Third win, second Driver of the Weekend for Ricciardo

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo earned his second Driver of the Weekend win after claiming an unlikely victory in the Belgian Grand Prix.

Taking 44.4% of the vote Ricciardo topped the poll comfortably ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, after the Ferrari driver took a season-best of fourth at Spa-Francorchamps.

Valtteri Bottas, who passed Raikkonen for third place in the closing stages of the race, made his fifth appearance in the top three of the vote this season.

1. Daniel Ricciardo

Started: 5th
Finished: 1st

Despite having the upper hand with more practice time Ricciardo couldn’t get the best from his car during the tricky qualifying conditions, and ultimately ended up only fifth with his team mate third, best of the rest behind the Mercedes cars.

Come the race though it was Vettel who struggled – a mistake at Pouhon allowed Ricciardo through into second, and he never looked back. As the two Mercedes’ were cleared from his path by their collision, Red Bull refused to be drawn into strategy games and stuck to their two stop plan.

Ricciardo executed this to perfection, timing his laps perfectly to hold off the charging and recovering Nico Rosberg to take his third win of the season.

Once again he was the one who capitalised when Mercedes dropped the ball.

Relatively unspectacular in practice and qualifying, and his Q3 mistake arguably cost him third on the grid but his sublime race outshone everyone else by a mile.
Lewis McMurray (@celicadion23)

Ricciardo – patient, faultless driving on Sunday, rather rugged on Saturday.
Atticus (@Atticus-2)

Ricciardo is getting every superlative thrown at him but the sum of his race was inheriting positions. No harm in that but nor does it really qualify him in my opinion.
Bobby (@F1bobby)

2. Kimi Raikkonen

Started: 8th
Finished: 4th

All Raikkonen’s been claiming he needs all season is a clean weekend, and Belgium – arguably his best circuit – finally produced that. He was closer than usual to Fernando Alonso in qualifying and made it count in the early part of the race, using his newfound pace.

Ferrari opted for an aggressive two-stop strategy with an early first stop, and Raikkonen reaped the rewards come the race end. He used the strategy to good effect – running quickly while in clean air – and claimed his highest finish of the season so far, only just being beaten to the podium in the final five laps.

Raikkonen. He weighed up in a race for the first time this year.
JayfreeseKnight (@jeff1s)

Went for Raikkonen too, but it was a close call between him and Magnussen.

Was fast in Q1 and Q2 despite having missed some of the practice running and made an aggressive two-stop strategy work, nursing the tyres (it reminded me a bit of his Australia 2013 race). For the first time of the year, he didn’t look slower than his team mate.
Patrick (@Paeschli)

3. Valtteri Bottas

Started: 6th
Finished: 3rd

During practice it looked as though Williams would once more be able to take the fight to Mercedes in qualifying, but the rain – a nemesis for Williams this season – but paid to that hope. Bottas had to settle for sixth on the grid but he made up the important ground early on, passing Alonso on lap eight.

During the second stint took advantage of Rosberg’s delay behind Sebastian Vettel to temporarily move ahead of the Mercedes. Although Rosberg later got back ahead, Bottas was able to use the straight-line speed of his Williams to power past Vettel and Raikkonen to take his fourth podium of the season.

Bottas is the only choice for me. The only one who got the maximum out of his package over both qualifying and the race. Some say qualifying sixth was poor but they forget that the Williams always is less competitive in the wet, and he was faster than his team-mate too. Something Ricciardo hasn’t managed to do. In the race Bottas did all the overtaking required to get the maximum result possible without any mistakes whatsoever.
@Montreal95

2014 Driver of the Weekend results

RaceFirstSecondThird
AustralianKevin Magnussen (48.4%)Valtteri Bottas (24.5%)Daniel Ricciardo (14.1%)
MalaysianLewis Hamilton (54.3%)Nico Hulkenberg (24.0%)Sebastian Vettel (6.5%)
BahrainLewis Hamilton (49.2%)Sergio Perez (25.7%)Daniel Ricciardo (16.6%)
ChinaFernando Alonso (47.7%)Lewis Hamilton (30.7%)Daniel Ricciardo (7.8%)
SpainSebastian Vettel (51.9%)Lewis Hamilton (20.5%)Romain Grosjean (11.0%)
MonacoJules Bianchi (60.2%)Nico Rosberg (11.5%)Daniel Ricciardo (8.8%)
CanadaDaniel Ricciardo (44.9%)Nico Rosberg (22.4%)Sergio Perez (9.5%)
AustriaValtteri Bottas (41.7%)Lewis Hamilton (15.1%)Sergio Perez (14.3%)
BritainValtteri Bottas (52.5%)Fernando Alonso (18.5%)Jenson Button (11.8%)
GermanyValtteri Bottas (37.1%)Lewis Hamilton (33.8%)Daniel Ricciardo (10.4%)
HungaryFernando Alonso (40.2%)Lewis Hamilton (29.3%)Daniel Ricciardo (25.1%)
BelgiumDaniel Ricciardo (44.4%)Kimi Raikkonen (17.0%)Valtteri Bottas (12.2%)

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

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Image © Red Bull/Getty

29 comments on “Third win, second Driver of the Weekend for Ricciardo”

  1. Riccardo has been in the top three 2/3s of the time.. More than anyone else.

  2. Formula Indonesia (@)
    2nd September 2014, 12:19

    interestingly, Alonso who ranked 2nd on Driver ranking, got only 2 DOTW win and a second place DOTW, while Bottas who ranked 5th got 3 DOTW win and a third place, and Hamilton ranked 3rd, got 2 DOTW win and 5 second place DOTW. well Ricciardo Deserved to be DOTW leader and got a 1st ranking in half term season, he won only 2 DOTW but had another 6 top 3 DOTW.

    1. Formula Indonesia (@)
      2nd September 2014, 12:22

      Rosberg also only got top 3 DOTW 2 times, while Perez has got Top 3 DOTW 3 times, interestingly, Hulkenberg hasn’t got yet

      1. Formula Indonesia (@)
        2nd September 2014, 13:28

        I mean Hulkenberg only got 1

  3. I only realise now how often Bottas (5x) and Ricciardo (8x) ended up in our top 3.

    More than Raikkonen (1x), Vettel/Rosberg (2x) and even Alonso (3x), and those are no slouches!

    1. expectations factor in. If Alonso drags his dog up to 4th or 5th that was a good drive for him but he doesn’t have chance to get voted as the DOTW.

      Whereas RIC and BOT are fresh new faces so if they do well it’s more eye catching.

      Might not be fair completely but yeah.

      As for Rosberg, I think he should have won atleast 1 or 2 times tbh. That might be more a favoritism case since he ain’t that popular among fans in general amd British ones in particular.

    2. For me that means more people value a performance based on car and driver more than the effective place in which that particular driver finished.

  4. Odd that on both of Ricciardo’s DOTW wins he was out qualified by his team mate.

  5. The Smiling Assassin does it again,

    rolled the dice and had enough aces to win,

    controlled drive by Dan, could have pushed to hard and melted the Pirellis but stuck to his target time and threw in a PB on his last lap.

    Great Stuff

  6. I think its a good call and personally I think Daniel and Bottas have been the best drivers of the year.
    You cant take away from the Mercs up front but both have made mistakes and for Dan to be that close to Hamilton is a great effort, as is Bottas to pop up each weekend on the podium.

    We all know Seb has had some bad luck, so even as an Australian and long time fan of Dan (before he was in F1) I don’t think we are all being silly and claiming he is better than Seb, but too his credit he has overtaken his teammate a lot more than Rosberg has manage so far.

    1. @ayrtonfan12 You are being a little silly. Dan is very good but the arc in F1 is long. Let’s check back when Dan has 4 WDCs, 39 wins, 4 grand chelems, 45 pole positions, and so forth. And remember there is only a 2 year difference in age.

      What is nice about the two is that there has been no drama between them; they have been good sportsmen all around. Unlike some others…..

    2. @ayrtonfan12; It still baffles me how people claim Dan is better than Seb. He’s having a good year whilst the other one one of his worst. I don’t remember any of Dan his races in a Toro Rosso as a really spectacular one either.

      I think he is doing a very good job but people want to see Vettel down so badly they give him to much credit for what he has done. I highly doubt Dan would stand a chance in any of the ’09-’13 cars versus Vettel. I don’t rule out the possibility Dan is better but to claim that now at this point in the season, rubbish.

      1. Dennis the menace (@)
        3rd September 2014, 5:42

        “I don’t think we are all being silly and claiming he is better than Seb, but too his credit he has overtaken his teammate a lot more than Rosberg has manage so far.”

        Perhaps you guys should read what @ayrtonfan12 actually wrote.
        My 2 cents worth: On this years results Dan is doing better than Seb. Seb even admits it. He would be delusional if he didn’t. There is no other reliable comparison other than to compare 2 drivers in the same team. Of course some may ‘highly doubt’ an ‘if’ scenario of an imagined comparison but lets keep it out of the land of time travel and magic pixies.

      2. @curmudgeon & @PorscheF1

        Yes guys as Dennis the Menace points out my comment was saying we are not claiming he is better than Seb, far from it, just really happy with his efforts so far.

        If you read in my comment “in” rather than “and” I can see your point, but not so. I think Dan will prove to be better than Mark Webber in results in the next two years (and I do realise Mark only had one competitive car in his career) and probably (hopefully) will win a drivers title, but I am under no delusions of grander (unlike a few over our way) that he has the 4 x WDC covered just yet :) My comment was meant to reflect maybe a few Aussies are getting ahead of themselves a bit, that’s all :) But we are very proud of Dan!!!

    3. Is Dan Better than Seb in this season so far , Yes
      Seb is having as much Issues or even worse than what Lewis has so far and that is making his life even more difficult. I doubt Vet will be beaten that easily like now and i also doubt Dan can keep this up when his team mate getting better. who knows what will happen in future we may see Dan beating Seb or Seb getting his touch back and making another Aussie again as his rear gunner
      The only good thing is RBR Lineup is going to be stronger than ever , perhaps the Strongest line up of grid in future

  7. I’m surprised Raikkonen got so many votes, despite finishing in Alonso’s average-ish position. Is it because the rest of the season he’s been a bitter disappointment?

    1. @austus Ya they should call this poll “Driver That Surprised Me The Most This Weekend” or DTSMTMTW for short :)

      1. @twentyseven +1
        or even DTSMTMTWOTOIAVFNHAPTW* to explain the votes some drivers get even when they did not impress during the weekend!

        * Driver That Surprised Me The Most This Weekend Or The One I Always Vote For Notwithstanding His Average Performance This Weekend

    2. Formula Indonesia (@)
      2nd September 2014, 14:22

      Yeah, to be honest Kevin should be 3rd, and Valtteri 2nd

    3. @austus I am surprised he is in 2nd not 3rd but otherwise it isn’t a surprise. To be honest nobody had much to go by with Hamilton (not his fault I know), everybody was annoyed with Rosberg, and rightly so he doesn’t deserve it. Magnussen did not race fairly (or so many think (myself included)), while Button, Alonso, and Vettel did nothing special, nor did anybody below that, so it only leaves Kimi.

  8. Damn, Bottas sure is riding the wave of popularity. He’s ok and he’s been driving his car, but I really haven’t seen something remotely spectacular from him, except his maturity and calm when he defended against Hamilton in Germany.

    Other weekends he was pretty much just driving forward without any kind of memorable pass, pushing or something to really bring the skill to the view.

    And I especially don’t get it how he managed to get 2nd place in Melbourne, since he messed up his race completely. Yes, he did come back through again, but it just shows that he wasted the potential of the fast car.

    Don’t get me wrong, he is definitely doing the job, but it’s just that the circumstances were such, that there was barely any skill on display, besides driving a decently fast car decently fast. Not really what you’d call standout performance.

    1. But you do think it is justified Ricciardo is up there eight (8) times? I think I’m going crazy.

      1. Vettel and Massa are two rather different teammates who serve as measurements for Ricciardo and Bottas, don´t you think? Also, Ricciardo has some more fights (as opposed to DRS-drive-bys) to show for, including passes on the likes of Alonso.
        I´m not quite sure yet wether Bottas is really good, or it´s the car and Massa making him look good. Not saying he isn´t good, just that there´s no way to know yet.

        1. @crammond I agree with Bottas, but I also think we aren’t yet seeing the best of him, which may come in a year or two.

    2. Disagree completely. Bottas has made a huge impression and “rides the wave of popularity” completely on merit. Even in the Australian GP where he made on of his very few mistakes he’s been spectacular overtaking left, right and centre not in DRS zones. In Spa he overtook all of Alonso, Vettel and Kimi on track to get to the podium. Bottas drives a decent-to-good car excellently well and putting his vastly more experienced team-mate in the shade. Maximizing the performance of the car is no mean feat, when so many can’t do it on consistent basis this season including world champions, and should be commended

      “Other weekends he was pretty much just driving forward without any kind of memorable pass, pushing or something to really bring the skill to the view.” This line is completely baffling. Do you know that Bottas leads the passing stats for the season? If you can’t remember any memorable passes of his, the fault is yours not his. Because he certainly made all the passes that were required of him

      And your argument about Melbourne just works against you, as it was one of only 2 occasions this year that Bottas hadn’t maximized the potential of the car(another being Austria). Now tell me the name of the driver who has less such occasions than Bottas, please

    3. Did you miss the epic drive from Bottas in Silverstone? It’s about the same level of epicness that Hamilton showed in Germany and Hungary to come on the podium from all the way back.

      Bottas has been incredibly mature (apart from the race in Australia) all season and shown some magnificent overtaking and defending.

  9. While mercedes-boys fight and argue with each other playing with their silver spoons and their big daddies put them in the corner to calm their infantile demeanor – Dan steals pie from kitchen)))

  10. Standings (4-2-1 system, I would like to see a win being really rewarding :D )

    HAM – 18
    BOT – 15
    RIC – 14
    ALO – 10
    VET – 5
    MAG – 4
    BIA – 4
    ROS – 4
    PER – 4
    RAI – 2
    HUL – 2
    GRO – 1

  11. Well deserved.

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