Your Reject of the Race - China!

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 17 Apr 2010, 01:08

You know the deal.

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 17 Apr 2010, 01:16

I wish i could nominate fia-gt regular anthony kumpen for participating in a dance program on tv because i really, really hate this guy.
But he's absolutely not relevant so i'm going to take a wise decision and wait with my nominations.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 17 Apr 2010, 07:32

If Buemi has another mechanical failure that leads to a wheel falling off... then it would be him. But I'm holding fire until after the race.

Post by **mario** » 17 Apr 2010, 08:14

dr-baker wrote:If Buemi has another mechanical failure that leads to a wheel falling off... then it would be him. But I'm holding fire until after the race.

Again, I'll hold back a bit until after the race, but you would have to say that Liuzzi is in the running, ending up 8 places behind Sutil (he complained of being blocked on his lap, though, so we'll see if there are any complaints to the stewards later).
But it's early days yet - Liuzzi might be able to claw a few places back, since Force India have good straight line speed.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 17 Apr 2010, 11:55

My turn to start this, since Cap'n Hammer is nowhere to be seen.

So far, Liuzzi. di Resta is looking in...

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 17 Apr 2010, 11:57

CarlosFerreira wrote:My turn to start this, since Cap'n Hammer is nowhere to be seen.

Are you absolutely sure about that? I was here nine hours ago ...

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 17 Apr 2010, 12:00

No-one has done anything really that Rejectful yet. Liuzzi is the only real contender ... not because he bombed out early, but because he seems to have a propensity for blaming his bad runs on traffic.

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 17 Apr 2010, 12:05

Carlos Ferreira.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 17 Apr 2010, 12:30

Captain Hammer wrote:
CarlosFerreira wrote:My turn to start this, since Cap'n Hammer is nowhere to be seen.

Are you absolutely sure about that? I was here nine hours ago ...

Carlos, never start threads before having coffee. Sorry, merged.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 17 Apr 2010, 13:40

Has to be Liuzzi, unless he can pull something special out of the bag tomorrow.

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 17 Apr 2010, 14:33

Liuzzi, of course.

watka · Post by **watka** » 17 Apr 2010, 14:42

I never seen anything before like Buemi's crash in practice, it's scary. Therefore, Toro Rosso head the early running for me.

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 18 Apr 2010, 08:54

Kobayashi - Seen this guy without a front wing way too many times. Captain Hammer, all is forgiven.

Hulkenberg - Random decision to go on to dries when it was raining quite heavily.

Ferrari Engine - de la Rosa could have been up there.

Whiting - Unnecessary safety car for Alguersuari's debris.

John Button - Wearing a Union Flag. Ew.

Jordan192 · Post by **Jordan192** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:09

Schumacher - I suggested him at an earlier race more jokingly, but i'm not sure how much longer we should keeping making excuses for him. Maybe he wasn't the worst thing on track today (though he was genuinely dismal), but he's underperformed consistently for 4 race weekends now.

Debaser · Post by **Debaser** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:10

Michael Schumacher - Had the pace of a pregnant camel, hideously slow throughout and had people overtaking him constantly. He looked ancient, not just old.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:13

If Lewis Hamilton is removed from his 2nd place finish:

ROTR: Lewis Hamilton -- Drove like a complete toolbox the entire race, dangerously and unsportsmanlike in the pits and then had the balls to say that he knew nothing about it. Vile.

If Lewis Hamilton is NOT removed from his 2nd place finish:

ROTR: The Stewards -- For being idiots and not penalizing Lewis Hamilton's dangerous and reckless actions in the pits. I mean, seriously, even NASCAR's officials aren't that retarded.

Many Blue Flags · Post by **Many Blue Flags** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:17

Where to start?

Schumacher for putting on a generally poor show with only three laps of any credit for keeping Hamilton behind him. And then Rosberg shows him up by doing that better later in the race?

Hamilton and Vettel for their pit lane squabbling. Vettel also gets mention for a poor race showing, but is that really necessary? Birds fly, fish swim and Red Bull throw away their chances. Speaking of which...

Webber for a humiliating advert and even worse race showing?

Liuzzi for a poor qualifying and an idiotic slide off the start of the race, causing the only pileup in the race?

MinardiFan95 · Post by **MinardiFan95** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:18

Sauber's Ferrari engine - Failed only a few laps into the Grand Prix. Again.
Red Bull - 1st and 2nd in qualifying but manage to botch up their strategy once again in the changeable conditions
Schumi - Beaten by a rookie who spun out earlier in the race. Will probably be replaced by Heidfeld before the end of the season
Alonso - Passing your team mate in the pit lane entry isn't exactly going to help his relationship with Ferrari and Massa. I predict this will be the start of a season long argument with Massa and Alonso will be out of Ferrari, possibly back to Renault where there would be a vacant seat due to Kubica (who is rumored to go to Ferrari by the press) taking Alonso's spot at Ferrari.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:21

My ROTR: Michael Schumacher. To put it simply he just hasn't got it anymore. Somebody put Heidfeld in that car NOW!

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:22

My ROTR:
Vitantonio Liuzzi - Pathetic qualifying effort followed by a first lap shunt that was entirely his own fault, elimanating Kobayashi and Buemi as a result (Just a little Deja Vu there, especially as a Willaims got involved too).

Dishonourable mentions go to Williams...12th and 15th is pathetic, especially Hulkenburg being half a minute behind the Lotus of Kovalainen, BMW Sauber Ferrari (yet another double DNF, though only 50% of it was their own fault this time), Virgin for more DNFs before the race had hardly even begun (Di Grassi was running 8 laps down before retiring!!!!), Michael Schumacher for being as fast as an arthritic tortoise and finally Red Bull for turning a 1-2 into yet another mediocre result.

P_Friesacher · Post by **P_Friesacher** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:24

Liuzzi is clearly the driver who had the worst weekend (slow and out in corner two, taking two other drivers with him), but Hülkenberg's/Willams' decision to change to slick tires when the track was clearly wet was the more rejectful action, so my vote goes to them.

RAK · Post by **RAK** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:33

Vitantonio Liuzzi: Terrible qualifying, and can't even keep it on the road for a single lap, knocking Kobayashi and Buemi off. Paul di Resta must be delighted.

Michael Schumacher: Seven positions down on his team mate, barely scraping into the points while Rosberg gets onto the podium and into second place in the championship. All of this happens in wet conditions, which Schumacher was renowned for being impressive in in his previous incarnation. Enough said.

Red Bull: Another poor finish after another motor-scooter and another front-row lockout. Just didn't have the strategic calls of McLaren and Rosberg, and now, they're firmly in third in the Constructors' Championship, where they could be a comfortable first.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:42

Liuzzi is my ROTR, he has had a generally bad weekend.

Post by **mario** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:49

The only thing I can be sure about is that the stewards are going to have plenty to mull over.

Liuzzi had a weekend to forget - a terrible qualifying session, followed by misjudging his braking and spinning into two others on the opening lap. Perhaps the threat of Di Resta taking his seat has unsettled him?

Schumacher might have been able to mix it for a bit with others, but his car looked woeful in those conditions (the front was constantly washing wide, and towards the end his rear tyres were shot, so he was easy prey), he struggled for pace, and he made a bad call to go onto the intermediates at the beginning when Rosberg made the right choice and stayed on slicks. He might have made a better call later when he got ahead of Webber, Hamilton and Vettel with the earlier switch back to inters, but it was good for nothing when they drove past him like there was no tomorrow.

Hamilton certainly will have raised a few eyebrows with some of his antics (although the team has to take part of the blame for the pit lane incident with Vettel, since they chose to release him) - and the squabble with Vettel going into the pit lane was potentially dangerous, given that there were cars behind them, and it is a very narrow entry into that pit lane. That said, Alonso's behaviour was also questionable when he chose to dive up the inside of Massa in exactly the same way when they were entering the pits. I suppose that it will be a waiting game to see what the stewards decide to do about the whole affair, however.

Hulkenberg's stop for dry tyres was strange - why, when the rain was coming down just as hard as before, if not harder, did Williams think that it was a good idea? Yes, the slicks might have worked earlier, but with sustained rain, there was only going to be one option (intermediates).

Sauber, yet again, have had a dismal showing as well - Kobayashi out, and De La Rosa was briefly up into 4th place before there was the familiar sign of smoke coming out of the engine bay. Another race, another double DNF, and another ruined engine - a terrible day, all told.

Red Bull also threw away a change to get Vettel ahead of Alonso in the standings with a bad strategy call, and Webber, as usual, had a few unlucky breaks, before his tyres were so shot that he was painfully slow at the end of the race (although his power sliding did liven things up).

Archie2K · Post by **Archie2K** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:53

Almost too much rejectdom to choose from.

Pit Lane Squabblers - Hamilton had two such moments both diving across the gravel to come in and then the hairy release into Vettel, nearly sliding into another pitcrew, and then drag racing down to the pit exit when it was clear all hope was lost. Dishonorable mentions to Alonso using the asphalt run-off as a private overtaking lane in the pit entry and Vettel for shoving Hamilton into the mechanics guns.

2nd Safety Car Period - Four laps to remove a tiny piece of carbon fibre? Then Button parking his car at the hairpin, causing supermarket car park chaos behind.

Rainmasters - Vettel, Sutil, Schumacher... all usually shine in wet weather, and had dismal runs today.

tkcom · Post by **tkcom** » 18 Apr 2010, 09:54

Schumacher - Where's your rainmaster now?

Sauber - Making backmarkers look good once again. Least race laps completed of any team so far.
Race Stewards - Next step in their career: pro wrestling referee.

Bleu · Post by **Bleu** » 18 Apr 2010, 10:08

Liuzzi didn't really do anything well this weekend, so my vote to him. Schumacher was slow in the race but he mostly did good tyre calls apart from the first one to inters. Remember he was leading the 2nd group early in the race, fifth in whole race behind Nico, Button and Renaults who didn't pit at the beginning.

But anyway, Liuzzi gets my vote this time. Poor qualifying as well.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 18 Apr 2010, 10:13

Vettel and Hamilton's nonsensical duel in the pitlane for posing an unnecessary danger to pit crews
Liuzzi for showing Force India very clearly why they should seriously consider promoting Paul di Resta for next season
Red Bull for dropping the ball... again
Schumacher for being abysmally slow
Sauber for... do I need to explain?
Williams for having half their garage beaten by Lotus

Very difficult, but I'll give it to Liuzzi, who took out not only Kobayashi but Buemi as well, who could've scored, since he had a wet setup.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 18 Apr 2010, 10:23

The second safety car period wins an honorable mention, but it just proves a point I made in another thread, that F1 stewards are being toolbags and stealing from NASCAR's book -- pace car periods for "debris".

DonTirri · Post by **DonTirri** » 18 Apr 2010, 10:49

In Sauber's defense, Blown engine isn't exactly their fault, not much they can do if Ferrari provides them with faulty engines.

My RotR choices are as follows:

Hamilton's Antics: Seriously, if he doesn't get penalized, then people can stop talking about Ferrari international assistance, and start talking about McLaren favoring. The move into Vettel on entry was ridiculous, then he didn't have the brains to slow down and let Vettel go first but instead decided to make another dangerous move and friggin drag race him down the lane... with two wheels on the bloody safety line, then he bumped Webber out on the restart (Granted, the exit mishap was partly due to McLaren, dangerous release there, and bumping Webber out was due to Button's idiotic slowing down) not to mention his first pitting where he crossed through the gravel.

If Hamilton DOESN't get penalized, then my RotR is

Stewards: Seriously... if McLaren and/or Hamilton don't get penalized... :E

lastly: Schumacher: Who?

fjackdaw · Post by **fjackdaw** » 18 Apr 2010, 10:50

I've always thought that the whole Schumacher "rainmeister" thing was a bit of a myth based almost solely on Spain '96. Actually, many of the memorable wet races of the past involve Schumi crashing or making mistakes.

Post by **mario** » 18 Apr 2010, 11:26

This will put the cat amongst the pigeons - the stewards have decided not to penalise Hamilton, but have merely cautioned him for his actions in the pit stop. They have also warned Vettel for then moving to the right hand side of the pit lane and pushing Hamilton towards the pit boxes themselves. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83029

I admit that I am a bit surprised that Hamilton was not penalised. Moreover, what I am worried about is that, since the issue of overtaking in the entry to the pitlane hasn't even been raised, Hamilton and Alonso's actions there have effectively been ignored.
Now, normally I am cautious about the stewards handing out penalties, but this time around, you have to argue that there was some quite erratic driving which was worthy of something more strict then a warning.

DonTirri · Post by **DonTirri** » 18 Apr 2010, 11:33

What I am afraid is that the Stewards lack of punishing might give Hamilton a feeling that he can get away with anything.

and when an agressive and daredevil driver has that feeling... It can only end in tears.

tristan1117 · Post by **tristan1117** » 18 Apr 2010, 12:11

Michael Schumacher: Awful race for the "rainmeister". Its been four races and his teammate as consistently outperformed him in every single one. Shades of Nigel Mansell, anyone?

Liuzzi: Horrendous qualifying and a horrendous race (however long it lasted). Don't think Di Resta should be replacing him yet, Liuzzi does have some flashes of brilliance.

Adrian Sutil: Had another excellent chance to score points in conditions that suited him and threw it all away. Don't actually know what happened, he must have spun or something because he was running in the midfield most of the time.

The Stewards: Apparently, the new FIA stance is to not do anything to reprimand anyone to protect their image. Twice now Hamilton has gotten away with absolute murder. Alonso too, he probably should have been penalized. In the days of safety being F1's first priority, how could you let those to incidents to go away unpunished? This is setting a terrible precedent for all the drivers. For once, I'm hoping the FIA does crack down on the drivers.

Red Bull: Locking out the front and finishing 8th and 6th! Once again, Red Bull finds new ways to mess things up, changing to wets too early. Vettel and Webber had several offs and Webber was originally at least 14 seconds ahead of Petrov before Petrov reeled him in. They got lucky even scoring points today.

Sauber: Another double DNF for Peter Sauber team. How long can this go on? Kobayashi is quickly becoming the Andrea de Cesaris of F1, De la Rosa is mmindbendlingly slow and the engine reliability is terrible. I don't think its Ferrari's fault because STR and Ferrari have had relatively good engine reliability (barring Alonso). Favorite for ROTY I think.

I probably go with Schumacher here, all we saw of him was him getting passed by every single driver on the grid.

Barbazza · Post by **Barbazza** » 18 Apr 2010, 12:19

Lewis, for driving like an over-aggressive tit yet again.

The Stewards, for letting him get away with it. Not a stitch-up in any way given that Wurz had an input.

Wurz, for being a reject driver and now also a reject steward. Well done. Here's an idea - next why not try being a marshal and seeing if you can get run over by one of Lewis's weaves or his next attempt to push a Red Bull off the road/pit lane?

Pedestrian · Post by **Pedestrian** » 18 Apr 2010, 12:29

BMW (yeah right) Sauber Ferrari - ou sont les engines d'antan?
Force India and Liuzzi in particular
M. Schumacher -but to be honest he allways did badly in China, even in his prime (remember 2004)
Torro Rosso for their epic fail in practice.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 18 Apr 2010, 12:39

It's got to be Liuzzi for being comprehensively beaten by his teammate Sutil, and Red Bull who were hopelessly annonymous in the race, what a contrast to last year.

Honourable mention for the second saftey car period, I thought the miles of run off were designed to reduce the number of safety cars seen in races? Yet more reasons why F1 should remain in countries where marshals are properly trained, and have regular training and experience. With MotoGP no longer there, I think F1 is now the only real race weekend the circuit has. Either they fly European marshals in to do the job properly and teach the Chinese how to collect debris and push some cars to safety, or they don't bother with the race at all.

I'd also like to comment on the pit lane antics that everyone seems to be mentioning. Alonso's move on Massa was a bit daft, deserved a warning but nothing came of it. Hamilton had track position in front of Vettel prior to entering the pitlane, and as far as I'm concerned, it's six of one and half a dozen of the other, both are to blame for the entry. For the release, I'm with Eddie Jordan in that its something that can't be regulated or punished because a team's lollipop man should be concentrating on his own team rather than another crew up the road. The releases were that close together that when the McLaren boys looked up the pit lane, they probably saw nothing, and Hamilton's wheelspin was enough to give Vettel a big enough advantage to pull ahead. Looking at the incident, Hamilton probably should have pulled in behind, but what Vettel did was more dangerous in my opinion as he squeezed the McLaren right over the safety line until it almost collided with the wheel gun cables hanging down in one of the pits further down the pit lane. There was more than enough room for both of them alongside each other, regardless of whether it was right or wrong, so Vettel's actions are completely unjustified, besides he was ahead of Hamilton so would always exit first anyway. The reprimands given are right because both drivers are in the wrong, and it would be hard to justify one over the other.

tc3j3r · Post by **tc3j3r** » 18 Apr 2010, 13:18

Schumacher. He's had 4 races to settle in, but if anything he's getting worse and worse.

Popi_Larrauri · Post by **Popi_Larrauri** » 18 Apr 2010, 13:30

4th Schumacher's retrospective mind games. I can't stop thinking on Rosberg saying "Here's the #3, grandpa, it's all yours".

3th I do agree on marshall being fair over Vettel-Hamilton issue, but they said nothing on Alonso and, more importantly... am I the only one that believes that Alonso didn't jumped at start?

2nd Red Bull screwingmeisters. Wings gives you the wrong perspective (musical intonnation)

And 1st with no possible mistake: STR mechanics, with WTF have they decided to attach the suspension arms to the car? Bubblegum?

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 18 Apr 2010, 13:35

It's a surprise how many candidates there actually are for this race's prestigious award. I guess all that was noteworthy about the performance of Sauber and of Liuzzi has already been said by my forespeakers. Liuzzi's spin was particularly noteworthy, given the fact that he took out two competitors. Besides that, the Force 1ndias were relatively anonymous. Schumacher, well, he's shown a very entertaining performance today, so I have to rule him out of contention for today's award. But my nominee for the ROTR award China 2010 is Virgin Racing. The last noticeable thing we saw of them was on the start to the warmup lap. Glock said they had engine problems on his car. And what did they do? They left his car jacked up on the grid. DiGrassi started from the pits anyway so when the start got under way, both Virgin Manors came from the pits. They both retired anonymously not much later whilst their direct rivals Lotus and (the team formerly known as) Campos had finishes among them. Virgin Racing made it look like they decided it was better to save costs for engine mileage. That is very Pacific.