outcome in Australia.
Hungary is Race 13, and we will be 50% 2025, 50% 2026, by the time we get there
And at Abu Dhabi it will only be 1/24th from 2025, the rest from the current season.
The best coefficient is 1, the maximum coefficient will be capped at 3.
There's possibly some early value to be picked up from that if you know more than I do about F1 (should be most of you), and can spot drivers in the new cars, especially with all the modifications, that might be able to make the most of the new set ups, and score big with coefficients that don’t currently reflect their potential
What Do I Need To Do
All you need to do 'Now', is let me know you want to join in, just message me.
I will then email an invoice to you with details of how to send your £30 sign up fee, at the end of February, and as mentioned earlier, a percentage of which, will go to Sands. The rest of the pot will be paid out to the winners once the final numbers have been locked in, and the split between Main Competition and Sprint are confirmed.
There will be a lot more detail on the website, as we get closer to 'Lights Out' for Race 1, so go on, come and join in.......... Just message me, and of course, share with like minded individuals.
F1 2025 Driver’s Briefing - The Small Print
So here’s information on the points scoring, and the rules (not too many of them).
£30.00 will get you in. Last year we donated £323.37 to Help For Heroes from the signing on fees in this competition, before the balance was paid out to the winners.
This year we will be supporting Sands
Winnings for the competition will be declared once the final number of players are confirmed.
All winnings will be paid out after the final race
2026 will just need you to make your predictions for every race.
NEW FOR 2026 - We will have ‘Our Own’ Sprint competition taking place, every four races.
Each Race you will predict a Driver & Team of the Weekend and they will earn you points depending on where they finish in Qualifying and in the Race.
There will be points awarded for the Driver winning the Race. Every driver that finishes will win points.
63 points will be awarded to the race winner, 53 to second, and 46 to third. Then 40, 36, 32, 28, 24, 21, 18, 15, 13, 11, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1 to any of the cars finishing.
Race Points for the Team will be half the Driver points, but you can pick up points for both cars (so you could go Red Bull 1 & 2).
Drivers will score points for Qualifying in the top 10, 25 will be awarded to the Driver on Qualifying on Pole, 18 to 2nd, 15 to 3rd, 12 to 4th, so mirroring race points from 2025.
Sprint races won’t count, only Qualifying for the Main Race, and points will be awarded for where finishing in Qualifying, any grid penalties given for the race WILL BE ignored.
All of these points will be adjusted by coefficients (handicaps)
You will also predict the First 5 Drivers and Teams for the Race Only. Qualifying is not included in these points.
Driver points will be awarded as follows. 50 points for 1st, 30 for 2nd, 20 for 3rd, 10 for 4th and 5 for 5th.
Drivers will earn you half points if you’re one place out. If the Driver finishes higher, you’ll get half the points of the position you predicted, if he finishes one place lower, you’ll get half the lower points
For example If you predict Hamilton will finish 2nd, and he finishes 1st, you get half the points of 2nd place where you predicted he would finish. IF he finishes 3rd, you get half the 3rd place points.
The Team Points are half the Driver Points, but you can place both cars. So you could have Red Bull 1st & 4th, and it doesn’t matter which of their drivers is 1st or 4th
BUT, you only get points for being spot on with the Teams, no halfsies for being a place out.
Coefficients will, again, enhance points won.
Drivers and Teams will start the season with Coefficients, based on last year’s points. The Coefficients will adjust points upwards.
Lando and McLaren will start with a Coefficient of 1
Points won in Race 1 in Australia will be adjusted by the Coefficients from last year.
Coefficients will evolve as the season progresses, Race 2 in China will have Coefficients set by taking 23/24ths of last season's Coefficients and 1/24th from 2026.
By the time Spa has run it’s race, half of the coefficient will be as a result of 2025’s positions, and half 2026. By Abu Dhabi only 1/24th will relate to 2025’s, the rest the current year. Finally, there will be points awarded to the first ten players every Race. They will be equal to the points won in a F1 race during 2024, 25 for 1st, 18 for 2nd and so on. So if you finishe second on the podium in Melbourne with the points you win for all your GuessWork above, you will also collect a bonus 18 points
And then there will be other scoring opportunities to earn ‘Random’ points.
There will be 30 points on offer for predicting the 10th Driver on the Starting Grid, shared by all the players naming the Driver correctly (it will be starting on the grid, not necessarily Qualifying 10th)
There will also be 30 points on offer for predicting the driver that makes up the most places from Grid to the Race End, shared across those naming the driver.
In the event there’s a tie, (2 drivers gain 5 places) the higher placed Driver is awarded the points.
There’s 30 points on offer for naming the Driver with the Fastest Lap time.
You guessed it, there’s 30 points up for grab if you can correctly guess the first retirement in the race. (shared by those naming the correct driver)
In the event of two cars going out at the same time through contact, the Driver causing the contact will be deemed the First Retirement.
Finally, another 30 points are on offer for naming the ‘Best Of The Rest’. This is where you name the Team finishing with the most points, outside the top 4. Shared of course if more than one of us picks them
The Sprint Race final positions will be decided by your place in our competition for each race
Points will be awarded for each position, equal to the points awarded to the actual race winners in the competition, confirmed in 7b above
So the winner of each race will pick up 63 points
At the end of Sprint 1, the race average of the top five will be calculated and used as the ‘Handicap’ for Sprint 2
The top five scores will be averaged, and then divided by 4 to calculate the top five race average and set the Sprint 2 handicap
The winner of Sprint 1 will ‘carry’ 100% of this handicap, 2nd will carry 80% of the handicap, 3rd 60%, 4th 40% and 5th 20%.
When you send in your ‘Guesswork’ for each race, you can request a copy of your submission be emailed to you, and once ALL have sent in, then all the entries will show on the Guesswork page on the website.
Your FIRST Guesswork entry for the Australian Grand Prix, will be saved as a Default Selection for the rest of the season. If for any reason you miss the Deadline for a Race, the defaults will be entered for you.
If you want your defaults to be your entry for the race, then you need to specifically confirm this before the deadline expires.
If you miss the deadline, and haven’t confirmed you want your defaults, they will still be entered by will only be worth 75% of any points won.
Where Reserve Drivers are named for either qualifying and/or the race you are able to make changes to any GuessWork submitted
When named before the deadline, you will be allowed to change your nominated driver.
After the Deadline, the Reserve Driver will be counted as the Driver you originally picked. (If picked Bearmsn and Hill is named as sub after the deadline, then that’s who you’re stuck with)
In the event of cars not even ‘getting through’ Qualifying, and not onto the grid, they will be regarded as Did Not Start (DNS), not as Did Not Finish (DNF) and sadly not worth a point in the race AND not regarded as the First Retirement either
The Final Cash prizes on offer will be confirmed once the total number of players have been confirmed.
Prizes will be paid out to the Winner, Runner Up and Third Place in the GuessWork Table
Prizes will also be paid out to the SIX Sprint Winners
I think that’s it. It probably isn’t, there’s probably a few bits I’ve missed, but I will have time to add before we get going, I’m sure…….
Comments