Reject of the Race - Australia

[Psyclepath]

I give second place to the obstacle (a bollard?) Daniel Ricciardo hit. He was not at all far off the track when he clipped the bollard. It's not quite on the level of a loose drain cover, but it's still an inexcusable happening.

Reject of the Race goes to Ferrari. Mercedes and Verstappen annihilated them. What happened to all that testing pace?

DHM: Gasly - ruined his chances with a qualifying error.

DHM: Williams - let's face it though, we knew this from the start.

[good_Ralf]

I know someone suggested this for the Aussie GP in 2017, and I'm going with it as well - The people suggesting we might as well hand Lewis the title after FP2 and qualifying. I feel some are just being too impatient and are attempting to gauge the entire season's outcome on one weekend, it doesn't work like that. By that logic, Bottas is dead set on that title If Hamilton wins by 30s+ in Bahrain, then it becomes a little more plausible that he'll take a 6th this year, but there's still a long way to go, and Ferrari and Red Bull could yet improve.

[Meatwad]

My nomination goes to Williams whose performance was just sad. Finishing, even two and three laps down, was actually more than I expected after how the rest of the weekend went for them... and that tells how bad they were.

[dr-baker]

Autosport deserve a passing mention here.

Bottas also claimed the first bonus point of the season by setting the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate tour.

It gives him 26 points, the biggest single-race haul from a driver in F1 history,

What about the double points round in Abu Dhabi a few years ago? Obviously very forgettable!

[FortiWinks]

My nomination goes to the Ricciardo needs no wings banner that was shown before the race, that aged well...

[IceG]

(1) Ferrari - really?

(2) The amazingly effective changes to aerodynamics rules to promote close racing and overtaking - apart from the start, I did not see one televised overtake. Yes the midfield were running close together but we've had trains before. Let's see what a wide track delivers.

[Miguel98]

There are several potential candidates for this award:

Ferrari - I think the rumours that Ferrari had cooling issues are more closer than being true than an actual excuse. Ferrari had loads of pace in testing, and today finished a whole minute behind Bottas. Terrible performance overall today tho. Vettel had issues towards the end of the race and Leclerc wasn't even allowed to overtake. They better bounce back in Bahrain.

Haas - This team has learned nothing, as Grosjean retired with the same exact problem as last year.

Daniel Ricciardo - Bad luck or not, that was a dumb mistake Ricky.

Cameron Waters - Taking out yourself and Scotty McLaughlin even before the actual formation lap has begun...... I can't get quite understand this. Terrible.

Honorable mention to Williams for their form - even though we already knew it would be this bad, and to Robert Kubica. We love you Robert, but... No. Please, for the love of god, no.

[novitopoli]

ROTR should be a no-brainer for tre Haas pit crew. Screw up once, mistakes happen. Screw up twice, it’s an unfortunate coincidence. Screw up three times in a row on the same track, on the other hand...

[Pacific Edge]

Pit errors: Not all smooth sailing today.

Sainz' MGU-K: never mind lasting a few races, his unit couldn't even do ONE!

Ferrari Forgot to pack their speed for Australia

[You-Gee-Eee-Day]

Haas. At this point its just sad. There is a recurring problem in your pit, figure out what it is.

I also want to give props to Williams for crushing my dreams.

[dinizintheoven]

Despite all the obvious fingers pointing at Williams, they're too obvious, and Haas... at least they only dropped the ball with one car this year.

My nomination instead goes to Pierre Gasly, who found the much-derided man he replaced at the B-team to be too much of an obstacle, while Max zoomed off ahead to get a first Honda-powered podium in the hybrid era.

[Nessafox]

No matter how much ferrari and renault underperformed, nothing can exuse Williams being this poor. Nothing.

[Henrique]

No matter how much ferrari and renault underperformed, nothing can exuse Williams being this poor. Nothing.

I think we all need to accept that Williams is the new Minardi.

[Fetzie]

No matter how much ferrari and renault underperformed, nothing can exuse Williams being this poor. Nothing.

I think we all need to accept that Williams is the new Minardi.

When even getting into the top 15 is likely to get you a IDotR nomination due to how improbable that would be, I find it hard to nominate Williams for RotR for just being slow.

So my nomination is Haas, because they literally have wheels falling off their wagon. Again.

DHM to Williams, because even after that first sentence I just can't let it slide how terribly bad they are.

[Samster]

Yeah can't look past Williams, that performance was just sad. Nearly four seconds off the pace and almost two off the next slowest cars. Russell finished over a minute behind the next car in front. That is latter year Minardi level of being cast adrift from the rest of the field. Mention to Robert Kubica whose first race back was every bit as poor as I expected even considering how bad the Williams was. If he can't improve I doubt he lasts the season.

[Pilot]

Williams.

[rachel1990]

This is tough because there wasn't really any Driver errors in this race (Even Riccardo who was very unlucky) but just team Performances which let at least Five drivers down.

HM- Haas. Grosjean's wheel should not just come off like that. Not a great start to the season for him.

HM- Williams. Shockingly off the pace all weekend but at least they finished and got some Valuable time on the track.

But My ROTR goes to

Ferrari :badoer:

All the promise of testing and were nowhere near Mercedes all weekend. It is Usually a happy hunting ground for them but this time 4th and 5th was poor for them. If we don't see an improvement in Bahrain for them then the first few races may be a killer blow for the championship

[sswishbone]

Channel 4 Highlights - Where to start? How about NO 'THE CHAIN'!! Then there's the pundits who had zero chemistry, the horrific 'I am' vignettes and then - worst of all - spoiler commentary samples from later in the race.

Balls to Sky and nuts to Channel 4.

[madmark1974]

Channel 4 Highlights - Where to start? How about NO 'THE CHAIN'!! Then there's the pundits who had zero chemistry, the horrific 'I am' vignettes and then - worst of all - spoiler commentary samples from later in the race.

Balls to Sky and nuts to Channel 4.

I agree with you on the C4 spoilers. Although I watched a recording so fast-forwarded the ad breaks, I still got caught out by the spoilers. Hopefully they will see sense and get rid of them ASAP. A terrible decision and I can't see how anyone would have thought it was anything but?

[golic_2004]

Williams for perhaps having an even worse car than they did last year. I pray their fortunes return and at least be somewhat on pace with their nearest rivals.

[dinizintheoven]

Channel 4 Highlights - Where to start? How about NO 'THE CHAIN'!! Then there's the pundits who had zero chemistry, the horrific 'I am' vignettes and then - worst of all - spoiler commentary samples from later in the race.

I've had to watch the highlights to see what you mean, and... while it doesn't give away what actually happened (i.e. it was "...and that's a repeat of last year!" rather than "...and Romain Grosjean retires with a loose wheel!"), it's still not right. If I was a proper cynic, which I am, I'd suggest Sky have ordered Channel 4 to put something like that in the breaks so that they can one day advertise themselves as "the only spoiler-free way to watch F1!"

[Tank]

That actually may not be so far from the truth.

Apparently, as part of Channel 4’s contract, Sky has put in the provisos that they are not allowed to do interviews in the interview area, they aren’t allowed to do grid walks and the race is only supposed to be 50-60% of the broadcast show.

Shockingly underhand stuff - no wonder viewer numbers are in free fall!

[Alextrax52]

HM: Sergio Perez: you’d have thought any top 10 for Racing Point after qualifying would have come from him not Stroll.

HM: Red Bull strategists: it may have been qualifying but that decision was very reminiscent of Ferrari in Malaysia/Spain 2009. On a track as difficult to overtake as Melbourne no wonder Gasly got nowhere

3rd: Haas pit crew: Talk about Deja vu. Grosjean didn’t deserve that. Only reason I put them 3rd is because at least one car got the points they should have got last year

2nd: Williams: I expected Williams to be at the back again to the tune of 3 seconds max given the shambolic start to testing. What I didn’t expect was them being 2 seconds slower THAN THE NEXT SLOWEST TEAM!!!. Rumour has It Kubica is still finishing the race as we speak. This is going to be so painful to watch

1st: Ferrari: Just as much as expectation partly decides ROTY on here I think it should also be true for the opening ROTR of the season. Everyone was expecting Ferrari to roar out of the blocks and lay down the gauntlet yet they couldn’t hold a candle to the top 3 and finished a minute adrift. We better hope that this won’t set the tone for 2019 or both championships could be decided very quickly

[Faustus]

No matter how much ferrari and renault underperformed, nothing can exuse Williams being this poor. Nothing.

I think we all need to accept that Williams is the new Minardi.

Williams doesn't have the charisma and appeal of Minardi.

Put me down for Williams as well, please. Appalling performance.

[WeirdKerr]

Williams for me too... wasting the Mercedes engine if they go on like this....

[Spectoremg]

Robert Kubica - what were you thinking?
Williams - tons of affection for Frank but it just doesn't wash any more - you've got to try to be THAT bad!

[Wallio]

Honorable mention to both Williams Grand Prix Engineering for being THAT bad that there was legitimate fear of them missing out on the 107% rule throughout Friday. And to Daniel Riccardo for attempting that move. Grass + new 2m wide wings = exactly that, a DNF.

But my ROTR bar none was Brundle and Crofty for refusing to stop talking over team radio broadcasts and refusing to even consider that Mercedes had sandbagged all through testing. Nope, clearly Ferrari was going to come good any second, because its more "planted" as Brundle told us ever 8 seconds. This is my first weekend with F1TV so I have to ask, Good lord above, are they always this bad? I'll be turning commentary off in the future if that's the case.

[mario]

No matter how much ferrari and renault underperformed, nothing can exuse Williams being this poor. Nothing.

I think we all need to accept that Williams is the new Minardi.

Williams doesn't have the charisma and appeal of Minardi.

Put me down for Williams as well, please. Appalling performance.

Unless we start seeing some major surprises, I think we know now who is likely to be ROTY already - and we thought that last year was already a low point for the team...

Mind you, even in those circumstances, Kubica didn't exactly have a great weekend - clipping the wall multiple times during the practise sessions and in qualifying kind of set the tone for what was a difficult weekend.

To be fair, he was at least a bit closer to Russell's pace in the race, and there are some mitigating circumstances too - I believe that Williams had to fit him with a pre-season testing spec wing, rather than their latest wing, after it was damaged by Gasly. However, when you look at his lap times, his times were a bit erratic - so, even if his outright pace might improve, it looks like his consistency is the bigger issue.

[Ataxia]

Distressingly, Williams won't improve any time soon. Lowe's been a disastrous hire, everything's a mess in Grove and they desperately need someone to pull everything together.

It's definitely a bit of a Lowe point for them.

[Rob Dylan]

Caught the race very late. My three candidates would be

- Pierre Gasly: Finishing outside the top ten in a Red Bull...I can't think of the last time that ever happened. Unacceptable in that kind of chassis.
- Williams: though I do feel very sorry for them.
- Daniel Ricciardo's luck: Poor guy. Was really hoping that Renault would be the new third-best team, or even a fourth team that was on regular podiums. They're not showing the pace, and his home-race bad luck was at its worst here.


I just looked it up. The 2016 Russian Grand Prix was the last time Red Bull drivers finished outside the top 10 on merit.

[Gertrand Bachot]

Caught the race very late. My three candidates would be

- Pierre Gasly: Finishing outside the top ten in a Red Bull...I can't think of the last time that ever happened. Unacceptable in that kind of chassis.
- Williams: though I do feel very sorry for them.
- Daniel Ricciardo's luck: Poor guy. Was really hoping that Renault would be the new third-best team, or even a fourth team that was on regular podiums. They're not showing the pace, and his home-race bad luck was at its worst here.


I just looked it up. The 2016 Russian Grand Prix was the last time Red Bull drivers finished outside the top 10 on merit.

It's worth saying that Gasly got beaten by the same driver who last achieved the accolade of finishing outside the Top 10 in a Red Bull.

[Rob Dylan]

A lot of strong contenders for the award in our first race. Some candidates got a huge number of votes, so they've all been put onto the poll above. Very constructor-based, this race, but that's the way it is sometimes. You have 48 hours from now to get your votes in to decide Reject of the Race in Australia

[Rob Dylan]

So after their disastrous showing in the opening rounds, plus testing as well, Williams win hands-down our Reject of the Race award in Australia. They seem well on their way to getting Reject of the Year already, so let's just hope that they improve beyond their initial stumble - well off the pace, and without much immediate hope for the future. Ouch.