Your Reject of the Race - Turkey!

Bob · Post by **Bob** » 08 May 2011, 13:38

I nominate Michael Schumacher - idiotic defence against Petrov and pootled around outside the points for the rest of the race.

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 08 May 2011, 13:41

I will have to give it to the McLaren and Ferrari pit crews for the problems they had on the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa respectively. Hamilton could have scored a podium and Massa with a couple points at least.

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 08 May 2011, 13:43

Schumacher's a good bet. Brutal race.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 08 May 2011, 13:48

Bob wrote:I nominate Michael Schumacher - idiotic defence against Petrov and pootled around outside the points for the rest of the race.

This.

ADx_Wales · Post by **ADx_Wales** » 08 May 2011, 13:48

Schuey, Reliving old glories when he hit into Petrov akin to losing the championship in 1997.

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 08 May 2011, 13:49

Dishonorable mentions to

Petrov, for pointlessly fighting with his team-mate

McLaren & Ferrari pitcrews, for the wheel problems and unsafe release.

Maldonado, for speeding in the pitlane, and almost certantly some other stuff.

but my winner is

Schumacher

Just give up, Michael.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 08 May 2011, 13:51

1 - Schumacher for a highly lacklustre race and for hurting his race with a reckless defence against petrov

2- McLaren and Ferrari pitcrews for blundering Hamilton and Massa races.

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 08 May 2011, 13:54

Schumacher - Doesn't need an explanation

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 08 May 2011, 13:55

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
and Williams again...

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 08 May 2011, 13:56

Michael Schumacher - GET OUT OF FORMULA ONE NOOB
Williams - YOU TOO

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » 08 May 2011, 13:58

DRS for making passing into turn 12 just TOO easy.

That seemed more obvious to me than any driver or team, I know Schumacher's an easy target these days though.......

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 08 May 2011, 14:05

Cynon wrote:Michael Schumacher - GET OUT OF FORMULA ONE NOOB
Maldonado - YOU TOO

Fixed.

Maldonado has been anything but impressive so far. On the other hand, Perez never fails to impress me. Williams was much better off keeping Hulkenberg. MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better off. Hulk wouldn't crash often, make mistakes often, and he would be close to Rubens or maybe even faster.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 08 May 2011, 14:09

Peter wrote:
Cynon wrote:Michael Schumacher - GET OUT OF FORMULA ONE NOOB
Maldonado - YOU TOO

Fixed.

Maldonado has been anything but impressive so far. On the other hand, Perez never fails to impress me. Williams was much better off keeping Hulkenberg. MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better off. Hulk wouldn't crash often, make mistakes often, and he would be close to Rubens or maybe even faster.

Maldonado is a legend among rejects. Therefore I love him. I just can't stand Williams and love rubbing salt into their (gaping) wound.

Ed24 · Post by **Ed24** » 08 May 2011, 14:09

Williams - They seem to be an eternal nominee, but they keep going badly. 15th and 17th, a lap down, despite promise from Rubens. Also, Maldonado's multiple crashes on Friday
DRS - I haven't found F1 artificial so far this year, but the DRS placement and standardised 4 pitstops made it feel a bit wrong for me today.
McLaren/Ferrari pitcrew - Damaged races of Hamilton and Massa with multiple bad pitstops. McLaren lucky not to have Hungary 2010 style crash with Massa, and Ferrari lucky not to get penalty for unsafe release.

Schumacher - Couldn't hack it in qualifying, and further embarrassing moves in the race. Sad to watch

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 08 May 2011, 14:24

Schumacher - Go home, Michael.

LukeB · Post by **LukeB** » 08 May 2011, 14:28

Maybe it's because there was so much going on and the director couldn't keep up, but the TV coverage seemed really poor.

tkcom · Post by **tkcom** » 08 May 2011, 14:29

Schumacher Why Merc's still throwing money at him is beyond me.

Dishonourable mentions
Maldonado Venezuelan cash evaporated... so did his talent.
FOM director Almost zero coverage on Kobayashi.

Ed24 · Post by **Ed24** » 08 May 2011, 14:33

LukeB wrote:Maybe it's because there was so much going on and the director couldn't keep up, but the TV coverage seemed really poor.

That seems to be a common theme this year. I wonder if they have cut staff numbers?

Post by **mario** » 08 May 2011, 14:45

James1978 wrote:DRS for making passing into turn 12 just TOO easy.

That seemed more obvious to me than any driver or team, I know Schumacher's an easy target these days though.......

I have to agree quite strongly with this point.

Take those passing Rosberg early on in the race - Rosberg could do nothing but ineffectually defend the inside line because everybody else could just drive straight past him to retake the racing line before Turn 12. It removed most of the skill required to judge the passing move - simply boost with KERS to keep within 1s off Turn 9, then "push to pass" with the DRS. No wonder Schumacher, and at times a few others, resorted to such aggressive tactics - the only vague chance of holding position was to try to scare your opponent off the road.

It's a real shame, because the trivial passes into Turn 12 distracted heavily from the passing moves elsewhere around the track that required skill, such as Button taking advantage of Rosberg's strategic error and driving clean around the outside of him in the final turn. In the previous races, DRS worked because it didn't give you such a large advantage, but here several drivers could make it past despite being several car lengths behind before Turn 11 (when the system kicked in) - it was too dominant a factor in overtaking here I feel.

As for the second nominee, I guess that pit lane mistakes/problems have to rank pretty highly here. Button's race was compromised when he had a slow pit stop that put him behind Massa, there was Hamilton's cross threaded front wheel nut that cost McLaren a lot of time and Ferrari were both sluggish (consistently slower than Mercedes, McLaren or Red Bull) and, in the case of Massa, dangerous (he could easily have speared into Hamilton's side). There were a few other pit crews that had slightly scruffy stops too, so all in all the mechanics were not quite on the ball there.

fjackdaw · Post by **fjackdaw** » 08 May 2011, 15:06

I agree with many of the above. The winner:

Schumacher - the worst race craft out of anyone? Really?

Others:

FOM race feed - Cutting away from a passing manoeuvre, missing pretty much all of KK's overtakes, plus that continuing annoying habit of missing laps 3-5 because of achingly slow replays of the start.

DRS - it certainly helped liven the race up, but it's a bit annoying when the faster cars can easily shuffle themselves up to the front without any kind of fight.

solarcold · Post by **solarcold** » 08 May 2011, 15:23

I would nominate Virgin for spoiling Glock's weekend. I don't like the team, but feel sorry for Timo.
A solid drive by D'Ambrosio though, beaten HRT unfortunately

Also, Maldonado.

As for Schumaher, I predict him returning into a good condition in 1-2 weekends.

tc3j3r · Post by **tc3j3r** » 08 May 2011, 15:41

Michael Schumacher. Having shown promising pace when it didn't matter, well off the pace when it did, and dreadful racecraft, fighting when he should have given up and giving up when he could have kept fighting.

pablo_h · Post by **pablo_h** » 08 May 2011, 15:45

Runner up: renault
ROTR: Schumacher. I guess he knows it now too based on his comments after the race. I don't know if all of you did watch the BBC race coverage and after race interviews, but he looks like he doesn't want to do this anymore.
If he lasts the season, who is going to go to Mercedes next year?

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 08 May 2011, 15:46

I'm going out on a limb and nominating Virgin here too. It might seem odd of me but the entire focus of their winter preparation was to overcome the reliability problems which plagued them and to a lesser extent Lotus last year. For Timo to not even make it out of the pits to start the race having lost 5th gear is pretty poor in my books. I can accept that the upgrades will take some time to develop so they work properly on the car, but come on guys I would have expected a DNS last year, but not now.

Aside from that, Schumacher had a pretty poor race after all the pre-race hype on Mercedes, and I also have to agree with the nomination of the DRS. Could it be perhaps that it has a greater effect uphill, and also the fact that there was a headwind on the run down to turn 12? In all the other three instances this year when DRS has been used, I'd imagine neither of those factors will have played a part in assisting the overtaking driver once DRS was deployed.

pablo_h · Post by **pablo_h** » 08 May 2011, 15:51

AndreaModa wrote:...I also have to agree with the nomination of the DRS. Could it be perhaps that it has a greater effect uphill, and also the fact that there was a headwind on the run down to turn 12? In all the other three instances this year when DRS has been used, I'd imagine neither of those factors will have played a part in assisting the overtaking driver once DRS was deployed.

Like Alonso said, DRS didn't matter as much as the tyres. Yes DRS overtakes were easy when the car behind had good tyres. If tyres were bad, they weren't overtaking anyone with DRS used anyway, If tyre's were good they could defend against anyone with worse tyres but using DRS against them.

Myrvold · Post by **Myrvold** » 08 May 2011, 15:56

DRS. Done Deal.

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 08 May 2011, 16:03

mario wrote:No wonder Schumacher, and at times a few others, resorted to such aggressive tactics - the only vague chance of holding position was to try to scare your opponent off the road.

Schumacher doesn't need excuses to be so agressive. Other than that, I agree with what you say.

My nomination is Michael Schumacher.

ibsey · Post by **ibsey** » 08 May 2011, 16:55

I also vote for M Schumi.

I know this award only goes towards a race performance, but in the context of Schumi's other mistakes this weekend i.e;

1. Poor Quali, which was down to his mistake (something he admited in the prerace build up on BBC).

2. Serveral spins in the wet session on Friday, especially at T11.

So it makes his poor race performance, against this background, even worse. You have to ask yourself, if M Schumi was a newboy, would Mercedes constantly put up with his bad performances since his comeback?

Ferrim wrote:
mario wrote:No wonder Schumacher, and at times a few others, resorted to such aggressive tactics - the only vague chance of holding position was to try to scare your opponent off the road.

Schumacher doesn't need excuses to be so agressive. Other than that, I agree with what you say.

My nomination is Michael Schumacher.

True that Schumi doesn't need excuses to be so aggressive. However perhaps part of the problem today was Schumi putting himself under massive pressure to succeed, hence why he was so aggressive in his defensive move against Petrov early on. Also I believe that was the reason for his mistake in Q3 - where he basically tried too hard through T8 & overcooked the tyres. All this in an attempt to make up for a small mistake in T1. I sense if he drove within himself (& the limits of the new Pirelli tyres) a bit more, the results would start to come his way. I mean today, 6th place was a possibility for him.

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 08 May 2011, 17:50

williams again

honourable mentions for shumi and the virgin update package

Ross Prawn · Post by **Ross Prawn** » 08 May 2011, 18:12

Schumacher sadly, He needs to give up before his destroys his reputation.

LionZoo · Post by **LionZoo** » 08 May 2011, 18:22

ibsey wrote:I also vote for M Schumi.

I know this award only goes towards a race performance, but in the context of Schumi's other mistakes this weekend i.e;

1. Poor Quali, which was down to his mistake (something he admited in the prerace build up on BBC).

2. Serveral spins in the wet session on Friday, especially at T11.

So it makes his poor race performance, against this background, even worse. You have to ask yourself, if M Schumi was a newboy, would Mercedes constantly put up with his bad performances since his comeback?

Ferrim wrote:
mario wrote:No wonder Schumacher, and at times a few others, resorted to such aggressive tactics - the only vague chance of holding position was to try to scare your opponent off the road.

Schumacher doesn't need excuses to be so agressive. Other than that, I agree with what you say.

My nomination is Michael Schumacher.

True that Schumi doesn't need excuses to be so aggressive. However perhaps part of the problem today was Schumi putting himself under massive pressure to succeed, hence why he was so aggressive in his defensive move against Petrov early on. Also I believe that was the reason for his mistake in Q3 - where he basically tried too hard through T8 & overcooked the tyres. All this in an attempt to make up for a small mistake in T1. I sense if he drove within himself (& the limits of the new Pirelli tyres) a bit more, the results would start to come his way. I mean today, 6th place was a possibility for him.

I agree with this completely. The man was six tenths faster in FP3 than in Q3 even though he was fueled for multiple laps. He's got the pace, but he's just trying too hard. Certainly he doesn't have the peace of mind that he had in the old days. Confidence is often something that is underestimated, but really that's the difference between Vettel and Webber as well as between Schumacher and Rosberg this year.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 08 May 2011, 18:35

Bob wrote:I nominate Michael Schumacher - idiotic defence against Petrov and pootled around outside the points for the rest of the race.

Plus yet again, not being close to Rosberg, who at least seems capable of leading the team...

DOSBoot · Post by **DOSBoot** » 08 May 2011, 19:20

I have to go for the Shumacher boat. That was just deperate stuff right there.

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 08 May 2011, 19:31

AndreaModa wrote:I'm going out on a limb and nominating Virgin here too. It might seem odd of me but the entire focus of their winter preparation was to overcome the reliability problems which plagued them and to a lesser extent Lotus last year. For Timo to not even make it out of the pits to start the race having lost 5th gear is pretty poor in my books. I can accept that the upgrades will take some time to develop so they work properly on the car, but come on guys I would have expected a DNS last year, but not now.

And Virgin are the only team still running a gearbox made by those enfants terribles of the transmission world, which plagued Lotus and Hispania as well last year... Xtrac, who really need to go home rather more than Herr Schumi.

I'm sure Nikolai Fomenko can find an old Lada rusting in his back garden somewhere. Rip the gearbox out of that and it'd do a better job. Not to mention that it wouldn't have a fifth gear to go wrong.

solarcold · Post by **solarcold** » 08 May 2011, 19:50

I'm pretty sure our good old Lada has a lot of details for them to think about.

watka · Post by **watka** » 08 May 2011, 20:15

Michael Schumacher and the DRS zone (we should not have cars just overtaking in a straight line) are prime candidates but Virgin have to top my reject podium. Timo Glock's car had the upgrades but was actually slower than D'Ambrosio's non-upgraded car and Liuzzi!

Eryx · Post by **Eryx** » 08 May 2011, 21:35

Schumi for being ...hopless......again.....i just think its all to much for the old german ....i know he has racer still in...but...he just struggles to adjust....plus being with ferrari and having a car that cud allot of the time win a race with a shite driver innit (no reference to schumis titles with ferrari and it being the best car on the grid and having titles gifted to him n not earned)((no really)) Schumi isnt used to fighting this low down hes not used to overtaking hes not used to squabbling for posistion hes used to just setting a fast lap n dominance...

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 08 May 2011, 21:56

My nominations:

The DRS Zone: It may have been a one-off but I clearly remember Brundle saying the DRS zone was too long this weekend in the early stages of the race
Pastor Maldonado: If it wasn't for the oil money he wouldn't be driving right now.

But my reject of the race is:
Michael Schumacher: Explanation not necessary.

Priceless · Post by **Priceless** » 08 May 2011, 22:00

My nominations:

3rd: Pastor Maldonado - were it not for trouble on Kovalainen's car I think he'd been beaten again. Add that speeding penalty to top it off.
2nd: Virgin Racing - Timo's car lost 5th gear as he was making his way to the grid, forcing him to not start the race; also in qualifying the Hispanias caught up to them even though they were running revised parts on one of their cars. They'd better watch out...
1st: Michael Schumacher - his defensive maneuvers against Petrov, and Barrichello later in the race, were quite reject-worthy IMO. As already been said here, they were reminiscent of the way he lost the 1997 title...

Dishonorable mentions:

Ferrari and McLaren pit crews - botched Massa and Hamilton's races respectively. Massa could definitely get 5th or 6th but finished just out of the points, 1.8 sec behind Kobayashi (who in turn had a great drive from last on the grid); and as Hamilton finished 4th, which wasn't too bad at all, he finished 30 secs behind Alonso - I think he could fight for that podium place were it not for the bad pit stops.
DRS zone placement - combined with KERS it made overtaking into turn 12 too easy. The car behind would just blast past the car ahead, and the driver in front just had nothing he could do to defend.

the Masked Lapwing · Post by **the Masked Lapwing** » 09 May 2011, 00:00

Schumacher - That was properly pathetic, especially for a guy like him.
Ferrari pit crew - Poor Massa.
McLaren pit crew - No, wait, they ruined Hamilton's race.
DRS - This is what everyone was saying about it being too easy to pass.