Your Reject of the Race - Germany

[Londoner]

Kimi Raikkonen - Stopped caring again after about half distance.
Danill Kvyat - Silly mistake when trying to pass Perez ruined both their races, as I reckon there must have been damage on Perez's car after that.
Adrian Sutil - Well, it was nice knowing you mate.
Charlie Whiting - Yeah, I won't send the SC out despite the fact that marshalls have to cross a live racetrack to recover a stricken Sauber. Can't see an issue here.

But ROTR has to go to:

Felipe Massa - What an idiot, cutting across Mags like that. And then doing his usual and spent the remainder of the race whinging about Mags in every single interview he had. Felipe mate, stop acting whiter than white for once and accept you dun goofed there.

[AustralianStig]

Adrian Sutil - for not even being about to bring out the safety car properly. (I will happily rescind this if it turns out he actually had a mechanical issue, but the 'issue' to me looked like a stall)

Honourable mention to Toro Rosso for just being slow then trying to barbecue Daniil!

[Miguel98]

ROTR:

Adrian Sutil
Race Control/Stewards

[SgtPepper]

Some decent rejects today - Sutil for that pathetic spin (if it wasn't a mechanical failure), Kyvat for showing his inexperience alongside his obvious talent, but can't comment on the crash due to oversleeping and missing it. Kimi was also a dissapointment, it pains me as a fan to say it, but he just doesn't seem to care, and is using up a valuable seat when there's so much talent on the grid.

However, nomination goes to DRS. That was a little silly, really.

[sw3ishida]

Adrian Sutil - for not even being about to bring out the safety car properly. (I will happily rescind this if it turns out he actually had a mechanical issue, but the 'issue' to me looked like a stall)

I agree entirely. Sutil seems to have completely collapsed under the pressure of a few mutterings about his seat. Bring in #vanderGod!

[wsrgo]

Felipe Massa

He's always the victim. He admits he hasn't seen the accident, but says it's Magnussen's fault. He says these drivers "who come from GP2..."

Go home, Felipe. Just go home.

[Jocke1]

ROTR:

Race Control/Stewards

This

[Enforcer]

Just can't decide between:

Perez: He may have claimed a point, but he seemed to be a mobile chicane for the first 2/3rds of the race. And he had to be scolded by his race engineer.
Stewards / Race Control: On one hand, I'm happy they didn't go trigger happy with the Safety Car, on the other, they left Sutil's car on the main straight for three laps. Three. At a near 90 degree angle to the direction of traffic so it took up as much space as possible no less. That doesn't exactly strike me as safe.
Massa dropping none to subtle hints that he thought it was Magnussen's fault: I can sort of understand his frustration because he just didn't see Magnussen rather than deliberately tried to close the gap stupidly late. But leaving aside the fact that it was a racing incident and Mag didn't really do anything wrong either, this stuff always seems hypocritical coming out of Massa considering the trails of destruction he used to leave in his early days.

[Salamander]

A very hard choice. A lot of solid candidates here:

Kimi Raikkonen - Good start to the race in all fairness, but he completely fell off the face of the planet in the second half. Finished 11th, and the scoreline at Ferrari the last 5 races is Alonso 48-2 Raikkonen. There's just no excuse for that kind of blowout for a former World Champion.

Stewards - Both the Kvyat and Sutil incidents could've used safety cars. With Kvyat, the potential for a car going off at turn 4 is too high to risk it under waved yellows. With Sutil, THE CAR WAS STALLED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FRIGGIN RACETRACK WHAT WERE YOU IDIOTS THINKING LETTING MARSHALS OUT THERE WITHOUT A SAFETY CAR!?

Adrian Sutil - Drove like a man who didn't want to be in F1 anymore.

Felipe Massa - Forgot what mirrors were. Threw away a potential podium again. Shot his mouth off without even looking at a replay. AND WILLIAMS HIRED THIS GUY FOR THREE YEARS???????? What kind of dirt does he have on Frank to con him into that!?

[SeedStriker]

1)Race Control: So, with a German leading, in a German car, in Germany itself, a dangerous on-track situation that in any other circuit would bring a SC, here didn't just to not put at risk Rosberg's eventual victory. Please stand up, conspiracy theorists.

2) Felipe Massa: Really lost all perspective, put himself upside down, and ruined K-Mag's race. Good Job, Felipe Baby!

Dishonorable mentions to Pirelli (bringing weak rubber in a tyre-eating track?) and Adrian Sutil (he can't even bring a decent SC?!)

The Poor Brakes Award goes to Brembo :p

[mario]

Just can't decide between:

Perez: He may have claimed a point, but he seemed to be a mobile chicane for the first 2/3rds of the race. And he had to be scolded by his race engineer.
Stewards / Race Control: On one hand, I'm happy they didn't go trigger happy with the Safety Car, on the other, they left Sutil's car on the main straight for three laps. Three. At a near 90 degree angle to the direction of traffic so it took up as much space as possible no less. That doesn't exactly strike me as safe.
Massa dropping none to subtle hints that he thought it was Magnussen's fault: I can sort of understand his frustration because he just didn't see Magnussen rather than deliberately tried to close the gap stupidly late. But leaving aside the fact that it was a racing incident and Mag didn't really do anything wrong either, this stuff always seems hypocritical coming out of Massa considering the trails of destruction he used to leave in his early days.

It's true that Massa probably wouldn't have seen Magnussen, given that Bottas was obscuring his view, until he was already turning into the corner - still, perhaps he could have dealt with the incident a little better.

However, I have to agree that Sutil's spin late on and the response of the marshals were both pretty poor - whilst there is the possibility that something may have happened to Sutil's car, it did look from the outside that he spun of his own accord (and spin turning the car towards the racing line when other drivers were coming past was rather risky too), though we will see if there were any mechanical issues that tipped him into the spin.

Similarly, the length of time that the car was left there for - three laps - and the fact that the marshals were placed at considerable personal risk (having to run across an active race track on the exit of a blind curve) really makes you wonder what was going through the mind of race control. Suppose that they were unable to push the car out of the way? It isn't always possible to force the car into neutral if there is a gearbox fault, which would have left you in the uncomfortable situation of an immobile car stuck on the racetrack.

[Zergon]

Have been lurking on these forums for some time now and decided that I might as well take part and post my own opinions too. So, umm... Hi all and all that.

Anyway on the main subject, to me there were some rejectful appearances on this one but Felipe Massa has to get my vote for once again crashing on first lap and missing lots of points because of that. Also, unlike his earlier first lap crashes this year, this time I actually think it´s his fault despite him saying otherwise.

Honorable mentions:
Toro Rosso: Kvyat making a bit optimistic move on Perez of all people and spoiling his race while Vergne got 5 second top-and-go penalty and was otherwise largely invisible for most of the race.
Kimi Räikkönen: Ok, so strategy didn´t really work (again!) and it was pretty clear after the first pit stop that he couldn´t be better than 9th without rain or something else but still, Magnussen was well behind after that first turn crash and he still ended up being ahead at the end.
Adrian Sutil: He was actually doing ok in the race until that spin (assuming here that it wasn his fault and not techincal failure) but that combined with poor qualifying didn´t help his case at all.

[LukeB]

The real reject is the same one it is every year, The Track itself for being a grotesque mockery of it's former glory.
For this year specifically though, well Sutil spinning all on his lonesome was pretty shambolic.

[LellaLombardi]

At this risk of sounding like a broken record this year, Raikkonen and Massa. Time to go, both of you.

[noiceinmydrink]

Kvyat's car for almost turning him into a Chicken Kvyat.

[rachel1990]

While Massa is close to winning for me it has to go to Sutil . I can't understand why he is in F1. I don't think he brings as much money as some of the other pay drivers and if Sauber want to make an impact maybe have a Midseason replacement????

[Cynon]

Felipe Massa: Nearly outpaced by a driver who hadn't been racing ANYTHING in 2 years in practice. Then he pulls that stunt on the first corner. Yeah, can Susie Wolff just replace him already?
Kimi Raikkonen: Rubens Barrichello 2.0

[wsrgo]

Here's a pic of the Sutil incident.

[Bleu]

Sutil deserves it because this race also meant that he overtook Pierluigi Martini as a driver who has most GP starts without scoring a podium.

[Salamander]

The real reject is the same one it is every year, The Track itself for being a grotesque mockery of it's former glory.

I dunno about that, that race was way more exciting than it would've been on the old track. On the old track, Hamilton would've just breezed past everyone down the straights. Instead, he had to fight and we got some good action out of it.

[FMecha]

The real reject is the same one it is every year, The Track itself for being a grotesque mockery of it's former glory.

Not this "old vs new Hockenheim" debate again.

My ROTR: Stewards for leaving Sutil's car for THREE BATHPLUGGING LAPS, as others said.

[tristan1117]

Well, if there had been a safety car, I don't think Bottas would have finished ahead of Hamilton, so I'll give it a pass. My ROTR goes to Adrian Sutil for a clumsy spin and what looked like a clumsy stall.

[Barbazza]

Oh, this is quite tough this time.

I seem to be alone in not minding the fact that Sutil's car was left for a few laps. It was off the racing line, it was far enough down the straight that drivers weren't blind, and it was very unlikely there would be 2 abreast round there that could have caused an accident. This sort of thing used to happen ALL THE TIME in the 80s and 90s. If drivers could cope with cars littered everywhere round the likes of Detroit and Dallas, they should be able to cope with that. Honestly, mollycoddled, this lot are.....

I hate Sutil but in this case if it was the equipment at fault I can't nominate him and that seems to be the case. It wasn't like he was having an awful race at the time.

I'll go for Toro Rosso - another car failure, and Kvyat had already made an error. Not sure what happened to Vergne - even with the 5 sec stop / go, he should have been higher than that surely?

[bsoyuz]

Massa, No spatial awareness, ruining Magnussen's race and whining in the press about that (at least from what I heard, couldn't watch the first stages of the race)

And the Race Control, why in the freaking hell they let the stewards get on the track without a safety car? Are they idiots?

Felipe Massa: Nearly outpaced by a driver who hadn't been racing ANYTHING in 2 years in practice. Then he pulls that stunt on the first corner. Yeah, can Susie Wolff just replace him already?

Gibe Susie Wolff plos

[tommykl]

Well, if there had been a safety car, I don't think Bottas would have finished ahead of Hamilton, so I'll give it a pass.

Now, see, I think you might be wrong there. We know Hamilton got all his pace from the tyres he got a few laps from the end. Let's say the safety car comes out (the pitstop was during the 3 laps Sutil's car was on the track).

a) If Hamilton stops, he loses a whole lot of positions and would have a rather tough time even getting back to Bottas in time. Could be done, but we saw that even with those tyres, he couldn't make it. Stopping during the safety car would only give him less laps to catch and pass Bottas.
b) If Hamilton doesn't stop, he's in a good track position, but on aging tyres, which would make catching and passing Bottas much harder due to the lack of pace.

Which is why I'll give it to the stewards. Safety car or no safety car, you shouldn't take three laps to get the car out of the way. It's almost as if they were told to wait until Charlie Whiting made up his mind as to what he wanted to do.

Regarding Massa, I'm really starting to find him less likable these days. Not because of the constant crashing (while Massa does definitely get most of the blame here, he probably couldn't see Magnussen, and it's not like he turned into him deliberately), but rather because of the way he reacts to it. Even if he was completely blameless both at Montréal and Hockenheim (which he wasn't, he was partly responsible in Canada as well), endlessly complaining about the other driver involved is not the way to react.

[girry]

Kimi Raikkonen: Rubens Barrichello 2.0

What? Rubens was never that bad, actually he only seemed to improve upon gaining age.

However, I'd still nominate Adrian Sutil; seems like he managed to end his career in F1 in the same team and same corner as Jacques Villeneuve.

[James1978]

Again, I can't see past Massa/Sutil/Raikkonen.

Massa is reminding me of Bourdais in 2008 - he seems very close to his teammate on pace but really terrible things keep happening to him while his teammate goes from strength to strength.

[mario]

Oh, this is quite tough this time.

I seem to be alone in not minding the fact that Sutil's car was left for a few laps. It was off the racing line, it was far enough down the straight that drivers weren't blind, and it was very unlikely there would be 2 abreast round there that could have caused an accident. This sort of thing used to happen ALL THE TIME in the 80s and 90s. If drivers could cope with cars littered everywhere round the likes of Detroit and Dallas, they should be able to cope with that. Honestly, mollycoddled, this lot are.....

I hate Sutil but in this case if it was the equipment at fault I can't nominate him and that seems to be the case. It wasn't like he was having an awful race at the time.

I'll go for Toro Rosso - another car failure, and Kvyat had already made an error. Not sure what happened to Vergne - even with the 5 sec stop / go, he should have been higher than that surely?

I personally am not always comfortable with the argument that "it was done in the past, so it is OK" - there were many things that were deemed acceptable at the time that we would not accept now in terms of car and track design and the quality of medical care.

Whilst it did happen, even at the time many felt that it was a sign of poor marshalling for cars to be left on the racetrack for the whole race - don't forget that Regazzoni took legal action against the organisers of the race at Long Beach on grounds of negligence after he suffered from a brake failure, struck a broken down car and ended up with spinal injuries that left him paralysed from the waist down in 1980.

Besides, the bigger concern for me is the fact that marshals were being ordered to cross the track in order to attend to the car - that is something that is normally strongly discouraged because of the risk of drivers striking a marshal, and by the looks of things there should have been marshals on the pit wall who would perhaps have been better placed to attend to the car. In a situation like that, it is the marshals who are much more exposed than the drivers and, sadly, more likely to be injured, and I don't feel that their welfare was being considered.

[roblo97]

I think ROTR should go to Sutil.

[Nuppiz]

I was actually fearing a repeat of South Africa 1977 for a moment as I saw marshalls running across the track.

[Salamander]

I was actually fearing a repeat of South Africa 1977 for a moment as I saw marshalls running across the track.

Hamilton had the same thought, actually.

[W12]

I was actually fearing a repeat of South Africa 1977 for a moment as I saw marshalls running across the track.

Ditto. But here's my ROTR:

1. Massa
2. Toro Rosso

[BigG80]

Ted Kravitz confirmed on the notebook that it was a throttle issue on Sutil's car so it was alternating between nothing and everything which explains the spin but not why the team didn't call him into the pits to retire.

Also Anthony Davidson on the skypad showed that Massa was looking in his right mirror before hitting Magnussen and he reckoned he did see him.

Realistically then it is down to Massa or Race Control for the ROTR for me and I'd say Race Control's decision was the more alarming and bizarre so it goes to them.

I am very bored of Massa though.

[AndreaModa]

With the Sutil incident, I want to know why it took 3 laps to get rid of the car.

You don't need a safety car to allow marshals onto the track, that is part and parcel of what they sign up for. I think we may be growing used to the chickens that populate the races in China, Abu Dhabi, etc where they just stand there, let the driver extract himself alone whilst cars whizz past, and offer no assistance whatsoever. That isn't marshalling - if anything that lack of action is gross negligence of a far higher order than leaving an unattended car on the track for 3 laps way off the racing line.

The discussion has to be around why it took so long to shift the car. Was there a lack of an opportunity to get the marshals across (i.e. no breaks in the traffic?) or was it purely down to indecision? Why was there not a single marshal on the inside of the track there? We've seen numerous accidents in that area in the past where drivers have lost it on the exit. As soon as it was obvious that Sutil wasn't going anywhere, the marshals should be assessing the situation and getting over to the car to help him as soon as possible and get him and the car out of harms way.

It strikes me that there is a wildly differing standard in marshalling from race to race, and really that has to be the most dangerous aspect in all of this. How as a driver are you supposed to know how to deal with a situation like a mechanical failure or a crash when you haven't got a clue how the marshals will react? There needs to be a set standard across the board, that a marshal should be on a case within a minimum time limit regardless of the race, and if that means flying out marshals from Monaco, Britain, Italy or wherever then so be it.

[AustralianStig]

Adrian Sutil - for not even being about to bring out the safety car properly. (I will happily rescind this if it turns out he actually had a mechanical issue, but the 'issue' to me looked like a stall)

Honourable mention to Toro Rosso for just being slow then trying to barbecue Daniil!

As Sauber are saying it was a technical fault (and while I don't really believe them) I'll give Sutil the benefit of the doubt and change my nomination to The Stewards for the way the Sutil incident was handled.

[Cynon]

Kimi Raikkonen: Rubens Barrichello 2.0

What? Rubens was never that bad, actually he only seemed to improve upon gaining age.

In that he took up a space that belonged to someone else in his post-Brawn career.

[CoopsII]

Sutil - I think he just wanted some attention from the Germans in the stadiums.

The new circuit layout - I'm old therefore I moan.

[Shizuka]

Why was there not a single marshal on the inside of the track there?

That's a good question - I didn't see marshals running to Sutil's car from the pitlane side of the track...

[BigG80]

They were on their way but from up by the buildings which took a long time.

Coops, I remember the old track fondly but there is no denying the new one is better. Yes it is a shame that it meant killing a unique old track but the new one gives great racing and exciting races.

[Ferrarist]

1. Charlie Whiting: What was wrong with you, not sending out the safety car when Sutil spun on the start/finish line? Thankfully nothing bad happened because of it.
2. Kimi Raikkonen: Come on! Alonso's dragging his Ferrari kicking and screaming to relatively good positions...and you can't come up with something similar? If so, then shut up, take Ferrari's money and make room for Bianchi!
3. Susie Wolff: For all the undeserved hype she's gotten.