Start, Nurburgring, 2020

Vote for your 2020 Eifel Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2020 Eifel Grand Prix

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Which Formula One driver made the most of the Eifel 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 three days.

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

Driver performance summary

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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 2020 Eifel Grand Prix weekend?

  • No opinion (0%)
  • Nicholas Latifi (0%)
  • George Russell (0%)
  • Kevin Magnussen (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (3%)
  • Antonio Giovinazzi (1%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (0%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (44%)
  • Sergio Perez (5%)
  • Pierre Gasly (1%)
  • Daniil Kvyat (0%)
  • Esteban Ocon (0%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (29%)
  • Lando Norris (1%)
  • Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
  • Alexander Albon (0%)
  • Max Verstappen (3%)
  • Charles Leclerc (3%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (0%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (9%)

Total Voters: 272

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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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67 comments on “Vote for your 2020 Eifel Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

  1. Not too many stand outs so went with Ricciardo, although Perez and Leclerc did fairly well too.

  2. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
    11th October 2020, 22:04

    Hulk had a great drive to get in the points and Grosjean did well to bag his first points with a potentially broken finger, but they both wouldn’t have been there were it not for the late SC, so I’m giving my vote to Giovinazzi who would have been 8th on merit otherwise.

    1. Grosjean did not pit under the safety car, so he would have finished ahead of Giovinazzi anyway so I voted for Grosjean for taking ninth with an almost broken finger. Leclerc was another contender for that incredible qualifying lap. That Ferrari should be nowhere near fourth place.

    2. A bold one, but expectations count, I guess.

    3. @fullcoursecaution
      Hulk was running running 9th before Lando’s retirement and had made his one pit-stop. Giovinazzi was around 10 seconds behind him, on some 7-8 laps fresher tyres with some 15 laps to go. You make it sound like Hulk and Grosjean finished ahead of Giovinazzi only because of the safety car, but they both had pitted well before the safety car for their mandatory stops and were running ahead of Gio on merit. It is a massive stretch of imagination to think that he would have caught and overtaken both of them, especially Hulk, who was in a clearly faster car. It was a good drive from Gio, but your comment makes no sense.

      1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
        11th October 2020, 22:37

        your comment makes no sense

        Not for the first or last time @neutronstar! You are probably right lol.

    4. Not sure GIO would have got 8th on merit without the SC, but he got my vote for his brilliant qualifying effort and great driving in the race, all on a track where apparently he was the only driver not to have driven before.
      (The team miscalculated with his pitstops which dropped him a couple of places.)
      Never been that impressed with him before this race.

  3. The Skeptic (@)
    11th October 2020, 22:05

    Ricciardo stood out to me. Beat his team mate in qualifying, had a good start and made up a place, showed great race pace – overtook Leclerc – kept his tyres alive, kept his car running and didn’t make any mistakes.

    Great stuff.

  4. Yes, I also went for ricciardo, although early votes have hulkenberg as a leader, but I don’t think his qualifying, even considering the late call, was up to par; race was certainly good, but so was ricciardo’s, first podium since red bull on a car that honestly isn’t worthy of podiums.

  5. Can only be the Hulk. To get a call to turn up for qualifying and end up scoring points is pretty special.
    He raced well too.
    Top marks.

    How far is he behind Vettel in the championship?

    1. Should add that, although unspectacular, Hamilton’s drive was very special. Save tyres in the first stint while staying in touch, then push enough to force the error which put Bottas on an alternate strategy.
      The race was won well before the ERS failure.

    2. Seb Vettel: 17 points in 12 race starts (1.417 points/race start)
      Nico Hulkenberg: 10 points in 2 races (5 points/race start)
      i.e. more than 3.5 times more points/race start,

  6. I’m gonna vote for Nico. I honestly cannot believe people commenting that his qualifying should have been better, on an ice-cold track he hadn’t driven a Formula 1 car for seven years, and had 0 laps worth of practice on before being thrown right into the deep end, in which he only got to set 4 flying laps.

    I’ve been a fan of Nico for a long, long time and this is one of my favourite performances from him. His drive today was really good, all things considered.

    1. Not to mention that he isn’t a regular driver this season.

    2. I think its fair to say he could have done better in qualifying. I wasn’t expecting Q3 but I believe that car had enough raw pace to allow him to at least challenge for more than P20. Sure he had a error free race and scored points which was good but the vote is for the weekend and I don’t think the race made up the gap in qualifying for me personally. Seems many more agree with you however.

      1. put your self in Nico’s shows not yours and im sure you can be convinced he did as much as he could in qualifying. you have to take into account CONFIDENCE in this situation, how fast these cars go, how much pressure you have to apply to the brake pedals, how much gforces there are, how much confidence you have in the tyres… i cant see how he couldve done any better.

        1. That’s your opinion, as a professional racing driver that he is with so much experience, I believe you’re all reading too much into it. He literally only lost 90 minutes running compared to everyone else but if he didn’t prepare for the fact that he may need to race as a reserve driver then that’s on him.

          1. He literally only lost 90 minutes running compared to everyone else

            he lost almost an entire season this year. The physical and mental strength needed to drive these cars should not be underestimated, as this is not simulator work.

            Also, it is very hard to get into somebody else’s car, without having time to adjust the setup to your own personal preference for the balance, aero, braking, etc.

    3. The guy got the call to drive in the middle of the morning, to drive qualy a few hours after. He could just as well have been drinking the night before, or eaten a super sized breakfast, could very well be not race fit. He did an amazing job during the whole weekend.

  7. Among quite a few strong candidates the standouts for me were probably Ricciardo, Leclerc, and Norris. The Ferrari probably had no business qualifying 4th, and despite the lack of race pace the good starting position allowed him to hold on for good points. Norris looked comfortable too and could have challenged for the podium so was unlucky with another Ill-timed mechanical failure.

    But I gave my vote to Ricciardo in the end for being best of the rest against many similar paced cars, including making a crucial move against Leclerc early on. He might’ve had his hands full with Perez in the closing stages but he had a decent gap so I think he could’ve held him off even without the slightly fortunate safety car.

    Also good work from Grosjean, Gasly, Giovinazzi and Hulkenberg aswell considering the complete lack of practice.

  8. How anyone can vote somebone else than Hülkenberg is beyond me. That was sensational.

  9. Hulkenberg. Astounding performance. Given that he had no setup, zero track time and presumably hadn’t exactly been training hard, to jump in the car at almost no notice at all was mighty. Seeing him qualify last was disappointing but the gap to safety was remarkably small for someone with so little preparation, let alone wrestling the car into the points from the back of the grid – which would be a great drive regardless of doing it at the last minute! I’ve always been a fan of his but that performance was probably one of the finest drives I’ve seen from him. He more than deserves a place in F1.

    1. Saw a mention somewhere that Hulk did 10 laps in Q1. That sounds like 7 laps to learn the car (which turns out was somewhat evolved from Silverstone) and track, then 3 laps to set a time. Great stuff to go from coffee-shop to Q1 result in a matter of hours. Then to bag points for 8th, from dead last, will look great on his CV.
      Yes the RP is a quick car, yes there were several DNFs, but there were 7 cars behind him and only 7 in front at the finish. No drama, no mistakes and a solid performance.
      Maybe they should make all the drivers start from somewhere random, an hour from the circuit, at a set time say, 9:30 am on Saturday. Better than a reverse grid.

      1. I think a lot of you underestimate the value of simulators in the modern F1. That plus given many years in the sport they’d have a baseline for his setups and also had Perez data to help. Jumping in and driving a modern F1 car would be daunting with no prior experience but he’s already had 2 race weekends in the car this year to get a feel for it and all the processes.

        1. Hulenburg hasnt been in the simulator lately, and the simulators dont give the drivers much, its more for the team to get data.

          1. Not sure how you think simulators don’t help drivers, they mostly certainly do…

          2. Pretty sure simulators only really help the younger, less experienced, drivers. Sure i’ve seen quotes from the likes of Kimi, Webber and Hamilton all saying they only ever put the minimum amount of time in simulators, mostly just to get an idea of the track layout, because it’s so far from representative.

  10. Hulkemberg, of course.
    Good weekemd also for Ricciardo, Leclerc, Giovinazzi and Perez.

    1. Hamilton races in his own category, so there is no need to name him …
      He is the great successor of Schumacher.

      1. There was someone pretty close behind him. Can you remember his name?

      2. The Mercedes category?

  11. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    11th October 2020, 23:00

    Nico. I was thinking today about how Red Bull have not been able to replace Daniel Ricciardo I’m 2 years and how Cyril’s joke to Horner ended up being quite true.

    Red Bull should let Nico race next to Max.

  12. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    11th October 2020, 23:00

    In 2 years…

  13. Weekend, Ricciardo.

  14. This pole is nothing but pretend and make believe.
    Didn’t the winner drive the best race?
    Nobody else won right?
    Nobody DID more than the winner.
    The Winner has won ninety one times.
    Today he dominated the race after the first few laps of settling in.
    Another race where the next best, #33, tries again to catch #44.
    Not possible again
    Hulkenberg stepped up and got points but best race of the day? is moronic.
    That’s why this pole appears to be solely for the entertainment of some F1fans.
    I love DaniRics smile so I voted for him.
    Was his car yellow or black?
    Kimi is SO boring I wouldn’t vote for him.
    It’s stuff like that, which influences poles negatively

  15. Nico is currently 15th in the points…

    1. @forrestgump So what? He was 15th already after his first race. The drivers with the backmarker teams behind him have 0 to 3 points. Just finishing 8th once would have been enough.

  16. Splendid job by Perez yet again.

  17. SURE LOOKS TO ME THAT HULK OUT PREFORMED HAMILTON IN EVERY ASPECT OF RECORD KEEPING TOTALS FOR A SINGLE GRAND PRIX…

    1. Why are you shouting Ted?

  18. Hulkenburg for me. He obviously has some recent races under his belt but he must still be slightly rusty, so to come in at q1, understandably not qualify well then to score important team points is impressive.

  19. Pink Merc unforgiveable for not having their Reserve Driver @ the circuit, given that LS had been ill since Sochi & FP1/2 was a wash-out.
    I know Hulk was not for away but was NOT there. Hulk was called 30 mins before FP3 and if he was he could have practiced, part or all.Unprofessional.

    Nico Rosberg said the biggest amount of time to get a Reserve Driver into a car is the rubber stamping of a contract for that RD by the Contracts Board.
    Commonsense would be that a team’s RD contract is struck & approved at the start of that season????????

  20. Hulkenberg was good, but the car honestly had frontrunner speed as proven by Perez and Nico was 1 second off so not all that amazing IMO.

    I gave it to Ricciardo. You just knew when he was in a position for a podium he would not throw it away despite pressure, and not many drivers you can say that about honestly.

    1. Another emotional decision. He didn’t win did he, he didn’t lead the race and was lucky to get third place. HOW IS THAT WORTHY OF DRIVER OF THE DAY??
      All you DaniRic lovers are blinded by his smile. Yes he did better and the car performed a bit better. But in no form or fashion did he accomplish more than that guy who won. Facts talk BS walks..

      1. Guess you’ll be walking then

      2. Facts talk BS walks..

        Then you must walk as Hamilton was beaten by his team mate in qualifying and lost out in the start fight.

        You just can’t see anything like because you are too emotionally invested in your hero-worship. This BS hypocrisy is sadly too typical and oh so tiring..

  21. Ricciardo certainly deserved it. Perez would be a solid choice. I think Grosjean had a really good weekend too, although he was outqualified once again by Kevin. Leclerc did a really great job on saturday and managed to make it a decent reward for that on Sunday. Giovanazzi showed he can beat Kimi in qualifying and for once his race was good too. I think Verstappen did a really good job as well, even though there wasn’t much to do but coming home second, but he did nail that FLAP in the end.

    In the end I gave it to Hulk though. With only 4 hot laps and a few outlaps in qualifying he still got relatively close (one mistake) to getting through into Q2 and in the race he got up to a solid points finish.

    1. Oh, I forgot about Gasly, who should also get a mention, he did finish 6th afterall, also passing Leclerc. On the other hand, if Albon hadn’t ruined Kvyats race, I think Gasly would have finished behind his teammate.

      1. Good run-through of choices, though I can also understand people who gave it to Hamilton on the basis of his race (but, well, Bottas beat him fair and square on the Saturday).

        I am tempted to give it to Gio, the guy cleary hasn’t had a great year, but this weekend he really was doing good work. Verstappen did great (though some seem to blame him for falling behind at the SC, while also calling him a whiner for saying the SC froze his tyres, hmm). Perez seemed more solid than he was at many races this year, good to see, and he could have had that podium w/o the SC, seems rather fair to give it to him (with Hulk currently at 50% to win this poll ahead of RIC,HAM).

  22. DOTW: Ricciardo
    DOTD: Also Ricciardo with honorable mentions to Hulkenberg, Perez, Gasly, Grosjean, and Giovinazzi.

  23. Does this competition somehow excludes Hamilton?

    1. Not if you’ve only got one eye ;)

    2. Anyone can vote for him. I just think people realise that when the car you drive is 0.5 second a lap faster than the nearest competitor the race is yours to lose.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        12th October 2020, 14:09

        And when you qualify behind your only competitor, it’s hard to say you were the best driver of the weekend….

  24. Deff the Hulk.
    Ricciardo deserves it as well but the way Hulkenberg can just jump in that car at a moments notice and use it is awesome.

  25. Hulk for sure. Everyone needs to remember the guy was not expecting to race when he woke up on Saturday, then was doing qualifying a few hours later without any practice (only the experience of 1 race and a couple of other sessions earlier this year). To then do a full race distance the next day and go from P20 to P8 was an amazing performance.

  26. Hulk did a great job.
    But Verstappen maximized his quali, almost edging Hamilton there. During the race he kept his head, especially during the start and optimized the maximum result possible.
    So verstappen it is.

    1. Yes it was a great performance except maybe the safety car restart

  27. All of you must be crazy

    Only one driver lead all the laps and won again and at this particular event lead nearly every lap and won by enough to win. Now he is despised for his abilities even though nobody seems to be able to get enough out of their race performance like he does. So dominant he is that fans act like he is not even there. Niki Lauda would judge Lewis yesterday as the dominant performance over all other drivers. Not DaniRic nor Max certainly not Hulkenberg. This pole is based on opinions so it really makes absolutely no sense to present it. Let’s connect the facts of their individual performances and stop all the wishful thinking. These emotional judgements are so apparent that Kvyat race should be in consideration for driver of the day. He didn’t get much done so let’s give him the nod.

    WHY NOT?

    1. Sigh.. Why do they always have to be Hamilton fans? Although in this case it’s so bad one wonders if it’s a false flag done to discredit them further.

      1. Why do you support losers?

        Everybody yesterday was a LOSER except the GREAT ONE. You would have picked him too but you didnt and you instead selected a loser. Don’t hate us Hamilton Lovers as we know what’s going on. But in society many give their deep support for losing or losers.
        We all welcome you to join us. Lewis understands that winners are hated by losers. Lewis gets it. It’s OK Baloo come and learn why we dig Lewis, the winner.

        1. Lol, good one

  28. Gave my vote to Giovinazzi – excellent qualifying, and a great race – was set for 7th or 8th before the last SC I think, then coped superbly on older tyres when those around him were on new softs.

    Apart from him, Verstappen, Ricciardo and Perez were also excellent. Hullenberg – good, but it’s not like he’d not driven that car ever. A long way off Perez, and remember the others had only had an hour of practice anyway – it’s not like he was massively disadvantaged.

    1. @tflb It’s hard to believe people feel like its okay to make a direct comparison between Perez and Hulkenberg this weekend, given the difference in their situations. If Hulkenberg’s complete mess of a qualifying wasn’t indication enough for you that how difficult that situation was for him, or how difficult it would have been for any driver, then I don’t know what to say.
      Hulkenberg has driven that car once before, but he also acknowledged that it has evolved quite a bit from when he last drove it, not to mention that he isn’t a regular driver this season, having driven just one full race before. Hulkenberg’s job this race wasn’t to compete with Perez (let alone beat him), but to put in an error-free drive in the race and hopefully make some progress from the back of the grid. He did just that, and more.
      Also if you think that Hulkenberg should have finished close to Perez after starting 11 spots behind him and his relatively huge lack of experience, well, you have unreasonably high standards, even for an F1 fan. Either that, or you’re not too fond of Hulk in the first place.

      Even from a season-long perspective, Hulkenberg clearly was disadvantaged with respect to the other drivers in terms of experience. It’s most certainly not supposed to be easy to jump in someone else’s car at such short notice and take it from 20th on the grid to 8th, even though he did get lucky with the retirements ahead of him.

      was set for 7th or 8th before the last SC I think, then coped superbly on older tyres when those around him were on new softs.

      This is not true at all. Gio wasn’t “set” for anything. He was running 10th, around 10 seconds behind HUL and GRO, on slightly fresher tires with 15-16 laps to go before Norris’ retirement brought out the safety car, with both HUL and GRO having already made their mandatory pitstops. I won’t deny that he drove really well and had an excellent qualy (particularly that Q2 lap), but having watched his race closely, I have no idea where this narrative of him “set to finish in the top 8 without the SC” has emerged from.

      1. @neutronstar I didn’t say Hulk should’ve been close to Perez, but perhaps closer than he was, given his performance in a similar situation earlier on in the season. Which shows what a good job he did at Silverstone. No, I’m not really a fan of Hulk, but he did a good job – just not enough to be running away with this poll IMO.

        As for the Giovinazzi part – yes, it is true I think. He was catching those in front of him and Gasly and Hulk would probably have had to stop again, but got free stops with the SC. Perhaps you didn’t watch closely enough?

        1. @tflb Hulk had 6 practice sessions in an unfamiliar car before his amazing qualy in 70A GP, he got 0 this time. The car has evolved since he last drove it…its perhaps not 100% unfamiliar, but even a slight unfamiliarity can go a long way as a hindrance for any driver, and in a field this competitive, I think he did a solid job in qualy and quite an excellent job in the race. It’s hard to argue that Hulkenberg wasn’t at a disadvantage in this race.

          As for the Giovinazzi part – yes, it is true I think. He was catching those in front of him and Gasly and Hulk would probably have had to stop again, but got free stops with the SC. Perhaps you didn’t watch closely enough?

          Hulk and Grosjean stopped on lap around 30, and Hulk put on the medium tyres, while Grosjean put on Hards. Not sure exactly when Gasly stopped, but he was on similar one-stopper to Grosjean i.e. Mediums -> Hards. Hulk was on an identical one-stopper to Perez i.e. Softs -> Mediums, and went even longer than his teammate in his first stint. None among Hulk, Gasly and Grosjean had to stop again. HUL and GAS got a free pitstop with the SC but it didn’t gain them any positions effectively, instead, they lost one each to GRO, who didn’t stop. They probably pitted for fresh tyres under SC because they thought those behind them would as well.

          Regarding GIO catching HUL and GRO and GAS, he was only on slightly fresher tyres (around 7 laps) and wasn’t catching them at a pace fast enough to be able to overtake any of them. He couldn’t overtake Grosjean after the safety car restart, what makes you think he would have been able to catch and overtake all of Grosjean, Hulk and Gasly to finish 7th, especially when two of them have cars clearly faster than his?!

  29. In a better world both Hulk and Perez would have a drive for next year.

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