US GP ROTR thread

[AllAmericanReject]

Without question, the Reject of the Race is the World Feed, which gave us 10-frame-per-second picture quality and mismatched, muffled audio. They actually broadcast most of FP2 from the helicopter, when they realized they had a problem, but went back to the terrible ground equipment for qualifying and the race.

[Nuppiz]

I think it is unfair to give Perez ROTR because he has saved Marussia for another race. I will give ROTR to the state of the sport in general.

Come on, you know that if things were business as usual, Pérez would be the ROTR for this one.

Which leads me to the question: how are we going to determine the "official" ROTR from now on?

Good question, I hope to have something hammered out in the chat tonight regarding it.

There simply won't be an official ROTR until Jamie and Enoch feel like it. Simple.

[CoopsII]

There simply won't be an official ROTR until Jamie and Enoch feel like it. Simple.

Are we any closer to things being resolved (whatever they are)?

[watka]

Strike me up as another nomination for Sergio Perez with his banzai move to take out Sutil.

I must say that Grosjean put up a good fight for ROTR too by being outdone by Maldonado and then driving all over the place on the run off in the final laps. If the car was really that bad, he should have parked it, he would have binned it on one of the less modern tracks.

[roblo97]

I think it is unfair to give Perez ROTR because he has saved Marussia for another race. I will give ROTR to the state of the sport in general.

Come on, you know that if things were business as usual, Pérez would be the ROTR for this one.

Which leads me to the question: how are we going to determine the "official" ROTR from now on?

Good question, I hope to have something hammered out in the chat tonight regarding it.

There simply won't be an official ROTR until Jamie and Enoch feel like it. Simple.

How about an unoficial ROTR then.

[Minardi Man]

It has to be Force India, double DNF nightmare isn't going to help them beat Mclaren this year.
Honourable mention for the state of the entire sport; as others have said, this race felt empty without the smaller teams propping up the grid.

[Salamander]

I'm gonna switch my nomination and say Kevin Harvick for being a jackass and starting the fight after the NASCAR race.

Yes, I'm aware that is the F1 ROTR.

[Ataxia]

Good question, I hope to have something hammered out in the chat tonight regarding it.

Rob, please stop strutting about like you own the place. You really don't.

[SeedStriker]

1) Kimi Raikkonen: Disappeared almost all race, only noticable when Checo bumped him and Vettel left him in the dust

2) Astroturf: It was more like green tapestry :p

Dishonorable mentions to Sergio Pérez (know your distance, son!) and Force India (that's not how you stole McLaren's place in the WCC)

The Whinning Award goes to Sebastian Vettel: while he recovered very well, it was just annoying hearing him bitching into the radio

[Dj_bereta]

I'm going to nominate something different: For me, Rosberg deserves the ROTR. Why he left the door open for Hamilton!? He could easily closed the door in that point and maybe secured the victory. Rosberg is driving like someone who gave up from the title.

[Salamander]

I'm going to nominate something different: For me, Rosberg deserves the ROTR. Why he left the door open for Hamilton!? He could easily closed the door in that point and maybe secured the victory. Rosberg is driving like someone who gave up from the title.

That was because of an ERS error on his car. Not his fault.

[AxelP800]

Pereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzz. Gah

[Zergon]

Had I written this yesterday, I would probably had few more nominations but after thinking it a bit, I decided to give benefit on doubt for everyone and leave them out.... well except one guy. Sergio Perez is that one guy thanks to his first lap crash that tool Sutil out as well.

[FullMetalJack]

Perez

[tommykl]

To quote the name of my pub quiz team from last night: "Sergio Pérez is an impatient James Allen".

[mario]

As Mario pointed out, we cannot be certain how much damage Perez caused to Räikkönen - didn't Kimi pit in four times or so?

So my nomination goes out to Sergio Perez who clearly wasn't looking at what was happening ahead of the road.

Kimi pitted three times during the race, with his final stop coming a handful of laps from the end of the race - Vettel was the only one to do four stops, although he only did two stops under green flag conditions (the remaining two were under the safety car).

Mario said it best, he was caught by surprise. Then to blame "rhythm"? Fact is he caved under pressure. Good on Hamilton he finally has his second ring.

This is true, Hamilton put in the clearly better drive. But if he had given up, as you claim, then why did he close back in on Hamilton in the 3rd stint? Admittedly it wasn't much, certainly not enough to retake the position, but if he had given up, then he would've cruised home and not pushed then.

I'd bet hammy turned it down.

What a surprise Sgt Pepper stirring site over Vettel.

Am I the only one who thinks Rosberg for ROTR? He was off all day, and has clearly thrown in the towel.

I think ROTR is a little much. It's not like made any silly mistakes.

No, he just didn't show up. He thought after yesterday's insane quali lap, that he won. Seems he forgot the races are on Sunday.

Some of the comments Rosberg has made after the race do seem to attest to the fact that Rosberg was perhaps a little complacent - whilst he was talking about the mistake he made with the mapping of the ERS, which therefore meant he was not using the full electrical power available to him to defend, he also made the following remarks:

"I am sure I could have done better, but it is a judgement thing," he said. "If I defended a lot he would brake late on the outside and get me on the next one.

"I thought indicating I am closing the door would have been enough to stop him from trying, but it wasn't. Because I was part way over already, I thought that was enough for him to think he should not try, but it wasn't."

Now, I think it is quite safe to say that Hamilton is widely agreed to be the sort of driver who would rarely turn down an opportunity to pass somebody else if there is even only a slight chance - just look at the way that, for example, he muscled his way through the field in Germany, often relying on opportunistic or surprise passes that sometimes had him literally bouncing off other drivers.

It also has to be said that, in a season where Rosberg has sometimes had issues with overheating his brakes - and in that same article, he does make reference to brake balance issues as another reason why he was struggling a little - trying to outbrake Hamilton is perhaps a little optimistic. We all saw what happened in Russia when Rosberg tried to do that off the line...

With that in mind, you can't just indicate to Hamilton that you are going to close the door - by the time that Rosberg was halfway over to defend, Hamilton was already halfway past Rosberg, because to Hamilton just indicating that you are going to close the door means you have still left the opportunity there and are undecided on how to defend it.

Rosberg only has to look back to the 2012 US GP where Hamilton forced his way past Vettel in pretty much exactly the same sort of move, despite Vettel fighting much harder to defend his position, to know that a half hearted defence won't work - it has to be a robust block, otherwise odds are that Hamilton will try it on.

All in all, there is a somewhat damning statistic about Rosberg and Hamilton that does highlight that issue. In five races this season, Hamilton has qualified behind Rosberg but then proceeded to catch and pass him during the race to finish ahead of him - although Rosberg came close in Bahrain and Spain, Rosberg is yet to have one race this season where he qualified behind Hamilton and then managed to beat him in the race where both drivers finished.

[andrew2209]

Force India-Threatening to boycott the race, then to keep the rumours up, only to double-DNF is a rejectful performance.

[Barbazza]

Perez, not a difficult choice this time.

[Ed24]

As for the Perez saving Marussia argument, at the same time it could significantly hurt Sauber so I don't support that at all.

[DOSBoot]

1. Force India: I was expecting much better from them.

2. Raikkonen: Completely lackluster.

[LellaLombardi]

As for the Perez saving Marussia argument, at the same time it could significantly hurt Sauber so I don't support that at all.

On balance, I'd say Sauber hurt themselves and I'd rather Perez saved Marussia. And this is coming from a Sauber fan.

[mrfakeboullier]

I give it to the BBC for saying Hamilton's move was brave. So brave is now outbraking your teammate down the inside and then pushing him off the track. Mika on Schumi was brave, not that

[DanielPT]

I give it to the BBC for saying Hamilton's move was brave. So brave is now outbraking your teammate down the inside and then pushing him off the track. Mika on Schumi was brave, not that

It always depends on who does it. If it's Hamilton, it is brave, if it's Rosberg, for instance, it is dirty cheating manoeuvre. That is coherence.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

I give it to the BBC for saying Hamilton's move was brave. So brave is now outbraking your teammate down the inside and then pushing him off the track. Mika on Schumi was brave, not that

It always depends on who does it. If it's Hamilton, it is brave, if it's Rosberg, for instance, it is dirty cheating manoeuvre. That is coherence.

Exactly. Look at Rosberg's first stop, which was an impressive 3 seconds, but according to Ben Edwards it was "not great". Hamilton's second stop was also three seconds, but was nonetheless hailed as a great stop by the same man.

[tristan1117]

I will go with Perez.

[watka]

I give it to the BBC for saying Hamilton's move was brave. So brave is now outbraking your teammate down the inside and then pushing him off the track. Mika on Schumi was brave, not that

It always depends on who does it. If it's Hamilton, it is brave, if it's Rosberg, for instance, it is dirty cheating manoeuvre. That is coherence.

Exactly. Look at Rosberg's first stop, which was an impressive 3 seconds, but according to Ben Edwards it was "not great". Hamilton's second stop was also three seconds, but was nonetheless hailed as a great stop by the same man.

Yes, I noticed that as well. I was just waiting for other cars to come in after Rosberg's stop to see if I'd actually heard him correctly!

[CoopsII]

Look at Rosberg's first stop, which was an impressive 3 seconds, but according to Ben Edwards it was "not great". Hamilton's second stop was also three seconds, but was nonetheless hailed as a great stop by the same man.

I think in context Edwards was sorta right. Rosberg needed something a bit special to gain an advantage wheras for Hamilton three seconds was just right. Either way its hardly a comment on the driver is it? More the pit-crew?

[Frogfoot9013]

Look at Rosberg's first stop, which was an impressive 3 seconds, but according to Ben Edwards it was "not great". Hamilton's second stop was also three seconds, but was nonetheless hailed as a great stop by the same man.

I think in context Edwards was sorta right. Rosberg needed something a bit special to gain an advantage wheras for Hamilton three seconds was just right. Either way its hardly a comment on the driver is it? More the pit-crew?

Isn't there only one pit crew per team in F1 though, rather than one pit crew per car in most other motorsports (i.e WEC, IndyCar, NASCAR)? So wouldn't Rosberg and Hamilton share pit crews?

[mario]

Look at Rosberg's first stop, which was an impressive 3 seconds, but according to Ben Edwards it was "not great". Hamilton's second stop was also three seconds, but was nonetheless hailed as a great stop by the same man.

I think in context Edwards was sorta right. Rosberg needed something a bit special to gain an advantage wheras for Hamilton three seconds was just right. Either way its hardly a comment on the driver is it? More the pit-crew?

Isn't there only one pit crew per team in F1 though, rather than one pit crew per car in most other motorsports (i.e WEC, IndyCar, NASCAR)? So wouldn't Rosberg and Hamilton share pit crews?

In other racing series, the limited pit crews tend to be a consequence of restrictions on the number of personnel who are allowed into the pit lane as a way of reducing the risk of accidents. For example, in the WEC only two individuals are allowed to change the tyres on the cars at any one time whilst the car is still in the pit lane - however, if the car is wheeled back into the garage, the team can have as many mechanics as they like working on the car.

In F1, some teams will have mechanics doubling up as pit crew workers - now, given that mechanics tend to be allocated to a specific car then, if they are doubling up on roles, it is likely that they will be sticking to the same car that they were servicing. It is therefore possible that they will only be sharing some of the same pit crew - say, those operating the jacks - but some of the pit crew may be different.

[Onxy Wrecked]

I'm gonna switch my nomination and say Kevin Harvick for being a jackass and starting the fight after the NASCAR race.

Yes, I'm aware that is the F1 ROTR.

I heard his wife Delana tells the guy to fight if one is to trust Joey Logano. That being said, Harvick's a ROTR candidate in a race he didn't enter just for his antics.

[Captain Hammer]

Strike me up as another nomination for Sergio Perez with his banzai move to take out Sutil.

I disagree. Sutil over-cooked it going into the corner. He clearly locked up and ran wide, certainly wide enough to give Perez the opportunity. He cut back into the apex, with Perez clearly in his blind spot, suddenly narrowing the gap that Perez could fit into. Was it Perez's fault? Sure, but I think Sutil could have done more.