Infinite Improbability Drive of the Season - 2009

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 11 Nov 2009, 17:19

Well, it's been a long time coming and you've all known it would eventually get to this. We've voted for 10 Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race awards during the 2009 season (tally here), and now the time has come to elect the IIDOTS. Just to remember everyone,the IIDOTS is

based on the assumption that, at any moment in time, there is a non-zero probability that even the slowest, most inexperienced and least reliable of underdogs might win the race. That under every rock, there might be a gold nugget. This is the award for that first podium that we all celebrate, for the overtake no-one was expecting, for Nick Heidfeld's first win, for Brawn actually making it to the grid. This is the award, in short, for the driver or team that makes you go "Woah! Where did THAT come from?!".

Just remember: this is a feel-good award, that will focus on nothing but track action.

As a test for the new, improved rules coming up in 2010, here's how it will work: each poster has 2 votes. Please show clearly who you think was the most surprising driver or team, and who was the second. For the counting, I will attribute 10 points to your first, and 6 points to your second choice. Why? Because I liked the points system back in the days. So, here's my vote:

1st (10 points): Brawn GP. Made it to the grid, and then some.
2nd (6 points): Mark Webber. Won 2 races, held it up against the Next Big Thing in F1.

I am also happy to report that, after considerable negotiation, begging and bribing, we may have achieved the biggest boon an award can get: the Infinite Improbability Drive of the Season will be announced on the F1 Rejects Season Review Podcast. If that isn't the ultimate plug, I don't know what is! So, your votes do count. Let's hear it everyone!

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 11 Nov 2009, 17:21

1. Mark Webber
2. Rubens Barrichello

tristan1117 · Post by **tristan1117** » 11 Nov 2009, 17:22

1st Brawn GP
2nd Force India

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 11 Nov 2009, 17:42

Giancarlo Fisichella.

SuperAguri · Post by **SuperAguri** » 11 Nov 2009, 17:49

1 - Kamui Kobayashi (For stunning drives in his 2 GPs [Going to be a popular choice I think])
2 - Rubens Barichello (With more luck he would have been World Champion [As long as Barichello stays in F1 then I won't feel old])

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 11 Nov 2009, 17:56

Phoenix wrote:Giancarlo Fisichella.

Second one?

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 11 Nov 2009, 18:18

shinji wrote:
Phoenix wrote:Giancarlo Fisichella.

Second one?

Yeah, what he said.

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 11 Nov 2009, 19:29

1. Nico Rosberg- I totally did not see him finishing ahead of the entire Renault squad, both Toyota drivers and Kovalainen.

2. Kamui Kobayashi- The only in-season replacement to register a point... and he did it in just two races after a fluke accident from the man in front of him.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 11 Nov 2009, 20:29

Jenson Button
Kamui Kobayashi.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 11 Nov 2009, 22:35

1. Sebastian Vettel
Who was really expecting him to be fighting for the title this early in his career?
2. Kamui Kobayashi
Made Kazi Nakajima look more like Inoue than his dad.

SuperAguri · Post by **SuperAguri** » 11 Nov 2009, 22:48

As things may change, with 14ish votes (counting the single Fissi vote) the table looks like this

1 - Brawn GP 50 (5 1sts)
2 - Kobayashi 50 (2 1sts, 5 2nds)
3 - Barrichello 22 (1 1st, 2 2nds)
4 - Rosberg 20 (2 1sts)
=5 - Webber 16 (1 1st, 1 2nd)
=5 - Button 16 (1 1st, 1 2nd)
=5 - Fisichella 16 (1 1st, 1 2nd)
8 - Force India 12 (2 2nds)
9 - Vettel 10 (1 1st)
10 - Hamilton (1 2nd)

Bold = Most 1sts, Underline = Most overall votes

Snoozey2 · Post by **Snoozey2** » 12 Nov 2009, 00:30

1) Kobayashi - the cowboy mosies into F1 City, makes his stamp, and rides into the sunset
2) Force India - for a couple of races at least, the Force was with India

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 12 Nov 2009, 00:38

1-Barrichello (Unlucky season with much mechanical failures but showed much effort and performance, for me, made a great work and a great season)
2-Button (after a awful season made a great job winning the tittle)

Pieman · Post by **Pieman** » 12 Nov 2009, 13:12

1) Nico Rosberg - for some time I believed he had been brought into F1 on the strength of his name. This season I have been proved wrong.
2) Kamui Kobayashi - at first, just a substitute, but he injected more excitement and interest than I think anyone else has in 2009.

Waris · Post by **Waris** » 12 Nov 2009, 15:07

Ffff... This is no fun anymore, because some choices are just too obvious... and this has been a season full of surprises, but if I have to pick two, then I choose:

1. Brawn GP
2. ...It's not fair, but I have to say it... Kamui Kobayashi!!

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 12 Nov 2009, 15:11

Hey SuperAguri, I'm going to count the single vote on Fisico as a 10 pointer. 8-)

noisebox · Post by **noisebox** » 12 Nov 2009, 15:17

1. Brawn, and based on their pre season problems - 2. Lewis Hamilton

Tealy · Post by **Tealy** » 12 Nov 2009, 15:21

1. Brawn GP
2. Fisichella (Purely for the drive at Spa)

Many Blue Flags · Post by **Many Blue Flags** » 14 Nov 2009, 08:50

1) Nico Rosberg
Again, a stunning performance where he wrangled the maximum out of the Williams, and deservedly considered for a Brawn seat.

2) McLaren-Mercedes
From a terrible start to the season, it truly proves to show how a team can work hard and get things around. Lewis was working with the car as an effort to make up for lie-gate, and I really believe they turned things around. So well done to them.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 14 Nov 2009, 09:35

1. Nico Rosberg: Managed to extract more out of that Williams than just about anyone else could. Deserves a chance at a better team
2. Kamui Cowboyashi: Did something more noteworthy in 2 races than the rest of the Toyota team in the rest of the season

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 14 Nov 2009, 09:39

1st - Brawn
2nd - Brawn
3rd - Brawn

I'm sorry, but I don't get how Kobayashi can be considered IIDOTS given Brawn's rags-to-riches story. Impressive newbies come and go - Hamilton's debut was more impressive - but no-one will ever repeat Brawn's success. At least not in out lifetimes.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 14 Nov 2009, 09:46

Captain Hammer wrote:I'm sorry, but I don't get how Kobayashi can be considered IIDOTS given Brawn's rags-to-riches story. Impressive newbies come and go - Hamilton's debut was more impressive - but no-one will ever repeat Brawn's success. At least not in out lifetimes.

I suppose I can manifest my opinion without fear of standing accused of manipulation; the vote is public.

I heartily agree with that. However, we need two votes from you, and I will only count 10 points for Brawn if you don't give us a second place vote. Wanna try again?

watka · Post by **watka** » 14 Nov 2009, 11:47

1. Brawn GP - from the ashes or what?
2. Force India - made giant strides forward this season, working with Merc really helped
3. Kamui Kobayashi - was under pressure to an extent, his career hinged on those 2 races, and he aced it

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 14 Nov 2009, 11:51

watka wrote:1. Brawn GP - from the ashes or what?
2. Force India - made giant strides forward this season, working with Merc really helped
3. Kamui Kobayashi - was under pressure to an extent, his career hinged on those 2 races, and he aced it

Again, I'm only counting the first two votes you made...

watka · Post by **watka** » 14 Nov 2009, 11:56

CarlosFerreira wrote:
watka wrote:1. Brawn GP - from the ashes or what?
2. Force India - made giant strides forward this season, working with Merc really helped
3. Kamui Kobayashi - was under pressure to an extent, his career hinged on those 2 races, and he aced it

Again, I'm only counting the first two votes you made...

Woops, there in ranking order anyway.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 14 Nov 2009, 12:00

Captain Hammer wrote:1st - Brawn
2nd - Brawn
3rd - Brawn

I'm sorry, but I don't get how Kobayashi can be considered IIDOTS given Brawn's rags-to-riches story. Impressive newbies come and go - Hamilton's debut was more impressive - but no-one will ever repeat Brawn's success. At least not in out lifetimes.

1st to Brawn
2nd to pieces of Adrian Sutil's car - they were all over the place in a lot of races and the IIOTR is all about whoever was all over the place

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 14 Nov 2009, 12:06

Thank you both, guys.

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 14 Nov 2009, 12:19

Captain Hammer wrote:I'm sorry, but I don't get how Kobayashi can be considered IIDOTS given Brawn's rags-to-riches story. Impressive newbies come and go - Hamilton's debut was more impressive - but no-one will ever repeat Brawn's success. At least not in out lifetimes.

While I don't agree on his last sentence, I agree that this Kobayashi-fad is going a bit too far.

1.) Brawn Grand Prix (enough said about that one...)
2.) Jenson Button (hello, World Champion? If you would have told me this a the end of 2008, I would have laughed in your face and/or have you send to a psychiatrist.)

Ross Prawn · Post by **Ross Prawn** » 14 Nov 2009, 12:27

I'm going for:-

1. Force India - Fantastic progress up the field for a team with a small budget and resources.
2. Kobayashi - The only rookie this year who actually managed to jump straight into a F1 car and drive it fast. A fantastic achievement given the lack of testing. Yes Hamilton's debut was better, but Hamilton was in the best car in the field, had tons of testing miles, and had be programmed to be a racing driver by Mclaren since the age of 10. Kobayashi was making sushi.

As for Brawn, obviously a fantastic achievement and hats off to them. But was it improbable? No. It was the conclusion of Honda's strategy to win at F1, which involved buying a top team, buying top drivers, hiring in the best chief engineer in the sport and spending squillions. The improbable thing was that Honda decided to pull out at exactly the wrong time, but still had the grace to fund the team for 2009.

fjackdaw · Post by **fjackdaw** » 14 Nov 2009, 12:37

Ross Prawn wrote:As for Brawn, obviously a fantastic achievement and hats off to them. But was it improbable? No.

I dunno, the Guardian Season Preview pretty much dismissed their chances:

"...they must surely struggle near the back of the field." Maurice Hamilton had Button as 14th, Barrichello as 18th. I don't really think anyone could have realistically expected much more than that of them.

Ross Prawn · Post by **Ross Prawn** » 14 Nov 2009, 12:56

fjackdaw wrote:
Ross Prawn wrote:As for Brawn, obviously a fantastic achievement and hats off to them. But was it improbable? No.

I dunno, the Guardian Season Preview pretty much dismissed their chances:

"...they must surely struggle near the back of the field." Maurice Hamilton had Button as 14th, Barrichello as 18th. I don't really think anyone could have realistically expected much more than that of them.

One man did !! Autosport 24th March --

"Piquet not surprised by Brawn form

By Jonathan Noble March 24th 2009, 08:19 GMT

Nelson Piquet reckons it is no surprise that Brawn GP is heading into the Australian Grand Prix as favourites for victory."

I'm in good company.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 14 Nov 2009, 13:16

I can't back it up, but since about December last year I had been saying Brawn and BMW would fight each other for the title and McLaren would be trundling around the back of the field. I was 66.66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666667% correct

Ross Prawn · Post by **Ross Prawn** » 14 Nov 2009, 13:25

kostas22 wrote:I can't back it up, but since about December last year I had been saying Brawn and BMW would fight each other for the title and McLaren would be trundling around the back of the field. I was 66.66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666667% correct

Now that is Infinite Improbability, because Brawn didn't exist until February. Well done.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 14 Nov 2009, 13:39

Ross Prawn wrote:
kostas22 wrote:I can't back it up, but since about December last year I had been saying Brawn and BMW would fight each other for the title and McLaren would be trundling around the back of the field. I was 66.66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666667% correct

Now that is Infinite Improbability, because Brawn didn't exist until February. Well done.

Beaten by a technicality...
So I quote, "Whoever buys Honda and BMW will fight each other for the title."

SuperAguri · Post by **SuperAguri** » 15 Nov 2009, 15:19

Captain Hammer wrote:I'm sorry, but I don't get how Kobayashi can be considered IIDOTS

You're off my christmas card list again!

given Brawn's rags-to-riches story.

Surely riches to slightly less riches story?

Impressive newbies come and go

True, but Kobayashi does look like he could be, to quote Murray Walker, "One of the best drivers, grand prix racing has produced.". I've not remember being this impressed by a new driver since Mark Webber coming 5th in Australia.

Hamilton's debut was more impressive

Indeed, but as stated he was groomed by Ron Dennis (oo-er) as a McLaren driver since a young age and had lots of testing and simulator work. Silver steering wheel in his hands so to speak and the Mclaren is one of the best cars in the field esp 2007 and 2008.

but no-one will ever repeat Brawn's success. At least not in out lifetimes.

I don't know just get a big car maker to put lots of money and effort into getting a good team together, spending lots of money on car design, giving the new team a pile of money to run the team for the next season and then pull out. Everyone knew that the 2009 Honda would be good, however a Mercedes engine and the inability of the other teams to be competent mean that Brawn did flatter to decieve.

I'm sure if Ferrari sold the team to Schumacher and the team was named Schumacher then it would still be very competitive. If Force India won this years championship then it would have been something to write home about.

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 15 Nov 2009, 18:38

I considered the entire season as a whole when I did that. I think that Button/Brawn kind of lost that right after, about... mmm... Monaco.

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 15 Nov 2009, 20:57

thehemogoblin wrote:I considered the entire season as a whole when I did that. I think that Button/Brawn kind of lost that right after, about... mmm... Monaco.

After Turkey, actually.

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 15 Nov 2009, 21:27

Phoenix wrote:
thehemogoblin wrote:I considered the entire season as a whole when I did that. I think that Button/Brawn kind of lost that right after, about... mmm... Monaco.

After Turkey, actually.

By Turkey, I was expecting it.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 17 Nov 2009, 17:42

... and we have just been plugged in the Abu Dhabi podcast!

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 17 Nov 2009, 17:57

CarlosFerreira wrote:... and I have just been plugged in the Abu Dhabi podcast!

Well, so have I, but I just had to do that.