Who was your driver of the 2016 Belgian GP weekend? This takes into account the whole weekend, not just the race. Please use the comments section below 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
We are going to need a “Worst driver of the race” for Max this time.
Didn’t Maldonado win the Spanish Grand Prix before he became a driving hazard? Coincidence???
Pile driver* of the weekend: Max V
* Device that bashes large, blunt instruments into holes that don’t exist.
Skills and pashion of a real F1 driver
New generation Max is clearly impacting and waking up the whole F1 field… what a powerful soul he is, in racing, in being a winner personality, in being in connection with his fans. And showing what racing and living on the edge is… he is an example for so so so many people if willing to reflect. Maybe painful but clearly guidance now for generations to leave and make room. Times are always changing… so EMBRACE CHANGE also in F1
Waking up or trying to kill the whole field?
are you nuts? he’s not a motivational speaker. he’s a driver of a formula 1 car and his actions can seriously injure or kill fellow drivers, track marshals or spectators. idiot.
“Impacting” is about right; the rest not so much.
I think both Vettel and Verstappen made moves at turn one which were straightforward gambles – Vettel gambling on Verstappen not being there, and Verstappen, in full knowledge that both Ferraris were alongside each other, gambling that Vettel would leave room enough for two cars rather than one.
I would put blame as around two thirds Vettel, one third Verstappen, with Raikkonen blameless – and a racing incident, as held by the stewards.
However, I can’t attach serious blame to either of them for the move – if you’re gentlemanly every time, you’ll always finish behind. Racing incident was the right conclusion; but if you’re going to make aggressive manoeuvres, you have to accept that they can go wrong – otherwise you’re effectively saying that you are the only driver who has the right to use a threatened crash to take a position, and everyone else just has to get out of the way. Verstappen appears to think that he is the only one with the right to be aggressive without consequences.
It’s Verstappen’s subsequent driving (which he freely admitted after the race was retaliatory), and particularly the block on Raikkonen at around 200mph, that really was not smart, to say the least. When drivers are going for position at that speed, there has to be some degree of trust, over and above the letter of the rules. Verstappen showed he does not merit any trust at all. That will work for him in some situations, but he’s not going to be extended any professional courtesy in future by other drivers, I think, which will probably cost him more.
The retaliatory driving – particularly with respect to Raikkonen who he ought to have known was blameless, having had the opportunity to review the whole first corner incident again during the red flag period (as we saw him do on TV) – was IMO unacceptable, despite being adjudged by the race steward within current rules.
I might just take a different view of the block had he been battling Raikkonen for the lead of the race, but the race situation was a very, very long way from that. Dangerous petulance, pure and simple.
Finally, a quote from earlier in the weekend…
“I mean what is he doing? It’s dangerous. I’m riding over 300kph and he’s blocking me.”
Verstappen, FP2.
gonna give it to Alonso, but award is really credit to McLaren – who would have thought they could keep a Merc behind at Spa for so long? Great job from the Force India boys as well, loved Checo’s move on Massa (take a look at that one Seb :-))
Rosberg didn’t put a foot wrong to be fair, but as always, when you’re car is that dominant and you’re not challenged at the front it’s gonna be hard to impress as the best performance of the day – he’ll have to settle for the race win 🙂
Hulkenberg, Alonso or Hamilton .. one of those three i guess .. i don’t like Hamilton so i chose Hulkenberg .. a genuine nice guy and he drove really good!
clearly the Max trolls are out in force on this one… HAM delivered a brilliant drive, more controlled than the HAM of old. Sure he was aided by pinball-wizard Max and other antics but ultimately he put in some fast laps in dirty air to make some crucial passes. Anyone but Max… geez.
I voted for Max because this weekend he totally convinced me that he has all it takes to
become a WDC. He can attack & defend, is unforgiving and he does not give a rat’s arse
about what other drivers think of him.
I think that’s a pretty awesome attitude for a teenager and put’s him next to the likes of MS
and Senna who had the same ruthless attitude.
Kimi’s radio messages about that “Red Bull Bastard” was like music in my ears. We Dutch
are going to have a lot of fun in the years to come.
Start in P2, finish in P11, cause incidents and block other drivers. Yes, amazing. I’ll vote for Ricciardo over this little arrogant prick any day.
this is a joke right? started p2 and finished p11 after nearly killing two people multiple times and he is voted #1? this site has lost its credibility and that special insider feeling it had when it first started. officially the loony bin now.
Nobody was killed. No action by stewards.
I wouldn’t vote for Max, because of his mistakes:
– tyre strategie
– slow start
– flat spotting his hard tyres which cost him one stop.
* you will be assimilated *
Max had a slow start, was partially responsible for the turn 1 accident, was obviously blocking Raikkonen later in the race, and finished out of points. Yeah, what a great drive.
I am noticing how every body is so fixated on the race on sunday. Read the question again! The site asks ratings of the complete weekend. In this light I understand why max is scoring and is he my choice too.