Your Reject of the Race - Monaco

[Londoner]

1. Alfa Romeo. That's the second race in a row that they've plumbed the depths of the field. Both drivers involved in numerous incidents, and Giovinazzi looked simply awful out there.

2. Charles Leclerc. His move on Grosjean was spectacular, but he looked like he was trying far too hard to make progress too early on. Still could have salvaged a result had he driven slower back to the pits.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Charles Leclerc without question. I do love a good Gilles Villeneuve impression, but that was some dumb driving.

Dishonourable mention to Vettel and Hamilton for their clashing helmet choices.

[lance_rambert]

Charles Leclerc - Just about every motorsport young gun this season has found some way to piss me off. All that's missing is his car having the number 9...

[Meatwad]

Alfa Romeo is my nomination again... They got beaten by Williams in the race, that's incredibly awful.

Dishonorable mention to Leclerc for his antics in the race, though at least his bad qualifying wasn't entirely his fault.

[dr-baker]

McLaren, for failing to qualify for the most prestigious race of the year with their Spanish driver.

Oh, you meant that other prestigious race that takes place on the same day that McLaren also takes part in with a Spanish driver...

[dinizintheoven]

Alfa Romeo, maybe, but I'm going to single out Antonio Giovinazzi - beaten my both are-you-Marussia-in-disguise cars, and this isn't a new occurrence - for all this season he's looked the least qualified of the rookies despite having a two race head start.

[mario]

I imagine that Leclerc and Giovinazzi, or Alfa Romeo in general, will get a fair number of nominations, so I am going to go for an incident which wasn't shown on the world feed, but was extremely worrying.

I am going to go for marshalling standards - it turns out that, just after his pit stop, Perez was exiting the pits only to find that two marshals were running across the track in front of him. One stopped just before reaching him, whilst the other was just able to get between Perez and the barrier - but it really was a close shave there, and one that had uncomfortable shades of Tom Pryce's fatal accident back in the 1970s.


Leclerc really let his frustrations get the better of him in this race and Giovinazzi's move was overly ambitious, but this? This is just unacceptable, especially given that the marshals at Monaco are supposed to be some of the best trained in the sport and are meant to have the most support of any marshals.

[CaptainGetz12]

1) Track Marshals (See Mario's post). I know there isn't much room to maneuver at Monte Carlo, but the marshals being caught out that badly is unacceptable. Bianchi's death wasn't that long ago, so this lapse in judgement is concerning.

2) Antonio Giovinazzi. Pretty amateurish during the race and ruined Kubica's race. And I thought he would be the rookie to beat this season, but he's scored as many points as Russell, whose lack of pace is down to his woeful car.

(Dis)honourable Mentions:
Max Verstappen (Too aggressive and it cost him valuable points)
Charles Leclerc (See above, though he did have a whole field to try and cleave through)
Alfa Romeo (Struggled this weekend on pace, and Gio taking out drivers isn't a good look)

[good_Ralf]

You could say that Leclerc is jinxed at this track. He's never finished a race in four attempts since 2017.

[RAK]

Antonio Giovinazzi definitely struck me as the most rejectful driver this weekend, even with Leclerc's over-eager pushing landing him with a retirement.

[sswishbone]

Track Marshals again for this

[Enforcer]

10 posts in and no mention of Ferrari?

Sure there was an inevitability about what would happen to Leclerc constantly trying to stick his nose in at Rascasse, but it was Ferrari's qualifying shambles that put him down the field.

Add in Seb Vet leaving some tire rubber on the walls every session but the race, and the fact that they never really had any chance of overhauling Mercedes, and it was a bad weekend for everyone at Maranello.

[WeirdKerr]

Hamilton just for constantly moaning over the radio

the circuit F1 cars have long outgrown the track and should really have no place in modern f1

HM for weather reports "oh rain is coming rain is coming.... "

[mario]

10 posts in and no mention of Ferrari?

Sure there was an inevitability about what would happen to Leclerc constantly trying to stick his nose in at Rascasse, but it was Ferrari's qualifying shambles that put him down the field.

Add in Seb Vet leaving some tire rubber on the walls every session but the race, and the fact that they never really had any chance of overhauling Mercedes, and it was a bad weekend for everyone at Maranello.

I guess what does slightly redeem them is the fact that Vettel did then secure 2nd place and did at least have a clean race - he did have rather messy practise and qualifying sessions, but avoided those mistakes in the race.

Track Marshals again for this

What are they even trying to achieve with all of those marshals there? Even if they're trying to just push the car out of the way, there are so many of them there that surely they're just getting in each others way.

[UncreativeUsername37]

Tom Gaymore for not knowing what driver the saturated yellow #22 was.

Oh, Monaco. I'll say Alfa Romeo.

[MatthewFirth]

Lederec, for basically having the most disastrous weekend possible on home soil

And Alfa Romeo, who should have rose to the occasion on Rakkionen's 300th race and failed to!

[You-Gee-Eee-Day]

I'm going to have to give it to Hamilton for having the gall to complain about something when he and his team are having possibly the most dominant season in recent history. Oh no you actually had to put in effort and overcome a major issue for once? For the first time in six races you nearly finished behind another team's driver? Oh boo hoo.

Secondary mention: Leclerc I love you but the commentators were saying, the spectators were screaming, and even other drivers were probably thinking "just slow down".

[Klon]

I'm gonna agree with what the others have said about the stewarding and the track marshals and also add that they in my opinion failed badly in not punishing Leclerc - I don't mean for his moves, but for driving on the racing line - in the tunnel - with a punctured tyre . I do not know how we got away without a crash there. You can't have a driver getting away with severely endangering his competitors like that.

[Samster]

I'm going to have to give it to Hamilton for having the gall to complain about something when he and his team are having possibly the most dominant season in recent history. Oh no you actually had to put in effort and overcome a major issue for once? For the first time in six races you nearly finished behind another team's driver? Oh boo hoo.

This in a nutshell is why I can't stand the guy. Imagine if he actually hadn't won the race.

Secondary mention: Leclerc I love you but the commentators were saying, the spectators were screaming, and even other drivers were probably thinking "just slow down".

Leclerc would get my vote but one look at Forix told me that he was the only driver to actually pull off an overtake all race.

My nomination goes to those marshalls that nearly got themselves run over by Perez. Made the Baku marshalls look good.

[Ataxia]

Disagree on the Hamilton complaints.

You're driving around Monaco, your tyres are dead and you've got Verstappen all over you like a rash. How else would you react under that amount of pressure? Ultimately, he's venting - sure, he's getting agitated in the cockpit, but what person wouldn't? There's this duality that everyone wants to see the human side of the drivers, but when you actually see that people just pile on from their armchairs and expect the drivers to be just as calm.

If you've been under a high-pressure situation, be it at work, or in life - whatever, I bet you'd react in the same manner. You'd have to have the constitution of a musk ox to stay quiet.

Let's flip that around actually - what if we never got the team radio? We'd all be praising Hamilton for doing an absolutely mammoth stint on the mediums, taking them 30 laps further than they had any right to. But instead,
the hang-up seems to be that he's dared to be visibly frustrated.

I don't get it. He's an emotional driver, and wears his heart on his sleeve. What do you expect?

[Rob Dylan]

For me, the Reject of the Race was the penalty for Max Verstappen, and him subsequently not turning up on the podium. I don't know why I bother showing F1 to people sometimes. I showed someone this, their first race, live, and had to explain that, even though Verstappen had fought a really hard race, finished basically half a second behind Hamilton on track, actually finished 4th and wasn't even going on the podium. Of course, as we were talking over the race, we missed whatever announcement there might have been, and saw both Mercedes inexplicably driving on the start straight, and I had to surmise therefore that Max had been penalised.

"Oh goodie," I thought to myself. "A Mercedes 1-3. Thanks, stewards."

For me, there are few things in F1 more eye-rolling than a podium sitter, who has driven hard for an entire race, being ushered off-screen by unseen forces and off of the rostrum altogether. It's like George Lucas is in charge of this sport sometimes.

[Klon]

Disagree on the Hamilton complaints.

You're driving around Monaco, your tyres are dead and you've got Verstappen all over you like a rash. How else would you react under that amount of pressure? Ultimately, he's venting - sure, he's getting agitated in the cockpit, but what person wouldn't? There's this duality that everyone wants to see the human side of the drivers, but when you actually see that people just pile on from their armchairs and expect the drivers to be just as calm.

If you've been under a high-pressure situation, be it at work, or in life - whatever, I bet you'd react in the same manner. You'd have to have the constitution of a musk ox to stay quiet.

Let's flip that around actually - what if we never got the team radio? We'd all be praising Hamilton for doing an absolutely mammoth stint on the mediums, taking them 30 laps further than they had any right to. But instead,
the hang-up seems to be that he's dared to be visibly frustrated.

I don't get it. He's an emotional driver, and wears his heart on his sleeve. What do you expect?

The big problem is that Hamilton is in a "boy who cried struggling with the tyres" scenario in that many fans simply refuse to believe him when he's on the team radio saying that he is struggling because of his very much present tendency to overstate how difficult his job actually is - and that's actually an opinion you can find among casual viewers as well. Now to decide whether he does this because he has a messiah complex, a subconscious awareness that the majority of his career achievements are empty stats or just because he's a whiny man is an exercise left to the reader.

This of course means that when he is genuinely struggling, like he was this Grand Prix, nobody is buying it.

[rachel1990]

Okay my take of reject of the race

HM- Alfa Romeo- dear oh dear. Slower than Williams, no wonder Kimi wanted his 300 race celebrations muted (though Niki's death must have contributed to that)

However, no matter how much I love him it will have to be Charles Leclerc - Okay maybe quali wasn't 100% your fault. You did a great move on Grosjean. However, it was all worth 0 when you made a mistake by trying to pass Hulkenberg and get a puncture but then you make it 1000% worse by driving too fast back to get back to the pits and you wrecked the floor. bad weekend all round for him

[Bobby Doorknobs]

There's this duality that everyone wants to see the human side of the drivers, but when you actually see that people just pile on from their armchairs and expect the drivers to be just as calm.

I don't know about that. When was the last time someone complained about one of Kimi's outbursts (if ever)?

Otherwise I'm in complete agreement. The advent of broadcast team radio was really a Pandora's Box when it comes to how we perceive racing drivers; I hate to think what Mike Hawthorn must have been screaming in the cockpit...

[Psyclepath]

Antonio Giovinazzi has to be my vote - Looked ragged all through the race, seemed completely out of his depth. Finishing last was a good reflection of his awful race.

I'll defend Charles Leclerc - his race was ruined before it started. His overtake was beautiful, and I can't fault him for trying. Could've gotten reject, but he got more right than Giovinazzi did.

What has happened to Alfa Romeo? This is the second race in a row they've been at the pointy end. But at least Giovinazzi's antics helped Raikkönen finish ahead of a Williams... not that this is anything to be proud of. In fact, Kimi hit a Racing Point rather through his own fault.

Stroll deserves a DHM for being poor with the blue flags, plus turning in on Raikkönen. Could've been nominated sooner on a day where fewer candidates put their hands up.

[Faustus]

Alfa Romeo. Barely noticed that they were there.

[AustralianStig]

1. Everyone who is nominating drivers for ROTR who tried to overtake other cars - I'd rather see someone give it a crack and make a mistake than just sit behind the car in front for 6 dozen laps

2. Everyone who is saying "Only Hamilton could have survived that stint on those tyres" - (Mostly on Twitter, less so on here) There were plenty of other drivers who did the same number of laps on those tyres, and Grosjean did it on the softs.

[Vassago]

Can't give it to LeClerc since he said he's gonna take some risks, besides you have to admit the first 15 laps when he was making moves was the most exciting part of the race. What's the point of driving around for 2 hours in 14th place? Then people would bitch about Monaco being boring as hell again. Suddenly we have a guy who tries to stiff-arm boredom and he's a reject? Sheesh...

My vote goes to Antonio Giovinazzi. First time Williams avoids finishing last and Gio gets a penalty for causing a collision with the slowest car in the field. It doesn't get any worse than that. He's well on course to become Mr. Irrelevant this season and must be bottom 3 in terms of performance so far.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Leclerc is being nominated mainly for driving around with a puncture like he was fighting for the win and littering the track with debris in the process, not to mention causing his own retirement and a safety car. His driving beforehand is a minor factor at best.

And whether or not it's exciting is not the point of the award.

[Alextrax52]

I’m giving my nomination to the ridiculous amount of hype surrounding Hamilton’s “miracle” win. Good win under pressure yes but come on around Monaco you can drive at Granny’s pace on ageing tires and you will very rarely get passed. Plus those tires held up quite well

[Wallio]

While a definite Honorable Mention goes to Hamilton for crying all race, let's nominate the real problem here:

Pirelli - I don't understand why they bother with the different compounds anymore as everyone lasts insanely long (Grosjean did 53 laps on the reds for bathplugs sake, and they were allegedly the C5 compound) and many races see the medium within a tenth or 2 of the softs. They have reached 2010/2011 Bridgestone levels.

[Miguel98]

While a definite Honorable Mention goes to Hamilton for crying all race, let's nominate the real problem here:

Pirelli - I don't understand why they bother with the different compounds anymore as everyone lasts insanely long (Grosjean did 53 laps on the reds for bathplugs sake, and they were allegedly the C5 compound) and many races see the medium within a tenth or 2 of the softs. They have reached 2010/2011 Bridgestone levels.

Well, it's more fault to the teams than Pirelli.. They literally asked for this, and now we have this situation where the tyres are, well, crap because they run too long. But this has been apparent for ages now.

I nominate Antonio Giovinazzi for his entire performance throughout the weekend. Terrible. He needs to start performing, or a certain swede will be back in the car for 2020

[yannicksamlad]

I'm finding this one hard to judge. Driving too fast with a disintegrating tyre shredding the car and creating debris is pretty poor. But its the same driver who was pulling overtakes earlier and made only a slight misjudgment to cause the puncture (suspension was fine).
Giovinazzi tagged a slower car on a tight corner with no great force - a slight mistake.
I don't hold it against some of them that they couldnt overtake.. that's Monaco .

On the other hand, some of the strategy errors were really costly, although perhaps its hindsight that makes them look such poor decisions - Renault and Haas with the early stops for Ricciardo and Magnussen , Ferrari in quallie..

I dont think I've arrived at any conclusion. Maybe I'll re-read the posts above...

[Rob Dylan]

Ok doke, the poll is up! Sorry for the delay, was in London over the weekend on holiday. Anyhow, here are the four options for Reject of the Race in Monaco, and you have 48 hours to make up your mind! I was also considering adding Lewis Hamilton + indestructible Pirelli tyres to the mix, but thought it would be in bad taste to have the winner being nominated for ROTR. So here you go, get voting

[Pacific Edge]

Have to agree with those defending Leclerc, what was he supposed to do, at this track there are so few places to really plan an attack in, which brings me to my ROTR......

It's too late to add it as an ROTR candidate, but I am going for the FIA for keeping this track year in and year out, yes, I'm all for the FIA preserving the very core of it's traditional heartland, BUT Monaco really has little to offer as far as racing goes, it's more about the glitz and glamour than it is about the racing. This is the second year running where the lead driver, despite having an issue, was able to hold on (and for a considerable amount too), simply because the guy behind him can't get past.

[sswishbone]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/143914/fia-to-reinforce-marshal-rules-after-perez-nearmiss

I know it's a tie but fact they were on track WITHOUT PERMISSION is beyond reject worthy

[Rob Dylan]

So it's a four-way tie! The winners of Reject of the Race in Canada are many, and they are Alfa Romeo; their driver Antonio Giovinazzi; Charles Leclerc; and poor marshalling! Alfa Romeo had a generally poor weekend after a good start to their weekend, whilst Giovinazzi received the award for finishing last behind both Williams, and as an amalgamation of his poor start to 2019. Charles Leclerc had the most tv-heavy issues, qualifying poorly and then crashing during the race and becoming the only retirement. Finally, genuinely dangerous marshalling could have led to death mid-race from marshals running in front of Sergio Pérez.

These were all strong contenders, and without a serious mandate to pick one over others, I am going Proportional Representation here and giving them all the prize. Everybody wins!