Your Reject of the Year 2013

[Alextrax52]

Now before we start I just want to reveal something that i have hidden deep down: Like East Londoner I have lost enthusiasm for the sport this season. The constant moaning about the Pirelli tires, The severe levels of the Vettel debate which i never intended to get involved in, The overhyping of certain drivers and corporate measures making drivers even more uninteresting than ever before. As you no doubt have noticed I've been talking about Wintersports recently but that's well documented. I still like F1 and couldn't live without it but the mad mad levels aren't on the levels that they once were for me.

So to get some enthusiasm back I wanted to set up the ROTY topic slightly earlier than when I wanted to do and just have a good discussion about it.

Currently these are my picks

Bronze at the moment is Max Chilton: Yes he's a rookie and has managed to finish every race but I can't think of one bright moment he's had in the races this season heck even Giedo van Der Garde has made him look ordinary at times as well but he deserves one more chance as he hasn't been awful just not sparkling

Silver is currently Pastor Maldonado: Why you ask? He has overdriven horribly at times this season such as Australia and Malaysia and got caught up in silly incidents in Belgium for example. Spain 2012 seems a long time ago and Bottas outperforming him at times has hurt him too.

Gold for me is a lock whatever happens Mclaren: They are staring at a mere 5th overall with no wins since 2006 no podiums since 1980 no poles since 2002 and no top 4 finish for the first time EVER when Sauber and Force India have achieved this feat so far. Their qualifying has been awful their race pace has been shambolic and whatever happened to the Mclaren image "We always race to win"?

Mentions to
Williams: 2006 was bad 2011 was very bad but 2013 has been worse than those 2 seasons combined. 1 point scored all season and their pace suggests they aren't likely to get another this year. Just heartbreaking.
Pirelli Tires: Spain and Monaco were dull tire management races and the less said about Silverstone the better.
Esteban Gutierrez: While his recent upsurge might save him his shocking form early on deserves a mention
Force India: Didn't take chances when they were competitive and have slipped back horribly since the the Tire Revisions. Deserve to come 7th in all honesty
Sergio Perez: Has driven like Andy Neate at times this season notably in China and Monaco and is showing the Sauber's tire management in 2012 was why he got the Mclaren Drive
Lewis Hamilton: For having only 1 Top 2 finish all season heck even Team-Mate Rosberg and an apparently sabotaged Webber have more than that
Ferrari: Once again Alonso has almost single-handedly made this team look better than what they really are

[good_Ralf]

Charles Pic: Hasn't made any notable mistakes this year but has been so anonymous compared to van der Garde that the only times I've seen him this year was when the Caterham barbecued itself in Monaco and in one of the umpteen Renault Clio commercials on YouTube. He deserves to be on the podium at least.

[UncreativeUsername37]

With 21% of the championship still to go, no one's clinched it yet....

[takagi_for_the_win]

I'm not nominating anyone for Reject of the Year yet, for the simple reason that the year hasn't ended.

When the season ends, I'll make my nominations then.

[Nessafox]

Over the whole season, it looks like teams (Williams and McLaren) are going to win over drivers.

[rachel1990]

Over the whole season, it looks like teams (Williams and McLaren) are going to win over drivers.

I have to agree. Picking drivers will be tougher than teams. I have a top two implemented in my mind but I need the final few races to confirm my bronze medal.

For the drivers I have only 1 driver at the moment but lets see what happens

[go_Rubens]

Well, the end of the season isn't here yet, but I'll make my preliminary choices:

The bronze medal right now goes to the New Teams (Caterham and Marussia). Why? Well, the two teams hired rejectful drivers on terms of the driven front (I'll get to one of them next) and people expected them to improve. I was one of those people (I bloody hate to admit it) and they failed to deliver. Maybe people overhyped these teams, but after Bianchi's 13th at Sepang, and none of the bottom two teams matching that since, it makes sense to give the backmarkers a shot at a ROTY podium.

The silver medal of this year's Reject of the Year goes to Max Chilton as a seperate object to "New Teams." He has improved over the season, but only while he was last. He has started to latch onto Bianchi in recent races, but he has not done enough when it counted. So overall, he shouldn't be staying at Marussia, but who knows. Talent may have talent, but it hasn't shown through yet. I see one more year maximum before he gets the sack.

The gold medal goes to The Apathetic Current State of F1. This may be a controversial decision, but I don't care, this is my humble unpopular opinion I knew F1 was one of the top motorsports levels in the world, maybe the best, but I have lost some respect for the sport this year. I'm no longer as eager to watch the races. The only reason I seem to care about F1 right now is the antics of random things, the silly season rumors, and next year, while the past year or two hasn't shown promise in the sport. The FIA have made some very stupid decisions, especially race stewards, and they managed to turn Pirelli into such a massive scapegoat that other tyre manufacturers may question whether F1 is a good idea for them if publicity is a big part of what's at hand. The Mercedes Pirelli Testgate scandal was only about as bad as you could get, the only penalty involved was Merc's ban from the YDT. Track marshalls and race organizers have been really poor this year. Korea in particular has had the most problems, while the Canadian marshalls are stumbling once again (not directly related to the track marshall death at this year's Canadian GP, RIP). As for race organizers, the ones in India have brought up the most recent political fire, getting the Indian Government all over their rears, with India reacting way too late to do anything, so the organizers get away with not paying their fee for the 2012 race yet. With all of these events, F1 I feel has lost some of its professionalism, and as a result has become less desirable than before. May 2014 come along.

[Ataxia]

I don't see why Chilton's courting so many nominations. He's done a lot more than was expected of him, and there's plenty of teams and drivers who didn't even manage that.

[Shizuka]

I'm not nominating anyone for Reject of the Year yet, for the simple reason that the year hasn't ended.

When the season ends, I'll make my nominations then.

Seconded.

[mario]

Over the whole season, it looks like teams (Williams and McLaren) are going to win over drivers.

I think that is probably likely to be true - it seems that most of the drivers have tended to meet or exceed expectations at least part of the time for the season, whilst the performance of certain teams has tended to be worse than expected or shown much greater variability.

[CoopsII]

Ferrari - They talk a good game, they quote historical stats, they even talk metaphoric nonsense from time to time, but they deliver nothing like their rhetoric demands. Dont get me wrong, I dont expect a team to sort of shrug their collective shoulders and say "I dunno, we might win but the cars a bit crap to be honest" but they've become to resemble the Ferrari of the early to mid nineties to me; full of bluster but everyone else knows they're full of sh1t.

[Dj_bereta]

The final three races will decide my ROTY podium. Its too early to nominate, but Williams and Mclaren are close of getting a place in ROTY podium.

[wsrgo]

Ferrari - They talk a good game, they quote historical stats, they even talk metaphoric nonsense from time to time, but they deliver nothing like their rhetoric demands. Dont get me wrong, I dont expect a team to sort of shrug their collective shoulders and say "I dunno, we might win but the cars a bit crap to be honest" but they've become to resemble the Ferrari of the early to mid nineties to me; full of bluster but everyone else knows they're full of sh1t.

This.

[Aerospeed]

Ferrari - They talk a good game, they quote historical stats, they even talk metaphoric nonsense from time to time, but they deliver nothing like their rhetoric demands. Dont get me wrong, I dont expect a team to sort of shrug their collective shoulders and say "I dunno, we might win but the cars a bit crap to be honest" but they've become to resemble the Ferrari of the early to mid nineties to me; full of bluster but everyone else knows they're full of sh1t.

This.

I'm putting a nomination for McLaren and Williams on the same basis but with worse results. At least Ferrari won some races this year.

[Cynon]

Spare some thought for, and I know this is going to piss someone off, the fans for somehow expecting something different than what was delivered. Pirelli made the racing exciting, people complained... so Pirelli went back to the old tire, and somehow people were surprised it turned into Vettel domination quickly. Let's not forget the boos at Singapore...

I've seen a lot of drivers get booed for winning races (I've watching bathplugging NASCAR since 1993 and seen a lot of people crash someone else for the win), and usually, for good reason. The mass amounts of Vettel hate makes the fans look like complete whiners. I'm not even talking about the users on this forum at all. F1 fans should not make this guy (language warning for the prudish) look like a reasonable person under any circumstances.

[go_Rubens]

Spare some thought for, and I know this is going to piss someone off, the fans for somehow expecting something different than what was delivered. Pirelli made the racing exciting, people complained... so Pirelli went back to the old tire, and somehow people were surprised it turned into Vettel domination quickly. Let's not forget the boos at Singapore...

I've seen a lot of drivers get booed for winning races (I've watching bathplugging NASCAR since 1993 and seen a lot of people crash someone else for the win), and usually, for good reason. The mass amounts of Vettel hate makes the fans look like complete whiners. I'm not even talking about the users on this forum at all. F1 fans should not make this guy (language warning for the prudish) look like a reasonable person under any circumstances.

That may actually be a reasonable nomination there. But I have to say that maybe it wasn't just the fans, but the teams, who are at fault for some of this because of only asking to have something happen and have it done instead of working around their problems?

[Liquid]

Bronze - McLaren

A dismal campaign for the Woking outfit. Even Button couldn't nurse the car home with any real success.

Silver - Mark Webber

It's three years too late Mark. 2010 was win or bust. I do think Mark Webber is a highly talented driver, but never to the degree that he deserved a front running seat; he happened to get caught in the updraft of Red Bull's rise to the top, and 2010 was the last year I saw real, consistent year-round speed in him. These last three seasons of playing the unwilling second fiddle have, well, been a bit embarrassing.

Gold - Ferrari

How they manage to give Fernando Alonso a duff car year on year is marvellous, in an odd sort of way. A flick through the 1979-1999 years on the main site makes for interesting parallels.

[go_Rubens]

Gold - Ferrari

How they manage to give Fernando Alonso a duff car year on year is marvellous, in an odd sort of way. A flick through the 1979-1999 years on the main site makes for interesting parallels.

The car was on the pace in the first five races, and he still scored mostly consistent top fives, while Massa had another mid season slump as normal. Surely Williams, McLaren, or someone else will take the prize?

[Liquid]

This year wasn't their worst year, I'll more than admit that, but Alonso consistently flatters mediocre machinery. Never, since 2008, has a Ferrari come out of the box and looked like being able to secure the title. It's been a constant battle for them, for whatever reasons. For that, they're always pretty high on my Reject list.

I would have given Williams more stick but they are where they are on merit these days. They're not simply 'falling back', they have stopped falling and firmly established themselves as a third tier team.

[go_Rubens]

This year wasn't their worst year, I'll more than admit that, but Alonso consistently flatters mediocre machinery. Never, since 2008, has a Ferrari come out of the box and looked like being able to secure the title. It's been a constant battle for them, for whatever reasons. For that, they're always pretty high on my Reject list.

I would have given Williams more stick but they are where they are on merit these days. They're not simply 'falling back', they have stopped falling and firmly established themselves as a third tier team.

Then what happened last year then?

[noiceinmydrink]

Then what happened last year then?

What happened was Alonso did the best he could and almost won the championship with that piece of crap Ferrari that did not deserve to be anywhere near a championship. If Ferrari didn't suck so bad then Alonso would have won the championship.

[PT8475]

Then what happened last year then?

What happened was Alonso did the best he could and almost won the championship with that piece of crap Ferrari that did not deserve to be anywhere near a championship. If Ferrari didn't suck so bad then Alonso would have won the championship.

I am still adamant that if Williams had two competent drivers, they'd probably have finished 5th last year with that car, but because of their drivers, they did not.

[Ataxia]

Then what happened last year then?

What happened was Alonso did the best he could and almost won the championship with that piece of crap Ferrari that did not deserve to be anywhere near a championship. If Ferrari didn't suck so bad then Alonso would have won the championship.

I am still adamant that if Williams had two competent drivers, they'd probably have finished 5th last year with that car, but because of their drivers, they did not.

Mark Gillan was clearly a bigger influence in the team than he's given credit for...

[Onxy Wrecked]

I might want to give it to Max Chilton for at least some slot in this for never finishing in front of Bianchi outside of DNFs for Bianchi.

[pi314159]

I might want to give it to Max Chilton for at least some slot in this for never finishing in front of Bianchi outside of DNFs for Bianchi.

He did on Sunday.

Anyway, my reject of the year so far is clearly Williams. Last year they won a race and had a car capable of podium finishes, and this year, they were slightly above Caterham/Marussia tier. McLaren spent the whole year in the midfield, but I expect them to return to the top nnext year, or at least in 2015. Williams however, are turning more and more into the new Tyrrell.

[Yannick]

Purely on pre-season expectations alone, the leading candidate in the race for the prestigious Award this year has got to be McLaren. It's almost as if they couldn't even be bothered to make an effort before they finally can get rid of the Mercedes engines next year. Already by when have they given up on 2013?

The political games the FIA plays with Pirelli - which might have potential implications on safety for next season - are also a candidate. This is not what a sports governing body is there for. But would CVC handle it any better? I doubt it.

[tc3j3r]

After 2 consecutive RotYs going to teams we're probably due for one to go to a driver, but once again IMO the 2 leading candidates are teams - WIlliams and McLaren. I imagine Jamie & Enoch are probably quite bored of giving it to Williams, and I would probably give it to McLaren on the basis that we're starting to get used to Williams being rubbish every other season (06, 08, 11 now 13) whereas it's been a long time since McLaren were this poor for the entire season. Amusingly McLaren's woes are set against the the backdrop of Tooned, which is IMO much less funny this season, in which they like to keep reminding us of their history of success!

[Wallio]

It has to be McLaren this year. They're just sad. But really if you look at it: no WDCs since 2008, no WCC since '98!, Spygate, borderline paydriver in the second car, shouldn't we be writing the "Decline of McLaren" article for reject central?

[kevinbotz]

It has to be McLaren this year. They're just sad. But really if you look at it: no WDCs since 2008, no WCC since '98!, Spygate, borderline paydriver in the second car, shouldn't we be writing the "Decline of McLaren" article for reject central?

I think that particular conclusion regarding McLaren's prospects is a little premature. Though nothing in F1 can be comprehensively ascertained, McLaren have carried out an extensive reorganization of their technical and administrative structures this year, in addition to having undertaken an exhaustive review of the array of weaknesses and inhibiting factors that ultimately precipitated the failure of the MP4-28. With Honda and Prodromou arriving in the near future, McLaren's outlook for the future actually appears to be relatively positive.

Regarding their performance in the past decade, their failures must be qualified, at least in part, by the persistent interference of a Ferrari-inclined FIA and the internecine conflict between Ron Dennis and Max Mosley. Multiple McLaren technical innovations were preemptively vetoed by Ferrari before they ever saw action on the track, innovations which may very well have tipped the competitive balance in McLaren's favor. That said, in the interest of balance, many analysts and observers have noted McLaren's potentially dangerous dependence on its myriad of systems, the failures of which consequently resulted in the failure of the MP4-18, and season, the MP4-28.

Still, having written all of that in defense of my favored team, I must be objective and nominate McLaren as my candidate for Reject of the Year. The new suspension geometry and revised aerodynamic rear bodywork of the MP4-28 promised tremendous potential in the pre-season. That McLaren have yet to crack the top four with just three races remaining is a devastating disappointment, and reason enough for its nomination.

[Wallio]

It has to be McLaren this year. They're just sad. But really if you look at it: no WDCs since 2008, no WCC since '98!, Spygate, borderline paydriver in the second car, shouldn't we be writing the "Decline of McLaren" article for reject central?

I think that particular conclusion regarding McLaren's prospects is a little premature. Though nothing in F1 can be comprehensively ascertained, McLaren have carried out an extensive reorganization of their technical and administrative structures this year, in addition to having undertaken an exhaustive review of the array of weaknesses and inhibiting factors that ultimately precipitated the failure of the MP4-28. With Honda and Prodromou arriving in the near future, McLaren's outlook for the future actually appears to be relatively positive.

Regarding their performance in the past decade, their failures must be qualified, at least in part, by the persistent interference of a Ferrari-inclined FIA and the internecine conflict between Ron Dennis and Max Mosley. Multiple McLaren technical innovations were preemptively vetoed by Ferrari before they ever saw action on the track, innovations which may very well have tipped the competitive balance in McLaren's favor. That said, in the interest of balance, many analysts and observers have noted McLaren's potentially dangerous dependence on its myriad of systems, the failures of which consequently resulted in the failure of the MP4-18, and season, the MP4-28.

Still, having written all of that in defense of my favored team, I must be objective and nominate McLaren as my candidate for Reject of the Year. The new suspension geometry and revised aerodynamic rear bodywork of the MP4-28 promised tremendous potential in the pre-season. That McLaren have yet to crack the top four with just three races remaining is a devastating disappointment, and reason enough for its nomination.

I partially said this as a sad gag, and since we wrote the article about Williams well before their current terribleness, but the more I think about it, the more it maybe true. Keep in mind McLaren is no longer a factory team (until 2015) and is losing Vodaphone in three races. And lets not forget, the last time they had a season this bad, they were bought out by an F2 concern!

Look at the number of titles in the last 21 years 1993-2013: (Both WDC and WCC 42 total)

Ferrari - 14
Red Bull - 8
Williams - 7
Renault -4
McLaren - 4
Benetton - 3
Brawn - 2

Pretty meh, don't ya think?

If you bring it back to the last 26 years (1988-2013) it gets better, but that's along way to go to find some real relevancy, IMO.

Ferrari - 14
McLaren - 12
Williams - 9
Red Bull - 8
Renault -4
Benetton - 3
Brawn - 2


Of course you could have said this about Ferrari in the 1980s, so what do I know....

[solarcold]

I don't see why Chilton's courting so many nominations. He's done a lot more than was expected of him, and there's plenty of teams and drivers who didn't even manage that.

I would like to second this.

[James1978]

For teams I too would go for McLaren over Williams.

Williams have essentially struggled since they lost BMW and despite the odd upturn like Maldonado's win in Spain last year, they have been in gradual decline since 2006. Even comparing them with 2011, 4 of their 5 points came in mad attritional races (for modern standards) in Barrichello's 9ths on Monaco and Canada. So it's not that unexpected.

There's no way I'd have thought McLaren, based on 2012 form, would still be yet to achieve a top 4 finish with just 3 races to go!

[go_Rubens]

For teams I too would go for McLaren over Williams.

Williams have essentially struggled since they lost BMW and despite the odd upturn like Maldonado's win in Spain last year, they have been in gradual decline since 2006. Even comparing them with 2011, 4 of their 5 points came in mad attritional races (for modern standards) in Barrichello's 9ths on Monaco and Canada. So it's not that unexpected.

There's no way I'd have thought McLaren, based on 2012 form, would still be yet to achieve a top 4 finish with just 3 races to go!

This is a good statement here, because Williams have been in decline and McLaren have been at the top for a long while (even with no success). McLaren also deserves to get ROTY for another reason, they said that they would turn around their woes, but they gave us false promises, overhyped themselves, and tried directing attention to their past successes! This is ludicrous, if anything, and slightly amusing That may make them the clear winners.

[Dj_bereta]

I don't see why Chilton's courting so many nominations. He's done a lot more than was expected of him, and there's plenty of teams and drivers who didn't even manage that.

I would like to second this.

Third. Also, Chilton beat Bianchi in the last two races.

[Sublime_FA11C]

I don't see why Chilton's courting so many nominations. He's done a lot more than was expected of him, and there's plenty of teams and drivers who didn't even manage that.

I would like to second this.

Third. Also, Chilton beat Bianchi in the last two races.

But... that means he lost to Bianchi in the previous 14. He still needs 12 in a row to break even, then it may be more important.

That aside i agree that Chilton doesn't deserve any nomination. His 1st year in F1, takes it easy, doesn't crash the car when his team is short of cash, doesn't shoot off his mouth, keeps finishing races, learns and improves, get's closer and closer to his higher rated teammate, recently even matched him... what would Chilton have to do? Seems he's doing a good job. Beating Caterhams here and there would be nice, but either Marussia or he aren't up to the job on a given weekend, so he takes it a bit easy and tries to avoid screwups in his rookie year. I don't mind that at all.

He didn't do anything exceptionally good, but he didn't do anything exceptionally bad which may be even more important. Gutierrez battled with Alonso (in a damaged Ferrari), made impressive starts and narrowly missed out on several great qualy results. But, he also made several highly visible errors and showed lack of experience when he lost out big time in Korea, after a start better than Hulkenberg's. I get the feeling more people would call Gutierrez a clown rather than Chilton.

[Cynon]

I don't see why Chilton's courting so many nominations. He's done a lot more than was expected of him, and there's plenty of teams and drivers who didn't even manage that.

I would like to second this.

If I expect someone to suck, and they turn out to be sucky, that doesn't make them worthy of a ROTY nomination. That's just meeting expectations.

[wsrgo]

My nominations:
3. The tyre saga
2. double DRS zones
1. McLaren

[eagleash]

I would like to put forward Lotus, simply for not paying Kimi & suibsequently losing him to a rival.

[watka]

I would like to put forward Lotus, simply for not paying Kimi & suibsequently losing him to a rival.

Yes and no. Losing Kimi is a big deal, but at least Grosjean seems to be blossoming. The cash situation is largely out of their control, they are an independent team still trying to operate at works team levels of performance. Kimi has always had massive salary demands (the only part of his character I don't like) and perhaps its not a completely bad thing that they are losing him.

[TheBigJ]

McLaren deserved it last year and they deserve it this year too. I find their arrogance as bad as Ferrari's. And their results don't match up either.