Grand Prix Rejects

My first choice is the turn 1 cameraman - what was up with all those random, quick pans?! It felt as though there had been an incident of some sort at first, then it became predictable, distracting and just weird overall.

I agree on the camerawork. But I nominate Daniil Kvyat. He didn't do himself any favors with his first lap antics – he ruined the race for both McLaren drivers and then himself with the penalty. That Albon managed to score a point after starting from the pit lane just added insult to injury.

Not a lot to choose from to be honest, so I’ll go with Lando’s tyre strategy, putting the same set of tyres that you only just took off early in the race? Why?

Ferrari team orders

I think without question it has to be Alain Prost. That was without a doubt the single worst flag-waving attempt in my time watching this sport, and my faith in the race-finishing procedure is forever shaken. I'm officially done with F1!

Meatwad wrote:I agree on the camerawork. But I nominate Daniil Kvyat. He didn't do himself any favors with his first lap antics – he ruined the race for both McLaren drivers and then himself with the penalty. That Albon managed to score a point after starting from the pit lane just added insult to injury.

Having rewatched the incident, I would say that Kvyat seemed to be a bit hard done by in that incident - it looked more like a racing incident, and I do feel that the drive through penalty was somewhat harsh on him.

FortiWinks wrote:Not a lot to choose from to be honest, so I’ll go with Lando’s tyre strategy, putting the same set of tyres that you only just took off early in the race? Why?

Did they really reuse the same set of tyres later in the race? If that is correct, that does sound fairly rejectful.

The penalty on Kvyat was harsh, I've seen bigger incidents resulting in 5 secs. slap. Like Davidson said on TV, it was a case of 3-to-1 with Norris outside the racing line already.

The camera work in T1 was a joke. Same for the backstretch bridge view of people eating ice cream when there was a pass in the going. Some dubious 3 secs. fade away on Lap 1 when there's always some action! This might have been some of the worst TV directing in the 21st century I've seen.

Honorable mention: Haas. Grosjean said he wanted to split the Red Bulls but couldn't even pass a Toro Rosso on ancient tires in the end

I’m sorry but the entire race was a bore. I DVR’d the GP so I could watch when I wake up. I guess I shouldn’t have bothered. Reject of the Race: Chinese GP itself.

I will nominate the camera work, Haas and McLaren for fitting Norris car with reused tyres.

If it wasn't for "Vettel is totally faster dude, please acknowledge that you understand this message bro" I don't think I would remember anything about this race.

So I nominate Ferrari's team orders and The Chinese GP.

It's too easy to say Williams, so I'll say Kvyat. The penalty was harsh but he was at fault. With Albon having had a great race, Kvyat might find himself without a drive before long.

I think I will have to give it to Ferrari. once Again Mercedes drove into the distance and once again they mess it up. Maybe the team orders were a good idea at the time with Vettel 'Looking' faster but it turns out it was only DRS. Surely someone could have looked at the TV. I did and noticed it instantly. Anyway doing that messed up LeClerc's race and a Ferrari 3-4 turned into a 3-5. plus the fact that they were 14 seconds behind Mercedes.

How much Longer do they persist with Vettel being the 'Number one' driver when he isn't delivering the goods?

hm- The race itself. Maybe it was perfect for the 1000th race that it was a procession.
hm- Mclaren and the tire fiasco- Really? Used tires from earlier in the race

mario wrote:

FortiWinks wrote:Not a lot to choose from to be honest, so I’ll go with Lando’s tyre strategy, putting the same set of tyres that you only just took off early in the race? Why?

Did they really reuse the same set of tyres later in the race? If that is correct, that does sound fairly rejectful.

Yeah, the commentators were wondering why there was a scuff mark on a supposedly brand new set of tyres but then asked McLaren and said that it’s the same set that were used at the start of the race and the mark was from the contact with Kvyat’s car.

Camerawork/ TV race direction. What happened ? Watching Indycar makes me appreciate F! coverage so much. But dropped a level in this race !

1) Danill Kvyat. Overcommitted and ruined not just his race, but the races of both Mclaren drivers as well.

2) Pierre Gasly. Was nowhere yet again in the battle of the Big 3. Ricciardo and Perez had slight chances to catch Gasly at different points in the race.

Dishonorable mentions:
Mclaren's Tire Swaps (A pretty amateurish mistake, but they probably weren't going to get points after lap 1's collision anyway)

Romain Grosjean (Struggled to have any presence throughout the weekend, something that won't keep him in Haas's good graces for long if it continues)

McLaren's tyre set mistake is the kind of thing that shouts ROTR to me. Gasly even got sixth this time, though it was way closer than it should have been.

Antonio Giovinazzi - Yes, this week he had a strategy misstep, but he didn't seem on pace even before that. Still has 0 points to his teammates 12, and because of this Alfa is now behind the dumpster fire that is Renault in the WCC. The car is there, they just need to not be a one car team.

Wallio wrote:Antonio Giovinazzi - Yes, this week he had a strategy misstep, .

And a mis-installed engine that lost him a practice session and a Leclerc-style ignition failure in Q1... I think he gets a pass for those issues alone

The re-used set was the only medium set McLaren had - so after taking hards on the first lap they had that medium and the bunch of softs, some of them being used in qualifying.

IceG wrote:

and a Leclerc-style ignition failure in Q1... [/quote]

Ah, see I'd not heard that. Doubly interesting as his was the only Ferrari engine to not change the electrics. Kimi, both Haas' and the factory cars went to an older spec of that component. Hmmmmmm

I think we've got to afford Giovinazzi a bit of time - at least as much as we gave Leclerc. Baku was the turning point, and back in the GP2 days Giovinazzi did the double in 2016.

So far, he's not looked great - and we must remember that last year's Sauber was not in the position that this year's Alfa Romeo is now; Raikkonen's been consistently good, his pace has been excellent, and so far he's the best of the rest in the standings.

I'd like to take Ferrari to task on this one. Awful strategy for Leclerc, and the less said about team orders the better.

Norris's tyre swap kinda made sense, a) he'd done one lap on them so it wasn't entirely stupid to use them again, and b) he only had two sets of mediums available during the weekend. Lap one had put a heat cycle through them, so they were in working order once they'd got them on again.

He had floor damage anyway, so any kind of result was not on the cards.

Ferrari were awful, and if they don't change then Mercedes will be champions before the US GP. They had the best equipment and they threw it.

So the Reject of the Race poll for China is up! I have perhaps controversially left out Daniil Kvyat, who was voted for a few times, due to the disagreements in the conversation as to the harshness of the penalty, and the extension of the blame. Lando Norris / McLaren is still there, though likewise there's some discussion as to the rejectfulness of the tyre move.

Anyhoo, say so if you have any problems with those options. In the meantime, you have 48 hours to vote!

Our third race of 2019 has our third constructor winner. This time, in our 1,000th race, Ferrari win Reject of the Race for what seems like the thousandth time! Their pace was lacklustre to say the least, and as the main opposition competition, they are embarrassing themselves and allowing Mercedes to take all but two Fastest Lap points after three races. Their team orders on Charles Leclerc turned out to be the wrong move in retrospect, and overall they simply aren't taking the fight to the world champions the way they and we keep expecting and asking them to. A rather ordinary winner, but then again, it was a rather ordinary race.