ROTR: Monaco 2015

[Salamander]

I guess Barbazza and myself are a bit old fashioned and appreciate someone who wins on merit.

Well, what is he supposed to do, just pull over? He admitted he was lucky to win, what more do you want?

[Spectoremg]

The stewards for being grossly inconsistent.
Honourable mention: Anyone blabbing about the cricket - I have to watch highlights of that too!

[CoopsII]

Merc -just when I thought we was out they pulled us all back in with a mistake that will make the internet explode with diatribe and conspiracy for weeks to come.

McLaren - for still sucking. They still suck. Monaco hid it but it will be back in glorious technicolour for Canada.

[Spectoremg]

McLaren - for still sucking. They still suck. Monaco hid it but it will be back in glorious technicolour for Canada.

[WeirdKerr]

I award the ROTR to Sky Sports F1 demanding answers left right and centre, Mercedes made an error which they admitted to yet sky still demand answers

Oh god yes, that was truly embarrassing television. Parking themselves in front of Toto Wolff and crying 'WHY? WHY? WHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYY?'.
I had already been considering cancellation of Sky Sports during the summer break - think I will definitely do it.

Something like this, on the other hand, I couldn't possibly comment on seeing as I've never had access to Sky's coverage... but it does give me an idea for a slightly off-the-wall Dishonourable Mention stemming from RTL's slightly strange broadcast methods. Whereas some of the advert breaks still show the race in a small inset at the side of the screen, the main sponsors just can't bear not to have the entire screen all to themselves. So, as James Allen works himself into a froth on Five Live as one of the race's most pivotal moments is approaching, I can still see it just about to happen in the inset, and then...

No! Krombacher! Get your mass-market muck off my screen!

I quite like krombacher...

[James1978]

I'm torn between the decision maker at Mercedes, and Williams from suddenly going from 3rd best team to probably 3rd worst (or even 2nd worst).....

[Peteroli34]

Williams - So far this season Williams have clearly been the third best team this season but at Monaco they were mediocre to say the least

Dishonorable mentions to Lotus whos car especially Maldonado who seems to have inherited last seasons reliability.

Yes Hamilton should probably have stayed out it being easier to defend. it could have quite easily have worked other drivers pitted and didn't loose position.

[Alextrax52]

Williams for me I'm afraid for revisiting the bad old days of 2011 and 2013 with a terrible weekend. Bottas eliminated in Q1 on merit and both him and Massa toiling around near the back all day. The one positive they can take is that their form at Monaco has been abysmal for ages. Since Heidfeld and Webber took a double podium in 2005 their best finish has been 6th for Rosberg in 2009 with only a few bright spots (Webber in 06 and Maldonado in 11). Even last year Massa only finished 7th and Bottas would have finished in that same area until his engine blew. So alarms bells shouldn't be ringing just yet but Williams will need to rebound quickly

Special mention to the Mercedes strategist for costing Hamilton an admittedly deserved win and Maldonado's luck for once again being at Chris Amon levels

[Spectoremg]

Williams are getting a rough ride on here today. This is Monaco people.
Or maybe we're all so frustrated at the state of the 'sport' that Frank's team are getting it this week?

[Dj_bereta]

2015 Monaco Grand Prix: A huge boredom until the Verstappen's crash. The Dutchman saved the race of be the worst of the season.

Not only this, the marshalls almost throwing their blue flags at the drivers, especially the one at the last corner before the tunnel entrance, were a bit silly. The TV Directors weren't good either, too much focus in the top 3 (I was bored to see Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel all of the time). A lot of action were missed and only were show in replays.

But, I'm going to give my ROTR for Verstappen, for remembering us what his dad did in his racing career.

[DOSBoot]

1. Whoever Made the Call to Bring Lewis Hamilton Into the Pits: A prime example of "severe brain fade".

2. Verstappen: Didn't have to see the replay to know that was an unwise move.

Dishonorable Mention:

Williams: Back to their 2013 form.

[DanielPT]

There is only one possibility for ROTR and that is the decision to bring Hamilton in from Mercedes. As this is a team sport, epic blunders can also come from those who make strategic decisions.

[Samster]

Absolutely can only look at Mercedes, there was absolutely nothing to gain and everything to loose from bringing Lewis in yet they did it anyway. That said rather it happen to Lewis than anyone else.

No way am I giving it to Max or Romain giving their collision saved the race from being a 1/10 and brought it up to a 2, maybe even a 3.

[Chris45215]

Williams. They were nowhere.

I may get lynched for saying this, but I want to take a closer look at the info before hating on Mercedes. There is a chance that, based on the relevant information for a virtual safety car, they made a justifiable (though still wrong) choice to bring him in. Then when the real safetycar deployed, the situation changed and they got hosed. I expect the teams have prediction software that tells them if they have time to pit or not, as that can be faster, easier, and more reliable than using a human for the split-second decision. Its very easy to get one little part wrong, such as the transition from virtual to real safety car.

I'm not saying Mercedes made a sound decision, I'm just saying that I won't throw them 100% under the bus - more like 80%. They might have had some reason to make the call that they did.

Consider if Vettel had pitted but neither of the Mercedes did, and the race resumed with enough time for Vettel to catch up to the #2 car. That would put Vettel in a spot where he could threaten to take that #2 place, and relegate Mercedes to a 1-3. On the other hand, if Lewis and Vettel both pitted, that would put Nico in #1 (with Lewis possibly overtaking him), Lewis in 2, and Vettel in 3 - and Vettel would not be able to pass Hamilton who has equally new tires. So, Mercedes would secure a 1-2, but with their drivers reversed. If the calculations indicated that Lewis could pit and exit ahead of Vettel (and he very nearly did; the wait for the Sauber was enough to cost him a few meters at the safety car line), or could pass him on track, then the safe bet for the team was to pit Lewis. The only problem was that Ferarri made a suboptimal strategy decision by keeping Vettel out, but it turned out well for Vettel. Its a bit of the Prisoner's Dilemma problem: you can make the optimal choice, but your opponent can get an advantage by making a suboptimal choice that screws you over.

[razta]

Actually.. I'm surprised no-one picked this up from the post race press conference..
ROTR should be LEWIS HAMILTON HIMSELF for admitting THIS..

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – Autosport) Question for Lewis. First of all, can you gives us just some idea as to how you’re feeling right now. Obviously we see you’re very low, very down but just express in your own words how you’re feeling. And, secondly, when that Safety Car situation unfolded, did you not at all question whether to come in or not? Bearing in mind, regardless of the situation with the tyres, track position is ultimately king in Monaco.

LH: I can’t really express the way I feel at the moment. So I won’t even attempt to. You rely on the team. I saw a screen, it looked like the team was out and I thought that Nico had pitted. Obviously I couldn’t see the guys behind so I thought the guys behind were pitting. The team said to stay out, I said “these tyres are going to drop in temperature,” and what I was assuming was that these guys would be on Options and I was on the harder tyre. So, they said to pit. Without thinking I came in with full confidence that the others had done the same.

So on that admittance HE CHOSE to come in and LOSE the race HIMSELF.


SOURCE:
http://www.fia.com/news/2015-monaco-gra ... nference-0

[mario]

Actually.. I'm surprised no-one picked this up from the post race press conference..
ROTR should be LEWIS HAMILTON HIMSELF for admitting THIS..

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – Autosport) Question for Lewis. First of all, can you gives us just some idea as to how you’re feeling right now. Obviously we see you’re very low, very down but just express in your own words how you’re feeling. And, secondly, when that Safety Car situation unfolded, did you not at all question whether to come in or not? Bearing in mind, regardless of the situation with the tyres, track position is ultimately king in Monaco.

LH: I can’t really express the way I feel at the moment. So I won’t even attempt to. You rely on the team. I saw a screen, it looked like the team was out and I thought that Nico had pitted. Obviously I couldn’t see the guys behind so I thought the guys behind were pitting. The team said to stay out, I said “these tyres are going to drop in temperature,” and what I was assuming was that these guys would be on Options and I was on the harder tyre. So, they said to pit. Without thinking I came in with full confidence that the others had done the same.

So on that admittance HE CHOSE to come in and LOSE the race HIMSELF.


SOURCE:
http://www.fia.com/news/2015-monaco-gra ... nference-0

Whilst it is the case that he sent that message to the pits mentioning his concerns over the tyre temperatures, he doesn't actually then go on to say that the team should pit him.

Whilst his comments may have influenced the team, publications such as Motorsport magazine have stated that the final decision came from the pit wall, and I don't see anything in that statement which would seem to suggest that it was Hamilton who made the decision.

[razta]

well he does say "without thinking I came in" when he had the perfect opportunity to be "senna" as he's made out to be and stuck with the old tyres, heck he doesn't even need to think all the way back to 1992, he could have just thought about Monaco 2011, remember how that ended?

all this talk about being a "team leader"

[DanielPT]

well he does say "without thinking I came in" when he had the perfect opportunity to be "senna" as he's made out to be and stuck with the old tyres, heck he doesn't even need to think all the way back to 1992, he could have just thought about Monaco 2011, remember how that ended?

all this talk about being a "team leader"

Things is, Lewis is not known for his tactics but for his pace. He always relied on the pit wall to tell him what to do, strategy wise. Most of the drivers today do this, it is not only Lewis. Anyway, Hamilton shared his concerns about tyre temperature with the team and the team told him to pit. Hamilton, not being an anorak fan like Vettel, for instance, and totally oblivious to some more obvious things to us, trusted them. Why none of the engineers told him to stay out because the risk of being overtaken anyway was very low is baffling.

[DemocalypseNow]

The more I read about the Mercedes "incident", the more I consider giving the ROTR to Mercedes Fans a.k.a. Keyboard Warriors.

The baying mob demanding accountability from Mercedes for what was an internal strategic error is ridiculous. If there was someone's safety at question, there is an onus to talk about it. But the Mercedes-Hamilton debate has stopped being about understanding what happened and learning from it, and more about finding who to blame and having them hung, drawn and quartered in front of the entire paddock.

The hysterics from the Hamilton "fans", which amplified Lewis' mere slight annoyance at the incident into a full-blown mega-whine, while the petulance of the Rosberg fans in reaction was just as childish. These people make all of us look like complete idiots.

Ask yourself this; why do we care? Races have been won and lost on strategy many times before. I don't remember there being such a pathetic over-reaction to these in the past.

I don't know why Mercedes are pandering to the internet mob and having a public Q&A. They don't need to. In this case, they aren't accountable to them. They made an internal strategic decision, it didn't quite go right, the only people who need a full explanation and to understand what went wrong are the other staff (namely, Hamilton).

An actual Hamilton or Mercedes fan would take it on the chin and move on. Genuine human error happens from time to time. Get over it.

[Francis23]

Everyone jumping on the bandwagon- Was going to give it to Mercedes, but the fact that Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda both admitted it was a mistake after should have meant the end of it. But everyone DEMANDS answers, guess what? If it's a mistake, it's a mistake, move on!
The Stewards- Giving Alonso a penalty on a track where bumps and scratches will happen, and in my judgement I don't think Alonso could have done anything, infact it looked like Hulk turned in on him.

Dishonourable mentions to Williams (I forgot they existed for a while) and Maldonado's reliability.

[Spectoremg]

The more I read about the Mercedes "incident", the more I consider giving the ROTR to Mercedes Fans a.k.a. Keyboard Warriors.

The baying mob demanding accountability from Mercedes for what was an internal strategic error is ridiculous. If there was someone's safety at question, there is an onus to talk about it. But the Mercedes-Hamilton debate has stopped being about understanding what happened and learning from it, and more about finding who to blame and having them hung, drawn and quartered in front of the entire paddock.

The hysterics from the Hamilton "fans", which amplified Lewis' mere slight annoyance at the incident into a full-blown mega-whine, while the petulance of the Rosberg fans in reaction was just as childish. These people make all of us look like complete idiots.

Ask yourself this; why do we care? Races have been won and lost on strategy many times before. I don't remember there being such a pathetic over-reaction to these in the past.

I don't know why Mercedes are pandering to the internet mob and having a public Q&A. They don't need to. In this case, they aren't accountable to them. They made an internal strategic decision, it didn't quite go right, the only people who need a full explanation and to understand what went wrong are the other staff (namely, Hamilton).

An actual Hamilton or Mercedes fan would take it on the chin and move on. Genuine human error happens from time to time. Get over it.

This. And it's over team-mates which for me emphasises the fact that it's all so Mercedes-central. If it was two guys at different teams in a title decider I could see it but not over the Mercedes circus.

[tc3j3r]

Max Verstappen - rookie mistake for the crash, which indirectly caused all the furore over Hamilton and Mercedes.

[razta]

The more I read about the Mercedes "incident", the more I consider giving the ROTR to Mercedes Fans a.k.a. Keyboard Warriors.

The baying mob demanding accountability from Mercedes for what was an internal strategic error is ridiculous. If there was someone's safety at question, there is an onus to talk about it. But the Mercedes-Hamilton debate has stopped being about understanding what happened and learning from it, and more about finding who to blame and having them hung, drawn and quartered in front of the entire paddock.

The hysterics from the Hamilton "fans", which amplified Lewis' mere slight annoyance at the incident into a full-blown mega-whine, while the petulance of the Rosberg fans in reaction was just as childish. These people make all of us look like complete idiots.

Ask yourself this; why do we care? Races have been won and lost on strategy many times before. I don't remember there being such a pathetic over-reaction to these in the past.

I don't know why Mercedes are pandering to the internet mob and having a public Q&A. They don't need to. In this case, they aren't accountable to them. They made an internal strategic decision, it didn't quite go right, the only people who need a full explanation and to understand what went wrong are the other staff (namely, Hamilton).

An actual Hamilton or Mercedes fan would take it on the chin and move on. Genuine human error happens from time to time. Get over it.

It's Sky Sports F1 who are making a mountain out of a mole hill.. seriously and it's not "mercedes fans" it's Hamilton fans.. and remember he always says "we win together, we lose together" well you lost this time, for whatever reason.. man up Lewis! Man up.. btw.. for some bizarre reason, Rosberg seems to be getting the blame too.. HAHHAHAHA I know..

[Vassago]

It seems like everyone who tries to shift the blame away from Mercedes does exactly the same what Toto was doing, you look at the damn computer too often without looking what's ahead of you (to quote Damon Hill).

Mercedes startegic blunder is the most obvious ROTR material and we don't need to analyze the data like crazy! Verstappen's mistake would have zero input on the result if Mercedes didn't bring Hamilton in. But they did and it was the talk of the weekend!

Mercedes GP gets it, hands down.

[Dan B]

It's hard to say who or what is the reject of this race; simply because there are so many of them. Williams were anonymous, McLaren STILL has reliability problems and can't get both cars to finish ever since China (but to their credit, they weren't a complete embarrassment this time) , Massa put his foot in his mouth again (and it makes me cringe since I am a bit of a Massa fan), and Max Verstappen emulated his father, which started the whole mess.

But in the end I have to give it to anything that concerns Mercedes and the Monaco GP. Yes, the call was stupid, but hell, that's racing. It's happened in the past and it will happen again, and all the F1 teams have made blunders like this. In essence, it's making a mountain out of a molehill. The Lewis camp is the worst offender of this, with comments going as so far to say that Mercedes deliberately fixed the race for Nico.

The worst is that all of this crap is going to carry over to the next race, knowing the media. I wouldn't be surprised if people are calling for sabotage if Lewis' (or Nico's, for that matter) engine explodes.

[razta]

The worst is that all of this crap is going to carry over to the next race, knowing the media. I wouldn't be surprised if people are calling for sabotage if Lewis' (or Nico's, for that matter) engine explodes.

from the crap I've seen on my own facebook page for Merc F1 Fans... and twitter, its just
The Ham-Fankers seem to think that Nico has NO RIGHT to win any race, ever! Nor do they see that a P3 finish isn't as bad as a DNS (Did not start - Singapore), or the concept of racing incidents/competition.. which is what Hamilton relishes himself.

[DanielPT]

The worst is that all of this crap is going to carry over to the next race, knowing the media. I wouldn't be surprised if people are calling for sabotage if Lewis' (or Nico's, for that matter) engine explodes.

from the crap I've seen on my own facebook page for Merc F1 Fans... and twitter, its just
The Ham-Fankers seem to think that Nico has NO RIGHT to win any race, ever! Nor do they see that a P3 finish isn't as bad as a DNS (Did not start - Singapore), or the concept of racing incidents/competition.. which is what Hamilton relishes himself.

These discussions no matter how infuriating or brainless they can be at least put people discussing passionately about F1. Which is considered a good thing by many. I, in the vain hope that the sport is forced to change how it is being run, see it as a bad thing, actually.

[tc3j3r]

No official RotR has been awarded. Can we have an official decision please?

[DemocalypseNow]

No official RotR has been awarded. Can we have an official decision please?

It's tough to define who exactly deserves it. The general feeling is it should be directed towards the lynch mob aimed at Mercedes.

Perhaps then, the best way to define the ROTR would be as Lynch Mob Mentality. One wonders how Toto Wolff stopped himself from exploding in a fit of rage and rightly calling the onslaught of media and social media warriors monumentally stupid, such was their post-race behaviour.

[tc3j3r]

Enoch and Jamie would be proud of that abstractness