2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

The place for speaking your mind on current goings-on in F1
Post Reply
User avatar
Rob Dylan
Posts: 3477
Joined: 18 May 2014, 15:34
Location: Andy Warhol's basement

2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by Rob Dylan »

Now I know what you are probably thinking.

This thread is so late it might as well be Reject of the Year itself for 2019. However, in spite of delays, let's get this bloody ball rolling, shall we?

In this thread we're going to nominate everyone and every thing we think deserves a nod as to the most rejectful thing that happened over the course of the 2019 Formula One Season. It doesn't necessarily have to be serious or concrete either, as we have a tendency to go regularly into the abstract.

So everyone rack your brains, and let's have a good old blue-sky suggestions thread here.

In a few weeks or so we will then have the official answers, after some kind of official process takes place. Totally legitimate.
Murray Walker at the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix wrote:The other [Stewart] driver, who nobody's been paying attention to, because he's disappointing, is Jan Magnussen.
Felipe Nasr - the least forgettable F1 driver!
User avatar
Rob Dylan
Posts: 3477
Joined: 18 May 2014, 15:34
Location: Andy Warhol's basement

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by Rob Dylan »

So Sebastian Vettel has to be up there. Maybe not the most rejectful, but out of the top drivers he underperformed the greatest in comparison to expectation. Although I think he was robbed in Canada, his time at the front all year was very limited, and he's been saying year after year that THIS would be the year he and Ferrari would jump into a title. But it didn't happen, and I honestly think he got beaten pretty significantly by his teammate Leclerc. He's had a steadily mediocre set of seasons since 2014, with 2015 being the obvious exception. 2019 might be his worst since having Ricciardo as a teammate, and its really done bad things for his overall standing in the community.

I'll have more suggestions later.
Murray Walker at the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix wrote:The other [Stewart] driver, who nobody's been paying attention to, because he's disappointing, is Jan Magnussen.
Felipe Nasr - the least forgettable F1 driver!
User avatar
Pinkd56
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 727
Joined: 06 Aug 2015, 14:38
Location: Bedfordshire

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by Pinkd56 »

Williams.

Missed testing and were just woeful despite having one of the best young drivers in their seat.
User avatar
dinizintheoven
Posts: 3982
Joined: 09 Dec 2010, 01:24

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by dinizintheoven »

Obvious though it is, the whole Rich Energy debacle, not just the bits involving Haas.
James Allen, on his favourite F1 engine of all time:
"...the Life W12, I can't describe the noise to you, but imagine filling your dustbin with nuts and bolts, and then throwing it down the stairs, it was something akin to that!"
User avatar
Miguel98
Posts: 2450
Joined: 30 Mar 2014, 09:18
Location: Somewhere in Portugal

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by Miguel98 »

I think there's only one true and valid answer to this: Haas Formula One.

It wasn't just the Rich Energy decable - though that is worthy of a full article on its own for one of the greatest sponsoring shenanigans since Andrea Moda or Moneytron in the circle. How was that to allowed to happen, I'm not sure, but it did.

It was that, despite all the promise, Haas had the worst year so far in their short F1 history, and it wasn't just bad by the fact they finished 9th in the WCC: they scored half the points of Sauber in 8th. To understand this, they scored less points than on their debut season.

And it was how it happened that makes it more funny. The team having a car that behaved like a diva, and that despite Romain Grosjean having told them as soon as before Melbourne about the car problems, the team conveniently chose to ignore them, and produced one of the worst performing cars that I've seen on a raceday. The way both Grosjean and Magnussen dropped position on race day was staggering: I swear if we count them it must be one of the worst ever recorded over a season period. And the fact that, around Germany, they finally decide that bringing the Australia spec was a good idea... and turns out, it was, since it was faster than whatever the spec they were running, and by the time the season ended, the team still HAD NO CLUE on how or why their tyre temperature problems ocurred.

Combined with poor driving on track, a bad car that behaved like a diva come sunday and one of the worst sponsor decables in F1's recent history, I don't think you can't get any worst than Haas in 2019 considering the expectations were high after they finished 5th las year in the WCC.

Honorable mentions for Williams, Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly.
Mario on Gutierrez after the Italian Grand Prix wrote:He's no longer just a bit of a tool, he's the entire tool set.


18-07-2015: Forever in our hearts Jules.
25-08-2015: Forever in our hearts Justin.
User avatar
Bobby Doorknobs
Posts: 4059
Joined: 30 Jul 2014, 17:52
Location: In a safe place.

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

1. Ferrari
2. Race control
3. TV direction

These aren't actual nominations, these are my predictions based on what ROTR threads for much of last year turned into. A bit more variety would have been nice.
#FreeGonzo
User avatar
pi314159
Posts: 3660
Joined: 11 Aug 2012, 12:12

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by pi314159 »

2019 Reject of the Year

In the absence of truly rejectful drivers on maybe the best grid ever, all three places on my personal ROTY podium are occupied by teams this year. But first, let us start with some dishonorable mentions for those who only barely missed on featuring in my suggestions for the winner of this prestigious award.

Dishonorable mentions
My first dishonorable mention goes to F1's two-class system. For the third year in a row, the top three teams (minus an underperforming Pierre Gasly) were in a league of their own. While the midfield was able to close the gap a little, competing for podium places on pure pace was out of reach for the likes of McLaren, Renault and Racing Point. Only two chaotic races at Hockenheim and Interlagos mixed the colours on the podium up a little, earning Daniil Kvyat, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz three very much celebrated surprise results. Sadly, it seems like we are in for this for another year in 2020. Let us hope that the 2021 regulations and the cost cap will shake up the order a little. Until then, I will pay close attention to Carlos Sainz' defense of his Formula 1.5 title.

Another one has to go to Sebastian Vettel. He was closer to Leclerc than he is given credit for, but he is a four-time champion, Leclerc is almost a rookie. Seb surely still has the pace, but if he wants a fifth title, he has to regain the consistency he showed in the middle of the decade. Hopefully he can build on a solid end of the season and bounce back in 2020.

Finally, Pierre Gasly can't escape a mention either. Having Max Verstappen as a teammate was always going to be brutal. Nobody expected Pierre to beat him, but he was too far away. A Red Bull driver shouldn't fight McLarens and Renaults. A strong end of the season at Toro Rosso saves him from featuring on the ROTY podium after standing on an actual podium in Brazil. His drag race against Hamilton is one of the most iconic moments F1 has produced in recent years. He may have wasted his shot at a top team, but he has proven that he belongs on the Formula 1 grid.

3rd: Ferrari
Next year is Ferrari's year - since 2008 the Tifosi have been repeating this mantra, and as always it seems like success is just another twelve months away for the team from Maranello. After a seemingly dominant performance in testing, Melbourne was a harsh awakening for Ferrari and their fans. They were never able to challenge Mercedes for the championship, but it could have been closer if it weren't for numerous errors. Among questionable strategy calls, frequent mechanical issues, an increasingly erratic Vettel and poor management of the ever escalating intra-team battle culminating in a costly collision between them in Brazil, Ferrari have wasted lots of points last year and handed third place in the championship to Verstappen. If they get their hands on a championship contender in 2020, they cannot afford a repeat of the comedy of errors that was 2019.

2nd: Williams
Williams would definitely be a shoe in for ROTY if not for my number one. 2018 was a disaster, they produced an utter dog of a car and fell from upper midfield to dead last. But compared to their 2019 contender, that one was still a rocketship. The FW42 was an unmitigated disaster. With the budget of a midfield team, Williams created a contender comparable to the HRTs, Caterhams and Marussias of the first half of the decade. Never able to compete for anything but the back row of the grid, it took a chaotic race at Hockenheim and a penalty for the Alfas to prevent Williams from ending up pointless for the first time since their debut season in 1977. Williams have now hit rock bottom. The only bright spot in a bleak year was George Russell, who outperformed his subpar machinery and beat Kubica (except the one time it counted). He deserves better than driving a lonely race at the back of the field and I hope to see him fight with the lower midfield this year.

1st: Haas
Williams' season was a tragedy. Haas' one was a comedy. The Rich Energy saga was downright hilarious with its logo lawsuit and twitter tirades, culminating in Richard Storey's mid-season meltdown. Then we have two teammates who kept running into each other. The team was moving backwards all season long after an initially strong start. No race pace at all meant that no one was getting passed as much as the two black-and-gold cars. Even late into the season they were at a complete loss for solutions, and side-by-side comparisons with the Melbourne specification showed that they had made exactly zero progress throughout the year. At least Williams, dismal as their situation may be, know where their problems lie. Haas on the other hand appeared helpless all season long, whether in the commercial, technical or driver department. That's why I suggest them to be our Reject of the Year.
pasta_maldonado wrote:The stewards have recommended that Alan Jones learns to drive.
Fetzie
Posts: 548
Joined: 03 Nov 2012, 18:01

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by Fetzie »

Sebastian Vettel.
He went from the undisputed team leader and contender for the WDC winner to possibly playing wingman to Leclerc for what is probably his last year in F1 over the space of 3 months and finishing fourth in the championship. He sees the "red mist" and forgets he is not the only driver on the track, and for a 4-time World Champion makes so many unforced errors which cost him the race win or a podium finish.

Scuderia Ferrari
Where Vettel wasn't at fault for failing to secure a race win, it was Ferrari's race management. If they want to win either championship they need to stop losing races because of bad strategy and operations.

FIA Race Management and TV Director
Inconsistent rulings from the stewards, races being flagged a lap or two before the actual end of the race, the TV director missing key moments. The FIA won a few RotR awards this season and not without reason.
User avatar
rachel1990
Posts: 948
Joined: 29 Oct 2012, 20:21

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by rachel1990 »

My Top 3 and Dishonourable mentions

Dishournrable mentions-

Sebastian Vettel- His worst season points-wise since 2014 and quite frankly his worst season ever. He was rattled by his new teammate coming in and shaking the apple cart and mistakes just kept coming in. While he should have won in Canada, the fact remains that he put himself in the position to get a penalty anyway by going off the track at the worst moment. He did win in Singapore but that was only after the team messed up the undercut. Terrible mistakes in Bahrain, Great Britain, the Total humiliation of Italy (when his teammate won and he spun, went off then came back on without looking and hit Stroll) and the inevitable collision in Brazil with his teammate (who also beat him in the standing too). Multi 21 seems a long time ago now for Seb...

Pierre Gasly- If he wasn't dropped by Red Bull and had the whole season in the car and performed the way he did in the red bull all year then he would have won this award hands down. Put into the seat too quickly by Red Bull after Riccardo left for Renault (more on them in a moment) Pierre's confidence was destroyed in pre-season by crashing and never recovered. He never looked right in the car and was fighting with the Mclarens for 6th place (and Losing) in the race when Verstappen was fighting for the wins. Now I still think Verstappen was better than the car but still being lapped by your teammate on MERIT was totally humiliating. Then going off track in Germany throwing away a probable podium and Hitting a Toro Rosso on the way was probably the final straw. However, his demotion to Toro Rosso did see a marked improvement in his season and he did end it with a podium in brazil so he escapes the ROTY podium this time.

Renault- What could have been. They were supposed to break into the top 3 and become the top 4. They never looked anywhere near it and lost out to Mclaren. 0 podiums when both Mclaren and Toro Rosso managed it. Nearly lost out to Toro Rosso for 6th place in the championship. That would have been the cherry on the cake.

ROTY Podium-

BRONZE- Haas- Oh and Dear. It started so well- with a title sponsor that promised so much and a good result in Australia for the team, 2019 looked so Rosy for Haas. Until everything fell off a cliff- Rich energy proved to be as trustworthy as emails from Nigeria promising 10 million dollars, and then had the gumption to DUMP the team for being too slow (leading to some amusing twitter photos that included milk floats), the team qualifying well then sinking quicker than that necklace in titanic during the race and to top it all off the drivers became magnets towards each other and would hit each other. Grosjean was nowhere all year and the biggest surprise of this season was the fact that he kept his seat (harsh but tough). On the plus side drive to Survive should be good come march...

SILVER- F1 Stewarding/TV Coverage. Do not get me started on what has happened this year. If the stewards were consistent then at least we would know where we stood. Oh No. Suddenly what would be a drive-through penalty in one race turned into a 5-second penalty in another race. Drivers and Fans were deeply confused all year and the death of Charlie Whiting at the start of the year may have left a major leadership void in the stewarding department. As for the Official tv coverage, it was a joke. Major moments in a race were missed by the fans because they would cut to shots that weren't necessary or even show us half the footage then cut out the other half (Verstappen's incident in Italy for example) I know its not all Liberty media's fault that F1 has gone behind a paywall in most countries but the fact remains that fans are paying for a live service now and should and deserve better.

GOLD- Williams- Well what can you say. Late to Pre-season testing, Constitaly off the pace all year, 1 point (and that was after Alfa Romeo was thrown out of Germany), having to retire cars to save parts and I didn't see any real progress throughout the season from the team. God I thought 2018 was bad for them. 2020 could hardly be worse (All they have to do is not score any points and they have reached the lowest of the lows)
Benetton of 1992. Never a reject
User avatar
Bobby Doorknobs
Posts: 4059
Joined: 30 Jul 2014, 17:52
Location: In a safe place.

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

I nominate Toto Wolff's feeble attempt at mind games. Lad's over here trying to convince us his team's pulled off the biggest upset of all time. :deletraz:

Oh, and Haas for the overall award. Delicious drama there.
#FreeGonzo
User avatar
RealRacingRoots
Posts: 1941
Joined: 21 Oct 2011, 06:25
Location: Green Hill, Montana
Contact:

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by RealRacingRoots »

So only one nomination from me. Probably due to the fact that most everybody hit their expectations this year. With expectations being the biggest credence taken into account for Reject of The Year. Always has been, always will be. Ergo, Williams don't belong here. Yes they were bad, but we knew the pain was coming with the trajectory the team had since over-performing in 2014 and 2015.

But you know who does belong here? The Haas F1 Team. While full marks must be given to Kevin Magnussen (who is exempt from this nomination) for raging against the dying of the light, the same can't be said about his teammate who you can feel his expiration date in the sport passed a while ago and is now dragging the operation down. A teammate that showed regression when the second driver at their main rivals for the year Alfa Romeo started to show real improvement in the second half.

But enough about them, this isn't about them. This is about a team that somehow made a car more Jekyll and Hyde then the asymmetrical 2014 Lotus-Renault. A team that was expected to be firmly in the midfield wars, with a car that was fundamentally a Ferrari F1 kit car. But instead what we have a car that could somehow would lose a second and a half per lap of relative pace from Qualifying, to the Race at it's worst. That worst, being at the last race of the season where they were near equal with Williams on relative race pace, and in Austin and Mexico City they were seen as being equal with Williams.

Yes, the 2019 formula did make it harder to find that sweet spot in performance relative to what was possible in previous years. But most everybody else found a way to dig out of that hole one way or another, even as soon as the second Barcelona pre-season test if you are Mercedes. Williams get a mulligan because there was a fundamental flaw in their car created from a lack of correlation between the Wind Tunnel/CFD and the real world, and even they were able to make lemonade out of lemons and have some redeeming qualities to the season. (Read: George Russell being one of the best drivers of 2019)

Unless your name is Kevin Magnussen, the redeeming qualities of the Haas 2019 are fleeting. And they get my ROTY nomination as a result.
The Truth Shall set you free. (no theme music plays)
Tomáš.......Ttaaaaaaaattaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
.
Watch this if you want to learn about what Canada is really like.
.
GT Super Series
User avatar
UncreativeUsername37
Posts: 3420
Joined: 25 May 2012, 14:36
Location: Earth

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by UncreativeUsername37 »

Williams had the same budget as the rest of the bottom five, but no one has looked so hopeless since the days of the new-for-2010 teams. You can say so what, they went from last to last, but it's kind of like they went from last to nonexistence....
Rob Dylan wrote:Mercedes paying homage to the other W12 chassis by breaking down 30 minutes in
User avatar
Pacific Edge
Posts: 243
Joined: 20 Jul 2018, 12:33

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by Pacific Edge »

My nominations,

3rd place: Ferrari All thunder, no rain. Ferrari were the talk of the town during pre season practice, yet (through much fault of their own) didn't even take EITHER championship to the wire. In fact they didn't even grasp SECOND or even THIRD in the drivers. They were quick in patches, and a lot of free practices, but a lot of the time when it came down to (as Christian Horner put it) "Everyone pulling down their pants" Ferrari soiled theirs. 2019 was almost a whole year of nope for the Maranello squad.

2nd: Haas Looked good when they launched their car, but went all downhill from there. Their sponsor turned out to be a major embarrassment off track, and on track things were not any (if at all) better, the car was lacking consistent race pace, chewing tires, and when it did work, the drivers felt compelled to hit SOMETHING, if nothing else was available, they hit each other. And of course, who can forget Gunther Steiner's public shellacking of Magnussen.

1st: Williams No pre testing launch, and when testing did start, they were nowhere to be found. When Williams did EVENTUALLY get out there, it was with a title sponsor that had some people asking "Who?" and a livery that was hard to believe they actually paid someone to make. Their driver lineup sounded quick, but was bit of a gamble in having a rookie on one side, and a driver who was well known to not be 100% physically capable, on the other. And from the time the lights went out, Williams hit the track, the track(s) hit Williams... HARD... It got to the point where they weren't even getting ROTR nominations simply because their lack of performance was becoming a foregone conclusion, and their IIDOTR nominations were for things like Russell getting 16th, Kubica being gifted a point.
User avatar
Salamander
Posts: 9570
Joined: 29 Mar 2009, 20:59
Location: trapped on some prison island

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by Salamander »

Who expected Williams to be last? Pretty much everyone, right?

Who expected Haas to be an utter shitshow the likes of which we haven't seen since Collin Kolles was around? Probably less than everyone, right?

Besides, what's more in the reject spirit? A legendary team just being consistently dreadful, or a no-name team lurching from disaster to disaster?

It's gotta be Haas.
Sebastian Vettel wrote:If I was good at losing I wouldn't be in Formula 1.
Everything's great.
I'm not surprised about anything.
Alextrax52
Posts: 2943
Joined: 17 Apr 2013, 20:06
Location: Bromborough near Liverpool

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by Alextrax52 »

Sebastian Vettel/Ferrari: Both were equally rejectful as each other: Ferrari were tipped as the team to beat after testing but their Australia performance set the tone for a season which lurched from frustration to incompetence. You can count on one hand how many trouble free races the Scuderia had all year. As for Seb5 he was once again expected to be the main challenger to Hamilton's crown and yet the only time he looked like winning on merit was Canada where he was robbed. His Singapore win came about due to smart strategy and Ferrari trying to boost his morale after his performance in Italy which smacked of a man who looks like he's fed up with the sport. 2020 is an absolutely massive year for his F1 career and if it goes badly then I won't be surprised if he calls it a day

Pierre Gasly: It was never going to be easy against Max Verstappen but that shouldn't have been an excuse for finishing behind McLaren's, Renault's and Racing Point's on merit in the Red Bull. Not one of his 12 races in the senior team were impressive and he only picked up one top 4 finish which came about due to Vettel harpooning his team-mate at Silverstone. His Renaissance back in the Toro Rosso culminating in those joyous scenes in Brazil should be enough to keep him off the top spot here but I fear that's his big team shot gone

Haas: Oh god where do we start here? I don't know which part of this comedy was the funniest. Was it their sham of a title sponsor who probably weren't paying anything yet still found it acceptable to drop Haas? Was it the development (or lack of) of their car which started Australia mixing it with the McLaren's and ended Abu Dhabi barely able to stay ahead of the Williams. It says a lot that by Germany and Hungary time the best specification of Haas was still the one used in Australia and the cars had a hideous level of race pace after qualifying well. Or was it the two clowns behind the wheel who when the car was running ok decided to use it as a battering ram? I don't know but it all added up to one big barrel of laughs which leaves Haas with a major job to do in 2020
User avatar
girry
Posts: 835
Joined: 31 May 2012, 19:43

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by girry »

Initially I had Williams as my ROTY, but now you guys have helped made me realise it was just my brain that was wired too casually and not to the true Reject tradition of geekdom where expectation plays a large part. At least they have it going for them that they kinda survived without embarrassing themselves too much, even if that was largely thanks to George Russell - and even made some progress throughout the year.

So I've changed my mind and my nomination, too, will go to the baffling shitshow that was Haas F1 Team in 2019. *Rich Energy*. Is all.

With a HM to Robert Kubica - and not really for his lacklustre performances, but his refusal to admit it was him after all and the consequent insistence to throw his team even more under the bus by spreading all those dumb conspiracy theories. And this is coming from a fan.
when you're dead people start listening
User avatar
Rob Dylan
Posts: 3477
Joined: 18 May 2014, 15:34
Location: Andy Warhol's basement

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by Rob Dylan »

I would also like to throw in Q3 in Italy as a nomination. I understand it was only one thing, but of all the ROTR awards this year, that has to be the most humiliating and embarrassing one, and it affected so many people.
Murray Walker at the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix wrote:The other [Stewart] driver, who nobody's been paying attention to, because he's disappointing, is Jan Magnussen.
Felipe Nasr - the least forgettable F1 driver!
User avatar
Klon
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 7184
Joined: 28 Mar 2009, 17:07
Location: Schleswig-Holstein, FRG
Contact:

Re: 2019 Reject of the Year Nominations and Awards

Post by Klon »

Rob Dylan wrote:I would also like to throw in Q3 in Italy as a nomination. I understand it was only one thing, but of all the ROTR awards this year, that has to be the most humiliating and embarrassing one, and it affected so many people.


I second that notion. You could argue that that moment reflected everything wrong with modern F1. It may be no Haas, but I can certainly spare a spot on my personal ROTY podium.
Post Reply