ROTR Malaysia 2012

[eurobrun]

Say who you think will be ROTR here.

[Ed24]

Just beat me to it;

My nomination would be Grosjean so far, but Rosberg and Senna are also candidates, not to mention Bernie Ecclestone for being too greedy with the late start time (a sequel to his 2009 award for the same track).

[Wizzie]

Romain Grosjean: You get an epic start and then you proceed to be a grade A muppet after that

[eurobrun]

RRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNN GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSSSSSJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

[sswishbone]

Grosjean, epic start then he blew it with a silly collision with Schumacher and then dropped it into the sandpit stupidly

[the Masked Lapwing]

Grosjean, easy. Unless the race gets restarted, then it'll be the stewards for denying HRT half a point!

[Ed24]

Unless the race gets restarted, then it'll be the stewards for denying HRT half a point!

And perhaps more importantly, the unrejectification of Sergio Perez!

[Cynon]

The decision to stop the race.

[WeirdKerr]

the teams who don't have a gazebo.....

[Minardi Man]

the teams who have a gazebo.....

Fixxxed

[Pointrox]

Obviously Grosjean. Once again binned his great performance in quali

[the Masked Lapwing]

I stand by my nomination of Grosjean, but an honorable mention must go to whoever decided that Perez saty out an extra lap on inters. He could probably have made the mistake and still easily won.

[DOSBoot]

1. Grojean: His collision which Shumacher made this one an easy choise.

2. Massa: Finishing 15th is one thing, but when you finish 15th while you're teammate won the race is a whole different matter.

[Ed24]

2. Massa: Finishing 15th is one thing, but when you finish 15th while you're teammate won the race is a whole different matter.

Kobayashi deserves a mention for a similar reason.

[DanielPT]

Grrrrjjjjjjjjjjjnnnnnnnn, no doubt.

A mention for Mercedes. Abject race and that's 2 in a row.

[solarcold]

Felipe Massa
Narain Karthikeyan (this coming from a HRT-fan...)

[the Masked Lapwing]

2. Massa: Finishing 15th is one thing, but when you finish 15th while you're teammate won the race is a whole different matter.

Kobayashi deserves a mention for a similar reason.

The difference being that Kobayashi at least looked like he might pick up a point or two. I still have no idea how he retired though.

[Valrys]

Grosjean - threw away a great qualifying again
Massa - once again, godawful
Button - accident was his own fault, didn't do much afterwards
Mercedes - once again, nowhere
Sauber's strategists - if only they hadn't kept Perez out for an extra lap....

[mediocre]

Totally Felipe Massa for being crap.

[Ed24]

Narain Karthikeyan (this coming from a HRT-fan...)

What did Karthikeyan do wrong? He was racing for position with Button and Vettel moved across on him.

[Klon]

Jenson Button - Ha! Fortune was ready to hand him yet another win, but he blew it! Jenson was, is and always will be nothing more than a midfielder with more luck than any human being deserves.

Felipe Massa - Oh boy...

Romain Grosjean - He could have done brilliantly but no, he spins out.

[WaffleCat]

Perez's strategists.They pull off a simply epic job in Australia,then they let him stay on inters for an extra lap in which he should have easily got ahead had he changed to slicks.

[Valrys]

Narain Karthikeyan (this coming from a HRT-fan...)

What did Karthikeyan do wrong? He was racing for position with Button and Vettel moved across on him.

Definitely, Narain was not at fault for those incidents, and made good use of the call to start on the wet tyres, even just running in the points will be a morale boost for the team. Although, if you were watching the lap times, once again his laps weren't that consistent, but he still beat De La Rosa to the finish, and I have no idea when and where he was getting lapped.

[Minardi Man]

Grosjean - I'm starting to pick up on a pattern here, which is a shame, because I do like him, and he obviously does have the pace.

Massa - He was crap as usual, it's getting embarassing for a guy who should have been a champion. Especially when your replacement did so very well...

[Ed24]

The difference being that Kobayashi at least looked like he might pick up a point or two. I still have no idea how he retired though.

I'm not sure about that, he seemed to be generally running outside of the points, and was slipping back behind Ricciardo, Senna etc. when Perez was making great progress.

[RAK]

Romain Grosjean: Points are awarded on Sunday, not on Saturday. He can't just keep throwing away good grid positions with clumsy mistakes. Vergne stayed out acceptably on intermediates and scored solid points. Given that Grosjean clearly has some pace, he needs to display it.

Jenson Button: Derping his way into the back of Karthikeyan just spoiled his race. Languishing around in the midfield isn't really what we should have seen from Button.

[GwilymJJames]

Grosjean - poor
Button - Couldn't overtake an HRT for position, and then struggled throughout the race.
Vettel - Moved over on Karthikeyan too early
Sauber stratergists - Mistake with the pit, and order not to overtake was distracting for Perez.
Whichever member of the HRT team was on the grid after the 3 minute warning - for being on the grid after the 3 minute warning
Massa - Obvious reasons

[tkcom]

Mercedes Top qually job, but at the end of the day got less point than every midfield team.

[Priceless]

My picks...

3rd: Jenson Button - that costly incident with Karthikeyan was completely unnecessary.
2nd: Rmmnnn Grrrjnnn - great qualifying went to waste early in the race.
1st: Felipe Massa - Finished 15th while Alonso won. On top of that the much-rumored Perez came 2nd. At this rate, his place at Ferrari is doomed.

[DonTirri]

Massa.
No whats, ifs, buts or maybes.

[mario]

For me, Grosjean probably takes this award - it is one thing to throw the car off the track, and to be the only driver who spun out in those conditions despite everybody else being on the same tyres, and it is another thing to have also screwed up the race of somebody else (his collision with Schumacher).

Mind you, I'll agree that Button also ranks fairly highly - in his case, it is at least partially mitigated by the good job he'd done earlier, and at least he seems to have had the sense to know when to switch tyres (it seems that McLaren overruled him until Ricciardo started blitzing the sector times - and speaking of which, McLaren weren't that sharp in the pit lane today).

[Ataxia]

Massa - Was just rubbish. Has gone from having a poor 2011 to a dismal 2012 so far. Wonder if the phrase 'As useless as Felipe Massa' will gather popularity?
Grosjean - Beached his car again. He might as well just start in the gravel trap in China, save the hassle.
Mercedes - Always good on a Friday, ok on a Saturday, crap on a Sunday. Perhaps a bit Craig David-y, but it's a fair summary.

Overall, I'd go with Massa. Honourable (or dishonourable?) mentions to Button, Vettel and Karthikeyan, the crash-based triumvirate. And the HRT employee who stayed on the grid too long, shame on you.

[MinardiFan95]

Jenson Button: for his hurried attempt to get past Karthikeyan, which was simply uncalled for, he'd have easily got past him before the DRS zone anyway and then the botched strategy, using another set of intermediates and waiting until someone else went onto slicks. Not exactly Jen-sational at all.

Felipe Massa: for another lackluster performance, being beaten by Button who was having plenty of issues of his own and to add insult to injury, his teammate and likely replacement finish first and second.

Mercedes: for another below average Sunday that really should have seen them remain level on points with the three new teams, except Schumi lucked out when the Faster Pastor's engine cried "no more".

[Enforcer]

Honourable mention: Mercedes.
No race pace, whatsoever. Points aren't given out on Saturday.

ROTR: Felipe Massa.
Your team-mate wins and you finish nowhere. And most of it was his own making, imo. He had one pitstop that was a bit slow, but it only lost him a few seconds. Outbraking himself when he was in the points, and then not really recovering, at all, was no one's fault but his own. And as I said in the race thread, to do this on a weekend when Perez, the man who is possibly being lined up to replace you, should have won and your team-mate did... well that's not going to do your career prospects any good.

[Belegur]

3rd - Karthikeyan - constantly gets in everyone's way, and promptly ruins their race.

2nd - Mercedes - all that promise and still nowhere when it matters.

1st - Massa. Alonso showed what was possible in that Ferrari, but Felippe just isn't anywhere near his team-mate in ability any more. Personally I think it was losing the WDC to Hamilton that was the beginning of the end, rather than his crash, but whatever...

[Shizuka]

Romain Grosjean: You get an epic start and then you proceed to be a grade A muppet after that

Exactly my thoughts. Romain Grosjean needs to finish a race, not to throw it away early...

[James1978]

I think Button deserves it more than Massa does to be honest, especially given the reason Maldonado got it in Oz (a costly error rather than just generally being useless). When I saw a McLaren lose its front wing on an HRT I honestly thought it was Hamilton given the fact he'd lost time pitting and probably had the red mist.

And I expected so much more of Button than I did of Massa too.

[stupot94]

Grosjean. Only 5 laps completed so far this season.

And an honourable mention for Felipe Massa, for being absolutely dreadful

[Shadaza]

Grosjean, another case of what could of been, Senna was also flying off the road everywhere and crashed in to Maldonado at the start but recovered to take 6th.

[Paul Hayes]

Has to be my favourite driver, Button, sadly. Threw away a real chance to set out his stall for the world championship.