2014 Canadian GP RoTR

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 08 Jun 2014, 20:38

More_Blue_Flags wrote:I hate to admit it, but Williams have been pretty consistent at making poor in-race decisions throughout the season.

I can't decide who would have won the bronze/silver medals on the podium, but I guess Felipe Massa wins ROTR. I refuse to ponder as to where he might have finished without the extra stop.

As for Williams, virtually every race a combination of bad luck and poor decisions has indeed cost them, they should be up there with Ferrari and FI.

Australia: Both cars lose potential podiums due to incidents, Massa speared by Kobayashi and Bottas hitting the wall and having to recover
Malaysia: The team make a poor tyre gamble in quali and generally struggle for pace, leading to a double-Q2 elimination and hurting their chances in the race
Bahrain: Strategy is wrecked by the SC
China: Both cars punted off at turn 1 and Massa has a miserable tyre stop
Spain: Bottas is 5th but Williams are outsmarted by Red Bull on strategy and Massa is nowhere
Monaco: Massa's strategy is OK but Bottas blows up
Canada: If Massa didn't pit again, a podium should have been possible, instead Massa gets stuck behind Vettel and then clatters into Checo

Now my my belief that Williams, as a comeuppance of being wasteful this year, will fall back to the back again in 2015 has been strengthened.

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 08 Jun 2014, 20:39

RealRacingRoots wrote:
AxelP800 wrote:MAX CHILTON
Anyone who nominates Massa. Now I see it as racing incident. Perez switch lanes, Massa got caught and wham

Too bad expectations play a big role in ROTR. We expect Massa to do well and he bins it like a moron at the end and actually forgets how to pass at the end. The expectations for Chilton are much, much lower and almost non existent. Grow up.

The Chilton and Bianchi crash was a racing incedent in my book. Also, like RealRacingRoots has said, the expectations are much, much lower for Mr Talent than Massa who is expected to lead a team and score consistant points. That is why massa gets my vote because Perez had driven a superb race and Massa's frankly shambolic attempt an overtake took the 2 drivers out when they were on course to score points.
Dishonourable Mentions to the BBC's wardrobe department and the TV Director.

MrMG · Post by **MrMG** » 08 Jun 2014, 20:39

fjackdaw wrote:I'm going to nominate the director, for showing cutaways of people watching the race while exciting things were happening on track.

This!

It was like those kid-friendly edits of WWE, where as soon as something interesting happens, they cut to random crowd shots to cover it up.

Whoever directed the coverage today made FujiTV's directors look like Stanley Kubrick.

DonTirri · Post by **DonTirri** » 08 Jun 2014, 20:48

Oh right. THE FRAK IS UP WITH THE DIRECTORS THIS YEAR? Totally craptasticular TV direction race in race out. a tense fight in the midpack? Better show the Mercs cruising in solitude. A tight intra-team battle for the win, with the 2nd place guy attempting an overtake? HEY, HERE IS HIS GIRLFRIEND! Overtake attempts on the track? Puh-leeze, who wants to see that, here is the crowd reacting to what you ain't seeing!

Almost as annoying as the Finnish commentator CONSTANTLY talking over team radios. (To which he apologized in live TV after I tweeted him about it xD)

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 08 Jun 2014, 20:48

ROTR: Perez. It was 100% his fault at the end.

Fight me IRL.

MrMG · Post by **MrMG** » 08 Jun 2014, 20:51

DonTirri wrote:Oh right. THE FRAK IS UP WITH THE DIRECTORS THIS YEAR? Totally craptasticular TV direction race in race out. a tense fight in the midpack? Better show the Mercs cruising in solitude. A tight intra-team battle for the win, with the 2nd place guy attempting an overtake? HEY, HERE IS HIS GIRLFRIEND! Overtake attempts on the track? Puh-leeze, who wants to see that, here is the crowd reacting to what you ain't seeing!

Almost as annoying as the Finnish commentator CONSTANTLY talking over team radios. (To which he apologized in live TV after I tweeted him about it xD)

I loved DC's quote during the race:

"Bottas might be having a problem with his car, but we won't find out by looking at Massa's brother!"

CaptainGetz12 · Post by **CaptainGetz12** » 08 Jun 2014, 20:52

Alright, I finally found some time to actually do one of these. And I thought the rounds at Bahrain and Monaco was a clusterf***.

1. Felipe Massa. He was certainly the darkhorse of the race. I put my bets on Bottas to bring Williams back to the front. Hell, I was gonna give him Drive of the Race after charging back up the field from a questionable pit call.

It all came down on the final lap, where he dashed not just his, but Force India's hopes of a podium too.

I thought this was gonna be the race where Williams asserts their dominance over Mclaren. Instead, thanks to Button's 4th place from the wreck, Williams are now on the lower foot. So close and yet so far. If Massa thought his skill was not being questioned at Williams before, it certainly will be now...
[May Change after investigations into the Massa/Perez crash are settled]

2. Max Chilton. As much as I wanted Chilton to break the record of most finishes in a row, Deep down I knew he would botch it up at one point. I did not expect it to go by spinning out on lap 1 and taking his teammate with him.Complaining that it was Bianchi's fault didn't help matters. Whether it was his fault or not can change how I view this, but it still was a very terrible way to end his historic streak and to follow up on Marussia's successes last race.

Sadly, with the streak gone, I no longer see much of a reason for Marussia to keep him around once 2014 is over with.

(Dis)Honourable Mentions

Williams' Pit Strategy for Massa They had a chance for Massa to stay out and hold onto what could have been a podium, maybe even a win, but going for a 2-stop forced Massa to hard charge just to reach the pack, let alone fight past 3-4 very determined drivers for 3rd.

TV Director When there is a fierce battle brewing for 3rd and 4th, you don't cut back to the 2 Mercs running in formation every other sequence. The Mercedes bias is here to stay...

All Ferrari powered cars as a whole Marussia was out before lap 1 was over, and both the Saubers and Kimi were nowhere to be found. Alonso's late charge to try and reach the battle for 1st was their saving grace.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 08 Jun 2014, 20:56

AdrianSutil wrote:ROTR: Perez. It was 100% his fault at the end.

Fight me IRL.

Would you mind explaining why? Massa was never alongside Perez, at any point. Perez was therefore entitled to his normal racing line. There was plenty of track to the inside, but Massa did not use it. And Massa should've known that Perez was having difficulty on his brakes, if by nothing else than the little fracas at that same corner a couple laps previous which allowed Ricciardo to pass Perez.

Bleu · Post by **Bleu** » 08 Jun 2014, 20:57

Dj_bereta wrote:WILLIAMS! Threw away the win with a horrendous first stop with Massa and, maybe, for not take the risk with one stop strategy.

That's why the team still didn't score a podium in this season and never will.

Special mention for Force India reliability. Costed Perez a win with the DRS and brake problems.

There was no DRS problem. Rosberg was always so much faster in sectors 1 and 2 so he escaped from DRS distance.

I nominate Chilton. Shameful way to end the finishing streak.

Ed24 · Post by **Ed24** » 08 Jun 2014, 20:59

For anyone nominating Massa, probably watch this

https://vine.co/v/MD0BgJYVeam

Perez clearly deviated from the racing line.

chaotik · Post by **chaotik** » 08 Jun 2014, 21:01

I cant believe no one has brought up the awful TV Director, who completely missed out an amazing drive from Button at the end, going from 8th to 4th, and not even a snuff of his action! It seems the direction has been getting worse and worse each race!

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 08 Jun 2014, 21:07

Salamander wrote:
AdrianSutil wrote:ROTR: Perez. It was 100% his fault at the end.

Fight me IRL.

Would you mind explaining why? Massa was never alongside Perez, at any point. Perez was therefore entitled to his normal racing line. There was plenty of track to the inside, but Massa did not use it. And Massa should've known that Perez was having difficulty on his brakes, if by nothing else than the little fracas at that same corner a couple laps previous which allowed Ricciardo to pass Perez.

Certainly. Long story short, Perez jinked a few feet to the left just as Massa was starting to pull out of the slipstream. If he was trying to defend the inside line, he didn't do a good enough job. If your going to defend the line, then do it, don't make a half-assed attempt (read: Perez hitting Raikkonen at Monaco last year) by moving a handful of feet off the 'racing line'. It was a poor move by Perez who should've been more careful considering he had poor brakes.
Granted, Massa was being, well, 'Massa'. But you shouldn't have a driver ahead suddenly start moving around in the braking zone. Poor stuff from Perez.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 08 Jun 2014, 21:11

AdrianSutil wrote:Certainly. Long story short, Perez jinked a few feet to the left just as Massa was starting to pull out of the slipstream. If he was trying to defend the inside line, he didn't do a good enough job. If your going to defend the line, then do it, don't make a half-assed attempt (read: Perez hitting Raikkonen at Monaco last year) by moving a handful of feet off the 'racing line'. It was a poor move by Perez who should've been more careful considering he had poor brakes.
Granted, Massa was being, well, 'Massa'. But you shouldn't have a driver ahead suddenly start moving around in the braking zone. Poor stuff from Perez.

Regardless, it is usually the responsibility of the car behind to ensure that a collision doesn't occur. While Perez's move to the left was a bit dicey, Massa was not leaving himself nearly enough room there given that he wasn't even alongside the Force India.

Post by **mario** » 08 Jun 2014, 21:14

Valrys wrote:Caterham - Two early mechanical retirements, no pace
Sauber - did we see them on TV except for Gutierrez retiring, and Sutil tooling around getting lapped at the end?
Mercedes - Twin mechanical mishaps at exactly the same time? Madness

Sure, Chilton's accident and then claim that it wasn't his fault was a serious blooper, he's done well to go this long before having one but it was a silly and avoidable racing incident rather than full on rejectful. Massa was a pure racing incident, while Raikkonen and the Lotus's had severe off days, but were not the worst offenders.

Mercedes have given a partial explanation for why they had problems - Toto Wolff's explanation is that the high voltage MGU-K control units overheated in the pits when both cars made a pit stop, which in turn caused the fly by wire system to overheat.

In the case of Hamilton, it seems that the brakes failed during the pit stop when they overheated, leading to thermal runaway - Nico, who had set his car up with slightly more front brake bias, seems to have just about gotten away without a catastrophic failure because of that (although still having to manage a major issue for the rest of the race).
It's somewhat ironic that, earlier in the race, Nico's pit crew were suggesting that he should shift the brake bias rearward towards Hamilton's set up before they both hit trouble. It's possible that not doing so might just have saved Nico's rear brakes for long enough to make them last the race.

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 08 Jun 2014, 21:15

Well, there's only two candidates here.

1) Felipe Massa - Go home, Felipe. He had much younger tyres, the best engine on the grid, and he still couldn't get past a train of cars in 7 laps held up by Perez on ancient tyres. And to top it off, when he finally does make a move, it's the most half-arsed move I've seen in a while. He should have known Perez might brake early - I'm sure Williams would have relayed Perez's tyre and brake status back to Massa. And anyhow, Massa should have been far more to the left if he was going to make that move. Poor showing from the Brazilian - time to move on?

2) - Max Chilton. - If Our Max is going to be a champion, he needs to recognise where he's cocked up. Today was one of those moments. The move itself wasn't that rejectful, but it put both cars out of an attrition filled race in which the Marussia may have had some decent pace. Due to the large numbers of retirements today, there was a chance - albeit slim - that Marussia could have picked up another point, or at least been in the hunt for one. Gutting that both were taken out at the start from a Max mistake.

LukeB · Post by **LukeB** » 08 Jun 2014, 21:17

Well I thought Massa but people seem to have taken his mess up weirdly personal in here so much safer to go with the man without a personality. Raikonnen, always overrated and now his career should just be over. Let someone good/interesting have their chance please.

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 08 Jun 2014, 21:25

Salamander wrote:
AdrianSutil wrote:Certainly. Long story short, Perez jinked a few feet to the left just as Massa was starting to pull out of the slipstream. If he was trying to defend the inside line, he didn't do a good enough job. If your going to defend the line, then do it, don't make a half-assed attempt (read: Perez hitting Raikkonen at Monaco last year) by moving a handful of feet off the 'racing line'. It was a poor move by Perez who should've been more careful considering he had poor brakes.
Granted, Massa was being, well, 'Massa'. But you shouldn't have a driver ahead suddenly start moving around in the braking zone. Poor stuff from Perez.

Regardless, it is usually the responsibility of the car behind to ensure that a collision doesn't occur. While Perez's move to the left was a bit dicey, Massa was not leaving himself nearly enough room there given that he wasn't even alongside the Force India.

Well I'm sorry but that's also regardless. Why should it be up to Massa to decide what to do when the car in front starts to suddenly move over? It doesn't matter if Massa wasn't over enough because he wasn't alongside at the time, he hit the back of the Force India BECAUSE Perez moved over the way he did. Perez left the moment to move and defend too late.

I'm more than happy to be the only one on this forum to blame Perez for that crash and despite the discussions (thank god it's not "your wrong bathplug off!") No-one here is going to change my mind on that.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 08 Jun 2014, 21:28

Max Chilton -- Nice job, noob.
Felipe Massa -- Go to NASCAR if you want to do that shite. Bathplug off.
Williams -- "Racer's racer" my ass.
TV Director -- This guy was off his meds.

East Londoner wrote:Cynon - You missed such an awful race mate.

No I didn't, I just wasn't in IRC because I realized my TV was about 5 or 10 seconds behind the chat and I didn't want pre-emptive spoilers.

Enforcer · Post by **Enforcer** » 08 Jun 2014, 21:45

Can't pick the bones out of Massa / Perez, so I'll go with my original nomination of Perez for bottling up Massa & the Red Bulls and almost denying us what could well be the only non-Merc win this season.

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 08 Jun 2014, 21:45

AdrianSutil wrote:
Salamander wrote:
AdrianSutil wrote:Certainly. Long story short, Perez jinked a few feet to the left just as Massa was starting to pull out of the slipstream. If he was trying to defend the inside line, he didn't do a good enough job. If your going to defend the line, then do it, don't make a half-assed attempt (read: Perez hitting Raikkonen at Monaco last year) by moving a handful of feet off the 'racing line'. It was a poor move by Perez who should've been more careful considering he had poor brakes.
Granted, Massa was being, well, 'Massa'. But you shouldn't have a driver ahead suddenly start moving around in the braking zone. Poor stuff from Perez.

Regardless, it is usually the responsibility of the car behind to ensure that a collision doesn't occur. While Perez's move to the left was a bit dicey, Massa was not leaving himself nearly enough room there given that he wasn't even alongside the Force India.

Well I'm sorry but that's also regardless. Why should it be up to Massa to decide what to do when the car in front starts to suddenly move over? It doesn't matter if Massa wasn't over enough because he wasn't alongside at the time, he hit the back of the Force India BECAUSE Perez moved over the way he did. Perez left the moment to move and defend too late.

I'm more than happy to be the only one on this forum to blame Perez for that crash and despite the discussions (thank god it's not "your wrong bathplug off!") No-one here is going to change my mind on that.

Well, I was thinking this was a racing incident. However, I am also starting to switch to Pérez as blame for the accident. I will say this now, he's not at full fault in my eyes, yet. Massa was still partially at blame for the accident. Massa didn't use all the space he could have used, in fact, he really didn't need more room to complete the pass. Massa was looking on as if Pérez was going to be more careful; Pérez stuck with the racing line. That's not Massa's fault for not moving over more when Pérez was on the racing line. He didn't need more room. He needed room. Then Pérez swung over to the left. The replays, both aerial and on his onboard camera, prove that he moved to the left in a half-brained idea to defend his position, too late. Massa was closing in too fast for Pérez to make any meaningful defensive maneuver that would keep both cars in the race. Therefore, it was Pérez who was being the bigger F1 2013 game noob than Massa. Use your mirrors Checo!

I'll post nominations later when I feel like it.

fjackdaw · Post by **fjackdaw** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:00

It all happened so fast, I think Massa-Perez was a racing incident. A shame, too, they were both having a great race up till then.

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:01

Chilton and PEREZ have been given 5-place grid penalties for their respective accidents.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:02

AdrianSutil wrote:Chilton and PEREZ have been given 5-place grid penalties for their respective accidents.

Pérez was turning slightly to the left as he went through a right-hand kink.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:03

AdrianSutil wrote:Chilton and PEREZ have been given 5-place grid penalties for their respective accidents.

Perez getting a penalty is the worst penalty since Fuji 2008. Absolutely HORRIBLE call.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:07

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:
AdrianSutil wrote:Chilton and PEREZ have been given 5-place grid penalties for their respective accidents.

Pérez was turning slightly to the left as he went through a right-hand kink.

And I reiterate:

Massa had half the racetrack to his inside.
Massa was never alongside Perez.
Massa should've already known Perez had braking issues from Ricciardo's pass a couple laps prior.

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:14

Salamander wrote:
UgncreativeUsergname wrote:
AdrianSutil wrote:Chilton and PEREZ have been given 5-place grid penalties for their respective accidents.

Pérez was turning slightly to the left as he went through a right-hand kink.

And I reiterate:

Massa had half the racetrack to his inside.
Massa was never alongside Perez.
Massa should've already known Perez had braking issues from Ricciardo's pass a couple laps prior.

Agreed, it is a travesty that the innocent party here get penalised.

Ben Gilbert · Post by **Ben Gilbert** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:15

Salamander wrote:
UgncreativeUsergname wrote:
AdrianSutil wrote:Chilton and PEREZ have been given 5-place grid penalties for their respective accidents.

Pérez was turning slightly to the left as he went through a right-hand kink.

And I reiterate:

Massa had half the racetrack to his inside.
Massa was never alongside Perez.
Massa should've already known Perez had braking issues from Ricciardo's pass a couple laps prior.

And all of those points are utterly irrelevant because it was Perez who made the move that caused the collision. Yes, Massa could have been more circumspect, but without that little jolt by Perez there wouldn't have been any need for that list.

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:16

Surprised we've had less nominations for who I've chosen:

Ferrari - were just nowhere, and completely anonymous all race. That coming on the back of their publiocrap about having massive upgrades...

the Masked Lapwing · Post by **the Masked Lapwing** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:17

Right, changing my nomination to the stewards, because that is absolutely pathetic.

People say he turned left slightly, but to me it looks like he went straight ahead, and it only looks like he went left because the track curves right. Massa may not have expected it, but his line makes perfect sense when you take into account his brake problems and tyre wear. And as Salamander pointed out, Massa had more than enough room down the inside to work with, and yet chose to be as close as possible to Perez.

Post by **Nuppiz** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:18

AustralianStig wrote:Surprised we've had less nominations for who I've chosen:

Ferrari - were just nowhere, and completely anonymous all race. That coming on the back of their publiocrap about having massive upgrades...

I heard from the Finnish commentators that they had to drop some of those upgrades, specifically a new engine cover. Apparently it was designed badly enough that it would've reduced cooling efficiency to dangerous levels... :roll:

Dan B · Post by **Dan B** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:19

the Masked Lapwing wrote:Right, changing my nomination to the stewards, because that is absolutely pathetic.

People say he turned left slightly, but to me it looks like he went straight ahead, and it only looks like he went left because the track curves right. Massa may not have expected it, but his line makes perfect sense when you take into account his brake problems and tyre wear. And as Salamander pointed out, Massa had more than enough room down the inside to work with, and yet chose to be as close as possible to Perez.

Well, I said that I probably wasn't going to change my nomination, but I am; the Stewards definitely get the golden award here today.

I do agree that Perez seemed to go straight; it does look like that after looking at a zoomed in version of that Aerial shot. There might've been some movement with Perez's car, but the way I saw it it looked like the car was wobbling a bit.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:23

Ben Gilbert wrote:
Salamander wrote:And I reiterate:

Massa had half the racetrack to his inside.
Massa was never alongside Perez.
Massa should've already known Perez had braking issues from Ricciardo's pass a couple laps prior.

And all of those points are utterly irrelevant because it was Perez who made the move that caused the collision. Yes, Massa could have been more circumspect, but without that little jolt by Perez there wouldn't have been any need for that list.

And likewise, if Massa had left himself more room when fighting a driver who he knows has dodgy brakes, there would've been no collision.

I'm sorry, but it's the driver behind's responsibility to give themselves enough room to avoid an accident, and for my money, Massa did not take enough precaution in this case. It was always going to be an ambitious move considering even at the point of impact he wasn't alongside, and he wasn't taking full advantage of the track space there.

Ben Gilbert · Post by **Ben Gilbert** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:30

Salamander wrote:
Ben Gilbert wrote:
And all of those points are utterly irrelevant because it was Perez who made the move that caused the collision. Yes, Massa could have been more circumspect, but without that little jolt by Perez there wouldn't have been any need for that list.

And likewise, if Massa had left himself more room when fighting a driver who he knows has dodgy brakes, there would've been no collision.

I'm sorry, but it's the driver behind's responsibility to give themselves enough room to avoid an accident, and for my money, Massa did not take enough precaution in this case. It was always going to be an ambitious move considering even at the point of impact he wasn't alongside, and he wasn't taking full advantage of the track space there.

Yes, but Massa did not deviate from a continuous line through the corner; Perez did.

It's the responsibility of both drivers to avoid collisions, not just the one behind. And yes, I admit again, Massa could have left more room to allow for Perez's problems, but that is a contributing factor to the collision and not its ultimate cause. Otherwise, I could equally say that the fault for this collision lies with Force India's designers and engineers for not adequately considering the brake wear at Montreal.

And I disagree that it was an ambitious attempt. True, he wasn't alongside at that point, but that point was still with a considerable amount of straight to go, with considerably more momentum and the inside line for the following corner.

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:36

the Masked Lapwing wrote:Right, changing my nomination to the stewards, because that is absolutely pathetic.

People say he turned left slightly, but to me it looks like he went straight ahead, and it only looks like he went left because the track curves right. Massa may not have expected it, but his line makes perfect sense when you take into account his brake problems and tyre wear. And as Salamander pointed out, Massa had more than enough room down the inside to work with, and yet chose to be as close as possible to Perez.

I have to disagree. Massa was already there. Sure, it makes perfect sense. But, Massa only put himself in a place where there would have been enough room to pass. But Pérez moved. It was Pérez who should have checked his mirrors to see where Massa was before moving. He didn't, and he reacted late because Massa was already quickly clxosing in. At the time of moving, Pérez and Massa were already close. Massa would have had enough room had Pérez stayed, even if his brakes were a little problomatic. Pérez moved (or depending on how you see it, he moved little) and as a result Massa had nothing to do. I see absolutely no way now, how Massa was at fault for the majority of that incident. I see absolutely no reason why to give the stewards ROTR. The stewards had a hard choice to make, and really, the best thing to do besides penalize Pérez with all the contradictions with the cause of the accident was just to label it as a racing incident.

SgtPepper · Post by **SgtPepper** » 08 Jun 2014, 22:50

3rd - Massa. Doing great until his last 10 laps
2nd - Vettel. Shown up by his younger teammate, useless and clumsy attempts at overtaking, and bitched on the radio about strategy for his own perpetual inability to overtake anything.
1st - Chilton. Taking out your teammate is the ultimate racing faux pas.

pher38 · Post by **pher38** » 08 Jun 2014, 23:17

You could consider a nomination for all the midfield and newer teams.

On a day when Force India and Williams could have scored mega results (possibly even a win) their main hopes for a result just ended up crashing into each other. Marussia and Caterham also could have taken advantage of any potential mishaps with a clever strategy in a race of attrition, which is very rare these days but both their cars just retired by lap 23!

In the end we just ended up with the usual suspects at the front in the form of Red Bull and Mercedes. It was a painful day for those routing for the underdog!

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 08 Jun 2014, 23:29

Here it comes, my finest hour of choosing nominations for this race's ROTR award.

Homorable Mentions

Sebastian Vettel - Your complaining does not gain you places on track, and when you tried to overtake, especially without DRS zones, you nearly threw it away
Kimi Räikkönen - Once again, he looked bored, and his one spin was pathetic and hilarious
TV Director - Wow, just wow, how shite do you have to be?!
Whining - It gets annoying enough that it becomes its own category
Anyone nominating Felipe Massa for ROTR - Because it's both illogical and because I can :twisted:

Sauber - 11 cars fail to cross the finish line, yet you still don't score points?!
Esteban Gutiérrez - Come on, you can't be this pathetic
Sergio Pérez - Yeah, there was the accident he caused, but his great driving earlier made up for a bit of it

Now, for my picks for the top 3...

3. Ferrari - Come on. We know Ferrari and its fans wont accept the idiocy that is called focusing on an upgrade while completely disregarding another affected aspect. In this case, an aero update that killed off the efficiency of the cooling system. Plus, they were slow and putting on a hilarious show of rejectfulness, notably in Kimi's hands.

2. Mercedes - For the team that was more than likely to take the title fairly early they completely let themselves down today. Both cars had identical failures regarding the ERS on the exact same lap! :lol:

Talk about ridiculous, the drivers were just a tad too aggressive, especially at the chicane, and looked like crashing sooner or later. Their issues ruined Hamilton's race, and very nearly Rosberg's race as well, and for me they are lucky as all hell to save 2nd place for themselves.

1. Williams personell - If Williams weren't such dumbasses on the pitwall they could have won this race. Won it. And maybe if your strategy actually propelled you to the front of the race and more likely stay there, as Pérez and Rosberg were all at a similar pace, jumping ahead with a much better strategy would have likely won you guys a race, maybe a 1-2 or 1-3 if the drivers properly did their job. Plus, it put Felipe in a position to have to charge to make up lost ground, perhaps wearing his tyres too much, but it indirectly lead to the accident and a hefty repair bill. Even if that sounds bad enough, not only was the pit strategy bad, the pitstops are below par again. Massa lost more time in the pits today. Time he could have been able to use to get ahead at the end. Give me and Felipe a break from cringing. Plus, you managed to cock up Bottas's race. Nicely done lads.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 08 Jun 2014, 23:33

The Perez-Massa clash is irrelevant really. Others have mentioned it, but ultimately the real rejects of Canada have to be Williams in general. Their strategists got a bit of a reputation in the mid-90s when refuelling officially came in. Hill missed out on numerous occasions because the Williams boys ballsed up their calculations and had him on the wrong strategy. It appears those same problems are still manifesting themselves to this day. I don't know why, but I get the impression that they just aren't as switched on as some of the more front-running teams.

When Bottas came in for his first stop, he ended up in traffic and lost out to both Red Bulls and Alonso who timed their stops better. Massa also suffered from a botched stop which set him right back into the midfield. When you consider the cars lined up 4th and 5th, even by this point they were staring at minor points finishes which is hopeless.

Fortunately for them, the pace of the car was good enough to get them back into the fight, and Massa found himself in a great spot when the Mercedes cars got into trouble and pitted. At that point he already had a few seconds on Perez, and easily pulled away from Rosberg after the Mercedes stop. Now we know the tyres would have dropped off, but it took Ricciardo until the dying laps to get past a Mercedes that was 20mph down on the back straight. A Force India without DRS was having no trouble keeping the Red Bulls behind either. The main point in all of this was that had Massa stayed out he would have been racing in clean air. As soon as he closed up on Vettel he couldn't pass. Why? Because the Red Bull had the DRS from being stuck behind Perez. This evened out the drag race and meant Felipe got more and more desperate, to the point where he saw the gap when Perez hit trouble, then both drivers panicked and hit self-destruct.

Maybe Massa has lost a bit of his skill, and his racecraft over the years. Is he still the same driver that almost won the title in 2008? Was it him or Sergio to blame for the crash? All of this is irrelevant, when you consider the strategic call made by Williams to bring Massa in for a second stop. Hulkenberg's soft tyres lasted until lap 42 and Pirelli had said prior to the race there was no danger of them dropping off. Had they kept him out, he could have trundled round keeping a 3-4 second gap over the hobbled Rosberg, saved his tyres, and cruised to a famous victory.

Instead, Williams come away with another minor points finish courtesy of Bottas who nursed an overheating car to the finish - likely to have been caused by following other cars all day which itself was in part the result of the poor pitstop timing putting him back out in traffic.

With all this in mind, I see no option but to award the ROTR to Williams, for clearing depriving their drivers (talented or otherwise depending on your opinion) from making the most of an excellent car at a circuit that suited them. We shan't fully appreciate the magnitude of the opportunity that they lost in this race until the end of the year, but I fear it could be rather significant.

Kobacrashi · Post by **Kobacrashi** » 08 Jun 2014, 23:52

Nominating people nominating Massa.

He drove a good race and was unlucky to be stuck so far back due to a 7 second pit stop.

If you watch the replays of the accident Perez clearly moves across about a quarter of a cars width which combined with his early breaking caused the crash Massa was just wrong place wrong time. He could maybe have got vettel for the podium.

Or give it to talent Chilton for bringing marussia back down to earth.

tzerof1 · Post by **tzerof1** » 09 Jun 2014, 01:33

My nomination: the stewards because of Chilton's penalty.

To me it looked like the car got a bit loose going into turn 3 and with it being the first lap, contact with another car was inevitable and certainly not avoidable in that instance, seeing as how being sideways in a downhill chicane is difficult in itself to control. Add to the fact that the tyres are a bit cooler than operating temp and the car is full of fuel, and it's the 3/4 chicane at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and it's not going to end well. It was either going to be the wall or another car, judging by the trajectory the car was headed on when it broke loose. The fact that it was his teammate is insult to injury. But a penalty, that's quite absurd in my view. It's getting to the point where it seems the "racing incident" is fast becoming a thing of the past, since everything is apparently believed to have an avoidable cause. Sometimes in motorsport, shite happens. And the stewards need to remember that. It's not like Chilton was being daft and went in too hot(ala Liuzzi @ Monza '11).

And because of the first Hamilton/Rosberg chicane cutting incident.

Honestly there was nothing to investigate. By the time they concluded their investigation Hamilton was closer than he had been when Rosberg gained .4 of a second cutting across the chicane anyway. Plus as astutely mentioned by(IIRC) Leigh Diffey, there had been a similar incident with Kyvat and Raikkonen a few laps earlier that the stewards didn't bat an eye at(not that anyone ever saw said incident due to the much aforementioned daftness of the world feed director.) Honestly, the thought of the impact that would have had on the race just doesn't sit well with me. A minimum roughly 20 seconds to penalise a gain of.4 seconds that had little effect on that particular battle in the end makes no sense, and the stewards ought not have even gone down that path of thought. Overall, more daftness in the Race Control room, something the sport really doesn't need.

Honourable mentions: The NBC commentary team: Other than the aformentioned astute observation, and a few other moments, most of their commentary(especially before Hamilton retired) seemed to consist of talking up the Hamilton/Rosberg phantom manufactured intra-team rivalry. Which in addition to the daftness of the world feed director did no help in keeping one informed of the racing going on elsewhere in the pack.

McLaren: You know you've fallen a long way when other than during the parade lap, nobody can be bothered(at least in the aforementioned broadcast/commentary parties) to mention or show that you're in the race. That's just sad.