2009 Dubious Awards of the Year

YallaF1.com 2009 Formula 1 Awards of the Year

YallaF1.com readers decided Flavio Briatore was the 2009 F1 Villain of the Year

2009 Formula 1 Villain of the Year
Flavio Briatore emerged as 2009 Formula 1 Villain of the Year as voted by readers in the YallaF1.com 2009 Formula 1 Awards poll. With 50% of the votes, Briatore was a central figure in the crash-gate scandal that erupted a year after he was alleged to have instructed Renault driver Nelson Piquet to crash, during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, so as to benefit team leader Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard went on to win the race.

The incident was suspicious at the time but was not scuritinised until Piquet, after being dismissed by Renault in July, went public in what was a clear attack on Briatore. Within a few weeks Briatore and co-accused Pat Symonds were shown the door and have subsequently been banned by the FIA; Briatore for life and Symonds for five years.

With 25% of the votes cast his way, Piquet was the second most notorious character of 2009, according to YallaF1.com readers. Lewis Hamilton a percent short, of Piquet, on 24% for his role in lie-gate which erupted after the Australian GP. Clear message from our readers: Keep it clean!

Poll result:
Poll result YallaF1.com 2009 Villain of the Year

2009 Formula 1 Shock of the Year

Up in smoke as BMW were the 2009 Formula 1 Shock of the Year for their withdrawal from F1

We deliberately omitted Felipe Massa’s horrific freak accident during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix from this poll, as injury to drivers or life threatening situations for drivers is always shocking. Nothing compares. In massa’s case there was nothing more shocking to witness the accident and then await news of his well being.

As for the next most shocking events of the year, it was a close call as YallaF1.com readers decided that BMW’s unexpected decision to quit Formula 1 was the 2009 Formula 1 Shock of the Year. Of all the departing manufacturer’s BMW enjoyed the most success in Formula 1, nevertheless modest for the amount invested over a decade.

Interesting to note that Michael Schumacher’s decision to cancel his comeback (he was to replace injured Massa) with Ferrari shocked YallaF1.com readers. Ironically four months on and Schumi is making a return, but how things have changed….

Poll result:

2009 Formula 1 Wooden Spoon Award

Nelson Piquet gets the 2009 Formula 1 Wooden Spoon from YallaF1.com readers

Nelson Piquet had to get an Award this year and an unsavoury one at that. YallaF1.com readers voted that he be awarded the Wooden Spoon Award for his achievements, or lack thereof in 2009.

The Brazilian was under performing at Renault before he was given his marching orders by team principal Flavio Briatore, From that point onwards things got really ugly, Piquet decided, after a year of silence, to reveal that his crash during the 2008 Singapore GP was as a result of a direct order from his team bosses – the rest is dirty laundry.

Close on Piquet’s heals was the woeful perfomance of Luca Badoer (drafted in to replace injured Felipe Massa) at Ferrari which attracted 32% of the votes with equally woeful Giancarlo Fisichella (drafted in to replace under performing Badoer) raking in 25% of the votes.

Poll result:
Poll result YallaF1.com 2009 Wooden Spoon Award

YallaF1.com 2009 Formula 1 Awards poll facts:
To produce this poll 37,158 unique visitors to our site and 12,554 YallaF1.com Facebook fans were canvassed for their opinions on the 2009 Formula 1 season. The poll ran throughout December and closed at 11.59pm on 31 December 2009.

Six lucky voters (we added an extra prize winner because we were feeling generous) who have won the 2009 Formula One Season Review DVD prize are :
• Ahmed Nafea from Cairo, Egypt
• Surya Kumar from Dubai, UAE
• Lyndsay Young from Edinburgh, Scotland
• Grace Meidijanti from Jakarta, Indonesia
• Ernest Ng from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Sunil Paryani from Mumbai, India

The above mentioned will receive a confirmatioin email for delivery details. Print This Article