09/12/2015
NEWS STORY
The Pitpass Gala Awards marked the culmination of a year's toil for the Formula One fraternity, which showed its support by giving the event a wide berth.
Whilst other publications and broadcasters opt for swanky hotels and fine dining, conscious of the sport's need to reduce spending, the Pitpass team, comprising editor Chris Balfe, Max Noble and Mat Coch, cheekily took a number of cubicles in the toilets of a fast food outlet in Singapore.
In a sparkling ceremony, though thin on VIP guests but thick with the smell of disinfectant and the occasional refreshing blast form the hand drier, the sport's brightest and best were celebrated following a long an arduous season.
Noble proudly show off his self-tied bow tie (shame he didn't know how to tie it), Balfe expressed concern that a certain Lotus driver might fall victim to the slippery floor, whilst Coch, (n)ever the voice of reason, kept his co-conspirators on the hoof by introducing a number of unexpected categories.
No fewer than eleven awards are given, which is awkward given that there are 26 winners, thereby leaving the team to concoct a trophy share arrangement, though Balfe has views on who should not be doing the deliveries.
From the very first award of the evening, the Biggest Let Down Of The Year, the team is on fire as it successfully manages to fail to agree and Coch goes off script to the bemusement and confusion of everyone else.
There are some rare moments of clarity however, and as many as four awards receive unanimous support from the trio. By Manor's maths, that's a perfect record and makes it one of the most reliable awards ceremonies in the history of awards ceremonies.
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Aside from Biggest Let Down Of The Year, awards were also handed out to Biggest Lie Of The Year, Biggest Piece Of PR BS... rather, Spin Of The Year, Screw Up Of The Year and Team Of The Year.
Not content to leave it there, three different team bosses are crowned Team Boss Of The Year, which made for an awkward moment when it came to posting the award, while Max Verstappen will be forced to empty the school books out of his rucksack after he takes home a number of trophies in which he beats himself to victory.
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There's the perennial favourites also with Race Of The Year, Overtake Of The Year, Rookie Of The Year (oops, we might have just given that one away). Car Of The Year and, of course, Driver Of The Year.
Proving that the site is not biased, or maybe that its contributors cannot agree on anything, an unusual occurrence in Formula One, only four categories see the team reach a unanimous decision.
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