Start, Circuit de Catalunya, 2018

Vote for your 2018 Spanish Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2018 Spanish Grand Prix

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Which Formula One driver made the most of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last five days.

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Circuit de Catalunya.

Driver performance summary

Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?

Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?

Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.

Who was the best driver of the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix weekend?

  • No opinion (1%)
  • Charles Leclerc (15%)
  • Marcus Ericsson (0%)
  • Stoffel Vandoorne (0%)
  • Fernando Alonso (7%)
  • Kevin Magnussen (16%)
  • Romain Grosjean (1%)
  • Brendon Hartley (1%)
  • Pierre Gasly (0%)
  • Carlos Sainz Jnr (1%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
  • Sergey Sirotkin (0%)
  • Lance Stroll (0%)
  • Esteban Ocon (0%)
  • Sergio Perez (1%)
  • Max Verstappen (5%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (1%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (0%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (0%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (51%)

Total Voters: 288

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Author information

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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49 comments on “Vote for your 2018 Spanish Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

  1. I’d vote for Robert Kubica…

    1. Someday soon, I hope… :)

    2. He’s an excellent driver, but at the moment the car has a lot of issues that need to be addressed. Him being in the car wouldn’t immediately bring Williams back to form.

  2. Pedaltothemetal
    13th May 2018, 22:47

    Gotta be Romain Grosjean

    1. Certainly wins the spin of the day award

    2. Yep, agreed.
      For nothing else other than providing entertainment to the masses.

  3. K-Mag. What more could he have done? (apart from the reprimand!)

  4. RIC: had the best lap times in the race therefore was the best driver.

    Or at least the one who saved his equipment because there was no way to get close to the car in front, and then just turned it up for a lap every now and then when the track was clear ahead.

    1. Didn’t he spin on his own?

      1. @blackmamba When? That was never shown on the world feed.

        1. deMercer (@)
          16th May 2018, 12:34

          When the VSC ended.

      2. Yes he did

    2. And if he hadn’t saved his equipment he might well have jumped Vettel too. So it’s a ridiculous comment.

    3. He got outqualified.

      1. The Skeptic (@)
        14th May 2018, 11:29

        By two thousandths of a second!!!

    4. So let me see if i get this correctly. He was out qualified by his teammate, he couldn’t keep up with his teammate in the race, he spun on his own dropping him even further behind his teammate, after the spin he lost even more time to his teammate who had a damaged front wing at that point. Yet you think he’s driver of the weekend because he saved his equipment to put in a fast lap every now and then? While he himself said he could only do a fast lap every 4-5 laps and didn’t understand why.

      1. i agree it wasn’t Daniel.
        i always look for this: Who put their team mate in the shade?

        So my choice would be: Max, Magnussen, Lewis (not the order i fill in )

      2. I was being ridiculous after being frustrated with that nothing race, and came up with some random fact to justify someone who had an ordinary race.

        Apologies to the team; I spun on my own.

        1. @juan-fanger
          It was pretty obvious you were just being “ridiculous”, yet you get these vicious replies. It’s telling that they come from some of the most notorious Max-adepts: Patrick, hahostolze(, PMS). Complimenting his teammate is like a red rag to a bull.

    5. It seemed to be such a strange race from Daniel. His pace was really inconsistent. He had fast lap a few times during the race, but even without traffic in front of him, he was on average losing out slightly to Max. I imagine that this was down to keeping the tires in the optimal operating range but it could be a number of other issues. Perhaps there was some issue with energy recovery like he and Max had in Baku. I know that at times there’s team radio that isn’t broadcast, but there had to be some sort of issue. Looking forward to the lap/time charts to see how he was losing time.

  5. Sorry, am being too negative about the race.

    Actually voted Leclerc again, drove very well. Took opportunities where they were available in a slowish car and held on well. Caught out a bit at the restart but he’ll learn and get better. Another great drive.

    1. RP (@slotopen)
      14th May 2018, 2:43

      @juan-fanger

      I vote LeClerc for Ferreri or Haas. The kid needs a faster car.

  6. Lewis was faultless when it mattered. I rate each driver after the weekend and have given 10 twice this year – Leclerc in Baku and Hamilton in Barcelona.

    1. I agree. This was Lewis’ weekend hands down. Superb in qualifying, and super spectacular on race day. Literally didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend.

      Honourable mentions to Leclerc, Kmag and Alonso as well. Alonso’s overtake on Ocon didn’t get enough air time on tv, but it was a spectacular move on the outside of turn 3.

      1. I picked LH too but rated Max’s day very highly too, for a perfect response to a tumultuous previous race. Ended up a full pit stop worth of time ahead of DR who briefly claimed to be quicker, which received an immediate response on the track from Max that stuck for the rest of the day.

  7. Lewis Hamilton, finally got up to speed and performed better than his teammate, produced a superb qualy lap and dominated the race.
    Special mention to Leclerc, scoring points in a Sauber is like a race win IMO.

  8. I could vote for Verstappen, Magnussen, Alonso or Leclerc. They all delivered a great race. I went for Hamilton though because just when I was thinking he wasn’t up to the challenge this season he stomped his authority in this race. Straight from his start he just had the race under control, Bottas nipped at his heels in qualifying (possibly putting it lightly given how close they were) but in the race Hamilton was flawless. He made it look easy which considering there were 6 cars capable of the win it really wasn’t. Like Rosberg promised he bounces back strong even when he has a shaky patch. His championship to lose now.

  9. It can only be Hamilton.

    With the exception of the Dutch and Brits at the race, everyone else who bought tickets must feel ripped off. Big relief for those who decided not to fill all those empty seats.

  10. Voted for KMag. Absolutely perfect weekend, could not have done anything more. Contrast to his teammate who at the moment is driving like he’s in the dukes of Hazzard.

    Also great weekends for Hamilton, Leclerc, Alonso and Sainz

  11. Has to be Hamilton. Dominated the race, putting 20 seconds on his teammate, and he could have gone quicker.
    Leclerc and Alonso had great weekends and Magnussen had a lovely Qualifying and Race. I can’t rate him higher because of the practice incident.

    1. Hamilton had a great race, but all he put on his teammate was 0.04 seconds in quali. The advantage in race day was all Vettel’s doing (by holding Bottas). It didn’t mean anything about any possible difference between Ham and Bot.

      1. @alonshow

        wow pretty good joke… The advantage in race day was all Vettel’s doing (by holding Bottas)….

        after vettel gap never disappeared, it lengthened… come with a better excuse for hate…

        some people just hate for the sake of hating…

        1. @mysticus: FYI, I like Ham, I root for him, and I consider him one of the greatest, if not the greatest ever. But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna say his farts smell like flowers, like so many fans do with their favourite driver. When he’s brilliant, I’m the first one to say so. But when he screws up, I’m also the first one to say it. And when people are praising him like he was god for something that was fine, but not extraordinary, like last race, I will also say it.

  12. Lewis Hamilton

  13. I’m prepared to vote Stroll if he managed to passed Leclerc. Going for Magnussen instead.

  14. I voted for Magnussen. I could’ve equally gone for Hamilton as well, but ultimately decided to go for Magnussen.

  15. Voted for MAG – like his hard style. Not there for having friends…and growing every day now.. seen a guy like that before- and he was WC before he ended in a wall..

  16. Hamilton, by a country mile. Ominous performance.

  17. FlatSix (@)
    14th May 2018, 7:31

    Hamilton surely had a great weekend, but I really believe there were two drivers who performed even better considering the car they had at their disposal. Both Sauber drivers had excellent races, voted for LeClerc.

  18. Charles LeClerc for me. The young lad is doing an excellent job – fast, keeps his nose clean, and extracts a level of performance from the car that you wouldn’t expect. For sure, Hamilton will win DotW, and deservedly so because he was excellent in qualifying and the race. But so was LeClerc, and in my opinion a driver in the middle of the pack, driving a car which surely is a handful to pilot, has a harder job than the guy out the front who doesn’t have to worry about overtaking anyone and can run the race however he chooses. On a day when some far more experienced drivers looked very very amateur, Charles LeClerc kept a cool head and did a great job. Well done.

  19. Between Hamilton and Leclerc

    1. @johnmilk
      I hear Leclerc made a mistake that enabled Pérez to overtake him (quoth Pérez), so that’d seal the deal in Hamilton’s favour for me.

  20. I voted Charles, maybe a tad harsh on Lewis but it seems we just expect weekends like that from him.
    Leclerc had a tough first few races but had the mature head to realise he had his set ups wrong and looks pretty solid since. I cant see Ferrari putting him straight into the top seat but maybe he will replace Grosjean at Haas next year?

  21. For me, LH deserves dotw for a pole and a runaway win, but the driver I most enjoyed watching this weekend was Max. In answer to a tumultuous last weekend and the onus being more on him to ‘clean it up,’ he remained unfazed and nothing changed for him with his hard charging ways. He outqualified DR, making it 3-2 so far, and when DR said he was faster on lap 14, Max’s answer was to run away from him and not look back. I thoroughly enjoyed that. Sounded a bit to me like DR went into that race with a little entitlement for a free pass, although Max did diplomatically say he might have made the same claim on lap 14 in DR’s shoes. Great stuff.

    1. Meant to add too, I usually go on about my day after a race and don’t comment for a time, and scouring over the comments now I am surprised, but then not surprised, at the silence now surrounding MV vs. DR compared to last weekend’s anti-Max rhetoric. DR just got schooled, and I think that is particularly significant after the majority has been on Max’s case, perhaps naturally, but still, great response from Max and no wonder he was asked in the post-race if he thought Spain would be a turning point for him.

  22. Grosjean was great again. A winners donut during the race, wow.

  23. Had to go with Hamilton simply for what was a pretty perfect, error free weekend. Granted, once he was out front he was never under any real threat, but even after pitting, he didn’t seem to see the need to push to catch up and pass Verstappen, knowing that the Red Bull would pit and he was no real threat. Maximised his position and the gaps without chewing his tyres.

    But extra mentions to Leclerc for a reletively faultless race and some good defending against even the formidable Alonso.
    Magnusson for actually behaving himself on defence and doing it aggressively, but fairly and getting a good result.
    Bottas for a solid drive, even though his tyres were aparently down to the canvas by the end.
    And finally Verstappen for a good, solid drive. Offset only by that silly error under the VSC. But kudos for not letting a broken wing slow him too much.

  24. Curiously there was no one except me voting for vettel!

    I’m really one who doesn’t look at the result which can be due to unluck or strategy, but what I saw is, with an inferior ferrari he got 1,5 tenths behind hamilton in qualifying, seeing raikkonen I don’t think it was possible to do more.

    Then in the race, overtook bottas at start and kept him behind with a much faster mercedes in the race, then true that the only chance he got to keep bottas behind after pit stops was because of mercedes’ slow pit stop, but I honestly was 90% sure bottas would’ve jumped him seeing he also was behind magnussen, yet he did a superb move and managed to keep him behind.

    I don’t agree with ferrari’s strategy, EVEN if vettel said he had to pit and would like to watch the alternate universe race where vettel doesn’t stop, I’m pretty sure he’d come 2nd, at worst 3rd, and that’s what ruined vettel’s race, nothing to do with him.

    Apart from him, who I voted cause I saw no one else did, others who had very good races were hamilton, leclerc, magnussen, plus relatively good races from verstappen and stroll; verstappen finally outraced ricciardo and didn’t make mistakes, I don’t see him at fault for stroll contact, and proved that with an equally fast driver, red bull can be as fast or faster than ferrari, even if it was a bad weekend for them, and stroll got very close to being in the points which is not too bad considering how slow williams looked this weekend.

  25. I voted for Hamilton as my driver of the weekend, with mentions for Magnussen, Sainz and Alonso.

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