Grand Prix Rejects

Disappointed? Angry? Who or whatever made your F1 experience worse for the Italian Grand Prix weekend, get back by giving them ten points on an Internet forum!

Ten points for vote 1, six for vote 2.

There was a race??

1. The pre-race rendition of the Italian National Anthem - Dear lord, I don't think I've heard a worse butchering of a National Anthem in my life

2. Felipe Nasr - In a race largely devoid of silliness, his escapades with Palmer was the only real standout reject moment.

1. The GP Rejects forum: For expecting Biscione to open the thread. If you want to vote for a ROTR so badly, why not take the initiative?

2. F1 fans' standards: Here was a pretty decent race; no instant classic, but certainly had enough action to hold one's attention, and had a sprinkle of uncertainty with regards to who might end up where, but no, it gets slammed for apparently being dull as dishwater

1- Me apparently for calling the race rubbish
2- High expectations for the race.

1 - The 2016 Italian Grand Prix: Monza is quickly becoming the new Hungaroring in terms of boring races. Dull race with little to none action and a bad coverage as well, focusing too much the top 10 and completely ignoring the other half.

Monza has a good historical value, but this alone doesn't produce good races.

2 - Nasr: Left little to none room to Palmer. The crash was completely his fault.

Wizzie wrote:1. The pre-race rendition of the Italian National Anthem - Dear lord, I don't think I've heard a worse butchering of a National Anthem in my life

And when the poll comes (if it comes), I'll be giving all 16 points to that. I have never heard anything so horrible. Jacques Villeneuve could have done a better job!

My first vote goes to Felipe Nasr for ruining Palmer's and his own race pretty early on, and my second vote goes to how boring the race was. For a sport that keeps on wanting to lean towards entertainment, they aren't doing a very good job at it.

Dishonourable mention goes to Ferrari's pit stop strategy. Would've stood a lot better chance for a double-podium if they didn't botch their strategy up.

10. Lewis Hamilton - All that hype to the start and he bottled it. Cost him a win and to put some distance between him and Nico

6. Felipe Nasr - Cause I don't know.

1. Felipe Nasr - He's the only one that did something totally boneheaded during the race. Props for screwing both his and Palmer's races.

2. Ferrari's Strategists, again - I'll just take a little something (Un)Happy Harvick said to his pit crew recently: "Y'all honestly just don't want to f*cking win, do you?". Okay, I know Ferrari didn't have a snowball's chance in hell to win, but their pit wall folks could've at least got their frigging heads in the game so they could get both cars on the podium. Maybe they could've handed Rosberg the WDC lead back, but nope. This is the same shite we saw in Canada. Seb and Kimi could've finished ahead of Lewis, but for some reason the pit wall guys keep sticking their head in the paint can.

1. The promise of a free lunch - lured me away from the race after half an hour. Thankfully apparently not too much happened after that, but still, I haven't had an F1 Sunday where I've been left in peace to watch the race in months.
2. Esteban Gutierrez - for trying to out-Palmer Palmer and bottle it again after promise. I mean, at least Sutil was dependable on getting points finishes - it was that edge that should have got him podiums and pole positions that Sutil lacked. Gutierrez lacks the ability to get into the points in the first place.

1. Haas for blowing another points opportunity. I mean good grief.
2. Verstappen for being mostly anonymous, at least on NBC Sports.

And the (did)honorable mention would go to Biscione for not even starting the thread

10 points - Felipe Nasr
Mirrors? He was basically pushing into Palmer's car and then was surprised to be hit. What did he expect? Palmer's car to disappear into thin air?

So to be predictable, I try to avoid this if possible...
6 points - New Monza deal
History only means so much. I'd love F1 to stay at Monza, if only it was suitable for modern F1 cars. In history, epic slipstreaming battles were possible as aero was nowhere near the thing it is today. Nowadays, its all just about top speed, the corners aren't too challenging. Not a perfect comparison, but look at Nivelles-Bauler: http://www.circuitsofthepast.nl/en-US/nivelles Nivelles didn't have the benefit that Monza has in terms of history or a fanatical local fan base. Even in the 70s it was derived as a boring, high-speed track.

Wish I had more free time as looking at this website has made me really intrigued by "reject tracks" and I'd love to do an article.

1) Esteban Gutierrez - This guy really needs to up his consistency in races, because at this rate, Haas ought to drop him for 2017.
2) Manor - This race weekend is a prime example of a team exceeding expectations consistently throughout the season, only to drop the ball once they arrive at a circuit that suits their car the best. Looks like 1 point will be their lot, unfortunately.

1. The national "anthem" - That was some incredible butchering. Just awful.
2. Felipe Nasr - Where was the Felipe who seemed like a good paydriver?

Esteban Gutierrez for everything he touched after Q2.

Lewis Hamilton for his "actually it wasn't my fault, I was just saying that" interview after the race.

1. Esteban Gutiérrez: Great qualifying but he ended up throwing any chance of a result away AGAIN. He'll end the season pointless at this rate and it will mostly be his own fault.
2. Wehrlein's oil leak: He was on for a good result and might have fought for a point... only to have it all ruined by a bathplugging oil leak.

Miguel98 wrote:1. The national "anthem" - That was some incredible butchering. Just awful.

I'm giving first *and* second place to that national anthem. Fratelli d'Italia, who I'd assume are long dead, will be spinning in their graves so hard they could drill a tunnel to North Africa, with a break in Malta on the way.

The Jonas Brothers could have done a better job. Coldplay could have done a better job. AIDS Skrillex could have done a better job!

1. Nasr

Nuff said

2. the Italian anthem..... Rosberg proved on the podium he could do a better job!

I got curious about the anthem as I didn't see it live. Well, now I've listened to it and I didn't think it was especially good (not the worst I've heard either, the opera-style performances before ice hockey games are a lot worse). But to my surprise, it was a familiar singer: Alexia! Yes, the one that had a few dance hits back in the late 90s (can't forget the likes of "Uh La La La"). I hadn't heard of her in about 17 years so I had to check if it was the same lady.

As for dinizintheoven's suggestions, I must admit I now want to hear Skrillex make a version of some national anthem. Perhaps we could have a rotating ensemble performing different versions, as we hear the same anthems on the podium every race anyway. Or on a more serious note, make new arrangements, as they had a better version of the British anthem before (and probably many others too).

Um... struggling here... so a couple of nominations that'll make no difference.
1. Race coverage. Who needs on track footage when you can broadcast every detail of pitstops.
2. The lingering shot of the empty pit lane exit during above.

1. The race- I can barely remember it, less so than some GPs five years ago
2. Palmer- his clumsy move on Nasr and resultant petulant whining about said driver is really ruining his chance at a race seat next year, and I am beginning to seriously dislike him

DHMs:
GPR Forum - what happened with the threads?
Manor (sorry)- electrical issues ruined Ocon's qualifying and Wehrlein's race, and both their (actually quite realistic) chances at points
Gutierrez - does he think there is a prize for wasting points oppurtunities? (except from us, obviously)

Italian national anthem sung like that still sounds better than God Save The Queen.

1. The race
2. N/A

1. Gutierrez: i feel sorry for him, great qualifying but poor start prevent him for grabbing his first points of the year.

2. Manor: the circuit suited their car, but 2 mechanical failure between saturday and sunday is not what they need.


On a side note, I see that many of you noted that unconventional Italian National Anthem: whether people like it or not, I can't see any reason to have this arrangement on this official occasion.

1. Nasr - as others have rightly noted, the clash with Palmer was his fault given that he gave him no room and was always going to end up locking wheels in the way that he did. He might have tried to avoid admitting responsibility for the accident afterwards, but he did deserve a penalty. Speaking of which...

2. Sauber - it is not so much for their terrible pace, given that you expect Sauber to generally be rubbish these days, but more for the fact that they cynically sent Nasr back out solely to serve the 10 second penalty that he'd earned for his clash with Palmer because they knew the stewards would then be unable to serve Nasr with a grid penalty for the next race in Singapore instead of the time penalty. It was a move that was technically legal, but a cynical and desperate attempt to abuse the rules to avoid taking responsibility for his accident.

mario wrote:2. Sauber - it is not so much for their terrible pace, given that you expect Sauber to generally be rubbish these days, but more for the fact that they cynically sent Nasr back out solely to serve the 10 second penalty that he'd earned for his clash with Palmer because they knew the stewards would then be unable to serve Nasr with a grid penalty for the next race in Singapore instead of the time penalty. It was a move that was technically legal, but a cynical and desperate attempt to abuse the rules to avoid taking responsibility for his accident.

I'll humbly side with Sauber on this particular occasion. F1 is not for martyrs, it's for teams who strive for the best result, and whenever the rules allow you a possible advantage, it's your task to use it. I think if I were Monisha or whoever took the decision, I would do the same.

solarcold wrote:

mario wrote:2. Sauber - it is not so much for their terrible pace, given that you expect Sauber to generally be rubbish these days, but more for the fact that they cynically sent Nasr back out solely to serve the 10 second penalty that he'd earned for his clash with Palmer because they knew the stewards would then be unable to serve Nasr with a grid penalty for the next race in Singapore instead of the time penalty. It was a move that was technically legal, but a cynical and desperate attempt to abuse the rules to avoid taking responsibility for his accident.

I'll humbly side with Sauber on this particular occasion. F1 is not for martyrs, it's for teams who strive for the best result, and whenever the rules allow you a possible advantage, it's your task to use it. I think if I were Monisha or whoever took the decision, I would do the same.

And let's not forget Singapore's up next, where it'll be a lot more difficult to overtake. If Sauber can have a good qualifying session without the weight of a grid penalty, then it'll look like a very smart move.

1. Felipe Nasr (74)
2. Esteban Gutiérrez (46)
3. National anthem performers (42)
4. 2016 Italian Grand Prix (36)
5. Manor* (18)
6. Lewis Hamilton (16)
6. World feed† (16)
8. F1 fanbase‡ (12)
9. GP Rejects forum (10)
9. rachel1990 (10)
9. The promise of a free lunch (10)
9. Haas (10)
13. Ferrari (6)
13. Max Verstappen (6)
13. New Monza deal (6)
13. Jolyon Palmer (6)
13. Sauber (6)

*Manor, Wehrlein's oil leak
†Counting Spectoremg's post as a 16-point vote
‡F1 fans' standards, high expectations