Which F1 driver was the best performer during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend?
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most during the last race weekend.
Hungarian Grand Prix driver-by-driver
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton – Swept all three practice sessions with little drama besides the occasional lock-up, and continued his domination into qualifying where he headed all three parts and sealed his ninth pole position of the year. But his domination of the weekend ended within seconds of the start: relegated to fourth in the first few corners, he then went off at turn six, slipping to tenth (and somewhat unfairly blaming his team mate for the error). He’d fought his way back to fourth when he came under attack from Ricciardo and thumped into the Red Bull, necessitating a front wing change and earning a drive-through penalty. Nonetheless he recovered to sixth at the chequered flag and edged further ahead of Rosberg in the championship.
Nico Rosberg – The team apologised to Rosberg after his “difficult day” which they said was down to an error in setting his car up which went unnoticed. He bounced back in final practice to end up within a tenth of Hamilton, but in qualifying he was puzzled by persistent understeer and ended up over half a second off his team mate. After Hamilton took himself out of contention Rosberg was unable to close on the Ferraris – he was 22 seconds behind before the Safety Car period. Seemingly preoccupied with staying ahead of Hamilton, a conservative call for medium compound tyres under the Safety Car blunted his challenge late in the race. A lack of circumspection in his battle with Ricciardo was heavily penalised – the puncture dropped him to eighth, and spoiled what could have been a profitable day.
Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo – Hampered by an engine failure on Friday afternoon but qualified strongly. The only driver to save a set of soft tyres in Q1, two rapid laps in Q3 secured him fourth on the grid, just three-hundredths of a second off Vettel. Having struggled to get away from the dirty side of the grid he was hit by Bottas at turn – the first of three collisions on that part of the track. After Kvyat waved him through Ricciardo passed Hulkenberg but after switching to medium tyres he couldn’t keep Hamilton’s Mercedes behind. That paid off when the Safety Car appeared, however, as he was able to switch to softs and go on the attack. He was hit by Hamilton as he passed the Mercedes, but was still able to go after Rosberg. Again there was contact, which forced Ricciardo in for a new front wing and cost him a shot at victory.
Daniil Kvyat – Out-paced Ricciardo in practice but was disappointed with his qualifying effort which left him seventh. After locking up heavily at the start of the race he was ordered to let Ricciardo through, which he was not happy about, but he caught a lucky break when he switched to soft tyres before the Safety Car came out. Although he had to run a long, 36-lap stint on them and picked up a ten-second penalty for going off the track while passing Hamilton, Kvyat steered clear of the unfolding chaos to grab a career-best second place.
Williams
Felipe Massa – Eighth on the grid meant he was last in the Ferrari/Red Bull/Williams qualifying battle, and sloppy parking on the grid meant a five-second penalty. That dropped him back in the pack, and an early switch to soft tyres (even earlier than Kvyat’s) didn’t work out – a third pit stop was required, which dropped him out of the points.
Valtteri Bottas – Ran Williams’ new front wing and secured sixth on the grid, and was running fourth early on. Having been jumped by Hamilton and Ricciardo at the first round of pit stops, he was poised to profit from their post-restart scrap when he was tagged by Verstappen, picking up a puncture.
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel – Didn’t seem to quite have a match for Raikkonen’s pace in practice but led the way for the team in qualifying to take an increasingly familiar third place on the grid. A superb start put him in the lead from where he used Ferrari’s soft tyre pace to great effect – Raikkonen was ten seconds behind even when his car was still healthy. The Safety Car period was exactly what he didn’t need but his nearest rivals mostly took themselves out of contention as he grabbed his second victory of the season.
Kimi Raikkonen – The Hungarian Grand Prix was a depressing litany of misfortune for Raikkonen. First his front wing failed on Friday, then a water leak sidelined him on Saturday. The latter kept him from doing a run on the soft tyres ahead of qualifying, and he ended up fifth on the grid. He followed Vettel through at the start, passing Rosberg for second in turn two, and though he didn’t have his team mate’s pace he was on for a solid second place when his MGU-K packed up. Even then a points finish might have been possible had the Safety Car not wiped out the buffer he’d built over his pursuers.
McLaren
Fernando Alonso – At a track which minimised the McLaren’s shortcomings, Alonso looked set to take full advantage until his car let him down in qualifying. He jumped up to 12th at the start but was passed by Verstappen shortly afterwards. The pair were destined to finish in that order after Alonso made a canny switch to soft tyres during the Safety Car period and muscled past the other, ailing Toro Rosso of Sainz.
Jenson Button – Baffled by his car’s behaviour in final practice, but would have made the cut for Q2 had it not been for a power unit problem which robbed him of ERS delivery on the straight. Unlike Alonso, Button did not pit to change tyres under the Safety Car, and he was powerless to prevent his rivals demoting him to ninth. Nonetheless, this was McLaren’s first double points score of 2015.
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Force India
Nico Hulkenberg – Had to sit out second practice and much of the first session while the team investigated the cause of Perez’s crash. Once back on track he looked quick again however, setting the sixth-fastest time in final practice. He produced another astonishing start – leaping to sixth, then slipstreaming past Kvyat for fifth – and his race continued to run true to form as quicker rivals leapfrogged his Force India during the pit stops. A solid points finish was in the offing when his front wing collapsed on the pit straight, sending him into the barriers.
Sergio Perez – A right-rear suspension failure cause a substantial crash in first practice, and Perez admitted afterwards he’d been scared when his car flipped over. He bounced back to take 13th on the grid and mimicked his team mate by making up five places at the start. However he was turfed off the track by Maldonado while passing the Lotus, and with a damaged car and a lengthening brake pedal Force India later opted to retire him.
Toro Rosso
Max Verstappen – An electrical problem confined him to the garage halfway through Friday practice, but he bounced back to become Toro Rosso’s only representative in Q3. He started poorly, falling to 13th, but after passing Alonso a well-timed pit stop moved him up to ninth. When the Safety Car came out he had not long since changed to mediums, and switching back to softs put him in a strong position at the restart. However he broke the speed limit under the Safety Car period and had to serve a drive-through penalty. Without that, he might have had his first podium finish. Instead he was fourth, his best result so far, though he was fortunate to escape a penalty after tangling with Bottas.
Carlos Sainz Jnr – Put Toro Rosso in the top five in final practice but stumbled in qualifying, unhappy with his car’s braking as the track conditions changed, and ended up 12th. Running sixth after the Safety Car period, yet another Toro Rosso failure forced him into retirement.
Lotus
Romain Grosjean – Missing first practice was less of a disadvantage than usual compared to his team mate. Once again his was the only Lotus in Q3 and he also managed to save a set of soft tyres for the race. But he made a terrible start and finished the first lap in 16th, then collected a five-second penalty for an unsafe release from the pits. His race came alive after the Safety Car period, rising to sixth as those ahead hit trouble, before being demoted by Rosberg’s recovering Mercedes.
Pastor Maldonado – Lotus missed the beginning of final practice as Pirelli had withheld their tyres due to a payment dispute. The timing of the red flag in Q2 was unfortunate for him, though it was for several other drivers too, and he ended up missing the cut. His race was a depressing litany of mistakes which a driver in his fifth year of F1 should not be making: contact with Perez, speeding in the pits and overtaking under the Safety Car. And yet somehow his penalty points total only increased by two.
Sauber
Marcus Ericsson – Both Sauber drivers received the confidence-boosting news that they’d been retained for 2016 ahead of the race weekend. Ericsson out-qualified his team mate but the pair had only the Manors behind them. A race of attrition presented the opportunity to pick up a point and Ericsson was the one who capitalised, leading Nasr home.
Felipe Nasr – Struggled with overheating tyres in qualifying and lined up 19th. An anonymous weekend continued into the race, where he complained of being stuck in traffic and was 11th behind Ericsson at the flag.
Manor
Will Stevens – Admitted to a mistake on his first qualifying run, then struggled to improve on it on his second. Scrapped with Merhi over the final two places before retiring with a vibration.
Roberto Merhi – Having already raced at the Hungaroring this year, Merhi sat out the first practice session while Fabio Leimer had his first run in the car. Nonetheless he out-qualified Stevens and briefly got ahead of the Saubers at the start, but had to pit to have a loose headrest seen to. He was running ahead of Stevens when his team mate dropped out.
Driver of the Weekend: My choice
After his crushing performances on Friday and Saturday I didn’t expect I would end up selecting anyone other than Hamilton, but his disastrous race put paid to that. However there were several other drivers who deserved consideration.
Hulkenberg was one of them again, although he missed the cut for Q3 he started well and again had the Force India running higher than it belonged. And it was hard to resist picking Vettel as he was in excellent form on race day, simply leaving the opposition behind after making a dream start and coping with a Safety Car period he really did not need.
But instead I chose a driver who had three collisions during his race.
I doubt there was a hundredth of a second left in Ricciardo’s Red Bull once he was done with it on Saturday. He was the only driver to make it through Q1 without using soft tyres, and he came very close to beating Vettel to that all-important third place.
As a result he had to start off-line, and he tangled with Bottas at the start. Nonetheless he passed Hulkenberg and took maximum advantage of the Safety Car period by switching to softs. He couldn’t do much about being hit by Hamilton, and although his attempt to pass Rosberg was optimistic he was entitled to be on the racing line when the pair made contact. Without that, he had the pace to attack Rosberg and Vettel for victory. Third place was the least his weekend’s efforts deserved.
Qualifying and race results summary
| Driver | Started | Gap to team mate (Q) | Laps leading team mate | Pitted | Finished | Gap to team mate (R) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | 1st | -0.575s | 5/69 | 3 | 6th | -6.851s | |
| Nico Rosberg | 2nd | +0.575s | 64/69 | 3 | 8th | +6.851s | |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 4th | -0.558s | 56/69 | 3 | 3rd | +9.336s | |
| Daniil Kvyat | 7th | +0.558s | 13/69 | 2 | 2nd | -9.336s | |
| Felipe Massa | 8th | +0.315s | 22/69 | 3 | 12th | -5.95s | |
| Valtteri Bottas | 6th | -0.315s | 47/69 | 3 | 13th | +5.95s | |
| Sebastian Vettel | 3rd | -0.281s | 54/55 | 2 | 1st | ||
| Kimi Raikkonen | 5th | +0.281s | 1/55 | 3 | |||
| Fernando Alonso | 15th | -0.176s | 64/69 | 3 | 5th | -17.949s | |
| Jenson Button | 16th | +0.176s | 5/69 | 2 | 9th | +17.949s | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 11th | -0.635s | 40/41 | 2 | |||
| Sergio Perez | 13th | +0.635s | 1/41 | 3 | |||
| Max Verstappen | 9th | -0.088s | 45/60 | 3 | 4th | ||
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 12th | +0.088s | 15/60 | 2 | |||
| Romain Grosjean | 10th | -0.804s | 56/69 | 3 | 7th | -26.564s | |
| Pastor Maldonado | 14th | +0.804s | 13/69 | 2 | 14th | +26.564s | |
| Marcus Ericsson | 17th | -0.154s | 68/69 | 3 | 10th | -4.328s | |
| Felipe Nasr | 18th | +0.154s | 1/69 | 3 | 11th | +4.328s | |
| Will Stevens | 20th | +0.533s | 38/65 | 2 | 16th | Not on same lap | |
| Roberto Merhi | 19th | -0.533s | 27/65 | 2 | 15th | Not on same lap |
Review the race data
- 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix lap charts
- 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops
- 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix lap times and fastest laps
Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job this weekend?
Cast your vote below and explain your choice in the comments.
Vote for the best driver of the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend
- Roberto Merhi (0%)
- Will Stevens (0%)
- Felipe Nasr (0%)
- Marcus Ericsson (1%)
- Pastor Maldonado (1%)
- Romain Grosjean (0%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
- Max Verstappen (4%)
- Sergio Perez (0%)
- Nico Hulkenberg (1%)
- Jenson Button (0%)
- Fernando Alonso (16%)
- Kimi Raikkonen (2%)
- Sebastian Vettel (52%)
- Valtteri Bottas (0%)
- Felipe Massa (0%)
- Daniil Kvyat (6%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (14%)
- Nico Rosberg (0%)
- Lewis Hamilton (3%)
Total Voters: 745
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2015 Hungarian Grand Prix
- Vettel wins Driver of the Weekend for third time
- Hungary rated fifth-best race since 2008
- 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix
- Vote for your Hungarian GP Driver of the Weekend
Debates and polls
- Will Daniel Ricciardo be racing in Formula 1 in 2024?
- Massa wants “justice” over Crashgate. But what penalty did it deserve?
- Should the stewards have taken action over Russell-Verstappen collision?
- After 25 grands prix, has F1’s ground effect revolution improved racing?
- Do late-race standing restarts belong in F1?
Chad (@chaddy)
27th July 2015, 13:52
Seb. Easy one.
Michel S. (@hircus)
27th July 2015, 18:57
I wish I could vote for James Allison :) Voted Seb too, with Riccardo a close second
pal
27th July 2015, 19:03
Yeah. That’s Vettel effect on his engineer. I would love to be his engineer.
tmax (@tmax)
28th July 2015, 17:13
+1
celeste (@celeste)
28th July 2015, 20:38
I wish I would have vote for Kimi, was doing a solid job and had a great start
yolanda
27th July 2015, 19:35
I thought it was 2013. lol
hamman
27th July 2015, 19:39
Phenomenal stuff with probably the 3rd best car of the race… Gobsmacked.
hamman
27th July 2015, 19:39
Raikkonen was also amazing though.
hamman
27th July 2015, 19:40
It would have been one of the most beautiful 1-2s I’ve had the pleasure of watching.
bchgrl1478 (@svfan)
27th July 2015, 20:04
+1
hzh (@hzh00)
28th July 2015, 8:45
Agree, but I also think Alonso deserves it as well with his result with that McLaren.
Btw, I do not understand why there are people who voted for Hamilton after messing up his race with his mistakes. I also do not believe that somebody actually voted for Maldonado :-/
ben
28th July 2015, 18:48
Kvyat was about to get lapped before the safety car and finished second. Tells you all you need to know about the DOTW also known as Sebastian Vettel and the rest of the drivers who finished behind him.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
27th July 2015, 13:54
For me, the driver of the weekend is Daniel Ricciardo. He outqualified his teammate, and would have definitely finished ahead of his teammate, and possibly fight for the win if it wasn’t for the two stupid Mercedes, Rosberg and Hamilton screwing up his race.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
27th July 2015, 13:57
Honourable mentions to Vettel, Alonso, Kvyat, Verstappen and maybe Raikkonen.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
27th July 2015, 13:58
And Hulkenberg.
hzh (@hzh00)
28th July 2015, 8:38
And Maldonado for showing us how to get a rare type of hattricks.
Albert
27th July 2015, 14:01
@ultimateuzai
Seriously? Atrocious start, even before the Bottas incident, needed team orders, was involved in a late incident in which he was partly to blame, and the only reason he did what he did later was due to the sheer luck of having both a safety car and soft tyres and the same time.
Albert
27th July 2015, 14:09
@ultimateuzair
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
27th July 2015, 14:22
The team planned it that way. There is always the possibility of a safety car at Hungary, so the team took a calculated risk. It certainly wasn’t dumb luck that both Red Bulls were on soft tyres at the end.
Albert
27th July 2015, 14:32
@debaser91
The safety car could as well have been in the middle of the race (!).
If you plan for A and not for B (both A and B being completely out of your control or prediction capabilities) and it indeed A does happen, it’s sheer luck.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
27th July 2015, 15:01
It wasn’t just sheer luck. They decided to leave the softs until the last stint in the knowledge that they would be in a good position if there was a safety car. They took a gamble, sure, but it was calculated.
Albert
27th July 2015, 15:03
@debaser91 “Calculated” implied there was something to calculate. There wasn’t. You can’t calculate when a safety car may or may not come. It was simply a dice roll, nothing more. Stop repeating yourself if you have nothing new to add, please.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
27th July 2015, 15:21
Man you’re rude.
Albert
27th July 2015, 15:26
@debaser91 My apologies if I come off that way, I just hate conversations in which people repeat themselves for the sake of repeating themselves.
In your first post you said it was calculated risk and it wasn’t dumb luck, and in your second you said… it was a calculated risk and it wasn’t dumb luck. Granted, I’ve been also been guilty of this.
I agree my post was unnecessarily rude, so I repeat my apologies. Though that doesn’t change we should avoid repeating ourselves, it’s a wonderful way of taking all the fun of internet chatter.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
27th July 2015, 15:28
Lol. I won’t be dictated to by you. If you don’t mind.
It was not a dice roll. They decided to put the medium tyres on in the middle stint so that they would be strong at the end of the race, and also if there was a safety car they would be sitting pretty. A clear, strategical decision. Of course you cannot predict exactly when the safety car comes out. That is why it is called a RISK, not a sure thing.
Albert
27th July 2015, 15:31
@debaser91
Christian Horner said to the BBC it was a dice roll. I assume you know better.
Albert
27th July 2015, 15:34
@debaser91
Horner to the BBC “We rolled the dice and hopefully we might have a chance of sneaking a podium.”
http://www.bbc.com/sport/live/formula1/32542934
uan (@uan)
27th July 2015, 18:36
@debaser91
okay, let’s say it’s not sheer luck. That was a team call. It wasn’t exception driving. The restart was around lap 49/50 and the contact was around lap 63/64. That’s 15 laps of having superior tires and he could not pass Rosberg. His one chance was a desperate lunge that didn’t work. If there’s no contact with Rosberg, it’s doubtful Ric would have passed Rosberg before the end of the race.
Even if he does pass Rosberg (after 15 laps), Vettel was still slightly faster than Rosberg and managing the gap, so it’s unlikely Ric would be able to pass Vet for the win.
DOTW shouldn’t be based on would’ves, could’ves, should’ves. He didn’t.
DR had a very good race but before the SC came out he was 5th and quite a margin behind. It wasn’t like he was on the heels of the the leading cars (RAI, ROS, VET) the entire race. DOTW, if not Vet, would have to be RAI or ALO. Raikkonen’s start was phenomenal and was running clearly in 2nd the entire race and only a mechanical scuppered an otherwise stellar drive (and he also was seriously compromised in FP3 with the water leak and wasn’t able to do a run on the option tires).
But Vet nailed qualifying in probably the 3rd fastest car (behind the RBs), had an amazing start, pulled the gap, and when the SC came out, managed the gap in a car that was probably 3rd fastest of the 3 cars in the final laps.
This should answer the question, is it the car or the driver and Vet can only win in the best car. In Hungary he won in the 3rd best car. That’s quality right there.
peras
27th July 2015, 19:06
@uan +1 Very good summary there.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
28th July 2015, 0:28
If you go further down you will see that I voted for Vettel as DOTW. I don’t know why you think I voted for Ricciardo.
The reason Ricciardo couldn’t get past Rosberg is because the Renault power unit is down on power compared to the Merc. That’s why he had to banzai Nico in an attempt to get past, it’s the only shot he had.
And the Ferrari was the 2nd best car on pace this weekend. It was a great drive by Seb but you don’t need to spoof it up more than necessary.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
27th July 2015, 14:36
I wanted to give it to Dan, just for his hat.
And a repeat of last year’s win (at Ferrari’s expense once again) looked on for a moment, but then it got messy with Rosberg. But he’d been right back on form after a couple of dodgy races, and really driven a car to 4th on the grid that looked evil from the onboards during practice.
But it had to be Seb, who just looked safe in the lead (compare with Massa at Silverstone), driving away early on in typical Vettel style. And his radio message nailed it, as @coldfly says.
George (@george)
27th July 2015, 14:36
Yeah I think I’ll go for Ricky as well, he was very strong all weekend and pulled off some sweet overtakes. Vettel is a close second, his performance was reminiscent of a couple years back, dominant victory from the front.
yokura
27th July 2015, 14:52
There are 2 guys starting the race side-by-side. One of them goes around the pole sitter into turn 1 in brilliant fashion while the other goes backwards behind his teammate who started 7th. By the end of first lap the guy on the lead opens up a three seconds lead over supposedly faster cars. By the time safety car comes out he’s also fourth-five seconds ahead of the guy who started right next to him. That guy gets stuck behind his teammate who flat spotted his tyres and gets by him thanks to team orders. After the safety car comes back in, lead guy has the slowest car among the top 3, but manages to stay there somehow even though gap comes down under a second repeatedly. Other guy has at least 3 contacts throughout the race, 2 of which is championship contenders but anyway, then finishes 3rd behind his teammate despite having the fastest car after the safety car 20 laps before the end.
I mean Alonso surely had a better race than Ricciardo. Imo, Ricciardo’s race wasn’t that better than Hamilton’s.
rm
27th July 2015, 14:58
True. But I notice that after spending the race slipping on banana skins and stepping on garden rakes, Hamilton is still pulling 5% of the vote at present.
iFelix (@ifelix)
27th July 2015, 15:33
I can’t understand that for the life of me! I sometimes give it pass to people who overweight the race compared to the rest of weekend, because that’s the main point. But with Hamilton’s admission it was one his worst races. Hardly deserving any accolade!
George (@george)
27th July 2015, 15:10
I don’t put much weight on starts, it’s mostly down to clutch settings which are the engineers’ domain (until next race I think? Not sure on the specifics).
Considering where he ended up and his car’s top speed disadvantage I think he did well to get to where he was, he was clearly faster than Kyvat too. None of Ricciardo’s contacts were his fault in my opinion either.
Once Vettel got into the lead he was in his comfort zone, he drove a very good race, but it wasn’t hugely spectacular I think. If you judge his race by the gap to Raikkonen rather than Rosberg then it looks quite similar to most races this year. The Ferrari was simply much faster than we expected yesterday, and with Rosberg way off the pace of Hamilton, and Hamilton and Ricciardo stuck in the midfield, he didn’t have much competition.
Albert
27th July 2015, 15:12
@george
What a convenient set of “opinions” to make a specific driver look better :)
George (@george)
27th July 2015, 15:23
I’ve consistently said that about starts, I could find another example if you like.
As for the second, well to say they’re not his fault is not to say they were unavoidable, but I don’t feel he caused any of them. I don’t have any affinity for Ricciardo, in fact Vettel is one of my favourite drivers on the grid, these are my honest opinions.
Albert
27th July 2015, 15:29
@george Kvyat didn’t seem to have a problem at the start. I assume you don’t count that either. Or it was due his engineers only, right?
Lol.
yogart
27th July 2015, 19:12
Vettel’s first lap alone would make him a very strong candidate for the driver of the race.
xylon
27th July 2015, 19:13
Ferrari was more like the 3rd fastest car in Hungary.
Colin (@kairat)
27th July 2015, 16:34
RIC? Horredous start, some clumsy challenges, needed team orders. Need I say more?
rm
27th July 2015, 16:36
I don’t know how people can claim that incident was Rosbergs fault, it was a textbook “Driver-trying-to-overtake-dives-into-a-closing-wedge” crash.
dynamite
27th July 2015, 19:14
See Monaco.
@HoHum (@hohum)
28th July 2015, 0:23
Me too, a real racers racer.
Patrick (@paeschli)
28th July 2015, 11:20
I fail to see how Ricciardo did a better job than Hulkenberg this weekend, yet he has 14 times as many votes …
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
27th July 2015, 13:54
Appart from the obvious vote to Vettel, I’m going for Hulkenberg. He had a fantastic race until the wing failed. He would’ve finished well in the points, continuing his form from a couple of races. Great stuff.
Tho I think I also have to thank him for triggering such a spectacular race.
RP (@slotopen)
27th July 2015, 17:13
How about Hamilton? If Vettel or most other champions were in the Merc it would have been a boring lights to flag parade with the safety car of little consequence. Hamilton’s bumbling helped show how competetive the rest of the field is.
Honorable mention to Rosberg for being unable to setup his Merc and run away.
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
27th July 2015, 13:55
You could realistically give it to any of the top five drivers, even though some made errors throughout the weekend. For me the stand out drivers after re-watching the race were Alonso and Vettel. Both drove flawlessly.
I’ll give it to Vettel though as he out-qualified his team-mate, dominated Raikkonen in the race (prior to Kimi’s problems), looked after the car well, and was able to manage the gap to Rosberg superbly when put under pressure. A great win from a great driver.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
27th July 2015, 18:42
Well put.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
27th July 2015, 13:59
Seb Vettel. Peerless race perfomance, and would have won at a canter had it not been for the safety car.
miky
27th July 2015, 14:09
Someone else pointed it out, he might have lapped the entire field without the safety car if Rosberg-Ricciardo-Hamilton tangled up the way they did in any case. Really remarkable.
Simon (@weeniebeenie)
27th July 2015, 15:38
That would never have happened without the SC though.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
27th July 2015, 17:05
Yes, it would be highly improbable that those incidents would have occurred. Interesting nonetheless!
miky
28th July 2015, 17:18
Those 3 (Rosberg-Hamilton-Ricciardo) were highly likely to come together at some points based on their strategy and pace. Who knows what would have happened anyway….
What I actually wanted to point out is how much all those mistakes cost everyone and they lost that amount of time to Vettel banging wheels actually. They all lost a whole LAP to him! Shocking lol!
Albert
27th July 2015, 13:59
It can only be Vettel. The other two remarkable performances weren’t close or were drastically affected by sheer luck.
Alonso for example, finished 4 places ahead of Button, remarkable. But of those 4 places 2 of them were due to the Mercedes duo having issues when they did, in a way that they affected Button but not him. Had the issues happened 3-4 laps earlier, they would passed him too. And I’m leaving the one place he got for his car being less unreliable in qualifying. He was stronger than Button the whole weekend, but nowhere as much as the four places show.
Riccardo had an atrocious start, needed team orders to clear one place for him, and was involved in late incident in which he was partly to blame. It wasn’t strategical flair that put him on soft late in the game, they rolled the dice and it worked for him thanks to the safety car. Still finished behind his team mate.
Albert
27th July 2015, 14:03
Also on Alonso vs Button, the got the soft tyres in the latest part of the race but Button didn’t.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
28th July 2015, 7:12
Then Button should have been closer to Alonso, that way he too could have benefited from Mercedes’ misfortunes. Anyway, Alonso was better than Button by a similar or even bigger margin to what Vettel was better than Raikkonen (before Kimi’s problems).
Albert
28th July 2015, 11:47
@kingshark
I would agree, had both have the same strategy. But after the SC Alonso got the softs (which wasn’t even a planned strategy, the pitstop was due to the brakes overheating), which proved to be the superior strategy.
It was a case of McLaren choosing the wrong strategy and a bit of dumb luck correcting it for Alonso, but not Button. Kudos for his drive, sure, he indeed had the upper hand over Button the whole weekend. Just not by that much.
paul
28th July 2015, 12:33
I agree with you. +1
paul
28th July 2015, 14:39
Also, Button would have been faster than Alonso in the first part of quali without ERS issue, so we really don’t know how their quali might have turned out eventually.
terry
27th July 2015, 14:03
Considering that before the safety car Kvyat was like a lap down from Vettel, I wonder if he would have lapped the entire field… LOL
sare
27th July 2015, 14:07
Sorry, but Ricciardo was 45secs down the road from Vettel before the safety car. He started right next to him and fell behind his teammate at the start. Red Bull had a similar pace to Ferrari. It was not acceptable that he was so behind the leader and only managed to catch up with him thanks to the safety car. Without that who knows really, he might have finished a lap down from Vettel even if he still finished 3rd.
Edgar
28th July 2015, 3:23
It is completely acceptable.
If you look at their starts, they are always screwed by the engine. The starts are ok but then it always tooks longer to get to speed.
Safety Car is a part of the race. “If it didn’t happened” but it happened. End of story.
I bet you don’t say “if it was not for the rain on Silverstone Vettel would be P6”.
It’s the story of the race.
And Ricciardo was a delight to see yesterday. I think this season in one of the worst i have saw but these last 2 races were pretty decent and fun. And yesterday he had a good share of responsability for it.
Albert
28th July 2015, 3:51
Neither Kvyat, nor Verstappen nor Sainz had such a terrible start, though.
True. That doesn’t change the fact though, that before it he was 45s behind the guy he started just after, which was the point the guy you’re quoting made.
Different scenario, though. Rain affects all cars equally, while the SC’s effect is bigger depending on how big your gap to the next guy is. Another difference, under rain Vettel triumphed because he drove masterfully under difficult conditions, the SC doesn’t have that element of driver skill. It just reduces the gap, regardless of how well/badly a driver drives.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
28th July 2015, 7:13
No, Ferrari was clearly faster. Only in the final stint, where Vettel was on mediums and Ricciardo on softs, was Daniel faster than Seb.
Baron
28th July 2015, 10:00
Ferrari wasn’t clearly faster. Ricciardo was doing the same pace for most of the race. Ricciardo’s start hurt him (as it does most of the time), then getting stuck behind Kvyat also didn’t help. By the time he was let through only Hamilton was faster on the same harder compound.
But, of course knowing you, you’ll be saying the Ferrari was the fastest car this weekend…
I guess it really is difficult to admit Vettel just did an amazing job this weekend. Especially for Alonso fans.
moran
29th July 2015, 8:05
Red Bull had around the same race pace as Ferrari in clean air. Who knows, maybe they would have been even faster without the traffic and extra tyre wear as a consequence to that.
sumedhvidwans (@sumedhvidwans)
27th July 2015, 14:09
For me Vettel and Ricciardo were the two major contenders for this poll. They had similar weekends, both had the measure of their teammates, both were able to stand up to the challenge of Mercedes (Vettel defending from Rosberg, Ricciardo attacking Hamilton) and both had very little spare pace left in their reserves.
But there is one key difference, while the SC disadvantaged Vettel, it benefited Ricciardo. Ricciardo was the highest placed car with soft tyres on it and given the pace difference between the two tyres, was a favorite for the victory. Even after the contact with Hamilton (which wasn’t Ricciardo’s fault) he was still the fastest driver on the track underlining the importance of the soft tyres. But then he blew it with Rosberg. He made a completely banzai move which would have resulted in definite contact had Rosberg taken his usual line through the corner. That Rosberg had the presence of mind at the entry of the corner but didn’t have at the exit of the corner in no way clears Ricciardo of the blame. He should have won the race, but he didn’t. Hence, Vettel for the DOTW.
George (@george)
27th July 2015, 14:45
@sumedhvidwans
The Red Bull is about 10kph slower than the Mercedes though, there was no other way to pass than a ‘banzai move’, and he was running out of tyres and laps at that point. So I don’t agree he would have won the race, if he hadn’t have gone for it best case scenario is he would have finished 3rd, where he did anyway.
Albert
27th July 2015, 14:47
@george
He wouldn’t have ruined another’s driver race though (!)
George (@george)
27th July 2015, 14:58
Well, who ruined who’s is arguable.
oya
27th July 2015, 19:22
I think he should have qualified ahead of Ferrari in the first place though. Also if he didn’t go backwards at the start, he might have had a better shot instead of the huge chasm to the race leader prior to SC.
lockup (@)
27th July 2015, 14:11
I dunno, after all Vettel had an easy drive in the best car
:))
Seriously it’s a close call between him Alonso and Hulk. I’m going for Hulk on balance, robbed of a great result as @fer-no65 says.
reklam
27th July 2015, 14:12
I don’t know if anyone realizes but Vettel’s first lap was amazing. He was more than 3 seconds ahead of Mercedes by the end of first lap! It must have been one of the best first laps ever…
ColdFly F1 (@)
27th July 2015, 14:21
Vettel earned DOTW a few seconds after finishing.
“Merci Jules, cette victoire est pour toi. You will always be in our hearts. We know sooner or later you would have been in this team.”
iFelix (@ifelix)
27th July 2015, 15:45
+1
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
27th July 2015, 14:24
Vettel. Quite clear this weekend. Although Ricciardo impresses me with his racing spirit almost every time I see him.
banana88x (@banana88x)
27th July 2015, 14:25
Vettel for me! No doubt about that!
Honorable mention for Ricciardo, who might not have a perfect race, but added excitement to it by racing with his heart.
Diceman (@diceman)
27th July 2015, 14:25
Easiest choice of the year, Vettel.
MattDS (@mattds)
27th July 2015, 14:36
Vettel, but with Alonso a very close second. Vettel’s last stint did it for me, he just kept on breaking DRS so Rosberg couldn’t benefit from it.
Behind these two, there were a number of drivers who also did very well:
– Ricciardo. Fought tooth and nail for it.
– Kvyat. Didn’t have Ricciardo’s speed but kept his nose clean and scored a career, and nation’s, best.
– Verstappen. Fourth in the STR!
– Hulkenberg. Perfect race, DNF wasn’t his fault.
– Grosjean. Great race, unsafe release wasn’t his fault.
xylon
27th July 2015, 14:39
Yeah. I thought they (Rosberg&Ricciardo) would have surely gotten him after the safety car was out. That was incredible the way he kept breaking DRS from Rosberg. Very good stuff.
Osvaldas31 (@osvaldas31)
27th July 2015, 14:37
Definetly Maldonado. He broke the record for most penalties in one race. Amazing performance, surely the best this year.
Jimmi Cynic
27th July 2015, 20:32
Agree. And the dedication. He made the team stay at the track so he could server the last of his drive-thru penalties this morning.
wert
27th July 2015, 14:37
It wasn’t just a good start, 4 drivers were side by side on the straight and Vettel was outside of Hamilton. The whole lap was brilliant stuff.
beneboy (@beneboy)
27th July 2015, 14:41
Great weekend for Seb, and an amazing drive on Sunday that we barely got to see due to all the action behind him.
Honorable mention for Fernando.
Saints (@saints)
27th July 2015, 14:44
How can it be anyone else than Vettel?
Albert
27th July 2015, 14:50
People often vote more based on fan-status or sheer spectacle. Hamilton is scoring more than Hulkenberg, for example.
dev_IanT (@dev_iant)
27th July 2015, 15:23
For me, Vettel had one outstanding lap & the rest was a given. The drivers behind him had much more to do and in slower cars (ignoring the Mercs, of course).
Oletros (@oletros)
27th July 2015, 15:55
Looking easy doesn’t mean that it was given and had nothing to do
Albert
27th July 2015, 16:00
@dev_iant
Because they weren’t driving as well (looking at the top 3 teams). Raikkonen didn’t have the pace, Rosberg was stuck behind RAI, Hamilton made a mistake after being passed. RIC had an atrocious start and needed team orders to get by. KVY had a good start, but he needed to compensate the lackluster qualifying.
Then, after the SC, Rosberg couldn’t get the gap to less than 1s, which meant he didn’t have DRS and put him under additional pressure by RIC. Then the incident happened.
Sure, it seemed like he had less to do, but that was because he had the pace and was error-free, which is not something RAI, ROS, HAM, RIC, KVY did.
Juzh (@juzh)
27th July 2015, 20:13
+1
benny
27th July 2015, 19:25
Slower cars? Surely you don’t mean Mercedes or Red Bull? I don’t think Ferrari was faster than either of those.
George (@george)
27th July 2015, 21:04
Well Vettel and Raikkonen pulled a big gap on Rosberg (about 10s and 7s respectively after 19 laps) under the same conditions. Even if you assume Hamilton was half a second per lap faster than Rosberg that still only puts Merc at about the same pace as Ferrari. At no point did Red Bull appear to have better pace than Ferrari, they only kept up in the last stint because they were on softs.
Baron
28th July 2015, 10:06
@george
Rosberg is not Mercedes. I’ve said it several times. Rosberg is not good enough to become champion. Even on his best days he’s still dependant on Hamilton’s performance.
Brace (@brace)
27th July 2015, 14:52
I knew there would be some comedians voting for Hamilton, but it’s more than just a few!
anon
27th July 2015, 15:46
Why? Lewis finished first in FP1, FP2, FP3, Q1, Q2 and Q3. Started on pole. It’s driver of the weekend, not driver of the race…
Mayank (@mjf1fan)
27th July 2015, 15:51
The mistakes he made on Sunday were more than enough to nullify everything he did on Friday and Saturday. @anon
Albert
27th July 2015, 15:55
I’m pretty sure more sentient beings would consider the race to be a lot more important than FP1, FP2, FP3 and Qualy… (btw, FP1 and 2 are not part of the weekend, just sayin’)
Albert
27th July 2015, 15:55
*most
zekeri
27th July 2015, 19:29
I think his mistakes on this race alone was enough to question whether he is the driver of the season. lol. Luckily there is a long way to go. Maybe others might do worse than he did before someone else this season is deemed to be better overall. *cough* Vettel *cough*
Tiomkin
27th July 2015, 20:15
@Brace So someone is comedian if they disagree with your choice. I thought people could vote for whomever they wanted. Guess I was wrong. Look up what ‘weekend’ means, it may surprise you.
xylon
27th July 2015, 20:33
So what if it’s the “weekend”? He outqualified his teammate. Also I think Ferrari were supposed to be slower than Red Bull this weekend…
Though I agree with you that people can vote for whomever they want of course.
RP (@slotopen)
28th July 2015, 2:53
Hey, if hamilton harnessed his talent it wouldn’t have been worth talking about. 1-2, F1 is boring, blah, blah….
Sure, Vettel drove the best, but Hamilton was more fun. Perfect for two days, then complete meltdown. It wasn’t his brilliant 2013 victory, but it was better to watch than most races.
Anybody else, well, other than Rosberg, would have won in the Merc. Sonce Vettel will rightly win the vote, I gave a vote to Hamilton for his antics.
RP (@slotopen)
28th July 2015, 3:05
Plus, Hamilton drove the worse race we could have predicted, and he still extended his points lead over Rosberg. : )
bchgrl1478 (@svfan)
27th July 2015, 14:58
Vette. Great start and amazing driving throughout. Kept Rosberg at bay after the restart.
bchgrl1478 (@svfan)
27th July 2015, 14:59
*Vettel