Grand
Prize Winner - Kaps (India)
(Winner Overall with 616 points as well as winner for the rounds of Britain and Europe)
Won
a $150 Gift Certificate from SpeedGear,
the Internet's Premier website for Authentic Racewear, a pair of NewsOnF1.com professional binoculars and a NewsOnF1
AM/FM pocket radio. I'm a working professional in a UK based Multinational Property Consultants firm. I handle the retail
sector in India, conceptualising Malls-specialising in setting up restaurants, foodcourts and pubs. I've been following
Formula 1 since 1991. Its not only the passion of the sport that keeps me hooked to it but I also get a lot of inspiration as I'm in
a profession with cut-throat competition. F1 inspires me to perform well at all given situations, whether I win or lose. The aim is
to keep trying, innovating things & taking risks.
I guess I took a lot of risk in selecting my top 8 drivers in the
last 2 races which obviously didn't pay off and I saw my lead shrink from 13 points to 2 points. No offences to the smart play &
good selection by aabc01.
What really made me happy was that I put my country's name - INDIA, on the Leading board.
Yes,
I'm a Michael Schumacher fan & not since 2000 but the first time I saw him in a Jordan car. I wouldn't say that Schumi &
Ferrari winning all the time is making the sport boring. I think its the media who is creating this myth, even Montoya voiced this
feeling. I think we are witnessing history & we should enjoy it. You guys at 8 n pole do a fantastic job. This is one of
the best competitions I've competed in, as its in line with the actual point scoring system in the sport. This competition helps me
compete & show my knowledge of the drivers & tracks not only with my friends here in India but all people around the world.
I
would also like to congratulate the 2nd & 3rd place winners, especially aabc01, who definitely gave me a scare before the last
couple of races. I hope you guys keep this great showing going for years!!
C u next year.
Runner-up
- aabc01 (Brazil)(Second Overall with 614 points as well as winner for the round of San Marino)
Won a $75 Gift
Certificate from SpeedGear, the
Internet's Premier website for Authentic Racewear as well as a NewsOnF1 AM/FM pocket radio. It was a
pleasure to take part once again in the 8 'n' Pole competition. Last year I came in 7th after being among the top three most of the
time and I swore I'd do better this year. Congratulations to Kaps, who defended himself very cleverly on the last
round! I'm 42 and I live in Brazil at Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, although I work most of the time in S�o Paulo as the IT
Director of a financial company. I've been a F1 fan since the Belgium GP of 1972. Emerson Fittipaldi was the first Brazilian
who became a F1 champion and his duels with Jackie Stewart and Ronnie Peterson were very exciting. After the "Copersucar
adventure" Fittipaldi retired but we were gifted by Nelson Piquet's genius. He is a nasty guy but he was a superb driver. Senna
was another superdriver although he had the "all or nothing" approach that prevented him for winning a fourth title in
1989 (especially England and Portugal). People in Brazil used to criticize Senna a lot until he died and became a national hero.
Piquet is alive, won the same three titles and nobody cares about him. I don't see any sense in comparing current pilots like
Schumacher, who is the best pilot around, with Senna, Jim Clark and Fangio. I firmly do not believe that Ferrari let their pilots
compete between themselves, but who cares?
Bottomline Michael is really better than Rubens, who in my humble opinion is not
worse than Kimi, Juan or Alonso. Sir Frank Williams had a lot of problems with internal fighting like 1986, when Mansell and Piquet
kindly gave the title to Prost. I do not expect great changes in 2005, but I do expect more competition. Ferrari will
dominate, though.
Third Place - The Meanest (New Zealand)(Third
Overall with 596 points as well as winner for the round of Japan)
Won a $50 Gift Certificate from The
Pitstop Bookshop, Australia's No. 1 Source for Motoring Books, DVDs, Videos & Workshop Manuals as well as a
NewsOnF1 AM/FM pocket radio. Hi everyone at 8 'n' Pole. What a great season we saw full of interesting twists and turns,
especially China. Firstly thanks to everyone at 8 'n' Pole for all the work you do. This really is a great competition and
makes the racing even more exciting. Congratulations also to Kaps for a close fought win over aabc01. I am
basically a Ferrari and MS fan but can't wait to see how Alonso and JPM go next year. Hopefully Renault will give Fernando a really
quick car, as he is my current favourite driver because he is such a hard charger and never gives up. I have been in the 8 'n'
Pole competition since 2001. Since most of the races are during the night in New Zealand it makes for some long Monday's.
And
just a note for all the other New Zealand contestants. It's about time one of us won it so come on Timothy McLennan, Southernman,
Skruff and all the others, 2005 has got to be our year. See you next year
The Meanest
Biggest
Winning Margin - TheOMan (Romania)(Biggest winning margin in a round - Round of France with 6 points margin to second)
Wins
a pair of NewsOnF1.com professional binoculars and - naturally - a NewsOnF1 AM/FM pocket radio!. I am a
25-year old computer engineer and I'm working as a computer programmer in a software company in Romania. I've been watching Formula
1 since I was about 12 years old, back in 1991 I think. From the beginning I loved it and never stopped watching. Back then I became
a big fan of the great Ayrton Senna and I was completely shocked after the events on that terrible 1st of May in 1994. Still, over
the years my interest for F1 grew and season after season I tried not to miss a race, to stay in touch with everything around the
competition, and to support my favourite drivers and teams. During the years I had a few favourites. After the great Senna left us,
I became a big fan of the Williams team, with Damon Hill as my favourite. But then he retired, and then Jacques Villeneuve became my
favourite, along with the Williams team. But, from 1998 until now, my favourite driver was David Coulthard. I like him and I am
sorry to see him leave McLaren, as I think they made a good team, and to be honest I got used to having DC at McLaren. I hope he
will get in a good team for the next year, and I will be his fan in the future too. About 8 'n' Pole, I found out about it
only after the beginning of the season, and I liked it from the start. I never hesitated before signing up, and it looks like I did
the right thing. I am very happy for winning the 2 prizes. When I entered the competition I did not think I would win anything, I
was in it just for the fun of it, but then when I got everything right and won it made me very happy. I think the competition
this year was pretty good, I don't know if I could have been up there in the top 20 even if I would have started from the beginning
of the season, but I like competition, so I'll be here next season as well. And maybe then I'll get inside the top 20.
Fourth
Place - Kostly (United Kingdom)(Fourth overall with 595 Points) Thankyou for running the 8 'n' Pole competition - I
really enjoyed receiving the results and seeing, with mounting disbelief, how well I was going. I say this because my F1 history is
brief. I have been following the sport for only two seasons now. I am an Australian, living in the UK. Usually I am an editor,
but during this year's competition I became a mum. (Baby Tom loves watching the F1, as does his daddy, so it's a family event.)
Fortunately over the blinding first few weeks of motherhood I had a good set of picks lined up and seemed to do pretty well just
sticking with them. In making my picks I stuck with the complex plan of not thinking about it too hard, staying with my instincts
and not going back to change my mind. This managed to shoot me up to third place by the second last race, which was a rather
thrilling moment for me. If only I had put Barrichello in pole for the Brazilian GP! I'll certainly be playing again next
year, and hoping to see some great results for Webber.
Fifth Place -
Arthur (Australia)(Fifth overall with 592 Points) To everyone at newonf1.com and competitors in 8npole, Thanks
for having me this year. I really enjoyed competing in this seasons competition and was pleasantly surprised with my result. To make
the top 5 was most unexpected as I did not do nearly as well in last year's competition. I stuck to a fairly strict formula
when making my selections this season. My strategy basically involved picking all the top teams and drivers without taking many
risks. This formula worked well for most of the season as i got very consistent results during the middle races. I had worked my way
up to 3rd and had hoped to hold down a top 3 position but poor results in the final couple of rounds let me down and I slipped back
a couple of spots but overall I was still extremely happy with my result. I think the next few years will be extremely
exciting for the sport of formula 1. The old master (Schumi) who has proven himself to be arguably the greatest driver of all time
going up against the new breed of young and exciting drivers (Webber, Alonso, Button, Sato). Lets all hope that the regulators don't
make unneccessary changes that will be detrimental to the sport. See you all next year. Go Webber and Williams for 2005 and
beyond!!! Cheers Guys
Real Name: Dan O'Loughlin
Resides: Shellharbour, Australia (Just south of Sydney)
Occupation:
IT Professional
Eighth Place - Ferrari27 (United States)(Eighth
overall with 588 Points) It's been great to be part of this competition. The game really grew on me as the year went on. An F1
fan friend of mine introduced me to this site right at the start of the 2004 season and I joined in with no real intention to
maintain my involvement for the whole season. But as the season went on, I became more and more interested in my results and it got
to the point where I found myself one time waking up in the middle of the night on Thursday just because I realized that I needed to
put in my guesses before the first Friday practice session! That's when I realised that I actually cared about this game :-) I
have been a fan of F1 for more than 30 years now. My first exposure to the F1 world was through hearing my older brothers talk about
Jackie Stewart and his domination of F1 in the early 70's as well as reading the world renown adventure/comic books of Michel
Vaillant. But it is not till the early 80's during Nelson Piquet first real shot at winning the title and his subsequent win at the
last race in Las Vegas, that I started following F1 more than most other sports. Nelson Piquet was a carefree, intelligent yet
practical joker type person and I liked his personality. He always seemed outside of the car as if he really didn't care about F1
politics or being politically correct for the media. He just seemed to be having fun but when it came time to race, he was
professional, determined, practical and very fast and I liked his approach because I identified well with that.
The tragic loss
of Gilles Villeneuve at the Belgian GP in 1982 truly affected me since he seemed to be a purist driver in the full sense of the term
and a lot was expected of both Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi in their bright red Ferraris that season. The 1982 season
cemented my interested in F1.
Ayrton Senna elevated my passion for F1 to a higher level and Michael Schumacher helped
regain my passion for F1 after Senna's death. I believe that F1 continuously improves technologically through the years and
therefore is more competitive technically speaking than it was 15 or 20 years ago. The cars are definitely faster now than they have
ever been before, but the drivers are also much much safely protected than ever before. F1 has become more of a package sports
meaning in order to be competitive teams must have 4 elements in place: driver, tires, chassis and engine. If one of these is not at
optimum, the overall performance is affected. So F1 is more of a team sport now yet the driver still makes the difference. The
margin of error by a driver these days is simply much smaller than it was in the past and I enjoy this new type of pressure more. I
live in the USA and I am an American and I am proud to have shown that at least some Americans are interested in F1 too. Finally,
I'd like to thank and recognise my friends from the 3rd Avenue Bar in San Mateo, California who diligently for 3 years now have
joined me in watching almost every F1 race at the spot. We are a great, fun and loyal group of F1 fans in an area that doesn't have
many outlets for keeping F1 fans interested in the sport. If you are ever in the area on race day, feel free to drop by and join us. Thanks
to this site too for managing this great game and I will be back next year, hopefully to win it all this time :-) Forza
Ferrari :-)
Individual Round WinnersChinaWinner
Quote (IRSAIR): "On my pick for China it was mixture of heart and brain. I purposely kept the same pick as in Italy as I
thought Michael will run in all the bad lucks in this race. The top 5 drivers I picked were the ideal choice for those position
after dropping Michael out. I am proud to be the second "INDIAN" to top the individual round. I hope I can join Kaps at
top of the list of overall rating next year and motivate other Indian contestants to join in the frame. Yes Kaps I agree with you
THE INDIANS HAVE ARRIVED!!." ItalyWinner Quote (hardwolf): "I follow F1 and I'm also a driver in the
formula dodge series which helps, I think, to figure out what's going on at each track. Luck also plays a part in it but, like they
say, luck supports hard work, knowledge and research." BelgiumWinner Quote (tundraotto): "I guess it
paid off for me to trust Kimi to place on top at Spa. I knew it was a track that he really liked and he felt that he had something
to prove. If the MP4-19B was going to hold together after being gradually tweaked for more high speed I knew Kimi would have the
advantage over the Ferraris. At Spa you need power as it has a very high proportion of full throttle time, so you could kind of
throw an educated guess at which of the teams would place in the points there." HungaryWinner Quote
(hardwolf): "My pick came about when, one night, I lay in bed and made a concerted effort to think like a formula 1 car.
Then I tried to think how I'd feel with each driver. I ranked this process and that's how I made my picks. Minardi's by the way,
pretty much don't like anyone." BritainWinner Quote (Kaps): "On the competition on newsonf1.com, all
I can say its completely fabulous. The way you guys have managed and conducted it, is simply amazing!!
For me as I'm a
passionate lover of this sport no matter if Schumi is winning all the way, this competition gives me an opportunity to showcase my
knowledge about the sport to people in different country inspite of no F1 race being held here.
I would really like to
thank you guys for this competition, as it shows to the rest of the world that India is not far behind.
On the pick, it was a
gamble taken by me with a possibility of scattered showers. The drivers picked by me are the drivers who would perform well even if
the rain had come for even 5 min. Also as Silverstone is a power circuit, I'd to include Sauber which I think no one predicted.
Now
I'm really looking forward to the second half of the season.
You guys keep up the great work!!." FranceWinner
Quote (TheOMan): "I am very happy to have won this round and still cannot believe I did it. I am a big fan of F1 for some
time now, been watching it since 1991 or 92, I watch all the races and other info. I only found out about 8'N'Pole after the start
of the season and I didn't hesitate to enter. I would have liked to be here from the beginning, but ... next year I will for sure. I
like this type of competitions and I want to thank the guys that brought this competition to life.
About my winning picks,
I always try to think about the real facts in the field, and I did that when picking the 8'n'pole that won the round for me. Of
course, Michael Schumacher was my pick for winner and pole, and the 2nd Ferrari in 3rd. Also, I put the other according to what I
thought they are able to do, and it worked. All but with Montoya, I was hoping to see him go higher this season. Also Alonso was a
big surpise for me in this round. Still, I was also lucky to get all 8 of them, and I wonder what would have been if I had 2nd and
8th place in the right order.
Now I wish all of you good luck with your picks and I look forward to winning another round.
And of course I hope no one will get a bigger winning margin that my 6 points.:-)" EuropeWinner Quote (Kaps):
"This competition is one of the best I've ever participated in. Especially as I love this sport from the bottom of my heart it
makes me glued to the sport even more and challenge my friends on the knowledge and predictions for the race.
As Formula one
races are not present in India yet, your site helps us to keep us updated on the news around the paddock.
I would really like to
thank your website for having this competition as I'm from India and 3rd in the overall standing in the competition at the moment,
its makes me feel proud to put my Country's name on the leading board and making people around the world aware that we have arrived.
The
pick was a mixture of heart and mind which obviously worked out in this race." MonacoWinner Quote
(WinstonCHL) : "This competition has been fun. I'd have to say that my picks are mostly a combination of guesses and hope.
I only started paying attention to F1 when Toyota decided to enter a team.
Looking forward to getting my radio :-)." San
MarinoWinner Quote (aabc01): "Winning this prize made me very happy!!!!
I've been with News on F1 for quite a
while and I've been watching F1 races since 1972 when I was 10 and Emerson Fittipaldi used to drive the black and gold JPS Lotus
Ford.
I frequently write comments under the name of Andre B and scoring points have been quite easy in 2004. The cars seem to be
reliable as Michael does.
Unfortunately for us (Brazilians) it seems that Ferrari's key to success is the perfect hierarchy
inside the team. I was hoping that Barrichello would move to Williams or Toyota, but who can blame him? MS is surely happy to have
him racing to Ferrari because a "wilder" teammate could spoil the team's harmony.
I also think that Ralf and Coulthard
should join Villeneuve next December." BahrainWinner Quote (stoffestoffe): "I must confess that luck
had a big part in the success" MalaysiaWinner Quote (lilly): "I'm watching the F1 competition from
last year, and I've made an account on this site last year too. I like to watch the competition, but most, I like to predict who
will be the winners. So, how did I choose the winner picks? :)
I have a favorite driver, and this is Michael Schumacher.
Obviously, I put him on the first place and on the pole position. In my opinion, all drivers that I've chosen, are the best drivers
:), that's why I picked them. But I have to admit that I have a lot of luck :).." AustraliaWinner Quote
(SuperRoo): "The basis of my tips were formed on winter testing. It was obvious that Ferrari, Renault, Williams and BAR
were standouts. McLaren were having serious problems, and Jaguar's results were mixed. The Australian GP is always a lottery, and I
thought it was a safe bet that the top 8 drivers would come from the top 4 teams in testing. However I am still not convinced about
Sato, so I left him out. I also left out Webber, because the Jaguar needs more time (even though I was at the track cheering him
on). I included Coulthard because I just didn't think McLaren could be that bad, and he is a driver that can get a car home. With a
bit of luck thrown in, I managed a winning score. It may be shortlived but today I am very pleased with my self." Back
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