The Ferrari drivers were voted the best racers of the Spanish Grand Prix by F1 Fanatic readers.
1. Fernando Alonso
Started: 5th
Finished: 1st
A great start to the race helped Fernando Alonso on his way to his second victory of 2013. Although he got off the line well, he wasn’t able to gain any places until he sprang a pass on Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton as they went into turn three.
After that Alonso jumped Sebastian Vettel at the first round of pit stops, and passed Nico Rosberg for the lead. A puncture ahead of his final pit stop failed to put him off his stride.
He took control of his strategy from turn three on lap one when he passed Raikkonen and Hamilton on the outside and just pushed (as much as the tyres allowed him to) until he had built a good gap on Raikkonen. Perfect race, surely.
@Dragon88
Despite being only fifth in qualifying and just pipping his team mate, I have to give this to Alonso. He’s shown once again that talent in F1 can come in many forms, and although he’s not the best qualifier or the most aggressive on track, he knows how to get the most out of himself and the tools at his disposal every time the lights go out.
@Colossal-Squid
Alonso drove a spectacular race. Measured, calm and on the money at all times. He passed when he had to, saved tires when he needed to and put the pedal to the metal when required to. It’s been quite rare over the last couple of years to get a landslide win for the vote, but this week, there can be no other. What really struck me was the confidence Alonso has on the Catalunya track, it’s like he knows every inch and every kerb. The start was especially impressive with those committed passes he made. I’m not a big Alonso fan, but I wonder if I should really been one.
@MahavirShah
2. Felipe Massa
Started: 9th
Finished: 3rd
Felipe Massa would have started alongside his team mate on the third row but he was docked three places for holding Mark Webber up.
He recovered quickly in the race, however, moving past both Red Bulls but was unable to get ahead of Raikkonen to give Ferrari a one-two.
Massa’s performance was great and I still think his penalty was stupid. How could he move in that position? If he had moved to the side, he would have crashed into Webber, so tight is the track. I feel Webber should have driven past him, apparently he wasn’t on a good lap anyway. If it hadn’t been for the penalty he might have won. Great to see Felipe back in form.
Rick (@Viscountviktor)
Fastest in practice and came sixth in Q3. Did remarkably well to come back from ninth on the grid to take 3rd on the podium. Had the impeding incident and the penalty not happened, he would have had the chance to challenge for victory and definitely made a Ferrari one-two.
Valan Sammanasu (@Seahorse)
3. Kimi Raikkonen
Started: 4th
Finished: 2nd
Raikkonen took his fourth podium finish in six races in Spain, but finished behind Alonso who he had started ahead of. He lost time in the middle of the race behind Vettel which kept him from attacking Alonso for the win.
Both him and Alonso were perfect in the race with Raikkonen maybe having to fight a bit more for his position. But what makes the difference for me is that Kimi was also perfect in qualifying and beat his team-mate by a country mile while Alonso was only one thousand of a second faster than Massa in Q3. With the dominant pace the car had he maybe could’ve been higher.
With Raikkonen and Alonso both maximizing their results in the race, qualifying has to be the deciding factor.
@Tmekt
2013 Driver of the Weekend results
Race | First | Second | Third |
---|---|---|---|
Australian Grand Prix | Kimi Raikkonen (51.2%) | Adrian Sutil (17.9%) | Jules Bianchi (13.6%) |
Malaysian Grand Prix | Mark Webber (34.2%) | Sebastian Vettel (17.4%) | Nico Rosberg (13.6%) |
Chinese Grand Prix | Fernando Alonso (47.0%) | Daniel Ricciardo (18.2%) | Kimi Raikkonen (15.6%) |
Bahrain Grand Prix | Sebastian Vettel (32.2%) | Paul di Resta (17.8%) | Fernando Alonso (11.9%) |
Spanish Grand Prix | Fernando Alonso (61.4%) | Felipe Massa (10.8%) | Kimi Raikkonen (10.5%) |
2013 Spanish Grand Prix
- Why the Spanish GP was better in person than on TV
- Ferrari one-two in Spanish GP Driver of the Weekend
- Spanish Grand Prix gets lowest rating of 2013 so far
- 2013 Spanish Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
- Ferrari join Lotus in criticising tyre revisions
Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo
Manished
24th May 2013, 11:37
there were more deciding factors….with Lotus’ pit stops averaging 1.2-1.7 seconds slower, undercut is genuinely impossible. Opting for used options instead of used prime for longer stints etc.
victor (@genevene)
24th May 2013, 11:45
Ferrari ‘s rocket launcher???
tmekt (@tmekt)
24th May 2013, 13:56
I don’t really understand what’s your point…?
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
24th May 2013, 11:47
I think Rosberg’s drive went greatly unrecognised here. Alonso dutifully won – he was sublime except for qualifying – but I really do think Rosberg deserves third more than Räikkönen at least.
BarnstableD (@barnstabled)
24th May 2013, 12:09
Agreed. Excellent in qualifying and I’m sure would have been excellent in the race if his car wasn’t a tyre-hungry monster.
obviously
24th May 2013, 12:12
Maybe he wouldn’t have been so excellent in quali if his car wasn’t a tyre-hungry monster. :)
Joshua Mesh (@joshua-mesh)
24th May 2013, 12:50
+1
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
24th May 2013, 13:04
He was still a good deal faster than Hamilton in qualifying.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
24th May 2013, 12:21
He did really well to hold off Vettel in the first stint and to manage the three stop (keeping a charging, 4-stopping Di Resta behind to boot) and if Hamilton’s performance is any sort of benchmark, he did really well to finish where he did.
Manished
24th May 2013, 14:25
Why Rosberg deserves more than Kimi?
His car is monster on quali and dog in race. He demonstrated that, hardly surprising.
Excellent in quali?? Look at the gap to the rest…..the car was clearly superior while Lewis clearly underperforming. To use lewis as benchmark is beyond laughable.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
24th May 2013, 14:29
Not nearly as laughable as using Grosjean as a benchmark.
Manished
24th May 2013, 15:01
no one is using Grosjean as Benchmark. To get into a tenth of seconds behind Vettel and outqualified both Ferraris and Mark Webber showed how good that lap was driven by Kimi.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
24th May 2013, 17:13
He also ate through many sets of tyres to get there and so probably didn’t maximise his race potential, unlike Rosberg.
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
25th May 2013, 6:59
@vettel1 True. He deserves at least 3rd.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
24th May 2013, 12:41
@tmekt forgive me if I’m mistaken, but didn’t you say on the Bahrain rate the race, after I commented on Kimi’s poor qualifying, that it doesn’t matter on the grand scheme of things?
tmekt (@tmekt)
24th May 2013, 13:50
@vettel1
https://www.racefans.net/2013/04/22/2013-bahrain-grand-prix-driver-weekend/comment-page-2/#comment-1232497
Not from the discussion we had but that was basically how I reasoned it.
I guess you could see that as double standards but as it says it “[didn’t] really affect my voting [that] time“. I couldn’t find big enough differences between Kimi’s and Alonso’s results from the race (which I found between Kimi and Vettel in Bahrain) so I had to look for them from the quali to determine who gets my vote.
I don’t know if that makes sense to you but it does to me :)
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
24th May 2013, 14:00
@tmekt I was just looking for clarification, that’s all, as it could appear as double standards ;)
Atticus (@atticus-2)
24th May 2013, 14:14
Amidst the widespread public upheaval concerning the tyres, I still think the current rules package as a whole seems to reward the best driver on the grid during most weekends, based on the Driver of the Weekend polls: four times out of five races the winner of the Grand Prix received the highest number of votes.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
24th May 2013, 14:30
Rosberg should definitely have been #2 IMO, he was at least second best behind Alonso this weekend. As for Massa and Raikkonen, I’d have them tied in 3rd.
Manished
24th May 2013, 15:05
I struggle to understand how Massa should tied in 3rd with Kimi.
Ferrari got the fastest car in race, at one point Massa was in front of Kimi after Lotus’ slow first stop. He struggled to maintain that and fallen into 3rd.
Ferrari duo had 2 fresh primes while kimi only had one…and have to run one more set of used medium for that reason.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
24th May 2013, 17:14
Why did he have one set less of new tyres? Because he engulfed them in quali to get that high up the grid. However we look at it, I see little reason for him to be rated higher than Rosberg honestly.
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
25th May 2013, 7:10
Had there been an option of selecting top three drivers of the weekend, then I would have chosen the following three in the mentioned order: 1. Alonso, 2. Massa and 3. Rosberg
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
25th May 2013, 7:12
thenCraig Woollard (@craig-o)
24th May 2013, 17:41
Rosberg’s qualifying lap was pretty remarkable, so I think he should be in the top 3 more than Raikkonen. The two Ferrari drivers were both fantastic, but Alonso had the edge over Massa (i.e. that amazing overtake on Lap 1)
Kibblesworth (@kibblesworth)
24th May 2013, 22:42
I forgot to vote, but I think I would have voted for Massa. I always think that driving through a pack to score a podium is highly impressive, even more so on tracks like Barcelona and with a pack as talented as this one. This is made even more impressive considering his poor form in 2012. Massa is back to his best (or near enough) and I wouldn’t be surprised if he won a race or two this season. With Alonso as his teammate, I’d also say that Ferrari have got the best chance at winning the constructors championship this year.
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
25th May 2013, 2:38
It is indeed great to see my comment being part of an article on F1F. Thanks @keithcollantine