Your Reject of the Race - Great Britain

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 20 Jun 2009, 13:28

As per Executive Order 12345, you will now discuss to your heart's content and no more or no less, or it's the firing squad for you.

So far, the only real Reject on-track has been Adrian Sutil: third-fastest in practice, third-last and arse-first into Abbey in qualifying. Sex Fiend and his Khrushchev-esque ultimatum and Ceausescu-like total denial of reality will be the obvious choice, and so get mentioned here.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 20 Jun 2009, 13:58

Holy cow, the Commies have taken over!

Seriously, I haven't seen the quali yet, and I want to wait until the end of the race to make a decision. I hereby promise I shall not mention any of the political protagonists, and will nominate something that happens on the track.

How about the IID award, Captain? Up for it? Sutil looked like a nice candidate, yesterday. Nakajima is my favourite right now, even if he's just running on fumes.

Popi_Larrauri · Post by **Popi_Larrauri** » 20 Jun 2009, 14:14

Spassiva, tovarich comandier!

Hamilton 19th is solid leader for now until sunday news.

Weather failing to materialize a decent shower to watch a chaotic qualifying (as if we were really needing the former to have the latter) could be the other.

If the commite approves it, then we could send the english one to the Gulag.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 20 Jun 2009, 14:35

Carlos, I think the IID deserves its own thread ... like the one you made.

Popi, I hope you don't actually speak Russian.

Popi_Larrauri · Post by **Popi_Larrauri** » 20 Jun 2009, 15:00

Captain Hammer wrote:Carlos, I think the IID deserves its own thread ... like the one you made.

Popi, I hope you don't actually speak Russian.

Well, it does not NEED a religion to, but you can rest assured i'm not.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 20 Jun 2009, 15:04

Popi_Larrauri wrote:Well, it does not NEED a religion to, but you can rest assured i'm not.

Okay, because I do - Romanian girlfriend - and, well, you could do with a bit of work.

tristan1117 · Post by **tristan1117** » 20 Jun 2009, 17:51

Lewis Hamilton. For the second time in a row he misses Q2, while Heikki makes it in. Now he's out of the limelight with Button dominating, can he pull his dog of car back up at home. I'm thinking no.

LionZoo · Post by **LionZoo** » 20 Jun 2009, 20:04

Flav for most likely engineering a breakaway series that will result in F1 nuclear winter right when it seemed like Max was being reasonable and bowing to most of the teams' demands.

As for on track action, Lewisteria takes the cake. From hero to zero in one short year, not to mention he's fueled quite low so unless he can scythe his way through the field, he's going to be nowhere during the race as well.

tc3j3r · Post by **tc3j3r** » 20 Jun 2009, 20:39

The FIA and FOTA. No doubt about it.

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 20 Jun 2009, 21:11

It's a bit hard to decide which entity it actually is that is campaigning for the award: Lewisteria, Lewis Hamilton or McLaren.

But the campaign of FIA vs FOTA politics is stronger than ever. Still, it may prove to be ineligible for "Reject Of the Race" before the F1 Rejects Court Of Appeal, because it doesn't happen in the race itself. Therefore, I say the FIA vs FOTA political wrangling should get the "Reject Of the Shady Backroom" (or something along those lines) award instead.

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 20 Jun 2009, 23:10

Yannick wrote:It's a bit hard to decide which entity it actually is that is campaigning for the award: Lewisteria, Lewis Hamilton or McLaren.

But the campaign of FIA vs FOTA politics is stronger than ever. Still, it may prove to be ineligible for "Reject Of the Race" before the F1 Rejects Court Of Appeal, because it doesn't happen in the race itself. Therefore, I say the FIA vs FOTA political wrangling should get the "Reject Of the Shady Backroom" (or something along those lines) award instead.

Unless something DOES happen at the race... which I wouldn't put past either FOTA or the FIA.

Paul Hayes · Post by **Paul Hayes** » 21 Jun 2009, 03:56

That new Red Bull nose, I tells ye!

tc3j3r · Post by **tc3j3r** » 21 Jun 2009, 08:59

Yannick wrote:It's a bit hard to decide which entity it actually is that is campaigning for the award: Lewisteria, Lewis Hamilton or McLaren.

But the campaign of FIA vs FOTA politics is stronger than ever. Still, it may prove to be ineligible for "Reject Of the Race" before the F1 Rejects Court Of Appeal, because it doesn't happen in the race itself. Therefore, I say the FIA vs FOTA political wrangling should get the "Reject Of the Shady Backroom" (or something along those lines) award instead.

The team bosses received RotR in Canada 2003 for their political bickering, and Paul Stoddart received RotR in Australia 2005 for his political whinging...

Henrique · Post by **Henrique** » 21 Jun 2009, 13:36

Here are my nominees:

STR - Red Bull took top two places, with Vettel taking win, pole position and fastest lap. Meanwhile, Bourdais retired after breaking front wing with a silly maneuver and Buemi finished last

Lewis Hamilton - So, this guy won the race last year? The race pretty much summarized this year for Hamilton (His girl's face of surprise with her mouth open when he had that spin before pitting was priceless).

Enrique Bernoldi · Post by **Enrique Bernoldi** » 21 Jun 2009, 13:40

How about Fernando Alonso for reject of the race? He finished behind Piquet!

LukeB · Post by **LukeB** » 21 Jun 2009, 13:44

Meh, not much rejectdom on the track, McLaren were awful but that's not a surprise anymore. Even Piquet was dissapointingly competent.
Has to be the FIA-FOTA bickering.

StoneColdSpider · Post by **StoneColdSpider** » 21 Jun 2009, 13:48

yeah the FOTA-FIA stupid bickering has to b the leader....

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 21 Jun 2009, 14:02

The only moments of silly on track action were indeed the above mentioned spin by Hamilton and a crash in the very same corner by two serious contenders for this website's end-of-season award: Sebastien Bourdais scoring a point in the nosecone championship by hitting Kovalainen from behind, whilst the latter braked early. I'm not sure who caused this accident, but in normal racing incidents, it's usually always the fault of the guy behind. So I'd like to nominate Sebastien Bourdais for ROTR. It's a close one because McLaren would have deserved it as well, based on the weak performance of their now KERS-less car with their drivers visibly struggling in it. But from P2 at the 24 Hours du Mans on the weekend before, now down to this DNF over a fight for what track position was it actually, when his team mate from the previous season won dominantly, with the sister car of the sister team scoring yet another double victory, it can only be him winning the award.
But the FIA/FOTA controversy might spare him of the "honours" in the end.

LukeB · Post by **LukeB** » 21 Jun 2009, 14:08

Yannick wrote:... McLaren would have deserved it as well, based on the weak performance of their now KERS-less car with their drivers visibly struggling in it...

Wait, McLaren have dumped KERS too? So Ferarri are the only ones left running it?
Clearly the Yuji Ide rule must be invoked, ROTR for KERS!

Henrique · Post by **Henrique** » 21 Jun 2009, 14:34

Bourdais had something to say about the incident: http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/06/21/bourdais-and-kovalainen-not-amused-after-collision/

Ross Prawn · Post by **Ross Prawn** » 21 Jun 2009, 14:38

There wasn't too much obviously reject worthy performance. Most people seemed to be trying, and even the Bourdais/Heikki thing was just a racing accident.

I think, KimI Raikonnen. Firstly, by blocking Webber in qualifying, he deprived Mark of any real chance of going for the win, and deprived the rest of us of having any chance of a real race to watch. I was surprised that he did not get penalised for blocking.

Then in the race, he made a great start, and then just sort of did not very much, cruised around in seventh place, whilst Massa bust his gut to leapfrog people to a well deserved fourth.

jackanderton · Post by **jackanderton** » 21 Jun 2009, 14:59

It's Kovalainen. Difficult to see how their could be any contenders. Qualifying from 13th and ending up last without any real explanation other than his own terrible speed. Then his outlap after his long fuel strategy he thinks Bourdais is one of the Red Bulls, dives out of the way, and then at the point of realising it's Bourdais, swerves over the crest of the hill into his path. Bourdais thinking Kovalainen has taken a wider line, holds his position over the crest and can't get out of the way by the time he meets the inexplicably slow McLaren.

Bourdais is definitely partly to blame- you can never plough into the back of a car and not be at least a little bit at fault, given the phenomenal reactions of F1 drivers, but there's no doubt whatsoever it was Kovalainen's actions that culminated in the crash.

For stuffing up an okay qualifying, having a terrible start, causing a needless accident by a combination of brainfade and outright dangerous erratic positioning and speed of his car through one of the most challenging parts of the circuit, well done Heikki.

If he wasn't behind the wheel of one of the most atrocious cars produced by a major constructor for the last 15 years, he'd be out of a job by now.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 21 Jun 2009, 15:10

Reject of the Race?

The Race

It's ironic that in what migh have been the most important race of the season, nothing happened. Of course, even if the next few races are the same story, it will be interesting to see how many points Button can bank. He needs eighteen to be untouchable; Vettel needs three wins just to challenge him now.

DonTirri · Post by **DonTirri** » 21 Jun 2009, 18:14

My ROTR goes to Hamilton.

From hero to Zero in less than 12 months, being beat by his teamie in the same car, spinning like a rookie and finishing his home race way down the order.

Again, I hafta defend Heikki: He had the heaviest car, fueled longer than anybody, which must not've done good to its handling, thus making his slowness understandanble. Also, at the start it was him who Heidfeld had a contact with so there was possibly some damage to it too.

Also, the way I saw the incident with Bourdais, Heikki swerved to the right to let Hamilton past, then to the right to take his spot behind Lewis and then moved to right to block bourdais and moved all so slightly to the left to block him even more.

and Bourdais ploughed into him.

Nin13 · Post by **Nin13** » 21 Jun 2009, 18:26

FOR ME REJECT OF RACE FOR GREAT BRITAIN IS-
MCLAREN
Because they were disgusted in front of their fans. Heikki retiring after crashing with Bourdais.
And Hamilton was put on light fuel to give his fans some hopes. He overtook Alonso, but Alonso immediately got him back, so did Piquet Jr. and finally Hamilton settled for 16th.
Also remember he spun is car at Stowe chicane.
Only thing he could give his fans was some doughnuts at end of race.........

lostpin · Post by **lostpin** » 21 Jun 2009, 18:41

I think it's an obvious choice again, and that's Hamilton. He could be packaged together with McLaren too for ROTR. I mean, he qualified second last, he was having a glorious battle with Piquet (aaaa!) for the highly 16th place, he spun off, he ruined Kovalinen race because of team orders (a reason more for McLaren to be a ROTR), and he was making donuts for which no one (probably only Hamilton's PR team) cared about... the team and Hamilton could be even nominated for rejects of the year.. if F1 still exists by the end of the year, haha...

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 21 Jun 2009, 20:05

Come on, Button, from domination so far this year, struggling to finish 6th? And I 've been supporting hime since his debut... :roll:

And also the future of F1.

Henrique · Post by **Henrique** » 22 Jun 2009, 00:13

I too was wondering what those donuts were about. Most of the crowd probably wanted to see Button win and they didn't even get that. And then that guy, who finished 16th, who could only beat a STR and a Force India, was there shouting "Look at me!"

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 22 Jun 2009, 07:36

Has to be McLaren Mercedes for their pitiful performance infront of their home crowd with Nick Heidfeld being a strong contender (I mean seriously you don't object to team orders to pit for a new nose and go 2 seconds a lap SLOWER than a Force India ruining half the field's race in the process without being noticed)

Jordan192 · Post by **Jordan192** » 22 Jun 2009, 08:22

Silverstone Self-Pity.

I don't know about the international coverage, but I got damn sick of being told it's the last ever grand prix at silverstone, and how brilliant silverstone was, how terribly heartless it was that it's going to donington, how it'll be the last ever grand prix at silverstone, and how historic silverstone was, and how donington won't be ready in time so it'll be the last british grand prix EVER, and how great Silverstone was, and it'll be the last grand prix at Silverstone EVER.

Apart from next year.

noisebox · Post by **noisebox** » 22 Jun 2009, 08:33

Race control - after the first lap it was pretty clear that the only thing which could spice that race up would be a safety car. They had the perfect opportunity to deploy it to clear up the debris from the Kovaleinen/Bourdais accident and chose not to...
(the fact that there were no punctures or issues afterwards is not a vindication of their decision - that was just lucky...

)

Debaser · Post by **Debaser** » 22 Jun 2009, 08:37

Red Bull deserve ROTR for making the race a cakewalk. Also Alonso got beat by Piquet and finished near the back, Nakajima went from 4th to 11th throube being so damn slow and McLaren's car had the pace of a Citroen Berlingo.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 22 Jun 2009, 09:02

Debaser: Williams had put Nakajima on a stratagy which in hindsight was never going to work. As the rule in F1 is "He who pits last gains the advantage" which was why Kazuki just fell down the order. Rosberg fell behind Massa as well because of this so Williams' stratagist (Like Vettel's most of the time) made a strategic blunder which means they lost 3-4 points easy. Speaking of stratagy Massa's stratagy was absolute gold. That is one of the advantages of qualfiying 11th. As Brundle said during the telecast that starting 11th is an advantage because you could atleast start with a decent fuel load.

Interesting to note Brawn's tire woes here... again Brundle noted that the Brawns are brilliant at concerving their tyres during the stint but have a horrid time getting heat into them during cold races like the one at Silverstone yesterday.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 22 Jun 2009, 10:12

I'm going to stick to my guns and ignore the 700 lb. gorilla in the room.

I'm also not going for McLaren. Both McLaren cars were appallingly slow, visibly with less grip than everyone else. At Friday practice, the team was using aero paint on the front wing, still trying to figure out what's going on! Does that sound normal?
I won't rate Lewis' donuts. I don't know what the crowd felt. It is his crowd (and McLaren's crowd) anyway, so I won't blame him for trying to put on a show for their benefit. I liked seeing how aggressive the man was, in a car that just does not work, and I liked the attitude of both pilots, saying they're supporting the team, instead of coming out and complaining nothing's working - half the stars in the paddock would be bitching until kingdom comes by now. Supporting a team in trouble, with a new boss, when it is failing at home - for me, that means there are technical problems, but the organization is working properly. So, they will pull out of it.

As a result, I'm voting for BMW. Easy, let me explain: the pace was just as slow as ever, Kubica had two more engine failures (apparently it was electrics this time around), the performance is not improving and the team was blatantly disobeyed by one of their pilots, who took the chance of staying out with a damaged car, refusing to come in, and arguing against his engineer live on TV.
And this happened in the same weekend when BMW, the KERS champions throughout all the negotiations, officially announced they were scrapping it for the rest of the season, admitting defeat. BMW takes the ROTR, in my opinion.

Also... did anyone understand Brawn's strategy of tyre management for Button? They sort of pulled a Toyota-in-Bahrain there, didn't they?

Ben Gilbert · Post by **Ben Gilbert** » 22 Jun 2009, 10:31

I'm going with Jordan192 on this. I nominate Silverstone itself.

Why?: Because for a place's final ever (hopefully!) Grand Prix, it wasnt half dull, boring, and soporific. Once Vettel held the lead after lap one, nothing could be done to stop him. There were two overtakes in the whole race, and one minor accident. This should have been happening every lap, with the amount of hype there was leading up to this year's GP, but the crowd only got a good show if they happened to be at Stowe corner.

I also agree with Jordan192 on the self-pity there was for Silverstone. It's not even a good track anymore, get over it! The first few incarnations were brilliant, as they were fast AND allowed overtaking at almost every corner. Now, it's just fast, with no real overtaking points, and as a result, there has only been one good race at Silverstone for over a decade, and it doesn't really count as it was affected by rain. This latest one was so dull, that Brundle and Legard were reduced to talking about the majesty of the corners, and Jenson's new helmet design. I'm sure that had there not been the Hamilton-Alonso-Piquet battle mid-race, they would have got round to naming every single blade of grass.

But I can't blame them for that. Murray Walker would have struggled to make the race sound exiting. But I can blame all of the self-serving nonsense, cooked up to make Silverstone's removal sound tragic and apocalyptic. It isn't. Silverstone lost it's edge before the millenium, and now it's time to move on.

By all means, have a montage of Silverstone's glory years in the pre-race build-up, but don't go harping on about it. And give Donington a chance, rather than dismissing 12 months before the race. If I remember rightly, the last race there was hailed as Senna's greatest triumph, so why is everyone so keen to stay at a dull, lifeless runway?

Gary Shavit · Post by **Gary Shavit** » 22 Jun 2009, 11:01

My vote has to go to Lewis.

1) Not getting out of Q1

2) Going of the dry track

3) Having the most annoying entourage in F1 history

4) Doing donuts after finishing 16th

jackanderton · Post by **jackanderton** » 22 Jun 2009, 12:52

You can't voted for a driver who was one of the only drivers on the track along with Alonso to actually try to overtake. His position was always going to be out of the points, so he basically did what he said he'd do- try and put on a good show for the fans. There was minimal racing action in the GP and Lewis was involved in about 80% of it.

Kovalainen for one deserves it over Lewis because nothing went right for him in the race. He fell to last place, was the slowest car, caused an avoidable accident through erratic behaviour, then retired. Gold Star reject performance if there ever was one.

Ross Prawn · Post by **Ross Prawn** » 22 Jun 2009, 13:49

Given that Lewis provided about the only entertainment in the race, I think ROTR is a bit harsh.

How about looneys. The FIA have officially told us that looneys are the only only cause of all the dissent and politics in F1. And as everyone knows, the true role of a looney is to run across the hanger straight early on in the race, thus mixing up the order and giving us something to watch.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 22 Jun 2009, 13:52

Ross Prawn wrote:How about looneys. The FIA have officially told us that looneys are the only only cause of all the dissent and politics in F1. And as everyone knows, the true role of a looney is to run across the hanger straight early on in the race, thus mixing up the order and giving us something to watch.

Tempting...

tc3j3r · Post by **tc3j3r** » 22 Jun 2009, 17:12

Ben Gilbert wrote: Now, it's just fast, with no real overtaking points, and as a result, there has only been one good race at Silverstone for over a decade, and it doesn't really count as it was affected by rain.

2003 was a dry race, and also one of the best races of this decade...