Your Reject of the Race - Malaysia

[Captain Hammer]

New race, new rejects!

Heikki Kovalainen: two starts, two first-lap incidents.
Ferrari: stupid mistake cost Massa a good race; brain fade then infected Raikkonen's people.
Force India: the only time they rated a mention in the broadcast was when Fisichella spun off.
Al Gore: global warming adversely affected the race.

I'm going to say Kovalainen. His 2009 performance so far has been worthy of a mid-90s pay driver. He needs to find something resembling pace, otherwise he might be out of a job for 2010.

[Ross Prawn]

Bit difficult to criticise Hiekki's pace, given that he hasn't made it through a corner yet, let alone a lap.

He's still a strong contender for ROTR though.

[Bleu]

The decision to push the start later on the day takes the win in my books. Other strong canditates are Ferrari and Kovalainen.

[CarlosFerreira]

Bit difficult to criticise Hiekki's pace, given that he hasn't made it through a corner yet, let alone a lap.

He's still a strong contender for ROTR though.

I think I'm gonna cut Heikki some slack, there. In Oz, he was a victim of geriatric fury (as Webber and Rosberg, IIRC), and today he made a stupid mistake on cold tyres. Sure, still a mistake. But he as many points as last years 2nd and 3rd in the Championship.

[Chilled Phill]

Clearly, this award should be given to Ferrari.

The race incident with Raikkonen was perhaps understandable and is perhaps held against Ferrari. But the sheer arrogance of the incident in qualifying with Massa deserves the team, or perhaps just Rob Smedley (Sp? The guy who made the call, iirc...) the RotR...?

[thehemogoblin]

Ferrari is making a case for ROTY.

[Ross Prawn]

I think you could take a leaf out of the stewards book. Having made a hasty decision in Melbourne, you have now reviewed the evidence and nominated Hamilton of ROTR.

[kb9vrg]

So ... who gets your Reject of the Race?

Heikki Kovalainen - clearly. He hasn't completed a lap of a race in 2009! Two in a row clearly gives him my Reject of the Race status.

[Salamander]

The start time gets my ROTR. Later start times aimed at making races watchable for viewers in another time zone is a terrible idea. We have race re-runs later on in the afternoon, in case you've forgot, Bernie!

[Chilled Phill]

Heikki Kovalainen - clearly. He hasn't completed a lap of a race in 2009! Two in a row clearly gives him my Reject of the Race status.

Ah. But that surely constitutes as reasons to support a Heikki for RotY campaign.

[BB01]

Has to be Bernie's twilight scheme. It destroyed half of what could have been an exciting race.

Heikki's year is starting to look like Michael Andretti's 1993...

[Cynon]

Reject of the Race- Ferrari
In four starts (two for each car), Takuma Sato had more points then you in a SOOPA AGURI two years ago.

[Gumby]

Second race in a row... Reject of the race in Malaysia goes to.... Bernie !! Twilight races are the pits.

If we had the normal start time in Malaysia - We would have a had a complete race... Hope Bernie is happy counting his $$$$$

Cheers G

[KSvt]

Ferrari, hands down. Minus the two major cock-ups, they would have had two cars solidly in the points, quite possibly one or both on the podium.

For the year, I'd say the two most "professional" organizations, Ferrari and McLaren, are tied for ROTY and vying for the Andrea Moda Memorial Trophy as well.

[Henrique]

Ferrari. I think they're going back to the old days of not winning championships, back when Jean Alesi was their hero.

[minrdi]

Second race in a row... Reject of the race in Malaysia goes to.... Bernie !! Twilight races are the pits.

If we had the normal start time in Malaysia - We would have a had a complete race... Hope Bernie is happy counting his $$$$$

Apparently the weather at Sepang was pretty ordinary at 3pm local time anyway, so it's likely that a conventional start time would have seen a rain interruption at some stage.

If you remember the 2001 race, that was affected a monster downpour early in the race, but the storm passed in little time and track dried very quickly afterwards. It was one of the best races of the season and had plenty of action.

As far as twilight and night races go, they are definitely an interesting concept and worth pursuing in the right circumstances. To have a twilight race in Malaysia (where it rains every evening this time of the year) is utter insanity. The poor evening light combined with rain is very dangerous for the drivers, and any rain delays can't be recovered - unlike a daytime race - because of the fast-fading light. This gives the viewing audience little hope of watching a full race, and we were the victim of that this weekend.

Had the race have been earlier in the day with the same weather conditions, you could be more certain of seeing the full 56 laps.

ROTR to whichever fool agreed to this scheduling to cater for the European audiences - it's a terrible shame to see another example of F1 being a Euro-centric business first, and a sport second.

[AussieV8]

Has to be Bernie for wanting a race at a time of day when it was pretty much guaranteed of torrential rain about half way through.

I reckon Bernie is doing pretty well for reject of the year. First he suggests the dodgy winner takes all points system, which was subsequently dumped (hopefully it doesn't come back next year), followed by this debarcle! I wonder what his next brilliant idea will be?

As far as a reject among the drivers or teams, Heikki is doing well there with Ferrari close behind. That was a stupid gamble to bring kimi in when they did for full wets. Wasn't he in the points at the time? If they were going to try that gamble at all, it should have been Massa as he was down the back.

[wombat]

1 Bernie and the Malaysian organisers who know it normally pours down this time of year
2 Ferrari (where's Ross when you need him - oh he's winning) - bat strategy, bad calls, over heating KERS, although Kimi redeemed himself with his healthy after race choice of a Magnum and Coke
3 Heikki

[Bort]

I reckon Bernie is doing pretty well for reject of the year.

Bernie already deserves a page of his own based purely on his own dismal F1 driving record.
Two attempts to race in 1958 (Monaco and Silverstone) and did not qualify in either.

[Joe_Totale]

1. The idiots who decided that 5pm was a good start time. Because it never rains in the early evening in Malaysia at this time of the year...

2. Ferrari becoming more like the Ferrari we all know and love from the early 90's

3. Nakajima - The guy has one of the fastest cars on the grid for now as shown by his teammate taking an early lead and being very unlucky with how things panned out. Nakajima on the other hand is stuck behind the worst driver on the grid (Piquet) for a while before limping home in 12th. Still as long as Williams buy Toyota engines...

The votes for Heikki are a bit harsh in my opinion.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Whoever decided that the race should start at 5pm wins ROTR hands down. Everyone knows that if there are clouds in the area it will almost always rain at about 6pm.

[ZBF1]

has to be simply Mother Nature for dumping the pacific ocean on the track

[Lainey]

Has to be Kovalainen with Ferrari a close second.

Ecclestone Reject of Life for deciding to start the race so late.

[rffp]

My vote is also for Bernie, not only to making the decision on the late start but also to stand by it even after the aborted restart.

[ImissJORDAN]

Definately Heikki. Australia was very much his own fault, by careering into the back of Barrichello, and if his spin out of Sepang was really his fault (it looked so uncontrolled I would have suspected suspension failure!!) then for his awful starts/laps completed ratio, it's definitely him.

[Nuppiz]

Using the top-three-version usually used in the Season Reviews, I've managed this.

3. Heikki Kovalainen - the Melbourne retirement wasn't his or anyone's fault, but this was. Spun off on a clear, dry track, retiring again on the first lap (hey there's a rhyme there )
2. Ferrari - bad mistake in qualifying dropping Massa out - not that I would like Massa much though, And in race Räikkönen and/or his strategist for the awful tyre choice.
1. Bernie Ecclestone and the race organizers - for setting the race start too late to secure a dry enough race.

[Breffni]

Using the top-three-version usually used in the Season Reviews, I've managed this.

3. Heikki Kovalainen - the Melbourne retirement wasn't his or anyone's fault, but this was. Spun off on a clear, dry track, retiring again on the first lap (hey there's a rhyme there )
2. Ferrari - bad mistake in qualifying dropping Massa out - not that I would like Massa much though, And in race Räikkönen and/or his strategist for the awful tyre choice.
1. Bernie Ecclestone and the race organizers - for setting the race start too late to secure a dry enough race.

I completely agree with this selection. Heikki dropping it looked odd from the following car's onboard camera, it looked like, if my memory serves me correctly, that he got a slight twitch and dropped it in correction. If traction control had still been around he would have gotten away with it no doubt, but thankfully it isn't.

Despite being a fan of Ferrari normally, it is kinda nice to see them with 0 points two races into the season. I have no doubt they'll make up for it in later races but it makes a major change from the past decade or so. As far as Bernie goes, yes, absolutely moronic choice to move the GP to that timeslot and, moreover, also moronic to defend said stupidity afterwards. Seeing a race end like that is hopefully something we won't see for another 16 years.

Also, hi everybody. Long time F1 Rejects listener and fan. Really happy to be here, great to meet you all. Especially ImissJORDAN. I echo your sentiments.

[Alianora La Canta]

Bernie is the Reject of the Race. He was the one who not only insisted on a late afternoon start but ignored the local organisers' compromise/advice to start at 4pm (before this year, the race started at 3pm). Had the locals been duly heeded, we'd have seen a full race with some exciting drizzle spicing up proceedings towards the end.

[Captain Hammer]

Bernie is the Reject of the Race. He was the one who not only insisted on a late afternoon start but ignored the local organisers' compromise/advice to start at 4pm (before this year, the race started at 3pm). Had the locals been duly heeded, we'd have seen a full race with some exciting drizzle spicing up proceedings towards the end.

Actually, if they'd started the race at the normal time, we wuld have gotten the same result: a washout. The GP2 race had experienced similar problems.

If anything, the Malaysian Grand Prix needs to be moved to a mid-season event; that way, they won't be in monsoon season.

[Alianora La Canta]

Bernie is the Reject of the Race. He was the one who not only insisted on a late afternoon start but ignored the local organisers' compromise/advice to start at 4pm (before this year, the race started at 3pm). Had the locals been duly heeded, we'd have seen a full race with some exciting drizzle spicing up proceedings towards the end.

Actually, if they'd started the race at the normal time, we wuld have gotten the same result: a washout. The GP2 race had experienced similar problems.

If anything, the Malaysian Grand Prix needs to be moved to a mid-season event; that way, they won't be in monsoon season.

The hour-long run-up, judging by the pictures on the BBC coverage, was only a bit drizzly. By the time the rain came down properly at what would have become the 1 hour 58 minutes mark, everyone would be home and (mostly) dry....

[Captain Hammer]

Firstly, there would have been no way to predict that, and secondly, it would have been impossible to move the start forward three hourson such short notice because none of the teams would have been ready.

[Alianora La Canta]

There is usually a heavy downpour at about that time - it's a property of Sepang being near an area of rainforest. It is almost a predictable a meterological phenomenon as deserts being dry (maybe Bahrain should have been the test area for twilight racing...)

[eytl]

Well it is worth noting that this is the first time Ferrari has remained on the big duck-egg (ie 0 points) after the first two races of the season, since 1992 ... the awesome year of Jean Alesi and Ivan Capelli.

I think you guys have nailed down the big three candidates for ROTR. It has already been chosen! Stay tuned to see who has taken out the gold medal on the reject podium this time around ...

[Nin13]

Ferrari