2011 Australian GP Rotten Fish Award

[Galahad]

The rise and fall of the "Undercut".

With tyre performance, grip and ultimately lap times dropping off so dramatically during a stint it is now no longer possible - through diligent tyre conservation - to gain track position by pitting later. He who pits first wins!

I'm not a big fan of track position gains made during pitstops but it strikes me that if you can make your tyres last longer there should be some reward. And not as we saw with Lewis losing 5 seconds at the first round of pitstops!

This development doesn't bode at all well for Jenson Button.

The opportunity for Button comes in the final stint. If the others are falling over each other to make their final stop first, they're occasionally going to get it wrong and be left without enough rubber to complete the final laps at a competitive pace. He'll still have to make his move on-track rather than in the pits, but perhaps that won't be as much of a problem as it was in years gone by (particularly if the tyre degradation is a matter of whole seconds rather than tenths).

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

I'm not a big fan of track position gains made during pitstops but it strikes me that if you can make your tyres last longer there should be some reward. And not as we saw with Lewis losing 5 seconds at the first round of pitstops!

I noted that Lewis had actually closed the gap to Vettel down to about one second immediatley prior to Seb's first stop, which suggests that had Lewis pitted a couple of laps sooner he might have stood a chance of actually coming out ahead. Not that he would have had much chance of holding Vettel off later in the race with a damaged undertray (although he might just have made a better job of it than Jenson did).

I guess the real benefit now of looking after your tyres is if it enables you to make fewer stops, á la Perez.

 

[MCLS]

HRT's embarrasing attempt at a grand prix

 

[derby]

HRT's embarrasing attempt at a grand prix

That's an easy one to give, Im saving them for the Rotten Fish of the season! I be gobsmacked if they ever qualify for a race

I must admit I was expecting more from the Mecedes! But I think it has to be Barrichello's mistake in Q2, such a school boy error from someone so expereinced, was climbing an uphill battle from there on pretty much!

 

[GeoffP]

The first GP taking two weeks to get to the finishing line

 

[Boyle]

Sauber for being careless with their rear wing and robbing their drivers and themselves of a double points finish after an excellent strategy and remarkable tyre care.