Lewis Hamilton picked up his second Driver of the Weekend win following his victory and titanic battle with team mate Nico Rosberg in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Hamilton received 49.2% of the vote to top the poll ahead of Sergio Perez, who scored his first podium for Force India in only his third race with the team after a series of overtakes on the exit of turn four.
Meanwhile Daniel Ricciardo – who just missed out on stealing the final podium spot from Perez on the last lap – was voted in the top three for the second time this season after his comeback drive from thirteenth on the grid to fourth.
1. Lewis Hamilton
Started: 2nd
Finished: 1st
After topping all three practice sessions it looked silly to bet against anyone other than Hamilton for pole position. However a slow first run and a mistake on his second meant he was denied the top spot by teammate Rosberg.
He quickly made amends by taking the lead in the first corner and proceeded to attempt to open a gap over his team mate, although Rosberg refused to give in. On lap 17 Rosberg made his move and the two engaged in battle, although Hamilton fought back. Rosberg tried again the following lap and succeeded, but Hamilton got a better exit from turn four and swept in front into turn five to ensure he could pit first at the end of the lap.
On a quicker tyre than his team mate Hamilton then set about building a gap, knowing Rosberg would have the advantage in the final stint. The safety car eradicated this however and Hamilton was then left to defend from Rosberg for eleven laps on the slower tyre. Rosberg fought hard but Hamilton used all his karting knowledge to keep in front, and claim possibly the hardest-fought win of his career.
Hamilton has to be my pick for Driver of the Weekend.
Had he fended off Rosberg with soft tyres it would be a different story, but handling his teammate while using primes in spite of two DRS zones was simply astonishing. I thought he was dead in the water once the Safety Car came out. It was a world class drive, especially how he reclaimed the lead exiting turn one so many times.
Brian (@Bforth)
For some reason (probably set up, but we’ll never know), Rosberg had a faster car than Hamilton, but Hamilton showed real grit to keep the lead just before his first stop.
Then quite how he kept Rosberg behind him in the race was pure genius. OK, he made a mistake when it counted in qualifying, but in every other aspect of the weekend he was the best driver in my opinion!
@GeordiePorker
I went with Hamilton. He’s known as a great attacking driver, but little is said of his defensive ability. So it was nice to see it on display this weekend.
Neil (@Neilosjames)
2. Sergio Perez
Started: 4th
Finished: 3rd
After a torrid and unlucky first two races, Perez needed a clean and strong weekend in Bahrain. Out-qualifying highly rated teammate Nico Hulkenberg on Saturday was a good way to start as he put himself fourth on the grid following Ricciardo’s penalty.
Perez came alive in the opening stint as the Williams’ pair’s tyres began to degrade and he proceeded to pull some impressive overtakes on the exit of turn four with his superior grip. A move on his team mate exiting turn four – after Hulkenberg had been somewhat blocked by Felipe Massa – signaled a sign of intent and Perez held on from Daniel Ricciardo after the safety car despite being on slower and more worn tyres.
Hamilton and Rosberg’s battle was epic, but Rosberg should have been able to get past him on softer tires and Hamilton shouldn’t have goofed on his qualifying run on Saturday so that takes them out of the Running for me.
Perez got the best he could possibly get from his car.
@Lancer033
I voted for Perez. He outqualified and outraced Hulkenberg, which is no mean feat, and in doing so he really needed to ring the neck of that car. Qualifying has never been Perez’s strongest attribute so to put a Force India on the second row was a terrific effort, and then to top it off with only their second podium.
Deej92 (@deej92)
3. Daniel Ricciardo
Started: 13th
Finished: 4th
After practice had been more or less dominated by Mercedes powered cars it was somewhat of a surprise to see Ricciardo pop into third during qualifying, the closest challenger to the two Mercedes works cars.
His penalty from Malaysia dropped him to thirteenth but Ricciardo put in a storming drive to finish fourth, even daring to ask that teammate Sebastian Vettel let him through.
Went for Ricciardo. Excellent qualifying, undone by the grid penalty unrelated to this weekend, which meant that he had the rare chance to have a good qualifying and come through the field. Outraced Vettel, which is a good achievement (even though Vettel had DRS and MGU-H problems which may have made Ricciardo look slightly better than he really was).
@Mike-Dee
2014 Driver of the Weekend results
Race | First | Second | Third |
---|---|---|---|
Australian | Kevin Magnussen (48.38%) | Valtteri Bottas (24.49%) | Daniel Ricciardo (14.05%) |
Malaysian | Lewis Hamilton (54.3%) | Nico Hulkenberg (24.0%) | Sebastian Vettel (6.5%) |
Bahrain | Lewis Hamilton (49.2%) | Sergio Perez (25.7%) | Daniel Ricciardo (16.6%) |
2014 Bahrain Grand Prix
- Hamilton wins Driver of the Weekend again
- Thrilling Bahrain GP gets best rating since 2012 finale
- 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix
- 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend in Tweets
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
frood19 (@frood19)
13th April 2014, 14:26
he may be leading the real championship but no sign of Rosberg yet in the top 3 of this little title fight…
Stefanauss (@stefanauss)
14th April 2014, 12:25
It also happened to Vettel more often than not in the last few years.
Rem
15th April 2014, 18:05
Don’t forget, Rosbberg only won the first face due to Hamiltons cars “Break Down”.
medman (@medman)
13th April 2014, 15:10
Yes. Hamilton hands down. It really was a great race, with suspense and chaos thrown in with Maldonado being Maldonado and bringing out the safety car.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
13th April 2014, 15:42
This is one where I didn’t think he deserved it. Sure, his last stint was terrific, but he failed the test of qualifying.
Perez would have been more worthy, but he in turn I think less than Ricciardo. That was a truly excellent performance – qualifying third, only to overcome the adversity of a grid penalty (which he attained through no fault of his own) to very nearly finish on the podium again. Ahead of none other than Sebastian Vettel, who although had car problems never really looked as stellar as Daniel the entire weekend. It’s a track which does appear to really play to his strengths.
Dom (@3dom)
13th April 2014, 22:41
“This is one where I didn’t think he deserved it. Sure, his last stint was terrific, but he failed the test of qualifying.”
Have to disagree with you there @vettel1
There are few drivers that would have managed to hold nico off in the way that he did, his car position in was truly spot on. Perfect defence both on laps 17 & 18, and for 10 laps at the end of the race. Hamilton’s skill in defence completely nullified a couple of small mistakes in qualifying.
No doubt Perez and Ricciardo both drove superbly last weekend, but what Hamilton did was exceptional, and in my view any of the top drivers in any era would have been proud of that performance, so it was a no brainer for me to vote for him.
xfactor
14th April 2014, 3:14
It could well be that Nico isn’t very good at overtaking…
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
14th April 2014, 19:57
@3dom to be fair, I would rate his race performance higher if his margin was emphatic prior to the safety car – in other words if he “Vettel’d it”. Rosberg was on a strategy which should in theory have brought him into contention for the win without the need for the safety car interruption.
No doubt it was a masterclass in defensive driving, but nor did Rosberg look particularly imaginative in attacking.
So, considering the weekend as a whole, I still feel Ricciardo’s performance was more admirable.
Theo Parkinson (@theo-hrp)
13th April 2014, 15:43
So if theirs a championship with points 3,2,1 then we have:
1) Hamilton 6
2) Magnussen 3
3) Perez 2
4) Bottas 2
5) Hulkenberg 2
6) Ricciardo 2
7) Vettel 1
No real championship leader Rosberg suprisingly
Theo Parkinson (@theo-hrp)
13th April 2014, 15:43
* there’s
Samuel Tatipamula (@samueliitg)
15th April 2014, 11:00
Hey look.. a grammar nazi..
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
13th April 2014, 15:51
From that, I would move down Magnussen and Perez, promote Hülkenberg, leave Bottas and promote Ricciardo as a form guide. Obviously also Rosberg would be included as well.
Andy (@andycz)
13th April 2014, 16:30
Well.. If Hamilton wins – he’s first. If Rosberg – he’s nowhere… :-/
Neil (@neilosjames)
13th April 2014, 16:52
I think if Rosberg had driven Hamilton’s race in either Malaysia or Bahrain, he’d have won DoTD.
Sven (@crammond)
13th April 2014, 16:54
Rosberg only won when Ham was out ^^
What´s more surprising is the comparison to Vettel-wins in earlier seasons. How come allowing Rosberg to close up and fight is rated higher than being miles ahead of Webber? Do people rate Rosberg so high or Webber so low? I allways thought they were pretty similar in strength.
Imre (@f1mre)
13th April 2014, 18:58
British site… Hamilton winning by 17 seconds or just 1? Who cares, DOTW.
Tango (@tango)
14th April 2014, 8:29
Every time I see such comment I really want to yell nonsense ! Keith pulished stats about site users a while ago, and if I’m correct, English IPs were less than a third of total traffic. I’m sure had Rosberg won in Malaysia emphaticaaly, he would have been DotW
davey (@djdaveyp87)
14th April 2014, 13:36
Gotta love the Xenophobia
bosyber (@bosyber)
13th April 2014, 19:19
I used to rate Webber pretty high @crammond, @f1mre (I am Dutch by the way, not from UK), and in a way still do, but as the years went by, it became clear he was no match for Vettel on a regular basis, for whatever reason. I just stopped expecting him to be a real challenge for his team mate.
Rosberg, I think we had to conclude since last season, is really very fast, and methodical, that is why he won more races last year than Hamilton (yes, and perhaps less ‘unlucky’ than either Webber or Hamilton). Looking at the years with Schumacher I now think the cars really were bad at being set up, and Schumacher actually did pretty well, but Rosberg edged him out by being younger, and more hungry for success.
Also, we never saw a fight like in Bahrain between the two RBR drivers, their on track youstling never lasted long, partly due to the team not trusting the drivers to stay out of each others wheels ever since that Turkey clash.
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
13th April 2014, 22:02
Err…NO. The reason was Lewis’s delamination in Silverstone whilst in the lead.
Nick (@nick101)
14th April 2014, 8:48
Err…I suppose we’ll just forget Rosbergs 3 mechanical retirements to Hamiltons 1 will we?
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
14th April 2014, 19:59
@kbdavies is right. Hamilton would have won more races – or at least have been tied, as there was a chance of Vettel winning had he not had a gearbox failure (if we are taking that as not being an inevitability).
Kingshark (@kingshark)
13th April 2014, 21:54
@crammond
Rosberg is more consistently fast and has far less boogie circuits than Webber did. Also, Rosberg doesn’t make as many mistakes as Webber did either. I’d say that in his current form Rosberg is heads and shoulders above what Webber was as a driver.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
14th April 2014, 19:58
@kingshark how I interpret it is that Webber of 2010 is a match for current Rosberg. But not Webber of 2013 – he seemed to have accepted his position in Vettel’s shadow on a lot of occasions.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
15th April 2014, 0:58
@vettel1
Perhaps
If Rosberg can challenge Hamilton this year on merit alone this season without the need to rely on Lewis’s misfortunes, then I believe he is above Webber in 2010.
Webber was good in 2010 but he relied a lot of Vettel’s bad luck to bring the title challenge as far as he did.
matt
13th April 2014, 17:44
didnt lewis have a brake leak in bahrain quali,which caused him to lockup…….anyhow,yeah i think lewis deserves this one.well done to perez tho.he did a good job also.
Mads (@mads)
13th April 2014, 19:09
I heard that as well. Don’t remember where though.
I am still wondering how on earth a brake leakage could cause a lockup. If anything, I would think that he would loose breaking power and thus be unable to stop, rather then locking up. Seems weird to me anyway..
bosyber (@bosyber)
13th April 2014, 19:21
@mads, matt, maybe he felt (knew) he had a leak, so applied more force to the breaks than normal, which was then too much and caused a lock-up? That’s about the best I can think of. I think Hamilton mentioned to Sky after the race that he had his breaks repaired after qualifying.
Deej92 (@deej92)
13th April 2014, 18:21
A spelling mistake by myself – it should be *wring the neck of that car!
ciprian (@ciprian)
13th April 2014, 18:33
He deserve it. But ‘nobody’ remark Sergio Perez performance.
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
14th April 2014, 2:43
In my humble dutch opinion, Hamilton will always have the upper hand over Rosberg. My favorite team is Williams though I am not a Massa fan. I think my favorite drivers are Hulkenberg and Ricciardo.
Hamilton is awesome and great to watch.