Grand Prix Rejects

based on the assumption that, at any moment in time, there is a non-zero probability that even the slowest, most inexperienced and least reliable of underdogs might win the race. That under every rock, there might be a gold nugget. This is the award for that first podium that we all celebrate, for the overtake no-one was expecting, for Ericsson's first win. This is the award, in short, for the driver or team that makes you go "Woah! Where did THAT come from?!".

Just remember: this is a feel-good award, that will focus on nothing but track action.
Usual rules: everyone gets two votes. First vote is worth 10 points, the second 6.

Post your results until September 12.

1 - Ericsson
2 - George Lucas.

I want to say no-one because this was a race that defined the word dull but

1) Perez
2) Massa

H Mention: Ericsson

1. Ericsson

And honestly, I don't know anybody else to give my vote. Nobody did anything exceptional.

1) Ericsson
2) Sergey Sirotkin/Luca Ghiotto

1. Marcus Ericsson: Great race for him. Despite all the talk about him being the worst driver on the grid, he has destroyed Nasr in the last few races.
2. Sergio Pérez: Another good drive, gets the nomination by default.

1. Marcus Ericsson - I may yet lose this avatar bet...
2. Force India

1 - Ericsson: Third time in-a-row in the points with an underdog car.

2 - Perez: Another solid race.

Verstappen - Showing more overtaking skill

1. MARCUS ERICSSON - THE ERICSSON ERA HAS ARRIVED

Sergio Perez: For holding out there at the edge of the cliff in terms of tyres to finish 6th.

Meatwad wrote:1. Marcus Ericsson: Great race for him. Despite all the talk about him being the worst driver on the grid, he has destroyed Nasr in the last few races.
2. Sergio Pérez: Another good drive, gets the nomination by default.

I think that this effectively sums the situation up - they both kind of get the award by default because they were the only drivers who put in performances that were somewhat impressive. Otherwise, at a venue which is really more of a reflection of the performance of the car rather than the driver, there were really no outstanding performances to remark about.

1.Force India: With Red Bull and Toro Rosso being way down the starting order Force India, Lotus and Sauber had a good chance to score decent points and that´s what Force India did.

2. Daniel Ricciardo: I honestly weren´t expecting Red Bull to score points after bad qualifying plus all the penalties and while Rosberg, both Lotus drivers and Nasr did drop off in front of him for various reasons, I still feel that Ricciardo deserves a mention for being 8th after a bad weekend.


Honorable mention:
Marcus Ericsson: Good drive from him. However, while it´s not normal for Sauber to score points, the problems for Toro Rosso and Red Bull combined with Saubers qualifying phase, meant that I thought that Sauber were going to have good shot for points from the beginning. With both Lotus drivers and Nasr out after lap 1, I expected Ericsson to score some points (and would have seen it as a failure if he didn´t) and that makes me feel that he only did what I expected instead of beinf better than usual, which in turn drops him below Force India and Ricciardo in my books.

1. Ericsson
2. Perez

1. Red Bull Both cars finishing in the points on what is probably the worst track to have Renault power''

2. Ericsson Competent job performing better then Nasr at the moment

Simtek wrote:1. Marcus Ericsson - I may yet lose this avatar bet...

Let's hope so.

Anyway, at the risk of sounding like everyone else.

1. Ericsson
2. Perez

1. Ericsson: Proves that he still has what it takes to be a good driver.

2. Perez: Pretty much earned this one for his solid 6th place.

Honorable Mention:

Red Bull: Both cars finished in the points after starting dead last.

1. Perez (he's totally bossed it over his highly-rated teammate last couple of races)
2. Red Bull (if Ericsson had held off Ricciardo, I would have said him instead)

1 - Seeing the Marussia cars where they were on the starting grid.
2 - Erriccssonn

1- Sergio Perez
2- Marcus Ericsson

1. Marcus Ericsson - Proving yet again that hes not that bad a driver. Good job.

2. Sergio Perez - Solid drive to solid points. Solid.

HM: Jenson Button - Found himself in the dizzying heights of 9th at the start and battled as hard as he could during the inevitable fall back to position nowhere. At least he looked like he wanted to fight people.

Manor Marussia grid positions - I wonder if both drivers got nosebleeds on the grid from being that far up...

Kimi Raikkonen - Yes he fell to the back, yes he was in the second-quickest car, yes he had DRS all the time, yes he was at a track where overtaking is fairly easy. But still, put some nice moves on people throughout.

Ericsson - 138
Perez - 80
Force India - 20
Red Bull - 20
Verstappen - 10
Seeing the Marussia cars where they were on the starting grid - 10
George Lucas - 6
Massa - 6
Ricciardo - 6
Sergey Sirotkin - 3
Luca Ghiotto - 3