Grand Prix Rejects

Meatwad wrote: ↑02 Apr 2023, 08:10 FIA/Race control/Liberty Media: Another race where their decisions were questionable. The first red flag was unnecessary and costly for drivers like Russell and Pérez. The second one felt even more like it was for the show (a pattern lately) and led to a hilariously rejectful restart. Then a really long wait for one lap behind the safety car – they might as well just have gone back to the order before the third restart, the only significant difference was Alpine losing all their points (which felt pretty unfair).

Dishonorable mention to Ferrari for being Ferrari.

noiceinmydrink wrote: ↑02 Apr 2023, 08:49 Oh boy.

So, the first red flag was completely unnecessary. Gravel on the circuit should be taken seriously of course but there was no reason why they couldn't get the sweepers out once the cars were bunched up - even if cars picked it up in the interim it was very very unlikely to cause a puncture and would have been scrubbed off under the safety car anyway. I thought that was the worst of it but it wasn't nearly as offensive as what was to come in the final stages.

No question - the chaos resulting from the last start was inevitable. You've got a lot of drivers who are absolutely going to over the line with a standing start and a couple of laps left and we already know that drivers can't police themselves in these situations. What Race Control did was not only absurdly silly, it was also outrageously reckless and dangerous. There is no point doing a standing start in these situations when half the field are going to bump into each other. I disagreed when it happened in Baku '21 even if we got away with that one, and I strongly disagreed in the instance of Abu Dhabi '21 as well - can you imagine the shitstorm that would have occured if they restarted for the last lap only for another crash to happen on the startline/first corner and ending the race in the pitlane? Nevermind being behind the safety car, they would have finished in parc ferme!

A race like this was a long time coming after a few years of some silly session stoppages. Before we got deep in the 2010s, I was an advocate for more red flags because there was several incidents in the 2000s that really should have been red flagged and we got to a point where I think we struck a good balance. But now this has become another symptom of the instant gratification culture that this sport is falling victim to more intensely these days. F1 needs to be more accepting of races finishing under the safety car - this trend of throwing reds with abandon only serves to make the prior stages of the race an utterly meaningless waste of time. No, it's not the most exciting end to the race - but it means the right people are in the right positions when the flag falls.

Instead, we got this. Complete rubbish. Absolutely shameful.

Slam dunk, no doubt, Race Control are the winning losers here - no other suggestion will do.

Batty wrote: ↑02 Apr 2023, 08:43 I don't think the red flags were a problem. There was lot of debris when Albon spun, there was metal and debris and a tire when K-Mag hit the wall per the team radios and the last one was literally just chaos everywhere.

It was confusing as heck but eventually the fairest thing was done in the end to finish the rules. Stewards I don't think did anything wrong. The rules are an issue but they followed it properly. Not even rejectful but the rules need to be looked at

Also the drivers drove pretty all over the shop which caused all these. Albon lost his rear, K-Mag hit a wall and Sainz turned around Alonso, Logan whamped Nyck and Gasly veered into his teammate. At some point, can't blame race control when drivers keep on messing up lol.

My nominations:

1. Pierre Gasly - After re-joining the track, decided to look left and veer right, right into his teammate getting Alpine 0 points and a possible race ban after collecting all those pen points

2. Logan Sergeant - A perfectly perfected rejectful rookie crash into De Vries and basically struggled the whole race.

S/O Carlos Sainz for turning around Alonso and getting Ferrari 0 points. K-Mag for hitting the wall.

James1978 wrote: ↑02 Apr 2023, 10:06 Nothing can trump "the farce at the end" but DHMs to Sargeant (yes that was dumb and he sounds like the next Scott Speed given his colourful language), Russell's luck (2 Mercs in there could have maybe done something against Max), Ferrari, and whoever (probably Crofty) who said that was the most championships on a podium. Spain 1993 had 14!!

Row Man Gross-Gene wrote: ↑02 Apr 2023, 13:43 I agree.

Some of us may not like the rules, but it appears they played it by the book. People can certainly continue to nominate race control for following the rules, but it’s a little weird.

Wallio wrote: ↑04 Apr 2023, 16:04 Ted Kravitz - for his nonsensical, biased, and embarrassingly unprofessional rant about Micahel Masi during Free Practice. 2021 is over Teddy Boy, shut the hell up and move on.