Your (runner-up for) Reject of the Race - Abu Dhabi

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 22 Nov 2014, 21:10

Now that qualifying is over, it's time to nominate your (runner-up for) Reject of the Race. Why am I asking for nominations for runner-up, you ask? Maybe it's cynical of me, but I'm assuming that the double points will be the Reject of the Race. So rather than have this descend into a double-points hate thread, let's take that option off the table for good.

I nominate Jolyon Palmer for proving that - like Paul di Resta before him - the sport would be better off without him. Where Adderly Fong was dead chuffed just to get out in FP1 and Will Stevens leapt at the chance to make his debut, Palmer revealed that Caterham approached him, but he turned them down. His justification (to the media, at least) amounted to "I'm too good for them", thereby proving that he is an arsehole (but given the way he handled Verstappen's promotion, we already knew that).

I'll also nominate Lotus for subjecting Romain Grosjean to a completely pointless in-race penalty by not changing his entire power unit.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 22 Nov 2014, 21:24

Did Jolyon Palmer shite on your lawn or something?

At this stage, Red Bull easily take it. Classic case of blatant cheating + whining about being caught.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 22 Nov 2014, 21:55

Salamander wrote:Did Jolyon Palmer shite on your lawn or something?

My roses do grow better every time he opens his mouth.

No, I just can't stand drivers with an attitude like di Resta and Palmer.

Sublime_FA11C · Post by **Sublime_FA11C** » 22 Nov 2014, 22:12

That Caterham could be a career ender and he doesn't seem to have very deep pockets. Considering the circumstances, the rejectfullnes and alleged safety issues of the team's showing up, maybe he is right to pass on the opportunity to stink up what could be his one and only appearance in F1.

But thank you for reminding me of Di Resta, my roses will apreciate it i guess. ^^

watka · Post by **watka** » 22 Nov 2014, 22:48

Sublime_FA11C wrote:That Caterham could be a career ender and he doesn't seem to have very deep pockets. Considering the circumstances, the rejectfulness and alleged safety issues of the team's showing up, maybe he is right to pass on the opportunity to stink up what could be his one and only appearance in F1.

But thank you for reminding me of Di Resta, my roses will apreciate it i guess. ^^

I would agree if we were talking about a season long race deal here, as right now I think its better to race in another category than potter around for a team with large, known financial difficulties. I don't see how one race would really have affected his career though, especially as his chances of getting an F1 drive with any other team are practically 0% anyway, just maybe something could have happened to at least for him to be a first reserve for a half-decent team whilst he goes off and races in another category next year.

Post by **mario** » 23 Nov 2014, 06:47

watka wrote:
Sublime_FA11C wrote:That Caterham could be a career ender and he doesn't seem to have very deep pockets. Considering the circumstances, the rejectfulness and alleged safety issues of the team's showing up, maybe he is right to pass on the opportunity to stink up what could be his one and only appearance in F1.

But thank you for reminding me of Di Resta, my roses will apreciate it i guess. ^^

I would agree if we were talking about a season long race deal here, as right now I think its better to race in another category than potter around for a team with large, known financial difficulties. I don't see how one race would really have affected his career though, especially as his chances of getting an F1 drive with any other team are practically 0% anyway, just maybe something could have happened to at least for him to be a first reserve for a half-decent team whilst he goes off and races in another category next year.

I'd actually agree that Palmer's decision is motivated by the rather pragmatic judgement that it is more likely to damage his career than enhance it. For a start, I imagine that Palmer is probably thinking of what happened to Kovalainen in 2013, where his poor performance for Lotus effectively destroyed his career (not just in F1, but in motorsport as a whole - I might be mistaken, but it appears that Heikki has not raced again since his last race for Lotus).

Furthermore, just being associated with Caterham itself may end up damaging your reputation - the administrator has now announced that they are bringing in their legal team to investigate the current and previous owners of the team, suggesting that there may have been something a little more shady going on. We know that he has already complained about the fact that the ownership structure of the team was unnecessarily overcomplicated and structured in such a way as to make it very difficult to know which entity owned what assets.

Let's be honest, Caterham's reputation over the past few months has turned fairly toxic - there is the ongoing legal battle with the former employees who claimed for wrongful dismissal, the shady way in which staff were recently made redundant, the questionable repairs to Kobayashi's car in Sochi - would you want to be associated with a team like that?

As for Lotus and Grosjean, Brundle was saying that he actually did ask the team that question, and he claims that the team told him that they not allowed to start from the pit lane.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 23 Nov 2014, 07:16

You can only start from pit lane if you change everything at once. They would have to use extra parts for each component to do it, but it is possible. Which makes me think that someone at Lotus hasn't read the rules properly.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » 23 Nov 2014, 09:13

I nominate the penalty itself for Grosjean. Do they want blood?

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 23 Nov 2014, 11:04

Salamander wrote:At this stage, Red Bull easily take it. Classic case of blatant cheating + whining about being caught.

Whoever thought that the excuse of "yes, but we didn't think we would get caught" would work deserves a (dis)honourable mention.

Post by **Londoner** » 23 Nov 2014, 14:50

Ferrari - Absolutely meh.
Kvyat's car - He was having a fantastic run until the car decided to shite itself.

But ROTR has to go to:

Sauber - The WCC streak is over. Guti and Sutil are the 1 in 21-1. Nil pois for the first time ever in their history. Not only that, but they had probably the most anonymous race possible...

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 23 Nov 2014, 14:55

Red Bull for confirmed cheating. And secondly, Magnussen for a rejectful display to finish outside the points and maybe tipping the balance against him for a drive next year.

Post by **Miguel98** » 23 Nov 2014, 14:55

Ferrari - Alonso got to a point when he just didn't care.

Red Bull - Yes, they did a great race. But they cheated, and looking at what happened in the race, could've won if they didn't cheat.

Sauber - Anonymous as hell.

LellaLombardi · Post by **LellaLombardi** » 23 Nov 2014, 15:02

I can see Palmer's point, but at the same time you simply cannot talk yourself up like that before you've even sat in a car.

Anyhow to the job in hand:

1. Ferrari. This is a front running team? Looked stale and tired. Both drivers should go.
2. Sauber. Last chance to salvage anything from this season, and they were crap.

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 23 Nov 2014, 15:03

Sauber for making history

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 23 Nov 2014, 15:03

I have to give the award to Sauber. It's time for a ROTR. Their streak of points in every season since they came to exist has ended in the most anonymous way possible. I thought they'd have a go, but being behind Kobayashi before he retired is complete crap. That said, Stevens wasn't as anonmous as the whole Sauber camp.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 23 Nov 2014, 15:15

mario wrote:
I'd actually agree that Palmer's decision is motivated by the rather pragmatic judgement that it is more likely to damage his career than enhance it. For a start, I imagine that Palmer is probably thinking of what happened to Kovalainen in 2013, where his poor performance for Lotus effectively destroyed his career (not just in F1, but in motorsport as a whole - I might be mistaken, but it appears that Heikki has not raced again since his last race for Lotus).

Furthermore, just being associated with Caterham itself may end up damaging your reputation - the administrator has now announced that they are bringing in their legal team to investigate the current and previous owners of the team, suggesting that there may have been something a little more shady going on. We know that he has already complained about the fact that the ownership structure of the team was unnecessarily overcomplicated and structured in such a way as to make it very difficult to know which entity owned what assets.

Let's be honest, Caterham's reputation over the past few months has turned fairly toxic - there is the ongoing legal battle with the former employees who claimed for wrongful dismissal, the shady way in which staff were recently made redundant, the questionable repairs to Kobayashi's car in Sochi - would you want to be associated with a team like that?

That may be Mario, but ultimately it is a decision that I feel Palmer will regret for the rest of his life. He had a chance of going into F1 to try and do anything. Because let's face it, he is the GP2 champion and cannot drive there any more. He also won't get a drive next year in another team in F1. He certainly can hope to sign a test driver for decent team but he doesn't not belong to a young drivers program neither I think he has the money he needs to get a pay test driver position so it is pretty much looking he won't be near F1 in 2015. In 2016 there will be a new GP2 champion and new pay-drivers and new young guns to look out for. Maybe he can turn it around and be in F1 later in his career but it might be too late to do something other than having the experience to drive an F1 car in a real race. All I am saying is that he probably turned down his only chance to be in F1.

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 23 Nov 2014, 15:18

Must be Ferrari. Dreadful race for a dreadful year.

andrew · Post by **andrew** » 23 Nov 2014, 15:19

Sauber easily.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 23 Nov 2014, 15:25

2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix -- Shut it off after 22 laps because the result was too predictable and the engine noises weren't keeping me awake. So I played a round of League of Legends to remedy that.
Sauber -- Crap.
Red Bull -- Kek.
Ferrari -- All the 90s F1 fans can rejoice that Ferrari is back to their early 90s ways of making their drivers look worse than they really are.
Mercedes -- Holy crap they wanted Lewis to win that... and they got their way.
Jolyon Palmer -- Everyone before this post has elaborated why he deserves it.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 23 Nov 2014, 15:27

Nico Rosberg's Mercedes - From the start it never really looked like he was going to win the title, but still what a time for the car to turn into a shitbox.

Ferrari - Oh dear, that performance.

Red Bull - Whenever they are found in breach of regulations, they come out with worse excuses than Rubens Barrichello.

CGI - For the love of God, just stop, it looks ridiculous.

TheBigJ · Post by **TheBigJ** » 23 Nov 2014, 15:31

the demonstration of the pointlessness of having double points : dire race if you take the WC out of hte equation, and then that turned into a procession once Rosberg had car issues.

Red Bull for being that annoying hipster that has to do everything different and bend the rules of society with his out-there ideas. Just bathplug off and follow the rules like everyone else.

Zergon · Post by **Zergon** » 23 Nov 2014, 15:32

No one did really badly on my opinion and everyone was more or less were they would expected to be but I have to give this one to Ferrari as they were the biggest disappointment for me. I mean, I know by now that they had little chance against Williams and Mercedes but I would have expected them to at least being able to compete with Force India, McLaren and maybe Red Bull (considering were Red Bull guys started).

went · Post by **went** » 23 Nov 2014, 15:42

Ferrari. Truly pathetic. Post-race, Alonso was on a full "I don't give a shite" attitude and you can't really blame him. I have to wonder where they would have finished in the WCC without him.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » 23 Nov 2014, 15:43

Rosberg's ERS - robbed the championship battle of any real tension.

Also dishonourable mentions to Ferrari, Sauber, Lotus, and also the outgoing champion for being 4 places behind his teammate after he started ahead of him in the pits!

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 23 Nov 2014, 16:21

Hamilton fanboys: Still accusing Rosberg of cheating, they celebrated his car problem and even said that's racing. If it was Hamilton I'm sure the sabotage excuses would be flying around. This is going to be a long 4 months

Sauber for fighting Caterham FOR POSITION and having a dire race even by 2014 standards. They don't deserve the extra money should Marussia go bust

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 23 Nov 2014, 16:33

Sauber-The conspiracy theory about them not actually racing and just being patched in the results seems more realistic every time I watch a race.

Barbazza · Post by **Barbazza** » 23 Nov 2014, 17:11

Ferrari were so dreadful that I have to give it to them.

SeedStriker · Post by **SeedStriker** » 23 Nov 2014, 17:28

1)Red Bull: Flexi-wings fiasco boys?

2)Ferrari: No pace at all, and beaten in straight line by a Caterham

Dishonorable mentions to Nico's electronics (not a way to end the WDC), blown turbos (too little too late), double points (Bernie pls)

The Why do we even bother Award goes to Sauber

Post by **mario** » 23 Nov 2014, 17:41

went wrote:Ferrari. Truly pathetic. Post-race, Alonso was on a full "I don't give a shite" attitude and you can't really blame him. I have to wonder where they would have finished in the WCC without him.

If, instead of Alonso, they'd had another driver like Kimi, then probably only 6th in the WCC instead of 4th - you can see why Alonso's patience has been exhausted when, in a season which should have been beneficial for them given the way the regulations were written, they're really lucky that they were able to cash in early on in the season given how they have fallen back since then.

Sauber, too, were lousy - I am really surprised that Sutil wasn't penalised for the way he drove into the side of Magnussen, and overall the only times that we say them doing anything was when they were being lapped. As others have said, they might as well have barely bothered given that even Caterham were, at times, quicker than them - and when you're being beaten by a team that might not even exist this time next month, you know that something is deeply wrong within the team. To think that, only a few years ago, this was a team that Adrian Newey was copying design elements off - no such chance of that happening this year.

rachel1990 · Post by **rachel1990** » 23 Nov 2014, 17:46

I have to give it to Ferrari- Pathetic and their first winless season since 1993.

takagi_for_the_win · Post by **takagi_for_the_win** » 23 Nov 2014, 17:58

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Hamilton fanboys: Still accusing Rosberg of cheating, they celebrated his car problem and even said that's racing. If it was Hamilton I'm sure the sabotage excuses would be flying around. This is going to be a long 4 months

It'll be an even longer 4 months listening to you complaining about Hamilton fanboys every 17.4 seconds whilst at the same time lickarsing every single person and inanimate object to have come from Germany in the past 50 years (Klon excluded

).

andrew · Post by **andrew** » 23 Nov 2014, 18:12

takagi_for_the_win wrote:
Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Hamilton fanboys: Still accusing Rosberg of cheating, they celebrated his car problem and even said that's racing. If it was Hamilton I'm sure the sabotage excuses would be flying around. This is going to be a long 4 months

It'll be an even longer 4 months listening to you complaining about Hamilton fanboys every 17.4 seconds whilst at the same time lickarsing every single person and inanimate object to have come from Germany in the past 50 years (Klon excluded ).

Why am I now picturing Kimi Raikkonen licking Sebastian Vettels backside

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 23 Nov 2014, 18:14

takagi_for_the_win wrote:
Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Hamilton fanboys: Still accusing Rosberg of cheating, they celebrated his car problem and even said that's racing. If it was Hamilton I'm sure the sabotage excuses would be flying around. This is going to be a long 4 months

It'll be an even longer 4 months listening to you complaining about Hamilton fanboys every 17.4 seconds whilst at the same time lickarsing every single person and inanimate object to have come from Germany in the past 50 years (Klon excluded ).

Well, it'll be an even LONGER 4 months listening to you complaining about Freeze-O-Kimi complaining about Hamilton fanboys!

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 23 Nov 2014, 18:19

andrew wrote:
takagi_for_the_win wrote:
Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Hamilton fanboys: Still accusing Rosberg of cheating, they celebrated his car problem and even said that's racing. If it was Hamilton I'm sure the sabotage excuses would be flying around. This is going to be a long 4 months

It'll be an even longer 4 months listening to you complaining about Hamilton fanboys every 17.4 seconds whilst at the same time lickarsing every single person and inanimate object to have come from Germany in the past 50 years (Klon excluded ).

Why am I now picturing Kimi Raikkonen licking Sebastian Vettels backside

Im picturing Freezy and Takagi having angry sex. What a world, eh?

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 23 Nov 2014, 18:25

CoopsII wrote:
andrew wrote:Why am I now picturing Kimi Raikkonen licking Sebastian Vettels backside

Im picturing Freezy and Takagi having angry sex. What a world, eh?

I would not like to have your imagination. Luckily, in this case, mine is poor enough not to picture it.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 23 Nov 2014, 18:26

DanielPT wrote:
CoopsII wrote:
andrew wrote:Why am I now picturing Kimi Raikkonen licking Sebastian Vettels backside

Im picturing Freezy and Takagi having angry sex. What a world, eh?

I would not like to have your imagination. Luckily, in this case, mine is poor enough not to picture it.

Ive photoshopped some pics from my private collection to help you, check your email.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 23 Nov 2014, 18:34

CoopsII wrote:Ive photoshopped some pics from my private collection to help you, check your email.

Creepy. Next thing you will tell me is that it was you in those pics originally.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 23 Nov 2014, 18:52

I nominate CoopsII and DanielPT for the above exchange.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 23 Nov 2014, 18:59

takagi_for_the_win wrote:
Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Hamilton fanboys: Still accusing Rosberg of cheating, they celebrated his car problem and even said that's racing. If it was Hamilton I'm sure the sabotage excuses would be flying around. This is going to be a long 4 months

It'll be an even longer 4 months listening to you complaining about Hamilton fanboys every 17.4 seconds whilst at the same time lickarsing every single person and inanimate object to have come from Germany in the past 50 years (Klon excluded ).

I've only mentioned ham fans twice in the last 2 months. I honestly don't see a problem. I've nominated Hamilton fanboys for Abu Dhabi ROTR and that's it

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 23 Nov 2014, 19:16

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:
takagi_for_the_win wrote:
Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Hamilton fanboys: Still accusing Rosberg of cheating, they celebrated his car problem and even said that's racing. If it was Hamilton I'm sure the sabotage excuses would be flying around. This is going to be a long 4 months

It'll be an even longer 4 months listening to you complaining about Hamilton fanboys every 17.4 seconds whilst at the same time lickarsing every single person and inanimate object to have come from Germany in the past 50 years (Klon excluded ).

I've only mentioned ham fans twice in the last 2 months. I honestly don't see a problem. I've nominated Hamilton fanboys for Abu Dhabi ROTR and that's it

I agree that Lewisteria deserves a mention here. Even Martin Brundle and David Croft were getting carried away with it at times, making out that Hamilton had the upper hand when he clearly didn't.

Every time Hamilton had a problem, it was a conspiracy within the team. And every time Rosberg did, it was just racing.