Vote for your Singapore GP driver of the weekend

2012 Singapore Grand Prix

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Which F1 driver had the best race weekend in Singapore?

Compare all the drivers’ performances below and vote for who you think was the best driver of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend.

Singapore Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – Topped all three practice sessions but was mystified at his inability to turn a lap quick enough for pole position in Q3. From third on the grid he picked off Maldonado at the start and was perfectly placed to claim victory when Hamilton retired.

Mark Webber – Singapore seems not to be a favourite track of Webber’s. He qualified seventh and was using a three-stop strategy to try to gain ground when he was compromised by the appearance of the safety car. Spent the final laps trying pass Ricciardo without success. After the race he was penalised 20 seconds for putting all four wheels off the track while passing Kobayashi. Though he had clearly violated the rules, Webber was perhaps unfortunate as he had little time to decide whether to let Kobayashi re-pass him.

McLaren

Jenson Button – Lagged behind Hamilton in qualifying by a similar margin to that which separated the Red Bull drivers. Followed Vettel past Maldonado at the start and was able to run slightly longer in his first stint. This might have helped him later on had the safety car not appeared.

Lewis Hamilton – Snatched pole position off Vettel and maintained a lead of one to two seconds before a gearbox glitch put him out. The team first noticed a problem with the gearbox during the race and Hamilton reported difficulties shifting before it failed.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Decided the high-downforce rear wing brought by the team was not an improvement and didn’t use it. He made an unusually poor start from fifth and was beaten to the first corner by Di Resta, but quickly re-passed the Force India. He seriously tested Maldonado’s defences but didn’t manage to find a way past the Williams. The demise of Maldonado and Hamilton’s retirement elevated him to third.

Felipe Massa – Never looked like making it into Q3 – he was over three-quarters of a second slower than his team mate. Picked up a puncture in the first corner melee when he was hit by Petrov, but the safety car brought him back into contention. Made an arms-and-elbows pass on Senna at turn 13 and complained he had been blocked but the stewards didn’t share his view. He later overtook Ricciardo and finished eighth.

Mercedes

Michael Schumacher – Fell behind Rosberg on the first lap, then ended his 300th start in a violent crash after the first safety car period, slamming into the back of Vergne at turn 14. He initially accounted for the crash saying: “I was braking but the deceleration was not as strong as it usually would be”. But the stewards noted he accepted responsibility and gave him a ten-place penalty for the next race.

Nico Rosberg – Like Schumacher he elected not to set a time in Q3 to save tyres. He incurred damage at the first corner which cost him some downforce. However he was able to pit for soft tyres during the first safety car period and run to the end for fifth place, his best result since Monaco.

Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen – Lotus made extensive changes to their car on Friday night which improved its performance, but Raikkonen wasn’t able to get through to Q3. Spent much of the race stuck behind Schumacher until the Mercedes driver crashed out. Then Grosjean let him by into sixth, but he couldn’t progress further. “You cannot overtake,” he complained afterwards.

Romain Grosjean – Out-qualified Raikkonen after returning from his ban, but a scruffy Q3 lap left him eighth. He probably would have beaten his team mate had the team not ordered him to move aside: “It’s never easy as a driver to let someone past – even if it is your team-mate,” he said, “but we need to be intelligent in these circumstances”.

Force India

Paul di Resta – Force India showed good pace from early in the weekend and Di Resta capitalised, putting his car sixth on the grid. He may regret not being firmer with Alonso at the first corner given that he ultimately finished behind the Ferrari. Even so, fourth was a career-best result.

Nico Hulkenberg – Knew his car was good enough for Q3 but missed the cut. That doomed him to spending the first part of the race stuck behind Schumacher and Raikkonen. After they pitted he was able to run long on his soft tyres, but gambling on staying out when the safety car was first deployed ultimately compromised his race. Picked up a puncture while trying to pass Kobayashi and ended up 14th.

Sauber

Kamui Kobayashi – Was eliminated in Q1 after struggling with his car, with similar problems to those he experienced in Hungary. Senna and Glock passed him at the start and it took Kobayashi until lap eight to get past the Marussia. A clash with a Force India ruined his race: “I couldn’t avoid touching Nico Hulkenberg,” he said. “There was no space to go. For me it was a race incident. Nico said sorry when we met after the race; apparently he had oversteer, I lost my front wing and had to pit.”

Sergio Perez – Said the team’s latest upgrade had failed to deliver the expected downforce gains. Having qualified 14th, he chose the usual Sauber gambit of starting on the harder tyres. But the safety car appearance neutered any advantage this offered – he finished 11th on the road and was promoted to the final point by Webber’s penalty.

Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo – Ricciardo started on super-soft tyres and was able to make his second and final pit stop after the safety car appeared. He was eighth when the race resumed and although Massa passed him he had more success keeping Webber behind.

Jean-Eric Vergne – Still nursing a sore neck from his Monza acrobatics, the last thing Vergne needed was another crash. He was running tenth when Schumacher took him out, but the safety car had already scuppered his strategy anyway.

Williams

Pastor Maldonado – Maldonado produced the surprise of qualifying, planting his Williams on the front row. He avoided causing the widely-predicted first corner apocalypse, though he did lose places to Vettel and Button. Withstood pressure from Alonso but hydraulic failure meant his redemptive performance ultimately ended in disappointment.

Bruno Senna – Hit the barriers a total of three times in practice and qualifying. But he was in with a chance of claiming a point when he suffered an alarming technical fault – his team told him to pull over and jump out of the car without touching the ground in case of a KERS problem. On top of that, his car broke down in the pre-race parade as well. A weekend to forget.

Caterham

Heikki Kovalainen – Unusually he was out-qualified by Petrov. The team dropped the ball on strategy as well, not pitting him during the first safety car and then switching him to super-softs, which had to be changed again before the end of the race. Disastrously, that let rivals Marussia beat them to a precious 12th place finish.

Vitaly Petrov – Hit Massa at the first corner (“I’ve already apologised to him as we get on well”) and had to pit for a new front wing. The safety car offered him a chance to get back into the race but he was sent from his pit box with a loose wheel nut and had to be pushed back to his garage.

HRT

Pedro de la Rosa – Finished a lapped 17th: “The last five laps never seemed to end because I had no tyres left and I started to lose ground on Glock and Pic and Kobayashi, Kovalainen and Hulkenberg, who were flying, passed me like nothing.”

Narain Karthikeyan – Out-qualified de la Rosa for the second race in a row but had fallen behind his team mate when he hit the wall at turn 18: “I went on the dirty part of the track and the car didn’t turn which resulted in me going into the wall.”

Marussia

Timo Glock – Glock had a scare when he clouted the wall early on: “The rear tyre pressures came up a bit too much and I overshot the car in turn 19 and hit the wall. In the first moment I thought the race was over and I realised that the toe was really out; I had to change my driving style and, actually, changed everything that I could do to keep the car on track.” Glock pitted for soft tyres shortly before the first safety car period and stayed on them until the end – over half the race distance. Retirements ahead promoted him to 12th which elevates Marussia to tenth in the constructors’ championship.

Charles Pic – Pic was handed a 20-second race penalty and ordered to spend a day assisting an FIA road safety awareness campaign after failing to heed red flags during practice. In the race he did a long final stint on super-soft tyres and finished 16th.

Qualifying and race results summary

Started Gap to team mate Laps leading team mate Pitted Finished Gap to team mate
Sebastian Vettel 3rd -0.57s 59/59 2 1st -67.175s
Mark Webber 7th +0.57s 0/59 3 11th +67.175s
Jenson Button 4th +0.577s 3/22 2 2nd
Lewis Hamilton 1st -0.577s 19/22 1
Fernando Alonso 5th -0.777s 59/59 2 3rd -27.602s
Felipe Massa 13th +0.777s 0/59 3 8th +27.602s
Michael Schumacher 9th -0.12s 0/38 2
Nico Rosberg 10th +0.12s 38/38 2 5th
Kimi Raikkonen 12th +0.732s 13/59 2 6th -0.939s
Romain Grosjean 8th -0.732s 46/59 2 7th +0.939s
Paul di Resta 6th -0.308s 54/59 2 4th -80.35s
Nico Hulkenberg 11th +0.308s 5/59 3 14th +80.35s
Kamui Kobayashi 17th +0.878s 10/59 3 13th +46.522s
Sergio Perez 14th -0.878s 49/59 2 10th -46.522s
Daniel Ricciardo 15th -0.075s 11/38 2 9th
Jean-Eric Vergne 16th +0.075s 27/38 2
Pastor Maldonado 2nd -0.315s 35/36 3
Bruno Senna 22nd +0.315s 1/36 3 18th
Heikki Kovalainen 19th +0.291s 57/57 3 15th Not on same lap
Vitaly Petrov 18th -0.291s 0/57 4 19th Not on same lap
Pedro de la Rosa 24th +0.983s 27/30 3 17th
Narain Karthikeyan 23rd -0.983s 3/30 1
Timo Glock 20th -0.392s 47/59 2 12th -61.007s
Charles Pic 21st +0.392s 12/59 2 16th +61.007s

Review the race data

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.

Who was the best driver of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend?

  • Charles Pic (0%)
  • Timo Glock (8%)
  • Pedro de la Rosa (0%)
  • Narain Karthikeyan (0%)
  • Vitaly Petrov (0%)
  • Heikki Kovalainen (0%)
  • Bruno Senna (0%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (3%)
  • Jean-Eric Vergne (0%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (1%)
  • Sergio Perez (0%)
  • Kamui Kobayashi (0%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
  • Paul di Resta (26%)
  • Romain Grosjean (0%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (1%)
  • Nico Rosberg (0%)
  • Michael Schumacher (1%)
  • Felipe Massa (9%)
  • Fernando Alonso (4%)
  • Jenson Button (1%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (26%)
  • Mark Webber (0%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (19%)

Total Voters: 639

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2012 Singapore Grand Prix

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Image © Singapore GP/Sutton, Pirelli/LAT, Sahara Force India F1 Team, Williams/LAT, Marussia/LAT

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140 comments on “Vote for your Singapore GP driver of the weekend”

  1. I’m going to give it to Paul di Resta. He was on the pace all weekend (bar FP3), qualified well and raced excellently. He has shown the big teams that he is perfectly capable of delivering good results for them. Don’t forget that he beat Sebastian Vettel in lower formulae. Lewis Hamilton deserves a special mention. He dominated qualifying and was driving excellently, holding the gap consistently above the 1 second to stay out of DRS range of Vettel, only to be let down by a gearbox failure. Even though he was massively arrogant when he got out of the car (much more 1 finger salutes than normal!) Vettel was perfectly placed to benefit when the McLaren died but his last stint after the safety car was pretty special as he drove away from Jenson Button.

    1. Don’t forget that he beat Sebastian Vettel in lower formulae.

      How could we ever forget? He only mentions it about once per interview. Never seems to mention who beat *him* in F3, though (i.e., Lucas di Grassi).

      1. which clearly means Di Grassi is at least 3 time WDC material!!

        1. Di Grassi did get royally screwed over by Virgin though.

        2. Vettel was beaten by Di Resta, who was beaten by Di Grassi, who was beaten by Glock, who was beaten by Trulli, who was beaten by Alonso, who was beaten by Tarso Marques. Clearly, the best driver of all time!

      2. @aka_robyn , I reckon it is more of a case about the repeated questions being asked. We always see the quoted texts but never the excerpts of what being asked. He doesn’t look that dumb to pop-up this I-beat-Vettel-in-F3 from nowhere.

      3. Factually incorrect, he’s mentioned about twice, but people like to think he says it every other sentence.

        1. “About once per interview” was an intentional use of hyperbole. However, he has certainly mentioned it more than twice. In fact, I noticed this in the most recent round-up:

          I like to think that I’m capable of stepping up to one of these bigger teams. There’s some drivers about – I’ve raced against some of them at the top, I’ve had great battles with them and I’ve beaten them.

          Probably didn’t think he needed to name names, since we’re all well familiar with who he’s talking about by now. ;-)

    2. I voted for Glock for his backend heroics here. He really deserves a lot better car. But I was almost as likely to vote for DiResta, until I saw that Glock was down with 9% while the likes of Vettel (who dropped it in qualifying before doing all he could to make best use of Hamilton dropping out and Massa who was totally out of depth in qualifying but did give us some quality moments during the race) were ahead of Glock.
      I hope DiResta wins it, because his drive here was really a highlight, even if not much of him was shown during the race.

      1. I also voted for Glock.
        A tremendous effort on a difficult track with a ill handling car.

    3. Di Resta stayed where he started the whole race long. He only gained two places because HAM and MAL had to retire. Glock, on the other hand, got in front of a Sauber, a Force India and the two Caterhams in a car that doesn’t even have KERS. Granted, they fell back due to mistakes, but that was their own fault.

    4. I also gave it to Di Resta, having recently written that I thought he may be over-rated I was surprised to see him qualify on the 3rd. row , with Vettel on the 2nd. row and Webber on the 4th. row, and this on a track that favours high downforce over top speed, not the sort of track we associate with Force India being competitive. I suppose I am really voting for the most improved car/driver combination. Or have I just not been paying attention lately.

    5. What a suprise, Lewis ahead on votes for this race where Vettel got 2nd place for dominating Valencia the same way, but yet Alonso got it for having half the field in front DNF while also having a rubbish qualifying to boot. Seems anybody can win driver of the weekend, just not Vettel…

      Maybe all the Vettel fans should just vote for Narain at every race and give the love back?

      1. Half the field – one driver.

  2. Since we are referring to driver of the weekend, Vettel and Di resta are the stand outs.
    But since both benefited from misery of others, Di Resta wins the bout for superb qualifying performance.

  3. Tough decision between Hamilton, Button and Di Resta. Really not sure which way to go, although I think I’d rank Hamilton over Vettel at least.

    1. (I’m not considering Vettel’s performance in practice, as it doesn’t really mean anything at all)

      1. @matt90 And why doesn’t Vettel’s performance in practice mean anything at all? It is part of the weekend isn’t it? Hamilton had pace early on, yes. I think Vettel was good the entire weekend. A poor qualifying run should not count so much against someone especially if that someone still won.

        1. It isn’t a part that counts for anything except setting up the car in whatever way you see fit. There is no incentive for drivers to try to be fastest, so no evidence that any other driver couldn’t have matched Vettel had they bothered. It is part of the weekend, but so are driver interviews, and they aren’t generally considered a sign of driver ability either.

        2. Hm, I don’t think I follow you there @mahavirshah. Sure, Vettel was quickest in the FP sessions, where it doesn’t matter more than bragging rights to be first. But he failed to do his job in Q3, when it really mattered. Hamilton by comparison did a really great and controlled lap to nail it on pole position. And he would very likely have won without too much trouble if not for the gearbox.
          Button, hm, he did not really get it close to Hamilton time wise inQ3 and couldn’t really mount much towards a challenge on Vettel during the race.

      2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        24th September 2012, 15:32

        when Vettel wins, the practice doesn’t mean at all right? bu when it’s a tough decision between , let’ say, Alonso and hamilton, lewis fans always say, “but he was better in FPs”. As partial as the stewards this weekend!!!!!

        1. I don’t, thank you very much. Tell me then, why should I consider practice as a reason to put Vettel ahead? Because he was fastest when it didn’t matter, when not everybody was trying their hardest necessarily?

          1. @matt90 I agree with your logic.
            Which is why I thought and placed Hamilton on pole, he never went for top spot in FP sessions as many don’t, FP is generally meaningless.

      3. FP1: 1st
        FP2: 1st
        FP3: 1st
        Q1: 4th
        Q2: 2nd
        Q3: 3rd
        RACE: 1st

        Has to be Vettel

        1. Hamilton 25%
          Di Resta 25%
          Vettel 20%

          So, as a conclusion, people don’t vote numbers, like you do, they vote what they saw in the race.

          1. I think people are also taking into account that Hamilton had been on the pace all through practice but had a couple of his laps spoiled with traffic. For the whole weekend Hamilton and Vettel had been on a completely different planet from the others and it felt as if Hamilton just had the edge on Vettel as the weekend went on.

          2. So, as a conclusion, (HAM25%,DIR25%,VET20%) people do vote numbers, like you did, they vote what they saw in qualifying pace and in the race ( as the all three did well in both sessions).

          3. And this is why the fanbase shouldn’t be taken seriously.

    2. I’m not sure why you put Button in there? He was outqualified by his team-mate by 6 10ths and did nothing sectacular in the race

      1. Definitely meant to put Vettel :s

        1. In that case…well said!

      2. first stint JB was closing and closing and the timing to change his tires was not perfect, second stint he matched then was closing again. I think he would have passed Lewis by the end, his tire preservation was better than Lewis. JB is not as good in quali for sure, but generally better than Lewis in race day, then it is not very fair to always criticise him. Behin Alonso, Vettel and Ham, i think he is in the first place and when the car matched his expectactions, he is as good as them.

        1. but generally better than Lewis in race day

          Dont make me laugh. Did you see how strong Button was in Spain, Monaco, Valencia, Canada & Britain??? The only driver worse than Karthikeyan during those races was Jenson

          1. However JB was closing on both stints and quickly at that.

          2. Did you see how strong Hamilton was in races for most of last year? What about how strong Vettel was during his “crash-kid” phase in 2010, or Webber since he signed his new contract and most of 2011? Even the mighty Alonso is fallible.

            All top F1 drivers suffer a slump in form at some stage or another in F1, such is the extreme level of competitiveness, the genuinely tiny margins between being on the pace and off it and all the intricacies involved in the combination of team, car and driver competing at such a high level.

            Button’s slump lasted several races but he and the team were resilient and worked through it and now he’s back to competing for podiums and wins just like he has been for the vast majority of his time at Mclaren.

          3. Not true… only Monaco was where Karthikeyan finished ahead of JB. At Valencia, JB finished ahead of Lewis… but it was nice of you to pick a moment in time whereby JB was at his worst at McLaren.

  4. I voted for Paul di Resta. Singapore, probably the toughest race on the calendar, is believed to be one of the few venues where the driver’s ability plays bigger role than usually in F1. Di Resta drove intelligently, didn’t put a foot wrong, beat his team mate fair and square, and finished less than 4 seconds behind Alonso. That was a performance worthy of a champion in a mediocre car.

    1. I think, in this circuit, the only “ability” you should have if you are a pilot, is to not hit the wall. You can’t overtake, unless you have good car and new tyres as well, you don’t have to be master of deffending(the circuit helps you), you don’t have to watch you’re tyres, because safety car will save you with an extra pit. You don’t have to do anything at all. You have to do a good quali, and hope that the pilots in front of you will…vanish, one by one. This happend in this race.

  5. I’ve gone for Pastor. Superb drive and quali. Shame the car gave up. Vettel doesn’t deserve the driver of the race award – he was just lucky Hamilton’s gearbox died.

    1. poor Vettel, he usually totally outpaced Webber but has never a due reward, he always have luck or a too much quicker car.

  6. Di Resta. He’s been outstanding all season: regularly outqualifying (8-4 in dry qually sessions) and outscoring (44-31) his highly rated teammate. Finally he got the high profile drive he deserved. (Only a shame that he couldn’t get on the podium with it.)

    I predict di Resta will be one of the (presumably) two midfield drivers to move to a top team next year. He hasn’t been spoken about so much recently, but while the media and many spectators focus on flash in the pan drivers (not naming names!), I believe di Resta’s consistent ability to extract the best out of the 7th fastest car on the grid will be rewarded.

  7. Great drive from Di Resta and I would have voted for him but Glock’s 12th plave was very significant. On one of the most difficult tracks he managed to outrace not only the Caterhams but also a Sauber and a Force India.

    1. @marcusaurelius Very nice one indeed from Glock, I have already voted but could have gone for him, superb drive even if he took opportunity to reach that place on strategy, quite a bit of luck involved with those SC but still he capitalized on it and bring Marussia in 10th on WCC, certainly a performance to mention.

  8. Going to give this one to Pastor Maldonado, purely because he’s begining to turn his post-Spain season around. Despite his grid penalty in Monza he did well and stayed out of trouble, and was having a strong weekend at Singapore before reliability let him down. He’s dropped a ton of potential points finishes this season but if he can keep it together and produce good pace like he did in Singapore, he’ll be able to fully redeem himself by the end of the season.

    1. @pjtierney @markopoloman

      I think Maldonado’s retirement obscured the fact that he’d already majorly damaged his race chances by then. He was on a three stop strategy, and had absolutely destroyed the Super Softs that he put on at the second pit stop within just a few laps (you could see this from Alonso’s onboard). Even without his retirement or the safety car periods I don’t think Maldonado was likely to even finish in the points.

      I’m sure if you’d noticed this you would have thought second about voting him the ‘Driver of the Weekend’?

      1. But that strategy was largely down to the team I think, I wouldn’t hold that against the driver at this stage in his career.

    2. I think that is a very good choice @PJtierney, he did do his best to avoid any clashes, and we saw a nice battle between him and Alonso before his car gave up.

    3. I voted for Pastor too. He had a great quali and despite a poor start he was still driving strongly until his mechanical failure.

      Paul di Resta would be my second choice. He had such a strong bu quiet weekend I didn’t realise he was in 4th until he started catching Alonso towards the end!

  9. I have no idea who to vote for.

    1. Traverse Mark Senior (@)
      24th September 2012, 14:54

      @tmekt
      An intelligent person (like yourself) would vote for Hamilton.

      1. I have an iq of about 130, so I voted for vettel

        1. I have a IQ of 140 so voted for Di Resta.

          1. My IQ’s around the 190’s. Voted for Bruno Senna. I’d give you my reasons but nobody would understand! ;)

          2. Colossal, squid, i shall try to understand
            (no, really)

  10. Timo Glock

    1. he deserved it for the tenth place ! Caterham must be extremely disapointed.

  11. Alonso, driving a car to finish 5th he ended 3th keeping the championship lead. He is on the way to win his third title with a very limited car.

  12. Paul di Resta punched above his weight, as did Ricciardo who held off Perez and Webber for so long. But I have to go for either Vettel or Hamilton, who were way ahead of the others this weekend, and Lewis’s car didn’t last long enough – so Vettel it is.

  13. I did not realize this today but Glock’s result put them forward Caterham, something Caterham will find hard to change given the lacklustre state of their development. I really wonder how long Heiki would stick with them, especially if McLaren have a slot free.

  14. Easily Di Resta for me. Perhaps hope is not lost for McLaren if Hamilton goes after all…

  15. For me it’s between Hamilton and Di Resta. Vettel had a good race, but nothing special, and because of his poor (ish) quali, I don’t think I can give him driver of the weekend. Hamilton’s quali was one of the best pole laps I’ve seen, and he had the race under control so I think I’ll give it to him, but I think this will be the closest vote of the year so far.

    1. Also a special mention for Glock, but I don’t think he can get it for hitting a wall when there were other practically perfect performances out there.

    2. I find it funny that a lot of people are not voting for Vet because of his ‘poor’ qualy.. yet if he had qualified 1st and raced like Ham from 1st and won the race.. it would’ve just been another superior car performance and ‘nothing special’ right??

  16. Hamilton. Unbeliavably fast in qualyfying, fantastic pace throughout the early stages of the race. It’s a pity he couldn’t finish – and probably win.

  17. The weekend? For me, Di Resta.

    But at the race, when it really matters, the guy who brought the stuff this time was Massa. From last to eight. The comment says that “the safety car brought him back into contention”. Well, the safety car this that for ALL the drivers, not only for Massa, as is compacted the procession again. And he managed to score points, with two awesome overtakes. IMO, he saved an otherwise extremely boring race.

  18. MassDog as I call him (massa) simply for his overtaking move on senna. Highlight of the race!

  19. Probably di Resta, but I picked Hamilton, also because he was unlucky. He was almost certainly going to win it and deserved so.
    A special mention to Massa who had an aggressive race which was nice to see. His pass on Senna was crazy!

  20. Thought long about Lewis or Di Resta, no other driver really stood out for me this weekend. Not even vettel, he would never have won if Hamilton’s gearbox hand’t caught a severe case of the gremlins, and being fast in FP means next to nothing to me.

    In the end I went with Di Resta, thogh it was 51-49% deciscion vs lewis in Paul’s favor.

  21. Tough one, this. DiResta and Massa were the only drivers to actually do anything in what was a processional and tedious race. As always, the safety car appeared but in Singapore, it only seems to ruin strategies, not mix things up (2008 being the reprehensible exception).

    Massa did awfully in qualifying, but for the first time this year actually did something about it and raced up the field. I’m pretty sure, however, that his move on senna was borderline reckless, and something he would have attacked another driver for if they did it to him (see last year). He also pulled one of his old tricks more than once that I saw, namely ignoring the limits of the track and cutting corners.

    So while he did well, I can’t nominate him. Pastor drove well, but as I’m of the opinion he’s a reprehensible, dangerous lout who doesn’t deserve to be in a car, he’s not getting it either.

    DiResta had a solid drive, but like the rest of the top 4 he was driving in place. Ricciardo? I honestly didn’t see enough of his race to judge, and keeping someone behind is mitigated by the fact that it’s almost impossible to pass anyway.

    I’m tempted to give it to Glock just because it’s about the only positive thing to happen to him since Toyota closed, and he foolishly signed up for another year in marussia so it’s unlikely anything good will ever happen again.

    1. I did give my vote to Glock

  22. Ok. Di Resta – your time. There’s something about this guy and Singapore and I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins it next year or the year after next, provided Force India improve a bit or that he lands in a Mercedes or McLaren or something. Well done.

    Vettel, Hamilton, Button and Alonso are worth a mention here as well. And if it was driver of the race I would have given it to Massa. No doubt. :)

  23. When you look at the lapchart, Massa passed more cars from the back of the pack after receiving a puncture on a hard-to-pass track. His save on passing Senna counts also

  24. Would give it to Timo Glock. Great results for Marussia, the pace says everything on this track which not everyone loves & performs well.

  25. I voted for Hamilton, for the same reason I voted for Vettel in Valencia. Both took pole position and both were controlling the race comfortably before being forced to retire through no fault of their own. There isn’t much more that can be asked of a driver.

    I could have easily voted for Vettel here too, mind, as well as Paul di Resta.

  26. Driver of the weekend is Vettel for me. He didn’t deliver in Q3 and might not have won if it wasn’t for Lewis’ gearbox, but this was a classic Seb victory. Not a fan, but well deserved.

    Honorable mentions for the race: Senna, Massa, Maldonado.

  27. My vote was for Hamilton, his race pace was amazing and that qualifying lap was unreal. When Alonso says he “was on another planet” that means something. I was happy to see Alonso retain his 1+ race advantage over his nearest rival, though RedBull and McLaren are closing in slowly. Hamilton was putting in a phenomenal performance when his McLaren let him down, I am not a necessarily a fan of Hamilton’s but his talent cannot be denied.

  28. I was tempted to opt for Pastor Maldonado, but his race pace wasn’t as impressive as his qualifying. Timo Glock did well, Paul di Resta ran a great race in 4th, Lewis Hamilton was fast before his retirement, but for me it has to be Sebastian Vettel. He was on it all weekend (except in Q3) and I’m certain that he could at least run Hamilton to the line or at best beat him.

  29. Would have voted for Lewis but chose Massa purely for the amazing save when overtaking Senna ! Made me go OMG which hasn’t happened with Massa for a long time ! Maybe Canada 08 when he overtook 2 cars at the hairpin – made it look like they were sleeping. He seems to have a bit of his spark back lately.

  30. Who voted for Kamui??

  31. Went for Gloc, great drive. The best ever for Marussia

  32. These polls seem more like driver ‘fan’ counts based on Michael Schumacher getting votes for best driver?????????????? Thanks R & R PS or maybe it is family based…

    1. @racernorriski

      These polls seem more like driver ‘fan’ counts based on Michael Schumacher getting votes for best driver?

      I don’t agree. At the time of writing the most popular driver on the site the last I checked the numbers (Jenson Button) has 1% of the votes in this poll.

      Have a look at the popularity ratings here and it’s pretty clear there’s no correlation:

      https://www.racefans.net/2012/05/21/button-1000-fans-f1-fantic/

      1. @keithcollantine, I wonder, do you keep statistics about how often this comment is not required in DOTW polls?

        1. @adrianmorse Well, it’s not an unreasonable thing to ask, and it’s partly why I wanted to have a means for people to show who they’re supporting.

      2. Haha, I can’t believe you seriously think these biased votes represent an objective opinion Keith. So I wonder if Vettel will finally earn his first DOTW this week, you know, since he’s the closest to Alonso in the championship (with an average car for most of the season) and won 2 races this year, including this one. Hmmm.. now what makes this doubtful…

        1. As I said I don’t believe there’s much of a correlation between which drivers people support and how they have voted.

          You seem to think that because others don’t share the same opinion as you, that automatically means they’re “biased”. That doesn’t make sense to me. Others are as entitled to their opinions as you are.

          1. They certainly are entitled to an opinion (nothing against that), but that by definition makes these votes subjective (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/subjective). The standard of voting is changed to suit the situation (and driver) and is all over the place. One race a driver gets it because they managed to overtake and go from 10th to 2rd in the race, yet given the same situation (Belgian GP) they are shunned. Oh and at the same time Button, who like Vettel in 2011 had the best car, drove into the distance (Pole/win) got the votes, which was so frowned upon last year. If this is not confirmation of bias, I don’t know what is. Also, let’s look the the DOTW results of the year so far: Ham: 2, Alo: 2, But: 2, Rai: 1. Vet: big fat zero. These are your top 5 championship drivers by points atm. Actually JB is not even in the top 5.

          2. You’ve made an assumption that if a driver performs in a certain way (e.g. takes pole position and wins the race) that automatically means they should win the vote. If that were so, then there wouldn’t be much point in having a poll.

            And of course the poll is subjective (no dictionary definition link required, by the way), it’s a question of people’s opinions.

          3. I haven’t made that assumption Keith, I’m only observing the results of the majority of votes. I used that last bit of information only to strengthen my point, which was made in the few sentences above that.

            It’s hard to take something like this poll seriously when prejudice (towards a driver) dictates how people vote. Granted, prejudice/opinion, ridiculous statements/votes are always present in any poll, as demonstrated by votes towards Schumi/Karthikeyanin this race. It just seems to be more extreme in Vettels case, which skews the credibility of the results.

            I’d like to point out that I’m not even a Vettel fan, just dislike the treatment he gets here and like to point it out. If anything, the fact that the majority (going by comments/votes on this site) of people here don’t seem to appreciate his skills make me like him more.

  33. Toss-up between Vettel, Hamilton, di Resta and Glock. In the end I went for Glock because he had a great weekend in a car which is too slow for his talents – and because I love the idea of an F1 driver who can also put up your scaffolding for you. Speed AND practicality!

  34. While Vettel, di Resta and Glock all had good weekends, I do think Hamilton out performed them.

    My heart is saying vote Glock! My head is saying Hamilton does deserve it this time – so Hamilton it is.

  35. Michael Brown (@)
    24th September 2012, 21:11

    Vettel was on it all weekend. The only reason he wouldn’t get Driver of the Weekend is because he’s Vettel. Such a shame for him.

    1. or it might be that he fluffed his lines in Q3 and that would have cost him the chance of victory if it were not for Hamilton’s unfortunate failure…

      1. Or because Di Resta had a great weekend altogether in an inferior car. :)

      2. Yet he’s lost DOTW on nine of his wins when he was fastest in Q3 (and on a further 2 race wins when he wasn’t). And twice it went to the driver that inherited the win off a Vettel car failure (one this year, the other Korea 2010).

        Nevertheless, this time it does go to PdR in my opinion.

    2. Michael Brown, right on the money.

      1. Yes, I agree.

  36. Very difficult.

    Hamilton was the stand-out performer from Saturday onwards.

    Vettel drove a strong race, he certainly would have pushed Hamilton close (he did seem to be faster during the second stint until Hamilton retired)

    Di Resta had a very strong performance

    Glock produced a strong result, regardless of the misfortune suffered by others. And managed to do this after completely clattering his car off the wall – what on earth is that Marussia made out of!!

  37. Hard to pick a driver out, it wasnt a great race & we were robbed of seeing a good battle between Vettel & Hamilton. These circuits might look cool & rake in tons of cash but they really make you want to switch off at times. Need more tracks like Spa. Hope new track in Texas breaks the trend of boring new circuits like valencia & singapore. I choose Vettel, after his blip in Q3 he did well to take Maldonado & then reel Hamilton in. Not his fault his car was reliable & finished the race.

  38. The article says that Petrov finished ahead of Kovalainen – but he didn’t???

    1. Indeed he didn’t – sorry about that. have changed it.

  39. It feels a bit churlish because these are really talented people… but I don’t really feel like anyone deserves the ‘driver of the week’ this time.

    Partly this is because the saftey car. If there hadn’t been one then Vettel might not have managed a two-stopper. On that basis Jenson paced himself perfectly, keeping in touch with Vettel so that when the German made the extra stop, the Brit would have taken the win. We’d have hailed Jenson as a genius and said that Vettel just wasn’t quick enough.

    As it is, Vettel got a free stop and 9 laps behind the safety car, in a shortened race. No more problems with tire wear. Now Vettel’s small speed advantage sees him pull away from Jenson, who can’t keep up.

    So did Vettel walk it, or was Button denied a win? If Hamilton had kept running, how would his tires have held up? Button’s were much newer… it could be that Button would have won even without the retirement (assuming no safety car).

    Basically, I’ve just got no idea how to gauge the top 3’s performance in the race. The same goes for Alonso… he beat the cars he’s expected to beat, as he normally does. But how quick was the Ferrari? For all we know, 3rd place represents a minor miracle.

    In the end I voted for Maldonado. It was a controlled race from him following a good performance in qualifying. Okay, plenty of other drivers can say the same. But this time, I don’t think anyone put up a driver they’ll remember a year from now.

  40. Glock for me. He’s always gone well at Singapore, and this was no exception. Running half the race on a set of soft tyres was an amazing feat, but finishing ahead of Kobayashi and Hulkenburg, even considering the problems they hit, in a Marussia was stunning, not to mention the potential consequences for the team!

  41. I have to vote for Hamilton here. He had done enough of the race distance while maintaining a gap over Vettel that I think this race most likely would have been his, had the gearbox not failed on him.

    Then again, I fall into that camp where a car failure doesnt preclude me from giving a certain driver my dotw vote. I thought Vettel deserved it in Valencia, too. All in all, I cant bring myself to vote for the driver who eventually won, when they were outperformed by the driver who likely would have won, as was the case in Singapore. Hamilton’s peerless qualifying lap in particular was a thing of beauty and he really couldnt have driven better the whole weekend up until his car failure.

    If I could have two votes the second would be for Di Resta…

  42. Not really an easy weekend to choose, though many will make it out to be. A lot of drivers put in some great heroic performances, whilst others slipped up or had their days ruined by old school mechanical gremlins.

    3 outside choices that deserve a mention have to be Maldonado, Massa and Glock.

    Maldonado for his stunning qualifying and intense battle with Alonso, Massa for the best save of the year, and coming up to 8th from the back of the pack. In a season where he has struggled so much, this was one of his best drives. And last but not least Glock, for showing the kind of gritty talent from back in his Toyota days by dragging his Marussia up to 12th!

    Give that man a better seat!!!

  43. Definitely the most interesting and finely-poised voted we’ve had in Driver of the Weekend so far. It seems to me this is because a lot of drivers had very good performance but with perhaps one flaw or reason not to vote for them.

    Vettel had a good enough car for pole position but didn’t deliver in qualifying and even ended up getting bumped by Maldonado. But that’s the only mark you can put against him – his race was very good, he was within range of Hamilton, and it’s a pity we didn’t get to see how that battle would have played out.

    That also goes for Hamilton as well. His pole position was excellent and although he didn’t pull away much from Vettel in the opening stages, he seemed able to preserve his tyre longer. But Button was able to go even further and I have to wonder whether he might have come into play had the safety car not appeared when it did.

    Di Resta had a great weekend – he capitalised on his car’s potential when his team mate failed to. But with overtaking at such a premium at Singapore I thought he should have defended more firmly against Alonso at the start. Alonso was never going to force the issue with one eye on the title. Perhaps he didn’t want to become the next Grosjean.

    Glock was in his usual excellent Singapore form for Marussia. He was fortunate to get away with hitting the wall but his long stint was a superb piece of driving and was well-rewarded.

    Maldonado deserves a shout, too – he was excellent in qualifying and although his start wasn’t great he defended very firmly and above all cleanly against Alonso.

    There’s still only 5% in it between the top three as I write this and I’m fascinated to see how this one turns out.

    1. @keithcollantine
      Interesting point about di Resta’s start Keith but I’m not exactly sure what you would you have had him do differently.T he rules are now very clear that you can’t push a competitor off the race track, and I think he pushed Alonso as far as he legitamitely could around Turn 2. Maybe he’d have been better going to the outside for Turn 3, but I don’t think he could have expected Maldonado to be so cautious and back Button up in to his path. Anyway, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

      1. @mhop

        The rules are now very clear that you can’t push a competitor off the race track

        …on a straight not in a corner, and I think di Resta was a bit too generous in the space he gave Alonso in the first turns.

  44. Lewis 100%

    Fastest by half a second in quali, did nothing wrong all weekend managed the gap to Vettel and had the win all but in the bag

  45. I think I would choose Hamilton or Di Resta, as Hamilton had a better pace than Vetel, and if his car did not “die”, he should have won the race. While Vetel is just lucky to have benefited from Hamilton’s retirement.

    1. so when people benefit from Vettel dropping out, they are highly skilled because they’re there to pick up the pieces but when Vettel profits from a dropout he’s lucky???
      Come on.
      and you might want to test out the “t” button on your keyboard ;)

    2. Just out of curiosity, what criteria would have to be met for Vettel to gain your vote for driver of the weekend on another given race weekend?

  46. I’m really wonder if this polls have any meaning anymore. I understand that this is a British site and is logical that British drivers are preferable, as i guess the same happens in Spanish and German sites….
    but REALLY 25% for Lewis ? For a driver that not complete even then half race?
    IF he didn’t had that mechanical failure he probably would cruise to the end of race the same way Vettel did. What will then be his score and why Vettel don’t take the same credit? I guess i answered my self in the start…..
    On the other hand 25 % for Di resta totally fair .

    1. @cosmas

      this is a British site

      No it isn’t – this is a site for F1 fans, regardless of their nationality.

      As has been pointed out countless times before, only around a third of users on the site are British:

      https://www.racefans.net/groups/f1/forum/topic/where-f1-fanatic-readers-are-from/?topic_page=5&num=15#post-72133

      And as has been pointed out earlier in this thread, there is little correlation between which drivers people support and who they vote for:

      https://www.racefans.net/2012/09/24/2012-singapore-grand-prix-driver-weekend/comment-page-3/#comment-1070227

      1. It was not my intention to offend anybody , especially you Keith. I really like you and respect you and most of the time i have the same opinion like you.
        Υour site is the best for F1 and surely surpasses the borders of UK. Probably if a was British i would support a British driver and so on … this is Ok by me ..
        But ass your statistics show the majority here are British (33%) in contrast to Germans 2% and Spaniard 2% etc. This is due to the origin of the site (language) and in smaller part because F1 is most popular in UK then anywhere else in the world.
        By taking this thinks into account my opinion is that this numbers don’t show the real picture (at least not for some drivers like Vettel ).

        1. @cosmas No offence taken. But if you want to judge whether the voting is affected by who people support, it makes more sense to use the data on who people support rather than make assumptions based on their nationality:

          https://www.racefans.net/2012/05/21/button-1000-fans-f1-fantic/

    2. Cruising, Hamilton??

      He not only had pole position by a margin, he had the the second best time as well, clearly the best driver of the weekend until the gear failed, which it what this is about.

      And I’m not British

      1. And I suspect there are many other non-British fans like me very often supporting Lewis and Button (the former for me) but how many British fans support someone other than those two, which could swing the polls and general support on the site.
        Hard to tell, but if some one is not happy they may as well choose not to participate.

      2. If you abuse your equipment then the possibility of a failure will go up. Like a gear failure.

    3. So just because he retired in 1/3 of the race, you’re not allowed to evaluate his performance over the weekend? after what number of laps do you draw the line? in qualy he was evenly matched by vettel up to q2 and beat him when it mattered. he also outqualified his team mate by 6 tenths of a second. and in his 23 laps of the gp, he always maintaned a gap to the ones behind him. he was absolutely on form this weekend and the race win would have most likely gone to him. im not saying everyone should vote for him, but he is obviously among the top 2 candidates, and rightly so!

      1. He failed to beat him when it mattered… IN THE RACE.
        Not only this, but now Ham has taken a major blow in that his WDC hopes are dashed.

    4. I’m not really a fan of Hamilton, but I still considered him as one of the top contenders for driver of the weekend. He produced the outstanding performance in qualifying. He was also doing exactly what his team asked of him in the race. Even if he and Vettel were both on the same number of stops, he would have had a good chance of holding on for the victory given the difficulty of overtaking on that circuit.

      I don’t agree he is “obviously among the top 2” because I actually think Button was doing better in the race and the likes of Di Resta, Alonso and Maldonado who drove competently lower down the field should get a look-in. But he drove well – as well as anyone else, if you ask me. What did he do wrong?

      1. Part of the fact remains (as Costas pointed out) that Vettel did the exact same thing last year as Hamilton would have in this race and Button did in Belgian GP, which is winning pole in a superior car and then cruising to a victory (Ham said he was conserving tyres after the race). And yet Vettel gets shunned last year and But and Ham get the votes this time.

        I think this has little to do with nationality being favoured and more in Vettel being ignored time and time again.

  47. Hamilton, Vettel and di Resta all very good weekends. I think Hamilton had Vettel just about covered so I’ll give the DoTW to Vettel, because its about time he got one and he won from off the front row and made important and decisive passes after his first stop, both of which people have claimed he can’t do.
    Congrats to Glock too on an excellent result for Marussia

  48. I’m going with Lewis. He had everything under control and was cruising from early on. A cruel mechanical failure robbed him of a victory. Mechanicals have been more common this year, but this one may have robbed the championship of a really good fight down to the last race.

    1. remember Vettel after Korea 2010, its far from over.

  49. hard decision this, but in the end i went for timo. sure, quali was situation normal, however the job he did to get the marussia ahead of the caterhams etc and to get marussia their best result so far was worth more than just a mention in dispatches.
    a close second was vergne, simply because of his pragmatic reaction to being unceremoniously punted off by schumacher ;-)
    ham did a very good job, but was let down by a failure that may or may not have been influenced by the brush with the wall at the end of q3.

  50. I voted for Felipe. Because he reminded me of why he’s still my favourite driver, why I still support him as I do despite he lacks the pace he used to have, despite there are other drivers who might be doing a much better job, in Singapore as well. Felipe never gives up, no matter what happens, not even if he gets a puncture on the first lap and finds himself 80 seconds away after one lap when he knows he has been unhappy with the car all weekend. He keeps fighting even though he knows it will take a miracle to get him points. I can’t imagine Hamilton doing the same, at least not without fist asking the team to retire the car to save it for the rest of the season. Schumacher too has proven some lack of that spirit, by his comments in 2009 that Ferrari should’ve given up the season after Barcelona. Alonso on the other hand is another true fighter, just remember Sepang 2010 when he had to improvise in every single corner, when he was unlucky not to get anything for that.

    After the first lap incident where he was hit by Petrov, Felipe was indeed very lucky with the two safety car periods, but even so it only placed him 10th. But he kept on fighting. Back in the days when Felipe still had the pace, in 2007 and 2008, he was heavily critisized for being a coward unable to make good hairy overtaking moves, something he had proven twice in 2007 already with strong fightbacks in Albert Park and Silverstone. His battle with Kubica on Fuji the same year, and his double overtake in Canada 2008 were just some of his great moves. But nothing comes close to the scary move he made on Senna this race, even if he wasn’t brave by trying the move. Senna shut him into the wall and Felipe proved some great car control to survive it. And I was also very happy to see the way he challenged Ricciardo corner after corner, trying to get the traction at the exits all the time and in the end making the move stick. Yes I know, he was on much better tyres than Ricciardo, but Webber failed to do the same in the end of the race.

    Ok so Felipe might not have been the best, cleanest, most efficient driver of the weekend, his qualyfying performance wasn’t great. He might not win this voting, and he might not deserve to, but I can’t vote for anyone else. Because Felipe never gave up and he got 4 points for it in the end. He might not be in Formula 1 next year, but if he won’t, at least he showed today that he still has it.

    1. Not a Massa fan, but he got my vote this weekend. There were lots of great drives in Singapore but I was impressed by Massa coming from dead last and still scoring points. The overtake of Senna showed me that Massa was driving like a man possessed… great stuff.

  51. Tough one this week. To be honest, no one really excelled I don’t think. I gave my vote to Massa though. He recovered from a puncture and managed to finish in the top 10, albeit aided by a Safety Car or too.

  52. That’s gotta be Tim O’Glock, my favourite Irish race driver.

  53. This was a tough decision for me as although a few drivers had good weekends none stood out clearly above the rest for me.

    Hamilton put in a couple of great laps in qualifying to seal pole and looked to be controlling the race and set for another victory until his car let him down, unless there is some serious bad luck for Alonso and Vettel I think this will be Hamilton’s Championship over.

    Maldonado showed his speed again in qualifying to start second and managed to keep out of trouble all weekend, but like Hamilton unfortunately his car let him down in the race.

    Vettel looked quick in free practice but couldn’t put the lap in when it counted in qualifying, but he had a good race and was able to benefit from Hamilton’s retirement to claim the victory.

    Alonso yet again managed to score a podium despite not having the quickest car.

    Di Resta had a good qualifying and managed to achieve his best result in the race with fourth.

    Glock has gone well at Singapore in the past and did so again finishing 12th to give Marussia it’s best result and move them up to 10th in the Championship.

    In the end I decided to vote for Glock with di Resta second.

  54. Funny that someone actually voted for Schumi…. His race reminded me of some news about a senior citizen driving his car through someone’s living room because he hit the gas thinking it was the brake pedal…

  55. For me it was Lewis Hamilton. Fantastic first lap in Q3 and great stuff in the race. Very disappointed to see him retire and maybe lose his chance of the championship but he was on top form. If McLaren can sort out their reliability then they are a force to be reckoned with. They could and should have had 4 wins on the trott now.

  56. Timo Glock has been massively overlooked here, through no fault of his own. Because he’s in a lower team FOM give them less screen time as they’re involved in less action, because what is happening at the front, in all fairness, more interesting. Furthermore, he’s in a lower team, so get’s overlooked anyway.

  57. Looks like we would have to decide the winner by a coin toss

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