A strong run to eighth place in the United States Grand Prix earned Valtteri Bottas his first Driver of the Weekend win.
An his impressive qualifying performance and solid race at the Circuit of the Americas saw Bottas scoop over 40% of the vote.
Romain Grosjean was in the top three for the fifth time this season – his third appearance in the last four races – having once again been the only man capable of challenging the Red Bulls.
Meanwhile the unstoppable Sebastian Vettel was voted in the top three for the eighth time in a row and the twelfth time overall this year, following his eighth consecutive victory.
1. Valtteri Bottas
Started: 9th
Finished: 8th
For the second time this season Bottas dragged the Williams into Q3 – just as he did earlier in the season at Canada, albeit on a dry track.
Suspicions he might slip down the runnign order once the race began proved unfounded. A good start moved him past the slow-starting Heikki Kovalainen into eighth.
Bottas continued to surprise by keeping within range of Fernando Alonso during the first stint and holding onto his eighth place until the chequered flag. That secured his first points of the year and the second of the season for Williams.
Bottas without a doubt. Hooked up all weekend except for the errors in Q3. Stunning performance.
Aden (@Blacksimus)
Mine would be Bottas. It was nice to see a ‘Flying Finn’ up front even with Raikkonen being out, especially with the wheel-to wheel-action with Gutierrez through turns two, three and four.
Broc Smith (@Strifeforce)
Bottas gets my vote too ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ throughout qualifying he made me think ?óÔé¼?ôwhere did that come from??óÔé¼?Ø then had a very solid race, on the back of the Alonso group rather than holding up the midfield train, a ballsy pass on Gutierrez and, even better, he did his team-mate?óÔé¼Ôäós head in.
@Tomsk
2. Romain Grosjean
Started: 3rd
Finished: 2nd
Romain Grosjean put in another impressive qualifying performance to be best of the rest behind the Red Bulls.
A strong start then moved him ahead of the slow starting Webber but Vettel covered hid line well meaning Grosjean had to settle for second. Despite the Red Bull of Webber being quicker Grosjean impressively maintained his position to split the constructors champions on the podium.
Grosjean for me. Maximised the potential of the car and resisted the pressure from Webber in a faster Red Bull behind him to finish a well-deserved second.
@MazdaChris
Grosjean, as he again managed to look like the only driver capable of bringing the fight to the Red Bulls. Resisted Webber?óÔé¼Ôäós pressure and all in all, had, once again, the perfect race.
@Tango
3. Sebastian Vettel
Started: 1st
Finished: 1st
With just the final sector to go Vettel had two tenths to make up on Webber to even match his team mate, but impressively stole pole by a tenth. A solid start blocking off Grosjean eliminated his only realistic threat and Vettel cruised to a comfortable eighth straight win.
I voted for Vettel simply because he was supreme all weekend.
@Slr
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%) |
| Monaco Grand Prix | Nico Rosberg (54.3%) | Adrian Sutil (22.2%) | Kimi Raikkonen (9.6%) |
| Canadian Grand Prix | Sebastian Vettel (36.8%) | Fernando Alonso (24.6%) | Jean-Eric Vergne (14.0%) |
| British Grand Prix | Lewis Hamilton (52.5%) | Mark Webber (18.4%) | Fernando Alonso (10.2%) |
| German Grand Prix | Sebastian Vettel (39.2%) | Romain Grosjean (27.6%) | Kimi Raikkonen (15.9%) |
| Hungarian Grand Prix | Lewis Hamilton (63.9%) | Kimi Raikkonen (12.4%) | Romain Grosjean (12.0%) |
| Belgian Grand Prix | Fernando Alonso (39.1%) | Sebastian Vettel (38.5%) | Jenson Button (6.9%) |
| Italian Grand Prix | Nico Hulkenberg (48.4%) | Sebastian Vettel (28.6%) | Fernando Alonso (9.3%) |
| Singapore Grand Prix | Sebastian Vettel (53.9%) | Kimi Raikkonen (25.7%) | Fernando Alonso (12.3%) |
| Korean Grand Prix | Nico Hulkenberg (69.3%) | Sebastian Vettel (14.9%) | Kimi Raikkonen (7.2%) |
| Japanese Grand Prix | Romain Grosjean (58.0%) | Sebastian Vettel (24.5%) | Esteban Gutierrez (6.0%) |
| Indian Grand Prix | Sebastian Vettel (45.0%) | Romain Grosjean (42.4%) | Sergio Perez (6.2%) |
| Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Sebastian Vettel (53.0%) | Paul di Resta (9.6%) | Fernando Alonso (8.4%) |
| United States Grand Prix | Valtteri Bottas (41.5%) | Romain Grosjean (27.2%) | Sebastian Vettel (19.0%) |
2013 United States Grand Prix
Image ?é?® Williams/LAT
Ton Kunnen (@tonnie073)
1st December 2013, 11:43
So only the British grand Prix didn’t see the winner in the top 3? Interesting
Canderous (@yoshif8tures)
1st December 2013, 11:54
Well Rosberg basically inherited the win there.
Mashiat (@)
1st December 2013, 12:03
What about Korea and the US?
Mashiat (@)
1st December 2013, 12:04
And Italy
PhilEReid (@philereid)
1st December 2013, 12:20
@mashiat
Korea: Vettel 2nd
US: Vettel 3rd
Italy: Vettel 2nd.
Mashiat (@)
1st December 2013, 12:50
Sorry I misunderstood. I thought he was refering to the winner of the poll not being in the podium positions in the race.
WilliamB (@william-brierty)
1st December 2013, 11:59
And rightfully so. For me, I see nothing but a class act in Bottas, who has managed to be quick, clean and consistent in one of worst cars on the grid. He has beaten Maldonado in qualifying this year, with the Venezuelan driver being nothing if not a qualifying specialist, and that probably should have earned him more kudos than he received due to his lowly position on the grid. I think with his obvious skill, a Mercedes V6 that is set to be the best on the grid and a revitalized technical team at Williams, I think we’re looking at a regular top ten finisher in Bottas next year. Massa is going to struggle to get close to him too…
bull mello (@bullmello)
1st December 2013, 17:31
@william-brierty – Totally agree and really like his style. Williams has been rightfully rewarded for adding a talented driver like Bottas. Team fortunes are cyclical and Williams will not be down forever. 2014 will reshuffle the grid deck and Williams could be moving up again.
WilliamB (@william-brierty)
2nd December 2013, 12:57
@bullmello – Well Williams can’t really move down can they!
Latvian (@latvian)
1st December 2013, 17:22
muhahaha. how can Bottas be better than Vettel? :) looks like a people support underdogs. and they don’t fully appreciate Seb as a modern F1 genius.
bull mello (@bullmello)
1st December 2013, 17:41
@latvian – Vettel is obviously one of the best drivers on the grid. The poll is not stated to be for your choice of best driver on the grid. The Driver Of The Weekend poll can go to a driver who performs in a way throughout the weekend that is unexpected. People expect Vettel to win and he does. It was unexpected that Bottas could make it to Q3 in the Williams and then hold and improve his position during the race.
Latvian (@latvian)
1st December 2013, 18:03
so Vettel have to lap everybody to do something unexpected and win this pool?
petebaldwin (@)
1st December 2013, 19:08
@latvian – DOTW is for whoever put in the most impressive performance over the weekend. Finishing in a decent position in a rubbish car is more impressive than winning in a car that is a second a lap faster than the rest.
Jelle van der Meer (@)
1st December 2013, 20:37
Interesting argument, guess how that car becomes so fast while his teammate is usually 0.5 second behind.
Vettel achieved 8 wins in a row, a feature that not even MSC achieved despite his Ferrari being 2-3 seconds per lap faster than the rest.
The problem on this forum is that people credit the Red Bull car more than its driver Vettel, sad really that Vettel only ranks 3rd in this DotW despite excluding 2 laps a grand chalem.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
1st December 2013, 20:50
@jelle-van-der-meer
But this wasn’t a poll on how he did in the preceding seven races.
@HoHum (@hohum)
1st December 2013, 20:08
@keithcollantine, I object, there was nothing wrong with Webbers start at Austin until his team mate left the racing line to box him in and put GRO and HAM between them.
Alexander (@)
1st December 2013, 22:00
Yeah, Lotus chose the wrong Williams driver…
Erivaldo moreira (@erivaldonin)
1st December 2013, 23:41
Interesting: Bottas secured his first points of career ending
in 8th place in the United States just as Vettel.