Your Reject of the Race - Germany

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Pick your Reject of the Race!

Poll ended at 27 Jul 2018, 09:10

Botched Team Orders (including, but limited not to, Mercedes; Ferrari)
1
5%
Sebastian Vettel
8
40%
Terrible Strategies (including, but not limited to, Toro Rosso; Haas; Ferrari; Red Bull; Sauber)
7
35%
The Trophies
4
20%
 
Total votes: 20

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Londoner
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Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by Londoner »

1. Team orders - Yeah, I know they're allowed in F1, but bathplug it I'm in a bad mood. Could've have an excellent scrap for the win for the last few laps but oh no, that's far too interesting for Mercedes. Ferrari don't get away with this either, that was a messy way to make Kimi and Seb switch places.

2. Toro Rosso strategists - "Hey, let's go for full wets when it's only raining at one corner. Can't see a problem here." :pantano:
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by Klon »

Sebastian Vettel - I know this is adding insult to injury, but sliding off the track whilst leading is always ROTR.
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by good_Ralf »

Vettel - Not seen someone smash their hands against the wheel like that since Alesi aquaplaned out of 3rd in Magny-Cours '99.
Red Bull - Another mechanical failure, plus a bad strategy call costs them more points, if not a podium or more.
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by dinizintheoven »

Sebastian Vettel has quite clearly got this one all sewn up with stitching so fine it could be straight from a Bentley seat cover. So, instead, I'll give some alternative nominations:

East Londoner wrote:Toro Rosso strategists - "Hey, let's go for full wets when it's only raining at one corner. Can't see a problem here."

Couldn't have put that better myself, so I won't try it. As Top Gear Australia used to say: "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?"

The other nomination goes to the trophies - the positions written in a hideous cartoon font make up the trophies for a serious motorsport event... at the risk of repeating myself, as Top Gear Australia used to say: "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?"
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by Fetzie »

1. Vettel, for losing the race. Something like this triggered a series of bad results in the second half of the season last year that ultimately cost him the championship.

2. Ferrari's convoluted "pretending not to give team orders while giving team orders" that led to Vettel not having any rubber left on his tyres and crashing because it took them two thirds of a lap to get Raikönnen to comply.
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mario
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by mario »

I think that we have quite a few nominees available to us here - I imagine that Vettel is going to get a fair few nominations (I do feel a bit sorry for him though given how it came about), but thinking of a few alternatives:

1. Ferrari, Haas and Toro Rosso Strategists: It felt as if Ferrari made a real mess of the situation - the idea of pitting early, presumably to put pressure on Bottas and to push him into a two stop, really didn't work given that Mercedes didn't fall for it. Furthermore, by pitting him so early and allowing him to then undercut Vettel, it then compromised his race - you could hear Vettel getting frustrated on the radio as he started getting held up.

As for the way in which they switched them round, the decision was entirely logical - with Kimi having confirmed that he was on a two stop plan, he was always going to slip behind Vettel - but they needed to commit to that decision earlier than they did, not leave Vettel sat behind Kimi for several laps and both overheat his tyres and start locking up.

By leaving it so long and costing Vettel time, they allowed Hamilton to come back into play when the showers began and, given the way in which he was catching the front runners (I think he was about 1.5-2.0s faster a lap, if not more), may have forced Vettel to have to push harder than he wanted to when the track became greasier, leading to that mistake.

As for Haas, they had a strong opportunity to take advantage of Ricciardo and Vettel being out of the race to bag a decent amount of points, but they tried switching to intermediates when the conditions just weren't right for them and threw away quite a few positions as a result. They should have been best of the rest, but absolutely gifted that prize to Hulkenberg and Renault instead, even if Grosjean did slightly compensate for that by scrambling back to 6th place at the end.

Meanwhile, Toro Rosso's gamble by putting full wets on was just bizarre - if it had started hammering it down in the way that it did just after the race finished, that strategy might have worked, but it just smacked of a desperate gamble that seemed like an extremely long shot (I think that some drivers had switched to inters and were already struggling, so it makes even less sense in that case). To be honest, they'd already been having a bit of a poor weekend - another power unit change for Gasly and Hartley before the race even began, and had the rain not shuffled the pack near the end, it looked like they probably would have both been stuck towards the tail end of the midfield (their race pace in the dry wasn't that great if we're honest).

There is perhaps a case of nominating Red Bull and Verstappen, but in a way they kind of got away with that one - they probably would have pitted anyway and ended up behind Hamilton, and with a large gap behind due to most of the midfield runners also making the mistake of pitting too, they didn't lose as much as they could have.

2. McLaren - Vandoorne had a disastrous weekend, whilst Alonso seemed unusually passive on track by his standards, not to mention having a few moments that were a little uncharacteristic of him. It does feel a lot like kicking somebody when they're already down, and down is the operative word to describe McLaren right now.

3. The Verstappen fans in the stand where Vettel crashed - I must admit that the way that they were whooping and cheering when Vettel crashed felt a bit distasteful.

4. Leclerc - this might ruffle a few feathers, and it is fair to point out that his team did make a disastrous mistake when their gamble on pitting for intermediates backfired. However, when they switched him back onto slicks, he did then compound that with at least two further mistakes - the spin at Turn 1 and another at Turn 3 both cost him quite a bit of time (whilst Ericsson crept in under the radar to pick up two points for 9th).
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by You-Gee-Eee-Day »

The Rain/Mother Nature - For not showing up soon enough to make a rather interesting race very interesting. Even a few minutes sooner and the rain would have made the last few laps incredible.
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by Meatwad »

My choice is easily Sebastian Vettel. Most of his weekend went perfectly – pole position, led most of the race... but to throw away the win with such a silly mistake deserves the ROTR. :facepalm: It reminds me of Singapore last year – a race that Vettel was supposed to win, with Hamilton struggling, only to end with Hamilton taking 25 points to Vettel's zero.
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by Alextrax52 »

HM's:
Wheel Guns: A few teams had problems with sticking wheel nuts and guns that were slow

Mclaren: I think even the Williams cars ran them close for pace this weekend and Stoffel had an abject disasterthon. Alonso looks disinterested and they don't look to be improving

3rd: Team orders: Just ban them already. They're clumsy at best and controversial at worst. Ok Ferrari had to do something which is why i'm nowhere near as angry with them as I am Mercedes but it was poorly executed. What was wrong with simply telling Kimi to move over for Seb instead of telling him the complexities of the situation? The Mercedes orders were just downright sobering, Sebastian was out and Kimi and Max were lurking right behind so why not let them race? Lewis would have probably won it anyway.

2nd: Sebastian Vettel: As gutwrenching a retirement it was for most who want Hamilton overthrown as champion you can't hide behind the fact that he threw the race away with a simple mistake on a slippy track. And yes it felt exactly like Singapore last year with the same open goal presented to him. Luckily for him there's still 10 races left.

1st: Toro Rosso strategists: Intermediates are one thing but FULL WETS? That was just sheer comedic value when I saw it
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by sswishbone »

Trophies - talk about a crap reward for all that effort
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by CarloSpace »

How has no one brought up Stoffel Vandoorne yet? Dead last in qualifying (Alonso 11th) and dead last in the race (even slower than the WIlliams!) before the end race madness. Okay, he didn't finish last and actually finished the race despite having problems at one point but at no point was he competitive, challenging for points or even close to Fernando's speed. Horrible weekend, very rejectful.
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by Aguvazk »

I nominate the strategists who puts the tires for wet (Gasly on full wets, WTF!!!) And the rain for avoiding the race. Come on! We need some madness!!
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by James1978 »

Yep - Toro Rosso (strategists) for sheer comedy value.
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by This Could Be You »

So many candidates...

  • Team Orders for ruining the Bottas/Hamilton battle
  • Midfielders not challenging the frontrunners for making it stupidly easy for Hamilton to progress up the order- I know it's pragmatic, but boy is it demoralising to watch (it feels like such a long time ago when Alonso was hassling Hamilton for 10th in a McHonda, or Magnussen in a Haas)
  • Vettel for binning it from the lead
  • Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Sauber and Haas strategists (especially Toro Rosso) A strategy gamble is one thing, but wet tyres on an almost entirely dry track is very much another, more stupid thing.
  • Ricciardo's luck with engines Every time he has an engine change, his new engine blows up immediately after
  • Stoffel Vandoorne's luck in general His car's become an ill-handling, unreliable dog, and his team has no clue why.
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

Mario nailed it. Vettel's the obvious candidate, but it was the product of a common theme up and down the pitwall.
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by UncreativeUsername37 »

In most races, Vettel's crash would be enough for RotR, but it made the race more "classic", and it was an athletic mistake and those happen. Put that next to Toro Rosso's wet tyre idea....
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by Rob Dylan »

When they do the replay of the season, where they go "what was the point at which Vettel lost his championships in 2017 and 2018?", they will show a quick shot of the Singapore start, followed by the side-view of him smashing the barriers and smashing his hands on the halo in anger.

So yeah, Reject of the Race for me.
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by Miguel98 »

1. Ferrari as a whole
2. Toro Rosso
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by Pacific Edge »

Torro Rosso: Teams can get it wrong in those kinds of situations, but full wets at the slightest hint of rain?

McLaren: although he clambered to a decent result, Vandoorne was just nowhere for much of the race, and clearly despite a good drive by Alonso, McLaren clearly can't keep him interested.

Ferrari: Tried hard to hash a 1-2 result. And they succeeded.
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by novitopoli »

Ferrari, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Sauber, Haas strategists - easy to understand why (Ferrari for a different reason, of course)
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by yannicksamlad »

I'm with 'its got to be Vettel' camp...Understandable, but essentially deficient.

And Toro Rosso tyre choice of full wets
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by Rob Dylan »

The poll is up! A lot to choose from so I have collated some of the answers like "poor strategies", etc. Stoffel Vandoorne, who obviously reads this forum, must be thanking his lucky stars that he avoided nomination, as there were just too many good options to fit him in.

You have 48 hours! :dance:
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Re: Your Reject of the Race - Germany

Post by Rob Dylan »

Well, the vote was close, and only decided by a single vote, but Sebastian Vettel takes the Reject of the Race award! Leading the race, and the championship, at his home race, and making an unforced error to take no points in a race where Hamilton came from 14th to a victory, is nothing short of rejectful.

There were a lot of rejectful moments at Hockenheim, such as the awkward and difficult team orders at Ferrari and Mercedes, the former of which might have led to Vettel's retirement. We had strategies that made it look like these teams had never driven in a wet race before. And we even had those trophies to boot. But Vettel wins it, and that's final :badoer:
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