Reject of the Race - Qatar 2023

[Londoner]

1. Mercedes. Team mates colliding is pretty much always an instant ROTR.

2. Nico Hulkenberg. A pretty ridiculous error to make, especially when the lower midfield had a legit shot at points today.

Honourable mention to Pirelli/mandatory pit windows. I watched the 2002 CART season a few years ago, mandated stint lengths absolutely killed the racing.

[TomPryce]

I disagree with Merc as a whole - that was squarely on Hamilton.

I think it has to go to Haas. Another awful race.

[Enforcer]

Merc: Hilarious.

Track limits: Watched half the race and still saw about 5 penalties.

[Rob Dylan]

Along with Londoner's suggestions, I'll add Pierre Gasly's inability to overtake without going off track, and also the drivers' general inability to not get constant penalties for going off track.

[Bleu]

1. Hamilton
2. Tyre drama

[FalconCapelli]

Jamilltoune and Shitelli tyres.

[Hermann95]

Tyre Drama
Hamilton
Perez, getting three separate penalties is a joke

[RAK]

1) Qatar and Losail in general: An abysmal track in a country that really shouldn't have a Grand Prix to begin with.

2) Lewis Hamilton: A clumsy internecine move which took him out and threatened to take out his teammate as well.

[Ducktanian]

Perez (H.M.) - Continues his awful run of form

Hamilton - Way too aggressive at the start, and forced his teammate into a dangerous position. I mean he went over to squeeze Russell almost immediately.

Gasly; Hulkenberg (H.M.) - What others have said

The pyramid kerbs and whoever decided it was a good idea to have an F1 race with them - A cause of a lot of the nonsense we had this weekend. An absolute embarassment for F1.

[rachel1990]

1. HRH King Lewis Hamilton. Hitting your teammate is bad. Blaming your teammate is even worse. 100% his own fault.

2. The tyres fiasco. Well it was a fiasco wasn't it.

HM Nico Hulkenberg. Wrong grid placement. Whoops.
HM Sergio Perez. Two Penalties for Track limits and looked like someone who could not be bothered
HM Pierre Gasly. See Perez above.

[IceG]

1= The circuit - totally inappropriate for F1 in its current and previous forms

1= The tyres - well at least it was better than Indy 2005

3 All the drivers who managed to get track limits penalties, especially Perez, Gasly and Stroll

[Alextrax52]

Hamilton: This was a golden chance to close right up to Perez for 2nd overall and he threw it all away before the first corner by colliding with his teammate no less

Haas: Another godawful weekend made worse by Alfa Romeo’s big cash haul


HM’s

Gasly: Every time I saw him try to overtake someone he was over the track limits

Perez: Is he even trying anymore?, lapped by Verstappen at one point

[Meatwad]

Lewis Hamilton: Taking out your own team mate is pretty much the worst thing you can do in F1. Not something expected from a driver of his level.

Dishonorable mention to Sergio Pérez: His awful performances are no longer surprising in the least, but four penalties for track limits violations is truly something (luckily they don't give penalty points for them anymore). Only managed a single point despite Hamilton and Sainz being out of the race, just narrowly beating the similarly rejectful Stroll.

[dj_vicious]

1. Hamilton: Broke the cardinal sin of motorsport. For a guy that was looking on pace all season, he performed more like a washed-up Raikkonen this weekend.
2. Ocon: Another chain reaction showing why he's a case study in 'proximate cause'. Ruined Perez' Sunday race in the Saturday sprint (not that it would have mattered given Perez' penalty-laden performance today).

[James1978]

It is Hamilton for one costly incident or Checo for being generally shite? Can'r decide.

[James1978]

Oh and the tyre situation kinda made me think this is what USA 2005 would have been like had every team been on the Michelins!

[mario]

I am going to throw one thing out here that has now emerged after the race, which is deciding to hold a race at this time of year and in very high temperatures.

It turns out that the reason that Logan Sargeant withdrew from the race was because he was so dehydrated that he had to be taken to the medical centre for treatment, with Albon also having to be taken to the medical centre after the race as he was suffering from health problems due to dehydration.

Elsewhere on the grid, Ocon has admitted that he was suffering from such severe heat stress that he ended up vomiting inside his helmet, and Magnussen has admitted that he also suffered from problems with heat stress and nearly vomited as well. Meanwhile, Stroll has admitted that, during the final 20 laps of the race, he was struggling to maintain consciousness and starting to black out for brief periods. https://www.racefans.net/2023/10/08/dan ... r-drivers/

When you're having drivers with health problems and having to receive medical treatment, something has gone badly wrong with the race.

[RAK]

I am going to throw one thing out here that has now emerged after the race, which is deciding to hold a race at this time of year and in very high temperatures.

It turns out that the reason that Logan Sargeant withdrew from the race was because he was so dehydrated that he had to be taken to the medical centre for treatment, with Albon also having to be taken to the medical centre after the race as he was suffering from health problems due to dehydration.

Elsewhere on the grid, Ocon has admitted that he was suffering from such severe heat stress that he ended up vomiting inside his helmet, and Magnussen has admitted that he also suffered from problems with heat stress and nearly vomited as well. Meanwhile, Stroll has admitted that, during the final 20 laps of the race, he was struggling to maintain consciousness and starting to black out for brief periods. https://www.racefans.net/2023/10/08/dan ... r-drivers/

When you're having drivers with health problems and having to receive medical treatment, something has gone badly wrong with the race.

A further reason to question why this track is being used at all, a question which can only be answered by the obvious, "Money, dear boy".

[Enforcer]

Just dropping by to add +1 to mario's nomination. Holding a race in these temps could've very easily done someone a serious injury. Suppose a driver had completely passed out (Stroll said he was having brief blackouts) at an inopportune point on the racetrack and just full throttled straight into a wall?

Can we not try and kill the drivers please? That too much to ask?

[Forti]

Losail International Circuit

[Batty]

I'm not gonna call out any driver with track limits considering the conditions.

For me it's a slam dunk

Nico Hulkenberg - Dude literally went on the wrong grid spot. That's pure rejectfulness. How are people forgetting this? That's was like F1 Rejects would give it.

Although Losail Circuit for having these kerbs that meant we had forced pit stops but it was a nice change except the reason behind it

[Rob Dylan]

A mighty five options open to you this time, as opposed to two the last time. You have 48 hours to get voting and decide on Reject of the Race in Qatar

[Yannick]

In the tradition of Jamie and Enoch having a tendecy to give this pestigious award to inanimate objects, I think everybody should reconsider their choices and give it to "the heat". That is not "Heat One" or "Heat Two" as in the usual heat races. This was a single heat race. Glad that everybody is OK.

(btw, "pestigious" is an accidental typo that I have decided to leave in on the spot)

[Londoner]

We motivated ourselves enough to post the ROTR results from Qatar!