With the season over there is almost nothing left for us to do other than hand out copious amounts of awards to the drivers and teams for their antics in 2011. Not for many years has F1Rogues counted the cost this high and it only just that Hamilton get his share of all that damage. So without further delay… F1Rogues proudly presents it’s awards for 2011!
Category: On the track
Best race – Canadian GP
Won by Jenson Button with 34 on track overtakes in a single race, it was also the longest race in history (4 hours, 4 minutes and 39 seconds) and the safety car was deployed 6 times which is also a record. What a race! Oh and the pointy fingered one didn’t win it.
Marshall of the Year – That fat Marshall, Canadian GP
With the drivers behind the safety car, the marshalls attempted to clear the debris from track. One particular marshall, was… well… not trained for this in both in skill and agility. It is not possible to truly sum up the sense of comedy, fear and annoyance followed by fear again that we experienced watching him try and pick up carbon peices (video)
Love Magnets, Felipe Massa & Lewis Hamilton
Constantly coming to blows, Massa and Hamilton seemed to only want to be together. Each driver unwilling to show the other how much he loved the other by just giving a little more… instead their internal torment spilling out onto the press area with remarks like “good job” and “[Hamilton is] incapable of using his mind”. Such sweet music to our ears… (video)
Moving Roadblock Award, Narain Karthikeyan, Indian GP
Narain, racing in his home grand prix, would have been more use to his fans if he had sat in the grandstands explaining what on earth F1 was all about. Receiving more fist shaking than anyone in a single grand prix, Narain is our 2011 road block.
The “Duke Nukem” Rampage, Lewis Hamilton, Monaco GP
Few races in recent history have seen such a rampage from a single driver. No one, really, no one was safe from Hamilton. Starting the weekend Hamilton identified who had blocked him in the previous race (Schumacher and the Toro Rosso’s), waved fists at Massa and Schumacher in the race, shoved Massa at Lowes hairpin which led to him crashing in the tunnel, caused a multiple car pile up which led to the race being stopped and Petrov needing medical attention (effects of the vodka had worn off), pushed Maldonado in to the wall and then suggested the stewards “picked” on him because he “is black”. Nothing to do with the carnage you left on the track at all…
Category: Life’s the pits
Best pit stop entrance – Jeroen D’Ambrosio, Virgin, Hungarian GP
Not content with just entering the pits, with his eyes on beating Coulthard (Australia, 1995), D’Ambrosio – or Custard as he is sometimes know – decided to enter the pit with the style of… a drift racer. Driving towards his team mates at a speed that would kill a man, Custard lost control of his Virgin and span it towards a packed garage and crew waiting for the tyre change. Much brown trousers later, the mechanics had turned him around (yes around!) and put him back on the right path (video).
Most distracted pit stop – Jenson Button, Mclaren, Chinese GP
Prince Philip would probably put this down to the food, all that rice and noodles can’t do an Englishman any good. Whatever it was, Button’s stop at the Red Bull garage whilst driving a Mclaren could almost be as amusing as when Alonso overtook teammate Massa in the pit lane. Red Bull, undeterred by Button’s antics just refused to change his tyres. A quick thinking team would have just taken off Button’s wheels and left him without any, but the sporting chaps from Red Bull even pointed the way he should go (remember Jenson, if you see the pub, you’ve gone TOO FAR!) (video)
Best overall pitstops – Ferrari, 2011 season
Much like Barrichello before him, Massa is a multi-million dollar warm up at for 20 mechanics who eat their own snot and stir their tea with a screw driver. On no less than five separate occasions, Ferrari managed to mess up Massa’s pitstop who coincidentally was the first driver to pit. What are the chances?
The Planters *Warning, may NOT contain Nuts* award – Mclaren, British GP
It is clear that some parts of an F1 car are, shall we say optional? A front wing for example has lots of little bits of sticky back plastic and squeezy bottles all over it that, if lost, don’t see to do much to the car. Wheel nuts on the other hand… different story. Mr Button, keen to make good at home, got the chance of an early cuppa when his charming colleagues in the pitstop just did not bother with one of the nuts to his new shiny rims. Result, retirement at the exit of the pits (video).
Category: Just because…
Nonsense rule – Tyre changes in red flag situations, Monaco GP
With Hamilton having destroyed half the field in the last few laps, his only chance of overtaking Vettel was neutralized by a loop hole in the rules. When the race is red flagged, teams can change tyres on the formation grid. A rule designed to allow teams to change to wets in the case of extreme weather, it allowed Red Bull to remove their disadvantage and win the race. Booooooo!
The “Not going quietly” award – Nick Heidfeld
It’s a universally acknowledge fact, that the best way to keep your drive in a top flight F1 team is to complain bitterly about being fired and then threaten to take them to court.
Services to his teamate – Mark Webber
For not really being a threat.
The “barn stormers” award – Vitaly Petrov, Malaysian GP
Not many times in F1 to you get to see an F1 car fly… but if anyone can, Vitaly can… (video)
Got more? Post your award in the comments below!





Agree with your awards, especially the decision to have drivers change tyres in Monaco. Booo indeed!
Posted by Jakob Schmidt | December 11, 2011, 6:32 pmWasn’t Hamilton also allowed to have his rear wing repaired under Red? If I remember correctly, the driver who got the raw end of that Red Flag was runner-up Alonso, as he was really charging and all over Vettel’s gearbox just before the stoppage.
Posted by Tim Wood (@Austin_F1) | December 15, 2011, 8:08 amYes he was. The teams can repair the cars on the grid if needed – their choice of what they can repair is, I guess, fairly limited. He changed the wing with seconds to spare and then went onto push Maldonado off the track. Probably it should not have been allowed but changing dry tyres to dry tyres should most certainly not be allowed.
Posted by Jules | December 15, 2011, 12:07 pmI agree.
Posted by Tim Wood (@Austin_F1) | December 16, 2011, 2:50 am