Grand Prix Rejects

Good noon everyone

We've another two Gravel Trap columns to present to you lovely people. Last month, Klon wrote about the late Carlos Pardo of NASCAR Mexico fame, who posthumously won the last race of his career, reflecting on death and motorsport in a philosophical piece.

This month's Gravel Trap, which went live last night and has been updated this morning with larger graphs, sees Klon turning the mirror onto Grand Prix Rejects as a whole. Our well-known, almost religious definitions of a GP Reject were set well over 20 years ago during the Jamie and Enoch days. Are they now obsolete, unable to reflect the major changes in Formula One during the 2010s and 2020s? The answer may surprise you.

Carlos Pardo's Final Race

Is The Definition of Reject Obsolete?

On last night's piece, it reminded me of my recent research into rejects and future profiles. The loss of driver changes mid-season means that some recent seasons have very few Rejects at all.

Think of 2019. From memory, the only two rejects from the season are George Russell and Antonio Giovinazzi. Considering Russell seems destined for a Mercedes seat, and that Giovinazzi only needs a single 6th to unrejectify himself, we could have our very first season without a single reject.

I agree with Klon that the rules are probably still fine, it's just F1 that needs to change to give more chances to the hopefuls and the juniors. I'm happy for both Russell and Gio if it all goes well for them, but something feels wrong that there should be an era with no rejects at all!

I liked the article and I’m glad the subject is being thought about. I’m inclined to agree with the conclusion, but Rob brings up a good point too. Bottom line I guess is to focus on the spirit of rejectfullness and embrace the plucky underdogs when they show themselves.