Vote for your 2015 Monaco GP Driver of the Weekend

2015 Monaco Grand Prix

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Which F1 driver was the best performer during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend?

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most during the last race weekend.

Monaco Grand Prix driver-by-driver

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton – Led both practice sessions on Thursday. Didn’t seem as settled on Saturday, including in qualifying where he was kept from the top spot in Q1 and Q2. He recovered well, however, chose to be the first Mercedes in the queue following last year’s controversy, and took his first Monaco Grand Prix pole position at his ninth attempt. Led comfortably from the start and was over 19 seconds ahead of Rosberg when the Safety Car came out. Didn’t expect to lose the lead by pitting, but he did, and finished a very frustrated third.

Nico Rosberg – Touched the wall at Tabac during first practice, which seemed to put him off his stride a bit. Said he “went a bit over the limit” in pursuit of a third straight Monaco pole – and the result was second behind Hamilton. He slipped back during the race and was surprised to see the lead fall into his lap at the end. Managed the restart well, and took the victory.

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo – Was “frustrated” after qualifying as a mis-communication over engine settings cost him what he felt should have been third on the grid. He then had to give best to his team mate at turn one and was jumped by Raikkonen during the pit stops. He fought back, however, making the same late switch to another set of super-softs which scuppered Hamilton’s race. He muscled his way past Raikkonen and was waved through by Kvyat, but having been unable to pass Hamilton he then had to let Kvyat back through again.

Daniil Kvyat – Described himself as feeling comfortable at the wheel of the RB11 for a change and qualified fifth behind his team mate. That became fourth at turn one – a position he held at the end for his best F1 finish so far.

Williams

Felipe Massa – Qualified better than Bottas but was crowded out at the start, picked up damage, and never really figured in the race from there.

Valtteri Bottas – Williams had it bad in Monaco but 17th in qualifying for Bottas before penalties was quite a shock. Started on the soft tyres but couldn’t make an alternate strategy yield a points finish.

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel – Quickest in final practice but when Mercedes got their act together in qualifying the full scale of Ferrari’s deficit to the silver cars at this track was revealed. Nonetheless he took third once again, and fought hard to try to separate the Mercedes drivers at the start. He had to settle for third, but stayed close enough to Rosberg to be able to take advantage when it all went wrong for Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen – Hit the barrier in practice, then had another sub-par qualifying session and lined up sixth behind the two Red Bulls. He jumped Ricciardo at the pit stops but was passed by the Red bull after the restart – a move he took serious exception to.

McLaren

Fernando Alonso – His car broke down in Q2 and the race, but in between the two he managed to pick up a penalty for tangling with Hulkenberg at the start.

Jenson Button – Was certain he would have reached Q3 had he not lost time due to yellow flags brought out by Rosberg spinning. He inherited two places to start tenth, and capitalised on retirements ahead of him to finish eighth and deliver McLaren’s first points of the season.

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Force India

Nico Hulkenberg – Knocked into a barrier by Alonso at the start, Hulkenberg had to pit for a new front wing on lap one. Nonetheless his team thought points might be possible until the Safety Car came out.

Sergio Perez – It’s hard to see how he might have improved on seventh in qualifying and the race given that he had three pairs of faster cars – Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull – ahead of him each time.

Toro Rosso

Max Verstappen – Raised eyebrows with the second-fastest time in first practice, then in qualifying was narrowly beaten to eighth place by his team mate and Maldonado. He passed the Lotus driver early in the race, but a slow tyre change spoiled his race. Put an opportunistic pass on Bottas but then collided with Grosjean, incurring a five-place grid penalty for Canada.

Carlos Sainz Jnr – Would have started eighth he had not missed the weigh bridge in qualifying. His team then didn’t take the car for weighing, and the standard penalty of a pit lane start was applied. From there a huge 66-lap stint on soft tyres helped him grab a single point.

Lotus

Romain Grosjean – A five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change left him on the back foot, but he failed to out-qualifying Maldonado for the first time this year. Surprisingly his Lotus withstood the battering it took from Verstappen well enough for him to reach the chequered flag, but the time lost dropped him out of the points.

Pastor Maldonado – Produced his best qualifying performance so far at a track where he usually excels, but retired early on with a braking problem.

Sauber

Marcus Ericsson – An ERS problem confined him to the garage during second practice, but rain meant he wouldn’t have run much anyway. Dropped out in Q1 with his worst qualifying result yet, and made little impression in the race.

Felipe Nasr – Having also gone out in Q1, Nasr did well to salvage points in a car which plainly lacks downforce and development.

Manor

Will Stevens – Damaged his car at the start and had to cope with it until the end. Fell behind Merhi and couldn’t get back ahead.

Roberto Merhi – Crashed during practice but brought his car home ahead of his team mate for the first time, while avoiding a penalty for crossing the pit lane exit line.

Qualifying and race results summary

DriverStartedGap to team mate (Q)Laps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate (R)
Lewis Hamilton1st-0.342s64/7823rd+6.053s
Nico Rosberg2nd+0.342s14/7811st-6.053s
Daniel Ricciardo4th-0.141s13/7825th+1.643s
Daniil Kvyat5th+0.141s65/7814th-1.643s
Felipe Massa12th-0.755s0/77315thNot on same lap
Valtteri Bottas16th+0.755s77/77214thNot on same lap
Sebastian Vettel3rd-0.578s77/7812nd-9.859s
Kimi Raikkonen6th+0.578s1/7816th+9.859s
Fernando Alonso13th+9.539s0/411
Jenson Button10th-9.539s41/4128th
Nico Hulkenberg11th+0.194s0/78211th+11.219s
Sergio Perez7th-0.194s78/7827th-11.219s
Max Verstappen9th+0.026s54/622
Carlos Sainz Jnr20th-0.026s8/62110th
Romain Grosjean15th+0.232s0/5112th
Pastor Maldonado8th-0.232s5/50
Marcus Ericsson17th+0.412s0/78313th+7.533s
Felipe Nasr14th-0.412s78/7829th-7.533s
Will Stevens18th-0.249s23/76117th+3.682s
Roberto Merhi19th+0.249s53/76116th-3.682s

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.

Vote for the best driver of the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix weekend

  • Roberto Merhi (0%)
  • Will Stevens (0%)
  • Felipe Nasr (1%)
  • Marcus Ericsson (0%)
  • Pastor Maldonado (0%)
  • Romain Grosjean (0%)
  • Carlos Sainz Jnr (7%)
  • Max Verstappen (13%)
  • Sergio Perez (13%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
  • Jenson Button (7%)
  • Fernando Alonso (0%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (0%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (11%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
  • Felipe Massa (0%)
  • Daniil Kvyat (6%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (1%)
  • Nico Rosberg (2%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (37%)

Total Voters: 679

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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179 comments on “Vote for your 2015 Monaco GP Driver of the Weekend”

  1. went with perez. had a great weekend and completely smashed hulkenberg.

    1. @rigi
      Yeah, I was going to go with Vettel for pressuring Rosberg all race but then I remembered Perez’s excellent qualifying so went with him instead. He hasn’t had the best luck at this track, so he deserves it.

    2. I voted Verstappen, because he showed great pace and nice overtaking. And he was involved in giving the race an unexpected end @rigi!

      But Perez really deserves it, qualified the FI way up the grid and confirmed that pace on Sunday.

    3. Wasn’t it Alonso who smashed Hulk?!
      Verstappen was most entertaining but I’ll go for Perez too. He punched above his weight all weekend – it was just a pity there was no final run in qualifying. And Nasr did well in his first Monaco GP: good start, stayed out of trouble and scored some points.

      1. +1 Perez deserves it. Great performance in both quali and race with a dog of a car. Honourable mention to Sainz for getting the point from the pit lane at the worst place to do it.

    4. After crashing out in the last two Monaco GPs, it was impressive weekend for him this year.

  2. Hamilton deserves it for sure. He did everything right. So did Vettel.

    One other person though gets it from me. After outqualifying his teammate to take eight he got sent to the pits because of a stupid light. Even from then on he made not one mistake to clinch the last point. That’s why Sainz is my driver of the weekend.

    It would have been Verstappen had he not crashed into Grosjean.

    1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
      25th May 2015, 22:45

      Hamilton decided to pit, he did not do everything right!

      1. Wrong. The team told him to pit. If you know more about what happened than Toto, then you should be making a lot more money and be on the pit wall.

        1. Hamilton clearly was part of it, had he not asked his team for the stop after seeing the guys out and mistakenly thinking Nico and Vettel had pitted, they probably wouldn’t even have considered bringing him in @daved. Sure, then the team messed up by not seeing that there was not enough time. But Hamilton was involved too.

          1. haaahhaahhaaaa:) the funniest thing I have read in a while:) please watch football buddy:)

        2. I originally thought the same but…

          “The team said to stay out,” Hamilton explained, “I said ‘these tyres are going to drop in temperature,’ and what I was assuming was that these guys [Rosberg and Vettel] would be on [super-softs] and I was on the harder tyre. So, they said to pit.”

  3. Verstappen was the driver of the weekend in Monaco until the breaktest from Grosjean!

    1. @Ray Bras

      Grosjean braked 5 metres later on the lap Verstappen hit him, according to the telemetry.

      1. @paulguitar That doesn’t mean that Grosjean didn’t change trajectory awfully late. I voted Verstappen for DotW because the FIA penalized a driver for driving…

        1. @peartree

          Before the crash, he was certainly great to watch……:)

          1. @paulguitar I also enjoyed the aftermath seeing Max getting out of the car slowly after his drinks bottle exploded on his lap.

      2. I’d like to know where he lifted though. He was awfully slow.

        1. He has also hit another Lotus earlier in the race so he clearly can’t judge what’s happening in front of him. Ver karting-like incidents.

      3. Where can i find this link?Thanks

  4. ColdFly F1 (@)
    25th May 2015, 12:25

    Like Spain no real stand-out. Good driving from many, but equally various misses by many.
    Therefore I went for the guy who made this a a less boring weekend: Max!
    Great FP1 for the Monaco Rookie.
    The only exciting (and cheeky) overtaking during the race. (I think there was only 1 true overtaking manoeuvre, besides his 3 overtakes)
    Still his mistake to crash into Grosjean, even if Grosjean braked early. But amazed by his reflexes; he almost made it ;)

    1. Was Hamilton not a stand-out? Crushed qualifying, dominant in race, team call left him third. His only “mistake” was being unable to get by Vettel at the end- but I’m not sure I’d fault him for it. Anyway, Max isn’t a bad choice either- the kid was on fire all weekend. Grosjean should be the one penalized for that move – it was an obvious brake-check.

      1. Grosjean braked 5 metres later on the lap Verstappen hit him, according to the telemetry.

        1. @paulguitar Link? The throttle lift must have been early, he looked awfully slow.

          1. @slowhands

            ://www.motorsportmagazine.com/f1/reports/2015-monaco-gp-report/

            I think Grosjean was really struggling with his tyres and I really doubt he would have deliberately caused a crash like that, if he had brake tested him, it was always going to happen and could have been lethal. To me, it looked like Max simply misjudged it.

        2. @paulguitar thanks for the link. Good article. In retrospect, you’re probably right. I didn’t think Grosjean did anything deliberately, just that he was trying every defensive weapon he could come up with given how slow he was. Looking at it again, I agree, probably just too late for that move. Maybe with Grosjean all the way to the right, but not where it was in the middle of the road.

          1. all the way to the *left*

        3. facts,facts,facts, no one wants facts, haven’t you anything interesting to say @paulguitar :-))

      2. Lewis, by his own admission, made the call jointly. He got all paranoid that the team would leave him out but pit Rosberg for Super Softs. Also, he knew Ros was just ahead of Vettel so he would have to think that Ros would pit and Vet/Ferrari would just do the same strategy rather than take track position over fresh tires – no way Vettel could pass a Merc if both had fresh SS.

        So no, Hamilton was not the driver of the weekend, and he was as culpable as the team, no matter how much the team is trying to make him feel better.

        1. Seems the masses disagree with you. Lewis Hamilton. .. legend in the making… oh… and driver of the weekend. Lol

        2. petebaldwin (@)
          26th May 2015, 10:37

          @uan – But how would Lewis have know the gap back to Nico and whether he’d get out in front? Mercedes has a team of people in charge of strategy who all have the live timing screen to look at in addition to an array of extra data and even a direct line to the next car on the track. Was Nico going to pit? Lewis wouldn’t know but you’d expect the team to considering he’s driving one of their cars. They could have said “no need to pit Lewis, Nico is staying out.”

          Lewis can only base decisions on the information he is given by the team so if they get that wrong, it’s hard to blame Lewis!

  5. Pretty underrated drive from Perez. Did a superb job so he gets my vote.

    1. Perez has my vote, too. I´m pretty sure the Force India wasn´t the fourth quickest car, so P7 in quali and race is overachieving throughout the weekend.

  6. No doubt a landslide for Hamilton after what happened.

    1. Yes, that’s me, I really wanted to vote for Ricciardo for overcoming adversity and providing some excitement and suspense, but my rule to never vote for the winner unless he is a surprise winner who achieved the win by outstanding driving and skill overcoming a machinery deficit, has to be reversed for the driver who did everything right but lost due to a simple trick of fate.

    2. LOL, NO driver who gifts a win away, no matter who or where it is can be driver of the weekend surely!!

  7. i gave ricciardo my vote. he absolutely wrung the neck of that red bull and never ever gave up. he was seriously compromised at the start but kept up the pressure. his final stint was great and he muscled the old finn out of the way like a true blue as he went on to try and take it to the podium. when he realised that he couldn’t do it he handed the place back to kvyat. a very sporting gesture as he kept his part of the bargain unlike vettel in malaysia with webber. daniel was my DOD.

    1. I don’t know which part of your weird claims I should point out to… So I’m just gonna say good teamwork from RBR.

    2. a very sporting gesture as he kept his part of the bargain unlike vettel in malaysia with webber.

      Kenneth, in this case the team would have gained extra points had Ricciardo been able to passed Hamilton or Vettel. In Malaysia, Red Bull had nothing to gain by holding station as they were already 1-2. If anything, Webber was backing Vettel into the cars behind him, which caused Vettel to come out of one of his stops in 3rd behind Hamilton.

      1. sorry to burst your bubble david a, but webber was driving in a reduced engine mode as instructed by the team so that they could manage the fuel through to the end of the race. it was a pre race agreement that was in place between webber and vettel. even horner said at the time to vettel not to be silly and give the place back! what more evidence do you need?

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          26th May 2015, 10:49

          Personally, I 100% back Vettel for passing Webber. He was faster so why shouldn’t he? Webber didn’t let him past, Vettel forced his way past.

          Kvyat could have easily held Ricciardo up for the rest of the race. There is no way he’d have got past him but he pulled over to let Ricciardo attack Hamilton. Once it became clear that wasn’t going to work, it was only fair to let him back past.

          I guess IMO, I’m after racing rather than artificially decided results. Webber beating Vettel would have been artificial because Vettel had enough to pass him cleanly. Sod agreements made before the race – if you can pass cleanly, do it.

          Similarly, Ricciardo beating Kvyat would have been artificial because it was a team order. If Ricciardo was able to pass Kvyat, fair enough but it took Kvyat to pull over for the move to happen. As Riccardo couldn’t pass Hamilton, there was no reason to swap the drivers over so they made them change back.

  8. I don’t think Hamilton deserves it. I would have voted for him had the whole incident not happened because he was truly dominant – and would have voted for him had he passed at least Vettel after the pit stop. But as he failed to overtake the Ferrari with the old softs on a new supersoft (I know this is Monaco, but still), I don’t think he should be DotW.

    In the end I went for Vettel as he beat Raikkonen comprehensively, but Perez, Sainz and Button also deserve a shout (and of course Hamilton too).

    1. I think people are giving a lot of sympathy votes towards Hamilton (similar to Webber a couple of years back) without realising that both he had a say in making the controversial pitstop and that as you said, he failed to overtake Vettel in a superior car with fresher tyres.

      1. Yeah, because is so easy to overtake in Monaco… lol

        Remember Coulthard spending a whole race behind an Arrows some years ago? That’s how it is to overtake on Monaco.

        Blame Hamilton for not overtaking with fresher tyres is rubbish, to say the least.

      2. petebaldwin (@)
        26th May 2015, 11:13

        @davef1 – This has been mentioned loads. From reading the comments, it appears the opposite is happening for Hamilton. He dominated the entire weekend and lost the race due to a team mistake.

        What was Hamilton’s involvement in the mistake? I’m sure if he was told “it’s close as to whether you’ll get out in front of Rosberg as he will not be pitting”, Hamilton would have said “no thanks!”

        In regards to “sympathy votes”, currently 20% of the vote is for Sainz and Verstappen who both made huge errors that cost them serious points!

    2. I agree about Hamilton, but only because Ricciardo managed what he did not.

      But Vettel?

      1. What did Ricciardo do? Pass Kvyat?

        @countrygent Vettel, yes. He’s been having perfect weekends week in week out. He’s the only on to have seen the back of a Mercedes up close the entire season.

        1. I thought Raikkonen passed one too.

        2. @xtwl RIC passed RAI (while HAM didn’t pass VET).

          1. petebaldwin (@)
            26th May 2015, 11:14

            Dodgy move though wasn’t it. If Hamilton had done the same to Vettel as Ricciardo did to Raikkonen and one of them ended up with a puncture (bearing in mind the driver has no real control over that), everyone would be saying Hamilton would have been driver of the weekend had he not made that mistake. :D

    3. Well, Ricciardo could overtake Raikkonen only because the latter made a mistake and even then the manoeuvre lead to a stewards investigation. Verstappen first lost part of his front wing and later the whole car during his charge through the field. I agree that Vettel and Perez (who also did not pass anyone on the track, as far as I know) were very strong but the fact that Hamilton could not pass Vettel does not make his performance look less impressive.

      1. @girts It only makes Vettel his performance more impressive holding of the much faster Mercedes.

      2. I think he means RAI passed a Mercedes in Bahrain.

        due to a brake failure though the pass would still have been on even without that

      3. @girts, that is what racing is all about, forcing your opponent (KR) into error and seizing the moment, something that is sorely lacking on other tracks with these tyres.

        1. @hohum That’s a very good point! However, Monaco has always been a special case, even before DRS-Pirelli era. A successful pass at Monaco requires some degree of cooperation from the guy you are overtaking. Unlike Ricciardo or Verstappen, Hamilton is fighting for the championship so he could not afford such a gamble.

          That said, it does not take anything away from Ricciardo’s performance and I also would like to see the kind of racing that you are talking about more often.

          1. @girts, the best form of cooperation at Monaco is crashing into the wall, and normally it is the only kind a chasing driver gets.

    4. @hunocsi Ludicrous to down-rate Lewis because he couldn’t pass Vettel with new tires. In race trim, Vettel was not losing anything to Nico’s Merc. Lewis’ gap at the front showed how much pace he individually had, but the list of champion drivers who could not pass other champion drivers around Monaco despite new tires and faster cars is a long and distinguished one. Doesn’t diminish Lewis’ performance one bit.

      1. @slowhands Ludicrous to disagree with me. I’m always right.

        1. @hunocsi Oh, okay then. But then the fun goes right out. ;)

      2. @slowhand Yeah but he did have a hand in the pitstop that lost him the race – it was due to some misinformation in his brain but still.

  9. Very tempted to vote for Hamilton and can’t blame anyone who does. He was destroying Rosberg this weekend, along with the rest of the field. However, i gave my vote to another Driver who dominated his team-mate, and finished considerably higher than his car likely deserved – Sergio Perez. Didn’t do anything spectacular in the race but a great qualifying and clean race is usually all you can do in Monaco and that’s what he did.

  10. Jenson Button – was denied Q3 only by yellows late in Q2. He definitely had the pace on Alonso, and duly scored McLaren’s first points of the season. I can’t really see how he could have done better.

    Hamilton, Kvyat and particularly Perez also deserve a mention. Ironically I wouldn’t place the winner in the top ten if I listed all the drivers by their efforts during the weekend.

    1. – Went for Button for the exact same reasons.

    2. Yes! Jenson Button!!
      …and he’ll finished this session beating another over-hype WDC teammate on points again :)

      1. @ruliemaulana beating a DNF is not a real challenge … :)

      2. Unfair, mechanical DNFs shouldn’t count

    3. Exactly my thoughts.

    4. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
      25th May 2015, 22:55

      Yup I voted for Jenson for the reasons you mentioned too

  11. Sergio Perez. He silently is in the form of his life with a dog of a car.
    Qualified 7th, finished 7th: he couldn’t have done any better this weekend. Bravo!

    1. No disrespect but starting and finishing in the same place is standard procedure at Monaco.

  12. This is a no brainer. If it wasn’t for Verstappen’s crash, Hamilton was probably going to score a grand chelem, 20 seconds ahead his team mate, after an easy pole on Saturday, leading every lap and always with a pace impossible for anyone else. This was masterclass drive from Lewis and totally deserves to be DOTW.

    1. @liongalahad Agreed, I also went for Hamilton. One cannot really blame him for wanting to pit under the safety car – the team has so much more information about what’s going on, they should have made the right decision. Hamilton was actually so good he lost the race – if his advantage had not been so big before THAT stop, Mercedes would have not tried to make it work.

      1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
        25th May 2015, 23:00

        Hamilton should not have decided to pit, his paranoia towards Nico and his team are all to clear to see from his assumption that Rosberg had pitted to him forcing the issue and pitting. Not a true team leading driver.

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          26th May 2015, 11:22

          @peppermint-lemon – That’s an odd comment..

          You mention his paranoia towards his team – the team who he just signed a new contract with. Well they just cost him a Monaco win by making a bad call so you could understand if he was!

          Similarly, Nico drivers for the same team as Lewis. The team should be managing that side of the race and should have said “no need to pit, Nico is staying out.” They evidently didn’t.

          You also say about Lewis not being a team leader- are you suggesting he has a full timing screen installed in his cockpit so he can manage these strategy decisions on his own in future!?

    2. 2011-2013; but when Vettel does it is the car.

      @liongalahad – I wish some people where more like you

    3. No Chance, there is no way A driver who gifts the lead and win of a race to his championship rival is DOTW! doesn’t matter what the circumstances (and HAM was as culpable in instigating the stop as anyone).

      1. @asanator I struggle to understand how Hamilton is culpable. He has no time screen in his car, he trusted his team and there’s no way a driver can have the situation 100% under control, especially in a safety car situation where no one really knows what’s going on.

  13. Hamilton drove his best race of the year so far.

    1. @ slobo…the drovers dog could have won with that mercedes!

  14. I vote JB for scoring mclaren points, and kept his head cool despite the chaotic race.

    1. I meant McLaren first points this season

      1. Oh really, I had forgotten, when was that ?

  15. Had to go for Lewis. Trashed his very fast teammate, showed good awareness and communicated correct info when the SC came out, and made sure of the 15 points when there was no sensible chance of passing Seb. Seb was perfect too, and JB I think.

    1. @lockup Where does that ‘very fast teammate’ keeps coming from? Rosberg was never even in contention for the win and he even had trouble with Vettel in amuch slower car for the first stint.

      1. Rosberg is fast @xtwl. People are always saying how he blew Lewis Hamilton away in qualifying last year :)

        We saw his pace at the end. Earlier – well who knows how hard he was pushing. He’s smart, thoughtful. Why would he push?

    2. Hamilton – Pole, superior pace during the race, then finished with the freshest tires on the podium.

      If they had forgotten to wave the checketed flag for 15 laps Hamilton would have crushed Rosberg and Vettel! ; )

  16. ColdFly F1 (@)
    25th May 2015, 14:26

    showed good awareness and communicated correct info when the SC came out

    @lockup, purely out of interest:
    How did LH show awareness when he asked to be pitted whilst he was sitting behind the SC for half a lap knowing that all cars behind him were closing in on him very fast??
    Assuming that NR/SV had pitted (would also pit) is not what I call ‘good awareness’.

    1. @coldfly unless I am mis-remembering he didn’t directly ask to pit. He told the team about his tyres and alerted them to how they’d be especially cold after the SC, being Primes and worn. This is exactly what SV and NR found. And I gather this was in VSC before the SC was even called.

      So afaik he did his job perfectly.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        25th May 2015, 15:13

        @lockup, that’s how I judged it yesterday.
        But then Hamilton himself mentioned that he asked to pit (not sure when), and from the article on this site I learnt that he drove half a lap behind the SC (knowing that the rest would close in on him).

        1. I haven’t seen those words of him ‘asking to pit’ anywhere @coldfly. I think it’s an inference from him telling them about the tyres, in that context. I can’t see that reference in the link either, Keith just says he caught the SC in the second sector, afaics, and we don’t know when the radio was. Plus that detail is questioned further down. He’d rely on the team for the overall decision, as they all would.

      2. @lockup On top of that Vettel only mentioned his tyres when they were already behind the SC for a few laps saying they were cooling down because the SC was driving so slow, nothing about the state of the effective tyre itself.

        1. Yes okay @xtwl but it was this that Lewis was predicting. Tyres run cooler when they have less rubber left on them, and they were primes, and the SC is slow. So it was a threat, worth making sure the team was factoring into the decision. Good awareness and communication.

          1. If he wasn’t going that fast and putting that much gap between him and his teammate in a GP where straightforward overtake is pretty much impossible, he would have had more rubber left on his tyres.

          2. They have to have a rhythm and keep their tyres in the window, or they get cold graining and lose rubber faster. Not to say NR and SV had the problem.

    2. Considering that he has no way of knowing how big the gap is without his team telling him, I’d say that anticipating the cool down of his tyres, and spotting his team ready in the pits on a trackside screen is pretty aware of his situation. The drivers have to rely on the team to make the calls about gaps – drivers differently don’t have the information available to do so.

      1. Drivers know the gap. He made some false deductions from what he saw around him, didn’t mention about those misgivings to his team, which combined with team estimating the gap wrongly, ended up where he did. If anything, he was quite unaware of what’s been going on around him which had an effect on his downfall.

        1. dee, how did he know the gap? And which gap? The one at the beginning of the lap which was ~25s? Drivers don’t get the F1 timing app in their car…

  17. I would go with either Verstappen or Button.
    Hamilton wasn’t really dominating Rosberg, around half of the difference between them was due to backmarkers slowing people down. He would still get my sympathy vote if not for him having a say in the fatal pit decision. Why did he even think about pitting? Even with fresher tyres you can’t pass in Monaco. He needs to learn more if he wants to be successful here.

    1. lol both of them had to deal with backmarkers, as Vettel too did and never lost sight of Rosberg who drives a faster car.

      So, Hamilton indeed was dominating Rosberg like never before. Everything other than that are excuses.

  18. No standout performances. Hamilton didn’t do anything wrong until that pit stop call which cost him a win. Perez beat Hülkenberg and grabbed his first points ever at Monaco, although he has won there in GP2.

    In the end I gave my vote to Daniil Kvyat. While his race wasn’t really flashy, he was flawless, equalling his best-ever qualifying result and then beating Ricciardo at the start, which gave him his best finish to date. Having been under criticism this was a good answer for Helmut Marko and others.

  19. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
    25th May 2015, 14:46

    It’s got to be Rosberg, managed to win from second in Monaco.

    1. Stirrer.

  20. Paul (@frankjaeger)
    25th May 2015, 15:00

    Voted Lewis: Donned the 90% of the race only for a bad call to scupper his weekend

    Honorable mention to Max V.: Haven’t looked closely at the crash tape but performed well all weekend and if not for that crash would have been a very impressive result

      1. Paul (@frankjaeger)
        25th May 2015, 21:09

        Yeah it seems inexperience was the problem here. Too erratic behind Grosjean not thinking about his braking points. Never the less a solid drive

  21. Grosjean because he managed to defend from Verstappen beautifully, especially how he set up the blue flag place so Vettel don’t lose much time but he still able to cover Verstappen which practically glued to Vettel gearbox. I still say Grosjean do nothing wrong with the incident and it was purely because Verstappen lack of experience. Perez and Button also drove a great race but they never really tested with a car that much faster behind them.

    For me why Hamilton is not above Grosjean for DOTW is because he already sound lost after he emerged from pitlane in 3rd, knowing there still 10 more laps to go and he has fresh, faster tires. His attempt at Vettel also looks half-hearted (but I know he also can’t risk losing all the points) considering Nico can lap a second faster in old soft so I think Lewis should be able to go at least 2.5s quicker than Vettel. Also, Ricciardo make it look worse because he overtake and even putting some pressure on Hamilton by putting a new super soft too. Ricciardo form himself is quite bad throughout qualifying and race, only redeemed himself somewhat after safety car period.

    1. Absolutely agree with everything…

    2. I totally agree with your comments on Grosjean. I had to wait until I saw the entire race, but now I have and I agree with them. The race commentators said that that particular overtake was one of the great overtakes of all time. The way Grosjean managed it was an excellent piece of driving. He let Vettel through, yet Verstappen, who was just metres behind Vettel, was left with no where to go except to sit behind Grosjean.

  22. Lewis and Carlos Sainz were the best IMO. But because most people will already have voted for Lewis, i voted for the rookie.

  23. With honorable mentions to Sainz, Perez and Hamilton, I’m going with Mr. Button. Very good in quali, consistent in the race, brought McLaren their first points, not much more to say.

  24. Surprised Verstappen is getting so many votes when outqualified by his teammate, crashed and ruined several people their race, scored zero points when they were a possibility and at the same time his teammate starting from the pits scoring points get half the votes.

    1. @xtwl but in Monaco he made the most overtakes

      1. @mim5 Would be a first if driver of the weekend did not finish the race….

    2. Sure Verstappen had a poor Q3, but the he was still only hundreths behind Sainz. Sainz was then dumb enough to miss the weigh in. So it’s his own fault he had to start from the pits.

      Verstappen was doing really well until he lost 20 seconds with the botched stop and afterwards he showed some nice overtakes too. Until he met Grossjean up close.

      1. And Max was dumb enough to steam his car into another driver. So it’s his own fault that he lost points for himself and the team.

        Sainz turned an awkward situation in his favour while Max turned a simple points scoring position into nothing.

        1. So they both messed up. What’s your point then?

          Without Verstappen’s crash, Sainz would have had no points anyway.

          1. The point is that I find it bizarre you paint Sainz’s error as lack of intelligence yet Max’s error seemingly gets him a free pass because apparently it’s ok to bin it into another driver if you pulled some decent overtakes.

  25. I’d say Hamilton, Vettel, Pérez and Verstappen did the best jobs. Pérez drove very good for his car, but my vote went to Verstappen. It’s something else to overtake in Monaco.

  26. I’ve voted Hamilton. Outclassed his teammate for the majority of the weekend and was on course for an easy victory.

    I don’t get how people are blaming him for the pit error. He radioed in about his tyres based on what he thought he saw on a big screen as he shot past it. The team made the error in the calculation and they knew Rosberg wasn’t pitting anyway. They had all the information, Hamilton did not. Yes he got caught up behind the safety car, but that’s exactly the kind of situation where the team should have spotted it and told him to stay out. When you can’t even see your nearest rival in your mirrors, you rely on your team to know the gap. Mercedes screwed up.

    Prior to this, I was amused by Verstappen using Vettel to help him sneak past people, but I was more impressed with how Grosjean blocked him but let Vettel through. That’s the kind of skill that is really useful in the WEC.

    Admittedly, in hindsight, Grosjean would’ve been better off letting Max through to crash into some other poor chap.

    1. Well.. Vettel was lucky to get away in one piece… :D It was brilliant though.

  27. Voted for Kvyat. He was superb after the first pit stop. Glad he got the place back after that late shuffle.

    1. I almost voted for Button for finally getting McLaren into the points, but I had to vote for Kvyat. He performed so much better this weekend than I had come to expect from him. That he listened to his team when they ordered him to let Ricciardo through while he was having such a great race says a lot about his character.

  28. Well I am going to say Carlos Sainz, he went from 20th to 10th (in Monaco!)

  29. My DotW is Ricciardo, superb laps in the end stint of the race, out qualifies his team mate.. PLUS, he put the fastest lap at the end, which even Hamilton could not not, even with superior machinery..

  30. I don’t think Lewis deserves the DOTW. His attempts to pass Vettel who was on 35-lap-old cold harder tyres while Lewis was on fresh supersofts were unconvincing to say the least. In the end it looked like Ricciardo was more likely to pass him than he was to pass Vettel.

    But it can’t be Rosberg of course, so it’s either Ves or Vet. I would have voted for Ves, except he was outqualified by his teammate and caused Grojean’s crash.

    So by the method of elimination, it has to be Vettel: a flawless, calm drive, somehow managed in an inferior car to keep up with Rosberg, which in the end paid off, good, calm defending on much older tyres. He was the only happy bloke on the podium.

    1. “He was the only happy bloke on the podium”
      LOL that was funny -him on the podium “I’m happy”!

  31. Nasr and Sainz deserve more love, they both had never raced in Monaco before and started at the back of the grid (or in Sainz case, the pit lane), yet still finished in the points.

  32. Was about to vote Hamilton, then I remembered of Verstappen. Then I remembered of the accident. Then I remembered that Hamilton was partly responsible for his pit stop and I went for Verstappen. I’m not sure the accident was totally his fault and everything else he did over the weekend was amazing. Sainz was alos excellent but less title-grabbing, and nonetheless avoided collisions to finish in the points. Hamilton was very, very good all weekend long, but this time I too have to point out that Verstappen is aged 17!

  33. Sainz – pit lane to 10th in a midfield car with an engine that one of the bigger teams regards as a massive liability.

    Hamilton – I couldn’t argue too much with.

    Button – don’t see it, qualified 12th, got the benefit of penalties to others (including Sainz who qualied well ahead of him) and then managed to a net gain of maybe one place when retirements taken into acccount. Really???

    1. Without retirements, sainz wouldn’t even be close to 10th. Lol

      1. There were 3 retirements and Sainz finished 10 of 17 drivers.

        Your maths is LOL +

    2. @tonybananas Button qualifying 12th was Rosberg’s fault. Rosberg went off at the first corner, bringing out the yellow flags. Button had to slow down on his fastest lap because of that.

      1. Button would still have qualified behind Sainz prior to the weighbridge penalty

        1. someone doesn’t like JB …basically got on top the that McLaren despite its problems kept out of trouble and delivered good race and first points…you can always point to other dnf’s etc at Monaco when looking at the results but it shouldn’t detract from what these guys deliver when they drive well.

  34. A few races ago I questioned on how biased the forum was related to Perez´s popularity compared to Hulkenberg´s… I can see today that I was totally wrong and I´m glad to be here and keep learning from this fantastic forum. I know now that when a pilot does well it gets recognised regardless of who that pilot is.

    Of course I follow Checo, but today I voted for him because he truly maximised all the car can offer, had a clean start (avoiding a contact with Pastor at first turn) and race, showed maturity (not forcing an overtake at the end), scored his first F1 points in Monaco and, for the first time, he is beating his team mate on the points.

    I think he is having a great season, I can wait until the new car´s version arrive.

    1. Perez is highly overrated on this forum actually. Just see often he’s in the top 3 of these DOTW things when in reality he only does reasonably well on a handful of circuits and is mediocre at best on the rest.

      1. In your opinion… I don’t think he´s mediocre, I think he has potential and I just want to see what he is capable of with the right car. I’m not an expert, but I’ve been following him just since he moved to McLaren and I do see progress and maturity, and prove of that is that he has been beating Hulk since the middle of the last season, but it’s finally showing.

      2. @patrickl I´d say he´s erratic. He´s oscillating between good weekends and bad weekends rather than being consistent. And obviously on good weekends he gets his votes, which are deserved for that weekend. As people have only one vote to give per weekend, whether a driver is having a “normal” or a bad weekend doesn´t play any role in the votes here, so his off-weekends don´t get reflected.

        1. you can’t get podiums by luck, you make your luck and you need to push the limits, however erratic is Maldonado he oftens ends in a wall, which he master after running into people for years.

  35. Went for Kvyat. He was solid all weekend and showed some great team play by letting Ricciardo through.

    Surprised how many people voted for Max Verstappen. He did put a car in the barriers, yet he is 2nd in the drivers poll??

    Honourable mentions to Lewis, Daniel and Jenson as well

  36. I don’t often vote for a driver in a dominant car but had to give this (sympathy) vote to Lewis, great performance all weekend and an undeserved 3rd place that should have been a win.

  37. I went for LH, deserved the win, smashed his teammate but MB shot themselves in the foot so hard.

  38. Well, I wanted to vote for Verstappen, but he got penalized for that collision, so my idea that both he and Grosjean shared some guilt might be mistaken; he certainly spiced up a somewhat lacklustre race though, you could feel the tension in that fight. Hamilton mostly dominated the race, and, whether he did play a role in that fated pitstop or not (… could have ignored call to pit?), I think he kept it pretty together after the race too. I see he has a healthy lead already.

    Rosberg and Vettel got a result one better than they could expect, and they didn’t do anything wrong, neither fast enough to win without Merc/HAM screwing up. Kvyat finally got a finish with good points, with Ricciardo behind him, congrats to RBR for a double finish, but no vote. Grosjean drove a mostly solid race and so did Button (finally those points, good work).

    I can’t say I saw enough of Massa, Bottas or Ericcson to judge, sadly how they drove. Nasr got another point, well done. Raikkonen, sigh, I feel sorry for him, but he really needs to get that it together on Saturday.

    I think Perez though did an outstanding job in his FI, taking everything that he can with the A version while they really need to B version to really show well in most races, and I think he tends to be underrated next to Hulkenberg (who once again hasn’t had providence on his side), so I voted for him.

    1. Oh, Saintz, who had a bit of a difficult drive, but kept it together and got yet another point over his much complimented teammate – very solid job too.

    2. @bosyber Couldn’t agree more with you, on the hole approach, good review!

  39. I went for Hamilton.

    Fastest in almost every session, leading the race comfortably then came third through no fault of his own.

    He was almost flawless all weekend.

  40. For me it has to be Lewis Hamilton. He was absolutely destroying Nico Rosberg the whole weekend until the Verstappen/Grosjean collision and the misfortunes afterwards costed him the win.

  41. Lewis. Comprehensively out-drove everyone this weekend. Challenged in the first 2 phases of qualifying by Rosberg but made the right adjustment and put down a definitive pole lap when it counted. Was basically across the border into France by the time the Safety Car came out– I thought he was going to appear on the podium by video from poolside in Nice. Lost the win because of strategic confusion by both him and the team, and by lack of common sense and trust in his own skills around the confines of Monaco. However, in my mind this does not disqualify him in my mind as the best driver of this weekend.

    Vettel close second for maximizing the performance of his package in quali and the race, for not dawdling behind Rosberg under the pace car so he was able to profit from the Mercedes error, and then demonstrating to Mercedes what they should have had Lewis do by holding him off cleanly for the remaining laps.

    Perez third.

    Honorable mention to Ricciardo, Verstappen, and Alonso for actually trying to race.

  42. Can’t believe Button has got no recognition, he didn’t put a foot wrong, was consistently faster and more on top of the MP4-30 than Alonso and making fewer mistakes. Plus, he gave the MP4-30 its first points, a momentous occasion, perhaps the most momentous of anyone over the weekend. Vettel also did well, he didn’t make many mistakes either, but could have done better. On his in lap he lost time not passing traffic as quickly as he could have, and that meant he came out behind Rosberg, and this cost him the win if events folded out in the same way (unlikely). Hamilton did well, but a combination of his FP3 and ‘tantrum’ at the end of the race lost it for him.

  43. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
    25th May 2015, 18:53

    There is no way Hamilton should get DotW after he made such a massive mistake. I gave my vote to Jenson.

  44. It’s got to be Hamilton – fastest driver of the weekend and to put a 19 second gap between Rosberg in Monaco is pretty impressive on it’s own.

    Other favorites were Max Verstappen – for driving like he stole it (until he hit Grosjean), Jenson – for finally getting some points for MacLaren and Seb for keeping Hamilton at bay and grabbing the second place.

  45. The Safety Car / Virtual Safety Car conundrum really needs to be sorted out by the FIA.

  46. Button?

    First points for McLaren nonetheless.

  47. My vote goes to Sergio Perez. He didn’t put a foot wrong from what I can remember and given the machinery at his disposal a seventh place in both the qualifying and race classification is an excellent result.

  48. Checo Perez!

  49. He didn’t seem to get much coverage but I went with Perez. That Force India had no business up that end of the field and you have to attribute that achievement to the driver.

    Vettel was close for being there when the gift of second fell on his lap and Sainz gave a great qualifying and fantastic recovery drive.

  50. Not Hamilton, did almost everything right but the disastrous pit call was (admittedly) partly his fault.
    Not Rosberg, didn’t do anything wrong but lucked into the win being vastly inferior to Hamilton
    Emphatically not Verstappen: Quali not good enough, and his overtakes were nothing special. Botched a pass on a very slow Maldonado losing half his wing. Sainz let him pass on TO. He fooled Bottas when he was blue-flagged for Vettel -his only clean pass but come on…-. Tried the same trick on Grossjean but he wasn’t fooled, then he rammed into him. And it was 100% Max’s fault, Romain didn’t brake-test him.
    Would have voted for Sainz, great race but it was partly his fault if he didn’d show up for weighing.
    Honorable mentions: Vettel, Button, Ricciardo, Kivyat, Nasr. But my vote goes for Perez. Fortunately he has left behind the serial divebombing, 2013 vintage. Best driving of the weekend overall.

  51. I think Hamilton deserves this.

  52. Well, Sainz scored points starting from pit late, which would be pretty damn impressive in a Mercedes, let alone in a freaking Renault powered Toro Rosso.

  53. In the end I went for Sainz. Both he & Verstappen really impressed this weekend but Sainz edged out as he didn’t put a foot wrong.

  54. Vettel. He did a great job all weekend. Also Kyat, Grosjean, Perez, Nasr and Sainz did good weekend.
    Hamilton decided to pit and that was a great mistake.

  55. I would go with Hamilton. Because now the time He have good confidence and approach.

  56. Don’t like the guy much, but I really can’t not vote for Lewis Hamilton. Quick all weekend, and absolutely dominated the race and for it to be ripped out of his grasp would be hard to deal with. Composed himself extremely well post-race too, other than ramming the #3 sign.

    Shout-out to Sergio Perez and the four Red Bull boys

  57. I just want to see someone who crashed out in the top 3 so I went for Verstappen :P

    But great race from Perez, kept his head down and scored some valuable points for his team.

  58. VET.

  59. Without a doubt, Sergio Perez.

  60. Went with Sainz, great drive in qualy, missed weight check, alas started last. Still finishing 10th i very special on this track.

    1nd for me Hamilton, flawless all weekend, shame the wall was not.

  61. Apparently most of the voters have a preference for carnival parade drivers. I guess they like line dancing too….
    F 1 has been is boring for a while, all experts agree
    In my opinion it is because most racers just lack the guts to take risks and viewing those racers is a bit of a bore.
    Finally a new kid on the block with an unprecedented track record of incredible overtake maneuvers storms into F1 and is already showing from his first race on racing can still be great to watch.
    His overtaking tactics were simply brilliant on a track he never race before.
    Yes, he was outwitted by a defensive brake testing move by Grosjean and paid the ultimate price.
    But like the pundits of BBC and Sky all agreed, what a talent he showed again and what a joy to watch..
    For me drivers like Nasr, Massa , Ericsson, Perez and Grosjean are boring parade drivers and not really the drivers the F1 need to increase the entertainment levels of F1.
    So if they don’t start to show some overtake skills and guts in the next races, they will never get my vote. Simply put, no guts no glory…

    1. Pérez didn’t have the car to challenge, but he drove the wheels off that SFI to remain well clear of challenge. Yes, he got seventh. And? Look at that car, even with retirements he and Hulk “Deserved” 11th-14th.

      Pérez is simply a streaky driver. It’s a shame McLaren wasn’t at their 2012 form when he joined. He is a great “Top Team Number Two Driver.”

  62. Pérez. Qualified nowhere you would expect a Force India this year, and while there was no hope at all of him passing much better cars, he held on, often well well clear of DRS. Button and Sainz would round out my DOTW podium.

  63. Evidently Nico R was not very popular for winning Monaco. Not really sure why, did he deserve winning Monaco? In my view yes, he never make a mistake, never gave up, and Lewis was worried about his tyres and this issue plus the change from virtual to real safety car all added up to Nico R winning the race. BUT Nico won because he was there and available to win. Lewis pleasantly surprised me and I am glad that he did not go into his usual whining, I am just a poor born boy raised in poverty compared to Nico R et al ad nauseam………….. So I actually thought about voting for Lewis due to character and for no other reason in this situation. And besides it seems that Lewis would probably get 30% or more of the votes no matter what he did or did not do during a race…………. It seems to me that many who vote for driver of the week have no idea what it is like to drive for 90 minutes or so at speeds over up to 180 miles per hour (as in Monaco) and be spot on for pit stops and making every turn lap after lap. Every driver regardless of his car’s ability has great ability and they should be appreciated for their efforts. Sorry for the rambling, Norris

  64. There were a few candidates for driver of the weekend.

    Hamilton wasn’t on top all weekend, but he was quick from the very start on Thursday and fastest when it mattered in Q3 to take pole. He then dominated the race and looked on course for a deserved victory until the unnecessary late pit stop.

    I was tempted to vote for Hamilton as driver of the weekend but as impressive as he was, before the late pit stop drama I was not set to vote for him as it was a case of Hamilton doing what I expected of him in the best car, and if I had changed my mind and voted for him it would have been more down to the way Hamilton had lost the win.

    Verstappen was also quick from the start of the race weekend despite not having raced at Monaco before, although he did benefit from plenty of time in the simulator. He was impressive during the race fighting back from a long pit stop, I especially liked the way he stayed close to Vettel to overtake cars when Vettel was lapping them.

    However, he then crashed into Grosjean, which for me ruled him out of the running for driver of the weekend. Although he has been publicly blaming Grosjean since, I think he should accept the steward’s decision that he was responsible and learn from his mistake.

    Another contender was Perez who managed to be best of the rest behind the Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bulls in both qualifying and the race.

    But in the end my vote went Sainz, eighth quickest in qualifying beating his teammate, but because of his rookie mistake at missing the weigh bridge he had to start at the back, I thought he would not get near the points, but thanks to the way the race panned had he managed to achieve a deserved points finish.

    Mentions also to Nasr and to Button.

  65. Perez show driver counts, Sainz did amazing job, Ham and Rosberg did what is expected with the 1 second dominant car, anyone in the grid will have done it, Vettel did a great job too.

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