THE FASTLY AWARDS 2021

Welcome, one and all, to the first annual FASTLY Awards (also known as "the Fastlies"). After much discussion, debate, joy, pain, and heartbreak, Fastly presents to you the awards for the 2021 Season.

Scroll down to see the category, the winner, and a little snippet of the logic.

Thank you and enjoy this year's Fastlies!

MOST INSANE RACE

NOMINEES

Saudi Arabia - (Utter chaos and confusion, Hamilton hits Max while Max is giving place back)

Abu Dhabi - (CHAMPIONSHIP DECIDER)

Russia - (rain at last minute ruins Lando’s almost first win)

Italy - (Max and Lewis collide dramatically mid-season and both have to retire)

Hungary - (Alonso heroically keeps Hamilton from winning, Seb disqualified from podium)

Azerbaijan - (one of many times Pirelli tires exploded without warning, including Max who was in the lead, then Hamilton screwed up by himself and Perez won)

WINNER

Saudi Arabia

Why? It was a tough choice between Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. The truth is that there were a bunch of totally INSANE races this year, but Saudi Arabia was the one that I would describe as being the most devoid of any feasible logic or order. Nobody had any clue what was going on and I lost count of the number of incidents almost right away. Part of me also wants to choose Abu Dhabi, since somehow, both Max and Hamilton went into that last race level on points. But in terms of the actual racing, it’s gotta be Saudi Arabia. Jeddah was just insane.

MOST INSANE YEAR FOR A DRIVER

NOMINEES

Valtteri Bottas

Yuki Tsunoda

Daniel Ricciardo

Max Verstappen

WINNER

Max Verstappen

Why? Bottas was constantly being threatened of losing his Mercedes seat, Daniel had a slow start to the season after switching to Mclaren and Yuki… well. Yuki was Yuki. But I cannot IMAGINE the ups and downs that Max had to experience this year while fighting that unbelievable championship battle. And there were a lot of dirty calls that worked against him.

MOST SAD TEAM

NOMINEES

Williams

Haas

WINNER

Haas

Why? They allowed Mazepin to basically buy their team and buy a seat in it, but the cars were awful to drive and so was Mazepin in every way. Poor little Schumacher had to be teammates with that awful guy. It was horrifying to witness.

MOST IMPROVED TEAM

NOMINEES

Red Bull

Ferrari

McLaren

Williams

Alpine (Renault)

WINNER

McLaren

Why? Ferrari was improved because they weren’t at the back of the grid all the time, but that’s a sad state of affairs. Red Bull was improved because they won the championship and had the best duo since Max and Daniel, which was Max and Sergio Perez, who is amazing. I love those two at Red Bull. It’s the best. Williams was wayyy better because George was getting them into Q2 and even got them into the front of the grid in a bizarre incident in Belgium. Anyway, they looked a far cry from the back of the grid staples they suffered through last year. McLaren had a weird start where Daniel didn’t do as well, but then he picked up a win in Italy and Lando almost got a win the week after in Russia, so they really were competitive again. Alpine was improved because Cyril was fired. But it’s gotta be McLaren because they were very strong most of the year. Williams is a close second.

BEST RACE ATMOSPHERE

NOMINEES

Mexico Grand Prix

Dutch Grand Prix

WINNER

Mexico AND the Netherlands

Why? These two were literally equally as awesome. Mexico was the ultimate Maxico and had the BEST post-race celebrations of Red Bull and Max and Sergio I’ve ever seen. It also included Sergio’s father congratulating both Red Bull boys, little Checo being there, and the crowd roaring for Red Bull and no one even noticed Hamilton and both Max and Perez were on the podium. AND THEN there was the Dutch Grand Prix, which was simply one of the most lovely things I’ve ever seen. 70,000 Dutch fans shaking the earth and turning everything orange and cheering Max on to victory and then him being sung the national anthem beautifully while robed in the Dutch flag as the royal family of the Netherlands watches on. I literally cannot pick a favorite. They were both perfect.

WORST MOMENT FOR FERRARI

NOMINEES

Monaco – Charles getting pole at his home race, but the team fails to get his car ready for the race

Mexico Free Practice 1 - there’s a guy in the Ferrari garage hitting something in Charles car with a sideways wrench and I just think it’s exactly what I expect from Ferrari

Italy Free Practice - Charles has to bring the Ferrari into the garage because there’s something wrong he can’t say on the radio since it might get the team in trouble

British Grand Prix – Charles leads the whole time but has to fight his Ferrari so much that Hamilton passes him for the lead with 2 laps to go

WINNER

Monaco

Why? I will never forget how unfair this was to Charles that Ferrari was not able to have him start from pole for his home race because they failed him. It’s more infuriating than I can even say.

LEAST RELIABLE TEAM

NOMINEES

Ferrari

Haas

Alfa Romeo

WINNER

Ferrari

Why? Still, no one can hold a candle to Ferrari’s inability to prepare and convert potiential into success.

MOST RELIABLE DRIVER

NOMINEES

Max Verstappen

Charles Leclerc

Sergio Perez

Lando Norris

Fernando Alonso

Pierre Gasly

George Russell

WINNER

Max Verstappen

Why? Max was consistently the champion this year and without heroic self-control and talent, things could have been very different.

I also want to shout out Sergio Perez, who was literally the other best human I have ever seen. He was so reliable and all his years of expertise came right into play to help Red Bull. It was beautiful.

LEAST RELIABLE DRIVER

NOMINEES

Yuki Tsunoda

Antonio Giovinazzi

Nicholas Latifi

Lance Stroll

Sebastian Vettel

Nikita Mazepin

Carlos Sainz

WINNER

Yuki Tsunoda

Why? Most people on this list were not providing the most consistent results this year, but no one was less helpful to his team than Yuki Tsunoda. He was super fast in the first two races, and then did nothing but bring Alpha Tauri down for the rest of the year and Gasly had to carry all the weight.

Mazepin is so awful that I don’t even want to talk about him.

MOST ANNOYING MEDIA CAMPAIGN

NOMINEES

- The “who is better at Ferrari, Sainz or Leclerc” story

- The “Hamilton’s 100th Race Win” story

- The “Esteban Ocon, Race Winner” story

- The “Sir Lewis” story

- The "Hamilton deserves an eighth world championship" story

WINNER

The "Sainz or Leclerc” Story

Why?

This was so infuriating that I had to choose this story over even all of the annoying Hamilton and Ocon stories. The fact that the commentators loved to invent drama lead to this completely ridiculous discussion that kept coming up of whether Charles or Sainz was the better driver for Ferrari. It’s like they didn’t even seen what Charles has provided them. Sainz was consistently behind Charles every time I looked at the times. It’s incredible to me that they could proliferate such lies and I do not understand why they would do this.

BIGGEST WTF MOMENT

NOMINEES

- Russia – the paddock is flooded before people arrive

- Belgium – rain is too heavy to race but they still have a farce race and everyone ends up with half points

- Azerbaijan – Pirelli tires exploding on multiple cars (again), including causing Max to crash who was leading

- Britain – Hamilton running around with the British flag and people cheering after sending Max to the hospital on track

- Monaco – the bizarre Serena Williams post-race interview

- Monaco – Ferrari fails to repair Charles car in time to start the race so he can’t start on pole at his home race

- Saudi Arabia – Max is hit by Hamilton while Max was giving the lead back to Hamilton

WINNER

Monaco - Serena Williams

Why? I just didn't feel more confused than the Serena Williams incident.