TJ13’s quite unwell – so his post race gossip/observations won’t be happening this weekend. .Anyway here’s something I’ve rustled up for us to discuss. John Myburgh
One could argue the most deserving driver of the weekend was in the top three or even top ten however this would not be a true reflection of how the race unfolded. With the limited running during Q1 on Saturday and Q2 starting on a damp track there were flashes of brilliance from a number of drivers.
Names that spring to mind are JEV and his impressive form in Q1, Jenson Button managing to find grip in ever changing track conditions but also thinking quickly after McLaren made an error by sending him and Perez out on slicks in Q2. We also saw a number of drivers escape from crashes without injury or serious damage to their cars i.e. Hamilton, Massa, Gutierrez and Pic.
In the race we saw Raikkonen manage his tyres brilliantly to put the hammer down when needed (he even smiled on the podium) as well as Adrian Sutil leading the race on two occasions. We saw Massa lead Alonso and while we knew this would not last it was good to see him back on form… for a while. Further down the grid Jules Bianchi impressed everyone with a mature drive and giving his team mate a thorough thrashing.
Who would you say was the most deserving driver of the weekend?
For me Jules Bianchi is the driver of the weekend. He had just a couple of days of pre-season testing with the car, yet somehow during the Australia weekend he was consistently faster than both his team mate and both Caterhams in all 3 practice sessions, Q1 and the race. His start was clean, confident and fast and stayed out of any trouble. I’m starting to wonder what would he do in a properly fast car. Also JEV deserves a mention for his consistent form during the weekend, but I’m concerned about him, because the comparisons with Jaime Alguersuari form and faith are inevitable.
Mostly the other drivers are a known quantity and it wasn’t that big of a surprise that they performed and/or delivered. As for Sutil this opinion about him, that he is really fast, but he doesn’t really know why he is fast seems to always go against him. I think we should wait till Silverstone when the second big update packages are supposed to come to see what kind of technical feedback he has given about the car.
I agree with you Iliyan – Jules is my driver of the weekend as well. FOM rarely showed footage of Marussia so you did not see them in action that often (might have just been early morning tiredness that made me miss them). The fact is that, as you mentioned, very little testing and beating his team mate and the Caterhams convincingly… Remember Alonso also started out in a poort car 🙂
One thing though, it was the first race of the season and Albert Park is not your standard track so lets see what Malaysia brings this weekend 🙂
I seemed to read on other websites pre-winter testing that a lot of people didn’t rate Bianchi! I knew he would do well but this well! IMO, in the Force India he would definitely have done similar to Sutil and Di Resta if not better! Imagine leading your first race… Then all those people would wake up and listen! Half of them probably didn’t notice his Alonso-like performance as you point out near the end of the field 🙂 although Bernie’s negotiating tactics re. the Concorde agreement does make it harder to notice 😉
I have a feeling JEV will be the lead candidate to replace Webber with a season against Felix da Costa to see who gets the ride. That’s if he matches Ricciardo on qual pace, which he seemed to do in Australia, and continues to beat him in the wet…
Amusing that the driver that started 5th and finished 2nd only got one more vote than the one that started 3rd and finished 5th.
I expect you’ll think this was because more blind British people voted… 😉
Hardly a mass of ‘blind’ Hamilton voters considering nearly 80% didn’t vote for him..
Plus Fernando may be marked down by voters who think he was the only driver assisted by his team in preference of his team mate… Thus possibly means Alonso finished in a higher position than he would have on his own ability and merit.
I voted for Jules too, a stirling performance, proving he is more than ready for a crack at a competative race seat.
I was pleased Hamilton qualified as well as he did (btw I think thats why he got votes, for putting the car further up the grid than his teammate, perhaps a little ‘out of position’ in the grand scheme and managing to beat a Red Bull despite seemingly similar tyre problems)
There been a lot of talk about Sutil leading the race, and whilst the FI did great, there was nothing too much to get excited about, a long first stint will do exactly that, have you ‘lead’ a race you have no chance of winning. Flicking round the commentary channels in the UK, they were all getting so excited by it, except Gary Anderson and James Allen, who just said, yeah its a great drive, but basically he’s fighting for 5-6-7th on a different strategy. Di Resta could probably have beaten him, but I suspect wasn’t allowed, so a decent drive by Sutil, but a bit overated generally. Before anyone comments, its not a blind british comment either, I have no time for Di Resta at all really, but fairs fair.
Hoping to has some analysis that show’s team could have done better for Sutil – watch this space!!!
Hi Adam…
My ‘blind British’ remark was not aimed at commentators like yourself.
Now now – let bygones be bygones….