Grand Prix Rejects

Well, might as well get the thread set up for this - same points for 1st and 2nd picks as usual, and the same 48 hour deadline applies.

Not much rejectful happened, but I have to nominate someone so...

1. Kevin Magnussen: In a weekend with surprisingly few crashes, he was responsible for two. For once, Palmer was the less erratic Renault driver!
2. Red Bull Racing pit crew: Screwed up Ricciardo's pit stop. Again.

I want to say Rosberg, even though that was Lewis being a bit naughty at the start, did he seriously expect to be able to get round the outside there? Plus him spinning when the move on Verstappen was virtually done and dusted.

1 - Racing stewards: For the lack of investigation during the race.

2 - Renault: Fighting with Sauber and Manor during all weekend.

This is the 2nd race in a row where the result I wanted didn't happen, and the result I absolutely didn't want happened. I got a bit pissed off with a certain team that should have been fighting the Mercs, so I'll be again choosing my ROTRs with a pinch of salt and anger. So, my first pick goes to Scuderia Ferrari['s Strategists]. Because I'm also salty about the NASCAR Michigan race, Ferrari will be sharing the honors with the Hendrick Motorsports NAPA Auto Parts #24 Chevrolet Pit Crew. I thought Seb Vettel had a good shot to win today after Lewis botched yet another start, to my joy. Seb appeared to be keeping Lewis far enough back to not be a bee up his ass, provided he didn't make any mistakes. Then for some reason, a strategist thought pitting Vettel during the VSC was a good idea. Too bad the marshals cleared the mess quickly enough to minimize whatever advantage Ferrari thought they'd get out of it. I thought Ferrari would get the idea that if Lewis is behind their car (or any car for position), he'd have a disadvantage due to the Merc not being great in dirty air, but apparently not. They let Lewis have the coveted lead and clean air, destroying whatever chance Seb had of winning. Sure, Seb could catch up, but good luck actually trying to pass that Merc. The second damn week in a row, another team giftwraps a win to Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, the exact driver I don't want to be seeing winning everything.

Alan Gustafson's boys share the honors with the boys in red for AGAIN making a big mistake on pit road with the second fuel can, ultimately costing Chase Elliott his maiden victory due to him having to lift and coast. Bonus points for gifting the win to Joey Logano, a driver I don't take to very fondly. Yes, it's a different race, but whatever. This shoddiness behind the wall should stop, unless it happens to a Gibbs or Penske car, because I frankly don't give a shite about them. Put Mercedes in that group too, because I'm getting tired of the constant curb-stomp battles.

As for shared runner up, I nominate Nico Rosberg and David Croft. I can give Nico slack for being punted off at T1 at the start. Whether Lewis was being a jackass or not is debatable, but either way, Nico was in a very bad spot there and probably would've been screwed no matter what. However, I can't forgive that idiotic spin at the final chicane while attempting to pass the teenager. That's not the way to keep your championship lead, Nico. Step it up or we'll be subject to more Lewisteria. As for Crofty, that was Allen Bestwick on Indycar level of awful. Who knew that not having Martin Brundle by his side would result in him being a total goit in the booth?

1. Rosberg. Perhaps that spin was a mechanical issue, but if not, then Nico's at fault.

2. Ferrari Strategy. Perhaps in retrospect relegating Seb to a two-stopper was a mistake.

HM. Grosjean. How has he been getting beaten by GUT?

I can't think of a deserving reject.

Rosberg. Mistake at the start.The spin at the end looked like a brake issue more than anything else.

1. Red bull Pit crew: again messing up the pit stop
2. Rosberg. Messed up his own race though it may have been brakes

HM that tyre trolley nearly causing an aborted start(which had it done so I think it would of won ROTR)

I'm giving my ten points to Euro 2016, for taking over Five Live because football is more important that living and breathing, isn't it? And the cricket overrunning due to rain and extra play to make up for it meant that ich muß der Grosser Preis mit Kommentär auf Deutsch mit Florian "Schlafen" König und Christian "zzzzzzzzß" Danner hören until about 35 minutes in when the cricket was over and Five Live Sports Extra could finally return to Montreal with the customary second-and-a-half time-lapse (which I don't notice until the podium).

Six points go to... er... the groundhogs, for staying resolutely in their holes, three points go to Neil Horan for not turning up, one point to Andy Neate for being Andy Neate, and... where was I going with this again?

1. Lewis Hamilton Just bathplug off already you cheating prick. Also the stewards for never penalizing him for this kind of bull.

2. Ferrari Pissed away another win on strategy meaning that for the third race in a row, the victory didnt go to the most deserving driver. Funny how the gainers from these are my two least favourite drivers on the grid. 2016 is turning very frustrating, very quickly.

Mention

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Delivered the dullest race of the season so far. 2nd only to Monza for most overrated track on the calender.

10 points - Ultra-soft
For delivering 25-lap stints at no noticeably greater pace than the other tyres. I though the Ultras were supposed to be the five-laps-max-but-lightning-fast tyre?

6 points - The Formula 1 teams
For not getting off the grid in any sort of timely fashion.

Mentions - Nasr, Palmer, The last 32 laps, Rosberg, Tacticians, the rain that meant my cricket match was cancelled after I paid £35 of train fares to get there

1) The 2016 Canadian Grand Prix - Easily the dullest race of the year so far, and to think that not long ago this track always threw up terrific races like it was nothing! Today we had no rain, no tire degradation, no major incidents to speak of, no SCs. An absolute chore to watch, even After Earth was better than this.
To make matters worse, it was absolutely belting outside my window for the whole race - if only it could have been at least slightly like that today.

2) Nico Rosberg - Scored 5th instead of 2nd or 3rd almost single-handedly because of the 1st corner fluff-up. Every time he goes wheel-to-wheel with Lewis, he almost always loses out. This might be a bit harsh, but at this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if he lost his points lead as early as the next race.

If my 1st choice doesn't count, then my back-up 2nd vote goes to Grosjean Button's Honda power unit but really, hardly anything truly reject-worthy happened in that forgettable Grand Prix.
BTW what were the ROTR winners for the previous 2 races?

1. Ferrari
2. Rosberg

To be honest, the race did feel like a slightly flat affair and one where nobody really stood out at either extreme of the scale. That said, thinking about it, I guess that I'd go for the following:

1) Magnussen - he'd already compromised himself for the race after throwing the car into the wall in FP3 and therefore having to sit out of qualifying, only to then compound that by colliding with Nasr on the opening lap of the race. Whilst Palmer struggled as well - this was a circuit where Renault were likely to struggle - at least he could arguably point to mechanical issues in the race and at least kept it out of the barriers more than Magnussen did.

2) Button's engine - I guess that this is kind of by default, since it was a somewhat ignominious end to the race.

James1978 wrote:I want to say Rosberg, even though that was Lewis being a bit naughty at the start, did he seriously expect to be able to get round the outside there? Plus him spinning when the move on Verstappen was virtually done and dusted.

To a certain extent, I have to agree that, whilst it was a hard move by Hamilton, Rosberg was already in a fairly poor position to begin with.

The best line through that corner means that any car on the inside is going to drift across so they can take a tighter line into the following corner. Even in the best of circumstances, he had positioned his car in an area where the driver in front will want to cut across him and therefore push him off track.

With that in mind, I expect that most of the drivers on the grid would have done just what Hamilton did, including Rosberg himself (when Hamilton tried a similar move in 2014, Rosberg also closed him off in a similar manner).

10. David Crofty - Poor di Resta.

6. The Canadian GP race - It was dull. Euros and the cricket were so much better.

Because it was on far too late my nominations are

1 -

2 -

Deservedly so, IMO.

IIRC Hamilton had to go off the road at the start of the 2014 when the two Merc drivers were in a very similar position then (but the other way round). So I don't think Rosberg can complain too much.

1. The team mechanics for almost messing up the start by not getting off the grid fast enough.
2. Ferrari strategists for gifting yet another undeserved win to Lewis Hamilton.

HM to Felipe Nasr for being unbelievably slow.

1 - Ferrari : Stupid Strategy for the two drivers. Same mistake in melbourne , they should have two wins.
It 's time to stop over thinking strategies, a good strategist like Ross Brawn is better than 100 people with computers. Ban this.

2- the last chicane: we miss the old gravel trap

1. The race itself

2. The "suicidal seagulls" http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/vette ... ce-777317/

1. Red Bull strategists - Well, that was dumb as bathplug
2. Ferrari strategists - Well, that was dumb as bathplug

1. Ferrari Strategy - Could have won had they done the same as Mercedes, Track Position and all
2. The Race - No Body really did anything rejectful so give it to the race itself.

1. Seagulls
2. Hendrick Motorsports NAPA Auto Parts #24 Chevrolet Pit Crew

1. Renault. What a terrible weekend while Red Bull proved that the new Renault engine definitely has the pace to compete for nice results.

2. Not that many rejectful events in this race, but I'll share it between Kimi Räikkönen and Nico Rosberg. Both were overshadowed by their team mates. Nico had of course that silly moment with Verstappen as well.

No one really put in an awful performance on Sunday if truth by told, that's why my 10 points (and I can't believe only 2 other people have picked up on it) go to:

The grid clearance - Absolute shambles. I know Montreal isn't the longest lap, but there's no excuse for people still covering half the width of the track as the cars come back round after the formation lap. Yes, there's only one gap in the pit wall but it doesn't help either when you've got a bunch of celebs/VIPs all standing against the pitwall taking photos as the cars set off; get them out the bathplugging way beforehand and leave only the mechanics on the grid! Isn't that kind of dangerous anyway (especially with Jolyon Palmer in the field)?

My 6 points go to:

Romain Grosjean - For lack of a better candidate really. This is more a reflection of how his stock has fallen over recent races and in Canada he qualified and finished behind Gutierrez. As Hulkenberg knows, strong performances at the start of the season are forgotten come the end of the season and when contracts are available it's important to be "flavour of the month". He'll need to replicate some of his points scoring finishes later in the season in order not to be forgotten about.

1. Paul di Resta - That was some of the most tedious commentary I have ever sat through, please can you be the sign language man in the corner of late night repeats if you insist on commentating so you don't have to speak.

2. Ferrari strategists - do you even want to win?