As the curtain falls on the 2014 US Grand Prix who was your driver of the weekend? This takes into account not only the race but the whole weekend. Please use the comments to tell us why you voted the way you did.
thejudge13
F1: Daily International News roundup, inside whispers and insight together with thoughts and opinion
Didn’t Vettel piited 4 times and not just 3? He pitted twice during SC, first to put softs on and then immediately to put mediums back on.
It would made sense if he then wanted to effectively run 2 stints on mediums to the end, but no… Red Bull called him in a couple of laps before the end to put him back on the softs. What was that strategy again?
He then went from 14th to 7th in like 5 laps and finish 0,5s behind Alonso.
That last stop made not much sense. In fact it’s a minor miracle that he returned to the position he was already at before the stop. But at least he finally got something out of this rotten season – a fastest lap. Even if that’s not much to write home about…
But he did pitted didn’t he. If it didn’t make sense is an other question. And since he started out of the pit he’s been 5 times there in one race
If I remember correctly, Vettel was called into pits right after Vettel lost the battle for the 7th place with Alonso. In the end, Vettel finished 7ths, behind Alonso. I am guessing that the logic behind changing his tires so late in the race is perhaps his tires deteriorated so much that it could lose more spots after that. Does anyone have access to Vettel’s lap times before the last pit stop to confirm that?
Well he lost 6th because ALO was on fresh options, but nobody behind him was at the time, so if anything, they brought him in way too late to profit from it
Vettel it was. Struggling with a Monza rearwing, a bad set of tyres after the SC and shafted by the strategy again and still made it to P7. Hnourable mention for Fred as well. That Ferrari must have been a right ol’ pig this weekend, yet he got it home in 6th.
LOL
“Shafted by the strategy again”….
Seriously hippo? If the strategy shafted him that badly, he wouldn’t have finished 7th and only .5 second behind 6th place Alonso, despite 4 stops and starting from the pitlane. Did you think he would’ve finished ahead of Ric or the 2 Williams cars?
So no the strategy did not shaft him, it helped him.
He already was 7th before the last pitstop and the laptimes did not hint at a tyre problem, so it was a needless gamble. So I think it was not a smart move. The only thing that came out of it was a fastest lap, which he can’t buy anything for and in the end he merely ended up where he already had been.
He would not have beaten RIC (who over-performed the car), and not sure if he would’ve cleared either Williams. That’s with him starting 5th-7th on the grid.
James Allen’s strategy piece is a good read:
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/11/us-grand-prix-how-ricciardo-beat-williams-pair-and-the-curious-case-of-sebastian-vettel/
Voted vettel as well
Ricciardo had a good race too, him overtaking both Williams was a very solid performance I thought.
Vettel for me, to start where he did with what appeared like a ballsed up strategy and finish on Freds gearbox was a good effort.
It’s somewhat depressing to see so many voting for Lewis. The Merc guys are only racing each other. Williams aren’t allowed to challenge them and no one else has a car that is within 1.5s of them. Their car is in a different league to anything else on track, it’s much like praising Alonso for beating the old Marussia or Caterham teams such is the performance difference.
Sad times when the media were always citing Newey during a Red Bull win, but barely mention the likes of Costa when Mercedes win. All in all it’s starting to remind me of 1997 when Jock Clear said after JV won the title words to the effect of “Jacques has proved he’s the best!”. No Jock, he proved the Williams was a massively better car than Schumachers Ferrari, it was testament to the Ferrari driver he took the title to the last race. The media didn’t much like Schumacher and thus it was reported as JV winning on talent, without any of the caveats that we saw applied in 2009, 2011 or 2013.
As I said at the start of the season, a win in a car that dominant isn’t a win against Alonso, Vettel or Raikkonen – it’s a win vs your team mate, and that team mate alone. The same applied in 2011 & 2013 for Vettel’s two championships – it proved nothing other than he was faster than Webber and in neither of those cars did Red Bull have even half the performance advantage the guys at Merc have. It’s not like those titles of 2010 and 2012 where there wasn’t much between the cars at all – they’re what I see as Vettels achievements in F1.
Roll on 2015, this year has been dismal for Motorsport. Thanks Mercedes AMG F1, Respol Honda Moto GP Team and Citroen WTCC. I think in most of these series you could start from last on the grid with those machines and certainly finish on the podium if not win.
It was only thanks to the battle from 6th downwards that I didn’t switch off last night and I’ve already given up with MotoGP & WTCC.
“As I said at the start of the season, a win in a car that dominant isn’t a win against Alonso, Vettel or Raikkonen – it’s a win vs your team mate, and that team mate alone. “…..
Is that reason why Alonso was trying so hard to get into one of the Mercedes seat?
Yup, Alonso makes no bones about it, he just wants to win, that’s fine some people are like that, Senna was well known for that quality. It’s not like Fred came out with statements about not wanting to win in a hugely dominant car though, only a very jealous person would say such a thing wouldn’t they…
Oh so him disrespecting Seb these past years saying things like, “he’s figjting Adrian Newey”, that’s not the statement of a jealous man?
Is that why he along with Lewis was trying their best to get a Redbull drive?
Every driver on the grid just wants to win as well, that’s why they’re in the sport, not just to make up the numbers.
You’re quite right, Fred isn’t happy when he’s not winning, and he’s certainly jealous of those who had a faster car.
What’s your point? Alonso always wants a fast car with a big advantage? Well yeahhh of course he does. He’s never said anything else of the sort unlike the blessed one.
And more even.that team mate isn’t a real worthy opponent.
Rosberg isn’t? Hmm, let’s just float a scenario, shall we? Imagine instead of Hamilton, that an older driver, one that’s fast when everything with the car is as they want it, was Rosberg’s teammate instead? Let’s say Kimi, and let’s say he was having more or less the same problems with the new formula, as he’s having in the red cars. He’d be in a Merc, so he’d obviously be guaranteed to be in at least the top 3 of the DWC.
If that were the case, then Rosberg at this moment would be being talked about as a phenomenon, having taken 16 pole positions in one season to break the all-time record. He’d be the one with 10-plus wins, perhaps even taking the record there as well.
Meanwhile, the story on Kimi would be “we know he’s fast, but he just can’t get on top of the tires this year, and the increased torque.”
Fast forward and have four years of that, and that story might sound oddly familiar.
I always like your opinion. You think the same as me. Only you’re not to lazy to write it all here 🙂
@Bruznic…
Not sure if that comment was for me, but if it was, i’m not good at putting words on paper, talking is more my thing….. 🙂
No I meant Paul actually. 😉
Why thank you good sir !
Just looking down the list, out of curiosity, I’m rather amazed Nico.R doesn’t seem to have received a single vote… but the poll is for the ‘weekend’, not just the race, and he did do the stunning quali. lap if nothing else…
Or does he not have a single fan amongst J13 readers…?
Just curious… 😉
One lap isn’t worth a whole weekend.
The “nothing else” part of your statement is pretty key in why he didn’t get a vote. Relatively speaking, he did do “nothing else” particularly of note save for that qualifying lap. No fastest times in any of the FP sessions, getting overtaken by his team mate in the race (a fast lap the day before doesn’t make much difference there), being a bit shirty with the Mercedes representative (I forget who it was) in the cool down room after the race – there aren’t many reasons to vote for him when you look at other drivers like Vettel who had a fairly outstanding race.