Your Reject of the Race - 2013 Malaysia

[Ed24]

Having considered it further, even though Force India will probably win it as the award often focuses on moments of comedy, I think I am changing my nomination to Red Bull for creating such a dangerous culture within the team that led to this. It can be traced back to Silverstone 2010 at least, and they have failed to deal with it.

[Onxy Wrecked]

Don't worry, I base that on Vergne's qualifying efforts often being behind Ricciardo. Now why does that exhaust only fail on Ricciardo's car and not Vergne's is beyond me.

[DanielPT]

I will nominate a) Force India, who retired both drivers due to pit-stop problems that shouldn't happen and b) Ferrari, for letting Alonso to continue racing when clearly he wouldn't get much far with that wing.

[WeirdKerr]

Having considered it further, even though Force India will probably win it as the award often focuses on moments of comedy, I think I am changing my nomination to Red Bull for creating such a dangerous culture within the team that led to this. It can be traced back to Japan 2007 at least, and they have failed to deal with it.

Fixed

[go_Rubens]

For me, there were plenty of choices for the ROTR. Here are my podium finishers.

P3: Red Bull. A few years ago, Christian Horner told reporters for SPEED that Red Bull let their drivers race with no team orders crap. Now, they are all for team orders. I don't understand that at all. Plus, with the team orders, Red Bull have a driver (Seb) that does not listen to pit wall orders. Vettel was told not to pass Mark, but he did so anyway. Plus, unlike Mercedes, they didn't even get their drivers together to chat about the whole controversy in the first place. What a load of bull paddies.

P2: Force India. SFI were running in the points when everything had to fall apart. The pit crew could not figure to how to get their wheel guns out? I mean, this would be understandable if the malfunctions had occurred to one car, but both? This is pure reject material here.

P1: I think it is obvious who deserves the ROTR. Fernando Alonso! Even if he wanted to stay out to see if he could get on slicks and get away with it, the Ferrari pit crew was ready. Fernando epically failed and totally deserves the Reject of the Race award. Nuff said.

What do you think?

[NAM]

While there are many possible candidates, I'll stick with Force India on this one. From a 7th and 8th last weekend to a double DNF due to technical reasons, plus not giving Di Resta a chance to set a time.

[Ed24]

Having considered it further, even though Force India will probably win it as the award often focuses on moments of comedy, I think I am changing my nomination to Red Bull for creating such a dangerous culture within the team that led to this. It can be traced back to Japan 2007 at least, and they have failed to deal with it.

Fixed

Well whilst that is an important moment in the driver relationship, you can't really blame Red Bull too much for that.

[go_Rubens]

Having considered it further, even though Force India will probably win it as the award often focuses on moments of comedy, I think I am changing my nomination to Red Bull for creating such a dangerous culture within the team that led to this. It can be traced back to Silverstone 2010 at least, and they have failed to deal with it.

I totally agree. Webber and Vettel have had quite a few collisions and disputes. There was Japan in '07, Istanbul in 2010, Silverstone 2010, and this total cock up in Malaysia, to name a few. Worst of all, Red Bull let there drivers get away with this? Red Bull may be a good team, but it is not managed as well as it should be.

[go_Rubens]

By the way, I think the only driver that did their job well was Jules Bianchi. I am not using Hulkenberg because he did fire up the Iceman. Bianchi was one of the guys that stayed out of the controversies and out of the spotlight (not that Jules was in the spotlight to begin with.) Additionally, Jules is nearly able to take on Williams and while doing so beat Chilton fair and square. To Jules's credit, great job.

[DemocalypseNow]

By the way, I think the only driver that did their job well was Jules Bianchi. I am not using Hulkenberg because he did fire up the Iceman. Bianchi was one of the guys that stayed out of the controversies and out of the spotlight (not that Jules was in the spotlight to begin with.) Additionally, Jules is nearly able to take on Williams and while doing so beat Chilton fair and square. To Jules's credit, great job.

I wouldn't say that's true. If anything, he had the hardest task of anyone, yet was the only person not to f*** it all up. He was racing directly against Maldonado before he retired. Bianchi was actually fighting cars around him, but all his direct competitors eventually retired, so towards the end of the race he ended up by himself.

[go_Rubens]

Also, I didn't like Seb's radio transmission to "get Mark out of the way, he is too slow" when Webber was three tenths faster than Vettel at the time Really? It wasn't even halfway through the race. Seb, the truth is, you race to get first or team orders gets in the way. Don't be a crybaby who wants everything his way when we are in a world where everything can't be your way. What a load of reject material

[go_Rubens]

By the way, I think the only driver that did their job well was Jules Bianchi. I am not using Hulkenberg because he did fire up the Iceman. Bianchi was one of the guys that stayed out of the controversies and out of the spotlight (not that Jules was in the spotlight to begin with.) Additionally, Jules is nearly able to take on Williams and while doing so beat Chilton fair and square. To Jules's credit, great job.

I wouldn't say that's true. If anything, he had the hardest task of anyone, yet was the only person not to f*** it all up. He was racing directly against Maldonado before he retired. Bianchi was actually fighting cars around him, but all his direct competitors eventually retired, so towards the end of the race he ended up by himself.

I never realized that. I apparently paid too much attention to Red Bull and Ferrari's lackluster day.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Also, I didn't like Seb's radio transmission to "get Mark out of the way, he is too slow" when Webber was three tenths faster than Vettel at the time?

I actually found it quite funny at the time that soon as Vettel started complaining, Webber started to go half a second a lap faster than him

[Onxy Wrecked]

Also, I didn't like Seb's radio transmission to "get Mark out of the way, he is too slow" when Webber was three tenths faster than Vettel at the time?

I actually found it quite funny at the time that soon as Vettel started complaining, Webber started to go half a second a lap faster than him

Webber did exactly what Vettel did not want to him to do.

[DemocalypseNow]

By the way, I think the only driver that did their job well was Jules Bianchi. I am not using Hulkenberg because he did fire up the Iceman. Bianchi was one of the guys that stayed out of the controversies and out of the spotlight (not that Jules was in the spotlight to begin with.) Additionally, Jules is nearly able to take on Williams and while doing so beat Chilton fair and square. To Jules's credit, great job.

I wouldn't say that's true. If anything, he had the hardest task of anyone, yet was the only person not to f*** it all up. He was racing directly against Maldonado before he retired. Bianchi was actually fighting cars around him, but all his direct competitors eventually retired, so towards the end of the race he ended up by himself.

I never realized that. I apparently paid too much attention to Red Bull and Ferrari's lackluster day.

Also because Maldonado was doing a surprisingly good job of not drawing attention to himself. Every time he went off the road, for once, he didn't collect someone else while doing it.

[X61]

Fernando Alonso - Pitting would have cost him a lot of time. Throwing his car into the sandtrap cost him a chance at salvaging anything.

[eytl]

OK, I'm sorry it's taken this long to announce the official ROTR, but you have to admit there was a very large field of candidates wanting to get in early for an ROTR award in 2013.

Firstly, as to those who didn't get to share the award this time around ... there was obviously plenty of mediocrity, but quite a few drivers/teams have been let off the hook on the basis that the "you've got to be kidding" factor in their nomination wasn't quite high enough. So whilst Force India's wheel nut problems were astounding, put it down to a technical problem just like any other. McLaren's pit error for Button was bad, especially given their frequent pit stop issues last year, but hey, we all make mistakes, even repeated ones. Toro Rosso letting Vergne out into the path of an oncoming Caterham was dangerous, but JEV saved the day by scoring a point.

In the end, ROTR has been awarded to the World Chumpion quartet, so it's quarter marks to each of Red Bull, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen.

Red Bull for creating the ridiculous team culture time-bomb that led to the team orders debacle.

Ferrari for laughably believing that Alonso's dangling front wing could last a few more laps until it was time to pit for slicks (I let Alonso himself off the hook because there was no way he could see the extent of damage).

Lewis for even more laughably stopping at the McLaren pit. You would have thought that, in getting his head around switching from McLaren to Merc during the off-season, one of the things he would have repeatedly told himself was, "Must not pit at McLaren, must not pit at McLaren ..."

And finally, Kimi for his repeated off-road efforts at turns 12-13. Whilst he's not the first person to go off there, it's not exactly the most treacherous bit of track either, and to tank-slap his way off the track not once but twice, when you're leading the World Championship, makes you wonder if The Iceman suddenly thought he was back in the WRC, or perhaps entering the European Rallycross Championship.

No doubt there will be plenty of disagreements, and perhaps you'll think I've gone soft in jointly awarding it to two teams and two drivers, but I have my anti-papaya shield ready.

[TheBigJ]

Can't give it to those 4 without giving to the whole field (bar one or two exceptions) - I personally would've given it to Christian Horner. TBH I'm surprised you didn't give it to the Force India wheelnut designers. Last year you gave ROTR to items of a car for much less disastrous consequences

[Salamander]

I think giving it to Hamilton and Raikkonen is a bit harsh considering the muppetry that went on up and down the paddock, but hey, you're the Senior Grand Prix Analyst. Honestly, I can't see past Force India's wheelnut failure. Di Resta was in the pits for practically a whole lap as a result, not even including time spent entering and leaving the pits, and it cost them what would've been another solid points haul from both cars. Easily the biggest pit-lane cock-up of them all.

[pi314159]

All these four have been rejectful, but I think the McLaren pit crew (not only for Buttons failed pit stop, but also for Perez' pit stop with only two laps to go) and the Force India wheel nuts would also have deserved a shared award, since I think they were at least as rejectful as Hamilton and Räikkönen.

[James1978]

When I saw on the front page it had partly been awarded to Hamilton, I thought it was becuase he had been protected from Rosberg overtaking him through hold station orders!

[mario]

I think that it is fair to state that the awards are somewhat contentious this time around, and I expect that there'll be a fair amount of discussion until China over the ramifications of this.

When I saw on the front page it had partly been awarded to Hamilton, I thought it was becuase he had been protected from Rosberg overtaking him through hold station orders!

I'd argue that if you wished to hand out an award to Mercedes for imposing team orders then the award should go to Brawn rather than Hamilton in that instance, given that the decision was taken on the pit wall rather than by the driver (and, according to Brawn, had the positions been reversed Hamilton would have been ordered to hold station, indicating that it was the interests of the team that were being looked after rather than that of the drivers).

Either way, I can kind of agree with some of the decisions made over ROTR, although not necessarily all. I definitely agree that Ferrari's decision to leave Alonso out (according to them, it was their decision rather than Alonso's) was foolish - asides from the fact that the wing was going to come off sooner rather than later given how badly damaged it was, Alonso would probably have lost just as much time from staying out with a damaged car - assuming he wasn't black and orange flagged for damage - and perhaps more than if he'd pitted.

As for Hamilton stopping in the McLaren pit box, well, it was silly but ultimately of little consequence as he didn't lose any positions due to that mistake - and given that the outfits of Mercedes and McLaren are so similar, it is perhaps kind of forgiveable (certainly more forgiveable than Button turning up in the Red Bull pit box by mistake). Rejectful? I'm kind of in the middle on that one since the consequences were so slight compared to the Vergne-Pic collision - yes, Vergne did salvage a point out of that situation, but only because Ricciardo and Button retired from in front of him and Bottas was held up.

I'd argue that the Force India wheel nuts were more rejectful by comparison - asides from the sheer length of time it took to change those wheels which quite easily cost them several points (at the time of those botched stops, both drivers were ahead of Vergne and lapping several tenths of a second a lap quicker than Perez and Hulkenberg), there was the serious safety issue that the team weren't sure whether the wheel nuts could actually secure the tyres (not to mention the sight of the team having to use hammers to get the wheel nuts off).

As for Kimi, yes, I'd agree that, compared to his normal standards, it was a scruffier than usual race from him, and given that Grosjean was running with an older specification car you would have expected Kimi to finish ahead, rather than behind, Grosjean. I wouldn't say it was totally rejectful compared to the rest of the field, but I'd agree that overall it wasn't one of his finer weekends given that he seemed to be getting less confident and struggled more for his set up as the weekend wore on.

[eytl]

As for Hamilton stopping in the McLaren pit box, well, it was silly but ultimately of little consequence as he didn't lose any positions due to that mistake - and given that the outfits of Mercedes and McLaren are so similar, it is perhaps kind of forgiveable (certainly more forgiveable than Button turning up in the Red Bull pit box by mistake). Rejectful? I'm kind of in the middle on that one since the consequences were so slight compared to the Vergne-Pic collision

I guess the way I look at it is, consequences don't mean as much as sheer hilarity value!

And I couldn't look past the fact that many of the more facepalm-worthy moments came from the best drivers/teams who ought to know better.

But yes, the award could have gone to any number of a dozen or more candidates, and based on previous precedents (e.g. awarding it to alternators at Valencia last year) there would have been justification in giving it to any of them. I must say I also seriously considered "everyone but Jules Bianchi" like we did in a Canadian GP some years back, but in this case I decided against that because some of the foul-ups were by teams and some by drivers and it would have made a complete mess of the leaderboard to work out whether a whole team or individual drivers should share in 0.05 of an award each!!!

[mario]

As for Hamilton stopping in the McLaren pit box, well, it was silly but ultimately of little consequence as he didn't lose any positions due to that mistake - and given that the outfits of Mercedes and McLaren are so similar, it is perhaps kind of forgiveable (certainly more forgiveable than Button turning up in the Red Bull pit box by mistake). Rejectful? I'm kind of in the middle on that one since the consequences were so slight compared to the Vergne-Pic collision

I guess the way I look at it is, consequences don't mean as much as sheer hilarity value!

And I couldn't look past the fact that many of the more facepalm-worthy moments came from the best drivers/teams who ought to know better.

But yes, the award could have gone to any number of a dozen or more candidates, and based on previous precedents (e.g. awarding it to alternators at Valencia last year) there would have been justification in giving it to any of them. I must say I also seriously considered "everyone but Jules Bianchi" like we did in a Canadian GP some years back, but in this case I decided against that because some of the foul-ups were by teams and some by drivers and it would have made a complete mess of the leaderboard to work out whether a whole team or individual drivers should share in 0.05 of an award each!!!

Oh, I do not disagree that the entertainment value is to be discarded - I was laughing pretty hard at Hamilton's pit stop mistake, as, by the sounds of things, were the McLaren mechanics. That said, whilst I wouldn't discount the entertainment value of such moves, personally I'd be tempted to give a little more weight towards the consequences side too, since sometimes an event that seems to have small importance can turn out to have a much more significant impact than you might expect. Alonso, for example, may come to severely regret crashing out come the end of the season (although if he had crashed into the back of Webber, as he very nearly did when the wing ended up stuck beneath the car, it'd have changed the complexion of the race completely if he'd taken Webber was out of the running as well).

[Ferrim]

I expected eytl to go for Force India, to be honest.

[FullMetalJack]

I expected eytl to go for Force India, to be honest.

As did I, and I assume many others who saw the race.

[DOSBoot]

I expected eytl to go for Force India, to be honest.

As did I, and I assume many others who saw the race.

Me three. That's what I choose for the user's vote.

[DanielPT]

I expected eytl to go for Force India, to be honest.

As did I, and I assume many others who saw the race.

Me three. That's what I choose for the user's vote.

Well, not for the first time our overlords chose to go against the popular vote.

I think they do it on purpose!