Grand Prix Rejects

Japanese GP ROTR

My nominations so far include…

Rosberg for his pit release

Hamilton for his clumsy puncture

And the Bianchi and Van Der Garde collision

Mercedes pit crew - That was a bleeding obvious unsafe release!!

Jenson Button - Very very poor pace and tyre wear, not a good second himoecoming so far

Kimi Raikkonen: Lost the race for Lotus. If he wasn't being useless, he could have covered one of the Red Bulls while Grosjean covered the other, thus guaranteeing more of a battle.

Butthurt Webber Fans: Get over it. When you have two cars in the hunt for the win against a Lotus, split the strategy and force Lotus to cover one of your drivers.

Every Team in the F1 Field Barring Red Bull and Toro Rosso: Proving that Vettel was right when he said that the other teams weren't trying hard enough to beat him.

The Lotus strategists for (potentially?) throwing away yet another victory.

They did it in Germany and they did it again here. If Lotus had pitted Grosjean immediately after Webber, or converted him to a 2-stop like Vettel, RoGro would still have had a chance.

Red Bull, for having NO shame.

Lotus, for having NO ability.

So many nominations, here in no particular order:

RedBull - Destroys Webber to get Vettel win
Lotus - Dafuq Grosjean pit
Mercedes - Not the drivers fault though
Force India - No points
Williams - No points

Mclaren right tyre gun - How many years is it gonna take them to sort that out!?

Red Bull - Is it that bathplugging difficult to have both cars on the same strategy? Oh, right. I forgot who we're dealing for a moment.

Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi: Crashed on friday, beaten by their teammates on Saturday, collided on Sunday.

Ricciardo - Blatantly gains an advantage by going off track, then talks about killing people on the radio.

The train that Grosjean and Webber met at the end - Blue flags guys?

Anti Vettel whiners - Obviously.

Mercedes' luck: Puncture, floor damage, unsafe release, drive-through penalty, front-wing damage. A preposterously hapless weekend for Mercedes AMG.

Difficult to say the Winner

Force India: Another disastrous weekend, fighting with Williams all race. Now your the gap for Sauber is only 17pts.
Williams: Your drivers almost crashed in the final laps.
Massa: Can't overtaken Ricciardo + Penalty.
Mclaren: Lucky that your gap for Sauber is high enough to keep the 5th place safe.
Webber's Strategist: He could had either pit early or go to the end.
Grosjean's strategist: You know Red Bull is the fastest car and relying that Grosjean will defend your position with scrap tyres is a bad Idea. If the team had followed either Vettel or Webber strategy, maybe GRSJN had won, maybe.
Race Control: WTF you let a truck in the track in a high speed corner without the safety car?
Van Der Garde or Bianchi: The guilty for the first lap crash.

But the winner is:

Mercedes: Hamilton threw away a potential podium with and Rosberg becomes Perez nemesis.

McLaren - Classic pitwork yet again.

Giedo Van Der Garde and Jules Bianchi - Got absolutely creamed by their teammates, and then a big smash right at the start.

Force India - Bloody nowhere

Lotus strategist - What the hell are you doing?

People moaning about people not liking Vettel - So basically, we're not allowed to have a negative opinion on Vettel anymore?

But ROTR has to go to:

Mercedes - What could go wrong, did go wrong.

East Londoner wrote:People moaning about people not liking Vettel - So basically, we're not allowed to have a negative opinion on Vettel anymore?

Sure you're allowed to. Keep hating.

apple2009 wrote:

East Londoner wrote:People moaning about people not liking Vettel - So basically, we're not allowed to have a negative opinion on Vettel anymore?

Sure you're allowed to. Keep hating.

You can dislike Vettel but if it involves posts about Red Bull sabotaging Webber or wanting Vettel to have problems then I'm just not interested in what your saying anymore

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:

apple2009 wrote:

East Londoner wrote:People moaning about people not liking Vettel - So basically, we're not allowed to have a negative opinion on Vettel anymore?

Sure you're allowed to. Keep hating.

You can dislike Vettel but if it involves posts about Red Bull sabotaging Webber or wanting Vettel to have problems then I'm just not interested in what your saying anymore

+1 to what Kimi said

Cynon wrote:Every Team in the F1 Field Barring Red Bull and Toro Rosso: Proving that Vettel was right when he said that the other teams weren't trying hard enough to beat him.

You mean the standings before hand didn't prove that?

I'll change my nomination to The Vettel debate. This includes the anti-Vettel idiots who are booing and insulting him for unimportant things like his finger, but also the extreme Vettel fans who attack everyone who doesn't share their opinion how awesome he is.

Force India: If they were only slightly concerned before about 6th overall then the alarm bells must be ringing now. No points No Pace and now that Gutierrez has got his act together Sauber have a real opportunity to snare 6th at the death
Williams: Not only were they slow again the drivers did a great job of almost taking each over out all over 16th place
Felipe Massa: Too hasty in battle and copped a penalty
Mclaren: Not only is the car crap but the 2012-esque pit-stops returned in style
Grosjean's Strategist: Cost him 2nd at least
Sgt Pepper: Honestly you're becoming just as bad as Rachel1990 was over Canada-Germany with more Vettel moaning. What were Red Bull supposed to do? Put both cars on the same strategy and lose the race? Grow up man

ROTR Mercedes: Just as in Korea strong in practice absolutely rubbish in the race

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Sgt Pepper: Honestly you're becoming just as bad as Rachel1990 was over Canada-Germany with more Vettel moaning. What were Red Bull supposed to do? Put both cars on the same strategy and lose the race? Grow up man

Freeze-Kimi, your immediate, inevitable rage at anything and everything is one of the reasons others don't bother daring to critique Vettel on this forum in comparison to the chat, because they can't be bothered to upset the status-quo. So I'm going to explain very calmly why today's result was a disappointment;

1) Webber himself said he could have stretched it to a 2-stop, there was no reason to switch Webber to a 3 stop, other than to use him as a Lotus guinea-pig, or simply to put him behind Vettel. His lap times were stable, in the 1.37s.
2) Grosjean drove an extremely strong race, in an obviously inferior car. Beastly start, and good tyre management.
3) Vettel actually drove a very poor race - bad start and multiple lock ups, and a collision although I haven't yet seen it clearly enough to determine where blame, if any, should be apportioned. But then again, I'm just one of those idiots who think 'the guy who drives best deserves to win'.

To me, Grosjean drove the best race, and Webber drove a good race, with deliberately appalling strategy. Red Bull lost no constructor's points from that decision, but did have the drivers in the order they would want. Simple as that.

SgtPepper wrote:

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Sgt Pepper: Honestly you're becoming just as bad as Rachel1990 was over Canada-Germany with more Vettel moaning. What were Red Bull supposed to do? Put both cars on the same strategy and lose the race? Grow up man

Freeze-Kimi, your immediate, inevitable rage at anything and everything is one of the reasons others don't bother daring to critique Vettel on this forum in comparison to the chat, because they can't be bothered to upset the status-quo. So I'm going to explain very calmly why today's result was a disappointment;

1) Webber himself said he could have stretched it to a 2-stop, there was no reason to switch Webber to a 3 stop, other than to use him as a Lotus guinea-pig, or simply to put him behind Vettel. His lap times were stable, in the 1.37s.
2) Grosjean drove an extremely strong race, in an obviously inferior car. Beastly start, and good tyre management.
3) Vettel actually drove a very poor race - bad start and multiple lock ups, and a collision although I haven't yet seen it clearly enough to determine where blame, if any, should be apportioned. But then again, I'm just one of those idiots who think 'the guy who drives best deserves to win'.

To me, Grosjean drove the best race, and Webber drove a good race, with deliberately appalling strategy. Red Bull lost no constructor's points from that decision, but did have the drivers in the order they would want. Simple as that.

...no. Nothing you said there is correct in any way.

Grosjean took the lead at the start, and in a Lotus whose tyre management is well known to be excellent, would have easily been able to force an early second stop in a two-stop race to ensure an undercut on the Red Bulls and force them to conserve their tyres in the last stint.

Equally, he could push the Red Bulls much harder without requiring as much tyre management in a three-stop race.

Therefore, the only conceivable way Red Bull could win the race was to split the strategies, force Grosjean into a middle ground compromise and take him, and in that case it is obvious that Webber, who is harder on his tyres and was much closer to Romain, would be the one to go on the more aggressive three-stop race, with Vettel on a two-stop.

Did this tactic work? Yes. Why, then, do you see fit to rage and howl at Red Bull and accuse everyone who correctly points out your frankly idiotic viewpoint as a "Vettel fanboy"?

I'm going to follow pi's precedent here and amend my nomination to include the Vettel debate.

Everybody, please calm down. There's no good reason to hurl opprobrium and denigrating epithets at one another. I may be mistaken, but I am under the impression that there exists such a thing as respectful disagreement.

sswishbone wrote:Mercedes pit crew - That was a bleeding obvious unsafe release!!

AxelP800 wrote:Mercedes - Not the drivers fault though

Rosberg left the pit box on his own while the light system was still red. He already took responsibility for that mistake. Hamilton made a stupid mistake at the start and took himself out of the race. Both Mercedes drivers should be the ROTR for their silly errors costing Mercedes a lot of important WCC points.

My official nomination is the Vettel Debate. Please guys, shut up about him because nobody cares about the whining on both sides because it just makes you look like an immature moron.

Sorry about the rant but it is my feelings on the matter

I'm going with all three Mercedes engine using teams: McLaren's pitstops came back from 2012, Rosberg got a DTP, Hamilton's car got damaged by turn 1 (this isn't his fault I think), forcing him to save milage on the engine and retire, and Force India is now back with Williams in front of Caterham and Marussia.

Top 3 nominations:

3. The Vettel debate. Come on guys, grow up, and discuss the other things about F1. The constant whining has infected about every F1 forum, but let's try to be unique and not have that. Anyway, F1 Rejects is here to discuss the back of the grid, isn't it? Plus, the Vettel debate is getting out of hand in the real world, not just the zarking Internet.

2. The FIA Stewards. The decision with Ricciardo was absurd. I believe Rosberg's penalty was for his contact with Pérez, not the unsafe release (correct me if I'm wrong), but if so, that is stupid, as Pérez didn't leave Rosberg room to drive. But if the unsafe release was not penalized, that's one nail on the coffin. I liked Ricciardo's quote from a Will Buxton interview, "I am pissed off."

1. Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi. Both crashed on Friday. Both were beaten by their teammates on Saturday, and they collide in the first corner first lap on Sunday like the famous Senna and Prost incident. 'Nuff said.

I think it's got to be Mercedes' luck, really. Hamilton had to be retired early doors, and Rosberg managed to pick up a drive-through and other misfortune had befallen him at other stages within the race.

The "Vettel debate" is not grounds for a ROTR award, as it's got nothing to do with the actual event. All it boils down to is the childishness of some users who have to feel the need to share what they think about our future four-times world champion. Don't like him? Get over it. Annoyed that people don't like him? Tough titties. Grow up, and discuss something useful rather than whether or not his team-mate was shifted aside for him.

Yesterday, on Autosport:

Formula 1 drivers plan to hold a minute's silence for Maria de Villota ahead of Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

The Grand Prix Drivers' Association issued a statement after qualifying paying tribute to de Villota and revealing their intention to remember her ahead of the drivers' parade and to dedicate the podium ceremony to her memory.

What happened to this? Certainly there was absolutely nothing during the podium ceremony to indicate that they were doing anything different at all to commemorate Maria, and either TV missed totally the one minute silence, or it didn't happen. This is what disappointed me most today.

I'm just going to say right now the ROTR is F1Rejects' forums. Arguing whether or not we should dislike a particular driver, using personal attacks against one another; quite frankly, I'm tired of it and it's one of the reasons why I rarely read the threads here anymore.

McLaren, for infinite wheel nut gun problems.

Dishonorable Mention: Jules Bianchi for being outperformed by Chilton. Maybe Max has talent after all.

Salamander wrote:

Cynon wrote:Every Team in the F1 Field Barring Red Bull and Toro Rosso: Proving that Vettel was right when he said that the other teams weren't trying hard enough to beat him.

You mean the standings before hand didn't prove that?

It did prove that, but this race really did throw a lot of weight behind Vettel's statements. You could say it was a microcosm of the whole season.

Dan B wrote:I'm just going to say right now the ROTR is F1Rejects' forums. Arguing whether or not we should dislike a particular driver, using personal attacks against one another; quite frankly, I'm tired of it and it's one of the reasons why I rarely read the threads here anymore.

That's pretty much how I feel, honestly. I haven't posted regularly in this section of the forum because anything that isn't negative towards Vettel so far warrants massive amounts of flaming. All of the hate from Webber fanboys and people who hate Vettel as if he was the devil isn't changing my mind on Seb...

Tough one this weekend
Webber wrecked out his tyres and had no choice to do a 3 stop- that rules out Red Bull in my opinion. As for Vettel- He won it fair and square.

Lotus is one- Grosjean could have won the race (as I predicted) but if they brought him in a bit later he could have done it.
Bianchi and Van De Garde on Trying to be the next Senna and Prost. No.
Mclaren on a duff pit stop AGAIN! (though it hardly makes a difference this weekend)
Force India- 0 points again.
Toro Rosso- Ditto

But My winner had to be
Mercedes- For Hamilton's start, Unsafe release from Rosberg and again showing much promise and delivering nothing.

rachel1990 wrote:Tough one this weekend
Webber wrecked out his tyres and had no choice to do a 3 stop- that rules out Red Bull in my opinion. As for Vettel- He won it fair and square.

Lotus is one- Grosjean could have won the race (as I predicted) but if they brought him in a bit later he could have done it.
Bianchi and Van De Garde on Trying to be the next Senna and Prost. No.
Mclaren on a duff pit stop AGAIN! (though it hardly makes a difference this weekend)
Force India- 0 points again.
Toro Rosso- Ditto

But My winner had to be
Mercedes- For Hamilton's start, Unsafe release from Rosberg and again showing much promise and delivering nothing.

If Grosjean won that race then your predictions would have been the best I have seen for a long time

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:

rachel1990 wrote:Tough one this weekend
Webber wrecked out his tyres and had no choice to do a 3 stop- that rules out Red Bull in my opinion. As for Vettel- He won it fair and square.

Lotus is one- Grosjean could have won the race (as I predicted) but if they brought him in a bit later he could have done it.
Bianchi and Van De Garde on Trying to be the next Senna and Prost. No.
Mclaren on a duff pit stop AGAIN! (though it hardly makes a difference this weekend)
Force India- 0 points again.
Toro Rosso- Ditto

But My winner had to be
Mercedes- For Hamilton's start, Unsafe release from Rosberg and again showing much promise and delivering nothing.

If Grosjean won that race then your predictions would have been the best I have seen for a long time

It was meant more as a lets be different prediction and yet it nearly happened. Damm you Lotus pitwall

dr-baker wrote:What happened to this? Certainly there was absolutely nothing during the podium ceremony to indicate that they were doing anything different at all to commemorate Maria, and either TV missed totally the one minute silence, or it didn't happen. This is what disappointed me most today.

Sky F1 showed a clip of the one minute silence which happened a long time before the race start (they showed it at about 1 hour before the race start I think, so it must have happened some time before that)

No idea about the podium. I can't bear Eddie Jordan so I fast forwarded through the whole thing!

I'm going to give it to Massa for making a silly rookie error that ruined his race at a time when he needs to be looking good.

It's a toss up between Mercedes and McLaren. Perez and Nico wouldn't leave each other alone because both of them found themselves is dumb situations, Hamilton retiring through no fault of his own and the Mclaren pit crew cocking up a pit stop for like the 500th time.

Barbazza wrote:I can't bear Eddie Jordan so I fast forwarded through the whole thing!

You're my best friend.

Death: Ridiculous, ill timed, and totally inmature this weekend.

RIP María de Villota.

1. Hamilton: For his puncture that put him out of the race.

2. Perez: Beaten by both Torro Rossos, and both Force Indias.

DOSBoot wrote:2. Perez: Beaten by both Torro Rossos, and both Force Indias.

That's not fair. Perez got a puncture in an accident with Rosberg and lost at least a 9th or 10th.