Grand Prix Rejects

We were just discussing this on Discord and I wanted to bring it up here.

What is Lewis Hamilton's worst weekend as a Formula 1 driver? We could have, for example:
- 2007 China, where he made one of the worst ever chokes of a championship in the sport's history
- Various races in 2010 to 2011 where he continuously crashed into folks (read: Massa)
- 2016 Monaco where he whined over the team radio because they couldn't tell him how to fix his problem, whilst his teammate won comfortably.

What about other champions and awesome drivers in F1 history? What would be their absolute worst F1 race?

Gonna say Monaco 2009- Awful Quali and was awful in the race- yes the Mclaren was garbage in the first half of the season but Hamilton didn't help with some dreadful performances at times. Barring Oz in the first race he wasn't really anywhere until Germany and while he did have some bad luck as well (Britain 2009) he was off the pace quite a bit and Monaco really summed it up. He didn't drive like a world champion (but acted like he was the greatest of all time by then cough Australia) too many mistakes. Okay the second half of 2009 he did turn it around with a better car but Kovalainen was outpacing him in the first half of the season (before falling off a cliff)

as for other great drivers

Hill- Australia 1997 (it was his own fault for choosing Arrows over Jordon but still... that must count as one of his worst weekend as his hopes and dreams of 1997 shattered into a millon pieces )
Mika Hakkinen- Italy 1999? Or even Spain 2001 (okay not his fault but I bet that would count as one of his worst weekends ever)
Vettel- Italy 2019. Or Italy in 2020. or the Tuscan gp 2020.
Mansell- Portugal 1989? Got Dsq and then took out another driver after ignoring a black flag
Villeneuve- Usa 2001.
Luca Badour- Valencia 2009
Michael Schumacher- China 2004. Beyond awful
Montoya- Canada 2005

I would put Bottas turkey 2020 but I don't really count him as a great driver.

I actually have another one for Hamilton- Canada 2008 where he would have been DSQ for ignoring a red light if he didn't hit Kimi.

Always love these topics

For me Monaco 2011 will forever go down as Hamilton’s worst weekend. Set no time in qualifying because he didn’t set an initial flyer and got caught out by Perez’s horrific accident. In the race firstly he collided with Massa at the hairpin, then he was involved in the pile up that stopped the race and then finally he nerfed Maldonado out of a first points finish. Then of course he gave THAT post race interview. I won’t repeat what he said but that was the first of many nails in the coffin as to why I don’t like him.

No contest for Michael Schumacher’s worst weekend: China 2004. Spun off one corner into his qualifying lap, had another spin early in the race, collided with Christian Klien which forced the Jaguar to retire, got a puncture and finished a lapped 12th. I gave that the nod over Hungary 2012 because you’d never have predicted a weekend like that in his Ferrari days.

Jenson Button: Canada 2012: just one year on from producing the greatest individual drive I’ve personally seen, the contrast couldn’t have been more stark. Qualified only 10th and finished 16th on merit in a front running McLaren with no delays all while Hamilton in the other car won after a race long 3 way battle.

rachel1990 wrote:as for other great drivers

Hill- Australia 1997 (it was his own fault for choosing Arrows over Jordon but still... that must count as one of his worst weekend as his hopes and dreams of 1997 shattered into a millon pieces ).

Plenty of candidates for Hill's worst weekend in 1999.

I'd go France. The last in a 4 race run of awful results that killed any possibility he might get his season going. He didn't start the season that badly. He was a bit behind HH on qualy pace in Australia, but got off the grid like a stabbed rat, before being boxed in after a failed attempt to outbrake RSC and then punted a couple of corners later. He then was about on pace with HH in both Brazil and Imola, finishing 4th in the latter (although disappointingly he failed to hold off Barrichello for 3rd). Started going to bits at Monaco. Qualified nowhere and crashed after about 3 laps. Anonymously finished outside the points in Spain and visited the Wall of Champions in Canada.

Then at France, gets caught out by the rain and fails to meet 107% of qualy time, and then spins out under the safety car. Meanwhile Frentzen won, leaving Hill contemplating immediate retirement. One wonders had Jos not been a second slower than him testing, would said retirement have occured. Apart from Silverstone he never really had a competitive weekend again. Sure, he qualified 4th in Belgium but he couldn't keep that pace up in the race and ended up 20 seconds behind Frentzen at the chequered flag.

For Häkkinen I would mention few where he lacked a lot of speed and not really those which were good weekends before one stupid mistake:

- Nurburgring 1999, outqualified by DC, then was very careful and pitted early for wets (mistake), was slow until finding some fighting spirit late in the race
- Malaysia 2001, struggled a lot after the restart and only got one point.
- Nurburgring 2001, lacked pace, got one point but finished only one second ahead of Irvine in a Jaguar.

For Hamilton I would argue Spain 2013. "I've just been overtaken by a WILLIAMS".

Some of the others I'll have to think about more when I'm sober

Trying to think of some more:

Senna - Italy 1993
Prost - Britain 1988
Mansell - his two 1995 "comeback" races
Piquet - can think of several in 1988 and 1989 he was near the back and even behind Nakajima whom Senna had annihilated!

Some more for Schumacher (I'm purposely not counting his Mercedes comeback years or any of his professional fouls like Australia '94, Jerez '97 or Monaco '06):

France 1992 - took out Senna then Modena at the restart
Donington 1993 - totally shown up by Senna
Monaco 1998 - demolition Derby
Japan 2003 - made a complete meal of getting 1 point for the championship
China 2005 where he crashed into a Jordan on the parade lap
Australia 2006 - was overtaken on merit by Liuzzi in a Toro Rosso (!) before having a big crash on his own.
Hungary 2006 - completely scrappy and should have had a 2nd or 3rd to help in the championship but lost it through being ultra aggressive

Feel like I have to give him the benefit of the doubt in Hungary 2003 and say it was the car/tyres - far worse was Trulli who he was battling with getting LAPPED by Alonso in equal equipment and not seemingly suffering any car problems!

I recently went back through 1992 and saw the Magny-Cours race. It must be up there with his worst, but I also give him the benefit of the doubt in that he hadn't even run a full season of F1 racing at that point.

Jenson Button, would it be his final race?

Kimi Raikkonen, Spain 2003 certainly stands out, especially if you end up barely covering a couple of rows before crashing into Jungle Boy and his stalled Jag after starting from the back.

Har1MAS1415 wrote:Kimi Raikkonen, Spain 2003 certainly stands out, especially if you end up barely covering a couple of rows before crashing into Jungle Boy and his stalled Jag after starting from the back.

Considering the first stint of his career, I would agree with that. The only races I can think of which would come close would be his string of DNFs in 2008, such as at Singapore.

Lewis Hamilton has had a few contenders this year.

What about Verstappen now he's an all-but double champion?

Think Belgium and Mexico 2016 where he became the complete bain of Ferrari will be in there, also China 2018.

James1978 wrote: ↑02 Oct 2022, 18:18 What about Verstappen now he's an all-but double champion?

Think Belgium and Mexico 2016 where he became the complete bain of Ferrari will be in there, also China 2018.

Singapore this year and 2017 weren't his finest though the latter was hardly his fault. When you get pincered by the two Ferraris straight away then there's not much you can do.

Har1MAS1415 wrote: ↑29 Sep 2022, 17:00 Lewis Hamilton has had a few contenders this year.

He has. I’d put Imola first because he was atrocious all weekend. 13th in Qualifying, 14th in the Sprint and 13th in the Race. Couldn’t overtake anyone and being lapped by Verstappen while Russell finished 4th was the cherry on the cake.

Jeddah is a close 2nd with his Q1 exit and 10th place finish but he may have taken 6th had he not missed a late VSC window to pit in line with others.

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote: ↑02 Oct 2022, 21:02

Har1MAS1415 wrote: ↑29 Sep 2022, 17:00 Lewis Hamilton has had a few contenders this year.

He has. I’d put Imola first because he was atrocious all weekend. 13th in Qualifying, 14th in the Sprint and 13th in the Race. Couldn’t overtake anyone and being lapped by Verstappen while Russell finished 4th was the cherry on the cake.

Jeddah is a close 2nd with his Q1 exit and 10th place finish but he may have taken 6th had he not missed a late VSC window to pit in line with others.

Singapore this year must be among the contenders for 3rd place in that respect.