Retrospective F1 Rejects of the Race

[AdrianSutil]

I didn't think Hamilton and Alonso have had any sort of issues with each other since Alonso left McLaren.

That's kinda what I was getting at mate. Schumi took Fisichella back in 1997, so several spats between drivers have happened since, including Hamilton and Alonso.

[ibsey]

Am I right in thinking that, when M Schumi carried Fisco back to the pits on his car during the slow-down lap after the race, the stewards took a dim view of that 'nice guesture' & since then this has never happened again? If so I would also like to nominate the stewards as a contender for ROTR.

Where were you during last year's German GP?

Ahhh yes forgot about that one. Thanks for reminding me Wizzie.

Its strange however I can hardly remember what happened in races last year. Whereas I find recalling things from races that happened 15 odd years ago somehow easier? Anyway just checked the 1997 FIA season review video. Where according to them, M Schumi did indeed get a reprimand by the stewards at Hockenhiem 1997, for carrying Fisco on his car after the race.

Therefore I still think that the stewards should be considered ROTR at Hockenhiem 1997 for that reason.

[I forti sopravivono]

1998... listing some candidates:

Australia:
- Arrows: Double DNF due to the gearbox
- Takagi: Only driver to retire by spinning off the track
- Stewart: Both drivers out by lap 2

Tuero also is a good candidate with two stop and go penalties in about 15 laps

San Marino:
- Benetton: okay, Wurz had an engine problem, but Fisichella binned it!

Other candidate: Jan Magnussen for eliminating his teammate Barrichello in the first lap

Spain:

- Arrows: now they do a double DNF due to the engine... and it was a hilarious sight on TV too!

Pure win that one

Italy:
- Hakkinen

I don't get this one, Mika had some brake problems and was happy to reach the finishline.
1999 he obviously was, the cryout helicoptershot was priceless and set a small, one more race lasting hype of crying drivers (Europe 1999).

I think the mechanic of Herbert is the reject of the race for forgetting to remove a spanner from his cockpit.

[I forti sopravivono]

2000 season suggestions

Some races got many rejectful actions

Bold are my choices.

Australia:

- Arrows (both cars suffered with suspension problems)
- Sauber (Salo dsq from 6th position)
- McLaren (Engine/reliability problems like '99)


Brasil:

- Sauber for their wings that got too much lift of the redbull .
- The organisation of the GP for spontaneously falling advertisements
- Mclaren (one more engine gone, DC DSQ)
- Jos Verstappen for training his physicals too less, therefore losing good position by exhaustion.

San Marino:

- Jos Verstappen (got stop and go , after that totally off pace, finishing last, behind Mazzacane)
- Pedro Diniz (Nearly collected Schumi)


Great Britain:

- Organisation for soaked parking lots and other logistic troubles.
- Arrows (Double DNF due to electrical problems, Verstappen had the pace, following MS before his car expired)


Spain:

- Ralf too busy fighting his brother (who had a slowly deflating tire), so Rubinho passes both of them


Europe:

- Heidfeld being DSQ for underweight car.
- Verstappen throwing away a possible points score by colliding with Irvine.
- Zonta (again) much slower than Villeneuve in qualifying, spinning off in race.


Monaco:

- Hakkinens luck (almost every stint in qualify spoiled by yellow flags, lots of technical problems in race, ending up sixth)
- Alesi's car breaking down while driving a superb race -again- (like 1995 -crash-,1996,1998)
- Frentzen throwing away a second place.


Canada:

- Eddie Irvine
- Jacques Villeneuve (trying to overtake two cars ends up in t-boning Ralf)
- David Coulthard for jumping the start and messing up his race furthermore after the penalty.
- Diniz for ramming De la rosa off the road.

France:

- Alex Wurz with his crazy out-braking maneuver.
- Zonta being more than a second slower than Villeneuve in qualifying and ends race with an early spin.
- Prost drivers hit each other.

Austria:

- Michael Schumacher (tried his best for a restart but got a safety-car )
- Diniz with another dangerous action at the start, sending Fisico into the armco.
- Both prost drivers crashing into each other (for second race in a row!)
- Mechanics of Mika Hakkinen for removing a Fia seal (not a living one!) and for that getting his 10 points removed from the WCC.


Germany:

- The fired Mercedes employee
- Diniz (Copycatting attempt Herbert vs. Ralf at monza '97 with victim Alesi)
- Schumi for crashing second time in a row at the first corner.

Hungary:

- Fisico (several spins, but caused by brake problems I think)
- Villeneuve (running in the back of de la rosa and lost his front wing)


Belgium:

- Button (after his good qualifying he collided with Trulli and lost one place in the action)
- Jos Verstappen (?) running in the back of a slow Fisichella.


Italy:

- Frentzen for kamicausing the major pile-up.
- Button by nearly causing another one.

USA:

- Mika's Engine/ Mika Hakkinen for not being able to pass Mazzacane _O_ )
- DC for jumping the start and almost taking out Schumacher before having his Stop & Go
- JV for another overtaking maneuver Canada '98 style


Japan:

- Marc Gene for causing Ralf to spin while lapping him.
- Prost with another double retirement.
- Zonta for almost taking MS out.


Malaysia:

- Hakkinen - jumping the start.
- Herbert's suspension

[Shizuka]

I should try 1997 for the full season actually...
Austria: Damon Hill for pathetically letting Schumacher through on the last lap.

How about the Mugen engine? It robbed Trulli of a possible second place (and perhaps a different carreer entirely?!).

[I forti sopravivono]

I should try 1997 for the full season actually...
Austria: Damon Hill for pathetically letting Schumacher through on the last lap.

How about the Mugen engine? It robbed Trulli of a possible second place (and perhaps a different carreer entirely?!).

Also a good one.
It actually was the start of his long lasting, Alesi like, career of technical failures on wrong moments.
And after lots of misery that one day came when everything fell in place.


Thinking of Alesi, his car would be ROTR in Italy '95.

[I forti sopravivono]

Season 1978 (according to a book I got from my dad, written by the legendary Heinz Pruller)

Argentina: maybe the Michelin tires causing Ferrari fail to score points.

Brasil: Gilles Villeneuve (crash with Peterson, had to pit for repairs and after he spun off the track on cold tires)

South Africa: Rupert Keegan (driving around with oil leak for laps, causing crashes of Reutemann, Tambay and Scheckter)

USA - West (Long Beach):
- Giles Villeneuve
- The nose of Alan jones' car
- Patrese (two collisions)

Monaco:
- Lotus (several technical issues)

Belgium:
-Jody Scheckter (crashing into Lauda at the start and a little chaos followed)

Spain:
- Ferrari (big crash of Reutemann by a broken axle)

Sweden:

France:
ATS for a motorhome that broke down on the way to the track.
Jochen Mass had to use the overall of Hunt and a helmet from Tambay
- Reutemann for changing tires four times, ending five leps down.

Great Britain:
- Lotus (double DNF)
- Bruno Giacomelli for blocking Lauda badly, causing Reutemann to pass Niki for 1st place.

Germany:

- James Hunt for being frustrated by a slower Brambilla, deliberately hit him.
Brambilla got out his car and punched Hunt in the face.
- ATS for failing suspension, causing Mass to crash in the back of Stuck.

Austria:

- Reutemann for spinning of the track both parts of the race and missing the chicane several times.

Netherlands:

- Officials for amateuristic way of trying to tow away the crashed car of Patrese (one try: car got stuck in the sand, other try: cable breaks)

Italy: Gianni Restelli..

USA (Watkins Glen)
Undecided

Canada:

- Andretti (kind of Schumacher at China 2004 race)

[TomWazzleshaw]

USA - West (Long Beach):
- Giles Villeneuve
- The nose of Alan jones' car
- Patrese (two collisions)

Ah yes, back when Patrese was the 1970s' answer to Pastor Maldonado. There's hope for the Reverend yet

[Ferrarist]

1992 German GP: Riccardo Patrese; you just had a couple of yards to a podium finish, and you blew it!
Dishonourable Mention: Whoever was in charge for the international feed (RTL probably). We only saw battles at the front, which was okay, but we missed a couple of retirements. Alternatively, the ROTR might also go to the BBC crew, for not mentioning some of them.

[Klon]

1986 Italian Grand Prix - Race stewards; should've used a safety car if they had one and otherwise red-flagged that mess after Piercarlo Ghinzani spun and had his entire car on the track for multiple laps.

[ibsey]

1986 Italian Grand Prix - Race stewards; should've used a safety car if they had one and otherwise red-flagged that mess after Piercarlo Ghinzani spun and had his entire car on the track for multiple laps.

On a slightly simliar note, I think it was fairly standard practice during the early 80's for some race stewards not to bother clearing cars away, from where they had crashed. Even if they still remained close to the race track, or indeed were in the line of fire of the other cars still racing. My memory is a little vague on this, however I think it was at the 1983 San Marino GP, where IIRC a Toleman had crashed out of the race on the exit of the 2nd Rivazza (sp?) & it wasn't removed, despite being in the line of fire for other cars whom were still racing. Then eventually, IIRC a Benetton sponsored Tyrell, crashed right into it & it could have been a very dangerous situation indeed. Luckily I don't think anyone was hurt in the incident.

Perhaps a few other nominations to consider from the 1986 Italian GP;

Michele Alboreto - I believe Michele (then the lead Ferrari driver at Monza!) had missed Friday free practice, because he had injured his shoulder. However less clear was how the injury had occured, something about either a motorbike accident or hurting himself in the shower? However Clive James' comments on the matter in the 1986 FIA season review is comedy gold (as is the video footage of Stefan Johansson's mullet...which for me wins 'reject of the year' for 1986 hands down ). To make matters worse in the race, Alboreto spins off whilst his ferrari teammate claims a podium position at Monza.

Race stewards - For only taking half the race to show Prost the black flag, following his his change of cars after the start of the parade lap. Good job boys!

[TomWazzleshaw]

Race stewards - For only taking half the race to show Prost the black flag, following his his change of cars after the start of the parade lap. Good job boys!

That's lightening quick compared to the 50 something laps they took to disqualify Montoya for the exact same thing at the 2004 US Grand Prix

[tzerof1]

1986 French GP - The marshals, for providing a Jacques Tati style farce while attempting (although that's giving them too much credit) to put out the fire in Philippe Streiff's Tyrrell. Bonus points for the fire truck driving the wrong way down the pitlane to 'help'.

Oh, I wish there was video of this available, it is unbelievable really.

I salute your thinking Sir & I believe this incident is shown on the 1986 FIA season review video (although I also couldn't find a link to it on the internet if thats what you meant).

The French GP section of the 1986 season review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVWry4K4mgU
Skip ahead to 2:56. It doesn't show the part with the fire truck, but Clive James makes mention of the whole farce in his typical manner.

[ibsey]

Another race, which should have a few contenders for ROTR I believe is Canada 1989.

Firstly the organisers should be considered for disqualifying Nigel Mansell and Alessandro Nannini (two major contenders for the race victory) at the start of the race, because they failed to show red light at the end of the pitlane just before the start of the race. Thus we had this ridiculous situation where these two drivers ended up starting from the pitlane before the race had actually began.

Also perhaps Stefan Johansson & his team, Onyx should be considered since according to Wikipedia, they were black-flagged because an air-line became attached to his car during a pit stop. He ignored the flag, and was disqualified as a result. Also IIRC I think it was Rene Arnoux who pretty harshly punted, I think Gabriele Tarquini in the AGS-Ford when he was running strongly. If so, then clearly Rene still hadn't gotten used to normally aspirated engines yet & IMO should also be ROTR for this action, despite scoring points.

[golic_2004]

1959 Dutch Grand Prix - Everyone who bet against Jo Bonnier to win on that race...everyone did

[ibsey]

Can't believe no-one has yet mentioned the 1991 Australia GP....just everything about that race was rejectfully (although a personal highlight for me has to be when Mansell tries to overtake Senna down the back straight & then has abort the move because there are crashed cars littered all across the track ).

Also was it at France 1992, where Schumacher looked like he was doing an Andrea De Cesaris impression that day, by firstly colliding into Senna at the start (at a time when IIRC those two were at each other thorats off the track as well). Then during the restart later he hit Stefano Modena in the Jordan in simliar fashion. Which then caused him to brake his front suspension.

[James1978]

I think somewhere I listed the number of times Schumacher could have got the award in the years before F1 Rejects existed and France 1992 was definitely one of them! (Australia 94 and Europe 97 were among the others).

[ibsey]

I think somewhere I listed the number of times Schumacher could have got the award in the years before F1 Rejects existed and France 1992 was definitely one of them! (Australia 94 and Europe 97 were among the others).

Mind you I was thinking of suggesting Andrea Moda for France 1992, for not even showing up due to the lorry driver blockade . However since that proved to be a fairly typical race weekend from their legendary 1992 season I didn't think they deserved this award as much as M Schumi.

How about Andrea De Cesaris getting the award for his 1st lap crash at the 1990 Brazilian GP? He didn't even make it as far as the 1st corner ... which even by Andrea's standards was pretty rejectful.

Great Britain: Frentzen for stalling and just being generally useless.

Frentzen is a strong contender for that particularly race. However I've just remembered that was the race where 'the greatest driver F1 has ever produced' aka Ukyo Katayama. Spun immediately after his getaway from his grid slot on the opening lap, which then caused the SC in those opening laps. Can't remember if Ukyo suffered a techincal problem or not? But not only did Ukyo fail to make the 1st corner of the race. In fact he didn't even manage to get beyond the start & finish line on the opening lap That is quite an achievement.

[James1978]

Failing to reach the start/finish line probably makes everything other attempt to be RotR irrelevant to be honest, and I'd totally forgotten that incident.

[ibsey]

A few more to add here from the top of my head;

Austria 1987 – Perhaps Martin Brundle for certainly causing the 1st pile up at the start of the race & being involved in the 2nd one, which completely blocked the track.

Monaco 1980 - Derek Daly for that 1st lap pile up. I believe that after the race he was quoted as saying “I forgot to brake”.

Long Beach 1982 – Perhaps an obvious one for this race would be Ferrari, running with their illegal wing. Or Giacomelli for kamikazing into the back of Arnoux, when he was attempting to overtake Lauda.

However I would like to suggest Andrea De Cesaris (despite his pole). Why? Well apparently the reason he was overtaken by Lauda on lap 15, was because he was too busy waving at Raul Boesel’s March whom had just held him up when being lapped. When perhaps his left arm would have been better served changing up gear, in an attempt to hold Lauda back?

Needless to say this gave Lauda the momentum he needed to sweep by into the lead at the end of the straight, and the Austrian immediately began to pull away. De Cesaris later crashed out on lap 34, from a race he had a good shot at winning.

[ibsey]

Reckon for Belgium 1966 we can call whomever (from the organisers side) was suppose to attend to Jackie Stewart following his near fatal accident, ROTR there. Alternatively the ambulance driver who when carrying Jackie got lost on the way to the hospital, perhaps should be another contender.

[Ferrim]

Failing to reach the start/finish line probably makes everything other attempt to be RotR irrelevant to be honest, and I'd totally forgotten that incident.

According to Ukyo:

"I really don't know what happened! At the start I passed Diniz and few metres after I spun. I don't know whether it was my fault, a technical problem or someone pushing me from the back."

[ibsey]

R Schumi, for crashing on the lap to the grid prior to the start of the 1997 Belgian GP.
Or perhaps EJ for not knowing that R Schumi had crashed on his way to the grid. So EJ had to be told about it by a reporter who was interviewing him (all of which is shown on the 1997 FIA season review video). Then just to compound his error R Schumi then crashed out for a 2nd time in that race.

Also I think Hill might be another possible contender, as IIRC he when against his team orders & pitted for the wrong tyres when it was fairly clear that tyre choice by Hill was unlikely to work.

Also perhaps Frentzen for letting several drivers passed him, left right & centre, during the middle of the race. IIRC I think his tyres were shot at that moment, however I still think it was all a bit too submissive from him.

[Dj_bereta]

1998... listing some candidates:
Brazil:
No idea... can't really point out anyone

Belgium:
- Rosset, for the aforementioned reason

Brazil: Diniz, for the spin and then retiring because your car got stuck in the kerbs.

Also for Belgium, David Coulthard for being involved in three crashes and was one of drivers who triggered the first lap pile up.

[TomWazzleshaw]

1998... listing some candidates:
Brazil:
No idea... can't really point out anyone

Belgium:
- Rosset, for the aforementioned reason

Brazil: Diniz, for the spin and then retiring because your car got stuck in the kerbs.

Also for Belgium, David Coulthard for being involved in three crashes and was one of drivers who triggered the first lap pile up.

One of the drivers who triggered it? Mate, he was the sole reason it happened in the first place

[Aerond]

This is my 1994 run;

Brazil;

-- No challenge for Eddie Irvine

Pacific;

-- Jos Verstappen; binning it while on points is not the way to impress your boss.

San Marino;

-- One could say life in general, but I will go further and say F1 authorities for not calling off the race after Saturday events.

Monaco;

-- Mika Hakkinen; responsible for Ste.Devote crash

Spain;

-- The tyre chicane

Canada;

-- Ligier; Both cars slow and even behind Lotus and Minardi

France;

-- Katayama; binned it while on points

Great Britain;

-- Schumacher; Disqualified himself after idiot overtake on warm-up lap; not the best way to consolidate your place in the championship.

Germany;

-- Mika Hakkinen; How do you take out 5 cars at once without even ramming anyone?

Hungary;

-- Eddie Irvine; Took his teammate out and couldn't get the 1st lap done for the 4th time in 1994.

Belgium;

-- The chicane at Eau Rouge.

Italy;

-- Eddie Irvine, for causing 1st lap mayhem.

Portugal;

-- Jean Alesi; Being impatient to lap another car ends his chance of a podium.

European;

-- Nigel Mansell; drove like an old grandpa

Japan;

-- Local heroes; all out of the race within 3 laps.

Australia;

-- Jean-Deniz Deletraz; Who else can be lapped in 33 kms. of race ON PACE ALONE?

[Shizuka]

Hungary;

-- Eddie Irvine; Took his teammate out and couldn't get the 1st lap done for the 4th time in 1994.

He also took the superbly qualified Katayama out too.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Italy;

-- Eddie Irvine, for causing 1st lap mayhem.

Bloody muppet managed to take out Johnny Herbert on the one day where Lotus were potentially on for a monster result.

[ibsey]

Brazil: Diniz, for the spin and then retiring because your car got stuck in the kerbs.

According to Wikipedia Diniz retired because of his gearbox? Although I think he should still be considered a contender for reject of the race, for qualifying last on his home track. Can't believe many drivers that year would have been outqualified by Rosset in a Tyrrell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Brazilian_Grand_Prix

Perhaps an alternative might be Jordan team who did very little all weekend then got DSQ for their troubles. Again according to Wikipedia 'Ralf Schumacher spun out on the first lap at the fourth corner, meaning that he had not finished a single lap, so far in the season.' . Whislt Hill finished a distant 10th & 2 laps down (IIRC) before being DSQ.

Italy;

-- Eddie Irvine, for causing 1st lap mayhem.

Lets not forget JJ Lehto's awful showing at that race. Qualifying 20th behind both footworks & a minardi & almost 1 second slower than his teammate at Monza (i.e. a track which mainly consists of straights). Then finishes 9th in the race behind a Larrousse-Ford for god sake!

Considering he was in the car which won the WDC that year (which he was supposed to have been a fulltime driver for that year, but was so bad he was sacked). I would have reasonably expected him to finish ahead of a Larrousse.

Monaco;

-- Mika Hakkinen; responsible for Ste.Devote crash

I would have suggested Paul Belmondo, for qualifying 4 seconds slower than his teammate, then retiring in the race because he was too tired to carry on.

[Nuppiz]

Lets not forget JJ Lehto's awful showing at that race. Qualifying 20th behind both footworks & a minardi & almost 1 second slower than his teammate at Monza (i.e. a track which mainly consists of straights). Then finishes 9th in the race behind a Larrousse-Ford for god sake!

Let's not forget why he was so "crap" in 1994; Flab Flav forced him into the car way too early after a horrific testing crash where he suffered broken neck vertebrae, an injury which was only aggravated when Lamy rammed him at the start of Imola '94. It's a miracle he drove at all considering the amount of painkillers he had to take.

[ibsey]

Lets not forget JJ Lehto's awful showing at that race. Qualifying 20th behind both footworks & a minardi & almost 1 second slower than his teammate at Monza (i.e. a track which mainly consists of straights). Then finishes 9th in the race behind a Larrousse-Ford for god sake!

Let's not forget why he was so "crap" in 1994; Flab Flav forced him into the car way too early after a horrific testing crash where he suffered broken neck vertebrae, an injury which was only aggravated when Lamy rammed him at the start of Imola '94. It's a miracle he drove at all considering the amount of painkillers he had to take.

Yes his accident & injuries were unfortunate. However unless Flav held a gun to JJ Lehto's head forcing him to drive. Then IMO Lehto has only got himself to blame for coming back into the cockpit too early & therefore performing poorly as a result.

Also lets not forget that Monza is not a particularly demand circuit physically speaking for drivers necks. Also there have been many cases of drivers battling through painful situations, to still go on & get a good result. Herbert in Brazil 1989, Senna at Brazil 1991, Mansell test driving & susbsquently getting the Lotus drive despite discharging himself from hospital early from a broken neck. Also Mansell's 1st drive was was in a tank full of fuel so he suffered sereve burns.

In fact I read a while ago from an autosport forum post that Lehto stated his regret about being a too 'lazy' in his F1 career.

[Aerond]

Italy;

-- Eddie Irvine, for causing 1st lap mayhem.

Bloody muppet managed to take out Johnny Herbert on the one day where Lotus were potentially on for a monster result.

I've always hated him because of that day!

[Dj_bereta]

I'll do some for 1999.

1999 Australian Grand Prix - Stewart. Both cars caught fire on the grid pretty much simultaneously. Although Barrichello finished 5th after a monster recovery drive, that's incredibly embarrassing.

1999 San Marino Grand Prix - Jacques Villeneuve. Drags that crapbox BAR into 5th in qualifying...only to stall on the grid come Sunday.

1999 Monaco Grand Prix - Sauber. Both cars out with suspension failure in the space of a lap IIRC.

1999 Spanish Grand Prix - The race itself. 65 laps of racing, ONE recorded overtaking manoeuvre.

1999 Canadian Grand Prix - The Champions. Villenueve, Schumacher and Hill all clouted a certain wall just after the last chicane. Just needed Hakkinen to complete the full set...

1999 French Grand Prix - Damon Hill. Seriously, your team mate wins the race, and you produce THAT as a performance?

1999 British Grand Prix - BAR. In a low attrition race by 1999 standards (16 cars finished), BAR were the only team to fail to get a car to the finish.

1999 Hungarian Grand Prix - Mika Salo. Qualified 18th and finished two laps down on the leader in basically the best car in the field...

1999 Italian Grand Prix - Mika Hakkinen. A really pathetic and amaturish spin into the kitty litter.

1999 European Grand Prix - Luca Badoer's gearbox. He was only 13 laps away from unrejectification.

1999 Japanese Grand Prix - Damon Hill. Frankly, he'd have done better if he just stayed at home...

I need help for ROTRs in Brazil, Austria, Germany, Belgium or Malaysia that year...

Let's see:

Brazil: Too difficult to say one: maybe Wurz for finishing 2 laps down, or Stewart reability for costing a podium for Barrichello in your home race.

Austria: Stewart after a very good qualify, 0 points in the race.

Germany: Ferrari's Team Order killed the first victory of Salo. Maybe Stewards, because if I rememeber well, Team Orders were illegal, right?

Belgium: Arrows: Sole double retirement of the race.

Malaysia: Stewards.

[James1978]

I'd say David Coulthard at Austria 1999 for punting off Hakkinen and then getting beaten himself by Irvine - a double no-no!

Belgium would probably be the BAR drivers for their demolition antics in qualifying. Or Mika Salo for being nothing more than a blocker for Irvine.

[Dj_bereta]

I'd say David Coulthard at Austria 1999 for punting off Hakkinen and then getting beaten himself by Irvine - a double no-no!

Belgium would probably be the BAR drivers for their demolition antics in qualifying. Or Mika Salo for being nothing more than a blocker for Irvine.

Very good choices. I forget these incidents.

1993
South Africa - Damon Hill. Spun in the first lap and then no progress until the Zanardi crash
Brazil - Michael Andretti. Bad start and then collision with Berger taking both of them out
Europe - Alain Prost. Seven pit stops was few too many.
San Marino - Ferrari. Home race and both cars go bang again.
Spain - difficult to choose
Monaco - Gerhard Berger for destroying chance for rare podium finish for Ferrari that year
Canada - Lotus. Qualifying 20th and 21st, finishing 10th and 11th. Weak performance.
France - Andrea de Cesaris. Took Mark Blundell out.
Britain - Michael Andretti. Spun on the first corner.
Germany - Damon Hill's rear tyre. Robbed a win one and half laps before the end.
Hungary - multiple candidates but can't choose one over other
Belgium - Riccardo Patrese. Stupid spin while accelerating out of pit lane. Finished about two and half minutes behind his team-mate Schumacher.
Italy - Ayrton Senna. Crash in the first corner then crash with Brundle.
Portugal - Ferrari's active suspension. Berger had lucky escape from his crash.
Japan - Michael Schumacher. Collision early on.
Australia - Eddie Irvine. Missed grid slot and then crashed out.

For Portugal, I suggest Patrese for ROTR, because this:

http://youtu.be/gAAmmmqqWvs

He killed the chances of Warwicks scoring some points in this race.

[Benetton]

1998 Canada - Jacques Villeneuve

Crashed with Tuero.

[AdrianSutil]

1998 Canada - Jacques Villeneuve

Crashed with Tuero.

I'd be inclined to say Michael Schumacher actually. I think He got a stop-go penalty (can't remember what for) and when he exited the pits, cut right across the track, after checking his mirrors, right in front of Frentzen, causing the Williams to suddenly brake to avoid running into him and spun into retirement.

Actually, it he did gt a stop-go during the race, it would've been for that. Think I'm getting my wires crossed I'm sure someone on here will correct me.

[Benetton]

1998 Monaco - Jordan Grand Prix. Horrible weekend for both drivers. Also Michael Schumacher's moment on the last lap, almost colliding with Diniz.

1998 Canada - Murray Walker. Was making mistakes through the whole race.

[Benetton]

1998 Canada - Jacques Villeneuve

Crashed with Tuero.

I'd be inclined to say Michael Schumacher actually. I think He got a stop-go penalty (can't remember what for) and when he exited the pits, cut right across the track, after checking his mirrors, right in front of Frentzen, causing the Williams to suddenly brake to avoid running into him and spun into retirement.

Actually, it he did gt a stop-go during the race, it would've been for that. Think I'm getting my wires crossed I'm sure someone on here will correct me.

Schumacher got a stop and go for the Frentzen incident. To be honest, Schumacher should not have been penalized for that. It was quite freaky racing incident that Frentzen was just in a blind spot for almost the whole duration of Schumacher's exit from the pit. Schumacher did not see him and why would Michael risk his car being damaged when Mika and IIRC David had already retired?

Schumacher's drive that day was excellent and he would've won that race even if the McLaren's would've finished, this is my opinion.

But maybe even more rejectful than Villeneuve was Ralf Schumacher, who cocked up his start twice.

[Londoner]

1998 Canada - Murray Walker. Was making mistakes through the whole race.