Grand Prix Rejects

Say who you think will be ROTR for China here.

I nominate wmetcalf for opening this thread nearly TWO weeks early! Perhaps the good Captain opening the ROTR threads wasn't such a bad thing after all...

East Londoner wrote:I nominate wmetcalf for opening this thread nearly TWO weeks early! Perhaps the good Captain opening the ROTR threads wasn't such a bad thing after all...

Not only that, but he created it twice.

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:

East Londoner wrote:I nominate wmetcalf for opening this thread nearly TWO weeks early! Perhaps the good Captain opening the ROTR threads wasn't such a bad thing after all...

Not only that, but he created it twice.

That usually is a board error. It's happened to me quite a few times on other phBB boards.

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:

East Londoner wrote:I nominate wmetcalf for opening this thread nearly TWO weeks early! Perhaps the good Captain opening the ROTR threads wasn't such a bad thing after all...

Not only that, but he created it twice.

I thought that there was an agreement that the thread would be opened, at the earliest, on the day that the practise sessions started to avoid situations like this? As for the duplicate thread, I shall delete that now to negate some of the confusion (as Dan B says, it is probably accidental, but inconvenient nevertheless).

I believe that both threads should be deleted since it is really pointless to discuss in the next couple of weeks...

If I were you mario, I would lock this until the practice sessions get underway next week.

East Londoner wrote:If I were you mario, I would lock this until the practice sessions get underway next week.

That is acceptable too...

East Londoner wrote:I nominate wmetcalf for opening this thread nearly TWO weeks early! Perhaps the good Captain opening the ROTR threads wasn't such a bad thing after all...

Oh, ok! It's not me because my username is wmetcalf68

DanielPT wrote:

East Londoner wrote:If I were you mario, I would lock this until the practice sessions get underway next week.

That is acceptable too...

Very well - since that move has popular support, I shall lock this thread for the short term.

Unlocked and open for business ...

My preliminary vote goes to Hamilton's gearbox...

I'd probably nominate Grosjean, Vergne or Vettel so far but, just like the race itself, it's hard to tip a winner.

JeremyMcClean wrote:My preliminary vote goes to Hamilton's gearbox...

you mean FedEx? it got damaged in transit

razta wrote:

JeremyMcClean wrote:My preliminary vote goes to Hamilton's gearbox...

you mean FedEx? it got damaged in transit

Really now? That will definitely get my vote then

I nominate Sky's producers for using crappy manufactured pop music from the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga over the highlights of past Chinese GPs. When you've spent most of the day listening to the Stone Roses and Ocean Colour Scene, that does irritate me. A lot.

Tempted to nominate Ferrari for burning two sets of softs and still only getting one car into Q3, Vettel for being useless and Vergne for his second consecutive Q1 elimination. But we've a cracking race on our hands tomorrow morning, so anything could change. I still imagine I'll be nominating Massa for something though...

Vettel for me so far. Not making the Top 10, when Webber did, that is terrible.

kostas22 wrote:Vettel for me so far. Not making the Top 10, when Webber did, that is terrible.

Yeah, what a cucumber. I'm tempted to nominated Schumi, if he makes a foolish mistake tommorow he will surely throw year 3 of part 2 of his carrer away. Lotus also sucked so far, and are the only team NOT to improve. Kimi is forced to play Alonso and be cheered for semi-decent qualifying performances, when that car belongs on the front row or at least seriously close.

East Londoner wrote:I nominate Sky's producers for using crappy manufactured pop music from the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga over the highlights of past Chinese GPs. When you've spent most of the day listening to the Stone Roses and Ocean Colour Scene, that does irritate me. A lot.

Someone please give this man a beer.

But in all seriousness, ROTR so far is Vettel. Is that 3-0 to Webber now this season?

Sublime_FA11C wrote: Lotus also sucked so far, and are the only team NOT to improve. Kimi is forced to play Alonso and be cheered for semi-decent qualifying performances, when that car belongs on the front row or at least seriously close.

Actually, 4th or 5th is probably where the Lotus belongs week in, week out. Grrrrssssjjjjnnnn in the other Lotus however....

Wizzie wrote:

Sublime_FA11C wrote: Lotus also sucked so far, and are the only team NOT to improve. Kimi is forced to play Alonso and be cheered for semi-decent qualifying performances, when that car belongs on the front row or at least seriously close.

Actually, 4th or 5th is probably where the Lotus belongs week in, week out. Grrrrssssjjjjnnnn in the other Lotus however....

Hat off to Kimi for getting that 5th. He and Grosjean were 13th and 15th on Friday, then improved that to 10th and 12th on Saturday. Lotus are very very lucky to have that P4, that's why i was dissapointed.

Schumacher's pitstop: Rosberg takes the victory, Schumacher's the only non-retirement. A slight disappointment for Mercedes, who would have appreciated the extra points.

Raikkonen's strategy: Running second for so long, then his tyres fall off the cliff and he tumbles out of the points, while Grosjean actually finishes and takes his first steps towards unrejectification.

1st: Schumacher's pit-stop.

2nd: Button's pit-stop. (I don't think it would have made that much difference to the result but it would have at least applied some pressure on Rosberg)

wheelnuts - seriously how many of those things failed to co-operate today?

Sauber, especially Kamui - looking strong for at least a podium at the start, ending up way back during the race.

The forum server.

1. Ferrari - OK, so they had a dog of a car, but Alonso was up to fifth at one time, and Massa is still useless. (But his best finish of the year, in 12th!) About time they got a ROTR.
2. Whoever messed up the pitstop for Michael Schumacher - self explanatory.
3. Raikkonen's tires - self explanatory.

1. Shumacher's pit-stop: Cost Shumacher the race, and maybe a possible podium.

2. Raikkonen's strategy: Runs in 2nd for several laps, only to drop back in the dying laps, and finish a dismal 14th at the end of the race.

Let's see:
Merc pit crew - It's always funny when it happens to Schumacher
Toro Rosso - Both Ricciardo and Vergne were absolutely nowhere all race, in fact Vergne's quick laps were the only thing of note they did all weekend.
Felipe Massa - If only because he's the only driver who hasn't scored points yet who is racing for one of the top 9 teams.

Buttons Pit Crew - Another balls up which prevented Button from spoiling the Merc party.

ROTR = me:

Warren Hughes wrote:Warren Hughes' Predictions
2012 Chinese Grand Prix:
1. Button
2. Vettel
3. Schumacher
4. Hamilton
5. Webber
6. Alonso
7. Perez
8. Raikkonen
9. Maldonado
10. Hulkenberg

Pole: Schumacher
Fastest lap: Hamilton
First Retirement: Ricciardo
ROTR: Rosberg
IIDOTR: Schumacher
DBTMOTR: Massa
Minor League Premiership: Grosjean
Non-Qualifiers: None

Ferrim wrote:The forum server.

Yes, this. If I were not spending so long repeatedly attempting to access this, I would have had more time to work on a university assignment...

I nominate Team Lotus for Raikkonen's race strategy. Specifically not changing their 2-stop to a 3-stop plan and instead trying to desperatley block a huge gaggle of cars for 10-12 laps. That was never going to work and it was stupidly risky with so many drivers on his tail. They let him drop from 2nd to 14th and completely blew a good performance.

I nominate Force India because they have really dropped into anonymity with STR and Massa at the tail end of the midfield. Not where they wanted to be.

Wheel Guns cost Schumacher his race and robbed us of a potential great scrap to the line between Button and Rosberg, as good as it was to see Rosberg win.

Length of the DRS Zone is another good candidate. It was arguably too easy last year, but this year, there were more trains than during Trulli's Toyota hayday.

Sauber turned a good qualifying performance into 1 point and nearly had the two drivers take each other out into the bargain.

But I have to go Raikkonen and his strategist. I don't think the 2 stop decision was made without any input from the driver, and other drivers, including his team-mate Crashjean, made it work. Being overtaken 7 times in the space of a lap without a mechanical failure is a fairly epic embarassment.

Warren Hughes wrote:ROTR = me:

Warren Hughes wrote:Warren Hughes' Predictions
2012 Chinese Grand Prix:
1. Button
2. Vettel
3. Schumacher
4. Hamilton
5. Webber
6. Alonso
7. Perez
8. Raikkonen
9. Maldonado
10. Hulkenberg

Pole: Schumacher
Fastest lap: Hamilton
First Retirement: Ricciardo
ROTR: Rosberg
IIDOTR: Schumacher
DBTMOTR: Massa
Minor League Premiership: Grosjean
Non-Qualifiers: None

Don't be too hard on yourself. Wizzie predicted that Rosberg would be ROTR and DBTMOTR.

tristan1117 wrote:

Warren Hughes wrote:ROTR = me:

Warren Hughes wrote:Warren Hughes' Predictions
2012 Chinese Grand Prix:
1. Button
2. Vettel
3. Schumacher
4. Hamilton
5. Webber
6. Alonso
7. Perez
8. Raikkonen
9. Maldonado
10. Hulkenberg

Pole: Schumacher
Fastest lap: Hamilton
First Retirement: Ricciardo
ROTR: Rosberg
IIDOTR: Schumacher
DBTMOTR: Massa
Minor League Premiership: Grosjean
Non-Qualifiers: None

Don't be too hard on yourself. Wizzie predicted that Rosberg would be ROTR and DBTMOTR.

Maybe we should get a joint award then.

F1 Rejects - I think it's time (if he has time) Jamie had a bloody good lookaround and clean-up of the forum software, because it was totally unusable this morning, when I wanted to discuss the race as it unfolded.

Felipe Massa - Just how many cars was he holding up before he pitted?

Kimi Raikkonen - 2nd to 10th in the space of a lap. And finished 14th...

Wheelguns - Cost Schumi and Button dearly.

I was so enthralled I didn't really notice who was really crap. All I can really think of is Raikkonen (even Massa was better than usual!)

East Londoner wrote:Felipe Massa - Just how many cars was he holding up before he pitted?

What? He had badly worn tyres and was on a different strategy. If anything, that's exactly what he should've done. Only finished 5 seconds behind Alonso too.

As for RotR, my vote goes to Eric Boullier for blaming Kimi for their horrendous strategy and horrible pit crew.

Shadaza wrote:Massa ney sayers. He actually drove a very good race and had he been a little luckier would have scored a good haul of points, the Sky commentators kept nagging him for holding up cars but he was ahead of them on merit, had Vettel or Webber needed to pit again (like it looked like they would of had to at one stage) they would of been behind him, yet the commentators missed this. (Sure it's a rant but I needed a 2nd nomination somewhere.)

Honorable mention to this.