Your Reject of the Race - Japan

[Londoner]

1. Stewards. Once again showing a complete and utter lack of consistency and decisiveness. A clear-cut jump start doesn't merit a penalty, when two weeks ago it was a slam dunk for Kimi. Also announcing that they were going to reopen the Leclerc/Verstappen investigation several laps after announcing no further action. I am disappoint.

2. Robert Kubica. "Yeah, I'll drop two wheels on the grass while starting my first flying lap, can't see a problem here". Very clearly wearing out Williams' patience with these shenanigans.

[IceG]

(1) This! https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/japa ... z/4557218/

So much technology that a visible and obvious jump-start is not a jump-start and a finish is not a finish

(2) Ferrari as usual

[dr-baker]

Rear view mirrors. Leclerc loses one, Hamilton loses one, left and right respectively if I remember correctly. Appeared to have absolutely no effect on speed or race craft, or any effect whatsoever in fact. What's the point of them?

[Fetzie]

Rear view mirrors. Leclerc loses one, Hamilton loses one, left and right respectively if I remember correctly. Appeared to have absolutely no effect on speed or race craft, or any effect whatsoever in fact. What's the point of them?

Commentators are always saying that the driver couldn't see somebody coming up behind them, I never really understood why they have them either.

[Miguel98]

1. Whoever put the flag 1 lap before the end - Yeah, again? Wow.
2. Michael Masi - The stewarding was even worse this weekend. He's not cut for the job. Terrible, terrible, terrible. No words.

HM to Charles Leclerc, because dear god, that was dumb.

[James1978]

Yes, I was totally scratching my head and the classification came up and Perez was still in the points - I thought initially it must have been something to do with how the lapped cars lay!

Other honourable mentions - Ferrari, defeat snatched from the jaws of victory again, especially Leclerc who was a downright mess. Especially as that attempt at fastest lap might have cost him a place if he does get penalised!

Hamilton - had a face like a slapped arse at the end.

[Klon]

(1) This! https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/japa ... z/4557218/

That.

Plus: Driver of the Day voting. What kind of drugs do you need to consume to think that Charles Leclerc did anything good in this race? Yet he was second by the time they revealed the voting results for DOTD.

[Fetzie]

This is a sport with precise timing, cameras everywhere, people checking everything and they can't count to 53.

My nomination is the person who set the chequered flag a lap early.

[Ataxia]

Robert Kubica, for telling an absolutely whopping dose of porkies.

That wing was never supposed to be used in the race, it was always a test item. Robert's just trying to save face.

[IceG]

This is a sport with precise timing, cameras everywhere, people checking everything and they can't count to 53.

My nomination is the person who set the chequered flag a lap early.

The more I cogitate on this, the worse I think it gets. The stewards and organisation failed at so many points:
- they did not penalise Vettel for his jump start - it does not matter whether an electronic device detects an illegal move, jump starts are dangerous and could have triggered a total mess had other drivers reacted to the obvious movement
- they did not force Leclerc to pit his dangerous car until at least one other vehicle had been struck by debris, despite the wing collapsing in slow motion in front of their eyes - they could and should have controlled this
- they changed their minds about whether the Verstappen/Leclerc incident should have been investigated and then decided to leave it until after the race - did they come under pressure from a team or another actor, consistency was absent here
- they allowed the checked flag board to come out early causing confusion for teams, drivers and fans, and a farcical finish

So: they didn't start the race properly, they didn't enforce safety, they didn't enforce discipline and they didn't finish the race properly - shambolic.

[rachel1990]

1- The Stewards. Another awful weekend- from Vettels jump start to LeClerc's penalty AFTER the race to the race finishing 1 lap early due to the flag being shown 1 lap early, it has been a disastrous day all round for the stewards.

2- Lewis Hamilton's reaction- 1- you should have out-qualified Bottas and beat him at the start if you wanted the better strategy. 2- That sarcastic 'Congratulations' after being told that Mercedes won the constructors on the radio really peeved me off. I am sorry that the team didn't revolve around you the whole race but Bottas outpaced you all weekend and beat you fair and square. Plus Japan is not Monaco. I am sure you could have got passed Vettel...

[lance_rambert]

Race Control needs to get their shite together. I normally point to NASCAR (see: this year's Roval race) as the poster child for dismal officiating, but F1 seems intent on taking that distinction given how god-awfully this race was run. Issues like the aforementioned make F1 that much more of a chore to watch.

[Meatwad]

Stewarding was a mess this time. Dishonorable mention to Ferrari for again not making the best of a great qualifying – only the stewards not penalizing Vettel for some reason made their race just a little less of a failure.

[Pacific Edge]

1st:The Ferrari drivers: Wouldn't be fair to fault the team as a whole for making a mess of this. Vettel was like "I'd better go, oh crap, the lights are on, better stop. Oh crap the lights are off, better go" By then the Mercs had bolted. And Leclerc made a real mess of that, and put himself out of contention, along with Verstappen.

2nd: The chequered coming out a lap early Come on, really?

3rd: The weather: All this talk of typhoons, and rain, and whatever else, and...... nothing......

[AdrianBelmonte_]

My nomination is slightly uncommon but i'm going to drop it, i'm nominating Haas

[Spectoremg]

The weather. Where was the aquaplaning duel I'd expected?

[Rob Dylan]

Seen the highlights and not the full thing, but the most obvious candidate would have to be:

- Sebastian Vettel not getting penalised for a jump start when Kimi Raikkonen did in the previous bloody race!

[yannicksamlad]

The 'early' finish fiasco is truly rejectful. What happens as a driver ? Raghunathan got a penalty for passing the chequered flag twice in F2 , so what do you do on lap 53 if the team tell you the race has ended already ( because theyve seen the flag icon on the timing) ?
In this case it seems no one did anything other than run to a 53 lap race, but what if someone had been told 'Race finished' as they were on lap 53? . Do they pull into the pits? Do they slow down ( or wait to see if anyone else slows down ?) . If marshals see the icon, do they wave yellow flags to slow down cars that they think should be on an 'in-lap'?

Robert Kubica - was very slow in the race and I think lost heart once being lapped meant he was losing so much time. But a very poor Sunday

[Bleu]

With the stewarding, race control on Leclerc's front wing and early finish, the award should go to FIA personnel entirely.

[dj_vicious]

I know the early checkered flag is a slam dunk ROTR, I have two more driver/team-centric nominations.

1. Robert Kubica: Look, we're all happy he was able to defeat all odds to return to F1, but after 17 uninspiring drives the triumph has worn off. Cross wind, a green track, a new steering wheel? The guy made a novice error and continued to blame everyone and everything but himself. Robert, you're about to embark on the final four races of your F1 career. Can you at least try and remind us of the driver you used to be? The old adage 'you couldn't beat a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest' is going to become 'you couldn't bean a one-armed driver in a Grand prix'.

2. The Ferrari Drivers: The Scuderia is getting more and more creative with how they can cock up their Grands Prix. Seb made an uncharacteristic jump-start, and he is darned fortunate he wasn't slapped with a jump start penalty. Charles needed to keep his head down on that opening lap and help keep Hamilton and Verstappen at bay, instead choosing the option to enter turn two far faster than a car in dirty air is capable of. I can't chastise him too much. He's still a kid and only in his second season, however, he is showing that when the world isn't revolving around him he becomes a bit of a hothead, and it consistently works against his favour.

[Alextrax52]

The Chequered Flag being waved early will obviously win it for being true reject material

The stewarding in general was pretty poor. Vettel was lucky not to be penalised for the same thing Räikkönen committed in Russia (one wonders if Räikkönen would have got that if he was still at Ferrari). And I’m amazed that Leclerc didn’t get the meatball flag immediately as well

Ferrari and Leclerc get a joint mention from me. Leclerc seemed to just forget to turn or slow down at the second corner while Ferrari were just a potential Vettel penalty away from letting Mercedes ease to a 1-2 unchallenged

Lastly where on earth were Alfa Romeo and Haas? Discounting the Grove Mobile Chicanes they the last 4 cars by some distance

[tc3j3r]

Charles Leclerc the contact with Verstappen was bad enough, but carrying on with the damaged wing was dangerous, and the flying debris could have caused Hamilton serious injury.

[Samster]

The timing glitch that caused a 52 lap race is pure reject material. Perez can thank his lucky stars that happened.

[Rob Dylan]

So I was on the verge of overriding a possible poll here as the various nominations can be grouped together in weird ways, and there was one general consensus amongst almost everyone as to what should be Reject of the Race. However, I love Democracy, I love The Republic, and with these powers you have given me I shall keep the poll open for the next 48 hours. Get voting.

[Rob Dylan]

So yes, I think that 100% voting rate give the impression that Race Control have won Reject of the Race in Suzuka, for the second time in three races! Criticised the forum over for their decisions during race-time, the stewards and those in charge of managing the Japanese Grand Prix seemed to do everything wrong over the two-hour race period. Inconsistency in handing out jump-start penalties, leniency in dangerous situations, publicly changing their mind, and then pulling the chequered flag out early. Just what went right for them this weekend?