Last updated: November 28, 2016
This is a simple explanation key for the Race Reports of each season. Individual race reports are available for the 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons and can be viewed from the Season Ranking pages, linked to in the previous instances. A Seasons Rankings page is usually established after the first five races of the Season and ranks each race in order of excitement. There are no Race Reports or a Season Rankings page for 2012, due to yours truly being away in Scotland and unable to report on all the races. If you are curious about Race Events or News from that year, see Formula One in 2012.
For each race of an F1 Season I report on the following topics:
The Top 10 – Pretty self-explanatory. Here I essentially list the Top-10 ranked drivers and tell just how they performed over-all. The top-3 drivers are given special attention. The rest of the report is grouped by drivers of the same team who finished in the Top-10. Single excellent performances may override these in presentation order, but typically single drivers from teams within the top-10 are covered last.
The Golden Pineapple Award – The Golden Pineapple, coined by Keke Rosberg, refers to the highest standing a driver can have without receiving any Championship Points. In the current scoring system this means 11th place. The Golden Pineapple is a sort of “Too Bad & Better Luck Next Time” sort of deal. At the end of the season a Pineapple King will be crowned based who landed 11th in races the most. The Pineapple Chart leaders can be seen on the Season Rankings pages.
Drop-out count – This is where I essentially add up all the retirements and explain what happened to each driver. Drop-outs are counted as drivers who didn’t finish a race or were disqualified afterwards (note, this latter practice may differ in pre-2014 reports).
Back of the Lot news – In the 2010 season, I used this section at the end of each race report to report on the progress of the new teams (Lotus, Virgin and HRT) . From 2011 onward, I’ve reported on whichever drivers and teams finished outside the top-10 and how their race performance improved or got worse as the race went on. Starting from 2013, the very final finishing driver will receive the title of Dead Last. The leader of the Dead Last chart will also be seen in the Season Rankings page.
Race Direction (2011-2014)
Starting from the 2011 German Grand Prix, I began rating the Race Direction of the TV broadcast on a six level scale ranging in Awful – Piss Poor – Poor – Okay – Good – Excellent. In races where I hadn’t been able to keep track of missed yellow-flags or covered pit-stops, there would only be a brief and concise note on the broadcast direction. The Race Direction review will no longer be featured in 2015.
Explanations below:
- Okay – The race director picks up all the yellow-flag and most of the pit-stops.
- Good – In addition to the Okay-qualifications, the race-director manages to focus on events of relevant interest most of the time, either on live footage or in replays
- Excellent – In addition to the Okay and Good-qualifications, the race director finds a balance between following drivers in the front group, the middle group and even the back of the lot. In other words, a balanced view of the entire race.
- Poor – The race director misses most of the pit-stops and multiple yellow-flags without using Replay.
- Piss Poor – In addition to the poor-qualifications, the race director misses other key events on track, including retirements and overtakes.
- Awful – Thankfully very rare, in addition to the Poor and Piss Poor-qualifications, the race director only stays focused on a small group of three to two cars for much of the race.
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