2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - ROTR Thread

[Ataxia]

1. Hulkenberg - wasted a potential mega result with a lazy trip to the wall.
2. Force India - a messy tangle wasted a potential win.

[dr-baker]

Vettel and Ocon.

[sswishbone]

1. Vettel - Not only is it illegal to deliberately smash another car, you definitely should be banned for then asking 'when did I drive dangerously?' But of course, had you not been such a silly little brat you'd have WON the race, automatic reject.

2. Ocon - Congratulations, your impersonation of Bottas on opening lap cost your team a possible 1 - 2

[RAK]

1) Sebastian Vettel: Unsportsmanlike behaviour that received a deserved penalty.

2) Baku marshals: That second safety car should have been a VSC and the incompetence of the marshals contributed to the chaos that resulted.

[Londoner]

There's a laundry list of candidates today. Honourable mentions first:

Renault - This was a day when big points were on offer, and yet both cars didn't make half distance.
Sauber - Yeah, let's have a barging match when there's a points-scoring opportunity up for grabs. They were lucky they got away with it, the imbeciles.
Max Verstappen's luck - I don't like the guy, but he was keeping his nose clean and probably would've won this race
Race Control - The marshals were running around like they were members of the Conservative Party (topical reference ftw ), and I still don't understand why there was a red flag.
Force India - This could have been a 1-2 finish for them. Instead, Perez's finishing streak is over, and Ocon was lucky to salvage some points. Would be clear-cut ROTR material, but for these two...

2. Lewis Hamilton - Brake-testing behind the SC is utterly moronic behaviour. Should've got at least a DTP for that, although his headrest coming loose probably covers that nicely.

But ROTR has to go to:

1. Sebastian Vettel - Should've been an instant DSQ for using his car as a weapon. Yes, Hamilton was brake-testing like an idiot but there's absolutely no excuse for that reaction.

[dr-baker]

Vettel and Ocon.

Honorary mention to Renault for being the only team not to score any points whatsoever!

[UncreativeUsername37]

1. Sebastian Vettel — It was going to take something special to get ROTR this race, and that was something special.
2. Verstappen's mechanical failure — He should be where Ricciardo is in the standings.

[good_Ralf]

1) The whole field bar Red Bull, Williams, Magnussen, Alonso
2) The Baku detractors/haters

[This Could Be You]

RoTR
1. Vettel: let Hamilton get to him and threw away what would almost certainly have been a win
2. Renault: the only team not to score.
DHM:
Sainz: that spin was silly
Grosjean: brake moaning
Marshalls: incompetent
Verstappen's engine: cursed
Palmer: slow and ragged, dead last when he retired
Hamilton: it was a little bit of a brake-test
Sauber and Force India drivers: collisions with teammates

[novitopoli]

1. Sebastian Vettel: The stop-and-go was even too mild. This is an Alemannenring 1994 level of petty revenge.
2. Renault: When 9 teams out of 10 score, the tenth has earned itself a ROTR nomination by default. Plus, they still field Jolyon Palmer.
HM to:
- The race marshals: Completely overwhelmed by the situation, which has sadly become a frequent sight at such venues.
- Lewis Hamilton: It takes two to tango, as both he and Seb were blatantly childish today. And it's definitely unfair that he got away with no penalty (although karma took care of it)
- Force India: Another potentially great result screwed by the drivers. Sort the things out, you're wasting a great package.
- Grosjean's brakes: It's been 1,5 years and they STILL aren't working properly. This is getting farcical.
- Hülkenberg: Wasted a great result.
- Ericsson: Answered to the rumors about the owners favouring him above his teammate by almost binning it when asked to make way to his teammate.
- Vandoorne: Who?
- RTL covfefe: Technical issues, no highlights, no post-race interviews, almost no podium (or, better, they believed they wouldn't have to show it), commentators confusing drivers and teams and the usual US-like ad ratio. I know I should be thankful because someone's airing Formula 1 free-to-air at all, but still!

[Meatwad]

1. Sebastian Vettel: Should have been black flagged.
2. The stewards: Should have shown Vettel the black flag.

Ocon gets a dishonorable mention for ruining a potential Force India 1-2 but misses out on the top two due to his good recovery drive.

[mario]

1. Vettel - Not only is it illegal to deliberately smash another car, you definitely should be banned for then asking 'when did I drive dangerously?' But of course, had you not been such a silly little brat you'd have WON the race, automatic reject.

2. Ocon - Congratulations, your impersonation of Bottas on opening lap cost your team a possible 1 - 2

I think that those choices are going to be fairly popular ones, though frankly it feels like it would almost be quicker to list those who don't deserve some sort of nomination.

I have to agree with those choices in that order as the two biggest contenders though - Vettel badly overreacted there, and I can see some drawing a less welcome comparison to Schumacher and his behaviour on track after that incident. As for Ocon, I have to agree that, with the pace and track position that he and Perez had, a 1-2 finish was a distinct possibility that would have put them within a handful of points of Red Bull and 3rd place in the WCC - it was a golden opportunity for the team, and he blew it.

1) The whole field bar Red Bull, Williams, Magnussen, Alonso
2) The Baku detractors/haters

Given that Red Bull and Williams both saw one car retire due to mechanical problems, even that feels slightly generous.

It was a pretty surreal race though, as so many others had races that, under usual circumstances, would be ROTR winning:
-the two Sauber drivers hitting each other (I can't believe they got away with so little damage after that)
-Palmer's poor pace in practise compounded by a litany of mechanical woes
-Hulkenberg's unusual mistake by steering the car into the wall
-Bottas's clash with Kimi
-Sainz's spin (made worse by his attempts to put the blame onto Kvyat)
-Grosjean's continued brake woes
-another breakdown for Verstappen (which is going to hurt especially badly given Ricciardo went on to win)
-the utter farce that was every single safety car restart, where each restart ended up just causing another safety car to clean up the debris from the previous one (it feels like they red flagged it as much because they'd had so many clashes on track)
-marshals that were charitably described as "inexperienced" by commentators and by quite a few as "blithering idiots"
-Kvyat's breakdown (it says something that the fact that his car just packed up at the side of the road yet, with so much going on elsewhere, that was just one minor event)

That's just some of the things that I can think of for what proved to be a bit of a barmy race.

[WaffleCat]

2. Vettel and Hamilton, both of 'em. What you both did ain't cricket. Not the brake check, not that bump. Cut that out.

1. The stewards. They messed up more than once. Took them three full laps before even considering a Safety Car for Kvyat. Even if they put the VSC out, I wouldn't have minded a bit. The call on the brake-check incident was the major factor, though. Should have been harsher on probably both drivers. Both on Vettel, should've been DSQ'ed, but especially astounded by the no-call on LewHam for driving unnecessarily slowly out of the turn. Anything, a drive-thru, a 5 time penalty, even a warning would have sufficed. But to be a complete no-call is light as all hell on Hamilton.

[dinizintheoven]

As some of you know, any time I see an incident that makes me immediately think "Reject of the Race!", that's it, signed and sealed. Maybe it's because I don't expect that incident to be the first in a long list.

That initial award would have gone to Esteban Ocon for taking himself and his team mate out of, as it was pointed out on another thread, 25 points - or more, which Williams would then bank. But in the end, Williams scored "only" 15 points and Ocon managed to haul himself to eight points, so it wasn't a total disaster. Still, if I was him I'd be wary of a fuming Mexican in the back of the garage. As it is, though, Ocon will get a mere two ROTR points for a shared second place.

Two further ROTR points go to Nico Hülkenberg, for throwing away the kind of massive points finish that Renault, right now, really need. Instead, Kevin Magnussen and Haas took those points.

And one ROTR point each goes to Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein. But Wehrlein scored a real point, I hear you scream! If there's any team desperate for points, even more so than Renault and McLaren, it's Sauber - so any chance has to be taken and not almost thrown away the way these two careless clowns so very nearly did! Still, Sauber remain ahead of the orange snails... for now, at least.

But...

Now everyone around Australia the world will have their own ideas on that, and we always get letters and phone calls about different things that happen, so I don't expect anyone to agree with me, I don't expect that you'll get more than 50% agreement on anything. Let me just tell you what I think about it. I think it was a disgraceful performance from a captain driver that got his sums wrong today, and I think it should never be permitted to happen again. We keep reading and hearing that the players drivers are under a lot of pressure, and that they're tired and jaded and perhaps their judgment and their skill is blunted. Well, perhaps they might advance that as an excuse for what happened out there today. Not with me they don't. I think it was a very poor performance, one of the worst things I have ever seen done on a cricket field race track.

...the full ten steaming heaps of ROTR dung go to the four-time World Champion and the great bastion of sportsmanship that is Sebastian Vettel. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID. Doing it is one thing, flatly denying your own wrongdoing when x-million people worldwide saw it is even worse. It's incidents along the lines of this one that always put a question mark over Michael Schumacher's great success, and I wonder if he was sitting there in his wheelchair thinking "ach, Dummkopf, why do you not learn from my mistakes?!"

In all my years as a commentator, but certainly no driver, I have to admit, that was an awful and crass piece of driving by Jarier Vettel.

[good_Ralf]

Given that Red Bull and Williams both saw one car retire due to mechanical problems, even that feels slightly generous.

I should correct that to 'the Red Bull and Williams drivers', but I'm still really excited from today.

[Dan B]

Honestly, both Vettel and Hamilton should be joint ROTR. Should Vettel have been punished? Yes, definitely. Should he have been DQ'd? Perhaps. That said, Hamilton should have been given a penalty as well. Both were quite unsportsmanlike.

Ocon and Bottas also get black marks for ruining their teammate's and fellow countryman's races respectively. Also what the hell is going on at Sauber?

[Dj_bereta]

Like people said, there are a lot of candidates in this crash fest GP:

Brazilian coverage team: For fueling again the conspiracy theories from last year saying: "it's strange to see Monisha wanting equal treatment for Ericsson and Wherlein since in the last year she favored the Swedish over Nasr".

Renault/Toro Rosso: Lost a bunch of points and the chance of closing into FI due driver mistakes and poor reliability. Special mention for Renault engine. Half of the cars retired due engine problems. And a very special mention for Hulkenberg for worsening my situation in the avatar bet.

Massa's car: Cost the Brazilian a shot at winning the race.

Hamilton: For repeating again his controversial moves from 10 years ago at Fuji.

Baku haters: The race of this year was amazing. Well done Baku.

But, I'm going to give my ROTR to:

1 - Vettel: A 4th time champion throwing his car against a fellow driver for losing his cool is a no-no. He was very lucky of not getting disqualified from the race (or getting a harsher penalty if he had wrecked Hamilton). Remember: Kyle Busch got a harsh suspension for something similar (but with way worse results) in Nascar, a racing series well know for allowing this type of clash with minimal punishments. I'm starting to wonder if we are going to see a repeat of 1989, 1990, 1994 and 1997 events.

2 - Force India: Lost a potential maiden win with the crash. Obviously Ocon was super frustrated with the events of Montreal and this crash was predicable. Ocon vs Perez is quickly becoming the new Hamilton vs Rosberg. An easy 4th place at WCC could be in danger if this events continue to happen.

[James1978]

1. Vettel - OK Hamilton has to have some of the blame, but his reaction at the end reminded me of Silverstone '95 where Schumacher suggested Adelaide the previous year was Hill's fault. What an a**e.

2. Ocon - not good revenge for Canada.

Probably dishonourable mentions to everyone apart from Riccardo, Stroll, K-Mag and Alonso.

[Alextrax52]

Can't we have more than 2 point scoring nominees? So much fun today

Anyway I'll go for

1: Sebastian Vettel: Everyone who knows me on here will know that I cannot stand Lewis Hamilton and while his brake testing was pathetic there can be no excuse for Seb to retaliate in the manner he did. How he didn't get a disqualification or at the very least the black and white flag I'll never know. And then he has the audacity to basically say "what did I do wrong"? That alone gets him number one spot here. Of course what tops it off is he'd have won if he wasn't so braindead

2: Nico Hulkenberg: As you know I always feel that a pure random moment should make it in here and this mistake was just so unexpected. I think it was the only pure driving error and it cost Renault big time

HM's
Verstappen's luck: that's 4 DNF's in 6 races none through his own fault and from strong positions. Starting to feel sorry for him

Force India: A potential 1-2 finish was ruined by the stupid collision between the 2 cars. The debriefs just get more entertaining

Renault: You were the only team not to score which considering we have McHonda in the field is an automatic mention

Sauber: Yeah well done for scoring a point but why were you trying to set heart rates racing there?

Stoffel Vandoorne: was he even in this race?

Lewis Hamilton: Should have got at least a drive through for brake testing. Thankfully karma got him in the end

[Spectoremg]

1. Mercedes share this. Hamilton's constant whining and Bottas taking a rooky on the last lap - did you need second place that badly?
2. Force India, for breaking the first rule of teammates.

[Enforcer]

1st Sebastien Vettel - In any code of motorsport, it's pretty much sacrosanct that you don't deliberately ram people. It is kind of a dangerous sport after all. Don't get me wrong, Hamilton deserves to be run off the road just for being Hamilton, but you still don't actually do it. He could've had no complaints if he'd been DQd.

2nd Force India - Just lol. I don't think Perez and Ocon like each other that much.

[Salamander]

1st Sebastien Vettel - In any code of motorsport, it's pretty much sacrosanct that you don't deliberately ram people.

I'd love to see you tell that to Kyle Busch.

[rachel1990]

another following the crowd-

1- Sebastian Vettel what Hamilton did was bad. there is little doubt about it. However to react like that was a million times worse. It shows you up as a dangerous driver and once again puts into question those 4 world titles with stunts like that. What makes it even worse that if he had kept his head is would have won the race anyway because Hamilton's true punishment was heading (no pun intended) his way. Should have been black flagged.

2Nico Hulkenberg When you are the team's only hope of getting points (Palmer is going now that is certain) binning the car on a day when points and a podium could have been on the table is wasteful

HM
Lewis Hamilton- Do not drive like an idiot and brake test people. It annoys everyone when you do that.
The FIA- Vettel should have been blacked flagged. You cannot use the car as a weapon. Maybe a one race ban as well.
Force India's Drivers- I would love to be in the debriefs at the moment

[mario]

The FIA- Vettel should have been blacked flagged. You cannot use the car as a weapon. Maybe a one race ban as well.

Auto Motor und Sport have claimed that the stewards did in fact consider disqualifying Vettel, but chose not to do so for two reasons.

The first is that they believed that Vettel made his move because he thought that Hamilton had brake tested him (though the telemetry they had indicated that Hamilton didn't actually drive any differently to the previous laps), and therefore acted out of hot headedness rather than outright malice.

The second reason, however, is that they also didn't want to disqualify Vettel because of the impact it would have on the championship standings. In other words, they were more interested in preserving the entertainment factor of seeing Vettel and Hamilton fighting on track than they were in ensuring that the regulations were upheld.

In some ways, whilst the race did have some crazy aspects that has set tongues wagging afterwards, as time has passed it has begun leaving an increasingly sour aftertaste to me.

The way in which the safety car was used felt, as a number of commentators cynically noted, like they were deploying it to artificially close up the pack and to bring fast cars like Bottas back into contention, and perhaps because it was creating more dramatic incidents on each restart. The fact that stewards felt they had to soften their punishments to ensure that they were acceptable to the commercial side of the sport, though something that was long suspected, still sits ill with me. Though there were the positive stories with Ricciardo and Stroll, I must admit those more negative aspects still gnaw a bit at me.

[lance_rambert]

The second reason, however, is that they also didn't want to disqualify Vettel because of the impact it would have on the championship standings. In other words, they were more interested in preserving the entertainment factor of seeing Vettel and Hamilton fighting on track than they were in ensuring that the regulations were upheld.

The FIA/stewards doing that now sets up an incredibly dangerous precedent. Should another incident in the style of Schumacher @ Adelaide '94/Jerez '97 occur between the two of them, it could very well be brushed off all in the name of spicing up the show, and let's not forget what other nonsense could happen as a result of such an incident.

As an example of such nonsense, look at what happened in NASCAR's Cup Series at the 2014 Texas Chase race. A late race collision (albeit a racing incident) results in one car getting totally screwed out of a good result. Said screwed driver (Gordon) gets irrationally pissed at the other driver (Keselowski) that caused the incident, then a massive pit brawl ensues post-race due to tempers flaring. This fight definitely doesn't make the sport look good, except maybe to a few excessively inebriated race fans. If this is the route the FIA wants to take, then they can go right ahead. They better not start crying once their precious sport is brought into disrepute because they thought Lewis and Sebastian getting pissed off at each other to the point of punching each other's lights out would bring in more fans.

So, I'm giving my first nomination to the FIA/Race Stewards for setting themselves up for such a predicament. Vettel should have just been disqualified for that, frankly, bathplug bullshit maneuver. Moreso now that it appears that Hamilton wasn't brake-checking him in the first place. Instead, the FIA decides to put on their kiddie gloves, just like what NASCAR did with Jeff Gordon in the aforementioned Texas incident. They may very well regret not nipping this problem in the bud right away.

Speaking of the devil, Sebastian Vettel, who would have been the real winner, gets my second vote. Pulling off such a bathplug ridiculous maneuver is one thing when you're in a closed wheel stock/sports/prototype car. However, doing that shite in an open-wheeled car is flat-out dangerous. God help them if one of the cars ends up airborne over the other... *shudders*

[Aislabie]

1 - Sebastian Vettel - For using an F1 car as a weapon. Look what happened to Wehrlein when that kinda shite happened accidentally at similar speeds.

2 - Sebastian Vettel - For not having the good grace and humility to apologise for his godawful conduct after the race.

[Normal32]

1 - Sebastian Vettel - Really?! Frankly childish behaviour on track.
2 - The stewards - Very poor all around - trying to spice up the show is really starting to get on my nerves now.

DHM:
Valterri Bottas - almost bathplug it up.

[CoopsII]

1 - Ocon, although in a brilliant way
2 - The Hulk, a real pity

[Salamander]

1. Me - for saying the race would be crap.
2. AJ Allmendinger - for taking one of the very few times he is going to be relevant this year and ruining it by driving like a total dingus.

[Rob Dylan]

1. Esteban Ocon - unforgiveable move, taking out his teammate and practically himself as well, whilst both drivers were in line for some serious points-grabbing. He's a fast driver, but he really showed his lack of experience at Baku.
2. The glorious game of Silly Buggers - Hamilton's ludicrously slow pace at that corner was enough to warrant a mention after Vettel ended up bumping him up the back. But then Vettel's possibly-deliberate possibly-not move to shunt him whilst they were side-by-side caused me to be amazed that they weren't both penalised or disqualified regarding the incident. But I must say it was particularly entertaining.

Honourable mention to all the other mishaps and rejectful actions that would have been award-worthy today if it were not for the sheer amount of rejectfulness on display this weekend. These include (from memory):
- The Saubers colliding with each other
- Hulkenberg also missing out on top points through an unforced error.
- Bottas' possibly-race-ending collision with Räikönnen.
- Hamilton's head-rest.
- Verstappen's luck.
- Carlos Sainz Jr.'s spin at the first corner.

Great race.

[dr-baker]

The second reason, however, is that they also didn't want to disqualify Vettel because of the impact it would have on the championship standings. In other words, they were more interested in preserving the entertainment factor of seeing Vettel and Hamilton fighting on track than they were in ensuring that the regulations were upheld.

The FIA/stewards doing that now sets up an incredibly dangerous precedent. Should another incident in the style of Schumacher @ Adelaide '94/Jerez '97 occur between the two of them, it could very well be brushed off all in the name of spicing up the show, and let's not forget what other nonsense could happen as a result of such an incident.

Of course, the ironic thing about that is that if Vettel had been DSQed, he and Lewis would be much closer in the championship, points-wise...

[Ciaran]

1. Sebastian Vettel - I had a tenner on you, arschloch!
2. Nico Hülkenburg - probably threw away a possible podium, given how topsy-turvy this race was.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

1. Everybody except the ones who don't deserve it - Yes, that will do...

2. The turn 2 kerb - It kind of started everything when you think about it.

[Bleu]

1. Vettel
2. Hülkenberg

[Aguvazk]

1. Hamilton, that's unfair play, maybe it's legal, but it's a prick move, like abu dabhi 2016, and no sanction? Wtf!!! (Vettel wasn't an angel, btw)
2. Renault, too bad not having points in this russian rulette.

[Peteroli34]

1. Sebastian Vettel - You just dont do something like that

2. Everybody that isnt Lance Stroll

[Chrisdude]

Is it too late to make a shout? If not, I will go for:

Vettel - it is one thing causing a collision through over-ambition, or hell, even pure recklesness, but regardless of the stimulus, driving alongside a rival and swerving into them, during safety car is unbelievably stupid. Would have laughed hard if Vettel and Hamilton had locked wheels and somehow blocked the circuit.

Hulkenberg - Binned it in a seemingly unforced error on a day where big points where going. Now Stroll has a podium before him.

Honourable mention: Massa's luck: Whenever he is going well and the car is sweet and big points are on the table, something always seems to shite on him, but never when the car is not suited to the track or he is having one of his "massa can't be bothered" races, then it holds together. Is he the most unlucky driver since Amon, Herbert, and Alesi ( hm for Max Verstappen)

[Salamander]

1. Me - for saying the race would be crap.
2. AJ Allmendinger - for taking one of the very few times he is going to be relevant this year and ruining it by driving like a total dingus.

Now that I'm watching the full race, I'm changing my first vote to driving standards for being so completely awful. Half the grid it seems can't be trusted to run side-by-side through a corner without hitting something, it's ridiculous.

2nd vote is me, HM to Allmendinger.

[Rob Dylan]

I felt honoured to count up these scores. Christ on a bike, people, just think what kind of race this was to create the kind of reject suggestion list!

1 Sebastian Vettel 222
2 Nico Hulkenberg 48
3 Esteban Ocon 46
4 The stewards 32
5 Force India 24
6 Lewis Hamilton 22
7 Renault 18
8 All except RB, Williams, MAG, ALO 10
- Mercedes 10
- Whatever Simtek said 10
- Driving standards 10
12 Salamander 6
- Turn 2 kerb 6
- All except STR 6
- Baku marshals 6
- Baku detractors/haters 6
- Verstappen's failure 6
18 Marcus Ericsson 1
- Pascal Wehrlein 1

Sebastian Vettel wins outright for his interesting take on driving standards during the Sunday race. I was actually surprised Hulkenberg was runner-up, but his unforced error was definitely noteworthy in barring him from the possibility of massive points amidst all of the chaos that the race brought.