Grand Prix Rejects

I have made this forum for you to discuss about A1GP. Did you know that Nelson Piquet Jr won the first two races?

For a team or driver not to be a reject, just like on F1 Rejects, they have to either finish in the top 4, come 5th or 6th, or get 3 6th placings.

List of reject teams:

Austria ( Patrick Friesacher raced for them, who also happened to be an F1 Reject)
Greece
Indonesia
Japan (Hideki Noda raced for them)
Korea
Lebanon (My favourite team, they've been racing since the first A1 season, and have only managed to score 3 points. Their driver is also Canadian because they couldn't find a driver from their country)
Pakistan
Russia
Singapore

I will remove any of these teams if they manage to escape rejectom.
Discuss

A1GP itself.

Captain Hammer wrote:A1GP itself.

Agreed.

andreamodawf1 wrote:Lebanon (My favourite team, they've been racing since the first A1 season, and have only managed to score 3 points. Their driver is also Canadian because they couldn't find a driver from their country)

They had two from Lebanon in the early years with Khalil Beschir and everybody's favourite Lebanese driver Basil Shaaban. The rules seemed to get bent a little once they realised those guys were never going to win a race and they signed up Graham Rahal (USA) to do two rounds. Since then, they've had Chris Alajajian (AUS), Jimmy Auby (?), Alex Khateeb (GBR), Allam Khodair (BRA), and most recently Daniel Morad (CAN- and drove in 4 rookie sessions for Canada).

While not "A1GP Rejects," here's the list of ex- and current F1 drivers who spent time in A1GP at some point.

Australia* (1): Ryan Briscoe (Toyota)
Austria (1): Patrick Friesacher (Minardi)
Brazil* (2): Christian Fittipaldi (Minardi and Footwork), Nelson Piquet, Jr (Renault, all around dolt)
Czech Republic (1): Tomas Enge (Prost)
France (1): Franck Montagny (Super Aguri interloper)
Germany (1): Adrian Sutil (Spyker/Force India)
India (1): Narain Karthikeyan (Jordan)
Ireland (1): Ralph Firman (Jordan)
Italy* (4): Vitantonio Liuzzi (RBR/STR/Force), Andrea Montermini (Simtek/Pacific/Forti), Max Papis (Footwork), Enrico Toccacelo** (Minardi third driver)
Japan (1): Hideki Noda (Larrousse, almost Simtek)
Malaysia* (1): Alex Yoong (Minardi)
Netherlands* (1): Jos Verstappen (Benetton, Simtek, Footwork, Tyrrell, Stewart, Arrows, Minardi)
Switzerland (1): Sebastien Buemi (STR), Neel Jani (STR third driver), Giorgio Mondini (MF1 third driver)
United States* (1): Scott Speed (RBR third driver, STR)

* Team seat holders have F1 experience: Alan Jones (AUS), Emerson Fittipaldi (BRA), Piercarlo Ghinzani (ITA), Alex Yoong (MAL), Jan Lammers (NED), Mike Andretti (USA).
** Enrico Toccacelo drove for A1 Team Pakistan in one event due to an injured driver and was ineligible for points.

I remember Piquet Jnr winning the first two races at Brands in 2005. The ironic thing is that Brazil have not won since. I personally find A1 GP a great championship and always find it disappointing when the series hits problems, mostly related to lack of finances. I hope that the upcoming season gets underway and has a race nearby that I can get to, as I have been to every round at Brands to date. And it is a great place to see both F1 Rejects like Alex Yoong and potential future F1 drivers like the aforementioned Piquet, the Hulk (Nico Hulkenburg) and Buemi. And Neel Jani believes (or at least believed during the 08/09 A1 series) that competing in the series would help him to his desired F1 drive. So far, even with more seats available in 2010 in F1, his name does not seem to be in circulation. The biggest reject feature of A1GP perhaps

RejectSteve wrote:

andreamodawf1 wrote:Austria ( Patrick Friesacher raced for them, who also happened to be an F1 Reject)
Greece
Indonesia
Japan (Hideki Noda raced for them)
Korea
Lebanon (My favourite team, they've been racing since the first A1 season, and have only managed to score 3 points. Their driver is also Canadian because they couldn't find a driver from their country)
Pakistan
Russia
Singapore

They had two from Lebanon in the early years with Khalil Beschir and everybody's favourite Lebanese driver Basil Shaaban. The rules seemed to get bent a little once they realised those guys were never going to win a race and they signed up Graham Rahal (USA) to do two rounds. Since then, they've had Chris Alajajian (AUS), Jimmy Auby (?), Alex Khateeb (GBR), Allam Khodair (BRA), and most recently Daniel Morad (CAN- and drove in 4 rookie sessions for Canada).

While not "A1GP Rejects," here's the list of ex- and current F1 drivers who spent time in A1GP at some point.

Australia* (1): Ryan Briscoe (Toyota)
Austria (1): Patrick Friesacher (Minardi)
Brazil* (2): Christian Fittipaldi (Minardi and Footwork), Nelson Piquet, Jr (Renault, all around dolt)
Czech Republic (1): Tomas Enge (Prost)
France (1): Franck Montagny (Super Aguri interloper)
Germany (1): Adrian Sutil (Spyker/Force India)
India (1): Narain Karthikeyan (Jordan)
Ireland (1): Ralph Firman (Jordan)
Italy* (4): Vitantonio Liuzzi (RBR/STR/Force), Andrea Montermini (Simtek/Pacific/Forti), Max Papis (Footwork), Enrico Toccacelo** (Minardi third driver)
Japan (1): Hideki Noda (Larrousse, almost Simtek)
Malaysia* (1): Alex Yoong (Minardi)
Netherlands* (1): Jos Verstappen (Benetton, Simtek, Footwork, Tyrrell, Stewart, Arrows, Minardi)
Switzerland (1): Sebastien Buemi (STR), Neel Jani (STR third driver), Giorgio Mondini (MF1 third driver)
United States (1): Scott Speed (RBR third driver, STR)

* Team seat holders have F1 experience: Alan Jones (AUS), Emerson Fittipaldi (BRA), Piercarlo Ghinzani (ITA), Alex Yoong (MAL), Jan Lammers (NED)
** Enrico Toccacelo drove for A1 Team Pakistan in one event due to an injured driver and was ineligible for points.

Don't forget that Michael Andretti owns the US team

Life w12 wrote:Don't forget that Michael Andretti owns the US team

I did forget, the post will be edited. It was really Team Andretti which was a shame since I don't rate either of those two Andrettis very highly.

dr-baker wrote:I remember Piquet Jnr winning the first two races at Brands in 2005.

I remember that too. He looked so promising back then, like the next great Brazilian driver.

Henrique wrote:

dr-baker wrote:I remember Piquet Jnr winning the first two races at Brands in 2005.

I remember that too. He looked so promising back then, like the next great Brazilian driver.

The next race he collided with Noda, blamed it on Noda's "inexperience" and began a downward spiral into the wall at turn 17.

Haha, well said.

I don't think A1GP is a reject though. I think that the idea itself is very good to have nations racing against each other. The motorsport world was missing something like that in my opinion.
The way the whole thing is organized is terrible, though. Just take 2009/2010: not even two weeks left until the season opener and not a single team has yet confirmed their participation (except indirectly the ones who host a race), nor is it even sure that Ferrari will still supply A1GP.

By the way, I'd like to know whether there are any motorsport rejects. Tarquini for example owns WTCC, Beretta, Brabham etc. are all successful in Le Mans or other sportscar. Hell, even Deletraz managed to win something.

Felix Porteiro. Rubbish in GP2, was rubbish in a works BMW in WTCC last year, and cant even win the WTCC Independents Title in the best team/car. They shoulda signed Tom Coronel instead...

ah, yeah, remember that guy.

Jan Charouz & Stefan Mucke: On their own, they are terrible, yet somehow, when combined together, can actually be reasonably quick. Quick enough to be LMS champions this year. Surprisingly. Along with F1 reject Tomáš Enge.

I saw some onboard laps with Yuji Ide in some Japanese GT series and he was all over the road and punted off some Acura(I think) midway through one of the laps. It was complete fail driving. Apparently he had one decent season in Formula Nippon, though...

Michael Andretti was awesome in CART, but craptastic in F1. I don't even like him, but he had a knack for the way Champ Cars handled, on ovals and road courses. I will still say, however, that Little Al was better than Michael Andretti.

Other rejects in Motorsport? Alessandro Zampedri. Nobody causes two pileups in one CART race (Surfers Paradise, 1994), one of which before the green flag dropped, without getting at least an honorable mention.

Please stay on topic, this is the A1 Rejects topic, deticated to the reject countries and drivers, and F1 Rejects who race in A1.

There has been more news about the teams competing, there have been 20 confirmed and 2 rumoured. One of the 20, Malaysia, may miss the first round in Australia. The 2 confirmed reject teams are Indonesia, who need to get 6th or better, and Pakistan, who need to do the same. The 2 rumoured teams are Russia, who have never scored, and Spain, who have never raced before. Both of these teams will need to get in the top 4 to escape my rejecton list.

andreamodawf1 wrote:Please stay on topic, this is the A1 Rejects topic, deticated to the reject countries and drivers, and F1 Rejects who race in A1.

Have you noticed that nothing stays on topic here?

thehemogoblin wrote:

andreamodawf1 wrote:Please stay on topic, this is the A1 Rejects topic, deticated to the reject countries and drivers, and F1 Rejects who race in A1.

Have you noticed that nothing stays on topic here?

That reminds me, I had the most awesome sandwich for lunch today.....

Valrys wrote:

thehemogoblin wrote:

andreamodawf1 wrote:Please stay on topic, this is the A1 Rejects topic, deticated to the reject countries and drivers, and F1 Rejects who race in A1.

Have you noticed that nothing stays on topic here?

That reminds me, I had the most awesome sandwich for lunch today.....

Oh, really? Do tell...

thehemogoblin wrote:

andreamodawf1 wrote:Please stay on topic, this is the A1 Rejects topic, deticated to the reject countries and drivers, and F1 Rejects who race in A1.

Have you noticed that nothing stays on topic here?

Considering andreamodawf1 hardly ever ventures out of the Deletraz forum, then he's probably not familiar with the shite that goes down in the Paul Stoddart forum.

RejectSteve wrote:** Enrico Toccacelo drove for A1 Team Pakistan in one event due to an injured driver and was ineligible for points.

The only A1GP race I've seen enough of on TV to consider it as being "watched" was won by Enrico Toccacelo. This makes A1GP epic (in my book).

Here is hoping that A1GP does make it to Surfers.

Yannick wrote:Here is hoping that A1GP does make it to Surfers.

And it doesn't, Gold Coast is pretty angry.

So the Gold Coast should be angry. That's the second year in a row now that A1GP have pulled the pin on their first scheduled event.

I agree with Captain Hammer and Pacifics Only Fan that A1GP itself is increasingly become the reject here. I followed the first two seasons with some interest, especially when at least some countries fielded one of, say, their top five international racing drivers. Of those ex-F1 drivers who have competed in A1GP, notice how virtually all of them competed in the first two seasons and very few of them (maybe apart from Neel Jani) have competed in the third and fourth seasons.

So much is wrong with A1GP as it stands. Increasingly, it has become no more than a glorified feeder category. The nation vs nation idea only works if countries are being represented by the best available, or close to. I mean, if you use football as a comparison, a match between full-strength Brazil and Germany will draw a full house even if it's played in Kyrgyzstan. But Brazil v Germany under-20s will hardly draw a crowd anywhere.

The nation vs nation thing also quickly appears to be a fraud and a gimmick when you realise that, drivers and team owners apart, the rest of the teams are actually contracted professional racing organisations running the cars, often with no tie whatsoever to the country they're supposed to be representing. You can see these teams go around in F3 championships and other series.

Not only that, but the whole equal machinery thing is a joke. The better the racing organisation running the team, the more likely they are to win - which is why every A1GP season has had two or three teams that have completely dominated. And yet, from season to season, when the chassis are handed out, if you end up with a dud your season is screwed; if I recall correctly Malaysia went from race winners one year to hardly scoring a point the next, despite virtually all the elements of the team being the same.

A1GP is losing its credibility and feasibility, fast.

Looks like the race at Surfer's is a reject itself now.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79515

eytl wrote:
The nation vs nation thing also quickly appears to be a fraud and a gimmick when you realise that, drivers and team owners apart, the rest of the teams are actually contracted professional racing organisations running the cars, often with no tie whatsoever to the country they're supposed to be representing. You can see these teams go around in F3 championships and other series.

Not so gimmicky really when you look at the foreign national football team managers eg Trapatoni at Ireland, Capello at England etc and the foreign trainers of Olympic athletes (an argument against A1GP which has really annoyed me when you think it through). I would accept without countries like Finland and second-rate Italian, German etc drivers the series appeal drops quite a bit though.

Surfers Paradise is off though of course, A1GP has came back back from the dead before (Laguna Seca debacle in series 1, start of last year ect), but this time it's looking worse than ever. Let's hope something just comes out somewhere to keep it alive, its still a decent series.

A1GP's management has been its own worst enemy. The schedules have been announced only right before the season and/or changed midseason. For Season 1, the last 3 or 5 franchises were deals done just prior to the start of the Brands Hatch opener and the Dubai round was postponed due to a death in the UAE royal family and the resultant month-plus long mourning period (Maktoun cubed's home). Season two provided the Turkish team laughing stock that was announced but never got on the grid, Huub Rothengatter pulling Jos Verstappen out of Team Netherlands, the Beijing street circuit farce, and some more cancelled rounds. The last year with the Lola chassis had more cancelled race events and smaller fields. The Ferrari farce was a self-inflicted shot in the foot when it was announced late, underdeveloped, and then undersupplied, causing the cancellation of the race at Ferrari's other home in Mugello while multiple teams missed the Zandvoort round and Canada and Pakistan never got on track. The Mexico round was added late, then postponed due to a concert and finally cancelled completely. Prior to the Surfers cancellation, only for a few days were three race venues known for this year (Surfers, Zhuhai which was only just announced and Assen).

The lack of high profile names in the past years was a bad sign since only hardcore fans knew some of these names beforehand so the larger populous of the nation hadn't heard of their driver. In another way, that was a blessing because it tended to close up the fields but that in itself doesn't attract fans. The mismanagment of A1GP will be responsible for its death because they've poorly sold their series which is a pity because they tend to listen to the fans and provide entertaining races.

The outsourcing of team operations has been a bit of a necessity where places such as Lebanon and Indonesia likely lack the expertise of mechanics working with advanced racing cars. That certain nations used the same teams to operate their cars and share data was something they should not have allowed at any point of the series.

The last season was quite boring for me, with not many big names racing as mentioned earlier. The reason why I made this forum and the idea of A1 Rejects (Not including the season itself) was to make it more interesting for me and to have something for people to discuss. I am a Serbian living in New Zealand so I cheer for New Zealand, and Earl Bamber, who raced for them last year, was not as good as Johnny Reid , wether it was because of he was younger than the rest of the feild, or beacuse he just isn't good enough. With the event in Australia being canselled, I have a really bad feeling about the future of A1.