Sergio Perez was voted Driver of the Weekend for the second time this year for his impressive performance in the Italian Grand Prix.
He started 12th and raced through the field to finish second in a performance reminiscent of his double 14th-to-first drives in F3 at the track four years ago.
Driver of the Italian Grand Prix Weekend poll – top three
1. Sergio Perez – 50.6%
2. Lewis Hamilton – 30.0%
3. Fernando Alonso – 10.9%
Sergio Perez
Started: 12th
Finished: 2nd
Perez was out-qualified by his team mate and did not make it into Q3. That allowed him to start the race on the hard tyres and he made superb use of that strategy to scorch through the field, passing, among others, both Ferraris.
But it seems even this was not enough to win over Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo. Following the race he reiterated his view that Perez, in his second season of F1, is not experienced enough to drive for Ferrari.
Perez for me. He was on it from the word go with his race and used the C31?���??s strengths to its full potential.
I had my doubts after qualifying as they weren’t as high in the speed trap as I expected they would be but he delivered and Kobayashi also stuck them in the points.
Admittedly he wasn’t really making waves in qualifying but harking back to that speed trap data again makes me think that perhaps that was the intention, knowing they could benefit from high temperatures on tyres they could charm into working for them.
@AndrewTanner
The fact that Perez didn’t get into Q3 allowed him to have a different tyre strategy in the race to most of the other drivers which helped him in the race, if he had reached Q3 and qualified in a similar position to his team mate I don’t think he would have had quite as good a race which shows the problems with the tyre rules regarding the top ten.
But he still put in a great performance in the race to achieve another podium I don’t think most fans would be surprised if he managed a victory before the end of the season.
@PJA
I’ve never bought into the story that Perez wasn’t ready for Ferrari and now I’ve sussed it.
We saw today that Ferrari need someone like Massa who won’t take points away from Alonso, Alonso can win the title on his own. Perez has proved his year that he’s an absolute superstar, he is world championship-winning material but he can’t get into Ferrari until Alonso has won a title.
It’s not that Perez isn’t ready for Ferrari, Ferrari isn’t ready for Perez.
@TommyB89
Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton put the tribulations of Spa behind him and drowned out speculation over his future with a classy drive to victory from pole position.
I picked Hamilton as he was one of the few who did a solid job all weekend. He did the job he needed to do in the first half of the race by pulling away from the rest of the field, and because of that, Perez didn’t have enough laps to catch him.
@Slr
Hamilton drove superbly throughout the weekend and ran a flawless race. We don’t know how much he had in reserve, but my guess is he’d have easily held off Perez if he’d got closer. We didn’t see much of him because the focus was on the battles behind, but he didn’t seem to put a foot wrong.
@F1antics
Without a doubt it must be Lewis Hamilton. Fantastic qualifying and fantastic race. Didn’t see much of him in the race and this shows how dominant he was.
Driver of the race must have been Sergio Perez but he was out-qualified by quite a large margin by Kobayashi so I’m afraid I can’t vote for him as driver of the weekend.
@Smifaye
Fernando Alonso
There were echoes of Alonso’s 2006 Monza weekend – technical problems in qualifying led to him starting tenth, from where he mounted an excellent recovery drive.
The difference was this time it did not end in retirement, but a podium finish. Though Alonso could offer little resistance to Perez, nor did Massa make life particularly difficult for his team mate.
The world championship leader ended a difficult weekend with an increased points advantage.
Although Perez’s drive was outstanding I voted for Fernando Alonso. The sole reason being he made good progress through the field and although he couldn’t stop Perez passing him and couldn’t keep up with Hamilton I just felt that he did very well given the fact he has had many a problem during the weekend and the loss of telemetry bugs that plagued them.
Also since the team said that he picked up damage from the Vettel incident and couldn’t ride the kerbs made the drive from tenth to third even more impressive.
@Rdpunk
Made a good start and stayed out of trouble, and passing two cars in two corners without any need for DRS was brilliant.
Off the back of the non finish at Spa it would have been easy for him to be conservative or to be slightly flustered from the scary accident, but he went for his moves with conviction and to recover to the podium from a poor grid slot is the kind of drive we’ve come to expect from him so often that it doesn’t really seem special any more!
@Dan-Thorn
Alonso is showing how you can have an average weekend and still drive the pants of that car and extend points in championship
Drezone
Sebastian Vettel’s penalty
The penalty handed down to Sebastian Vettel after Fernando Alonso was pushed wide at the exit of Curva Grande provoked considerable debate.
In the poll, 53.9% of readers supported the penalty, 41.2% opposed it.
Vettel’s penalty was largely down to the rules clarification issued in July which stated that drivers may use the full width of the track to defend their position on a straight and before any braking area.
Although Curva Grande is not a straight, it seems the FIA consider it as if it were one because it is an acceleration zone – a distinction which it will be important to keep an eye on in future rulings involving incidents which take place in flat-out corners.
2012 Driver of the Weekend results so far
| Round | 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%) |
| Germany | Fernando Alonso (62.4%) | Jenson Button (12.5%) | Kamui Kobayashi (8.7%) |
| Hungary | Lewis Hamilton (55.2%) | Kimi Raikkonen (30.1%) | Bruno Senna (5.5%) |
| Belgium | Jenson Button (52.7%) | Sebastian Vettel (20.5%) | Nico Hulkenberg (8.9%) |
| Italy | Sergio Perez (50.6%) | Lewis Hamilton (30.0%) | Fernando Alonso (10.9%) |
This was the fourth time this year Perez has featured among the top three Drivers of the Weekend.
Hamilton made his fifth appearance and Alonso an impressive eighth.
2012 Italian Grand Prix
- F1 fans’ videos from the 2012 Italian Grand Prix
- Rate the Race Results: 2012 Italian Grand Prix
- Top ten pictures from the 2012 Italian Grand Prix
- ZanteX takes Predictions Championship lead
- Vote for your Italian GP Driver of the Weekend
Fixy (@)
20th September 2012, 18:31
If I remember well I voted Hamilton. Therefore I don’t agree, but I’m happy anyway because Perez had a great race and deserved it as well.
Younger Hamii (@younger-hamii)
20th September 2012, 18:38
So it’s not ‘Driver of the Weekend’ it’s now ‘Driver of the Day’? Not to say Perez didn’t deserve it but results should be judged solely on performance throughout the weekend not just on race day & this is where the pendulum switches to Hamilton for me.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
20th September 2012, 20:43
Oh yes, is that because of all the points you win in Free Practice and Qualifying?
The race is what really matters, that’s when points are given out. Don’t get me wrong, Hamilton was good, but Perez was simply awesome.
robbiepblake (@driftin)
21st September 2012, 7:53
If Perez was awesome and driver of the WEEKEND how come he didn’t get into Q3?
MW (@)
21st September 2012, 9:02
@driftin Apparantly he was focusing on his race pace all weekend, not qualifying.
John H (@john-h)
20th September 2012, 22:59
Lewis Hamilton: Started: 1st Finished: 1st
If that’s not driver of the weekend I don’t know what is! This has happened many times to Vettel in the past. I suppose if you make it look easy, it’s easy to overlook.
Happy for Perez though of course it was a fantastic drive, although he got out-qualified by his team mate and the top 10 tyre rule is just garbage.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
21st September 2012, 6:25
It’s not like the Mclaren was a quicker car than the Sauber in Monza. Nope, no chance.
If the winner should get driver of the weekend in every poll, why do we even have one?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
21st September 2012, 8:38
@kingshark
Exactly.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
20th September 2012, 18:33
If Montezemolo still uses inexperience as an excuse to not sign Perez then I really hope Perez becomes world champion with another top team (Red Bull or Mclaren especially); that would really rub it in his face.
caci_99
20th September 2012, 20:25
And of if he doesn’t win? who will rub his face then.
MahavirShah (@mahavirshah)
20th September 2012, 19:29
Perez drove well, but Lewis should have won. He was on top form all weekend and I really don’t know why he wasn’t chosen. Not that Perez came from 12th to finish 1st or from 18th to 3rd to kinda qualify for DOTW. Not that he drove average. Just that Hamilton had the weekend in his pocket and so should have rightly won.
DaveF1 (@davef1)
20th September 2012, 19:43
Not entirely sure what more Hamilton could have done throughout the weekend. Seems like people are only voting based on the race result and not who drove best throughout the 3 days of the Grand Prix weekend.
tmekt (@tmekt)
20th September 2012, 20:24
Alright then you could as well ask what did Perez do wrong to not deserve his title as the DOW?
minnis (@minnis)
20th September 2012, 20:30
Bad qualifying, didn’t impress in Practise. Driver of the race sure, but to be driver of the weekend you have to impress in all three days. It’s like the winner of the WDC being chosen because of one impressive race – no, they just get a race win for that, not a championship. Perez only impressed on raceday, not the whole weekend.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
20th September 2012, 20:45
And he lost a great deal of points because of it. How disappointing.
OOliver
20th September 2012, 22:06
Driver of the weekend is not about how much points you score, but how you impress. Perez was not voted because he scored 18 points but because he impressed. It is hard for a driver in front to impress, except perhaps he eats live dragons on his way to a win.
tmekt (@tmekt)
20th September 2012, 22:12
Hamilton’s quali wasn’t that impressing either. The best qualification car in the grid (most likely) and wasn’t able to be the fastest one in Q1, Q2 and, had Alonso’s car worked properly, that most likely would’ve been the case in Q3 as well. And he wasn’t the fastest in the race either.
As far as practise is concerned, it doesn’t matter who impresses you there, the session is all about getting the data needed for the race and for the quali. Not showing off, not putting the fastest time to the screen that’s just not relevant.
OOliver
20th September 2012, 23:54
He was the fastest in the race, just not the fastest over one lap.
minnis (@minnis)
20th September 2012, 20:28
So, two races running, a Mclaren driver has stuck it on pole, been absolutely untouchable during the race and consequently won. Both times a driver from a different team has had a bad qualifying, only reaching Q2, however has stormed through the field to finish 2nd. Button won DOTW in spa.
Why didn’t Hamilton win?
Kingshark (@kingshark)
20th September 2012, 20:48
I don’t think Hamilton would’ve won nor taken pole if it wasn’t for Alonso’s anti-roll bar failure in qualifying; while Button was simply the unquestionable #1 all along in Belgium.
OOliver
20th September 2012, 22:08
Grosjean should have been driver of the weekend at Spa.
John H (@john-h)
20th September 2012, 23:11
If it wasn’t for Alonso’s anti-roll bar failure, Perez would have finished 3rd at best and Alonso would have probably won driver of the weekend.
…but that didn’t happen….
Hamilton driver of the weekend, Perez driver of the race for me… but, I guess the majority disagree.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
21st September 2012, 3:15
And even though this poll is about driver of the weekend, most people vote for their driver of the race. Why? Because at the end of the day, the race is all that matters.
How many points has Hamilton scored this season for his 5 pole positions this season? Nada.
robbiepblake (@driftin)
21st September 2012, 7:57
“Why? Because at the end of the day, the race is all that matters.”
In that case, either you should not vote because you’re not treating the poll correctly, or Keith should change the name of it.
caci_99
20th September 2012, 20:31
This is getting somehow ridiculous. Hamilton was the best driver of the weekend. But race performance influences a lot the judgment. So it would be better if Keith would run a poll on driver of the Race rather than that of the weekend, because at the end this poll is reflecting driver of the race.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
20th September 2012, 21:19
Fact is Hamilton wasn’t the best driver of the weekend and nor was Perez. They’re opinions. I don’t vote necessarily for who has had the best typical result but rather those drivers who have managed to defy the odds and still bag a good result.
I like the poll the way it is. It sparks debate for one thing, like this :P
caci_99
20th September 2012, 22:30
Now that I look at the way I said it, sounds a bit rude.
Anyway, just bumped in here to keep the debate on ;)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
21st September 2012, 8:39
@andrewtanner
Another good point.
SempreGilles (@sempregilles)
20th September 2012, 22:46
Funny statistic from 2011: Sebastian Vettel had the same result as Hamilton (pole position and win) in 9 races last year. He won the driver of the weekend vote in a whopping 3 out of 9.
tmekt (@tmekt)
20th September 2012, 23:01
IIRC in some thread/comment page it was mentioned that a one-third or so of the users on this site are British… That could easily distort polls in favor of some drivers.
John H (@john-h)
20th September 2012, 23:14
I think it had more to do with the boredom of Vettel winning than any nationality.
Probably the wrong time to say it’s a British thing after Perez just got 20% more of the vote than Hamilton in this one!!
tmekt (@tmekt)
20th September 2012, 23:57
Yeah well nobody knows the reason for sure if there even is a reason. Just saying that the nationality could play a part as it probably does. Sometimes.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
21st September 2012, 0:16
@sempregilles @tmekt If achieving a particular result, such as a win from pole position, automatically makes someone indisputably the best driver of the weekend, what’s the point of holding a vote?
But that isn’t the case. Each team produces its own car, they all have different strengths and weaknesses and the efforts of the drivers have to be considered within that context. That’s why we have the Driver of the Weekend vote.
This “everyone here is from country X therefore they vote for driver Y” argument comes up a lot in response to these polls, but the statistics don’t back it up.
For example, how do you square the fact that the single largest group of users on F1 Fanatic is British, with the fact that the driver with the most top three DOTW appearances this year is Spanish?
Furthermore, as @john-h alludes to, complaining about perceived nationality bias seems especially perverse when this week’s poll was won by a Mexican driver, and Mexican visitors account for just 0.61% of traffic (ranking 29th).
The most emphatic DOTW winner so far this year is German: Nico Rosberg. He received over two-thirds of the vote, 69.1%, while Germans account for just 1.95% of site traffic.
You are making two questionable assumptions. The first is that people are only voting for who they like and the second is that they’re primarily motivated to vote for people of the same nationality as them.
From the data above it is abundantly clear both assumptions are flawed. By making them you give your peers too little credit, reducing them to mindless xenophobes who have to look up each driver’s place of birth before deciding how to vote.
SempreGilles (@sempregilles)
21st September 2012, 8:53
I know this poll is not who is the best driver of the weekend but who is the best driver of the weekend in the opinion of the F1fanatics.
I just find it funny that when something which happened lots of times before, happens to Hamilton there is this outrage. I mean look at the amount of comments on this page saying Hamilton should have won the vote or how people voted for driver of the race instead of driver of the weekend.
tmekt (@tmekt)
21st September 2012, 21:05
@keithcollantine
I’d like to clear it up that with my comment above, I didn’t mean this (Monza) weekend. It might seem that I did but I didn’t, the misunderstanding is my fault as I did not make the point clear enough. I did NOT claim that everybody is voting who they like and I did NOT claim that the nationality is the main factor in deciding who to vote in these polls.
Obviously in case examples of Perez and Rosberg it is not possible that their respected countries’ voters would’ve been able to distort the polls in favor to their “own” drivers. That doesn’t, however, prove that nationality isn’t a great motivator in the process of users selecting the driver of the weekend. For all I know, everyone of the 0.61% or 1.95% could have voted for their fellow countrymen (do you collect these kind of statistics?). Again, because 32.46% of users are from the UK, it could have influence in the selection (just to be clear: if nationality happened to have an influence in this).
If you wanted to determine whether nationality has effect in this you would have to choose two or more situations where all the other factors (performance over the weekend, drivers’ abilities, drivers’ characteristics, and so on) were same or nearly same and the only dividing factor would be the nationality.
If I evaluated myself in terms whether driver’s nationality affects my pick, I would definitely find out that whenever I’m not choosing the winner of the race or someone that made a huge climb from the bottom of the grid it is more likely for me voting for a driver that I share nationality with or that I’m a fan of. The reason for this higher probability is that, as watching the race, I would have been paying more close attention to the driver in question and therefore noticing achievements that, for the most people, would have otherwise gone unnoticed.
Michael Brown (@)
21st September 2012, 2:53
Might as well change it to Driver of the Race because that’s what people are treating it as.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
21st September 2012, 8:34
Yeah, what’s the point of calling it driver of the weekend anyway? I always sort of assumed that implied driver of the race. Who cares about the rest of the weekend?
In fact the opposite is usually true. The drivers are better off blundering through practice and qualifying and then put in a decent performance in the race. Everybody loves a great comeback and the person who starts on pole “had the fastest car anyway”.
Himmat
21st September 2012, 5:31
Yea, I second the notion to rename this as the Driver of the Race poll. Everyone is already treating it as such.
Mayank (@mjf1fan)
21st September 2012, 8:45
If your name is “Vettel” or “Hamilton”, it is really going to be difficult for you to get DOTW if you get pole position in qualifying and then winning the race. On the other hand, if you are “Button” or “Alonso” and you do the same as what vettel or hamilton does; you get DOTW. Pity !!
Perez drove magnificently in race and he should get Driver of the Race but to get DOTW, it is bit unfair for Hamilton.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
21st September 2012, 9:00
I’ve been following the Driver of the Weekend/Race debate, here’s my view:
The poll is called Driver of the Weekend because how a driver performs in qualifying (and, to a lesser extent, practice) can and often does affect their race result.
For example, a driver could opt for a more race-orientated set-up which compromises their qualifying performance but leads to them finishing better in the race (this was what Di Resta suspected Perez had done at Monza).
Perhaps another driver produces an excellent qualifying performance, but isn’t able to capitalise on it in the race.
To get the best possible appreciation of a driver’s efforts it’s essential to look at the full picture. If the title were to be changed to Driver of the Race, it would invite people to ignore the efforts of drivers prior to the race.
I think most people who come to F1 Fanatic realise drivers don’t draw starting positions out of a hat and begin their weekend from there. The race is the culmination of a weekend-long effort and while a driver’s performance in a race is the single biggest determining factor in how many points they come away with, it’s not the only thing that matters.
Finally remember that these debates are always best and most useful when they’re about specifics. If you think a particular driver did or didn’t deserve Driver of the Weekend, explain why. Use statistics, facts, data, quotes. Don’t just complain that other people disagree with you.
electrolite (@electrolite)
21st September 2012, 13:18
Why is everyone getting so hurt about this…I voted for Hamilton as far as I remember, but geez!
Abel Archundia (@aquataz68)
21st September 2012, 14:19
For DOTW, great clean driving, plus points are a key yardstick for performance, right?
However, the racing-fun-factor, the enthusiasm, and adrenalin Perez brought to the weekend [ including podium & team celebration] count a lot, and made the weekend unforgettable for me.
Plus, Nki Lauda loved it, hats off !
Mayank (@mjf1fan)
21st September 2012, 21:47
For drivers like LH, SV – to win DOTW after getting pole in qualifying and then winning the race would be acheived when either they start off badly from line, loosing 3-4 places in first few corners or having a bad pit stop so that they loose 3-4 places and then they go and win race from that situation. Probably people will get to see more action from them and hence it might help them to change their opinion.
In Monza, SP had an awesome race but to say he focused on getting a better race setup and thus by climbing up the order to finish 2nd and get DOTW is unfair to LW. LW also had to focus on his race setup as well as qualify the best he can and he did that perfectly. He tuned his car perfectly to get pole and then went on winning race.
Every driver on the grid irrespective of their car, has one aim – to be on pole and win the race. If someone does that why are people disregarding their efforts in such polls and giving DOTW title to someone who came from behind the pack and finished second. IMO perez dint put more efforts than hamilton to finish second. Hamilton did his best to secure his lead in front and its not an easy job to do.
I have nothing against Perez but Hamilton deserved DOTW in Monza. He achieved the maximum result a driver can, on both saturday and sunday amid all the speculations about his future.