As the flag drops who do you think was your driver of the weekend? This takes into account not just the race result but the whole weekend. Please give the reason why you voted the way you did in the comments section.
thejudge13
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Voted for the Hulk. Somehow he alsways finds himself duking it out with Fernando. I think eyebrow and hulk are the best at putting a car where it doesn’t belong.
Definitely.. here we had 2 Mercs, 2 RB, FA and NH, then likely Kimi close behind, with the Williams/McLaren behind them.
The Hulk performed well, and he might be appropriate as a 2nd choice.
However, in comparison, Hamilton’s performance this weekend was superb.
1) LH out dueled Vettel’s RB to take pole on a wet track.
2) Then during the race he was A) faster than Rosberg, B) more fuel efficient than Rosberg, and C) made his tires last longer than did Rosberg.
Many had predicted that fuel and tire conservation would be Lewis’ Achilles heal this season versus Rosberg. In that light, Lewis’ performance this weekend was championship caliber. An easy and obvious choice.
Indeed Rosberg seemed to slow down from Q2 onwards – not sure why. Hulk outperformed Perez by a greater margin – and he looked really impressive in the wet here in 2012. But I agree that Hamilton is looking odds-on title favourite if this weekend is repeated throughout the season.
Except for one thing – Rosberg’s car had a yet unidentified problem. Both Lauda and Wolff confirmed that in post-race interviews. If his massive tank-slapper after turn 1 is any indication it could be related to power delivery of the MGU-K.
Make no mistake, Lewis’ drive was good, but it was nothing out of the ordinary, which I think is the criterium for ‘driver of the weekend’. He merely drove off into the distance with an utterly superior car, the very thing that Vettel got slagged off for endlessly.
Outduelling a Red Bull is not much of an achievement until Renault sort their shit out. If anything, it was Vettel, who shone in qualy. He came very close to HAM’s time while putting a whooping whole second into his team mate.
I still think that Hulks drive was much more impressive, all things considered.
“Outduelling a Red Bull is not much of an achievement…” RB has superior downforce, and in full wet conditions they were the benchmark since hp advantages are removed in full wet conditions.
Vettel is the overall best driver on the grid, and no other car comes close to the downforce they have. So in wet conditions, Vettel was the one to beat in qualifying. So to best SV in full wet conditions was significant, given the margin between the two, and how LH’s team-mate did.
It will be interesting to know more about any possible problems with Nico’s car.
In any case, it’s one thing to have the faster car, but as we saw with MW last season, it’s another to get the results. Compared to his team-mate, not a wheel set wrong this weekend for LH and the controlled style in which drove his first full race of the season… championship caliber stuff.
You do make a good case for Hulk though. Agreed a strong performance there as well.
I also voted for the hulk. Showed the world once again that he is far better than many others on the grid. (Doing what everybody here wants, showing off in a bad car) And maybe bringing some regret to ferrari, after their decision for not signing him.
Loving Hulk’s work; however, will he prove to be a big fish-small pond driver when he eventually is given the chance he deserves at a top team?
I reckon he would be duking it out with Hamilton for DWC honours! But RB have Vettel, and Ferrari aren’t close enough..
I voted for Hulkenberg as well – great dice with Alonso…
Went for Hamilton – in spite of his hair and eyebrow plucking at the podium.
He did what he had to do, this is the Hamilton we were amazed at when he appeared in F1.
Voted for Lewis. He seemed to have Nico covered, and despite everyones surety he could not look after tyres and manage fuel, no being a ‘thinking driver’ did longer stints, and finished with more fuel than the other top 10, and did it whilst clearly having plenty of pace in hand. Vettelesque in its execution.
Hulk and Alonso had to get an honourable mention though, Hulk because of all the reasons already mentioned, and Alonso for sticking it in 4th with a heath robinson suspension repair, and just being his usual metronomic self.
He has this Nico covered, but what about the other Nico.. interesting that those 3 are the 3 who won GP2 first time out, and Hamilton and Hulkenberg also won Euro F3 the year before that.. I reckon Hulk could even shade Hamilton in an equal car..
I voted for the hulk, excellent drive today. He has a lot to offer and deserves a seat in one of the big teams.
I think Jenson will retire/be retired from McLaren at the end of this season IF he doen’t beat K-Mag in a convincing way. With Hulk at Force India who share some technology, windtunnel and simulator with McLaren, then maybe they will be privy to some of his telemetry and give him a drive based on what they know, a little like RedBull did with Ricciardo. Would like to see the Hulk and K-Mag at McLaren, I think that would be a strong team for the Honda comeback.
You’d think so, but I can see them taking a WDC if Honda push for one, perhaps keeping Button if they can’t attract say Alonso, or going full hog and promoting Vandoorne, who ran Magnussen really close last year..
Just thinking on if Lauda didn’t attract Lewis to Mercedes.. who would they have picked to replace Schumacher? Hulk/Di Resta? With a slower team mate, Rosberg could have walked this season to the title..
honestly, i’m thinking button is getting retired before the end of the season…. ron promised changes, and this should be one.
Button, Raikkonen are the oldest on the grid.. and most experienced.. and being outpaced by a team-mate.. Alonso and Massa would be next, maybe not next year but the year after (or 2016 for Alonso). The question now is who will replace them?
Voted for Vettel for taking the fight to the dominant Mercs
Voted for Lewis, with mention for Hulk and Koba, amazing drive for Vettel and Button too.
Danny Ricciardo, the lad did exactly what was being asked of him, he didn’t hold back against a formidable team mate, yet lost out again thanks to circumstances out of his control. I’m just waiting for his 1st win, he has continuously proven that it was the right move to promote him.
Better luck next week Danny Boy.
He could easily have had a 2nd and 4th so far and be 2nd in the WDC standings.. Talk about luck..
Not driver of the day, but I was pretty happy when he briefly stuck it past SV at the start and the got back past Fred on cold tyres after the first pit stop. The kid’s got potential 🙂
Max Chilton!!! For his 100% reliability and finishing just 0.1s shy of Ericsson 🙂
Too many good choices, but the Hulk overall outdrove the car as the aphorism goes. Close 2nd to RIC and KK, the latter for his multi lap dicing with Grosjean near the end of the race. And I salivate to see Vettel properly pushed this season!! We’ve not seen the best out of either of them yet.