Reject of the Race - Holland 2022

[Londoner]

1. AlphaTauri. Absolute clownshow with Tsunoda, brewing conspiracies across the internet. A slam dunk ROTR, because literally none of us can understand what happened.

2. Race Control. Unbelievable. How does it take a whole lap to bring out a safety car when there's a car stranded at the fastest part of the circuit? I am so utterly sick of the cavalier attitude to safety in Formula 1 nowadays. Also the stewards seemingly didn't want to do any work today, what with the lateness of all the investigations being announced.

Honourable mentions to:
Haas, who converted Mick Schumacher's P8 starting position to Pnowhere with two awful pitstops.
Kevin Magnussen drove like an imbecile all day.
Daniel Ricciardo. At this point, McLaren should seriously consider giving Piastri a soft debut for the last few races of the season, this is utterly tragic to watch.

[rachel1990]

1. AlphaTauri. Absolute clownshow with Tsunoda, brewing conspiracies across the internet. A slam dunk ROTR, because literally none of us can understand what happened.

2. Race Control. Unbelievable. How does it take a whole lap to bring out a safety car when there's a car stranded at the fastest part of the circuit? I am so utterly sick of the cavalier attitude to safety in Formula 1 nowadays. Also the stewards seemingly didn't want to do any work today, what with the lateness of all the investigations being announced.

Honourable mentions to:
Haas, who converted Mick Schumacher's P8 starting position to Pnowhere with two awful pitstops.
Kevin Magnussen drove like an imbecile all day.
Daniel Ricciardo. At this point, McLaren should seriously consider giving Piastri a soft debut for the last few races of the season, this is utterly tragic to watch.

Londoner said it better than I ever could.

[Klon]

Where to even start with this race? Actually, I will just nominate the entire race, just for being a complete feces demonstration.

Yuki Tsunoda/AlphaTauri - I don't know who is responsible for this, nor do I care. Both are Reject of the Race for this

Sebastian Vettel's Pit Exit - a certified "Retire, Old Man" moment

Carlos Sainz - ignoring yellows, unsafe release, endangering Sergio Pérez

Sir Lewis Hamilton - botched the restart, then threw his team under the bus (just in case you have forgotten why everyone but his fans celebrated Abu Dhabi 2021)

[TomPryce]

AlphaTauri - what the hell was that?
Race Control - an absolute shambles from beginning to end.

HM: Ferrari/Sainz - essentially for ruining Sainz's race, leading to the absolute cluster that was Sainz's racecraft.

[RAK]

1) AlphaTauri: An absolute joke of a retirement which led itself to massive suspicion.

2) Daniel Ricciardo: Well, well behind his teammate and showing exactly why he's been turfed for Piastri.

Dishonourable Mentions: Race Control, Lewis Hamilton

[Shadaza]

1) The Whole event.

A shitshow from start to finish.

2) The AT "Incident"

But of all the mystery madness, this has to be the worst. Stopping on track, returning to pits then stopping on track again to essentially fix the win (intended or not) for Verstappen. Incompetent at best, criminal at worst.

[You-Gee-Eee-Day]

1. Race Control - someone is going to get killed if they keep doing this.
2. Lewis Hamilton/Merc - what a shitshow.

[Aerond]

The AlphaTauri / Tsunoda saga was such a display of clownery that nothing else going on can even touch it.

[IceG]

(1) Ricciardo, such a shame.

(2) Me for this prediction

Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race: Ferrari for doing nothing hilarious or stupid

[Enforcer]

Some options today.

Ferrari & Carlos Sainz:
Botched pitstop. Left their wheelgun in dangerous place. Generally went backwards during the race and after going close in qualifying were clearly nowhere near either Red Bull or Merc in race trim. Only Hamilton's tires kept them in a podium position. Overtaking with a stationary car on the track. Unsafe release and delusion afterwards.

Ricciardo: Only beat Lastifi. At this stage I think Lastifi is only on the grid to prevent embarrassment by ensuring no matter what anyone else does, they'd at least be saved the indignity of being last.

Alpha Tauri & Tsunoda:
"There's something wrong with the car!"
"No! Keep going!"
*Slow lap because he's undone his belts, followed by a slow pitstop*
"Still something wrong!"
"Ok, stop now."
Absolutely embarrassing and potentially dangerous.

Haas: Converted a decent qualifying into nothing again.

Crofty & Button:
Looked for fake rain early on. Talked up Hamilton's chances of winning before smashing their faces into a big pile of copium later when RB put on softs by saying Merc weren't fast enough to win anyway. Also appeared to want Merc to have screwed Russell just so Hamilton could've stayed in the lead for another lap or two.

Can Sky please hire some commentators who aren't absolute cretins? Or at least keep Brundle in the box year round. At least he occasionally puts the brakes on Crofty's delusions.

EDIT: Salty HAMbois: Some are unironically suggesting AT intentionally manipulated the race to benefit Red Bull. Don't ascribe to malice what can be attributed to idiocy. More to the point, Max would've stopped in a couple of laps anyway, been a few seconds behind Lewis with fresher tires, a third of the race to go and a car easily capable of just blasting by down the main straight (especially with DRS assist). Race manipulation was not required.

[Spectoremg]

1. Tsunoda/AT. Do the authorities have access to their race data?
2. Sainz. He seemed slow out of his pit box which made it look worse.

[Pacific Edge]

Ooofff, got a few here..

That idiot who threw a flare on the track during qualy: Well done bonehead

Ferrari (Sainz' stops): These days, it just wouldn't be a complete race if Ferrari didn't make a mess of SOMETHING

Mercedes: Super lucky that Russell was on the ball, everyone else was fast asleep

Haas: Really didn't make the most of Schumacher's qualifying, couple clumsy stops didn't help.

Tsunoda/Alpha Tauri: Stop, no go, now pit, Why did you unbuckle your seatbelt? Now go, NOW stop.

And lastly (I am sorry for this one) Ricciardo: Nothing, just nowhere all weekend

Crofty & Button:
Looked for fake rain early on. Talked up Hamilton's chances of winning before smashing their faces into a big pile of copium later when RB put on softs by saying Merc weren't fast enough to win anyway. Also appeared to want Merc to have screwed Russell just so Hamilton could've stayed in the lead for another lap or two.

Can Sky please hire some commentators who aren't absolute cretins? Or at least keep Brundle in the box year round. At least he occasionally puts the brakes on Crofty's delusions.

Actually, a good point, Why is Croft even there? They have Brundle, Button, Chandhok, Di Resta, even Hill if they absolutely must.

[Paul Hayes]

It has to be Alpha Tauri. Both for the obvious safety issues and possibly robbing us of the drama of seeing Verstappen having to fight past the two Mercedes - although I suppose Bottas's problem would have changed things there anyway.

[Alextrax52]

IMO I think Rob should do what he did in Canada and award a slam dunk without votes for this one. I could watch that whole situation with Tsunoda/AlphaTauri on repeat and I’d still have no idea what they were trying to achieve. The worst bit is they’ve triggered a load of race fixing cries from the nomination below. To say they look expendable is an understatement.

Elsewhere…

Ferrari/Sainz: I wonder if there’s people out there betting on what lap Ferrari are going to have a screw up in a similar way to when people bet on what lap the red cars would break down in 1996. A clown stop for Sainz which also endangered another car, Sainz overtaking under yellows and the car wasn’t particularly quick. The worst bit is Leclerc actually had a clean race for once and yet needed a Merc strategy screw up to scrape a podium.

Hamilton/Mercedes: A colossal eff up which at the very least cost them a double podium if not a first win of the year for Lewis. Once it was clear he wouldn’t even be on the podium you knew what was coming on the radio graphic next. It’s been mentioned here before but Hamilton just doesn’t seem to follow his racing instincts in key strategic moments and instead follows Merc’s current plan to the letter. Russell highlighted this with his ruthlessness in demanding Softs.

Race control: Yeah let’s take a whole lap to deploy a safety car for a stranded car next to the main overtaking spot in the race. Can’t see any problems here. With each passing race I’m more convinced that Masi wasn’t just the sole problem in that booth

Sebastian Vettel: A performance that the old “hang up the keys” award would have been proud of. Off in Q1, had no race pace, the first blue flag penalty for someone in a long time and nowhere near his teammate. No doubt more interested in his beekeeping than his driving right now.

Daniel Ricciardo: If I were McLaren I’d sack him now and let Piastri have a taster for next year. This is boarding on unacceptable. He only outpaced Latifi who is Latifi.

Haas: This was a track that suited them and they wasted Mick’s position with one of the worst pitstops all season

The guy who threw the flare in Qualifying: Don’t really need to say anymore on this one

TeamLH cultists: I am sick to the back teeth of this lot now. Every day of a race weekend now seems like there’s something causing a conspiracy to help Max. From accusations of flares being thrown at Hamilton to the Perez spun on purpose to stop Merc getting pole cry and finally AlphaTauri causing race fixing. I’m not saying Max fans are perfect (their definitely not) but I can’t wait for Hamilton to retire purely because this lot will do one.

(I probably should have put this in rantbox but they were worse than usual this weekend)

[Vassago]

1. AlphaTauri - I assume Tsunoda had some other problem than a loose wheel to begin with. Still it caused a totally unneccessary havoc. He was three laps down when he rejoined so it was useless to do that and it almost denied Mercedes a shot at victory (before Mercedes themselves fumbled it away after the Bottas SC).

HM #1: Mercedes - Well, Russell overruled the pitwall while Hamilton who called the strategy here and there over the years himself managed not to overrule the wrong call from the pits.

HM #2: Daniel Ricciardo - going out with a whimper. Finished 17th only ahead of Latifi. Really?

I'm gonna spare Ferrari this time since Leclerc at least salvaged an unlikely podium.

[takagi_for_the_win]

Well I was going to nominate Lewis Hamilton for coming fourth with the third fastest car, not being able to hold off Verstappen who had a car advantage and a tyre advantage, before then in the heat of the moment not being happy with a confusing team strategy, but then I regained my senses and realised I wasn’t on r/formula1.

Instead, the obvious slam dunk nominations are Tsunoda/Alpha Tauri for whatever the bathplug that was, and Sainz/Ferrari for the first botched pit stop, the overtake under waved double yellows that saw him pass within a metre of a parked car and marshalls at racing speed, and the unsafe pit release.

Danny Ric gets his usual mention as well for being… presumably taking part in the Grand Prix, but no one can quite be sure. He certainly wasn’t competing in it anyway, that’s for sure.

[mario]

Alpha Tauri & Tsunoda:
"There's something wrong with the car!"
"No! Keep going!"
*Slow lap because he's undone his belts, followed by a slow pitstop*
"Still something wrong!"
"Ok, stop now."
Absolutely embarrassing and potentially dangerous.

Amongst those who are asking questions are the FIA, as they have now ordered Tsunoda and Alpha Tauri to appear before the stewards to explain what exactly was going on.

It seems the FIA want Tsunoda to explain himself, given that there does seem to be the suspicion that he was driving around with loose belts for at least part of that incident. Similarly, it seems that there was another radio transmission from Alpha Tauri to Tsunoda as Tsunoda was leaving the pit lane for the second time, where he was instructed to continue onto the circuit and to then pull over - which now seems to have the FIA wanting to know why Alpha Tauri were sending the car back out onto the circuit and then ordering him to stop immediately, given that implies they sent the car out when it was not in a safe condition.

[Pacific Edge]

Ladies and gentlemen, it seems we have new contenders for ROTR

Hannah Schmitz has come for some online abuse for her "supposed" role in the Tsunoda fiasco

https://www.sportskeeda.com/f1/news-sho ... e-dutch-gp

[dr-baker]

Ladies and gentlemen, it seems we have new contenders for ROTR

Hannah Schmitz has come for some online abuse for her "supposed" role in the Tsunoda fiasco

https://www.sportskeeda.com/f1/news-sho ... e-dutch-gp

So she gets online abuse because one of her drivers took the lead because of strategy, and she is a strategy engineer, so she gets abuse for doing her job well and being pleased with it.?

[James1978]

Online abuse should get it really but Alpha Tauri really didn't help themselves by making it look so blatant. Tsunoda could have toured round back to the pits but the first thing which popped straight into my head when Tsunoda stopped on track was "Nelson Piquet Junior" (as that's basically all he is remembered for now)!

But apparently it stopped Max going on to softs at the end and Mercedes would have been sitting ducks anyway.

Wot Danny Ric only beat Lastifi? Jeez.

[Wallio]

Ferrari - As one online commenter put it: "How many tyres does a car need? Question."

" We are checking."



People claiming AT pulled a Crashgate - If you believe this, you are literally too stupid to insult.




Kevin Magnussen - "Just what in the actual bathplug was that?

[dr-baker]

Ferrari - As one online commenter put it: "How many tyres does a car need? Question."

" We are checking."

Hmm, let's check.

Reliant Robin - 3 wheels
Morgan 3 Wheeler - 3 wheels
Peel P50 - 3 wheels
Messersmitt KR175/200 - 3 wheels

OK boss, evidence suggests cars have 3 wheels...

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

Ferrari - As one online commenter put it: "How many tyres does a car need? Question."

" We are checking."

Hmm, let's check.

Reliant Robin - 3 wheels
Morgan 3 Wheeler - 3 wheels
Peel P50 - 3 wheels
Messersmitt KR175/200 - 3 wheels

OK boss, evidence suggests cars have 3 wheels...

Actually Doc highlights pretty nicely the multi-layered issues that exist with understanding a sport as complicated as F1. Yes, a car has four wheels, except in XYZ situation. Try explaining to someone how it is better to be behind but on faster tires, yet not too far behind while on faster tires.

I'm not sure where I read it, (maybe on here) but someone made the point that all of Ferrari's strategic bathplug-ups only make sense in terms of trying to maintain track position. And then they make perfect sense. But that the assumptions underlaying that way of strategic thinking are just wrong now and they need to change. It seems like Ferrari might be as close to strategic perfection as changing some variables in the algorithms they use for strategy. I'm not certain that's true, but it seems plausible.

[Wallio]

Hmm, let's check.

Reliant Robin - 3 wheels
Morgan 3 Wheeler - 3 wheels
Peel P50 - 3 wheels
Messersmitt KR175/200 - 3 wheels

OK boss, evidence suggests cars have 3 wheels...

Ok doc, you did get me there, and I did laugh. Just don't give the Scuderia any ideas before Monza eh?

[Rob Dylan]

It's a hotly-contested vote this time around! You have 48 hours to vote for your Reject of the Race from Zandvoort at the top of this thread. Don't ever say that GP Rejects isn't democratic

[Londoner]

They may have been hiding their shame underneath the flare smoke, but we finally awarded ROTR to the victor at Zandvoort!