Reject of the Race - Austria 2022

[Londoner]

1. AlphaTauri. Slow, Gasly getting penalties left right and centre, never looked close to troubling the points.

2. F2 Feature Race. An absolute shambles. Also, when a 31 year old driver finishes 2nd on the road having not sat in a F2 car for four years, that is not a good look for the rest of the field.

[rachel1990]

1 Alpha Tauri- really really poor overall. No pace and more incidents on the track

2 Ferrari reliability. Again. Took an easy 1-2 and turned it into nearly losing the win and another engine loss.

Hm George Russell. I am a big fan of George but you can't do that George.

Hm track Limits. Stay within the white lines. How is it that difficult.

Hm Aston Martin- another really poor weekend. No pace and falling further behind haas

[IceG]

(1) Alpha Tauri -messy, careless and pointless

(2) Sainz' engine

[RAK]

1) AlphaTauri: Slow and causing trouble - not a good weekend for them.

2) Aston Martin: Vettel at the back and Stroll not that far ahead; lacking pace.

Dishonourable Mention: Ferrari's reliability - Lost Sainz a likely podium and risked Leclerc's victory.

[mario]

I am not sure if some are aware of this, but there have been reports of problems this race with hooliganism in the stands that have resulted in racist and homophobic chants being thrown at a number of drivers, along with reports of harassment, physical assaults and some women claiming to have been sexually assaulted (with a number of drunken fans groping various female spectators, cat calling and other offences). The FIA has announced that there will be an investigation, which we can only hope will ensure that there isn't a repeat of these offences later in the season.

[Alextrax52]

Ferrari reliability: How many times do we need to mention this? Their lucky that Red Bull have had similar issues and Mercedes aren’t quick enough to be in the title race

Pierre Gasly: AlphaTauri were rubbish but he was way worse on his own. Collisions, multiple penalties, refusal to serve penalties. His stock since the end of last year has fallen badly.

Aston Martin: The Jaguar 2002 impression is still going strong. The car is a dud but I also think the Vettel/Stroll pairing has to be the most unmotivated on the grid. One looks more interested in everything but driving the car and the other looks like he’s just happy to be there safe in the knowledge his place is under no threat. What a mess.

Crowd Trouble: I won’t get into it but I’ve heard about some of the nasty stuff going on between fans. I hope F1 does something about it but given how they handled the fans at Belgium last year I won’t hold my breath.

The podium graphic: Perez first for Ferrari, Sainz 2nd for Red Bull and Verstappen 3rd for Mercedes? Season 5 in F1 22 career mode right there.

[Vassago]

1. AlphaTauri - If it wasn't for Vettel's penalty they'd have finished in the last two places. They did so on the road. Tsunoda is having another anonymous spell and Gasly was just nowhere once he bumped into Vettel.

2. Aston Martin - speaking of anonymous, they are right there. Vettel is back to the old man who doesn't give a damn anymore shtick while Stroll is... Stroll. Haas has suddenly gotten another points spike despite lack of updates so this will be a challenge to see if AM pass them in the teams standings anytime soon.

[Klon]

Gentlemen and ladies, may I remind you of Alpine letting Alonso hang with his tyre heaters in the sprint race.

Plus, the Austrian crowd - well, actually the Dutch crowd, but you get the point - did not win any fans. Drunken harassers of women who reduce visibility on the track with their asinine orange fireworks.

[Hermann95]

Gentlemen and ladies, may I remind you of Alpine letting Alonso hang with his tyre heaters in the sprint race.

Plus, the Austrian crowd - well, actually the Dutch crowd, but you get the point - did not win any fans. Drunken harassers of women who reduce visibility on the track with their asinine orange fireworks.

+1

[dr-baker]

I have always viewed this award as something a bit fun, tongue-in-cheek, nothing too serious. Therefore I would rather see the award go to something like Alonso still being on his jacks with tyre blankets still on rather than to spectators racially and sexually abusing other spectators.

[Meatwad]

Based on the reports, the crowd definitely looks like a strong candidate. Dishonorable mention to AlphaTauri.

[Fetzie]

1. Alpine, for leaving Alonso high and dry (and with his tyres still in the blankets) at the start of the sprint race.
2. Drivers exceeding track limits. 64 lap times were deleted at this race. With 1323 completed laps, that means the times for nearly 1 in every 20 laps were deleted because the driver couldn't keep it between the lines. On average, the field was barely able to go a single racing lap without a time being deleted.

DHM1: The fireworks. One of the leading causes for me not going to an F1 race. I thought they were supposed to be getting banned?
DHM2: Ferrari PUs.

[Spectoremg]

1. Track limits. I'm taking a different view on this one. The troublesome corner is 50/50 - another half metre and you're on gravel and in trouble. Where's the crime?
2. Ferrari quality control. Worrying for the team.

[James1978]

I think with the track limits, if everyone was doing it then the criteria is too harsh. If it was 1 or 2 drivers yes but not nearly everyone!

Otherwise Vettel was pretty poor for a 4-time champion, and Sainz's engine, well that a blow-up from the 80s turbo days!

[mario]

DHM1: The fireworks. One of the leading causes for me not going to an F1 race. I thought they were supposed to be getting banned?

If they were, it seems the security staff weren't doing anything to check for them - there are reports that the security staff weren't interested in searching for those sorts of things, or really doing any searches at all (basically, just waiving people through so long as they said they didn't have any glass bottles).

[Rob Dylan]

DHM1: The fireworks. One of the leading causes for me not going to an F1 race. I thought they were supposed to be getting banned?

If they were, it seems the security staff weren't doing anything to check for them - there are reports that the security staff weren't interested in searching for those sorts of things, or really doing any searches at all (basically, just waiving people through so long as they said they didn't have any glass bottles).

Well, forgive me for sounding facetious, but when you have a 100,000+ crowd coming through the gates at 8am on a Sunday, how strict are you willing and able to be?

[Bleu]

1. Pierre Gasly
Bad mistakes in both sprint and Grand Prix
2. Fan behaviour
No need to say more.

[Pacific Edge]

Ferrari: Another engine in the bin, this is going to come back to bite them later

[Rob Dylan]

Democracy is back! You have 48 hours to decide upon your chosen Reject of the Race from the Austrian Grand Prix! Poll is at the top of this thread.

[noiceinmydrink]

DHM1: The fireworks. One of the leading causes for me not going to an F1 race. I thought they were supposed to be getting banned?

If they were, it seems the security staff weren't doing anything to check for them - there are reports that the security staff weren't interested in searching for those sorts of things, or really doing any searches at all (basically, just waiving people through so long as they said they didn't have any glass bottles).

They hardly even searched for the glass bottles to be quite honest. I was going through the queue with my rucksack ready to give to the security guy and he asks "any glass bottles?" and I go "I don't but you can check her-" and waved me through in an instant, So security was pretty lax in that regard.

The other thing I'd like to address is the crowd behaviour, particularly in regards to women (I didn't see anything but that obviously doesn't mean it didn't happen). I'm concious of the fact that I may well be preaching to the choir here as this is something I noticed more on places like Reddit, the second worst place on the internet and I freely admit I am responsible for my own self-harm by visiting and sorting by 'new' on the reg, but I'm annoyed by the idea that harrasment of women is 'new' or 'shocking' and somehow F1 is 'above this', the same sport that had us oogling at grid girls for years on years and even had a book on the issue by (admittedly) faux-feminist and crypto-fascist Beverly Turner.

As with hooliganism and booing and politics and the like, F1 does not exist in a bubble where it's not effected by societal issues and it's silly to think that F1 has a magic bullet with which it can just fix it. Saying F1 needs to take responsibility is all well and good but ultimately the resposibility lies with the individual attending the event. (I also don't care for the narrative that it's 'only' Dutch fans or it's 'only' Max Verstappen fans as if sexism is a Dutch export along with Grolsch and scrap-iron. You can always trust the most upvoted hero-users on Reddit to fight discrimination with more discrimination.)

Sure F1 can tighten security and keep an ear out for unruly children and put them in the naughty corner, but as long as sexist harrasment exists in the real world, it will exist in F1 and F1 fandoms.

So with that said, Pierre Gasly.

[dr-baker]

', the same sport that had us oogling at grid girls for years on years and even had a book on the issue

You know, when I read this, I realised that I don't even notice that the grid girls are not there any more. It certainly does not detract from the spectacle without them.

[Bleu]

The fact that Alonso's car didn't start at all tells that leaving tyre warmers on wasn't the reason Alonso couldn't leave for the warm-up lap.

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

The fact that Alonso's car didn't start at all tells that leaving tyre warmers on wasn't the reason Alonso couldn't leave for the warm-up lap.

Correct. Doesn't mean Alpine weren't rejectful, but it wasn't because of the tire warmers.

[Londoner]

Find out who spluttered like a Trabant towards ROTR ignominy!