Mark Webber was voted Driver of the Weekend for the second time this year after winning the British Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso was runner-up in the race and the poll. Meanwhile Romain Grosjean’s charge from the back of the field to sixth secured him third place in the poll.
Driver of the British Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three
1. Mark Webber – 50.1%
2. Fernando Alonso – 18.7%
3. Romain Grosjean – 17.3%
Mark Webber
Started: 2nd
Finished: 1st
Lost pole position by less than five-hundredths of a second, but stayed close to leader Fernando Alonso throughout the whole race. Eventually he used tyre strategy to his advantage in the closing stages of the Grand Prix.
Webber overtook the Ferrari with four laps to go with an excellent move round the outside of Brooklands to grab his second win of the season.
Here is how the F1 Fanatic readers justified the choice of Webber for the Driver of the British Grand Prix Weekend:
Webber for me. Awesome lap in qualifying even though got pipped to pole by a few hundredths of a second.
Very good race, made up time where he needed to, pulled a very good overtake to take the lead and the victory. Pretty open-and-shut: best driver of the weekend.
Timi
Tough call because both Alonso and Webber were pretty impressive. Alonso made the most out of the situation on Saturday, getting into Q3 by the blink of an eye and getting a great lap together to gain pole position.
On the other hand Webber was always on his tail, missing pole by half a tenth and out-qualified his team by quite some margin. And then on Sunday he made no mistakes and capitalised from Alonso’s lack of pace in his final stint to win Silverstone for the second time in three years. So I?�??d say Webber is my driver of the weekend.
Wallbreaker
Watching Grosjean race was interesting, he was at the back then each time he came past me he had overtaken someone else.
I would love to have given him my vote but it went to Webber. Mark deserved the win. I was cheering when he came past us in the lead as was everyone around me. Plus my photo was on his car!
I thought Red Bull managed a good race in general making decisions at just the right time.
Chelseano161997
Makes me happy to say Mark Webber. He has shown his worth this year and to have out-qualified Vettel more than he has been out-qualified is something special. He showed great maturity as expected to take this win. It was particularly flashy he just drove really good consistent laps and picked up the pace when it was needed.
Smifaye
Fernando Alonso
Started: 1st
Finished: 2nd
Encountered problems in the beginnings of the wet qualifying session and would have been kicked out of it in Q2 if not for the red flag and his late effort to get into Q3. There he secured his first pole position since the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix.
Ferrari chose a strategy different to several of the other front runners, starting Alonso on the harder compound. He stayed in front until the last stint, where he struggled on the option tyres and lost the victory to Webber. But he retains the lead in the drivers’ championship.
Alonso. He was the quickest driver of the weekend and only lost due to the strategy.
Slr
Went for Alonso, but Webber and Grosjean deserved it as well. Alonso gets it because, in the scope of the weekend, he was consistently strongest in all conditions.
Lin1876
It took me a long, long time to choose between Webber and Alonso. Either deserve it this weekend. I eventually chose Alonso as his pole lap was brilliant and he drove most of the race in the lead.
The wrong strategy from Ferrari coupled with the Red Bull’s stronger pace lead to him being passed right near the end. Alonso really is at his driving peak this year, with a much improved Ferrari that still is the third fastest car after the Red Bull and the Lotus.
All credit to Webber though who had a similarly outstanding weekend and will probably and deservedly win this poll.
Colossal Squid
Romain Grosjean
Started: 9th
Finished: 6th
Grosjean could have fought for the top spots in qualifying, had he not beached his car in the gravel at the end of Q2.
He had contact with di Resta at the start and damaged his front wing, which sent him to the back of the pack. He used the unexpected pit stop on the second lap to switch to the favoured hard tyres and fought his way through the field to finish the race in sixth only seven seconds behind his team mate.
His drive to the front included some bold overtaking manoeuvres, including the ones on Hamilton at Brooklands and Rosberg at Maggots.
Romain Grosjean for me, it was a fantastic recovery after a difficult first lap.
Trigger
I voted for Grosjean. He dropped back at the start after damaging his front wing, but he never let his head down and kept going at it. This resulted in a great comeback race with outstanding overtakes to finish just behind his teammate.
In the end, he and Raikkonen were actually faster than those in front of them, for Grosjean on much older tyres. I’m starting to become a Grosjean fan!
Andae23
While Alonso and Webber drove good solid races, I think the stand-out was Grosjean.
Yes, a mistake in qualifying and at the start hurt him, but he didn’t let it affect him and he sped through that field with some good overtaking and top tyre management.
The fact those Lotuses were setting the fastest laps at the end of the race is amazing, now they just need to qualify better and we might finally see that win!
JenniKate Wallace
2012 Driver of the Weekend results so far
| First | Second | Third | |
| Australia | Jenson Button (43.6%) | Fernando Alonso (21.1%) | Sergio Perez (8.2%) |
| Malaysia | Sergio Perez (61.4%) | Fernando Alonso (28.1%) | Bruno Senna (3.7%) |
| China | Nico Rosberg (69.1%) | Lewis Hamilton (10.0%) | Jenson Button (6.4%) |
| Bahrain | Kimi Raikkonen (56.3%) | Sebastian Vettel (19.3%) | Paul di Resta (10.6%) |
| Spain | Pastor Maldonado (56.8%) | Lewis Hamilton (27.5%) | Fernando Alonso (6.4%) |
| Monaco | Mark Webber (32.6%) | Heikki Kovalainen (20.2%) | Fernando Alonso (14.2%) |
| Canada | Lewis Hamilton (58.7%) | Sergio Perez (19.1%) | Romain Grosjean (15.3%) |
| Europe | Fernando Alonso (51.7%) | Sebastian Vettel (18.4%) | Michael Schumacher (8.9%) |
| Great Britain | Mark Webber (50.1%) | Fernando Alonso (18.7%) | Romain Grosjean (17.3%) |
Mark Webber has been in the top three of the poll only on two occasions – each time when he won the race and he was voted the best driver of the weekend both times.
Fernando Alonso is consistently the driver who is most frequently chosen one of the top three drivers of the Grand Prix – it’s the sixth time out of nine races he is there.
Romain Grosjean, on the other hand, found himself amongst the best three drivers of the weekend for the second time and is still to win the poll.
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Image © Red Bull/Getty images
Sem (@05abrahamsemere)
18th July 2012, 10:47
Well done Mark. However, my best driver of the weekend has to go to Jenson Button. Started 16th, made clean moves and finished 10th. The highest increase in position among all the drivers in the British GP, finishing just two positions behind his highly overrated teammate.
John H (@john-h)
18th July 2012, 11:46
It’s called driver of the weekend, not the race. I presume you’re taking his 16th place qualification into your assessment criteria? By this line of reasoning, Schumacher should have been driver of the weekend throughout the whole of 2011.
Todfod (@todfod)
18th July 2012, 11:55
WOW. For a Mclaren driver to qualify 16th is shameful ( a whole 8 places behind his teammate ) . In the race Jenson looked mediocre at best, and only got into the points when Hulkenberg made an error while battling with Senna,
One of the poorest drivers of the year and the weekend IMHO
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
18th July 2012, 13:17
@05abrahamsemere
That’s easy when you start so low.
You cannot be serious on this one, mate, Button sucked.
Sem (@05abrahamsemere)
20th July 2012, 11:29
You’re right, I’m not. Apologies but I’m afraid I decided to employ ‘Devil’s Advocate’. I actually think Button was nowhere close to being DOTW. I just did this to test the waters on this site; I’m new here and sites like crash.net and planetF1 have left me wondering whether there are any unblinkered F1 fans remaining. I’m pleased to say that this site is perhaps the most unbiased site I’ve read. This particular statement was taken from a Button fan, although Hammy fans can be just as silly : ). My true DOTW goes to Mark Webber – great quali, great race, timed the attack on Alonso just right and thoroughly outperformed his teammate for the whole weekend. Once again, well done Mark!
Jayfreese (@)
18th July 2012, 15:22
Well done Mark you’re a Driver Of The Weekend Two-Time Winner! dixit C.Horner
John H (@john-h)
18th July 2012, 17:06
Haha. It’s easy to imagine the enthusiastic Horner utter these words.
Karthikeyan (@ridiculous)
18th July 2012, 11:41
Didn’t know that Vettel managed to finish second in a poll for Valencia without even finishign the race. Has this happened before, that a driver who doesn’t finish the race got into the top 3 for DOTW?
sorin (@)
18th July 2012, 18:53
I think Grosjean, in Valencia too…was third, or something..
Nirupam (@nirupam)
18th July 2012, 11:49
That is going to be the key for 2012, the consistency
antifia (@antifia)
18th July 2012, 12:06
I agree, Mark was the best of the second drivers last weekend :)
ozsport_77_fit (@ozsport_77_fit)
18th July 2012, 12:36
I agree too mark raced a clean, tactical, good solid and accurate race and all year he has really just been patient yet aggressive at the same time. I think he took the win very humbly and with true sportsmanship. He sets a good example to the f1 fans and I have a great deal of respect for the guy. He deserves that win!
Pink Peril (@pink-peril)
18th July 2012, 12:39
Not bad for a number two driver!
BasCB (@bascb)
18th July 2012, 17:46
:-)
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
18th July 2012, 13:39
I remember not voting for this one for a couple of days as I couldn’t make up my mind. I eventually went with Alonso, mainly owing to his brilliant qualifying lap. You wouldn’t have known it was wet…if it wasn’t for the rain and puddles ;) It’s just unfortunate for him that he lost out but with next to no proper practice running of any value it was somewhat pot-luck I feel when it came to tyre strategy. Both him and Webber drove very well. Oh and Grosjean of course.
sumedh
18th July 2012, 15:36
Mark Webber has had just 2 podiums in the 2012 season so far. Both on the top step. Similarly, in the DoTW championship, he has finished in the top 3 just twice. Both on the top step. And for the same races.
The same statistic holds true for Pastor Maldonado and Schumacher. Their top3 DoTW result matches with their on-track result.
Sergio Perez has 2 podiums in 2012 season. One 2nd and one 3rd. When he finished 2nd on-track, he finished 1st in DoTW, one step higher. When he finished 3rd on-track, he finished 2nd in DoTW, one step higher again.
Nick.UK (@)
18th July 2012, 16:51
I think it says a lot for the quality of Alonso that he has almost always been in the top 3 for driver of the weekend!
Hallard (@hallard)
18th July 2012, 22:05
The praise for Webber this year seems to be well-earned. I like that he has responded to such a crushing defeat at the hands of his wunderkind (I hate that word, but have to admit that it does apply to Vettel) teammate as he experienced last year, by working hard to improve his consistency and performance. On top of that, he’s doing it for a team that has been shown to give Vettel preferential treatment. For me, Webber leading his teammate at this point is the surprise of the season.
I hope that he can continue to improve this season, and at the risk of jinxing him, I’ll say that I’d love to see him win the WDC this year. Can you imagine the intensity of the intra-team rivalry at Red Bull that we’d see in 2013 if that happened? And the possibility of seven world champions on the grid??
Hallard (@hallard)
18th July 2012, 22:10
I suppose that
Should have instead read “a team that has, in some cases, given Vettel preferential treatment.” I wouldnt want it to come across that I am implying that that there is a full-blown Alonso/Massa dynamic between Red Bull’s drivers. :-)
DVC (@dvc)
19th July 2012, 0:20
Mark wins 2nd Driver of the Weekend, but who won 1st driver of the weekend? Ha!
Drop Valencia!
19th July 2012, 2:22
Button in Australia?