Your Reject of the Race - Bahrain

[DonTirri]

I am not going to vote for Ecclestone or the FIA or ANYTHING else regarding politics or anything because F1 shouldn't take any political stances and in my opinion anyone who cared for that side of things is a fool (My opinion.)

I'll vote for McLaren. A godawful race for them from Hamiltons TWO botched pitstops to Buttons retirement.

[mario]

McLaren: what an abject failure. It's like they are trying to loose the championship.

If we stick to events in the race alone, I agree that McLaren had an absolutely shocking race - between the botched pit stops for Hamilton and Button's retirement, they have thrown away the lead in both the drivers and constructors championships to Red Bull.
In fact, McLaren has been OK on the track but hopeless in the pits in these opening races, as Button and Hamilton have lost ground, and countless places, almost every time they have pitted. They must be wondering why the team are costing them so much...

[Vassago]

If we leave the politics alone (which we should IMO regardless of how dismal the whole Bahrain royal family looks like in wake of the protests), undoubtfully McLaren wins the ROTR award here. Not one but TWO botched pitstops for Hamilton plus a late-race puncture and a mechanical failure for Button. Total disaster. They went from destined 1-2 dominators into scrapping a solitary 8th place in less then couple of months.

Ricciardo was unlucky during the first lap, he started on the dirty side anyway and got swallowed by the pack before some typical first lap skirmish ruled him out of contention alltogether. That's bad luck more then ROTR material there IMO.

[Nuppiz]

So many to choose from, but ultimately McLaren gets my nomination.

[DOSBoot]

1. McLaren - Double pointless finishes for the team. Botched pitstop cost Hamilton the lead, and Button's puncture cost him the pionts. Something you don't was to do when you're leading the constructors championship.

2. Riccardo - 6th to 15th is not the result you want after such a good qualifying session.

[James1978]

Bronze: Mark Webber. Seriously where was he? All we ever saw of him was when he was passed by both Lotuses and how far behind his teammate was he when he didn't appear to have any problems.

Silver: Nico Rosberg. Being involved in TWO separate incidents for the same thing. It looked he was trying to emulate his teammate from Hungary 2010.

Gold: McLaren. OH DEAR.

[JeremyMcClean]

I nominate second place to myself for predicting a mass boycott in this race. What was I thinking?

[Phoenix]

Both Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren were very good nominations, but ultimately I'll stick with...

NICO ROSBERG

For his two disgraceful manoeuvres on Hamilton and Alonso that could have led to serious accidents. I have to say, it shaded what Schumacher did to Barrichello at Hungary 2010. Just imagine what James Hunt would have said had he been commentating this race: "Terrible piece of driving by Rosberg, acting like a James Hunt".

[tristan1117]

McLaren: Two botched pit stops, reliability problems and it looks like Red Bul have jumped back into the fray. Not a great weekend.

Dishonorable Mentions:
Robserg: He made the same dangerous move twice, rather like Reiko Megumi in the F1RGP2C. And I disqualified her for that!

Ricciardo: Is really that much better than Alguersuari? At Bahrain today, he has shown us that the answer is no. He did have a good qualifying, though.

Sauber: Kobayashi's strategy was terrible and Perez looked slow out there. Weren't they supposed to be really good on their tires? Didn't work out for them today.

Webber: I don't remember seeing him once for the entire race.

Whoever punctured Heikki's tyre: Wasted Kovy's great qualifying effort.

[Dan B]

Aside from the whole aspect of this Grand Prix existing in the first place:
Third:: Daniel Ricciardo: Unlucky or not, the results stand. Should have tried to claw his way back into the points but didn't.

Second:: McLaren: Would have been first if both cars finished outside the points. The pitstops did provide some entertainment though.

First:: Nico Rosberg: Very dangerous moves; Hamilton and Alonso should be lucky there wasn't grass, or worse, a wall, there where Rosberg pushed them off. Really should be disqualified for that as that was quite awful.

Dishonorable Mentions:
- Nico Hulkenberg: Liuzzi-esque performances aren't helping him. Really wish Sutil were still here, or at least bring in Petrov, Bianchi, Kovalainen, Glock, or whoever. Didn't impress me at Williams and is not impressing me here.
- Sauber: Anonymous as ever today. One word describes their performance: SLOW.
- Mark Webber: Wasn't this supposed to be his season this year?
- Lotus: Kimi must've had terrible wear on his tires for him to come in at the same time as Vettel otherwise he should have stayed out and done a few laps.

[dr-baker]

For on-track action:

Rosberg: running people off the track - has he been influenced by/getting lessons from his teammate?

McLaren's pitstops

Williams: from a double points finish a week ago, to making up half the retirements and 2/3 non-classifications...

Sauber

[tristan1117]

Also, whoever posted that really long post about how the hierarchy is settling in this year should get a nomination. Four different teams in four races! When was the last time that happened?

[dr-baker]

Also, whoever posted that really long post about how the hierarchy is settling in this year should get a nomination. Four different teams in four races! When was the last time that happened?

1983, according to Sky TV.

[Dan B]

Forgot one more Dishonorable Mention:
- Steve Matchett for saying Force India's absence from FP2 was a disservice to their fans because the team left to go back to the hotel while it was still daylight. You do know, Steve, that some of their mechanics were attacked with gasoline bombs and one had to leave the country, right?

Quite a disrespectful, tactless comment honestly.

[Sunshine_Baby_[IT]]

Bernie Ecclestone.

[Sublime_FA11C]

Both Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren were very good nominations, but ultimately I'll stick with...

NICO ROSBERG

For his two disgraceful manoeuvres on Hamilton and Alonso that could have led to serious accidents. I have to say, it shaded what Schumacher did to Barrichello at Hungary 2010. Just imagine what James Hunt would have said had he been commentating this race: "Terrible piece of driving by Rosberg, acting like a James Hunt".

My sentiments exactly.

Also, whoever posted that really long post about how the hierarchy is settling in this year should get a nomination. Four different teams in four races! When was the last time that happened?

That would be me. AND i had Grosjean as ROTR today of all races.... i'll just go home

[Ataxia]

McLaren - Bad pitstops and bad racing. They need to sort it out.
Ricciardo - Dropped like a morbidly obese stone.

[Ed24]

Nominees:

Bahrain - All GP did was bring attention and publicity to their regime, no unifying message...
Ricciardo - What a brilliant qualifying performance but was abysmal in the race, has been learning first lap tactics from Webber obviously.
Hulkenberg - Another poor and anonymous race
Rosberg - Quite disgusting driving standards today.
Webber - The more things change, the more things stay the same...

Winner:

McLaren - Once again have thrown away points with pitstop errors and a mechanical failures.

[shinji]

[Sunshine_Baby_[IT]]

EDIT. Sorry. Wrong thread.

[dr-baker]

Which one is the clown?

[East Londoner]

If ROTR has to be based on events during the race, there can only be one possible nominee.

McLaren - What the hell are they doing? It's almost like they want to end their chances for the championship, with the amount of gaffes they've made this season. Has a feel of Red Bull circa 2010. Clearly the best car on the grid, but cocking up far too much.

Of course, no matter how rejectful McLaren were, they were still smashed by a certain Bernard Charles Ecclestone

[WeirdKerr]

I'd like to nominate my electricity supply for reject of the race...... power went out not not long into the race........ PAH!!!!

[This]

Even for non-political reasons Bernie should get this one. His opinions - about practically everything - are becoming more absurd every day. He should get a ROTR at least 3 times/year.

[Barbazza]

1) As most have said, if we're not nominating Bernie and sticking to the race, it has to be McLaren - worse than the Ferraris and a Force India in a dry race, well done!

[Phoenix]

Which one is the clown?

The stewards, clearly, for not even penalizing Rosberg today, yet issuing drive-through penalties other times for racing incidents.

[Dj_bereta]

Stewards for obvious reasons.

[TheBigJ]

I think Bernie deserves ROTY already for several incredibly poor decisions :


1)The Sky-BBC deal.
2) The Bahrain Grand Prix going ahead.
3) The decision to take Spa off every other year
4) The decision two have 2 US Grand Prix that are now both in doubt according to the dwarf.

[mario]

If ROTR has to be based on events during the race, there can only be one possible nominee.

McLaren - What the hell are they doing? It's almost like they want to end their chances for the championship, with the amount of gaffes they've made this season. Has a feel of Red Bull circa 2010. Clearly the best car on the grid, but cocking up far too much.

Of course, no matter how rejectful McLaren were, they were still smashed by a certain Bernard Charles Ecclestone

To be honest, you have to wonder whether McLaren really do have the best car on the grid - their race pace today wasn't anything special, as Hamilton struggled to make much headway after those botched stops and Rosberg was able to hold Button at a reasonable distance behind him. If you look at the lap times that Button and Hamilton were setting, both drivers were in the low to mid 1m38 bracket in their final stints, whereas both Lotus drivers and Vettel were solidly in the mid to low 1m37 bracket (Vettel even dropped into the 1m36's at one point).

OK, both McLaren drivers did pit a handful of laps earlier, and to a certain extent their pace would have been dictated by the traffic around them, but even so they were losing around a second a lap to the leading trio at one point. In qualifying trim McLaren might be there or thereabouts, but their race pace is definitely not as solid as their rivals - Hamilton might have picked up 5th if he'd had a trouble free race (it's estimated he'd have lost about 14 seconds in the pits, and he was only 4 seconds behind Rosberg in 5th), whilst Button, who had a relatively normal race by comparison, was probably only on course for 6th before reliability intervened.

Perhaps the only upside is that this run of pit lane problems is being given a thorough examination - Whitmarsh has announced that the team are holding an internal investigation into their pit crew training policies. Incidentally, Whitmarsh did confirm that before Hamilton's final stop they did change the left rear wheel gun operative, which might explain why Hamilton's final stop was a little slower than normal. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99105

[Stramala]

Lotus-Renault naysayers
People expected Lotus to self-destruct and not manage a good result at all, all the focus was on pretty much everyone else...and then they take 2nd and 3rd. Had Vettel not started on pole perhaps it would have been different as well.

[fjackdaw]

Random girl accidentally nominated for Reject Of The Race shock.

[Ubik]

Reject of the Week: All those armchair Kofi Annans who wanted to string up Bernie et al with piano wire for going ahead with the Bahrain GP.

Those same armchair human-rights warriors who on any other weekend would be watching the Chinese Grand Prix on their Chinese made TV, PC, laptop or pad; discussing the race with friends on their Chinese made telephone while lounging around in their Chinese made T-shirt and trainers.

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

What if McLaren had a damaged thread on the wheel bolt? That would explain the two horribly botched stops and the successful but slow third stop once they realized what the problem was. I don't know if that's a real possibility or not, but Matchett brought it up.

If there was such damage, then I'd go for Ricciardo, otherwise probably McLaren.

[Captain Hammer]

If not Bernie/the FIA/the al Khalifa family, I nominate Daniel Ricciardo. He started sixth, got into a first lap tangle and spent most of the race behind Vitaly Petrov.

Lotus-Renault naysayers
People expected Lotus to self-destruct and not manage a good result at all, all the focus was on pretty much everyone else...and then they take 2nd and 3rd. Had Vettel not started on pole perhaps it would have been different as well.

It would have been more impressive if the team hadn't pick up two podiums in the first two races last year.

[shinji]

Reject of the Week: All those armchair Kofi Annans who wanted to string up Bernie et al with piano wire for going ahead with the Bahrain GP.

Those same armchair human-rights warriors who on any other weekend would be watching the Chinese Grand Prix on their Chinese made TV, PC, laptop or pad; discussing the race with friends on their Chinese made telephone while lounging around in their Chinese made T-shirt and trainers.

I don't know if you'll be able to hear me over your deafening level of sarcasm, but the difference is that this race was being used as a political symbol by the Bahraini hierarchy, and as a result the sport was vilified, both by the protesters and worldwide media.

That was my issue with the GP; seeing F1's name being dragged through the mud for no discernible reason, by virtue of being attached on a political level - UniF1ed - to the unpopular leadership of the state.

Also, your comparison with China is moot. If even 1% of the Chinese people knew the race was on last weekend I'd be surprised. You can be sure that everyone in Bahrain was well aware that the GP was on today.

[eurobrun]

Me for saying GGGRRRSSJJJJNNN would never unrejectify himself.


I still don't like him though.

[AdrianSutil]

It's still Bernie Ecclestone for me. And that comment about 'no-one cares who's 9th or 11th' is just wrong. Shall we just have a Championship with Red Bull, MCLaren, Ferrari and Merc then?!

[Wizzie]

My nominations:

Toro Rosso: One driver can't qualify and the other one can't race. Bodes well for Toro Rosso this year
Sauber: They seem to have fallen off a cliff since Sepang which makes the result look more and more like a fluke every day
Nico Rosberg: How you didn't end up with a penalty is beyond me

But my Reject of the Race is:

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: Very un-McLaren performance means they lose the lead in BOTH championships.

[Priceless]

Time for the Reject Podium!

3rd: Daniel Ricciardo - At one point it even looked like Petrov was faster than him!
2nd: McLaren Mercedes - What a disastrous performance. Hamilton was stuck fighting between the awful Ferraris with supposedly the best car on the grid, and Button was not very far ahead until he was hit with problems and had to retire.
1st: Bernie Ecclestone - this was already discussed a lot... let's just say I agree.

[Ed24]

I would nominate Jean Todt well before Bernie, his lack of leadership throughout 2011 and 2012 on Bahrain has been a disgrace.