Group Pick'em 2017 - Australian Grand Prix Update!Hello and welcome to the first post-race update in this year's Group Pick'em competition. For those who are new to the game this year, you might be unaware of the format I use in the write-ups. Rather than just posting the scores, I like to go into a little more detail about the finishing order for the race, as well as scattering in some relevant statistics and other bits of information to try and paint a better picture of how everyone ended up where they did. For this year, we'll have a race-by-race look at the transfers that have been made, as well as the impact that has on each participant's remaining transfer points. In general, I try to keep it lighthearted, if only because my own team's performance tends to be so woeful that if I actually started taking it seriously, I might be too busy curled up into a ball to actually post these updates! We've also got some new graphical headers this year, which I spent literally minutes designing in Photoshop, something I believe now makes me qualified to design the next McLaren livery...
However, before we go any further, let's have a recap on this year's runners and riders, as well as a closer look at which drivers/teams were the most popular.
The ChampionsManager: Herb
2016 Position: 1st (7 round victories)
Selections: Hamilton; Massa; Hulkenberg; Vandoorne; Grosjean; Mercedes; Williams; Haas
The Grid FillersManager: Jezza13
2016 Position: 5th (2 round victories)
Selections: Hamilton; Perez; Sainz; Alonso; Grosjean; Red Bull; Force India; Haas
Bootleg Honda RacingManager: Peter McG.
2016 Position: Did Not Participate
Selections: Hamilton; Massa; Hulkenberg; Vandoorne; Grosjean; Ferrari; Force India; Haas
Infiniti Infinity Ltd.Manager: Exediron
2016 Position: 13th
Selections: Vettel; Massa; Hulkenberg; Alonso; Magnussen; Ferrari; Williams; McLaren
Phoenix RacingManager: Remmirath
2016 Position: 14th
Selections: Raikkonen; Massa; Sainz; Alonso; Grosjean; Ferrari; Force India; McLaren
TypingChicane & the Inflatable Shark FinsManager: TypingChicane
2016 Position: 3rd (4 round victories)
Selections: Hamilton; Perez; Hulkenberg; Alonso; Grosjean; Mercedes; Force India; Haas
WIIN-MOAAR RacingManager: Jenson's Understeer
2016 Position: 12th (1 round victory)
Selections: Hamilton; Massa; Hulkenberg; Vandoorne; Grosjean; Mercedes; Williams; Haas
White VisorManager: theferret
2016 Position: 7th
Selections: Hamilton; Massa; Hulkenberg; Alonso; Magnussen; Mercedes; Williams; Haas
Fountoukos13Manager: Fountoukos13
2016 Position: 8th
Selections: Raikkonen; Perez; Hulkenberg; Alonso; Magnussen; Ferrari; Force India; McLaren
MayhemManager: Mayhem
2016 Position: 9th (1 round victory)
Selections: Hamilton; Perez; Hulkenberg; Alonso; Grosjean; Mercedes; Force India; McLaren
Icemanjee1Manager: Icemanjee1
2016 Position: 6th
Selections: Hamilton; Massa; Sainz; Vandoorne; Grosjean; Mercedes; Williams; Haas
Uncle Ron's Retirement RodeoManager: mcdo
2016 Position: Did Not Participate
Selections: Vettel; Perez; Sainz; Alonso; Grosjean; Mercedes; Force India; Haas

As promised, a closer look at which drivers/teams were the more heavily selected:
- In Driver Group 1, Lewis Hamilton was the heavy favourite as no fewer than eight of our 12 participants opted for the man who started the year as the title favourite. Intriguingly, selections of the two Ferrari drivers were split 50/50, with two managers opting for Seb and two going for Kimi. Nobody selected Bottas, Ricciardo or Verstappen.
- In Driver Group 2, only two of the four options were picked. Seven people opted for the not-so-retired Felipe Massa, with the other five managers each going for his old Mexican adversary. Nobody took a punt on either of their inexperienced teammates; will that change as the year progresses?
- Driver Group 3 again saw only two of the four options taken. Eight managers were wooed by Renault recruit Nico Hulkenberg, whilst the other four went for potential Renault recruit Carlos Sainz.
- Driver Group 4 was an all-McLaren affair and we once again saw an eight/four split, this time in the favour of Fernando Alonso.
- Driver Group 5 saw the single highest selected driver in Romain Grosjean, who no fewer than nine managers went for. His new teammate, Kevin Magnussen, won over three managers, while both Sauber drivers went untouched.
- Team Group 1 followed the lead of Driver Group 1, with seven managers going for the Silver Arrows of Mercedes and another four deciding Ferrari's pre-season form was as quick as their times suggested. This was also the only group in which a selection was taken by just one manager as Jezza13 picked Red Bull.
- Team Group 2 has an intriguing twist in that although more people picked Felipe Massa than Sergio Perez (seven to five) the reverse is true of the team selections, with Force India favoured by seven picks to five over Williams. Does this suggest that, at least amongst Group Pick'em participants, the belief is that Massa is going to score more points than Perez but the Perez/Ocon combination will outscore Massa and Stroll?
- Team Group 3 again saw Sauber completely neglected as eight Haas selections were made, with four managers taking a risk that McLaren's pre-season troubles wouldn't continue once the racing got underway.
Podium Finishers...yes, I know it is spelt cham
pagne. And in case there is any doubt, as much as the drivers have been bulking up for the faster cars, that isn't
actually Sebastian Vettel's body. What is without doubt, however, is that the first race of 2017 has delivered us a first-time Group Pick'em winner! That's right: after a season spent slipping closer and closer to the bottom of the standings, Exediron has kicked off 2017 with a bang by climbing onto the top step of the Group Pick'em podium for the first time. What I can only assume is a strong score of 171 was helped by being one of just two entrants to select Sebastian Vettel (35 points), and the only person to have both Vettel and Ferrari (another 57 points) in his team. Felipe Massa also contributed 18 points, while avoiding picking Romain Grosjean (just 1 point as the first retiree) and selecting McLaren over Haas (15 points to 7) also helped. This is what happens when you avoid making the same selections as Jenson's Understeer!
Joining Exediron on the podium was another manager who had a woeful 2016. In fact, Remmirath had the most woeful 2016 as Ferrari's failure to deliver on their pre-season promise caught Remmirath out more than anyone. Undeterred, Phoenix Racing again put their faith in both Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen, collecting a combined 79 of their 161 points courtesy of the Scuderia. Other strong weekends came from Felipe Massa, Carlos Sainz (14 points), Force India (27 points) and McLaren. Despite their only being three steps on the podium, we had a total of four managers spraying the champagne as two teams tied for third. Fountoukos13, having managed just a single podium in 2016, equals that in the first event with a score of 160 points, while debutant mcdo gets off to a strong start by steering Uncle Ron's Retirement Rodeo to third place. Despite both going in very different directions with their selections, they were each just a single point from sneaking into second. Fountoukos13 scored the majority of their points courtesy of Raikkonen, Ferrari and Force India (22, 57 and 27 points respectively) while Uncle Ron's Retirement Rodeo bagged 115 of their 160 points through Vettel, Mercedes and Force India.
1st: Infiniti Infinity Ltd. - 171 points2nd: Phoenix Racing - 161 points3rd: Fountoukos13/Uncle Ron's Retirement Rodeo - 160 points
The Field2017's new scoring system led to what was, generally, quite a condensed field. Of the twelve teams, the gap between second and eleventh was a mere 13 points, suggesting we could be in for a rather close season. The best of the rest, so to speak, in the opening race of the season was Mayhem's self-titled team, who collected 157 points to narrowly miss out on the podium. They were closely followed by Peter McG.'s Bootleg Honda Racing; very closely followed, in fact, as Peter McG's team collected 156 points. Also in the 150s were Icemanjee1 and theferret. Both scored 152 points to start the year off with a solid performance. One team so far conspicuous in its absence? 2016's dominant force, Herb. His newly christened The Champions stuttered out of the blocks in 2017, registering a 148-point performance that was only prevented being the weekend's worst score by Jezza13's Grid Fillers. Coincidentally, the only two identical teams we've got so far in 2017 are those of Jenson's Understeer and Herb. 2016 saw Exediron struggle all year having made the same selections as Jenson's Understeer. I guess this is what happens when you
don't avoid making the same selections as Jenson's Understeer!
Mayhem - 157 points
Bootleg Honda Racing - 156 points
Icemanjee1/White Visor - 152 points
TypingChicane & the Inflatable Shark Fins - 149 points
The Champions/WIIN-MOOAR Racing - 148 points
The Grid Fillers - 124 points
Click
here for the Australian scoring breakdown.
Transfer Ch-Ch-ChangesEveryone still has 200 transfer points remaining as transfers won't begin until after Bahrain. After Bahrain, I'll post the current transfer costs of every driver/team here, as well as the total number of points each driver/team has scored in this game. With the new scoring system, it won't correspond with the WDC/WCC points so that information will actually be quite important! For now, please use this handy
link for a full list of the points each driver/team scored in Australia. It is of course too early to read too much into it, but if we were to do so, Sauber outscoring Haas (and only just getting outscored by McLaren) is interesting. Could Sauber be slow but reliable, and pick up decent enough points across the season to make themselves a legitimate option in Team Group 3? Vandoorne outscores Alonso, too, despite being nowhere all weekend while Fernando seemed destined to drag his car to an unlikely points finish. Again, could reliability sway that in the favour of Vandoorne?
Talking of Alonso, just marvel at how naturally his head fits onto Bottas' race suit...

Scores on the Garage Door(s)Infiniti Infinity Ltd. - 171 points
Phoenix Racing - 161 points
Fountoukos/Uncle Ron's Retirement Rodeo - 160 points
Mayhem - 157 points
Bootleg Honda Racing - 156 points
Icemanjee1/White Visor - 152 points
TypingChicane & the Inflatable Shark Fins - 149 points
The Champions/WIIN-MOOAR Racing - 148 points
The Grid Fillers - 124 points
What a difference a few months makes. When I last posted the overall standings, Exediron was 13th while Remmirath was 14th and last overall. Fast-forward a couple of months and they proudly sit 1st and 2nd. Both our debutants sit in the top half of the table, while The Champions find themselves kept off the bottom only thanks to The Grid Fillers. Still, if all this change feels a little foreign then you can take solace in Jenson's Understeer still being right near the bottom of the standings. I guess some things never change (unfortunately)!