Rob Wilson Picks Eight!
Regular readers of this site will be familiar with the GP Tours logo to your right. It’s there because I’ve been a GP Tours fan for many years. I like the people who run the business from Newport, California, and I like the tours they generate. They’re about race fans travelling with other race fans to some of the greatest circuits in the world – Monaco, Spa, Silverstone, Austin and many more.
What I’m particularly excited about this year is a new free-to-enter competition they’ve put together, the prize for which is a fully-catered trip for two to the 2015 Monaco GP. How to win? Choose your top eight finishers for each of the 2014 F1 races; points will be awarded when you select the right driver for the right finishing position, with bonus points if you make your choice prior to FP1 or Q1. Go to http://www.gptours.com/pick8 for more details – and where you’ll find the list of runners and riders and your entry form for the 2014 Rolex Australian Grand Prix.
Who to select for Melbourne? On our YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/peterwindsor) you will find recent interviews with three of Autosport’s top journalists – Edd Straw, Glenn Freeman and Ben Anderson. I asked all three to predict their AGP winner, so that should be of help.
In addition, I asked Rob Wilson (above, with a disguised F1 Racing Editor, Anthony Rowlinson, pictured after a recent TRE filming session) for his top eight. Rob is not only one of the world’s leading driver coaches and regular guest on The Racer’s Edge but also a remarkably perceptive motor racing observer. His list is a little specialized, as you would expect with a guy who also plays bass for Grand Prairie, but he nonetheless diligently exercised his grey cells when we asked him for his selections. And don’t forget that Rob has worked closely with ten of the F1 drivers who will be starting the 2014 season in Melbourne. This is his top eight for the Australian GP:
1 Kimi Raikkonen
2 Sergio Perez
3 Valtteri Bottas
4 Jenson Button
5 Felipe Massa
6 Nico Rosberg
7 Esteban Gutierrez
8 Kevin Magnussen
Obviously Rob’s counting on a few of the fancied runners (Lewis, for example, and Fernando) having mechanical dramas and he’s also clearly discounting the Renault runners at this stage (although he did nominate Daniel Ricciardo to finish P9).
Anyway, that’s Rob’s list. Now you have a go. There are 20 races from which to accumulate points, so don’t be too discouraged if you don’t get it right first time. (Indeed, seeing as how I think Lewis is going to win in Melbourne, I guess this is something I should be saying to Rob!).
Disclaimer: Although I’m a GPTours fan, I should make it clear that I work with the company at selected races on the F1 calendar, talking to the guests and interviewing drivers.
peterwindsor.com 
How awesome is this prize.. I will definately be entering this competition!! Thanks for the info Pete.
Top 8 (if you consider that only 2 cars will actually cross the finish line) is a very bold move, at least for Melbourne.
My top 4 is Hamilton, Rosberg, Bianchi (who will retire on lap 16), Kobayashi (retired on lap 14). All other cars will retire before lap 14. Dunno how much it costs to attend the race in Melbourne, but my heart goes out to those victims of political correctness and green F1. At least V8SC is running during the weekend.
GP2/GP3 will be fun to watch I reckon: the cars look good and sound great. There’ll be confusion as to who’s who, GP3 engine is louder than F1 V6! Let AER build F1 engines, that’s what I’m saying, get rid of car companies, turn it into a sport instead of the current PR exercise. Anyone can build a decent and loud engine, pimp it with “green” energy recovery tricks, give cars nice and flowing lines, etc.. Guess my dislike for F1 circa 2o14 shows, can’t force myself into liking this stuff.
Does that “90% rule” started in 1966 still apply? If I recall, the rule stated that a competitor must complete 90% of the scheduled race distance in order to be classified as a finisher (and only classified finishers are able to score World Championship points).
What if only four cars complete 90% of the distance (finishers)? What if no one does?
I think in that case our friends at GP Tours would say “the judges’ decision is final!” 🙂
No disrespect to Rob but does he not rate Lewis Hamilton? He has missed him off here and in the Nic0 vs Lewis video he kept on putting him down that I stopped watching the video because it was getting tedious.
If you have been watching Rob over the past three years on my show you would know that he has massive respect for Lewis Hamilton. I put Rob on the spot and asked him to predict Melbourne and he kindly did so with a smile. I don’t think he put Lewis down at all in the video – but there is a difference between worshipping a driver and being objective about his talents. Rob is the most objective racing person I’ve ever met, for what it’s worth.
Apologies, I have only recently subscribed to your channel and I don’t really know much about Rob Wilson and his past so I don’t know about his previous views, reputation or anything. Being a fan of Hamilton (I think that much is obvious) I think I stopped that video mainly because I didn’t like what I was hearing!
As it happens, we will be posting an exclusive in-depth interview with Lewis over the next few days. Watch the channel for updates!
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