Grand Prix Rejects

With all this talk of four world champions and eleven race winners on the grid this year, its easy to forget that there are nine drivers on the grid who are classified as F1 Rejects, so the question is, who will be the next driver to escape rejectdom, and when? (and how?)

Nico Hulkenburg - Best result 14th.

Vitaly Petrov - Best result DNF.

Vitantonio Liuzzi - Best result 6th.

Sebastian Buemi- Best result 7th.

Jaime Alguersuari - Best result 13th.

Karun Chandok - Best result DNF.

Bruno Senna - Best result DNF.

Kamui Kobayashi - Best result 6th.

Lucas Di Grassi - Best result DNF.

Other - Recent F1 rejects to leave F1 include Rrrrmnnnn Grrrssssnn, Luca Badoer, Sebastian Bourdais, Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson.

All of them will need a good day based on the pace of the big 4, but I would expect Hulkenberg to be knocking at the door at some point during the season.

Hulkenberg, Liuzzi and Buemi would seem to have the best chance.

I would also guess Hülkenberg.
(But of course everyone knows that in reality it can only be Kobayashi!)

P_Friesacher wrote:(But of course everyone knows that in reality it can only be Kobayashi!)

Er, um, ah, yes, about that...

Vitaly Petrov - he was threatening Rubens Barrichello for a point before he was forced out.

Any of Liuzzi, Kobayashi, Buemi, Petrov and Hulkenburg. One driver from each midfield team.

Liuzzi, he just need a 5th

Definitely Liuzzi or Petrov - the only two with cars even close to the Top 5.

With this year's big 4 monopolizing the first 8 places and Kubica in form, the answer is it'll take a fluke. Good luck to them all, but I don't see it happening soon for everyone.

Petrov or Liuzzi. Petrov is faster than he's given credit for, and Liuzzi is also showing some impressive speed.

Hulkenburg or Liuzzi for sure. They have the best cars out of all the rejects. Kobayashi will be third to go either at a wet race or a particularly high attrition race like Monaco, Australia or Canada. The Sauber just doesn't cut it at the moment.

CarlosFerreira wrote:With this year's big 4 monopolizing the first 8 places and Kubica in form, the answer is it'll take a fluke. Good luck to them all, but I don't see it happening soon for everyone.

Ditto. Maybe next year (after yet another round of rule changes to encourage overtaking)...

I'm thinking Liuzzi... mostly because I'm a Force India homer.

It's a pity that Bruno Senna doesn't have a better car to prove what he has...

shinji wrote:

P_Friesacher wrote:(But of course everyone knows that in reality it can only be Kobayashi!)

Er, um, ah, yes, about that...

Er... Yeah, Frisacher, you'll see, we are gathering signs below this letter: It says, ahem, "Dear Captain Hammer, we are deeply sorry for...yaddah, yaddah, yaddah,.. .you were right when you yelled us.... yaddah, yaddah, yaddah, sincereley yours." and goes on.

WE have chatting about it, and we decided that we will stick to this position: "Well, dude, that Toyota was REALLY wasted at Glock hands".

I'll go one better- for added pointlessness I can predict the order

This order:

Vitantonio Liuzzi - Best result 6th.
Nico Hulkenburg - Best result 14th.
Kamui Kobayashi - Best result 6th.
Vitaly Petrov - Best result DNF.
Sebastian Buemi- Best result 7th.

Won't (not this season):

Jaime Alguersuari - Best result 13th.
Karun Chandok - Best result DNF.
Bruno Senna - Best result DNF.
Lucas Di Grassi - Best result DNF.

I'll go for Hulkenberg. Its got a good chance of happening at Albert Park due to the general chaotic nature of that event.

Are we missing the real point here. With points being handed out left right and centre and two more races in the calendar are rejects going to become a rarity. And can I officially start the rumour that the FIA are to let USF1 back into the championship to combat that very point.

chrismcn wrote:Are we missing the real point here. With points being handed out left right and centre and two more races in the calendar are rejects going to become a rarity. And can I officially start the rumour that the FIA are to let USF1 back into the championship to combat that very point.

Nah, check out the reject requirements - points are NOT the issue... it's all about finishing positions. a couple of 5ths will do it... or a few 6ths. [i dont remember the numbers] - but NOTHING to do with how many points you may have.

- as for next - 'The Hulk' should escape this year, As should Petrov & [dare i say it] Mr Koboyaski...

My guess is Nico Hulkenberg. He has great potential and a good car.

kowalski wrote:

chrismcn wrote:Are we missing the real point here. With points being handed out left right and centre and two more races in the calendar are rejects going to become a rarity. And can I officially start the rumour that the FIA are to let USF1 back into the championship to combat that very point.

Nah, check out the reject requirements - points are NOT the issue... it's all about finishing positions. a couple of 5ths will do it... or a few 6ths. [i dont remember the numbers] - but NOTHING to do with how many points you may have.

- as for next - 'The Hulk' should escape this year, As should Petrov & [dare i say it] Mr Koboyaski...

Its 3 points under the old 10-6-4-3-2-1, so three 6ths, a 5th and a 6th, or a single 4th or better.

Chandhok, have some faith! ;P

For me, Liuzzi is the clear favourite. He is allready with one foot out of rejectdom, and his team is probably "best of the rest" and might challenge the in some races.

kowalski wrote:Check out the reject requirements - points are NOT the issue... it's all about finishing positions. a couple of 5ths will do it... or a few 6ths. [i dont remember the numbers] - but NOTHING to do with how many points you may have.

to escape F1 Rejectdom, i believe Jamie & Enoch have it as, at the very least:
1) One 4th Place Finish; or
2) One 5th Place & One 6th Place Finishes; or
3) Three 6th Place Finishes

Easy as pie.

As quoted from the main website (and as I recently quoted in another thread very recently...):

All a former Formula One driver needs to do to escape eligibility for this site is to have been successful in F1. Specifically, they must have scored ...
• a 4th, 3rd, 2nd or 1st place, or
• a 5th place, plus any other top-6 result, or
• three or more 6th places
How hard can that be? Very!

Buemi
Liuzzi
Pizzonia
Nakajima
Albers
Friesacher
Bourdais
Kobayashi

Am I right: this is the driver list with at least three points but they are still rejects.

Kobayashi, Liuzzi, Nakajima and Friesacher have sixth, Albers fifth so they would have points in classic system.

I'm absolutely convinced that it will rain at Monaco, that more cars on the track plus this will create chaos and that Bruno Senna will bring his car home about 4 laps down but in 3rd or something daft. So I'll go for him.

PS Please don't remind me of this thread when the sun is beating down and he's dropped it in the wall on lap 1. Ta.

PWNSNBM wrote:

kowalski wrote:Check out the reject requirements - points are NOT the issue... it's all about finishing positions. a couple of 5ths will do it... or a few 6ths. [i dont remember the numbers] - but NOTHING to do with how many points you may have.

So if Badoer had scored one point he would still be a reject?

chrismcn wrote:

PWNSNBM wrote:

kowalski wrote:Check out the reject requirements - points are NOT the issue... it's all about finishing positions. a couple of 5ths will do it... or a few 6ths. [i dont remember the numbers] - but NOTHING to do with how many points you may have.

So if Badoer had scored one point he would still be a reject?

Yes, you need to have scored three points or more under the old 10-6-4-3-2-1 system

chrismcn wrote:

PWNSNBM wrote:

kowalski wrote:Check out the reject requirements - points are NOT the issue... it's all about finishing positions. a couple of 5ths will do it... or a few 6ths. [i dont remember the numbers] - but NOTHING to do with how many points you may have.

So if Badoer had scored one point he would still be a reject?

Yes, but it would have made his career far less painful.

thehemogoblin wrote:

chrismcn wrote:

kowalski wrote:Check out the reject requirements - points are NOT the issue... it's all about finishing positions. a couple of 5ths will do it... or a few 6ths. [i dont remember the numbers] - but NOTHING to do with how many points you may have.

So if Badoer had scored one point he would still be a reject?

Yes, but it would have made his career far less painful.[/quote]

Besides, he could be World Champion in 2010, and he'd still be our reject.

CarlosFerreira wrote:

thehemogoblin wrote:

chrismcn wrote:So if Badoer had scored one point he would still be a reject?

Yes, but it would have made his career far less painful.

Besides, he could be World Champion in 2010, and he'd still be our reject.

It's like the Brits with Mansell, right?

thehemogoblin wrote:It's like the Brits with Mansell, right?

'tache not included.

Next driver to unrejectify himself will be Brendan Hartley, when he takes over from Webber after Turkey.

CarlosFerreira wrote:

thehemogoblin wrote:It's like the Brits with Mansell, right?

'tache not included.

Next driver to unrejectify himself will be Brendan Hartley, when he takes over from Webber after Turkey.

Do you think Red Bull would pull up Hartley over promoting Buemi and putting Hartley in his seat?

Question: how does the new points structure affect the requirements to get out of Rejectdom?

Captain Hammer wrote:Question: how does the new points structure affect the requirements to get out of Rejectdom?

It doesn't. Rejectdom has always been based on positions, not points. It takes three sixths, a fifth and a sixth, or a fourth or better to escape.

thehemogoblin wrote:

CarlosFerreira wrote:

thehemogoblin wrote:It's like the Brits with Mansell, right?

'tache not included.

Next driver to unrejectify himself will be Brendan Hartley, when he takes over from Webber after Turkey.

Do you think Red Bull would pull up Hartley over promoting Buemi and putting Hartley in his seat?

Yes. Red Bull will go for two drivers who happen to look like girls, dropping Webber and his macho chin to run a Red Bull.

Some of the readers may have noticed by now that I'm kidding.

thehemogoblin wrote:

Captain Hammer wrote:Question: how does the new points structure affect the requirements to get out of Rejectdom?

It doesn't. Rejectdom has always been based on positions, not points. It takes three sixths, a fifth and a sixth, or a fourth or better to escape.

Ultra hard to do this season with 4 top teams isn't it!

My bet is the same as most, that Liuzzi will be the next out. He has (some) talent and has a decent car behind him. If this years Force India is anything like the last one then my bet is for Liuzzi to escape rejectdom at Spa.

Tealy wrote:

thehemogoblin wrote:

Captain Hammer wrote:Question: how does the new points structure affect the requirements to get out of Rejectdom?

It doesn't. Rejectdom has always been based on positions, not points. It takes three sixths, a fifth and a sixth, or a fourth or better to escape.

Ultra hard to do this season with 4 top teams isn't it!

My bet is the same as most, that Liuzzi will be the next out. He has (some) talent and has a decent car behind him. If this years Force India is anything like the last one then my bet is for Liuzzi to escape rejectdom at Spa.

+1
Liuzzi's best chance will probably come at either Spa or Monza (where Force India were also fairly strong) - remember that Liuzzi was running in 7th before his gearbox gave way - had it not, he would have had a good chance of getting out of Reject status in that race. We'll have to see whether the car is topping the speed traps over the next few races before then, however - the VJM03 will have more downforce then it's predecessor, which will probably come at the cost of more drag (unless they have been able to squeeze more out of the underfloor).
But asides from those two tracks, where Force India (and thus Liuzzi) have the potential to jump the big four teams, it'll take an accident, attrition or sudden changes in the weather (as places like the Nurburgring or Silverstone are capable of producing - dry to wet to dry rather abruptly, for example) to shuffle the pack up enough for the others to get close.
I guess that Petrov would be the next most likely, given that the Renault looks next most competitive, and after that possibly Hulkenberg - but the new drivers in the new teams are not going to have a chance for this year, I expect (since they are most likely to break down, have the least experienced teams and are quite some way off the pace).

CarlosFerreira, on a more serious note, do you think that Red Bull might try to get Brendon Hartley into the Toro Rosso this season and give him some experience? After all, he is the official reserve driver for Toro Rosso as well as Red Bull, and although the two teams are officially separate, Red Bull will still have quite a bit of influence in driver signings, I bet (given that they provide the sponsorship). Or, at the very least, the threat of doing so might get Buemi and Jaime to sharpen up a bit...