Reject of the Race - Netherlands 2024

[Londoner]

1. Sauber. Hopelessly off the pace. This is their worst season ever, even their trainwreck of a 2014 had a few moments of hope (before Guti and Sutil inevitably crashed). With Bottas/Zhou Sauber have an objectively better driver line-up and more money than they had in 2014, which shows just how terribly this team are performing. I do not see where any points are coming in 2024.

2. Mercedes strategists. Pitting Russell for softs when he likely had Sainz and Perez covered anyway is a proper Binotto-style strategy

[Klon]

1. Fireworks - What the bathplug was that? Smoking the entire main straight surely was a good idea to someone, but that someone is not someone I would want near my hypothetical children.

[TomPryce]

SAUBER - Oh dear. A dreadful result.

THAT ARTIST FROM THE OPENING - what were those truly dreadful doodles masquerading as contemporary art? Embarassing.

[IceG]

Nothing really rejectful for me - that was covered by Williams during practice and qualifying.

But even Williams beat Sauber so i guess Sauber are RoTR.

[rachel1990]

1. Sauber. It's been coming all year but Bottas was 14 seconds off 18th place and Zhou was even further behind. Possibly the worst f1 car seen since Haas in 2021.

2. Lance Stroll. Don't speed in the pitlane!! Basic error for a driver who has been on the grid since 2017!!!

Hm Merc Strategy. George would have probably been beaten by Sainz and Perez anyway but to hand the points on the plate anyway....

Hm Logan Sargeant's weekend. Wreck the car again and still finished behind a DSQ from qualifying Albon. The fact that Mick Schumacher is now being discussed about replacing you showed how bad the race and the season has been.

[rachel1990]

I do not see where any points are coming in 2024.

I think Canada was the 'crazy' race that was their best hope...

[Salamander]

1. Fireworks - What the bathplug was that? Smoking the entire main straight surely was a good idea to someone, but that someone is not someone I would want near my hypothetical children.

Same here. Were they certain none of those fireworks would misfire?

[Meatwad]

I guess Williams: One car wrecked in FP3, and any chances of points were ruined by the disqualification from qualifying. Decent race, but they could have done so much more...

[mario]

2. Mercedes strategists. Pitting Russell for softs when he likely had Sainz and Perez covered anyway is a proper Binotto-style strategy.

They might have perhaps been able to hold off Perez, but I'm not so sure about Sainz.

If you look at the lap times and timing charts, Sainz went from about 9.6s behind Russell to just under 1.3s behind him between laps 33 and 53, and Sainz's tyres did have 5 laps less wear on then than Russell's did. It's true that Leclerc did hold off Piastri, despite Piastri having quite a few advantages, so perhaps Russell could have held off Sainz, but Sainz's pace was strong enough that he might have been able to pass Russell on track anyway.

[James1978]

I didn't notice how far Sauber were off everyone else but yes OK fair cop. Hardly surprising it's looking like the last 2025 seat to be filled (if we think Mercedes will announce Antonelli at Monza and there's still some Red Bull internals to be sorted)!

[Har1MAS1415]

Sergeant hands down!

[Ducktanian]

Russell's questionable 2nd pit stop - Just handing 6th Place to Perez on a silver platter. Hamilton showcased what a mistake this was in hindsight.

Sauber - Both finished at the bottom of the field and were lapped twice. Terrible performance

The timing messup at the end - BOTTAS P2 is very funny.

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

Mercedes' second stop of Russell felt very dumb in the moment and the end result ended up being what I thought it'd be at the moment too. Seems pretty rejectful unless Russell had a slow puncture or something like that.

[Wallio]

Williams - One write off and one DSQ before Sunday even started, and then the newly upgrade car barely beat the rebuilt car with no upgrades. And their team principal was openly laughed at during Thursday's media scrum. Great weekend all around.

Zandvoort - How can such a cool track suck so bad? Race was an hour 40 minute bore.

Piastri - You have the fastest car on the grid. A distant P4 ain't gonna cut it. Especially when after Vowles idiotic comments on Thursday, many pundits had Lando/Oscar as the second best line up for next year after Lewis/Charles.

[mario]

Mercedes' second stop of Russell felt very dumb in the moment and the end result ended up being what I thought it'd be at the moment too. Seems pretty rejectful unless Russell had a slow puncture or something like that.

They do not seem to have had a slow puncture, but it does seem that Russell was struggling with higher than expected tyre wear in the race and Mercedes simply weren't confident that he could make it to the end without having to stop again. To some extent, it may be that Mercedes were also a little cautious about wear rates after what happened in the Belgian GP.

[sswishbone]

1. Fireworks at finish - that was really quite dangerous

2. George Russell's soft tyre stint - lost two positions and didn't give faster than his teammate who pitted earlier

[Har1MAS1415]

Sergeant hands down!

Now his luck has finally run out.

Good luck Franco Colapinto.