About

What is Grand Prix Rejects?

Grand Prix Rejects is a community of Formula One fans established in 2016 that celebrates the heroic failures of Grand Prix racing and tells the story of the less successful attempts of drivers and constructors to make a name for themselves in the sport.

Is this website related to the former F1Rejects.com fansite?

Indeed, this site was founded by members of the forum of F1Rejects.com and sees itself as a spiritual successor to that site. When GP Rejects was established, the old F1Rejects.com forum data was transferred to our website, so you will find references to it in older forum posts.

From the ashes of F1Rejects, GPRejects rose.

From the ashes of F1Rejects, GP Rejects rose.

How do you decide who gets a profile on this website?

The decision is based on objective criteria. Drivers are eligible for a profile – and therefore declared a Reject – if they have entered at least one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix and have failed to achieve either a top-four finish, a top-five finish plus any other top-six finish, or three or more top-six finishes.

Constructors are eligible for a profile if they have entered at least one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix and have failed to score at least seven points under a normalised 9-6-4-3-2-1 point system. With the complex stories of teams, constructors and various definitions of both terms in Formula One history, GP Rejects decides which is which during the editorial process for new profiles.

With 6 points on the board during their two year span in F1, Rial are deemed a reject team. Photo: Flickr / ericok

Drivers who died behind the wheel of a Formula One car or as a consequence of injuries sustained while driving a Formula One car will not be profiled on this website.

Is this site meant to mock Formula One failures?

Au contraire, this site is meant to celebrate these careers. There are many reasons for the community to find rejects fascinating , but it is united by finding value in telling stories from the bottom end of the grid.

The Reject Mindset

One thing GP Rejects wishes to emphasise is that being a reject does not need to say anything about the skill of the driver or the competency of the constructor. Many rejects have had legendary careers in open-wheel racing outside of Formula One (e.g. Sébastien Bourdais) or other disciplines of motorsport (e.g. Bernd Schneider). There are many reasons why a Formula One career can fail, sometimes it is a lack of talent, but sometimes it is just wrong timing, bad material or just outright misfortune that prevents a driver from achieving all he could in Formula One.

Profile – Sébastien Bourdais

Have you heard about a particular reject?

Yes. However, if you can tell us about facets we are not aware of or want to write a profile on a reject driver or constructor that fascinates you, GP Rejects would love to hear from you. You can join us on Discord or contact us and your profile could soon be part of GP Rejects.

Do you have anything else to offer outside of driver and constructor profiles?

For sure. GP Rejects also features other fascinating tales of Grand Prix failure not just related to profiled drivers and constructors as well as monthly opinion pieces. Furthermore, we have democratically-decided awards for the most surprising successes and the most amazing failures of each Grand Prix weekend.

Grands Prix that Never Happened: Australia and Oceania

If you join the forums and/or the GP Rejects Discord, you can take part in motorsport management and role-playing games, be a part of our rFactor events where the most rejectful cars are driven on the most rejectful tracks, vote for the abovementioned awards, join our prediction competition or just enjoy a lovely chat about Formula One, motorsport or just life in general with supportive and passionate fans of the sport.

Finally, who or what is HWNSNBM?

For this, we will let longtime resident tommykl explain:

“This is a story with multiple layers. Before Grand Prix Rejects, there was F1 Rejects run by Jamie McGregor and Enoch Law. The website ran from 1999 to 2014, and they had a podcast starting in 2005. Zsolt Baumgartner was still fresh in the memory and a favourite of the podcast. He was mentioned so often they eventually started referring to him as He Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned, or HWNSNBM for short (after complaints arose about the frequency his name was mentioned in the podcast – Ed). The forum, which started in 2009, eventually ran with the joke, turning him into a Chuck Norris-esque figure. There were additional jokes of course: if the man’s true name was spoken, the speaker would get hit by a flaming papaya…”