2017 Chinese Grand Prix - Reject of the Race

[IceG]

(1) Williams - you have a Mercedes engine in that thing
(2) Renault - factory team, really?

I'll give McLaren a pass on this one since they performed exactly as they were expected to

[Klon]

(1) Nico Hülkenberg - overtaking once under a safety car is silly, but can happen; doing it twice is unacceptably stupid.

(2) Joylon Palmer - could have had a huge advantage because of his early stop, but a spin ruined that.

[Meatwad]

1. McLaren: Both cars broke down, the second time in a row Alonso has lost points through no fault of his own.
2. (shared, 3 points for each) Nico Hülkenberg: Two illegal overtakes in one race!
Valtteri Bottas: Spinning behind the safety car is something you would expect from a rookie, not a driver of his caliber.

[CarloSpace]

1. Hülkenberg
2. Bottas

[mario]

1. Hulkenberg - being penalised twice for overtaking under both the regular safety car and the virtual safety car is pretty clumsy to say the least, and not what you would expect for a driver of his experience. Palmer did have that spin, but at least he managed to get away with that as the safety car closed the pack up and he was running last anyway (having dived into the pits for that early switch to slicks) - mind you, Renault also had terrible pace in the race itself.
2. Bottas - yes, there were other drivers who did also nearly spin under the safety car - Verstappen almost lost control of his car, but just kept it on track - but only Bottas lost it completely, and he paid heavily for it. Even after he managed to get back into free air, his lap times weren't great either (not terrible, but equally not really making much headway against those in front) - mind you, Mercedes might at least be pleased that they're ahead of Ferrari in the WCC now.

[girry]

1. Giovinazzi - rookie or not, wet or dry - but crashing at the same spot in quali AND the race warrants a ROTR nomination by default
2. Bottas - spinning under the safety car is almost equally reject-worthy

[good_Ralf]

1) Hulk for his SC fails, the supposed 5th/6th-best team are still yet to score (feels like the opening to 2015 again)
2) Giovinazzi, I was really anticipating what he might achieve on his 2nd weekend, it was so disappointing to see him crash out twice

HM: Bottas - Hoping that mistake under the SC was a one-off, he needs to rebound strongly for Bahrain and Russia

[Aislabie]

1/ Williams - Because they were awful.
2/ The rain - Buggered off for four hours of an entire weekend in Shanghai, two of which were during the Grand Prix.

Edit - Honourable mention to Ma Qinghua because be must have done something rejectful.

[SeedStriker]

1)The Rookies: Gio found his limit on friday, but he forgot about it twice in almost the same place, while Stroll need to use more his mirrors when go side by side

2)Nico Hulkenberg: Mistakes more suited for Gio or Stroll for lack of experience, something that Hulk has

The Spin City Award goes to Valteri Bottas: GJ doing donuts behind the SC

[Normal32]

1. The aero rules - racing did not get any better.
2. Nico Hulkenberg - wtf?!

[DemocalypseNow]

1. Nico Hülkenberg
This was just silly. Two ignoring yellow flag penalties, one apiece in a VSC and SC period? He has enough experience not to be making these kinds of errors!

2. Antonio Giovinazzi
It hurts to do this. I can understand the first spin in quali, but the second was avoidable. Why is he driving off-line, with no traffic in close proximity, underneath the canopy where the start/finish is. Everyone who knows the Shanghai track knows in a changeable conditions race, this is the last patch of the track to dry out. It will remain more soaked than any other track surface. He didn't need to be as far left as he was. It was avoidable. The quali shunt is understandable, pushing to the maximum and running slightly wide onto the astroturf. This one is not. I'm bitterly disappointed.

[This Could Be You]

1. Palmer; Did the opposite of Magnussen; he still qualified near-last, threw away a strategy that could of scored points by spinning under a virtual safety car, and yet continued to moan about the car throughout the race- his performance had no redeeming features, and is still no justifying his position in that Renault.

2. Hulkenburg; ruined a potential top-6 finish through a rather silly mistake under safety car conditions

DHM:
McHonda; still hopeless
Giovinazzi; rookie error, but he is, well, a rookie
Williams; mediocre
Stroll; two DNFs in two races, this one being at least part of his fault

[watka]

1. Hulkenberg - got to say that he was the guy who lost out the most. It was a race of relatively high attrition and he seemed to have the car working well, so it must be frustrating for Renault to miss out on some good points because of stupid mistakes under safety car.

2. Bottas - I get he was trying to warm his tyres but he tried a little to hard. He could have got a nice finish given the conditions but ended up in P6 only.

Dishonourable mentions: McLaren, Renault in general, Giovinazzi

[rachel1990]

1- Hulkenberg- such a good qualifying. Such a rubbish race. Seriously overtaking under the safety car??? Bad bad bad.

2 Bottas- At least he admitted his stupid mistake by spinning behind the safety car. But still....

[BigG80]

1. The aero rules - racing did not get any better.
2. Nico Hulkenberg - wtf?!

You did watch the race didn't you? Where the cars were passing each other on track?

1. Hulk. Doubly disappointing considering his reputation in the rain.
2. Palmer. He's still struggling.

DHM to Giovinazzi because of the high hopes spoilt by silly errors, Williams for not sorting this wet issue still and Bottas for that spin.

[RedEyes504]

Valtteri Bottas - A spin behind the safety car isn't how to impress his new team.

Nico Hulkenberg - The yellow things mean no overtaking.

[Dj_bereta]

1 - Giovinazzi: Crashing two times in the same spot and giving Sauber a big repair bill is bad enough.

2 - Bottas: ...and is bad enough too spinning behind SC and losing several positions as result.

HM to Perez for wrecking Stroll in the classic "If you don't go for a gap, you are no longer a racing driver" way. And for Hulk for his penalties.

[CoopsII]

1 - Hulkenberg - Has he lost interest already?
2 - Giovinazzi - He might have been good in Oz but based on China only? Pfft. Hero to zero.

[novitopoli]

1. Hülkenberg - Getting two penalties for the same mistake in a couple of minutes is exactly what this award was created for.
2. McLaren - The drivers would deserve much better machinery than this.
HM to Williams - as I'm not sure whether the drivers would deserve much better machinery than this.

[Benetton]

1. Hülkenberg - He needs to get it together and start lead the team. Two penalties and slow pace otherwise doesn't exactly indicate that.

2. Räikkönen's strategy - What were they thinking on the pit wall? Should apply to be his race engineer since anyone would be more competent.

HM - Bottas (had good pace at times though), Stroll (rookie mistake but it is starting to look like an expensive season for Williams),

[Ciaran]

1. Hülkenburg: passing under BOTH the VSC and the physical safety car is woeful stuff from a guy with a reputation for decent performances in the wet.
2. Bottas: another guy with a good wet weather reputation ('member Canada 2013?) throwing away a chance of a great finish. It stings that little bit more because I bet on him to win the title within hours of Rosberg announcing his retirement.

[WeirdKerr]

1 Bottas spinning under the safety car was something Coulthard(I used to be a fan of him...) would do....
2 Sauber: are they just going through the motions....

HM to Rosb oops I mean Bottas's race engineer

[Aislabie]

Not technically my job, but it looks like there's a runaway winner:

Nico Hulkenberg - 145 *
Valtteri Bottas - 65
Antonio Giovinazzi - 44 *
Jolyon Palmer - 26
Williams - 20
McLaren Honda - 16
Aero Rules - 10
Lack of Rain - 6
Lance Stroll - 6 *
Raikkonen's strategy - 6
Renault - 6
Sauber - 6

* On one occasion, there was a shared first place, followed by a single driver for second. I split the points 6-6-4 to make it fair.