Reject of the Race - China 2025

[Londoner]

1. Jack Doohan. Driving like a man who's already on his way out of Formula 1.

2. Liam Lawson. Dear god almighty.

[You-Gee-Eee-Day]

1. Lewis Hamilton - at one point 20 seconds behind his teammate, who had a broken wing, because he broke his teammate's wing
2. Lance Stroll - was on the right tire at every point in this race and still didn't manage a points finish

[RAK]

1) Liam Lawson: A deeply unimpressive performance which makes Perez's struggles last year look less embarrassing in context.

2) Sauber: Never looked like they were going to get off the back of the grid on pace.

EDIT: After the news about Ferrari's double DSQ, they're a slam-dunk contender for ROTR as well.

[rachel1990]

1. Liam Lawson. Jesus christ Australia was bad. This was on another level. Red Bull are in big trouble if Max leaves.

2. Ferrari and Gasly. Both Ferrari drivers and Gasly DSQ for technical infringements. Highly embarrassing.

HmJack Doohan. The other of the doomed drivers crashes into another driver in the sprint then got a 10 second penalty in the race.

Hm Driver of the day vote. Wtf with Antonelli winning it. He finished behind a Haas.

[Salamander]

1. Red Bull management - Liam Lawson was only faster than the Saubers today in the Red Bull, but he was a perfectly capable midfield runner in the Toro Rosso last year? Do you think we're stupid or something? Get your act together.

2. Toro Rosso (or whatever the hell they call themselves now, I don't care enough to check) - Converted both cars in Q3 to well out of the points.

DHM. Nico Hulkenberg - Your teammate spun off into the gravel, how on earth did you finish behind him!?
DHM 2. Whoever voted Antonelli for DOTD - Get real.

[TomPryce]

1. Lewis Hamilton - at one point 20 seconds behind his teammate, who had a broken wing, because he broke his teammate's wing
2. Lance Stroll - was on the right tire at every point in this race and still didn't manage a points finish

I don't normally comment, but both of these takes are poor.

Leclerc bounced off the kerb. Total accident. Not Ham's fault - his pace was poor but still hung on for 6th after the second stop, which was clearly not the best strategy given RB's performance.

Stroll did admirably well. Yes no points but AM were awful all weekend and so Stroll keeping it in the mix for as long as he did was great.

[TomPryce]

My votes are

Red Bull management - this cannot be entirely Lawson. Stop destroying careers.

Sauber - WTF happened? Do their cars only work in rain?

[Ciaran]

1. Liam Lawson. Simple as.
2. Racing Bullsport Leipzig, for coming away empty-handed after both cars started in the top 9, as well as their crap build quality.

[mario]

1. Lewis Hamilton - at one point 20 seconds behind his teammate, who had a broken wing, because he broke his teammate's wing
2. Lance Stroll - was on the right tire at every point in this race and still didn't manage a points finish

I'd say that was more of a case of Ferrari's strategies making some rather poor decisions.

They asked Hamilton to let Leclerc through so Leclerc could attack Russell, but he overpushed and ended up paying for it in the closing laps when his tyres went off. Meanwhile, they asked Hamilton to go for a two stop strategy that gave Verstappen his place for free, and all that the second stop seemed to do was to ensure that Hamilton would end up behind Leclerc at the end.

Added to that, Ferrari were in a position where both drivers were happy with the handling balance in the sprint race, but Ferrari decided to change the set-up for the main race and ended up making the cars worse for both drivers.

I also agree with TomPryce that, realistically, Aston Martin were just not competitive enough to finish in the points to begin with - after all, Alonso didn't have a great weekend either, and Stroll's performance in the sprint race was the closest the team came to potentially scoring a point.

Lawson is going to be getting quite a few nominations for finishing the best part of a minute behind Verstappen, so I might go for a few different alternative nominations.

The Racing Bulls were awful - they started in the top 10, but managed to turn that into 14th and 19th, and the random front wing failure for Tsunoda isn't a great sign either.

Sauber also had a bit of a sobering return to normality - Hulkenberg did at least show some pace in qualifying, but tumbled down the order during the race, whilst Bortoleto couldn't make any headway. If Tsunoda's wing hadn't failed, then they'd have finished in last and been the only drivers who ended up being lapped in that race.

I'd also like to give a dishonourable mention to the hype around Antonelli after the Australian GP - for all of that, he finished more than 40 seconds behind Russell and was beaten by a Haas.

[IceG]

1) Yup, Dr. Helmut Marko. Every driver he has brought in has either struggled against Max, or been disasterous from the start. Now it looks like Lawson's career will be destroyed following the rest. Obvious rookie and even non-rookie replacements must now be seeing that Red Bull with Max, their current car and current management, is not the place to be (Colapinto, Tsunoda - are you listening?). Only a mature Finnish/Australian driver could possibly assert themselves but even Checo got demoralised so who know? If/when Max leaves Red Bull will become the new Williams - out in the wilderness for a decade whilst they change their design philosophy and build a new team from the top down.

2) Doohan was not great today; driving standards matter as well as results

[Alextrax52]

Liam Lawson: I’m sorry but qualifying last for both races would be unacceptable if he was in the Aston Martin never mind the Red Bull. I’m starting to think Perez getting 6th, 7th and 8th place finishes last year doesn’t look so bad now.

Red Bull Management: Red Bull have gone down the same route that Honda did in MotoGP. Made a machine that only a generational super talent (Max Verstappen and Marc Marquez respectively) can actually do anything with while leaving a line of capable second drivers/riders to be utterly charbroiled by their unhappy experiences and it’s finally starting to come back and bite them. Combine that with Adrian Newey’s departure and I honestly can’t see Red Bull getting top 8 finishes let alone podiums when Max leaves

Jack Doohan: Pretty questionable driving standards from him all weekend with a Sprint race collision and some dodgy defending today. Driving like someone who knows the pressure is well and truly on.

Racing Bulls: Converted a fine double Q3 appearance into a big fat 0 on Sunday. What were they thinking doing a second stop when the hard tires held up well?

DOTD vote: Antonelli got DOTD? Sorry did I miss something or watch a different race? How does finishing behind a Haas on merit qualify you to be DOTD?

Sauber: Back to the level they had for most of 2024

[TomPryce]

Liam Lawson: I’m sorry but qualifying last for both races would be unacceptable if he was in the Aston Martin never mind the Red Bull. I’m starting to think Perez getting 6th, 7th and 8th place finishes last year doesn’t look so bad now.

Red Bull Management: Red Bull have gone down the same route that Honda did in MotoGP. Made a machine that only a generational super talent (Max Verstappen and Marc Marquez respectively) can actually do anything with while leaving a line of capable second drivers/riders to be utterly charbroiled by their unhappy experiences and it’s finally starting to come back and bite them. Combine that with Adrian Newey’s departure and I honestly can’t see Red Bull getting top 8 finishes let alone podiums when Max leaves

Jack Doohan: Pretty questionable driving standards from him all weekend with a Sprint race collision and some dodgy defending today. Driving like someone who knows the pressure is well and truly on.

Racing Bulls: Converted a fine double Q3 appearance into a big fat 0 on Sunday. What were they thinking doing a second stop when the hard tires held up well?

DOTD vote: Antonelli got DOTD? Sorry did I miss something or watch a different race? How does finishing behind a Haas on merit qualify you to be DOTD?

Sauber: Back to the level they had for most of 2024

Doohan must already have 4 or 5 penalty points now after Aus too? Imagine a race ban in his first year

[TomPryce]

BBC News - Hamilton facing potential Chinese GP disqualification
https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/arti ... 0j7gvnk89o

[mario]

Doohan must already have 4 or 5 penalty points now after Aus too? Imagine a race ban in his first year

Yes, he's now up to 4 penalty points after the penalty for the incident with Hadjar.

Meanwhile, we've got some breaking news - Leclerc and Gasly have both been disqualified for being underweight, whilst Hamilton has also been disqualified for excessive wear on the skid block.

[Alextrax52]

Ferrari have just powered themselves into ROTR contention with a double DSQ for separate reasons. Leclerc for an underweight car and Hamilton for too much wear on the plank underneath the car. 2 races in and can we already kiss Ferrari’s hopes of winning either championship goodbye?

[rachel1990]

Ferrari have just powered themselves into ROTR contention with a double DSQ for separate reasons. Leclerc for an underweight car and Hamilton for too much wear on the plank underneath the car. 2 races in and can we already kiss Ferrari’s hopes of winning either championship goodbye?

Updated them to second in my rotr category. Lawson still wins outright but that is simply embarrassing that both cars were DSQ

[Ducktanian]

Ferrari - I mean pitting Hamilton was already kind of questionable, but a double DSQ is instant ROTR material in my book.

Racing Bulls - The ability of this team to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is very impressive. Basically gave Haas & Williams an open door.

[James1978]

Ferrari is a slam-dunk to do that with BOTH cars - and they weren't very good in the race anyway, I thought they flattered to deceive after the sprint.

Big DHMs to the whole Red Bull squad bar Max - the junior team screwing the strategy for the 2nd week in succession, Yuki's front wing failing and Lawson being generally shite (though I doubt Checo would have been any better but I think Checo will be looking on with a quiet sense of satisfaction!).

Also Sauber for being nowhere - this looks like a long season for them unless it's a crazy race like Australia.

Alpine too - Gasly also being disqualified and Doohan getting penalty points already.

[Wallio]

It's honestly hard to pick.....

Ferrari - They have been in F1 for all 75 seasons, and never had a double DQ, until today. Still, can something historic be rejectful?

Liam Lawson - To paraphrase a famous American sports quote: "He is who we thought he was." His performances are embarrassingly bad, but not surprising.

Jack Doohan - Probably the only truly "rejectful" performance. I doubt he even lasts the 6 races he was given.

Obviously Drunk Fans - I love Kimi 2.0 as much as anyone, but Driver of the Day? Really?

[dr-baker]

DOTD vote: Antonelli got DOTD? Sorry did I miss something or watch a different race? How does finishing behind a Haas on merit qualify you to be DOTD?

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-a ... /10706488/

A defence of why Antonelli deserved the DOTD. Basically, he had an unbalanced car due to damage from debris on lap 1, it seems.

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

Tough to beat many of those mentioned. Doohan and Ferrari for the Double DQ.

I will say that I had no problem with Ferrari's strategy. Hamilton was set to be overtaken by Verstappen, in which case he'd have finished 6th, or they put on new tires, and worst case he drops back and can't catch Max, in which case he still finishes 6th. To me, it was worth a shot. If you want to blame them for finishing 6th, blame them for putting a slow car on the track, not the strategy.

I do think Ferrari's strategy team still puts too large a premium on track position over being on the correct tire at all times, in that sense, they're behind the times by several years, but it wasn't the issue in China.

[Wallio]

DOTD vote: Antonelli got DOTD? Sorry did I miss something or watch a different race? How does finishing behind a Haas on merit qualify you to be DOTD?

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-a ... /10706488/

A defence of why Antonelli deserved the DOTD. Basically, he had an unbalanced car due to damage from debris on lap 1, it seems.

That is legitimately hilarious.

[James1978]

If it really is true that Red Bull will swap Lawson for Tsunoda in after just TWO races, that is complete madness and on a par with Ferrari's double DQ. I suspect if the next round wasn't Yuki's home race there'd be none of this crap. You can't possibly evaluate someone after 2 races!!

[mario]

If it really is true that Red Bull will swap Lawson for Tsunoda in after just TWO races, that is complete madness and on a par with Ferrari's double DQ. I suspect if the next round wasn't Yuki's home race there'd be none of this crap. You can't possibly evaluate someone after 2 races!!

The allegations in the Dutch press that Honda is also offering a substantial amount of additional sponsorship to Red Bull if they switch Lawson and Tsunoda might be part of the reason why they've made that decision.

[RAK]

If it really is true that Red Bull will swap Lawson for Tsunoda in after just TWO races, that is complete madness and on a par with Ferrari's double DQ. I suspect if the next round wasn't Yuki's home race there'd be none of this crap. You can't possibly evaluate someone after 2 races!!

"Entry of the Gladiators" comes to mind.

[Wallio]

If the Lawson story is true (big if), I don't understand why you would even put him in a VCARB. His confidence is going to be less than zero. Just call Alpine and get Doohan.

[Salamander]

If the Lawson story is true (big if), I don't understand why you would even put him in a VCARB. His confidence is going to be less than zero. Just call Alpine and get Doohan.

He was good in that car last year, I don't think he's suddenly forgotten how to drive a racecar. It's not like Toro Rosso's goal is to win the WCC or anything.

[mario]

If the Lawson story is true (big if), I don't understand why you would even put him in a VCARB. His confidence is going to be less than zero. Just call Alpine and get Doohan.

He was good in that car last year, I don't think he's suddenly forgotten how to drive a racecar. It's not like Toro Rosso's goal is to win the WCC or anything.

There is also, in an unusual way, an incentive for other teams to not allow their drivers to switch to Red Bull or Racing Bulls. With Lawson currently struggling to get into the points, it's opened up a window for midfield teams to gather more points that usual and potentially build up a vital buffer over their rivals - Williams, Haas, and arguably also Aston Martin, have all managed to capitalise on Lawson being outside of the top 10 to earn a few extra points in these opening races.

Red Bull might therefore be in a hurry to replace Lawson, but there's no incentive for any of the other teams to strike a quick deal with Red Bull - if anything, they're probably happy to let them struggle in a quagmire of their own making. The quickest solution, therefore, is to switch Tsunoda and Lawson around, given Red Bull controls both teams - it's not necessarily the best long term solution, but it potentially makes things better for the parent team, which is ultimately the priority for Red Bull, whilst buying them time to then think about how to deal with Lawson's demotion to the junior team.

[Wallio]

He was good in that car last year, I don't think he's suddenly forgotten how to drive a racecar. It's not like Toro Rosso's goal is to win the WCC or anything.

He wasn't bad, but he also knew he was in line for the A-Team, he will have zero motivation now (and honestly who can blame him?). But as Mario says, its doubtful they could pry anyone away from another team.

All that said, I am happy for Yuki. I don't know if he will do better or not, but he certainly deserves the shot.

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

Yeah, Lawson never felt like the right choice after what happened with Gasly and Albon. So very predictable.

[Jarvis]

Liam Lawson, for sure. No wonder he has lost his Red Bull seat after just two races.