Unexpectedly we are at the track today, which means I can’t access Fantasy Racers. In which case, I will be sticking with whatever team I chose last time.
Don’t forget to visit Fantasy Racers, update your team, and let us know who you’ve gone for and why.
Bye!
Written on June 19th, 2009 at 11:30 am by Christine.
We’re back into the swing of it, having to choose drivers based on what they’ve been saying over the past few days, their demeanour in the paddock, and some not entirely reliable Free Practice data.
I wasn’t happy with only having four drivers, and wanted to swap one of mine for a less expensive couple instead. Massa was easily the choice to go, as my misplaced faith in him last time round garnered very little reward. I chose Trulli, simply because I wanted a Toyota (god knows why – perhaps I think I can spur them on to better things) and Jarno was the lead driver in FP1. Then with my leftover cash, I really wanted to get Alonso but he was just out of reach so I settled for Rosberg instead. The Free Practice whizz has got to come through in a race at some time.
| Driver | Price |
|---|---|
| Jarno Trulli | 7.1 |
| Jenson Button | 13.8 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 10.7 |
| Nico Rosberg | 6.8 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 12.9 |
The prices are correct at the time of writing. From what I can tell, my worth is gradually slipping away, and my good fortune at the beginning of the season was simply a lucky gamble. Never mind, it’s not over till it’s over. I have 0.6 million left to spend, and the value of my team is down to 51.3.
Written on June 5th, 2009 at 10:02 am by Christine.
Given that Free Practice was yesterday, I’ve already had a good few hours to contemplate who to have in my team. I’ve given it some proper thought, evaluated all the options, interviewed all the drivers and… okay, maybe not.
I was tempted to take out Vettel, as Red Bull look like they’ve taken over all of Webber’s bad luck so far this weekend. However, I still have faith in the youngster, so I kept him in. I immediately took Glock out, as Toyota haven’t performed well so far. I have a horrible feeling this will be a bad decision, but never mind, it’s too late now. I couldn’t afford anyone that I wanted for Glock’s price, so I decided instead to sell Buemi as well and opt for Massa. The Ferrari seems somewhat improved, and Monaco was his turning point last year. With Hamilton and Massa in the same lineup, this is starting to look eerily like last year!
| Driver | Price |
|---|---|
| Felipe Massa | 9.5 |
| Jenson Button | 13.8 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 11.3 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 12.9 |
The prices are correct at the time of writing. I have 4.4 million left over this week, and my team value is now 51.9. I think this represents the first time my overall total has gone down. It’s a slippery slope, and I’m pretty sure I’m headed that way.
Written on May 22nd, 2009 at 09:36 am by Christine.
I’m going to be brutally honest this week and say that my normal plan of watching Free Practice and making my decisions didn’t go to plan. I could only check in on the FP action occasionally, so I wasn’t really aware of who was doing well and who wasn’t. This is a pain as the European season has shaken things up again, and we’re not really sure who’s going to do well.
That being the case, I’m overly cautious going into the Spanish Grand Prix and have only made one change. I got fed up of Rosberg fooling me into thinking he was going to do well so I’ve taken him out and replaced him with Buemi. This may be a hasty decision, but I felt like taking a risk. The rest of my line up remains the same.
| Driver | Price |
|---|---|
| Jenson Button | 13.8 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 11.9 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 12.9 |
| Sebastien Buemi | 6.5 |
| Timo Glock | 9.0 |
The prices are correct at the time of writing. I have no money left over this week (and I still think we should get bonus points for that rather than for having a million or two at the end of the selection process. My team value is 54.1.
Written on May 8th, 2009 at 03:00 pm by Christine.
There’s still time to sign up to Fantasy Racers and join the league if you haven’t already. Mr C is doing so poorly, that you even stand a chance of beating him despite being three racers down. All the information you need to do so can be found here.
My decision this week was quite a lot easier than it has been in previous weeks, if only because my lineup was pretty darn good from before. However, I made one small change and that was selling Rubens Barrichello, using up a little bit of my spare cash and purchasing Lewis Hamilton. This may be a foolish reaction based on Free Practice results that aren’t trustworthy, but I get the feeling McLaren are on the way up. Even if this weekend isn’t theirs, I reckon they’ll be doing well soon. Here’s my final lineup for Bahrain:
| Driver | Price |
|---|---|
| Jenson Button | 13.8 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 11.3 |
| Nico Rosberg | 6.9 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 12.0 |
| Timo Glock | 8.8 |
Written on April 24th, 2009 at 02:15 pm by Christine.
Before the season gets too far underway, if you haven’t already signed up to the Sidepodcast Fantasy Racers league, then head here for all the information. If you’re setting up a new team, you might be a couple of races down on points but there’s still plenty of time for you to beat me. (And by me, I mean Mr C of course, because I’m doing so much better this year.)
With much thought (at least five minutes) put into my selection choices this time round, here’s where I went. I immediately ditched Trulli for Glock which is so stupid because it’s the opposite of what I did before the last race, and I should have just kept the German. I also decided to get rid of Raikkonen, for many reasons but mostly because they no longer have KERS. And the ice cream thing, as well. In his place, I selected Vettel because… well, Dank has bet on him to win, and it seems like a good way to go. Here’s my final China lineup:
| Driver | Price |
|---|---|
| Jenson Button | 13.8 |
| Nico Rosberg | 8.6 |
| Rubens Barrichello | 10.3 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 9.2 |
| Timo Glock | 9.10 |
Written on April 17th, 2009 at 09:41 am by Christine.
It’s not too late to sign up to the Sidepodcast league. Last year, many teams joined mid-way through the season, and plenty of them still managed to beat me. If you want to do so, head on over to Fantasy Racers to set up your team, and you can find joining details for the league here.
Of course, this time round, I’m taking it much more seriously and choosing my driver lineup properly, so you will have a harder time beating me. At the moment, I’m top of the league!! Alright, it’s only after one race, and yes, 13 other people got the exact same score as me and I’m only first because I was the earliest top team to sign up to the league. Whatever. I’m still top, and that’s all that matters.
So, let me run through what I’ve done for this weekend in Malaysia. Last week, my lineup was Sutil, Button, Webber, Rosberg, Barrichello and Glock.
Initially, I wanted to get rid of Webber, because let’s be honest, he is just too unlucky. I swapped him out for Jarno Trulli, thinking I would like to have a Toyota driver in there. However, I forgot that I already had Glock, so I decided to stick with the Italian and drop the German. Having seen slightly improved performance from the Ferrari boys, I wanted one of those, and decided on Raikkonen rather than Massa. Thinking about it now, that probably wasn’t such a great idea as his KERS device clearly isn’t stable, and he may be a little on edge now that he’s had a cockpit full of smoke. Anyway, I plumped for Kimi, sacrificing Sutil so that I could afford the Finn.
| Driver | Price |
|---|---|
| Jarno Trulli | 7.4 |
| Jenson Button | 11.9 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 9.9 |
| Nico Rosberg | 8.1 |
| Rubens Barrichello | 10.10 |
Written on April 3rd, 2009 at 10:00 am by Christine.
Firstly, if you haven’t set up your team yet, it’s really easy to do. Head on over to Fantasy Racers to sign up, and you’ll find league details and further instructions here. The Sidepodcast League now boasts over 400 entrants, and if you’ve not joined already, you’re missing out.
Now, let’s get on to the business of selecting our teams. The deadline is 5pm GMT (this is not Sidepodtime), which means we have the luxury of having seen both Free Practice sessions which turns out to have been very useful.
Initially, and based on nothing in particular, I chose Alonso, Button, Kubica, Barrichello and Vettel. I assumed Renault would be good (because I want them to be), Brawn for obvious reasons, Kubica because he seems to be the stronger BMW driver, and Vettel because he’s the “rising star.”
Having seen both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2, I have completely and utterly changed my mind. Only the Brawn boys remain.
| Driver | Price |
|---|---|
| Adrian Sutil | 5.0 |
| Jenson Button | 6.3 |
| Mark Webber | 6.8 |
| Nico Rosberg | 7.5 |
| Rubens Barrichello | 6.3 |
| Timo Glock | 6.8 |
Written on March 27th, 2009 at 07:30 am by Christine.
After the unbelievable job everyone in the Fantasy Racers league did last year, we’re doing it again in 2009.
This time out we’re defending champions. No longer will the rookie tag wash, we’re professionals now and we know what we’re doing… unless you didn’t enter last year, in which case, you may be excused.
As before, the details you need to sign in to the league are as follows:
| Website | Fantasy Racers |
| League Number | 6 |
| Password | franck |
Yup, that’s Franck with a ‘c’, and because it caused no confusion whatsoever last year, so why should it this time around?
If you haven’t done so already you’ll need to create an account, which can be done so by selecting the Register option. It’s free to join, but a donation will see you upgraded to Preferential status allowing you to hide your strategies from other players.
Written on January 3rd, 2009 at 08:20 pm by me.
Following on from that speech, and thanks to the generosity of both Jordan and Dan, the above trophy found its way to our doorstep this morning.
The question now is, what should we do with it?
Written on November 15th, 2008 at 05:41 pm by me.
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