Your Reject of the Race - Italy

[Londoner]

1. Max Verstappen - Driving like an utter imbecile once again. His expletive-ridden rant about the time penalty just reinforces the view that he is a spoilt little child. If he tried this on in IndyCar or NASCAR he wouldn't have lasted a single season. Just ask Sage Karam.

2. Sebastian Vettel - I hate to say it, but he threw this one away on lap one.

Honourable mention to luck, because we could have had a Raikkonen win and a double points finish for Williams, instead we get another spawny Hamilton win and Sirotkin ends up 11th.

[pasta_maldonado]

1) luck.
2) Valterri Shittas - couldn't pass a Red Bull. Twice.

[WaffleCat]

Oh, Max Verstappen for sure, how can I not.

But also a special shout out to customer Renaults. Got damn, it's not the complete mess that was Mexico last year, but still, it's not a good look when the only engines that give up during the race are yours.

[dinizintheoven]

I'm going to be rather more specific and say Max Verstappen's ego, and Red Bull's incessant need to massage it.

I don't remember Jack Nichols being particularly notable for having pointed opinions, whether in F1 or FE commentary, but he had something to say this time and it wasn't too far away from James Hunt's blunt comment about René Arnoux in 1989 (if a lot more broadcastable). What Red Bull really need to do is lay the smack down on Max right now and tell him exactly how unacceptable his attitude is, but given that they've nailed their colours so firmly to his mast that it's driven Daniel Ricciardo away to a less competitive team by choice, I doubt they will.

"But... but... but... what about Fernando Alonso!" I hear some of you scream. "Alonso makes comments like this all the time!" But he can. He's seen it, done it, and spilled oil down the overalls along with plenty of victory champagne, and come what may, he'll always have two World Championship trophies to polish until his dying day (plus le Mans and whatever else comes his way outside of F1). And it's somewhat understandable hearing his frustration at the situation he's in, even if it is somewhat of his own making, the way he burns his bridges with any team he leaves, to the point where Mercedes wouldn't take him on when Nico Rosberg retired, Ferrari wouldn't touch him with a barge pole after the way he left in 2014, and Red Bull deny he was ever offered the opportunity to be Max's obedient lackey (which we all knew he wouldn't be). Max has not yet earned his place in the pantheon of all-time greats. He might do, one day, and if Red Bull and Honda get their act together, he probably will at some stage. But, Red Bull could point at Alonso and say "look, Max, Fernando is an all-time great but because of the atmosphere he creates in every team he's driven for since Minardi, he hasn't won as many titles as his talent deserves. Will you go the same way?" The way I will see it, they won't do that - whether it's because they have no spine, or whether he'll throw the mother and father of all tantrums if they do. One thing's for sure, they will never, ever sack him. He is as deeply ingrained in the Red Bull family now as Michael Schumacher was at Ferrari for all those years, and he knows his place is safe.

Smiler's already had enough, as we've seen, and I wonder what will become of Red Bull next year if Pierre Gasly also gets too big for his boots - as I have a slight suspicion he might do, when he realises the role of the other Red Bull driver is specifically to be the one who sacrifices his chances of victory on the altar of Max. He will grow tired of that soon enough.

I sense a storm is coming.

[Nuppiz]

1. Vettel - nice job throwing away the title again. Yeah there's still one third of the season left, but Lewis is unlikely to suddenly start losing ground this much.

2. Verstappen - the spoiled brat was at it again. Disgusting.

[mario]

Oh, Max Verstappen for sure, how can I not.

But also a special shout out to customer Renaults. Got damn, it's not the complete mess that was Mexico last year, but still, it's not a good look when the only engines that give up during the race are yours.

There is the caveat that Red Bull themselves were not entirely sure just yet that it was an engine failure, so perhaps it is a touch premature to criticise them.

I do have to agree that Verstappen's move was pretty stupid - now, Bottas probably did just make sure to trail him home given he didn't need to take the risk, but it is possible that he could have held off Bottas if he hadn't got tangled up in that move.

Instead, he not only managed to throw away two places, his behaviour also seemed to show that he is still prone to the sort of rush of blood to the head that he had at the start of the season. The biggest thing that is holding back Verstappen right now is Verstappen and, with the team acting like an over-indulgent parent, he just isn't getting the message right now.

To some extent, I would have to say that Ferrari made an effort to take the title this weekend too. In retrospect, it looks like their decision to take so few soft tyres this weekend backfired badly given how they blistered those tyres so badly - they did so little running on them that they probably didn't realise they had an issue (I might be mistaken, but they seemed to be the only ones who had that many problems with the softs).

The other thing that didn't help is that Ferrari ordered Kimi to go out and immediately attack the track very hard, when we've seen in the past that it is a risky strategy that can cause the tyres to start blistering very quickly. With that in mind, I have to wonder whether, given the problems that both Kimi and Vettel had, if Ferrari went too aggressive with their tyre strategy for the weekend and ended up paying for it in the race.

Vettel's defence at the start of the race does seem to be drawing quite a bit of criticism, and I can see why. I wonder whether he was a little frustrated at what happened yesterday, and whether that was playing on his mind a little given Kimi stayed ahead off the line - it looked like he was focussing more on Kimi ahead when he approached the turn in point, and perhaps was a little wrongfooted to suddenly find Hamilton there.

Still, given how both cars chewed up their tyres later on, I wonder whether, even if Vettel had stayed ahead, he would have ended up losing out to Hamilton later on - they had a car that should have been quick enough to win, but managed to throw it away. I still think that Vettel should still win the title this season - Ferrari's car does look better overall - but he is making it ever harder for himself to win it with the number of errors he has made on track.

I'm also tempted to nominate Gasly - given that he was reasonably competitive in qualifying, he started out OK in the race but just dropped away to a pretty disappointing 15th place, and the only ones he managed to beat were Ericsson and Magnussen, and probably only because of the damage that was done to their cars earlier in the race. What happened to him - after that scrap with Ricciardo, he was completely anonymous after that.

[Edit] And, speaking of Renault, it sounds as if it was premature to blame them for Ricciardo's failure - both Red Bull and Renault have confirmed that it was actually Ricciardo's clutch that failed, not his engine. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ricc ... 35/?nrt=54

[Meatwad]

I nominate the Porsche Supercup flags on the podium!

[This Could Be You]

1. Vettel- Well there goes another championship.
2. Verstappen - A return to his petulant "best"
DHM:
Brendon Hartley's luck- Seriously? He didn't even made the first corner this time!
Sergey Sirotkin's luck - The one time (other than Baku) Williams is remotely competitive this year and where does he finish? 11th.

[Spectoremg]

Ferrari. Lock out the front row and can't get Vettel into the lead?
The Red Bull team principal: Max.

[WeirdKerr]

1. The stewards for not taking action on Hamilton as he was equally to blame for the first lap incident
2. Jontly to car 44 and car 5, both equally to blame for that first lap incident


HM to Verstappen 'nuff said

[Miguel98]

1. Max Verstappen
2. Sebastian Vettel

[Rob Dylan]

Can I say a few words in favour of Max? I do agree with dinizintheoven and lament that the future of Red Bull is tied behind a young angry kid who may be their downfall if he weren't so bloody fast. But in the incident at hand I didn't think Max deserved a penalty. Maybe I would need to rewatch it but he was well ahead of Bottas, and if it weren't for the DRS the Finn would have still been a mile behind. Bottas seemed to cram himself into a space that wasn't going to be there, and Max got the penalty. To me the penalty was worthy of a nomination, because for me that was 100% a racing incident. I'm not Max's biggest fan, but Christ that was basically the only piece of defending I saw all day. And he got penalised for it. Even if it's just me who thinks that, I'll still voice it.

My nomination is Kimi Bloody Räikkönen. Nobody was surprised that he didn't win. And the C4 commentators talk without irony that he deserves another season at Ferrari? Does everyone who leads one lap of a race deserve another season at their team? Is that how it works? Or is it just because his name is Kimi Räikkönen and he won that race at Suzuka in 2005?

Otherwise dishonourable mention to Brendon Hartley, not for doing anything particularly wrong, but for his characteristically Reject performance of not even making it to the first corner! My dad and I had a good chuckle at that.

[pasta_maldonado]

Williams is remotely competitive this year and where does he finish? 11th.

Thanks to Haas, Sirotkin is now 10th

[UncreativeUsername37]

I pick the direction for my personal ROTR; they went onboard for the third corner of the race and missed a crucial moment in the championship, then they went to a replay on the crucial lap of Hamilton closing in on Räikkönen, taking all the excitement out of the lead change.

[Pacific Edge]

With Ricciardo's clutch being at fault and not his engine, that leaves me with just one ROTR: VETTEL. Failed to pass Kimi at the start and tangled with Hamilton which may have ended his title hopes.

My nomination is Kimi Räikkönen. Nobody was surprised that he didn't win. And the C4 commentators talk without irony that he deserves another season at Ferrari? Does everyone who leads one lap of a race deserve another season at their team? Is that how it works? Or is it just because his name is Kimi Räikkönen and he won that race at Suzuka in 2005?

In fairness, what would Ferrari do? Leclerc hasn't covered himself in glory at Belgium or Italy, and with less than a season's experience behind him, could still be too early to jump him into Ferarri anyway.

[yannicksamlad]

1. Vettel...that was clumsy , and costly
2. Magnussen - at fault for the incident with Perez that ruined his own race, and apparently obstructive generally during the weekend

I'll excuse Gasly ( floor damage from the start, so I'm not sure he could do much ) , Hulkenberg ( tyres stopped his Renault from overcoming the Williams, but he was 14th(13th))) , and Max's wandering into the one-car-width space of the onrushing Bottas was careless but his pace was very impressive .

[Bleu]

1. Haas - getting DQ for irregularity deserves mention in this thread.

2. Vettel - Clumsy again. Looks like he has the speed for title but not the consistency.

[James1978]

I'll mention one that nobody has yet that really irked me - Alonso. His attitude stinks. Even if the Magnussen thing was 50:50 the arrogance of his radio messages are just awful. And he had a run-in with Gasly too.

[yannicksamlad]

1. Haas - getting DQ for irregularity deserves mention in this thread..

Good point- it seems they were all told their floors had to be altered in shape for Italy and Haas simply replied that they might not manage it in time , and was that OK? And then nothing happened, they turn up with no re-shaped floor, Renault look at it and say 'Hey!'...
There must be more to it than this, but if Haas simply failed to meet the rules because they couldnt get a new floor in time ( and wouldnt pay to get one in time ) , then that's pretty poor

[Rob Dylan]

The poll is up! You have 48 hours to get in your suggestions, people

[Rob Dylan]

The results are in, and the reject of the race at Monza is none other than Sebastian Vettel! In a crash reminiscent of Singapore last year (or Hockenheim this year), it seemed quite symbolic and prescient of Sebastian's lowering chances of winning this year's title. There's still time for him to win it, but he didn't need to be in that situation, and Hamilton rubbed salt in the wound by winning on Ferrari's home turf - again.

Sebastian also become the first candidate to win two Reject of the Race awards this year! Good job...I think

[Fetzie]

The results are in, and the reject of the race at Monza is none other than Sebastian Vettel! In a crash reminiscent of Singapore last year (or Hockenheim this year), it seemed quite symbolic and prescient of Sebastian's lowering chances of winning this year's title. There's still time for him to win it, but he didn't need to be in that situation, and Hamilton rubbed salt in the wound by winning on Ferrari's home turf - again.

Sebastian also become the first candidate to win two Reject of the Race awards this year! Good job...I think

Perhaps there should be an end-of-year award for the most rejectful front-runner of the season (I feel it would also be rather satisfying for the winner of the WDC to be named RotY - even if that won't be Vettel because he'll have thrown the WDC away by Austin like the last few years)?

[mario]

The results are in, and the reject of the race at Monza is none other than Sebastian Vettel! In a crash reminiscent of Singapore last year (or Hockenheim this year), it seemed quite symbolic and prescient of Sebastian's lowering chances of winning this year's title. There's still time for him to win it, but he didn't need to be in that situation, and Hamilton rubbed salt in the wound by winning on Ferrari's home turf - again.

Sebastian also become the first candidate to win two Reject of the Race awards this year! Good job...I think

I still expect it to be the case that Vettel will win the title at the end of the season, as on balance I think that Ferrari do still have the slightly better car overall, but Vettel is really making it far more difficult for himself than he needed to.

It's odd that, despite the fact that he has had a car that is probably the most competitive one Ferrari have produced for a decade, he seems to be more error prone than in 2017, even though you could argue that 2017 was a year where he was having to take more risks given he was at a slight disadvantage. That is not to say that he has not had some brilliant performances this year - the way that he judged his race in Bahrain was pretty much perfect - but that it's been counterbalanced by some equally low points this season.

I'm also surprised that, in retrospect, Haas didn't get a nomination - they are trying to contest their case, but I really can't see how they're going to wriggle their way out of it when the FIA had told them a long time before the race that they had to change the floor (it feels like they decided to just chance it, which was always going to be risky when the rest of the field knew they were in trouble).