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 March 27.


1. Romain Grosjean - Made great use of the red flag to rake in an amazing debut result for Haas.
2. Car strength - How Alonso managed to simply walk away from such a catastrophic accident is still beyond my comprehension.

1. ROMAIN
2. Haas

1. Grosjean
2. Haas

1. Haas F1 Team: The best possible start for a new team!
2. Romain Grosjean: Did a great job all weekend and got an amazing sixth place.

1. Romain Grosjean - Incredible drive by Romain. Made those tyres last, and despite not having the pace of the others, did a fantastic job to keep hold of P6.
2. Daniel Ricciardo - Despite the RBR not beeing the fastest, Ricky did it again. 4th place, and the fastest lap of the race. He better be holding for Monaco...

Honorable Mentions:
Nico Rosberg, for making those mediums last all those laps
Car strength, for allowing Alonso to be alright after a nasty impact

1. ROMAINNNNN GRSJNNNNNN
2. Haas F1

HM - Seb, Ricciardo and Nico Rosberg.

1. Romain Grosjean - I think this one is obvious
2. Jolyon Palmer - I really did not expect him to outqualify Magnussen and he drove a very decent debut race.

1. Grosjean, without a doubt
2. I'll have to go for car safety. A few decades ago, that may have resulted in a different result for Alonso.

1. Grosjean, altough he's just lucky, so lucky
2. Uhmm uhmm Rio Haryanto. Actually clean in the race, car broke. Why him? Well...

1. Romain Grosjean
2. Carlos Sainz

AxelP800 wrote:2. Uhmm uhmm Rio Haryanto. Actually clean in the race, car broke. Why him? Well...

BIAS? Anyway:

1. That French guy everyone's voting for
2. Dan Ricciardo

1. RoGro - Easiest IIDOTR since Monaco 2014.
2. The forum server - Didn't crash once all weekend.

Honourable mentions to:

Carlos Sainz - Good race for him.
Car safety - Alonso's accident was like a carbon copy of JV's accident in the same place 15 years earlier. Perhaps even more violent than JV's.

1. Romain Grosjean and Haas F1 (I can't quite distinguish between the two, it's a mutual attempt of infinite glory)
2. The Race Itself

HM Seb, Palmer, Car safety

1. Romain Grosjean - no doubt.
2. Daniel Ricciardo - fourth place and fastest lap wasn't an easy task at all, especially if compared to how his teammate's weekend went.

HM: Palmer for a solid debut race, Wehrlein for making up a lot of positions at the start, Sauber for not getting their cars impounded.

1) Grosjean
2) The Mclaren Alonso drove for letting him walk away from that crash

1. Romain Grosjean - obviously!
2. Haas F1

Honourable mention: Car safety - great to see Alonso walk out of that crash.

1)Romain Grosjean and Haas Automotive: The feel good story of the weekend and possibly of the year, the new guys were on a competitive pace, and that fine 6th by RoGro put to shame more stablished teams

2)Daniel Ricciardo: Dale keep a low profile all weekend, but using the SC, and a final stint of raw, pure speed, managed to get oh-so-close to the podium

Honorable mentions to Rookie's seconds (Haryanto and Palmer gave humble pie to their better-ranked partners), Toro Rosso (Sainz Jr. and Mad Max were tangling with the big guys, and even trolling Hamilton on the first hald ) and McLaren's new chassis (forget it has the weakest engine of the field, Alonso is alive because that car is as strong as a Panzer!)

The Clash of the Titans Award goes to Lewis Hamilton: Going outside of the battling Mad Max on that tricky turn 3 was a thing of madness

(1) the Ferrari start procedure and getaway - awesome

(2) whoever designed the safety system on the McLaren - thank you

1) Grosjean! That was fantastic stuff, loved the enthusiasm over the radio from a guy who's had a good few podiums in his career. Really seems to have bought into the team and its ethos which is always nice.

2) New tyre rules. I'd pretty much plugged out of any awareness of F1 news for the last while so was pretty much unaware that these new rules were a thing, and was pleasantly surprised at how they affected strategy and how the race played out. Didn't seem gimmicky at all as most things tend to these days...

1. Romain Grosjean
An excellent effort to get the Haas debut car into the top-six and one-third of the way to being unrejectified.

2. Channel 4
For an excellent highlights package marred only by the dubstep and hashtags that start the ad breaks.

Aislabie wrote:1. Romain Grosjean
An excellent effort to get the Haas debut car into the top-six and one-third of the way to being unrejectified.

Actually, the criteria for reject teams is a bit different to the criteria for drivers. It requires the team to score six points under pre-2003 points systems. So Haas are only one sixth of the way to unrejectification. Also, Haas is technically not even a reject team yet, as a reject team has to have attempted to qualify for at least two Grands Prix.

It's all a bit complicated and I have long been under the suspicion that Jamie and Enoch wrote the criteria this way just so Onyx would be eligible! And don't get me started on the Osella debate!

1) Romain Grosjean/Haas: Very strong result for a brand new team.

2) Jolyon Palmer: Actually managed decent pace against some of my expectations, beating Magnussen.

1. Grosjean/Haas, took advantage of the red flag to leap into the points and showed geniune pace against the other lower midfield teams. These points will go a long way towards what should be a close battle for 7th-11th between the teams.
2. Torro Rosso May well be the third best package at the moment and were looking at top fives till the red flag screwed their strategy.

1: Romain Baguette Grosjean - putting Haas in 6th

2: Fernando Alonso - made that McHonda flying over the track

Romain Grosjean deserves this award. An amazing debut for Haas!

1. What everyone else has said
2. Was quite impressed with Palmer actually.

1.Grosjean
2.Haas

Two simple great things to take away from the weekend:
1. Haas F1 Team and their 6th place
2. Car safety that saved Fernando Alonso

So many positive surprises this weekend.

1. Romain Grosjean/Haas F1 Team. Yes, they have a lot of support from Ferrari. Yes, they screwed up qualifying. But getting 6th in their debut race is not easy for any team (no Brawn, you don't count for this category).

2. Mano... sorry, MRT. Showed some improved pace!

HM: Palmer. Was surprisingly decent.

Eight points each for Grosjean and Haas.

Do we need this thread?

1. Grosjean - Yes he was helped by the red flag giving him a free pitstop which jumped him up the field but kept a gaggle of faster cars behind him.

2. The Strength of F1 cars - A few years ago the Alonso crash could have had a different outcome.

HM

Werhlein - Had a great start, run 14th in the opening phase of the race even set the 12th fastest lap

AdrianBelmonte_ wrote:1: Romain Baguette Grosjean - putting Haas in 6th

I wonder what happened to Bertrand Baguette...
[Searches]
He finished 2nd to last in Japaneses Super Formula (i.e. Formula Nippon) in 2015 of all the drivers to have completed all the races. And also finish dead last in Japanese Super GT of all the drivers to have completed all the races. Yuji Ide apparently has more talent.

Anyway, my first IIDOTR votes in a while:

1. Haas - expected them to be about as quick as Sauber. Qualifying understated their pace and they were way higher up. Would have scored points under the classic system, let alone the current system. First team to do that on debut since Toyota (who did it in a race of massive attrition).
2. Grosjean specifically - picked himself up after a difficult season with Lotus the last couple of years

1. Grojean: His optimism certainly wasn't for show. He drove his heart out there, and to an amazing 6th place.

2. Haas: Their patience, and preparation certainly paid off. They may not have had the best qualifying debut, but they made the most of it when race day came, and aside from the crash, everything went flawlessly for the team, and they really showed a thing or two for some of the other teams.

Honorable Mentions:

Palmer: Gave the Torro Rossos a run for their money, and almost scored a point.

Alonso's Car: One of the nastiest crashes we've seen in a while, and he walked away from it unharmed.

1. Grosjean, obviously
2. The new tyre rules - they actually worked and gave teams multiple strategy options.

I think the IDTR award has to go Romain Grosjean/Haas.

The wing mirror that stayed on Alonso's car. Probably the only reuseable bit of the bodywork.

1. GRSJN
If somebody told me Haas would go as high as 6th on debut, I would have asked them what they were on and where can I get some

2.
Modern safety standards
Was happy to see Alonso get out relatively unscathed

1 - Grosjean
2 - Haas

Slam dunk innit?

1. Grosjean
2. New tyre rules - As much as I hate everything about F1's tyre rules since 2007 and even more so since 2011, giving teams a little more freedom of what they run is at least a small step in the right direction.

2. Some American team making its debut.
1. Some Frenchman driving for some American team making its debut.