Debate: Most impressive moments in 2007

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The F1 Fanatic 2007 season review is underway and will run for the next few weeks. The review will end with rankings for each driver but first I want your input on what impressed you most this year.

Who did the best pass? The best qualifying lap? The best race?

Remember this isn’t just about the top two teams – which drivers excelled lower down the field and persevered with a poor car? Leave your comments below.

Photo: GEPA / Mathias Kniepeiss

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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18 comments on “Debate: Most impressive moments in 2007”

  1. Best pass has got to be Sato on Alonso in the Canadian GP. Both Super Aguris were hooked up that day; Sato lined up Alonso and effortlessly took him like he was the double world champ and Alonso was the perennial crashaholic backmarker. I got a Murray-like lump in my throat when I saw that.

  2. The most impressive drive for me came from Vettel in China – after having probably the worst weekend of his racing life the week before in Japan, to then follow that up with another amazing performance was simply stunning.

    I can imagine a lot of lesser people would have crumbled under the pressure and attantion that was heaped upon him, but he rose above that to show just how good he really is.

  3. I think Markus Winkelhock leading the European Grand Prix in a Spyker, by a considerable margin at one point, is indicative of how strange and exciting that race was. In many ways, it’s representative of the ups and downs of the season.

    Albeit the events are a one-off, nobody could take that moment from Markus Winkelhock – leading his debut race, at home, in horrible conditions, and what is deemed the most dismal car on the track. It was a team decision that got him there, and it didn’t last, but it was so refreshing just to behold.

  4. On the Spyker theme, Sutil running well up the midfield and passing people at will in Belgium was a really impressive drive. Davidson’s quali lap that got him into Q3, I can’t remember where (Turkey or Hungary?) was one of the low-fuel quali laps of the year. Hamilton was overtaker of the year in my opinion: banzai move on Raikkonen at Monza, the do-or-die move from miles back against Rubens in Brazil, the opening few corners of his first two or three races were all great to see.

    And another randomly impressive thing was how all the Red Bull-affiliated cars all suddenly got a whole lot faster in the last four races or so. The main RBR cars had shown flashes throughout the early part of the year, before breaking down a lot. But in the last few races both RBR and STR suddenly found a load of speed through nothing particularly obvious, something that few people really seemed to pick up on.

  5. On the “Lewis as overtaker of the year” theme, his move around the outside of Fisichella off the fast right-hander before the Veedol chicane at the GP-Strecke (Nuerburgring), on the rumble strips, takes it for me.

    Cruise and collect is not his style and I hope he won’t look at China and Brazil and change his ways. He was mega for almost the whole year.

  6. My abiding memory of the season was Lewis’ pass on Kimi at the Italian Grand Prix into turn 1 – that just blew me away and watching re-runs still leaves me amazed!

    Further down the grid I’ve impressed with Super Aguri – hard to think now that this has been their second year.

  7. Massa as the fastest driver (six poles and six fastest laps), but unable to convert half of them in race wins…

    If he improves on that side, he’ll certainly have another shot at the drivers title…

    I would say Massa shutting the door at Alonso at his home race was my personal best moment…

  8. – Alonso’s pass on Massa @ Nurburgring
    – Sato’s pass on Alonso @ Canada
    – Rosberg has proved his talent this year
    – Kubica had a good year,crashed BIG TIME @ Canada and proved that he has the nerves to get back on that horse–atta boy
    – Kovalainen ALMOST had every race under his belt until Brazil,what a shame,I think had an impressive start to his F1 career
    – but for me,the rapid rise of BMW to third power on the grid has been my favorite part of the season

  9. Best QLF-ing lap for me was Fuji – Niko Rosberg – for 6th place, in wet. He had a lot of fuel onboard. //

    Best pass – Alonso on Heidfield – In France //

  10. i think a great moment was when heidfield took alonso around the outside of turn 4 at bahrain, When everyone was saying that Mclaren and Ferrari were gonna romp away with it. it provided a little glimpse into the “other” drivers skills. i also immensely enjoyed the fight at the front between Hamilton and Alonso at Indy, where the brit once and for all showed alonso he will not back down. the rise of a new golden boy!

  11. Best qualifying lap… Alonso’s pole in Hungary of course! Ha ha ha. Well seriously, I would say it’s Davidson’s lap in Q2 of the Turkish GP. He was down by like .2 seconds after the first two sectors and then gained like .4 in the third sector! He did the same thing in Q1 also if I remember right. He just had that sector down, bummer he didn’t make it to Q3.

    Best pass of the year was probably Sato on Alonso just for the pure joy of it. The best “looking” pass was Hamilton on Fisi at the Nurburgring, reminded me of Alonso’s pass on Schumacher at Suzuku in ’05.

  12. Best quali lap? Sato, Q2, Australia, to get into 10th place. That was something else!

    Best pass? Sato (again!) on Alonso in Canada.

    Best race? Tough one… gotta say Canada, but China, Japan, and Europe ran iut very close indeed.

    Best race drive? Vettel in China, brilliant stuff.

  13. I think Jarno Trulli’s drive in Bahrain was sadly underrated. He overtook both Renaults with some classy manoeuvres and raced hard with the two Williams drivers as well. Wurz and Rosberg gave it everything but Trulli held them off brilliantly. There’s nothing like a bit of good wheel-to wheel action.

    If only Trulli could do that every weekend.

    I’m not so sure about the best pass. Raikkonen on Coulthard at Fuji was pretty special though.

    I don’t think Hamilton’s Q3 lap at China was the best of the season, but it was certainly the most exciting for me. He pulled that one out of nowhere!

  14. AmericanTifosi
    30th October 2007, 12:16

    -For best overtaking just pick any of Robert Kubica’s moves, especially when he overtook two cars (Heidfeld and Rosberg I belive) in Brazil!

    -Heikki Kovalainen was brilliant at Fugi with minimal downforce on his car in the wet.

    -Kimi, 6 wins, all brilliant

    -Lewis still amazes me with that repass on Massa in Sepang

    -Fernando…umm…Nurburgring

    -Felipe, his qualifying in Brazil was amamzing

  15. I think Markus Winkelhock European GP moment is the perfect highlight for a incredible season. I must say, it was incredible because of it’s final race and championship fight, because everything from Budapest to Spa was boring. Nothing else than non-racing news.
    Anyway…

    Best Overtake: Alonso on Massa at Europe, Nick on Alonso at Bahrain, Kubica on both Rosberg and Heidfeld at Brazil.

    Best Moment: Markus leading the European GP by 30 secs. Official Live Timing from Formula1.com died that day.
    Best Race: Both vettel races at Japan and China.

    Best Qualyfing: Kubica at Magny-Cours. Just after his crash, he manages to put himself 4th on the grid.

    Racing in a poor car: gotta be Sutil. Exceded expectations with his Spyker drive. Specially at Monaco wet 3rd practice session. Vettel too, after all, he drove a Ferrari powered Red Bull. And had much more experience.

  16. The best race performance of the season for me was Kimi in Japan. From last to 3rd place, he did about 10 overtaking moves without being able to see anything in front of him, that was brave stuff with a dry set up. Unfortunately ITV only showed about 2 of those moves.

    The Massa and Kubica fight at the end of that race was also brilliant thrilling entertainment, you cant leave it out, it was the way F1 should be.

    About Lewis’s move on Kimi in Monza, I don’t think it was so great the Maclaren was about 8 – 9 tenths faster then the Ferrari, and Kimi drove that race with a sore neck, which is a very difficult thing to do with about 5 g-force strain on your neck, afterwards Kimi said that was the most difficult race of his career. In the braking areas alone where Lewis staged his move on Kimi the strain on his neck was about 120kg. Kimi is just not one who complains easily, he actually did an amazing job in that race to land up in front of Lewis with a sore neck a slow Ferrari and worn out tyres. The impact of Kimi’s crash was about 35 g-force, the impact of Kubica’s crash earlier in the year was about 70 g-force, Kubica stopped racing for a month after that, Kimi took part in qualifying about 2 hours after that crash.
    The race after that was Spa were he drove brilliantly but he still actually used a head rest to support his head in the braking, to help lessen the strain on his neck in that GP. So what he did at Monza was actually pretty much amazing stuff.

    For that reason I would rather say Lewis’s move on Barrichello was a much more gutsy one, he also did it from so far away.

    The overtaking of Alonso over Massa in the European GP was also a good one, and Kimi on DC in China.

    But overhaul I would have to give it to Massa and Kubica fighting their way over the finish line.

    Qualifying moment of the season it is very hard to say.

  17. How could I forget Massa and Kubica at Fuji? Certainly the most impressive (and certainly one of the less important, in terms of championship positions) overtaking of 2007…

    And the qualifying lap was Massa’s in Brazil, and than the slower lap after, an unusual celebration for a saturday, waving for the crowd (among them, me!), perhaps feeling he wouldn’t do that again on Sunday…

    Now serious:

    Most improved driver: Kovalainen

    Most improved team: Williams’ slow rebirth, that, for the sports’ good, I hope will continue next year.

    Driver of the Year: Raikkonen, for keeping it cool all time, for fighting from the end of the grid a couple of times, for winning more races than anybody, even discounting the Brazilian Grand Prix, and for his iceman look at the podium ceremony in Brazil, just after winning the world championship, but seeming less happy than Alonso, at his side!

  18. The Massa/Kubica fight at the end of the Japanese GP was hilarious. It’s hard to remember that they’re driving multi million dollar machines when they drive them like that. And the fact that Massa beat Kubica after being way off the road was even funnier. You could tell those were two drivers with nothing to lose.

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